Guest Voz - Michael Lopez: Mexican Icon Cantinflas To Be Honored On 100th Birthday

Guest Voz - Michael Lopez from Blogamole: Sure Cantinflas never won an Academy Award or grossed a billion dollars at the box office, but that doesn't mean his cinematic impact wasn't felt. In fact, many regard the Mexican movie star as a cultural icon on the same level as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. And in his home country, millions are planning to honor his memory as his 100th birthday approaches next month.

Born into an impoverished family, Mario Moreno started his career as a local prizefighter. From there, he branched off into circus performing and eventually film and television. After adopting the stage name Cantinflas, he became world famous for channeling the role of a comedic underdog in over 50 Spanish films. He even made his way to Hollywood, earning a Golden Globe for his part in 1956's Around The World In 80 Days. Cantinflas received numerous lifetime achievement awards before his death in 1993 and has become even more iconic since. And as his big centennial celebration approaches, you can expect even more Cantinflas news and merchandise circulating to the masses.
Mexico City is choosing to honor Cantinflas by erecting over 125 of his paintings and photographs throughout its busiest districts. His son Mario Moreno Ivanova is also closely involved with the celebration and seemed very excited about kicking off the festivities.

"Estoy aquí presente para recordar a mi papá para iniciar los homenajes este día, no importa quién los haga; mientras sea homenajeado y sea recordado y celebrado, para mí es un honor," he stated.
But don't think the honors stop there. Throughout the country, there will ongoing screenings of popular Cantinflas films, commemorative stamps, and a new pictorial book with personal Moreno anecdotes. And stateside Cantinflas fans are in for a big treat too. Former NBC head Ben Silverman is currently working on a big budget biopic of the actor, which will be directed by Alejandro Monteverde.

Are you a fan of Cantinflas? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Greedy, Tea-Party Backed HINO Raul Labrador FOR the Rich and AGAINST the Elderly & Against Latinos!

Greedy, Tea Party backed HINO (Hispanic in Name Only) Career Obsessed Politician - Raul Labrador is so obsessed with Political Gain and Advancement, he is demanding Cuts to Medicare and Social Security. He is also demanding MASS DEPORTATION for the 12M here. Additionally, he demands Tax Cuts for the Rich, Reduced Regulation and Outsourcing Offshore for Big Business. The duplicitous and politically ambitious Labrador (like a Pit-Bull) also supports massive Guest Worker programs promoted by his crony PAC contributors. Imagine the carnage! Tea-Party HINO Labrador wants the 12M Mass Deported, yet wants to bring in new Guest Workers, year after year, for big business to underpay and exploit -- PLUS he supports Big Business' continuing to outsource jobs offshore to China and elsewhere. The Koch Brothers LOVE HINO Labrador.

HINO Labrador wasn't always a misdirected, career obsessed tea-party politician. He was born in Puerto Rico. He came to the mainland with his mother at 13. Neither he nor his mother spoke English. His mother insisted he speak Spanish at home, but she also insisted he become fluent in English outside the home. Labrador studied and worked hard. He studied the Spanish language and literature at Brigham Young University. In fact, he and his mother graduated from college the same year. He met his wife, Rebecca Johnson. He became a Mormon. He finished Law School in 1996. Eleven years ago he set up an immigration law practice just outside of Boise. He was elected to the state Legislature in 2006.

Along the way, despite Laborador's Hispanic origins and interactions with Immigrants while an Immigration attorney, somehow, his quest for Power got in the way. Labrador doesn’t respond to ties with immigration rights groups, nor does he plan to stick to the same old conservative agenda. Even though he is abundantly aware of the racial/racist context of the right-wing's racial profiling Bills across the country, he said last week: “The left claims that Republicans hate Hispanics, which is just the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard."

Labrador voted for Idaho's ENGLISH ONLY bill. He also supported Arizona's racial profiling bill sb1070 and Labrador received the endorsement of one of the most heinous enemies of the Immigration Reform Cause, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. During his campaign, Labrador praised the Supreme Court decision upholding the racial profiling law.

Last week, HINO Labrador said to his Tea Party supporters about his Immigration work and about his OWN LATINO CLIENTS:
“My job was to represent people, who, for the most part, had done BAD things. In immigration, my job was to help them get straight, to go through the legal immigration system.” Labrador noted he sent “HUNDREDS” of clients who had come here illegally BACK to their home countries to apply the right way. “I have never shied away from that. I have represented some BAD people,” he said. Labrador dismisses the notion that his work in immigration law might somehow taint his ability to be sufficiently conservative on illegal immigration.

“Everybody knows that I’m to the (extreme) RIGHT of everybody on most issues. That’s something people are learning here. They could come to Washington and say, ‘Oh, he’s liberal because he’s an immigration lawyer.’ Well that didn’t work because they’d seen me work in state Legislature for four years; they’d seen my forceful advocacy for conservative (ANTI-Latino) values in all issues.”

HINO Labrador has his supporters in Big Business. Though Labrador supports MASS DEPORTATION, he also supports a Guest Worker program. In other words, send back the 12M here and bring in new workers from other countries for Big Business to exploit for a few months every year, then send them back. Recently Labrador, the Idaho Congressman, visited with Big Business contributors in Puerto Rico to pick up hundreds of thousands of campaign contributions from Big Business from offshore Rum and alcohol producers. He stayed at the posh Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resorts and hosted several fund raising events at the Ponce Hilton and Casino. He brought his wife and friend and found a way to PAY them as "working" for the campaign. These lavish parties and expensive treats -- all coming from a HINO who is advocating NOT Raising the Debt Ceiling, Forcing the Elderly to EAT CAT FOOD and MASS Deporting 12M people!

Latinos - Devout Christians - Across the Americas -- Pay Tribute to La Virgen de Guadalupe

LA Times reports: L.A.'s shrines to the Virgen de Guadalupe
Every Friday, Margarita Jimenez comes to see the virgin in the parking lot, where kids scream, cars honk and the air smells of exhaust. She turns to the scene of chaos and asks: "Anyone want to pray with me?" No one responds, but she pulls out her rosary beads, bows her head and begins. She knows that in the City of Angels, others share her devotion.

Latino Catholics have long created their own sacred spaces. They build altars in parking lots, chapels in shopping malls, grottos in back alleys and shrines in weed-choked vacant lots. The Virgen de Guadalupe appeared for the first time in the 1500s, to a poor Indian named Juan Diego on a hill near Mexico City. All across Mexico, she is still seen today, somber, hands in prayer, draped in the red and green of Mexico's flag. She anchors altars — outside police stations, in plazas and apartment building corridors, even in public restrooms. Telenovelas feature her shrine in every barrio. It's where the hero or heroine goes to cry when in trouble.

In Los Angeles, the tributes appear as vibrant mirages in a world of asphalt and concrete. Some are impressive, with recessed lighting and hand-carved doors imported from Mexico. Others are tiny, with little more than a burned-out candle as tribute. Proud or plain, where there's a virgin, there's a story.

The shrine where Margarita Jimenez prays is one of East L.A.'s oldest — in the parking lot of El Mercado de Los Angeles, a large swap meet at East 1st and Lorena streets. Here, the Virgin appears framed by pink and white roses in a mural at least 15 feet high. She twinkles after dark beneath strings of Christmas lights. Forty years ago, a group of women who sold clay pots and aprons in the parking lot loved the Virgin so much that they paid a painter to grace the lot's back wall with her image. Over time, the painted Virgin took on a life of her own. People brought Her flowers and candles, kissed her robe and placed photos of their loved ones at Her feet. Eventually, the swap meet manager paid to make Her permanent, in tile. "Everyone respects Her," says Maria Carlton, El Mercado's manager.

Each year on Her feast day, Dec. 12, hundreds gather before sunrise to serenade Her. When Carlton took over El Mercado in the 1980s, she went on the radio to encourage people to come. The annual event now draws more than 5,000 believers. They celebrate the Virgin for 24 hours. Bands play, children dance and shopkeepers donate countless tamales, gallons of coffee and pots of menudo. Jimenez, 62, always attends. But her real offering is her Friday visits. "This way," she says. "She'll never feel alone."
==========
In Highland Park, the little Virgin was so hidden away that no one witnessed the moment of her vanishing."From one day to the next," says Roderick Smith, an artist who lives high above Figueroa Street in a big, dark brown Craftsman at the top of a 100-year-old stone stairway. Four years ago, he and his family placed the statue in a niche at the top of the stairs — to honor his 88-year-old mother-in-law, Guadalupe Handy.

The stairway is obscured by a tall, arched wall. Gang members used to hide on the steps. Syringes littered the ground. The Virgin changed everything, says Smith, who is neither Catholic nor religious. People began dropping by to bring the Virgin flowers and pay their respects. And for the first time in 30 years, Smith's family felt safe using the steps to walk to Figueroa. "The Shrine had power," he says. "It's like She turned it into some sort of Basilica." Then suddenly, last Easter, She disappeared.

Smith, 60, was thinking of installing a new one weeks later when two strangers rang his doorbell. They wore Virgen de Guadalupe T-shirts and had gray splatters up to their arms. Jose Alfredo Sanchez and Jose Ortiz Sanchez, brothers who washed cars down the road, took Smith to the niche to see their gift: a shiny, new Virgin fixed in a mound of wet concrete. Now, at least once a week, the brothers sit on the steps, sip beers and commune with their Virgin. "We call them the ushers of the Basilica," Smith says.
::
Up the road about a mile, Isabelita Vasquez said she once got a direct request from the Virgin. It happened, the Highland Park dentist says, about a decade ago, as she was praying to Our Lady of Lourdes. The Virgin, she says, asked her to help spread her word. So Vasquez decided to build her a grotto in the alley behind her office, near the remote control gate. "I knew I had to do something," Vasquez says. "I had to build a home for the Queen Mother."

Just before Sept. 11, a worker completed Vasquez's commission, an elaborate grotto shaped like a movie-set cave. It sits at the edge of the drab alley, crowded with statues — Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, cherubs, a baby Jesus, several grown-up ones. Vasquez brought in avocado trees, orchids and bougainvillea, then wrought-iron benches so people could sit. She put up a canopy to protect her creation from rain.

Worship continues inside the dentist's office. Her waiting room features its own small shrine, where patients sometimes pray before appointments. Every Wednesday, when the office is closed, Vasquez goes there anyway to recite the rosary. And once a month, as a special offering, she and a group of other devoted women recite 2,000 Hail Marys. Some people don't get it. She understands that. But she feels God is proud of her work. She points to her back door, down a dark hall, as proof. When the door is shut and you stand at a certain angle, she says, a bearded face appears. "It is Jesus," she says. "He is there. But if you don't believe, you will not see him."
::
Plaza Mexico in Lynwood goes to great lengths to be authentic. The shopping center's façade replicates Guadalajara's government palace and the lamps and bright colors evoke San Miguel de Allende. People from Mexico shop here because it feels like home. So 11 years ago, when thousands wrote in and called for a chapel honoring the Virgin, "it had to be the real deal," says marketing director Carlos Villar. That meant getting an official painting of the Virgin as She appeared on Juan Diego's apron from the place where the apron was kept, the Basilica de Guadalupe near Mexico City. Such a request could take years. So the plaza's staff launched a full-on campaign. They contacted the basilica's archbishop and sent him videos, photos and documents to prove Los Angeles' love for the Virgin. To welcome Her, they built a colonial-style chapel, with recessed lights in its high ceiling.

Assistant Manager Norma Rodriguez spent nearly a month in Mexico in search of the perfect doors. Today, the Holy Portrait sits in a silver and gold frame, its authenticity confirmed by the archbishop's signature.

Jairo Ramirez, 22, visits her once a week after shopping and paying his cellphone bill. "I ask Her the same thing each time," the tapestry worker says. "'Take care of me and take of my family in San Luis Potosi until I'm able to return home.'"
::
In Echo Park, no one seemed to mind that Her shrine resembled a doghouse. People sat before her in plastic chairs to pray — for the gangs to settle down, for the father who couldn't find work. Silvia Jacinto, 51, lived across the street from the Shrine in its overgrown vacant lot. She felt honored to watch over it.

The Virgin, who came from Tijuana, is a bit taller than a ruler. She starred in the neighborhood's Christmas posadas, and at first She was passed from house to house. But about 2005, Her worshippers decided She needed a place of her own. Half a dozen neighborhood men set out to build it in a lot that a local arts center was transforming into a park. They used scraps of tile, stucco and shingles. Their wives brought them water and beer. The work went on for seven months. In the end, the men beamed at their handiwork: a beige and baby-blue structure shaped just like Snoopy's house.

"When I saw it I thought, 'Oh wow. That's not what I would have done,'" says Tricia Ward, founder of the arts center, Art … Community … Land … Activism. "But it's their Shrine, and they love it just the way it is." Or they did.

Some of the prayerful moved away as parts of the area gentrified. Others stopped going outside, afraid of gangs that still lingered. In the span of two years, on nearby streets, a 9-year-old was killed, then a 4-year-old. Nowadays, the keeper of the shrine is its only regular visitor. She gently wipes dust off the Virgin's face and robes. She scrapes candle wax off the tile. And she bides her time."My faith is so big," Jacinto says, "I know people one day will want to come back."

Try Something New Tonight! Try Abuelita Salazar's Cactus Paddle Salad

Guest Voz - Chef Traci (Salazar) Des Jardins:
My son, Eli and I were down at my aunt's house in Santa Cruz spending a few summer days with the family. While there we usually shop local, which includes visiting the Mexican markets and fruit stands near their house looking for ingredients for our meals. During our stay I had it in my mind to make Eli's favorite salad of jicama and oranges. For some strange reason that day, the markets were out of jicama, but they did have large piles of nopales or cactus paddles.
When I was growing up in the small Central Valley town of Firebaugh, California, my grandparents had a big cactus in their backyard that my grandmother used for making a wonderful nopales salad along with other cactus dishes. Grandma Angela Salazar moved from Torreon, Mexico, as a baby and grew up to be a great cook. As a child, I spent many days following her around the kitchen helping and learning from her. My restaurant Mijita is actually named in tribute to my grandmother. She used to call me Mijita, meaning "little one" in Spanish. Family meals were an important part of my childhood when everyone spent time cooking together in the kitchen or gathered around the table to celebrate a holiday. Today a lot of my inspiration in the kitchen is rooted in what I learned from my grandparents.
When my grandmother prepared her nopales salad she would start by picking the cactus paddles from her yard. The best paddles were the small succulent ones and often she would have to climb a ladder to reach the good paddles cutting them with a knife or yard sheers for those that were even harder to reach. Then I would help her clean them, which was very difficult because the paddles have lots of stickers and we didn't wear gloves, so you can only imagine how much it hurt... especially as a small girl. After we picked out the stickers from the paddles, my grandmother would pick the stickers out of my hands. Today you can buy cactus paddles cut and ready to go, it's amazing how easy kids have it these days!

For my salad, I bought a bunch of paddles and proceeded to cube and tenderize them, sweating them with a few tablespoons of olive oil until their bright green color dulled to a muted shade, about 5 minutes. Then I chilled them down in the refrigerator for about a half hour before adding spring onions, lime juice, Serrano chile, more olive oil, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. My recipe probably differs from what my grandmother used to throw together in her kitchen.

Cactus Paddle Salad:
- 4 cups cactus paddles, cubed
- 2 bunches spring onions, finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
- juice of one lime
- 1 chopped Serrano chile
- ¼ olive oil
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Eli was busy playing with his cousins and didn't help me cook this time around. When I finished making the cactus paddle salad, I served it with carnitas that I had slow cooked the day before, and with tortillas of course. I wasn't sure that Eli would like the nopales, nevertheless, I put a pile on his plate with the rest of his dinner. He didn't say anything; he just ate all of it, a sign to me that it had passed his approval. Grandmother Angela would have been proud!

President's Healthcare Plan Helps People With Pre-Existing Conditions! You May Qualify!

Readers:
I want to share some Good News with you!
The President's Healthcare Plan helps people with pre-existing conditions. Is your monthly insurance rate sky high? Do you have pre-existing conditions? If so, you may qualify for the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). If you don't have Healthcare or if your rates are too high (thousands of dollars a month), you may benefit by enrolling in this plan.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan makes health insurance available to people who have had a problem getting insurance due to a pre-existing condition.
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan:
•Covers a broad range of health benefits, including primary and specialty care, hospital care, and prescription drugs.
•Does not charge you a higher premium just because of your medical condition.
•Does not base eligibility on income.

Read more about others who have enrolled in this program:
On June 28, Irene Schmoller sent an email to her health insurance company, Health Net of Arizona, letting them know she wanted to drop her policy.

"I just can not afford paying over $1200 a month!!" wrote Schmoller, 63. "I've been a member for over 20 years, but you have outpriced yourself. I am a very healthy person who eats healthy, exercises and does not smoke or am I overweight. Just because I have pre-existing conditions which no longer apply you charge me a fortune! Goodbye!"

Schmoller, who lives in Safford, Ariz., is dropping Health Net in favor of a new $5 billion government program created by the Affordable Care Act to provide affordable coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions like diabetes or heart disease. The catch is that she'll have to wait six months without insurance before she can apply.

The program is called the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, or PCIP, and so far, just 18,313 people have enrolled across the country. (Read the Rest of the article HERE)

Republicans CAUGHT Creating New Jim Crow Laws - Pushing Voter Suppression for the Poor and Minorities in the 2012 Election!

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO A WHITE APPLICANT! IMAGINE WHAT THEY WILL DO TO THE POOR OR A MINORITY! VOTER SUPPRESSION! JIM CROW!
Republican Governor Scott Walker is CAUGHT! He deliberately is pushing Jim Crow Voter Suppression Laws before Congress! His new bill is demanding anyone who registers to Vote go the the DMV. The DMV requires a BANK ACCOUNT with Money in it as Proof of Residency! CAN YOU IMAGINE?!
Watch the Video.
Look to see What Type of Jim Crow Enforcement he is putting in place to Block Poor and Minority Voters! It is Jim Crow ALL OVER AGAIN!
AND -- He is closing DMV offices in Poor Areas!
THE ACLU SHOULD INVESTIGATE IMMEDIATELY! DOJ, ACLU, MALDEF, NAACP, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE FILE A LAW SUIT AGAINST SCOTT WALKER IN WISCONSIN!
------
Video Transcript:
OBTAINING A VOTER ID AT THE DMV, MADISON WI 7-18-11.
ACCORDING TO THE DOT WEBSITE, in order to obtain a Voter ID, one must go to a DMV office and provide:
1. Proof of name & date of birth
2. Proof of identity
3. Proof of Wisconsin residency
4. Proof of US citizenship
5. A social security number
Station #1: The clerk examines my son’s BANK STATEMENT and determines that there isn’t enough “activity” on his account. I questioned the clerk about this, then turned on my camera. (Clerk examines Bank Statement, and that he uses Checking/Savings Account – need to show ACTIVITY, not just Balance.)
After making sure there is SUFFICIENT BANK ACTIVITY, the clerk decides he can send us on to the next station. It seems “Bank Activity” is NOW a REQUIRMENT for Voting!
 What if he is Homeless and doesn’t have a Bank Account?
The clerk hasn’t dealt with a homeless person wishing to obtain a Voter ID, and apparently has NO IDEA how he would handles such a situation.
I don’t blame the clerk for this.. he’s doing what he was trained to do – turn away anyone who doesn’t have sufficient proof of residency.
Station 2: My son’s photograph is taken.
Station 3: This clerk examines the bank statement and finds it acceptable. (I find this “reading of the bank statement” to be an invasion of privacy.) The clerk automatically jots down “$28” on the application. He then notices that the “special box” on the form has been checked, so he crosses off the amount due. It bothers me that the clerk never asked if this application was for a Voter ID card or a regular ID card… How many people will forget to check the “special box” (or won’t notice it at all)?
They will either be charged $28 ( a poll tax), or will go away without getting a Voter ID.
State id cards should be free but applicants NOT notified. Not told from the start. Same card.
They wanted to change this law but affects a lot of people.
Here’s the supervisor: voter id or regular id. Charged $28.
They need to ask for it.
The instruction is: need id card to go and vote. If original / replacement/ duplicate…
Direction is to let them ask. Powers that be. Tracey howard. Regional operations manager. 608 226 7540. 2 weeks for id card? Sent thru mail. Has to meet same requirements. Come through mail. ID, voter ID, method thru which we verify residency. Still provide us with address, even if address. How do they show you if they don’t have bank account.
Letter from shelter; accept
Video runs out of film.
The supervisor tells me that a homeless person would need a letter from a sherlter in order to prove residency…I wonder how many homeless shelters have official letterhead. I asked the supervisor, “What about a homeless person who lives on the street rather than in a shelter?” He told me that unless they could provide”acceptable proof of Wisconsin residency,” they wouldn’t be able to obtain a Voter ID.
According to David Canon, a UW political science professor…there are an estimated 300,000 people who need a Voter ID. There are an estimated 300,000 eligible voters in the state who do not have a driver’s license. A number disproportionately made up by elderly, minorities , the disabled and students.
How does the DMV plan to accommodate 300,000 people who need a Voter ID?
This is what Voter Suppression Looks like.

Insane Republicans Show Violent Video to invigorate their Members!

Republicans are INSANE! As TeaParty Members hypnotize Republican members of Congress to "Go into the Light" of Economic Default and reject the President's call to raise the Debt Ceiling, another Republican Congressman incites' Violence by showing this Video Clip!
AMERICA! Listen to what these Insane Republicans are doing and REMEMBER Next November, 2012! REGISTER NOW! VOTE THEN!

ASTOUNDING Pew Study Illustrates the Republican Strategy to De-Power Minorities

A new Pew Research study illustrates the Republican Strategy to De-Power All Minorities. During George Bush's tenure, we saw massive cuts to Regulations, pandering to Wall Street and Big Business, Predatory Lending and Housing Bubble Burst, which all resulted in Economic Racism! Not only did these policies Cripple the Economy, they resulted in a 66% drop of Net Worth to Latinos and 53% drop for Blacks.

America: We need to Pay Attention to these Studies!
Look at the Republican Strategies: Cut Unemployment Benefits; Obliterate the Unions; End Medicare and Medicaid; Cut/End Social Security. Beyond these obvious attacks, LOOK at what Republican Governors are doing. They are targetting the Voting Rights of the Poor, the Elderly and Minorities. They are Cutting Education. They are looking to Change Voting Laws. First they are implementing new Laws to Force DMV IDs for all Voters. 2nd, they are CLOSING DMV offices in Poor/Minority areas. WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS OBVIOUS! REPUBLICANS ARE LOOKING TO DE-POWER MINORITIES WHILE THEY STILL CAN! THEY DO NOT WANT A MULTI-CULTURAL AMERICA, THEY WANT AN AMERICA WHERE NORTHERN EUROPEAN REPUBLICANS RULE THE POOR LOWER CLASS.

READ THE PEW STUDY:
Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics
The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.

These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.
(see the rest of the article at the PEW Research center)

Racist Arkansas School won't allow Black Teenager with Highest GPA to be Valedictorian because of Race!

NYDaily News Reports: A black teen-age mom with the highest GPA in her class was forced to share valedictorian honors with a white classmate by a racist Arkansas school district, a lawsuit charges. The federal suit was filed last week on behalf of Kymberly Wimberly, 18, against the McGehee school district, its superintendent and her high school principal.

"Defendants did not support African-American students, and did not want to see Wimberly, an African-American young mother, as valedictorian," the nine-page suit charges. "But for Wimberly's race, defendants would not have selected a student with a lower GPA than Wimberly to also be a valedictorian."

The lawsuit was first reported on Monday by the Courthouse News Service. Both Wimberly and the white student spoke at the McGehee Secondary School graduation in May, the lawsuit said. A message left with the school superintendent for comment was not returned on Monday, according to MSNBC.com.

According to the lawsuit, Wimberly - who missed three weeks of her junior year after delivering a baby - earned all A's except for a single B during her four years at the school. Her grade point average was the highest of any student in the Class of 2011 - but school officials opted to name a second valedictorian, a white student with a lower GPA, the suit said.

Wimberly's mother Molly Bratton said she was blocked from addressing the school board about the flap until after the graduation ceremony. The lawsuit seeks punitive damages of $75,000 or more, as well as a declaration that Wimberly is the sole valedictorian of her class.

Message to Our President: VETO the Republican Bill! Stand Your Ground!

Dear Mr. President,

WE the People are behind you.
If Reid's bill does not pass, VETO the Republican Bill. Don't put us through this again in six months. VETO THE BILL!
Then, use the 14th Amendment! Cut every piece of Republican Pork. Go red state by red state, District by district, particularly the Tea Party districts, and CUT their Pork! Save the country Trillions this way!

VETO THE BILL!

Don't let these insane Republicans manipulate you and our country! They will be out of office in 2012. WE THE PEOPLE will vote them out!

STAND YOUR GROUND!

God Bless America
God Bless Our President Obama!

All Republicans Willing to Give Up Their Social Security and Medicare: Comment Here

I ask ALL Republicans who are willing to give up their Social Security and Medicare, and to end these "entitlements" for their families to SIGN THE LIST!

Sign Up Republicans. Comment Here.
I will send your names to Congress!
Stand up for your beliefs!
Comment here!

QUESTIONS FOR AMERICA: ENTITLEMENTS & JOBS!

QUESTIONS FOR AMERICA:

WHY ARE MEDICARE & SOCIAL SECURITY CALLED "ENTITLEMENTS" WHEN "WE THE PEOPLE" HAVE PAID INTO THEM ALL OF OUR LIVES???


WHY DO REPUBLICANS CALL THE RICH/BIG BUSINESS "JOB CREATORS" WHEN THEY ARE NOT CREATING JOBS IN AMERICA, MAKE RECORD PROFITS AND CONTINUE TO OUTSOURCE JOBS OUT OF THE COUNTRY?


WHY DO TEAPARTIERS SUPPORT THE REPUBLICAN/TEAPARTY AGENDA WHEN MOST OF THEM ARE ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE?


WHY DO SO MANY TEAPARTIERS WHO ARE WHITE AND ON MEDICARE/MEDICAID/SOCIAL SECURITY "HATE THE PRESIDENT" WHO IS BLACK?

NOTE: ALL AMERICANS KNOW THE ANSWER TO THESE QUESTIONS

Mike Lee & Insane Republican/TeaParty Agenda: Out to End "Child Labor Laws"

Back in January, 2011, Teaparty supported Congressman Mike Lee recommended rescinding Child Labor Laws. In February, Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham (also backed by the Tea-Party) introduced SB 222 that proposed to:
Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham (also backed by the Tea-Party) introduced SB 222 that proposed to:
•Repeal restrictions for workers under age 14.
•Remove the requirement that workers under age 16 obtain a work permit.
•Loosen industry restrictions on employment of minors [such as allow hotels to employ children under age 16].
•Strip Missouri’s Department of Labor of the authority to inspect workplaces that employ children.
•Eliminate employer record-keeping requirements.
•Abolish the presumption that the presence of a child in the workplace is evidence of her/his employment.
•Fortunately for Missouri’s children, SB 222 died in committee.

In Maine, two Anti Child Labor bills were introducted by Republicans:
LD 1346 proposes to:
•Lower the state’s minimum wage from $7.50 per hour to $5.25 per hour for workers under age 20 for the first 180 days on the job.
•Remove limits on the number of hours workers age 16-17 can work on school days.
•Increase by four hours the amount of time during a school day workers under age 16 can work.
•Repeal the requirement that child-workers obtain a work permit from the school district, substituting parental sign-off on a consent form.
LD 516 proposes to:
•Repeal limits on the number of hours workers age 16 and under can work when school is not in session.
•Remove all limits on the number of hours 17-year-olds can work.

AMERICA, ARE YOU WATCHING? Republicans are looking to end Child Labor Laws enacted by Democrats. REPUBLICANS ARE INSANE!!!!!

The Republicans are OUT OF THEIR MINDS. Their Agenda:
1. END Social Security
2. END Medicare
3. END Child Labor Laws
and many more ANTI Middle Class Bills!

MOST OF ALL, THEY WANT TO END AMERICA AS WE KNOW IT!

The Republicans and the Teapartiers are Hell-Bent on ENDING America as we know it and FILLING UP THE POCKETS OF THE RICH and BIG BUSINESS! Their Puppeteers, their Masters, including heinous RICH Business People like the Koch Brothers want us to revert to pre-1930s America where the Rich get Richer and the Middle Class and Poor are pushed to Extreme Poverty Levels. This includes: Old People, Children, the Sick, the Helpless -- the Republicans are seeking are Great Country to turn into two separate societies: The Rich, and the Those that SERVE THEM!

Norwegian Right Wing Extremist Zealot Anders Behring Breivik is WRONG! Most Logical People DO NOT Believe as he Does!

I refuse to feel sorry for the Norwegian Right Wing Extremist Zealot Anders Behring Breivik for the murders he committed. He is a right wing extremist. He was a member of a group similar to the Tea Parties, initially formed by zealots wanting to reduce taxes that morphed into a restrictionist anti-Immigrant Hate Group!
On Friday morning, this Domestic Terrorist sought out to kill the children of the opposing political group. He succeeded. Not only did he Kill and murder over 90 Children, he also set off a home-made fertilizer bomb that killed 7 members of the opposing political party.
This self-absorbed egotistical Tea Party type maniac even went on Facebook and on blogs on the internet to gain media attention for his heinous Child Killing plan. What kind of ANIMAL is this political, right wing zealot??
He also wrote a political diatribe similar to the diatribe of Osama Bin Laden -- a fatwah!
Why was Breivik upset? Because, like so many right wing extremists, he hated the thought of Immigration and he hated our world's metamorphosis to a multi-cultural society. Instead, he cited his love and support for a Nazi-esque "European Youth" version of the Nazi Youth.
Breivik believes there are other like minded people across the world. He did NOT act alone.
I am hoping against hope he is WRONG!

Over the Last Century, These are the REMARKABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE DEMOCRATS!

I was reading an article today. It was written by a Republican opining the fact that Democrats were to blame for all the ills of America. They created Social Security and Medicare because they wanted Americans dependent on the Federal Government. Blah blah blah. I decided to do a bit of research and put together a timeline about the accomplishments of the Democrats. This timeline is amazing. (Click on the picture to enlarge)

This timeline clearly illustrates the many important and remarkable accomplishments enacted under the Democratic Watch. Can you IMAGINE what our country would be like without these accomplishments?

Without Democrats - WOMEN COULD NOT VOTE! Neither could Blacks, nor ALL Minorities. We would have No Civil Rights, we would still have Jim Crow laws prohibiting minorities from voting. We'd still have separate water fountains and we'd still be at the back of the bus.

We would have NO Social Security or Medicare/Medicaid. Old Folks would still be sent to the Poor House. No medicine, sent to Die!

We would have No Overtime pay, No Minimum Wage, No Child Labor Laws, No Unemployment Compensation.

We would have NO Man on the Moon and Osama Bin Laden would NOT have been captured.

In the Republican Article, the writer lamented the fact that the Democratic Programs were Ever Created! They want a country with NONE of these programs and if they get voted back into office, their leaders will make sure their Republican Elected Officials will continue to Do Their Bidding and End these Humanitarian Programs that the Democrats, with the Full Support of the American People, worked so hard to enact.

Look at the Timeline! We The People CANNOT Allow Republicans to ever, EVER get back into Power.

I ask everyone to be sure to Register to Vote and VOTE in the 2012 Elections.

BREAKING NEWS: Norwegian Right Wing Extremist Zealot Anders Behring Breivik Kills & Terrorizes Norway!

The 2011 Norway attacks (Friday, July 22, 2011) were two coordinated terrorist attacks against:
1) Norwegian government (Labour Party): 1st bomb explosion - (3:30pm) outside the office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and other government buildings. Seven people were killed and several injured.
2) Norwegian Political Summer Camp: 2nd attack - (5:30pm) at a youth camp organized by the youth organization (AUF) of the Norwegian Labour Party (AP) at the island of Utoya in Tyrifjorden, Buskerud.

Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian Right Wing Extremist that Hated Muslims, President Obama and the thought of Multiculturalism, has been arrested as the Terrorist who killed at least 84 people and bombed countless others. It is not known if he acted alone. He dressed as a Police Officer, approached a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya Island and opened fire. Eighty-four people at the camp are reported dead.

Police captured and arrested Breivik on the island. He is currently in police custody and is freely discussing his actions with them. Officials have indicated Breivik is a conservative right-wing extremist. According to Reuters and the BBC, deputy police chief Roger Andresen described Breivik as a "Christian fundamentalist". According to the newspaper VG, he has no previous history with the police, apart from traffic violations. According to the same source, Breivik had a Glock pistol, a rifle and a shotgun registered to his name.

ACCUMULATION OF EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS: Breivik moved in late June/early July to the rural small town of Rena in Åmot, Hedmark county, about 86 miles northeast of Oslo, where he opened a farming sole proprietorship under the name "Breivik Geofarm". Apparently he used the company as a cover to legally obtain large amounts of artificial fertilizer and other chemicals for the manufacturing of fertilizer explosives. According to Reuters, a farming supplier sold Breivik's company six tons of fertilizer in May. Fertilizer can be used to create fertilizer explosives.

IDEAS & POLITICS: Breivik studied at the Oslo Commerce School, and is described by newspaper Verdens Gang as considering himself a conservative nationalist (similar to Christian Conservatives). He is also a former member of the Progress Party-FrP (similar to Tea Party) and its youth wing FpU (similar to YAF). According to the current FpU leader Ove Vanebo, Breivik was active early in the 2000s, but he left the party as his viewpoints became more extreme. He identified himself in a multitude of social media services as an admirer of, among others, anti-Nazi World War II hero Max Manus, Dutch politician Geert Wilders (Tea Party hero). On twitter he quoted social liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests".

A complete list of comments made by Breivik on the website Document.no between September 2009 and June 2010 has been compiled and a Google translation into English has been provided on this website.

Cowardly Lion John Boehner, Afraid of the Teapartiers and Grover Norquist , walks out on Debt Ceiling Talks. Hides from President’s Phone Calls!

Afraid of the TeaPartiers and Grover Norquist, Cowardly Lion Republican House Speaker John Boehner has broken off talks with President Barack Obama on getting a budget deal to avert a government default.

President Obama, speaking at a press conference at the White House, told reporters that Boehner would not return his phone calls. "I’ve been left at the altar now a couple of times," the President said. "It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal. Can they say yes to anything?"

Cowardly Lion Boehner, so afraid of losing his House Speaker job, hid from the President, refusing to return his calls.

Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid said, “Republicans have once again proven unable to overcome their ideological opposition to ending taxpayer-funded giveaways for millionaires, corporate jet owners and oil companies. I applaud President Obama for insisting that any deal to reduce our deficit be balanced between cuts and revenues. We must avert a default at all costs."

Boehner, speaking as his alter ego Cowardly Lion whimpered he would NOT allow Tax Increases for Millionaires, even if they didn't create jobs! He added, "And let me say, I have the same responsibilities as the President of the United States..we need to back away from the tree and take a look at the forest." He then broke out in song: "If I were Kiiiiinnnngggg of the Fooorrreeessssstttt!"

As the debt ceiling debate enters its final stages, House Republicans face increasing political isolation in their opposition to sweeping budget reforms that President Obama has pushed for and polls show most Americans now prefer. Republican resistance to compromise has turned a significant bloc of voters against them, according to several new polls, and has frustrated members of their own leadership as well as establishment GOP figures.

The fear among leading Republicans is that the party may lose an opportunity to lock in budget cuts that go beyond anything Democrats had previously been willing to consider. Five-term Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said he had never seen any spending reductions attached to a debt ceiling vote. "It's inconceivable," Cole said. "Some of the members who haven't been here don't appreciate how much John Boehner has gotten for them." (Poor Boehner...the Nutty Teaparty Republicans Don't Have A Clue about History! and you know what they say about those who DON'T Remember History!) Boehner, an Ohio Republican and the House speaker, is leading an effort to try to prepare his restive House Republicans for a vote to raise the nation's borrowing limit.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate have begun lining up behind a plan, offered by a bipartisan group known as the "Gang of Six," to reduce the long-term deficit by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade. That plan would include about $1.2 trillion in additional tax revenues over the 10-year period that House Republicans have so far resisted. The White House indicated for the first time Wednesday that Obama would be willing to accept a short-term stop-gap plan, but only for a few days while Congress worked out the legislative details of a larger fix. Either way, House Republicans remain the key obstacle to passing a debt ceiling increase and avoiding a possible federal default after Aug. 2. Their strict adherence to a no-new-taxes pledge all but rules out consideration of a larger agreement on deficits and the debt ceiling. Their position is reinforced by the fear that "tea party" groups will mount primary challenges against many Republicans who vote for anything that could be characterized as a tax increase...

The party's enthusiasm for budget cuts over compromise may leave Republicans with less than they could have otherwise achieved. Obama had proposed a 3-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases, even carving into Medicare and Social Security while drawing opposition from within his own ranks...But the Millionaire backed TeaParty refuses to allow Republicans to compromise. A case in point is the back-up plan being crafted to raise the debt ceiling. It is far less ambitious than the Gang of Six plan, providing less than $1.5 trillion in cuts, a level unacceptable to many in the GOP. It would still represent an unprecedented accomplishment for a GOP House speaker. Nonetheless, rank-and-file House Republicans are unlikely to embrace it.

In the end, it may be a negative reaction in financial markets, rather than political pressure, that spurs action. Boehner's "got a big problem," Weber said. "You've got to make the case that the broad conservative principles can be served by this agreement."

Poor Boehner! Since he is running scared from the TeaPartiers who refuse to see the NEED to Raise the Debt Ceiling, he is between a rock and a hard place. What is clear is, he needs to adopt a compromise with the Democrats and raise the Debt Ceiling before we as a Nation default on our debts. Poor Boehner! He needs to distance himself from the Tea Party Zealots and Grover Norquist and come back to Reality and partner in a compromise with the President and the Democrats and Raise the Debt Ceiling without extensively harming our Seniors. He should also include forcing Millionaires to pay Some Taxes!

Hit and Run Drunk Driver Gets Six Months! All-White Jury Convicts African American Mom who is Now Facing 36 Months in Jail for JayWalking!

Even though this story has NOTHING to do with Immigration, I am very UPSET by this story! This poor, innocent African American mother is undergoing the same negative stereotypes and persecution (by an all-white jury) as the poor innocents being attacked in the current Immigration fight.

In April 2010, Raquel Nelson's 4 year old son, was hit (and run) and murdered by a repeat offender, drunk driver. The police found him and prosecuted him. The driver, Jerry Guy, who later admitted he had been drinking and had taken painkillers the night of the accident, and also mostly blind in one eye. They only gave him 6 months in jail. He is out now.

However, last week, the mom, Raquel Nelson, was convicted, BY AN ALL-WHITE JURY. Why? She was convicted of Jay-Walking AND may serve MORE TIME than the drunken killer!

Here is what happened: The mom, Raquel, did not have a car. She relied on the Bus for transportation to go Grocery Shopping. At the bus stop across the street from her house, she got off along with a multitude of bus riders, and crossed the street. She had kids and groceries in hand. She did NOT know that Jerry Guy would be drunk, blind and on pain killers and was driving his car like a weapon. He only received a 6 months sentence. He is already out free!

For some unknown reason, the police in Georgia arrested her. Then, this Idiotic, Racist, ALL-WHITE JURY convicted her of Jaywalking! Even though the rest of the bus riders were along side her crossing mid street. It was the drunk/drugged driver that was at fault! He was convicted. NONE of this mattered to the ALL WHITE Jury! Instead, these zealots prosecuted this poor, mourning Mom and is now sending her to Jail for a longer period than her Son's Murderer served! THIS IS SHAMEFUL!!!! I am Ashamed of this Jury!!

Someone should sit down and talk to these Jury Member and ask them, WHY!!!!

Chris Matthews Says: America, Meet Insane Grover Norquist, the Guy Who Runs the Tea Party and the Extremist Republican Agenda! Norquist is INSANE!

This video should be REQUIRED VIEWING for ALL Americans!
Grover Norquist is the NUTCASE who is driving the Tea Party / Republican Agenda and FORCING them to sign a Pledge NOT TO RAISE TAXES for the Rich!
He RULES the Republicans and is FORCING them to Put our Government OUT OF BUSINESS!!
WATCH!!!!

Rick Perry Bloats Job Numbers by Hiring "Undocumented Workers" Hired by Contractors! Plans on Announcing Running for President!

According to rumors, Repub TX Governor Rick Perry is going to announce this week that he is running for President in 2012. He has the support and backing of several Tea Party groups and a number of high profile Republicans, including Rudy Guliani. Even his wife Anita has said she wants him to run.

Perry is very well known for his political pandering and being in bed with Big Business. He takes credit for playing a role in half of U.S. job growth in the past decade. What he won't tell you is most of the jobs he takes credit for creating are staffed by CONTRACTORS who hire "Undocumented Workers." There are hundreds of thousands of these jobs listed as "Contractors" on the Jobs Reports (Bureau of Labor Statistics.) These jobs are in: Construction, Manufacturing and Trade, Transportation and Utilities. (Click picture to enlarge report or create your own report on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website)

While it is true Texas jobs are booming, particularly in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, most of these jobs are being performed by crews of Latinos hired by State Hired Contractors. As proof, I invite ANY REPORTER to drive through the Dallas/Fort Worth area and bring your cameras.

Actually, these workers are GOOD for the Texas Economy and I think America can learn from this. Jobs create Jobs. Business is Booming. The workers need supervisors and architects and clerical reports, and on and on... Creating More Jobs! However, the problem is, Perry and his cohorts HIDE the fact that this is happening. They continue to exploit these workers and hide the fact that they exist! Instead, Perry panders to the Tea Parties, putting "fake" sb1070 bills forward (eg: sb9) with NO Intent of ever passing them. This type of political pandering is very DANGEROUS for ALL Latinos! Perry nurtures and stirs up Tea Party HATE implying he agrees with the Tea Party agenda of Walls, Sanctuary Cities and Mass Deportation, when in REALITY he has No Intention at all of ever changing his love for the exploitation of workers and for all who cater to his goal of becoming President some day.

Perry is so duplicitous he once implied he agreed with calls for Texas to secede from the Union! This was nothing but MORE PANDERING TO THE TEA PARTIES. He has also proclaimed August 6 as a day of prayer and fasting for the nation to seek God's guidance and wisdom. Meanwhile, he boasted that he cut tens of thousands of Teachers' Jobs and editted Texas Schoolbooks to eliminate ANY contributions by minorities, including Cesar Chavez.

Perry can also be a sweet talker! Even critics describe him as a charmer and tireless campaigner who has repeatedly toppled heavyweight political adversaries. "I think he will push Sarah Palin and (Michele) Bachmann down the stairs so hard and so fast that he will emerge in the next three to four months as the darling of the fundamentalist religious right," said state Rep. Lon Burnam, a Democrat and Perry critic.

America, we all must be aware of this man. Call him George W number 2. Call him Mata Hari. Call him ANYTHING but don't ever call him Mr. President!

Republicans at Fox have Amnesia! They Don't Remember 9/11 AND the Debt Crisis Happened Under Repub Bush's Watch!

Fox's Beck replacement Eric Bolling (a pompous JERK in his own right) just made an absolute FOOL of himself. In this clip, he DENIES 9/11 happened on Bush's watch (go to minute 1:31). "I don't remember ANY terrorist attacks under Bush's watch."
What an IDIOT!
He ALSO doesn't REMEMBER that Bush put us in this Economic Mess to begin with! That is the Biggest Problem with ALL Republicans! They FORGET HISTORY!!!

Spoiled Brat, Cry-Baby Republican Eric Cantor Caters to the Rich & Refuses to Negotiate!

Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, spoiled and crying, refused to give an inch on the Debt Ceiling talks. He stomped his foot in a tantrum and argued with the President. He continues to pander to the Rich and continues to demand cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Not only did he argue with our President in a meeting yesterday -- demanding continued Tax Cuts for the Rich, but he also refused to consider removing ANY Tax Loopholes for the Rich. The Rich certainly have him in their pocket!

Cantor, pandering to the Tea Party, argued with the President. First he refused to support any deal, then flip flopped on a short term deal, then outright lied to reporters after the meeting. At one point in the meeting, President Obama said the political wrangling confirmed what the public considers to be the worst of Washington.

It is clear the Tea Partiers DO NOT UNDERSTAND the impact of NOT raising the debt ceiling will have on our economy, on our Interest Rates and the immediate impact of NOT paying our bills, including checks for Social Security, our Federal Workers and Contractors. The Republicans CLEARLY will be to Blame if this issue is not resolved soon!

Republican Paul Ryan's $350 Wine with Hedge Fund Manager Clifford "Fxxk Her" Asness!

As Ricky Ricardo said, Paul Ryan has a lot of 'splainin to do! Not only did he drink $700 worth of wine with Hedgefund Rich Business Guy Asness (who attacked a female Professor screaming "Fxxk Her!" but backed off when her husband approached), but Ryan has yet to explain WHY he was having such a grandiose dinner while advocating the END to Medicare as we know it (feed granny cat food) while Asness -- who is infamous for screaming (via letters to the Editor) to President Obama for DARING to even suggest an end to the MANY loopholes the Hedgefund Managers are enjoying while Ryan's bill attempts to SLASH Medicare!

WE at Immigration Talk with a Mexican American DEMAND that Ryan EXPLAIN why he had such a dinner with such an unscrupulous guy while he continues to demand an END to Medicare and EXTEND even MORE Tax Cuts for the Rich (like Asness)!

Ryan should be ASHAMED of himself! WE THE PEOPLE should DEMAND Ryan's resignation!

Republican Paul Ryan Advocates Killing Medicare while Drinking $700 Wine!

Paul Ryan was seen drinking two bottles of $350 wine with Republican Lobbyists (he says Economists) in a swanky New York Bistro frequented by Political Lobbyists. Ryan is best known for his "Kick Granny to Curb - Cutting Medicare Bill." When a female Professor who witnessed these trangressions asked his table about their expensive tastes in wine, one of the economist gorillas shouted, ""F---- her!" And one of them stood up in a menacing way.
The next day, when asked about the events of the previous evening, Ryan admitted his expensive tastes in wine and defensively said he paid for his own dinner and expensive wine. Guiltily, he even showed the reporters his receipt. This is very convenient since it is against the law to accept such expensive gifts (anything over $100) from lobbyists. Obviously he had to hurry up afterwards and pick up his own check.
Amazing. He wants to cut Medicare and Social Security for our Senior Citizens and for them to eat Cat Food. Meanwhile, he has a bill for $472 (with $80 tip). Disgraceful!

Guest Voz - Ruben Navarrette: Has Marco Rubio sold out?

Poor Marco Rubio. Florida’s junior senator could have been a contender. Instead, he’s become a caricature. In parts of the Hispanic community, Rubio is thought of as just another ambitious politician who is willing to sell out Latinos to curry favor with Anglo colleagues. That’s what you hear from Internet chatter, letters to the editor, Latino listservs and comments on Spanish-language media.

Just seven months after taking office, Rubio, the Republicans’ Great Latino Hope, has squandered the one thing that made him unique, interesting and valuable to his party: the potential that he could help mend fences with disaffected Latino voters alienated by the GOP’s simplistic and mean-spirited approach to the immigration issue. In a recent poll by Latino Decisions and ImpreMedia, immigration (aka Racial Profiling bills) was the No. 1 issue for Latino voters, topping jobs and the economy by more than 15 points. More than half of the respondents said they know someone who is undocumented. This issue hits close to home.

Over the past few years, Republicans have dug themselves into a hole with Latino voters, and Rubio was supposed to help pull them out. It’s one reason that Beltway pundits continue to speculate whether he could wind up as the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2012 and whether this alone would be enough to persuade Latinos to give Republicans a fair hearing. This is what Rubio was supposed to bring to the party. Otherwise, what good is he to his colleagues if he can only deliver votes — for instance, from Tea Partyers — that would probably go to Republicans anyway?

Former Florida Republican Party chairman Al Cardenas believes that Rubio could do the GOP a lot of good in 2012. Now head of the American Conservative Union, Cardenas recently told Politico that putting Rubio on the presidential ticket would “almost guarantee” a Republican victory. Cardenas needs to get out more — out of Florida and, better yet, out to the Southwest.

Rubio is becoming persona non grata among Latinos outside of the Cuban American community, which represents only 3 percent of the Latino population in the United States. Specifically, he is becoming intensely disliked by many naturalized Mexicans and Mexican Americans, who make up as much as 67 percent of the U.S. Latino population. Those voters could affect the electoral outcome in battleground states such as Colorado and New Mexico, and in vote-rich states such as Texas and California.

All this has happened because, since arriving in Washington, Rubio has followed his party’s pitiful example of dealing with the immigration issue in a clumsy, reactionary and unimaginative way. A few months ago, the Miami Herald reported that conservative activists in Florida — including members of the Tea Party — were to take a hard line on immigration. They complained that the issue wasn’t even listed on his Web site and that Rubio hadn’t co-sponsored any legislation to beef up immigration enforcement. So Rubio joined the (Tea-Party) feel-good but do-nothing effort in Congress — led by Rep. Lamar Smith (Republican-Tex.) — to make it mandatory for businesses to participate in the “E-Verify” program, which is supposed to tell them whether a Social Security number is authentic. He even became a co-sponsor of the companion bill proposed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (Republican-Iowa). Republicans hope that Rubio’s support will dull the accusation that the legislation is anti-Latino because the measure could discourage employers from hiring Latinos who are assumed to be in the country illegally.

Rubio also SUPPORTS the Arizona immigration law (sb1070), which directs local and state law enforcement to enforce federal immigration statutes. And, he told the television network Telemundo, he opposes the reintroduced Dream Act, which would give legal status to illegal immigrants who go to college or enlist in the military, because he considers it “part of some broader effort to grant blanket amnesty.”

This self-proclaimed “son of exiles” has it all WRONG! It’s fine to be tough on immigration, but you don’t have to be predictable and shallow. When that happens, people assume you’re not really thinking through this issue but simply following the herd and pandering to the special interests controlling your party.

As a Latino conservative, Rubio was bound to struggle with the immigration issue. Had he been too lenient on illegal immigrants, fellow conservatives would have accused him of leading with his heart. Now that he’s gone in the other direction, fellow Latinos will accuse him of not having a heart.

Breaking News: AZ sb1070 Racial Profiling Bill Author State Sen. Russell Pearce - RECALLED!!!!!

Breaking News! Shout it from the Rooftops! WE THE PEOPLE have Won! State Sen. Russell Pearce, the author of Arizona's Racial Profiling bill sb1070 Racial Profiling Bill has been RECALLED!!!!!

Mark down July 8th as a day history was made in Arizona. In a swift affirmation of Arizona's fast-growing and powerful new political movement, Secretary of State Ken Bennett notified Gov. Jan Brewer that the once seemingly invincible architect of the state's controversial SB 1070 "papers please" immigration law has officially been recalled. Bennett confirmed that the recall petitions delivered by the Citizens for a Better Arizona "exceeds the minimum signatures required by the Arizona Constitution."

"Let's make no mistake about it," said Randy Parraz, co-founder of the Citizens for a Better Arizona. "Russell Pearce has been recalled."

According to Bennett's statement, Pearce has two options: Resign from office within five business days, or become a candidate in the recall election. Either way, Pearce becomes the first state senate president in recent memory to be recalled in the nation.

"No one expected this or picked up on this political earthquake," said Parraz, one of the main organizers behind the extraordinary grassroots campaign, which electrified a bipartisan effort in Pearce's Mesa district. Parraz credited a "dramatic shift" over the past six months due to Pearce's often extremist leadership in state senate.

"We had people pouring into the office," Parraz said, citing the role of Republicans, Democrats and Independents in the door-to-door canvassing initiative, "and they told us: Russell Pearce is too extreme for our district and state."

Beyond his self-proclaimed key role in the state's notorious SB 1070 law, Pearce oversaw a near circus-level of extremist and reckless legislation in the Arizona senate this past spring, including draconian cuts in education and health care. Mired in various scandals, Pearce infamously accused President Obama of "waging jihad" on America. And last month Fox News Phoenix explored his widely denounced connections to neo-Nazi hate groups. In a recent interview with FOX News, Pearce dismissed the recall effort as the work of "far left anarchists."

In truth, the Secretary of State's office confirmed that an additional one third of the necessary signatures had been properly collected and verified. Within 15 days, Gov. Brewer must set the date for the recall election, which presumably will take place in November. And while no single candidate has emerged to claim the frontrunner's position, one thing is clear: The Citizens for a Better Arizona has galvanized a new era in Arizona politics.

Movie Review: "A Better Life" is a Must See Movie!

I saw "A Better Life" today. It was a great movie! Please see it if you get the chance!
Movie Review: With all the heated and sometimes hateful controversy surrounding the issue of illegal immigration in the United States, it’s depressingly easy to lose sight of the fact that illegal aliens are people, not statistics. They are both omnipresent and, especially if one chooses not to look, invisible, and no more so than in southern California, the setting for Chris Weitz’s “A Better Life,” about a single father who exists under the radar and dreams the American dream.
Very few American 
movies have dealt with the experience of illegals – “El Norte” (the best of them), “The Border,” and “The Visitor” are probably the best known. As a result, much of “A Better Life” has a built-in fascination that carries us through its rough spots. With a modicum of melodrama, it focuses on a world that is relatively new to movies. Several scenes set in the barrios of East Los Angeles, or at a visiting Mexican rodeo, have an admirable, semidocumentary realism. Eric Eason’s script is sometimes unduly contrived and derivative, but we are always aware that something larger is being played out.

Carlos (Demián Bichir), who works as a gardener’s helper, lives with his 14-year-old son Luis (José Julián) in a rundown apartment in East L.A. He sleeps on the couch so that Luis can have a comfortable bed and be fresh for school, even though Luis, a good student when he wants to be, often skips classes to hang out with his other truant friends.
When Blasco (the wonderful Joaquín Cosio), who owns the lawn business, decides to go back to Mexico, he offers to sell Carlos his truck and equipment. Since Carlos has no driver’s license – and because a routine traffic violation could result in deportation for him – he is reluctant at first. Eventually he takes up his sister’s generous offer of a loan and buys the truck. A new world opens up to him, until, on his first day – when his new truck is stolen. As Carlos and Luis comb the barrio and South Central L.A. in search of the stolen truck, they slowly bond. Or rather, Luis bonds with his father. Carlos’s love for his son is never in doubt. His prime motivation for buying the truck and risking 
everything was simple: He wants to move his son into a better neighborhood and away from the gangs the boy has so far tenuously resisted.

The film captures the ways in which Luis, who is Americanized, rejects his father’s old-school ways. This rejection would probably have happened even without the complication of illegal immigration; it’s a staple of generational and adolescent conflict. But because Bichir is such a quietly forceful presence, Carlos is continually favored by the camera in his encounters with Luis, who displays a violent streak that the film never comes to terms with. The father-son emotional trajectory hits home.

Carlos, so reliably, is the salt of the earth. His son Luis had such mixed emotions but finally came to realize his father's very good intentions. There are sequences here, like the ones involving men massing for work on street corners, or working the night shift washing dishes, that highlight a closed-off society too often neglected in the movies – not to mention in real life.

ARPAIO GUILTY OF RACIAL PROFILING!

ARPAIO GUILTY OF RACIAL PROFILING!
Arpaio's lawyer Tim Casey today threw in the towel, essentially agreeing to a $200,000 payout to Julian and Julio Mora, the RACIALLY PROFILED LATINO AND LEGAL -- father and son zip-tied and held for three hours during a 2009 MCSO raid of the Phoenix landscaping firm Handyman Maintenance Inc., where the elder Mora worked. Arpaio's masked men-in-beige were after illegal immigrants that day, but Julian Mora is a legal permanent resident. His son Julio is an American citizen.

But all that mattered to Arpaio's goons was the Moras' skin color. Because they were brown, sheriff's deputies pulled over their truck as the elder Mora drove to work. They were zip-tied and laughed at when they asked to use the facilities.

Mora senior, who suffers from diabetes, was finally allowed to make water behind a parked vehicle. The junior Mora was allowed to go to the bathroom, but deputies refused to remove his zip-tie, and mocked him as he struggled to relieve himself. The Moras had done nothing wrong, yet they were treated like criminals.

So they sued Arpaio and the other idgits involved, like the bigoted Barney Fife, MCSO Lt. Joe Sousa, the brain surgeon in charge of the sheriff's human smuggling unit, best known for telling elected officials critical of his jefe to "shut up" at a deputies' press conference in 2009.

Oh, if only the $200K could come from the pocket of an aggro idiot like Sousa. But, alas, as with all of the settlements and judgments that result from the misdeeds of Arpaio and his dull-witted minions, it's the county that has to pick up the tab for this Keystone-Koppery.

Interestingly, one reason the defense in this suit flopped on its face is that the MCSO's moronic administrators could not determine which MCSO goons in particular pinched the Moras. Flip to the word "incompetence" in Webster's Dictionary, and I can almost guarantee there's an illo of an MCSO badge.

In April, District Court Judge David Campbell ruled that the Moras' Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure had been violated.

"Julian had committed no traffic violation, and neither plaintiff was ever charged with a crime," Campbell wrote at the time.

"In short," he added, "the undisputed evidence shows that when the John Doe Deputies stopped plaintiffs, they had no suspicion, reasonable or otherwise, that plaintiffs were in violation of the traffic laws or engaged in criminal activity."

Campbell's April ruling practically guaranteed Arpaio's capitulation. On the Fourth Amendment claim, the defendants already knew they were going to lose.

Annie Lai, the ACLU's lead attorney on the case, warned the county that it will be on the hook for Arpaio's continued unconstitutional shenanigans.

"Sheriff Arpaio's deputies are not free to ignore the Constitution when they are enforcing immigration laws," Lai said in a statement released by the ACLU. "County officials should take heed that the Moras and hundreds of other Latino residents who have been detained in the raids without any evidence of wrongdoing have recourse in the courts."

Lai just left the ACLU this week, on her way to a teaching gig at Yale University. I interviewed her before she left, and she will be the subject of a future blog post.

Congrats to her, the Moras and all the lawyers at the ACLU and elsewhere who helped win this one. Occasionally, there's a little justice here in Sand Land, though I won't be satisfied till I see Arpaio suited up in stripes, working the side of the road, hopefully with all of his henchmen right beside him.

OMG! Republican Eric Cantor is Short Selling! Betting Against America to Make Big Profits!

I can't believe it! Republican whip Eric Cantor, John Boehner's right hand man, is profitting over our Economic downturns! There is Evidence! Eric Cantor is short-selling. For anyone who does not understand the Stock Market, this means Eric Cantor is BETTING that Government Bonds will FALL and therefore, he will PROFIT from this Fall! Cantor is perhaps the MOST DESPICABLE FIEND of all time! Cantor -- there are names for people like you! SHAME!
WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has a conflict of interest in the debt ceiling debate. The resolution goes after Cantor's investment in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury ETF, a fund that "takes a short position in long-dated government bonds." The fund is essentially a bet against U.S. government bonds. If the debt ceiling is not raised and the United States defaults on its debts, the value of Cantor's fund would likely increase.

The Democratic resolution, from a Democratic source on the Hill, argues that Cantor "stands to profit from U.S. treasury default, which thereby raises the appearance of a conflict of interest," and that he "may be sabotaging [debt ceiling] negotiations for his own personal gain." It's not clear how widely the measure was being circulated, with a House Democratic aide saying they hadn't seen the resolution or heard it being discussed.

"Majority Leader Cantor has compromised the dignity and integrity of the Members of the House by raising the appearance of a conflict of interest in negotiations with the executive branch over raising the debt ceiling," adds the measure.

Shocking News! PROOF - Racist Border Vigilante Groups Murder Border Crossers!

MM Reports: Hacked Documents Reveal Border Vigilante Activity
Reports of two previously unknown border vigilante operations, including one that apparently hires U.S. Marines as paid mercenaries, have surfaced in internal documents from the Arizona Department of Public Safety stolen and released last week by the hacker collective LulzSec.

One of the documents, a report from the interagency HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Investigative Support Center, reveals that in October 2008, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered two vigilantes armed with pistols and at least one M4 assault rifle, wearing desert camouflage uniforms.

The men (vigilantes) informed the Border Patrol agents that they were members of Blue Lights, a border watch group. "They stated they were not members of the Minutemen, but paid contract employees who 'get the job done' and 'were not just volunteers,'" according to the HIDTA report. "They possessed valid United States Marine Corps identification cards."

(As the Southern Poverty Law Center reported in 2006, violent right-wing extremist groups in recent years have stepped up their wartime recruiting of active duty and recently discharged members of the U.S. military.)

According to the HIDTA report, the Marines said their operation was based at the Caballo Loco Ranch, a remote RV park in the high Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona. It has repeatedly served as the base camp or headquarters for Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and Patriots' Border Alliance vigilante operations since 2007.

Once the largest border vigilante organization in the country, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, or MCDC, officially disbanded in March 2010 after being effectively dormant for about a year. More extreme groups seem to be filling the void.

Aggressive border vigilante operations led by neo-Nazi J.T. Ready following the dissolution of MCDC have been reported in the media. But the hacked Arizona documents include a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report detailing efforts by a more obscure vigilante group called A Concerned Citizen to "bring back the Minutemen lines."

One operation by A Concerned Citizen was being planned last spring "in support of Governor Jane Brewer's signing of SB1070 into law and at the opposition of the media's coverage of the [pro-immigrant] protests in Phoenix," according to the DHS report.

It noted that A Concerned Citizen members were planning to deliberately camp near well-known drug and human smuggling "load up points" and that organizers were stressing the danger involved along with the need for participants to be prepared to defend themselves.

"The tone of this information is quite unlike that from the MCDC Locked and Loaded Operation," reads a comment in the report from DHS intelligence analysts. "If this new operation happens, there could be potential for human rights violations and a possibility of violence between armed civilians and smugglers or with law enforcement."