Immigration issues in US presidential campaign ad

The CNN Election Center 2008 website reports that McCain is releasing an ad today blasting Obama on immigration although McCain voted the same. Read complete article from Sept. 12 or see excerpt in italics below.

Meanwhile, McCain's campaign said a new Spanish language ad set to air in battleground states blames Obama and Senate Democrats for the failure of attempts to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

"Obama and his congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they?" asks the announcer in the 30-second spot, "Which Side Are They On?"

"The press reports that their efforts were 'poison pills' that made immigration reform fail," he continues. "The result: No guest worker program. No path to citizenship. No secure borders. No reform. Is that being on our side? Obama and his congressional allies ready to block immigration reform, but not ready to lead." Watch the ad

But Obama and McCain cast identical votes in the major congressional showdowns on the issue last year.

Both men cast votes in favor of an unsuccessful early June effort to end a filibuster. Later that month, they voted again to end debate on the issue -- but again failed to shut down the filibuster effort, led for the most part by Republican senators.

The ad is set to air in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada, all crucial states in November with significant Hispanic voting populations.

SHARE Foundation launches new blog about El Salvador

The SHARE Foundation has launched a brand new blog "to support those interested in promoting social justice in El Salvador to stay in touch with the Salvadoran community."

The first news report from the field is entitled "Meat, Cheese, and Bicycle Repair" and tells the story of three women in Chalatenango who have used a micro-loan to expand a women's development project there. Interesting reading!

Check out the SHARE blog English version at www.thesharefoundation.blogspot.com. And for the Spanish version, visit www.lafundacionshare.blogspot.com.

FMLN Political Convention Held in El Salvador

The leftist FMLN political party in El Salvador held its national convention in mid-August. FMLN Presidential candidate Mauricio Funes outlined his plans for change in the country, promising to focus on problems of unemployment and underemployment and calling for an end to the "economy of privilege." The FMLN platform was unveiled, including initiatives to expand the social insurance system, improve healthcare institutions, and ensure a universal basic pension for the elderly.


To read more about the FMLN and presidential candidate Mauricio Funes

• Official FMLN website in Spanish
  
• Full text of Mauricio Funes' speech in Spanish
• Comments about the FMLN convention and summary of Funes' speech in English

To read more about the ARENA party and presidential candidate Rodrigo Avila

• Official ARENA website in Spanish
• Rodrigo Avila's official campaign website
  

Polls show FMLN over ARENA for El Salvador President

In recent polls, FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes continues to hold on to a lead over the ARENA candidate Rodrigo Avila. (see statistics below)

Before running as the FMLN candidate, Mauricio Funes was a television journalist. He gained fame for his morning interview program that was generally critical of the Salvadoran government. Funes is the first candidate from the FMLN not to be an ex-guerrilla commander.

His opponent in the March 2009 election for the presidency is the ARENA party's candidate, Rodrigo Avila. During the civil war in El Salvador, Avila was an active member of one of the infamous “Death Squads” or right-wing military groups organized by the military and ARENA. He is also former deputy director of the National Police.

	Jul. 2008	Jun. 2008	Apr. 2008
Mauricio Funes (FMLN)	31.1%	28.4%	33.6%
Rodrigo Ávila (ARENA)	24.8%	22.1%	24.7%
Other / Undecided	44.1%	49.5%	41.7%

Data Source: LPG Datos / La Prensa Gráfica
Methodology: Interviews to 1,500 Salvadoran adults, conducted from Jul. 19 to Jul. 22, 2008. Margin of error is 2.6 per cent.

A new experience with accompaniment

On this third anniversary of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, we want to share an article about the spirit of accompaniment and Central Baptist Church's emerging experience as a member of the national "Churches Supporting Churches" network and as a partner congregation with the St. John Baptist Church in New Orleans.

In a thoughtful reflection entitled "Walking Together in New Orleans," CBC member Jan Corbett writes about the impact and influence of the congregation's experiences in El Salvador over a span of more than two decades. The article includes stories about Central Baptist hosting a Salvadoran refugee as a part of the Sanctuary Movement, sending delegations to visit Salvadoran war refugees in camps in Honduras, and walking with refugees returning to their villages after the war, all of which have informed the congregation's current understanding of accompaniment.

As she says, "Being present, sharing stories, walking together, being part of someone else’s solution, transformation, mutuality—these are all a part of the term “accompaniment” as we have come to understand it. ... The term “accompaniment” has taken on a new significance for us as we use it in a new context and we are still discovering the full implications of this. But, for us, it seems to be the best way to respond to [the crisis in New Orleans and] our mission in Churches Supporting Churches."

• Read the entire article about accompaniment in El Salvador and New Orleans
• Learn more about "Churches Supporting Churches" and the experience in New Orleans with St. John Baptist at the St. John Partners blog
  

March 2009 Election Observer Delegation to El Salvador

Are you interested in joining a delegation to El Salvador? The El Salvador Partners Mission Group is considering a delegation to El Salvador at the time of their presidential elections in 2009. We want to know who might be interested in going.

The dates would be March 10 - 17 for the presidential elections. This might be an observers group going with SHARE or an unofficial "observers" delegation that might be in Atiquizaya with Shalom during the elections.

We have 5 people potentially interested in taking part in the March delegation. Please contact Andy Smith if you are interested.


(Note -- There is also an opportunity to join a SHARE official observers delegation for the mayoral/legislative elections Jan 12 -19.)

SHARE Delegation Mission: Delegates will join other international elections observers to ensure free and fair participation and reporting of the election results, and will meet with members of SHARE partner communities who are advocating for social and economic justice through women's empowerment, leadership development and citizen participation.

More information about El Salvador's 2009 elections and the SHARE election observer delegations is available on the SHARE website.

September series on CBC's Central America Heritage

Join us for a 4 week Learning Community series at 9:30am on Sundays during the month of September when we will be reflecting on Central Baptist Church's relationships in Central America over more than two decades.

Since the mid 1980s, members of CBC have visited Central America--mainly Nicaragua and El Salvador-- well over 100 times.

Twenty years ago, we were responding to calls from Central Americans to accompany them as they struggled with low intensity conflicts inflicted on them by military forces supported by the United States government.
* We stood with Nicaraguans against the Contras who attacked health and literacy workers and civilian communities in an attempt to undo the advances made as a part of the Sandinista revolutionary triumph.
* We became a Sanctuary congregation, joining with 17 faith communities in the Philadelphia area who sheltered Salvadoran and Guatemalan refuges fleeing from civil wars in their own countries.
* We accompanied Salvadoran refugee communities as they returned from refugees camps spread around Central America to reclaim their lands and communities at the close of the Salvadoran civil war.
* Inspired by the faithfulness of church people to the call for justice, we connected with Baptist churches in El Salvador who are attempting to live out the witness of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the many men and women of faith who died because of their commitment to justice in the face of brutal state sponsored terror.

The idea of these sessions is to hear the personal stories of some of the CBC folk who have been a part of this long connection. We want to hear their stories and reflect together on how these experiences feed into our identity at CBC--to hear where we have been, and to ask ourselves what does this rich history have to say about who we are today, and who we want to be tomorrow.

Ron Morgan will moderate the sessions, which will focus on two or three different personal stories each week.

News from Ruth about Shekina

EN CUANTO A LA IGLESIA, TODO BIEN, GRACIAS A DIOS...
* RECIBIMOS UNA DELEGACIÓN DE 12 HERMANOS DE CEDAR HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH, PORTLAND, OREGON EN LA ULTIMA SEMANA DE JULIO. FUE UNA BENDICIÓN COMPARTIR CON ELLOS.
* JAVIER MILLA, HNA ANNA HERNÁNDEZ (mamá de Annita y José Luis) Y LA HNA CARMENCITA SE ENFERMARON Y FUERON OPERADOS PERO YA ESTAN BIEN DE SALUD
* BAUTIZAMOS A KAREN Y KATY EL DOMINGO 20 DE JULIO.
* HEMOS COMENZADO LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE LOS TAPIALES (MUROS EXTERNOS) DEL TERRENO DONDE SOÑAMOS CONSTRUIR EL CENTRO DE DESARROLLO INTEGRAL SHEKINA.
* ESTE DOMINGO PASADO FUI A PREDICAR Y CELEBRAR LA SANTA CENA EN LA IGLESIA BAUTISTA EMMANUEL, EN SAN SALVADOR.... Y POR LA TARDE CELEBRE LA SANTA CENA EN SHEKINA

Plans for August potluck dinner meeting

Conversations continue at our next meeting on Monday, August 11th, at 6pm for another potluck dinner at Caroline's house. Hope you'll join us!

We'll be following up on our discussions about potential delegations to El Salvador in 2009, plans for various education and awareness events at CBC during the new church year, and more.

July potluck dinner and planning meeting

El Salvador Partners and Friends,

Please join us for a potluck dinner and planning meeting with the pastors!

Where and When -- At Caroline's house on Tuesday, July 8th, at 6pm.

At the last official meeting of the year on Sunday June 8th, a small group of us listed out possible projects/plans for 2008/2009. Since then, a couple of additional ideas have been added. See the list below. You may have other ideas that we need to hear about, too.

There are a lot of directions we could take with our El Salvador relationships this coming year, and all of that needs to be prioritized and discussed in relation to other things going on in other mission groups, CSC, and the wider congregation! So come ready to hear about the possibilities and bring your thoughts about where our energy should be directed.

Brainstorming list of ideas from the June meeting:

• Nora is interested in getting together a CBC youth delegation to El Salvador next year / summer
• Tessa is working on a dream to do a high school exchange at the Baptist school in Santa Ana next summer (she has the go ahead from the Kimberton Waldorf School to pursue this)
• Possiblity for CBC adults and young adults to participate in official election observer delegations in Jan and Mar 2009
• Ken Sehested's invitation for Ruth to attend the global peace conference in Rome in Feb 2009 and possibility of CBC funding that trip
• SHARE's new "Seeds of Hope" agricultural micro-lending fund, maybe "Empty Bowls" fundraising event
• SOA Watch events in Nov 2008, more education and advocacy re: SOA this fall using some of the resources brought back last year from that trip
  
• New Sanctuary Movement, film THE VISITOR proposed by Landi, Catholic Worker connections, etc.