So in other words, there is absolutely nothing new to be gleaned from the display of these blueprints, but it is a handy tool and means by which to keep certain particulars of WWII alive and in the media, even after all this time.  In other words, it’s another propaganda piece and nothing more.  Imagine that…

Daniel Uziel, the historical adviser to the exhibition, said the blueprints did not add much to what is already known about the camps but they provide “a great illustration of the process of turning Auschwitz from a small Polish concentration camp to the center of the Holocaust.”

An old World War I barrack for the Austro-Hungarian army, Auschwitz opened as a concentration camp in the summer of 1940. It was originally designed as a Soviet POW camp and its first prisoners were Polish. But because of its central location and its close access to natural resources, Himmler deemed it the perfect spot to implement the “Final Solution.” In late 1941, it swiftly evolved into a highly efficient death camp.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

There is a way for immigrant workers to come to the US legally…it’s called [legal] immigration.  Fill out the paperwork (available in convenient PDF format), pay the fees and wait, like everyone else does.

Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.

Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn’t handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

The vast majority of people in Italy would like all immigrants seeking citizenship to take a test of Italian civic values, according to a poll by Arnaldo Ferrari Nasi. 80.2 per cent of respondents share this view.

Additionally, 76.9 per cent of respondents say immigrants who do not share Italian values or commit crimes should be stripped of their citizenship. On the other hand, 79.2 per cent of respondents want immigrants who contribute to a city’s economy to be allowed to vote in municipal elections.

	Agree	Disagree	Not sure
Immigrants who play a role in the economic life of a city, after a number of years, must have the right to vote in municipal elections	79.2%	15.4%	5.4%
All immigrants should take a course in Italian and civic values before being regularized	80.2%	18.5%	1.3%
Italian citizenship should be revoked if an immigrant is found to not share our values or commits crimes	76.9%	17.7%	5.4%

Source/Full Story: Angus Reid Global Monitor

More than a thousand African workers were put aboard buses and trains in the southern Italian region of Calabria over the weekend and shipped out to immigrant detention centers, following some of the country’s worst riots in years.

The clashes began Thursday night in Rosarno, a working-class city amid citrus groves in Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot, after a legal immigrant from Togo was lightly wounded in a pellet-gun attack in a nearby city. It is not clear who pulled the trigger — the authorities said they were investigating whether organized crime had provoked the riots — but the consequences were severe.

Blaming racism for the attack, dozens of immigrants burned cars and smashed shop windows in Rosarno in two days of riots, throwing rocks at local residents and fighting with the police. More than 50 immigrants and police officers were wounded, none seriously, and 10 immigrants and locals were arrested before the authorities began sending the immigrants to detention centers elsewhere in southern Italy on Saturday.

The images emerging from Calabria over the weekend — of torched cars and angry African immigrants hurling rocks — were the most vivid example of the growing racial tensions in Italy, which have been exacerbated by an economic crisis whose depth has only recently been acknowledged in the national dialogue. Both the official and underground economies increasingly rely on immigrants, while Italy remains torn between acceptance and xenophobia.

Source/Full Story: NYTimes.com

Near the end of the hit film “Avatar,” the villain snarls at the hero, “How does it feel to betray your own race?” Both men are white — although the hero is inhabiting a blue-skinned, 9-foot-tall, long-tailed alien.

Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral humans against noble denizens of a faraway moon, “Avatar” is being criticized by a small but vocal group of people who allege it contains racist themes — the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.

Since the film opened to widespread critical acclaim three weeks ago, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have made claims such as that the film is “a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people” and reinforces “the white Messiah fable.”

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama’s race during the 2008 presidential bid.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described then-Sen. Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect.” Obama is the nation’s first African-American president.

“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments,” Reid said in a statement released after the excerpts were reported on the Web site of The Atlantic.

“I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama’s legislative agenda.”

In a written statement Saturday, Obama said he accepted Reid’s apology “without question because I’ve known him for years, I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice and I know what’s in his heart.”

“As far as I am concerned, the book is closed,” he added.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley says the Senator reached out to other Democratic and African-American leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and others.

“About a dozen in all,” Manley said.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

Two officials said Thursday night they have been subpoenaed to answer questions next week before a federal grand jury about a high-profile Arizona sheriff who gained attention for aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration.

In statements read by a county spokesman, Maricopa County Manager David Smith and Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson said they met with a federal prosecutor to discuss the case and will testify Wednesday.

Wilson said the general subject of the inquiry was abuses by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office. Neither Wilson nor Smith offered specifics, said county spokesman Richard de Uriarte, who spoke with the two officials Thursday night.

Arpaio is widely known for tough jail policies and pushing the bounds on local immigration efforts. He has led a dozen crime and immigration sweeps, some in heavily Latino areas.

Source/Full Story:  FOXNews.com