Recently in Politics Category

I wrote earlier that sometimes white liberals offend me more than white conservatives because they mean well, even as they say something stupid and manage to shove a foot in their mouths.

White conservatives, however, are a little more reliable when it comes to making stupid bigoted statements.

Fernando de Baca, 70, told a different story. The chairman of Bernalillo County Republicans argued that the Latino emphasis on hard work and family values, plus the Catholic church's opposition to abortion, made the community naturally conservative.

He offered another, blunter, reason why he believed John McCain would do well in New Mexico.

"The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors," he said. "African-Americans came here as slaves.

"Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

Emphasis added.  Or, "they'll vote for McCain because they're racist just like me."

The funny thing?  The line that comes right after that one in the blog, from the BBC reporter:

I wasn't sure about this, though. Virtually all of the Hispanic voters I spoke to told me they were supporting Obama.

Emphasis added.  That is what I would call "being clueless on your own turf."

As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.  Job 4:8

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126:5

Today we observe the seventh anniversary of the deadly strikes against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the heroic and tragic efforts of the passengers and crew of flight United 93 who lost their lives trying to save themselves and, in the process, averting an even greater disaster.  By any rational measure, we were all victimized by these events.




But let us not forget our Chilean brothers and sisters who today observe an equally life-altering event: the 35th anniversary of the overthrow of the only known democratically-elected communist president, Salvador Allende.  That coup resulted in thousands of people killed, tortured, mutilated, raped, and disappeared.



And our hands are stained with their blood.

"No podemos permitir que Chile se vaya a las alcantarillas", dijo Kissinger a Jesse Helms, entonces director de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA).

"Estoy con usted", le respondió Helms en la conversación telefónica que ocurrió el 12 de septiembre de 1970 pocos días después de que Allende iniciara su Gobierno.

Which translates, roughly to

"We cannot allow that Chile goes down the gutter," said Kissinger to Jesse Helms, then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

"I'm with you," responded Helms in the telephone conversation of September 12, 1970, a few days after Allende took over his government.

Since that day, the U.S. government did everything in its power to create a climate of crisis in Chile and, as Nixon stated, make Chile's economy scream.  While U.S. involvement in the coup is neither confirmed or denied, what is undeniable is that U.S. actions created the environment that facilitated the coup from occurring.

Many people say that in September 11 innocent civilians were killed.  I agree.  They also say that we didn't deserve to be attacked.  To quote Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven," "deserves has nothing to do with it."

We may choose to be blissfully oblivious to the effects of our nation's foreign and monetary polices on other countries.  Or we can pick and choose which facts fit our preferred narrative.

What we don't get to choose is how the other countries - or the people in it - react when they feel they've had enough.

So, today on September 11, 2008, my wish for our American, Chilean, and Muslim brothers is the same:

Paz y reconciliación.

Peace and reconciliation.

As a day job, I work with back-end computer support, and every once in a while a systems check is performed to make sure everything is running optimal.  Likewise, I think individuals should engage in a 'self-check' every so often.  More so, those that are involved in social affairs should do this especially as to not become immersed in their own manure.

Read below:

Latino registered voters rank education, the cost of living, jobs and health care as the most important issues in the fall campaign, with crime lagging a bit behind those four and the war in Iraq and immigration still farther behind. On each of these seven issues, Obama is strongly favored over McCain--by lopsided ratios ranging from about three-to-one on education, jobs, health care, the cost of living and immigration, to about two-to-one on Iraq and crime.

I don't know if they are ranked in order (too lazy to look at report), but I would put those as my top four.  So in a nutshell, even though I've been MIA, I feel I'm still in touch with the Latino heart.  After all, the Latino heart is a human heart, and these issues are what all Americans are concerned about.  I'd be curious to what issues some readers and writers of Latino Blogs are deemed most important.

These past couple of weeks have seen Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party come within a hair of earning the Democratic Presidential Nomination.  This week, Sarah Palin has become the first female Vice Presidential candidate in the Republican Party's history.  As you may or may not remember, Geraldine Ferraro was the first female VP candidate when she ran with Walter Mondale back in 1984.

These events got me thinking about how far behind the U.S. is when it comes to political gender equality when compared to Latin America.

Do you know when Latin America elected its first female president?  In 1990.  Do you remember who?

Violeta Chamorro was elected President of Nicaragua, and her UNO coalition defeated the Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government (yes, the same Daniel Ortega who now swears his communist ideations back in the '80s were just a bad dream).

Since then, Panamá's Mireya Moscoso, Chile's Michelle Bachelet, and Argentina's Cristina Kirchner have been elected to their nations' highest post.  And while "American," though not "Latin," Janet Jagan was elected President of Guyana.

Isn't it ironic that the nation that incessantly boasts about its freedom, justice, and equality has yet to nominate a woman for the top post of its country while Latin American nations ravaged by decades of repressive regimes are having no problem finding and electing capable females?

What's even more interesting, in many Latin American nations, the rise in female political activism and access has been tied to "affirmative action."

Since 1991, 12 Latin American countries have enacted quota laws that in some cases have doubled the number of female congressional representatives.  While in the United States women make up just 15 percent of the House of Representatives and 14 percent of the Senate, in Argentina and Costa Rica, women comprise fully one-third of the national congresses.

[BRIEF ASIDE: No, I don't consider "affirmative action" to be "quotas," but some people somewhere do.  It's a joke.]

Which countries?  These ones:

Latin American Countries With Legislative Gender Quotas

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru. Venezuela recently rescinded its law. In Colombia, there is a legal requirement that women occupy 30 percent of appointed positions in the executive branch.

Quotas or not, it is clear that Latin American countries are more receptive to the idea of a female leader than the U.S.

Go figure.

At least that's the way it looks from a political standpoint, particularly now that the Inspector General concluded that Monica Goodling and D. Kyle Sampson (a.k.a. "Blondie and Baldy")  have been found "to routinely break the law by conducting political litmus tests on candidates for jobs as immigration judges and line prosecutors."

Goodling passed over hundreds of qualified applicants and squashed the promotions of others after deeming candidates insufficiently loyal to the Republican party, said investigators, who interviewed 85 people and received information from 300 other job seekers at Justice. Sampson developed a system to screen immigration judge candidates based on improper political considerations and routinely took recommendations from the White House Office of Political Affairs and Presidential Personnel, the report said.

All this occurred under the "watchful eye" of  former U.S. Attorney General Alberto "I don't recall" Gonzalez, the first - and thanks to him, maybe the last - Latino named to this post.

That said, as a lawyer I am disappointed.  Attorneys are easy to find.  Open your local phone book or check out your local TV advertisement and it'll be easy to see.  Good attorneys, willing to serve the public good, those are really hard to find.  Now by the time you finish law school your student debt could easily be in triple digits, even if you've received some financial aid along the way.  For young attorneys, it is much more financially appealing to enter private practice than to take a public job.  Not to mention, there's always that stigma about "government workers" which, when it comes to attorneys, is often the exception and not the rule.

What this guy allowed to take place here is disgusting and it will set back the Attorney General's efforts in recruiting good candidates for years.

And it had to happen during a Latino's watch.  ¡Qué jodienda, compadre!

An AM New York articletitled "Changing of the Guard" hit the streets today launching from Jesse's recent remarks about Obama "talking down to black people," to a change in the consciousness of black leaders today and past.

I think Latino leaders too (God, I hope!!!), have this thought process present today, but do not have the national media presence such as Jesse or Obama.

Some good buddies of mine presented a clip called “Our Dos Centavos: Strategies for Latino Bloggers," from the Netroots Nation seminar.

While I haven't listened to the whole thing yet, my only suggestion is to put it on You Tube.

Texas, and Activists, and Bloggers.  Oh my.

Right now, Ruben Navarrete's ability to give me heartburn is remarkable.  I just came across his July 7 commentary on CNN.com and he's got the wrong facts out again.

There are 46 million Latinos in the United States. And, contrary to what the nativist fringe thinks, that figure refers to U.S. citizens and legal residents. Illegal immigrants are, shall we say, off the books. At least 9 million Latinos are expected to cast ballots in the fall, but that number could go as high as 10 million. They could have a disproportionate influence on the election because they're swing voters concentrated in battleground states.

OK, there's nothing wrong with that.  I just needed to add that to put his stupid comment in perspective:

And because this year, neither Obama nor McCain has a lock on Hispanic voters, even if it appears otherwise at the moment. Polls show that among Hispanics, Obama is leading by a 2-to-1 ratio.

Two-to-one, Mr. Navarrete?  Think again.

Obama leads McCain, 47% to 40%, with 13% saying they prefer someone else or are not yet sure about their selection in the race – just a slight shift from June’s survey, when Obama led McCain 47% to 42%. . . Among Hispanics, Obama has significantly boosted his lead over McCain to 71% to 19%. In June, Obama led among Hispanics with 54% support, compared to 44% support for McCain.

Emphasis added.  And again.

Obama leads among liberals, and has a smaller lead among moderates. He leads among black voters by a very large margin, and has a sizable margin among Hispanics.

Emphasis added.  How big?  Try 62%-23%.  That's closer to three-to-one.

The facts are that Obama has steadily gained support from the Latino community after he was deemed the presumed nominee.  He will hit a wall at some point and his numbers will go back and forth some.  Obama can't keep getting better forever (hate to break this to the Obamaniacs, but, he's only human).  But right now he's doing better than two-to-one.

The facts also are that while McCain had a three-month head start since he became the Republicans' presumptive nominee, he has not managed to attract Latinos - Cubans aside - in any significant way.

But Mr. Navarrete won't let the facts get in the way of a good political story: "Latinos Torn Between Obama and McCain."  It would make for a heck of a story . . . if it were true.

"Jesse Jackson's point is wrapped up in jealousy over the fact that Obama has done what Jesse could never do-- win the Democratic nomination for president. And because Obama has repeatedly rejected the victimization card that Jackson was so fond of playing for many years."

I agree.

Just Discovering The Hispanic Vote?  Does this reveal more truth about McCain than other candidates?


More on candidates vying for Latino vote.

In my book it's a little late, but better late than never.

Alberto, there is only ONE latino pundit.

According to a poll from Public Policy Polling, Obama leads McCain in Florida 46% to 44%.  Although it's within the margin of error of the survey (+/- 3.6%), it is telling that among Latinos, Obama leads McCain 51% to 37% (on page 7 of the results).  That trend is consistent with PPP's results for Virginia (47%-36% Hispanics & "others") as well.

I guess we can start putting this myth to rest now.

UPDATE - 7-2-2008: 

Hispanic registered voters' support for Barack Obama for president remained consistent and strong in June, with Obama leading John McCain by 59% to 29% among this group.

While Hispanics generally preferred Hillary Clinton to Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, a solid majority of Hispanics have consistently backed Obama against McCain in general-election trial heats. Obama has led McCain by about a 2-to-1 margin since Gallup began tracking general-election voting preferences in early March.

Emphasis added.  This is just what I expected: when Latinos look at what McCain and Obama have to offer, Latinos would brake in large numbers in favor of Obama.

Now, the only thing we need is to remember to vote.

That's what some nuts will do if Obama wins.  This is even more so the reason why Obama should win!.  Interesting post over at Ornicus.

And while you are there, you may as well keep scrolling down as there are many posts concerning Obama, Race, McCain, and racist signs that once were okay to put up.