Cingular Pulls Offensive Ringtone

[Adidas410s]

Cingular Pulls Offensive Ringtone

The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; 10:48 PM



BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- Cingular Wireless LLC pulled a ringtone from its Web site Tuesday after learning that it carried a message the company called "blatantly offensive."

The cell phone company became aware of the ringtone, which uses mixed English and Spanish and threatens deportation, after an inquiry from a reporter for The Brownsville Herald.

The newspaper reported in its online edition Tuesday that the ringtone started with a siren, followed by a male voice saying in a Southern drawl, "This is la Migra," a slang term for the Border Patrol.

"Por favor, put the oranges down and step away from the cell phone. I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o," the voice continued.

Hispanic activists called the product racist.

"It's horribly offensive and a disgusting thing," Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told the newspaper.

Cingular removed the $2.49 ringtone, among thousands available for downloading from its Web site, Tuesday afternoon, said company spokesman Mark Siegel.

"Needless to say, we deeply regret and apologize for it ever being there in the first place. The ringtone is blatantly offensive," he said.

The ringtone became available between late February or early March and was downloaded eight times, Siegel said. It was developed by Barrio Mobile, Siegel said. Barrio Mobile is a brand owned by Lagardere Active North American, the U.S. division of a French media company.

Cingular officials were reviewing the process used to screen ringtones, which are developed by several other companies, he said.

© 2006 The Associated Press

[raider red 2000]

i am hispanic and i want it...i think that is hillarious :)

wonder where i can download a bootleg copy

[piratebg]

I laugued, too

[BullFrog Dad]

Originally posted by Adidas410s


The ringtone became available between late February or early March and was downloaded eight times, Siegel said.

© 2006 The Associated Press 'Fess up, Which members downloaded this ringtone? J/K

[WylieGrad2003]

I didn't find it offensive...but then again I'm not mexican either...lol

[mistanice]

Teacher investigated after immigrant students' complaints


FORT WORTH, Texas — A fifth-grade teacher has been removed from her classroom while school district officials investigate whether she punished some students for being absent on the nationwide "Day Without Immigrants" event last week.

Virginia Aranda said the T.A. Sims Elementary teacher made her 11-year-old daughter and about seven other students sit in the sun without a drink for about two hours May 2, the day after many immigrants stayed home from work, school and stores to demonstrate their importance to the U.S. economy and culture.

Some parents said their children also reported that the teacher insulted them and wouldn't let them have bathroom breaks. Some parents learned what had happened when they saw their children sunburned.

But Tanya Dawson, an attorney with the United Educators Association who is representing teacher Jan Shannon, said the allegations are "totally without merit," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition Tuesday.

School district spokeswoman Barbara Griffith said the teacher was removed from the classroom pending an investigation. Sims Principal Rudy Valdez declined to comment.

Another parent, Aracelia Moreno, said Shannon should not be allowed to return.

"She's supposed to be teaching, not judging the students," Moreno said.

Sims, with about 815 students, is 75 percent to 80 percent Hispanic.

On May 2, Shannon also told some students that their history project would receive a grade of zero "because they went to the stupid marches," Moreno said.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by mistanice
"She's supposed to be teaching, not judging the students," Moreno said.

How can she teach those who willingly refuse to attend school?

[raider red 2000]

she should fe fired.

that is pretty bad.

How can you teach those that willingly refuse to teach school?

i am sure those kids dont have cars.
what if a white kid missed to go to the dentist?????

does he/she have to gargle mouthwash and not get to spit? while sitting outside....i doubt it.

[pirate4state]

:rolleyes: Here we go again...http://www.buzzlife.com/forums/images/smilies/deadhorse.gif :(

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by raider red 2000
i am sure those kids dont have cars.
what if a white kid missed to go to the dentist?????



Obviously they don't have cars...but I was making my comment on more broad terms. Also, you can't compare basic health and hygiene not somebody protesting their residency in America.

Also, if the goal of the protests was to demonstrate the economic impact that immigrants from Mexico could have on America, then why were kids pulled from schools? How is there being/not being in school impacting our economy? It provided a $0 loss for our economy by children being pulled from schools. However, it does place an additional burden upon those children because now they have material that they have to make up so that they can catch up to what the other students have already learned.

[zeus63]

Originally posted by raider red 2000
she should fe fired.

that is pretty bad.

How can you teach those that willingly refuse to teach school?

i am sure those kids dont have cars.
what if a white kid missed to go to the dentist?????

does he/she have to gargle mouthwash and not get to spit? while sitting outside....i doubt it.

Great point!!! I know that a lot of people that protested are not in this country legally. But, either way, legal or illegal, we have the right to protest in this country given to us by the 1st amendment. I know the consitution applies to citizens of the United States, but how can you not afford someone that right even if they are not citizens. If you do not afford everyone the same rights it is like saying that they are not human, because the founders of the this country made it clear that everyone (not just citizens) are given certain rights (we are talking about the human race here, not skin color) and those rights cannot be taken away. If this teacher did do this to those children she deserves to be fired, and put in jail for child abuse. Regardless of the teacher's views she should have takent the time to explain the 1st amendment to her students, not repremand them for expressing this right, despite the fact that they might not have fully understood what was going on.

[raider red 2000]

it does effect the economy.

1. those kids not getting free lunches at school helped the cafeteria ladies

2. they had to go buy some chorrizo and eggs.

3. school dosnt get as much money from the state for absent kids.

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basic hygiene can be compared to ditchin school to go protest.

white kids get to miss because they have insurance
brown kids dont have insureance :)


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pirate sorry

BTW what is that little thing with the smiles????

[District303aPastPlayer]

Originally posted by pirate4state
http://www.buzzlife.com/forums/images/smilies/deadhorse.gif

beating a dead horse is what that is

[raider red 2000]

Originally posted by zeus63
Great point!!! I know that a lot of people that protested are not in this country legally. But, either way, legal or illegal, we have the right to protest in this country given to us by the 1st amendment. I know the consitution applies to citizens of the United States, but how can you not afford someone that right even if they are not citizens. If you do not afford everyone the same rights it is like saying that they are not human, because the founders of the this country made it clear that everyone (not just citizens) are given certain rights (we are talking about the human race here, not skin color) and those rights cannot be taken away. If this teacher did do this to those children she deserves to be fired, and put in jail for child abuse. Regardless of the teacher's views she should have takent the time to explain the 1st amendment to her students, not repremand them for expressing this right, despite the fact that they might not have fully understood what was going on.

good answer.

----------------------------------------------
i know that i am the one that likes to stir the pot on this stuff....but i do really like that ring tone.....are there any more politically incorrect ones that i can buy.

yesterday was actually the first time that i looked ring tones to buy....i should have shopped longer. :(

[piratebg]

That poor horse.

:( :weeping:

[raider red 2000]

Originally posted by District303aPastPlayer
beating a dead horse is what that is


thanks sorry.....kinda off subjsct....as far as dead horses go...i just thought about when i was at TECH and the masked rider ran the horse into the wall on accident....led to a dead horse.

sorry i will quit beating the dead horse.

I can never convince adidas that i am write in my own mind.

[pirate44]

im offended by the beating of a horse too. dead or alive, its a horse for the love of pete

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by zeus63
But, either way, legal or illegal, we have the right to protest in this country given to us by the 1st amendment. I know the consitution applies to citizens of the United States, but how can you not afford someone that right even if they are not citizens.

Umm...does this sound the least bit contradictory to you???


Originally posted by zeus63 If you do not afford everyone the same rights it is like saying that they are not human, because the founders of the this country made it clear that everyone (not just citizens) are given certain rights (we are talking about the human race here, not skin color) and those rights cannot be taken away.

So according to your logic...we should allow people who live in China to come to America to file charges against their own governemnt over human rights issues because America provides certain rights to people everywhere? Hello...America's rules and regulations ONLY APPLY TO THE CITIZENS (whether born or naturalized) OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

To help better explain, you are referring to what are known as "natural rights," a concept put forth during the Enlightenment and adhered to by some of our founding fathers. Here is the quote your are mentioning:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

For further explanation, go do some reasearch and you will find that the term MEN only pertained to white, land-owning males. At the time this was written, obviously there were no rights given to slaves nor to women. So based on what our founding fathers wrote...they are still excluding the majority of the population with their original writings.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by pirate4state
:rolleyes: Here we go again...http://www.buzzlife.com/forums/images/smilies/deadhorse.gif :(

I thought it looked like a reindeer...poor Rudolph!

[BullFrog Dad]

Originally posted by Adidas410s
However, it does place an additional burden upon those children because now they have material that they have to make up so that they can catch up to what the other students have already learned. Pipe Down! They missed one day of school. My daughter has missed at least ten this year alone with athletics and FFA. But that's OK. BTW she managed to make up the school work that was unrelated to sports and ag and so will these kids.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by BullFrog Dad
Pipe Down! They missed one day of school. My daughter has missed at least ten this year alone with athletics and FFA. But that's OK. BTW she managed to make up the school work that was unrelated to sports and ag and so will these kids.

I'm not saying that they can't...we all know that making up one day of school isn't that big a deal. I was just "playing the game" and stating that they didn't provide any type of hardship against anybody but themselves...regardless of how small that hardship is.