Chez Moncef

A fire set as part of the ongoing London riots has destroyed the Sony-owned PIAS distribution warehouse, decimating the physical stock of most of the UK’s independent music and film labels.

So sad. Please support your favorite artists and record labels by buying their releases, whether digital or physical. Some of my favorite labels were affected (full list on the PIAS site):

Brownswood Recordings

Buzzin’ Fly

Dessous

Freerange Records

Poker Flat

Soul Jazz Records

I have several older vinyl releases from all of these labels in stock at Monfresh Recastow. If you prefer digital, I recommend these stores:

Beatport

Bleep

Boomkat

Dancetracks Digital

Juno Download

Traxsource

WhatPeoplePlay

I’m surprised this hasn’t been mentioned by any of the journalists on Tumblr. Michael Bloomberg spoke yesterday at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC. Here is a summary of his remarks from mikebloomberg.com:

The Mayor proposed green cards for graduates with advanced degrees in essential fields; a new visa for entrepreneurs with investors ready to invest capital in their job-creating idea; more temporary and permanent visas for highly skilled workers; guest-worker programs to ensure agriculture and other key sectors can thrive; and a revaluation of visa priorities that places a focus on the nation’s economic needs.

And some choice quotes:

This morning, our Partnership for a New American Economy released a report that looks at the impact of immigrants on one major section of the American economy: Fortune 500 companies. The report finds that more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant – or by a child of immigrants. These immigrant-rooted companies employ more than 10 million people worldwide, which is a population larger than 43 states have. And they generate annual revenue of $4.2 trillion.

And those are just the Fortune 500 companies. When you look at the economy as a whole, immigrants and their children have been responsible for creating millions more jobs in all 50 states. The reason is simple: immigrants are dreamers and risk-takers who are driven to succeed, because they know that in America, hard work and talent are rewarded like nowhere else.

Immigrants helped found Google, Yahoo, eBay, Intel, and so many more companies. In fact, immigrants helped found one-quarter of all high-tech companies over a 10-year period. And across all industries, they are twice as likely as native-born Americans to start companies. We need more of these dynamic entrepreneurs – and if we do not open our doors to them, they will go elsewhere. And the good-paying jobs they create will go with them.

I wholeheartedly agree with his proposals. As an immigrant myself, and as a friend of other immigrants, I have firsthand knowledge of the arduous journey to the green card. After they graduate, foreign students are granted one year of “practical training” in the US, with the caveat that the job they apply for must be related to their degree. But before you can start working, you have to wait for your EAD card, which, in my case, took about 2 months to arrive.

In order to continue working past the practical training period, you must find an employer willing to hire you full-time and spend thousands of dollars to sponsor you for the H-1B visa. In order to get approved for the H-1B, your employer has to affirm that you’re not replacing a US citizen who’s equally qualified to perform your job. Not only that, but you have to compete with the thousands of others who are vying for a visa. Congress currently limits the number of H-1Bs that are issued every year to 65,000 (with some exemptions). In April 2007, it took less than 24 hours for the quota to be reached, which shows you how ridiculously low the limit is. A few days prior to that, the WSJ published an article anticipating the deluge of applications, and explained the impact:

Congress is under pressure from employers’ groups to vastly expand the number of visas available each year, and is generally in favor of the idea. Employers say there aren’t enough visas to meet their needs, even though the visas are renewable, and Congress added 20,000 visas this year for foreigners who have at least a master’s degree from a U.S. college. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates testified on behalf of the program on Capitol Hill, warning of dangers to the economy if employers can’t import skilled workers to fill job gaps.

Yet, four years later, things still haven’t changed.

Once you’ve jumped over the H-1B hurdle, if you want to apply for a green card, you have to ask your employer to sponsor you, but there are strings attached. In my case, I had to wait a full year before I could start the process. Once the application is filed, you cannot change jobs, so if you don’t have a fulfilling position, you might end up miserable for years before you get your green card. Luckily, I worked for a great company and got my green card within 2 years. Ten years later, I’m still working there, and I’m now a US citizen.

In all, my path to naturalization took 16 years, which you can visualize in this informative flowchart created by the Reason Foundation.

shortformblog:

Share your password on Netflix? If you live in Tennessee, you should stop. They just passed a law that makes it illegal to share your password to sites like Netflix and Rhapsody — even with permission. They’re the first state to do this. While you don’t have to worry about sharing within the same house, you might have to worry if you have a son or daughter in college, because they just might be sharing your password with everyone on their floor in their dorm. This is because the language of the law is super-vague and punishes mostly innocuous uses of password-sharing. And the punishments are steep too — up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for $500 or less of “theft,” which the law treats as a misdemeanor. The recording industry, as you might guess, is behind this stupid law — and they hope other states will follow suit after this. SOURCE

Srsly?

wardasahra:

When you talk about Morocco to anyone in America, the first image that comes to their mind is of an Aladdinesque dreamland filled with magic carpets and mystical places.  The Moroccan landscape has forever fascinated the senses of its western visitors.  It has accommodated the tourism industry by increasing the numbers of all-inclusive resorts and five star hotels in cities like Agadir and Marrakesh.  How else are Westerners supposed to relax after a long day of “experiencing culture?” Morocco has also been home to a flourishing foreign film industry since the beginning of the 20^th century.  While it has made Morocco famous through the production of several blockbusters including Lawrence of Arabia, Black Hawk Down and more recently Sex and the City 2, the film industry has often led to many misconceptions about the reality of everyday Morocco.

In the last decade, at least 25 films have been partially or fully shot in Morocco.  While most of the films are action and horror movies, Sex and the City 2 is unique in that it is the only romantic comedy among the 25.  As the four cast-members take off to Abu Dhabi (filmed in Morocco) they come across many “cultural differences.”  But really, there is something rather disturbing about the four cast-members prancing around on camels in Indian-looking outfits and other odd assortments.  (Please. Will the camel stereotype ever go away?)  I’m also a bit confused about what effect the stylists were going for.  The attire of the cast members is more reminiscent of something you’d see worn in “Ethnic Barbie’s dream house” than anything you’d ever see an actual Moroccan wearing.  It reminds me of the response someone once gave me when I told them I was from Morocco, “Ooohh I’ve had Indian food before! Morocco’s somewhere over there, right?”  The mindsets represented above are troubling in that they show a complete lack of knowledge or regard for Moroccan and Arab culture in general.

The point is the image of Morocco portrayed to the West is of a magical land ever ready to put on a show for you.  If Saudi Arabia is the gas station of the West, Morocco is the playground. This false façade is quite problematic in that it has prevented the general Western public from gaining any sort of understanding of the daily lives of typical Moroccans.  This façade has also caused many Moroccans’ livelihoods to become dependent on tourism and has led to the general commodification of their country.  Large real estate companies and other multinational corporations have a huge stake in the Moroccan economy.  Any threat to the security of the Moroccan state would be catastrophic for business, meaning these companies have an interest in maintaining the status quo.

It is difficult for Westerners to think about violence in Morocco, because they are shown such a rosy picture of Moroccan society.  It doesn’t make sense for violence to erupt in a place that is apparently absent of ills.  Mainstream Western media has yet to inform its audience of the many issues facing Moroccans today including corruption, police brutality, exorbitant poverty levels, and human rights violations.  It is crucial to think about this framework in which Western minds will understand or fail to understand the recent escalation of the violenceagainst peaceful protesters in Morocco.  Will publicity from the uprisings generate a more nuanced view of Morocco in the minds of Westerners?  Or will the status quo prevail, through a continuing lack of coverage by Western media sources?

There has indeed been very little mainstream coverage of the recent violence against protesters in Morocco. Even my parents—who live in Morocco—were oblivious to the events! I found out about the protests on Tumblr from wardasahra, via the morocco tag. I have been following her ever since and enjoying her links and thoughts. If you want to keep up with what’s going on in Morocco, I suggest you follow Samia, as well these independent journalists that she introduced me to: Al Hakika and Mamfakinch (it helps if you understand French and Arabic).

(via charquaouia-deactivated20120116)

It’s about time! I wish more common-sense policies received bipartisan support.

Sometimes, closed is good.