Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog

Here are some great posts on the unlearning of multiculturalism in Europe. It would serve us all a lesson well learned if we paid closer attention to the lessons of the London bombing, and all the other consequences of European progressiveness. Jeff Jarvis : When it turned out that the London bombings were carried out by four young Muslim men born in England, it seemed to give a lie to Tom Friedman's theory that Muslim terrorism sprouts from the anger of young men in Arab nations who have no hope of economic prosperity and freedom. Here were young men who may not have been born into Windsor Castle, but they were living in a land of freedom and opportunity. So how can they be portrayed as anything other than what they are: murderers? As Jeff points out , leave it to the New York Times to provide justification for the London Bombers --they where just 4 angry young men. You can't blame them, can you? "I don't approve of what he did, but I understand it. You g

Why is it that the left feels we have a constitutional obligation of some sort to provide welfare and healthcare for free to the world? This is ridiculous! The victims are the children, who are not at fault. Secure the borders governor . The majority of the nation is behind you. As was widely reported not long ago, Arnold invited the "Minutemen" from Arizona to come to California to guard our borders this summer because the federal government, as many Californians see it, won't do the job. This issue is one of those occasional, unique circumstances that can, and may, so suck all the air out of the other political discourse in California that budgets, education and infrastructure may simply fade to the back pages while withering intensity goes into the front-page "stop the ilegals" debate. If this scenario takes traction, as it appears it will, the issue will be the only one that drives the next statewide election. I can, of course, see Arnold winning in a

ABC is reporting ties between the London bombers and the US . This presents scary possibilities. What if some of these calls where sleeper cell activations? "Whilst we are watching the ports and the airports trying to prevent people from coming in," said M.J. Gohel, a terrorism analyst at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, "al Qaeda and its global jihadi friends are a step ahead. They have already penetrated into the West and are recruiting Western born Muslims to join terrorism." The lesson here for us regarding our own security. 1. Don't take cultural assimilation lightly. We are an open nation, welcoming to those that want a better life, but there must be a price--you must swear allegiance to the flag, and the Republic for which it stands. London has these eclaves of Muslims that fosters division in the nation, and leaves an open weakness for British nationals who fall prey to muslim's extremist indoctrination. 2. Where does free speech stop? There must be a

BBC is reporting on protests by Venezuelan doctors, who are being left unemployed by the oil-for-doctors barter deal between Castro and Chavez. This basically amounts to slave labor by Castro. The Cuban doctors have little choice of their assignments, and do not get to earn fare wages. Castro gets his oil he would otherwise not afford, Chavez rallies the underclass, and the people are the victims. Hundreds of Venezuelan doctors have marched through the country's capital, Caracas, demanding the expulsion of Cuban doctors. President Hugo Chavez says he invited the medical staff into the country to provide free health care for the poor. But Venezuela's doctors, who are also asking for better wages, say the Cubans are taking their jobs. They say the government is trading its oil revenues to pay for some 20,000 Cuban doctors and dentists. Dressed in white medical gowns and bearing national flags, some 400 doctors and medical staff carried banners reading 'No

Great article at Family News in Focus on the wrangling by the Democrats to try to position themselves at an advantage in the upcoming confirmation battle for the Supreme Court. It really seems like it doesn't matter what the administration does to reach out, the Democrats want war and will have war regardless. If the President is smart, he will nominate a conservative originalist who will stick to the Constitution. That is the only thing that will be acceptable to me. Otherwise, the President will have war on both sides! I did not elect the President so he could go out and play politics and capitulate to the winds political correctness for the sake of his legacy, or peace with the Democrats. "The talks seemed to go well for all the participants involved--—both Democrats and Republicans," according to Focus on the Family Action Judicial Analyst Bruce Hausknecht. "I have noticed since then," he said, "that some of the Democratic senators are now saying

From Jonathan over at WorldMagBlog: Wal-Mart won its latest bout with trashy lyrics and drug-related album covers. While anti-censorship groups have criticized Wal-Mart for pulling albums marked with a Parental Advisory sticker off its shelves, the Universal Music Group changed one of its products to accommodate the Wal-Mart standard . E! Online News reported yesterday: "The cover art of Countryman, released Tuesday, features green marijuana leaves over a red and yellow background and looks similar to a large pack of rolling papers. However, for those looking to snap up the CD at Wal-Mart's famously rolled back prices, the cover features a palm tree in place of the offending leaves, a change made by Universal Music Group Nashville out of deference to the retailing giant's strict guidelines with regards to lyrics and packaging." Posted by Jonathan at July 15, 2005 07:57 AM They have a great discussion on the re-definition of censorship, and the

So, is Clinton really shifting her views, or is she only playing the game? The New York Times has a revealing article, biased of course, that attempts to paint Clinton a someone who has truly moved to the Center . As she gears up her re-election campaign for the United States Senate, Hillary Rodham Clinton is presenting a side of herself that might have given some of her supporters great pause just a few years ago. Nothing captures this new face of Hillary Clinton better than the Web site her campaign started this week: It portrays her robust stand on national defense and her desire to reduce the number of abortions, among other positions. In fact, in the last few months, Mrs. Clinton has repeatedly confounded the expectations of people who judged her from her White House years. She has appeared publicly with Newt Gingrich, her onetime political foe. She has called abortion a "sad, even tragic choice." She has stood fast in defense of her vote authorizing President Bush t

Listen to this interview between Judge Robert Bork and Laura Ingraham . I wish this man was a Supreme Court Justice. He is a living testament to the partisanship and extremism of the left.

Edward Whelan writes does a great job defining what an originalist is, in regards to constitutional interpretation. It's sad that there is even a need to define what this means, and how it relates to the constitution. It is significant that the term "originalism" appears to be of relatively recent vintage. The reason for this is not that there is anything novel about originalism. Precisely the opposite. Until recent years, originalism had been so unchallenged as constitutional orthodoxy that there was no reason to develop a term that would distinguish it from any rival. As Justice Scalia has put it, "in the past, nonoriginalist opinions have almost always had the decency to lie, or at least to dissemble, about what they were doing." But the rise of the "living Constitution" — the Orwellian euphemism that liberal activists have used to pretend that the Constitution has somehow "grown" to entrench forever their own policy preferences — mad

I liked the lie of the day over at LauraIngraham.com. "In the NAACP we have always been non-partisan" , claimed Julian Bond , at the NAACP's annual convention. THE TRUTH: If so, then why do we never hear the likes of Julian Bond slamming Democrats for failing to support reparations and other NAACP favorite ideas?

M. Edward Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center was quoted on the LA Times saying that, "Gonzales may well be required to recuse himself from the three most important cases already on the court's docket for next term." He has been arguing the point on the weblog of the conservative magazine National Review. According to Federal law, justices are required to recuse themselves from "any proceeding in which [their] impartiality might reasonably be questioned." That includes Gonzales, who "served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, advisor or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy." The LA Times concludes : In recent days, Concerned Women for America, another conservative advocacy group, has circulated a memo listing six cases on which it fears Gonzales would have to recuse himself were he named to the Supreme Cou

Captain Ed has comments on tomorrow's New York Times article that reveals that Karl Rove spoke with Robert Novak before he released his column. The New York Times now has a source within the grand jury proceedings in the Robert Fitzgerald investigation into the alleged leak of Valerie Plame's status as a CIA operative. The new article for tomorrow's edition by David Johnston and Richard Stevenson reveals that Karl Rove spoke with Robert Novak before he released his column -- but that Novak told Rove about Plame, including her name, and not the other way around: From the New York Times : Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. officer who was undercover, someone who has been officially briefed on the matter said. Mr. Rove has told investigators that he learned from the columnist the name of the C.I.A. officer, who was referred to by her maiden name, Valerie Plam

Megan O'Connor from Slate has quoted my words. She quotes me on my reaction to Fred Barnes' story on the Weekly Standard regarding Gonzalez and the Supreme Court Justice vacancy . Read the full post here . Liberals have mixed feelings about Gonzales: Peer Review's Blogger X says, "Democrats are very smart to publicly endorse a Gonzales nomination "… Nominating Gonzales would be the worst thing Bush could do going into the midterm elections." Phil Gallagher, a liberal neocon, urges conservatives to give Gonzales a chance, asserting that he is a "man of integrity, capability, and faith and conscience." HelluvABurden's Paul Loeb, on the other hand, declares, "As right-wing religious leaders attack Alberto Gonzales for being insufficiently doctrinaire, it's tempting to accept him as the best we can get for the Supreme Court."… But when someone exhibits as much contempt for due process as Gonzales does, we have to challenge him, in eve

The WHO is out to harm impovrished women world wide once again . Since when does being pregnant consitute an illness? To make it worst, the evidence is there that RU-486 has serious side effects that can cause even death! Why doesn't the WHO focus on educating women on the importance of making the right choice? Oh, right, there is no such thing as right or wrong! The World Health Organization (WHO) has added RU-486, also known as the abortion pill, to its "essential medicines list," because it said the drug "satisfies the priority health care needs of the population." The listing includes the warning that the drugs "require close medical supervision." Pia de Solenni, director of life and women's issues at the Family Research Council, called that an understatement. "This is another way to make another abortion element part of the standard routine," she said. "That's what they've done by getting it put on this essential drug

The following is from a Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor this past February 28, 2005. The White House, I'm sure, is keeping a close eye on the worstening situation in Venezuela. The Government's human rights record remained poor; despite attempts at improvement in a few areas, its performance deteriorated in other areas, particularly regarding politicization of the judiciary and restrictions on electronic media, and serious problems remained. The police and military committed unlawful killings of criminal suspects. The police reportedly had links to vigilante groups that killed suspected criminals. Investigations into unlawful killings by the security forces of criminal suspects remained extremely slow. Torture and abuse of detainees persisted, and the Government failed to punish police and security officers guilty of abuses. Prison conditions remained harsh; violence and severe overcrowding constituted inhu

Christopher Lyon from Plugged-In magazine has an interesting review on War of the Worlds. It's funny how everyone is looking to read into movies to see how it puts the Bush administration down. I wouldn't doubt that Hollywood has tried to get the message out there, but sometimes, there are more important things to focus on--like the core value-message of a movie, and whether the story is compelling and interesting. With all the news about Cruise, scientology, and his marriage and recent crazy statements, most of the news on this movie has been about anything but the story line. War of the Worlds is darker and scarier than most of Spielberg's work, especially his sci-fi work. The brilliantly paced action sequences, hair-raising effects and detailed set pieces bring to mind his Jurassic Park, Minority Report or other classic adventures. But the tone of the film comes closer to the gritty, near-hopeless feelings deep inside Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Don&#

Kim Trobee from Family News in Focus writes about the Millennium Development Goals project that attributed "China's remarkable achievements in development at least partly to its lower birth rate" according to a report in the Chinese People's Daily. When it comes to defeating poverty and hunger around the globe, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University appears to have it all figured out. His tools: Access to abortion and family planning. Gary Kreep, executive director of the U.S. Justice Foundation, said that kind of thinking is counterproductive. "We're denying ourselves the human resources that could help solve these problems," he said. "The U.N. has embarked upon a course of believing that the only way to develop a sustainable economic model is to promote abortion." The U.N. believes population control simply means fewer poor people. That requires convincing or coercing people in certain countries. Joseph D'Agostino,

Leon H. at RedState.org has provided a good round UP on the whole Rove/Plame story, with thirteen questions he feels are still left unanswered. Since I am not a lawyer, and as Leon himself said, this story has gotten a lot of people by surprise, since it only became a story once Rove's name came to play. ...now that the hysteria has calmed a bit and the facts have been sorted out, the question remains, where do we stand? What are the issues left to be resolved? I humbly submit that this story boils down to 13 essential questions of fact, which I have enumerated below the fold. I also have attempted to answer these questions with the best information that I can find. Items marked SETTLED are those on which moonbats and wingnuts agree in happy harmony. Items marked SOLID are those items for which significant evidence exists to dismiss the shrieking dissent of a few. Items marked SHAKY are those which are still up in the air, despite evidence on both sides. Items marked BURNING

Great post at RedState.org about Colorado's Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, who has said he is not running for president. The Washington Post writes ; Despite his four trips to early primary and caucus states this year, Rep. Tom Tancredo is not running for president -- yet. But unless he can force what he called "the top-tier candidates, the guys with all the money, all the stature" in the Republican primary to take a strong position on cracking down on illegal immigration and lowering legal immigration, that is exactly what Mr. Tancredo told several audiences in Iowa this past weekend he will do. "My task is to get one of them to take this on," Mr. Tancredo told about 50 members of the Christian Coalition of Iowa who gathered in a community center in Cedar Falls on Friday night. "If they don't do that, if I cannot find someone to do that, if they just give lip service to it and not the heart, yeah, I will run. I will do that." While I am gla

Great comments by devildoc8406 : I wonder what has happened to the patriotism that America had after the 9/11 attacks. Why is that most people only raise their flags on designated holidays or when something tragic happens. Why have we taken the Pledge of Alliegence out of schools. I remember when I was growing up how great I felt after reciting that every morning. Let's show everyone that america stands behind its soldiers. You may not be proud of our governments actions but at least be proud of the men and women who fight over here so that it may never happen over there. I want to thank those of you who never stop supporting the men and women of the armed forces. I have something for everyone out there to read. I am abig John Wayne fan. Many years ago he recorded a record " America, Why I love Her " . CindyMitchum, The daughter of John Mitchum , aquired the rights to this record and has made a CD of it. My mom had bought this CD when I came home on leave one time.

Great comments on Karl Rove on the Hedgehog Report . For you people who think I am ignoring Karl Rove, here is my take in a nutshell. If Rove broke the law, he should be fired immediately. If he didn’t break the law, then Bush has to make the calculation politically and morally whether what Rove did warrants him keeping his job. All this other noise from Democrats and the media is just that, noise. In fact, the feeding frenzy by the media in the hopes of “taking down Bush” reminds me quite a bit of the feeding frenzy over “Bush Did cocaine”…”Harken Energy”…”Alabama National Guard”…”Bush Knew Before 9/11″….well, you get the picture…. Feeding frenzy it is...

This man is insane ! Cuba is the model and living example of the failure of socialims and communism. Now, if Fidel would only die; The Cuban people could get on with living. Cuba will accept hurricane relief assistance only from friendly nations, said Cuba’s Fidel Castro, who rejected an offer of $50,000 in US aid in the wake of hurricane Dennis. The storm, which hit the island this past weekend, caused 16 deaths and material damages estimated at $1.4 billion. Reacting to the news of Cuba’s response, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey uttered a sole sentence saying, “Unfortunately Castro’s Government declined the offer.”

Captain's Quarter has been following the news on a possible bomb threat in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Humphrey Terminal. UPDATE: The story has been updated. Now it appears that two dogs sniffed something suspicious in two vending machines. The machines were separated within the terminal, one being roughly in the center and the other located at the south end. Air traffic continues to get processed at the larger Lindbergh terminal, but Humphrey has been shut down until further notice.

And here I was thinking that I was just a regular, good old fashioned republican, but Rev. Joseph Evans , a pastor at the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Northwest Washington, says I am a New Republican. Joking aside, this was a good article . The Rev. gives some ideas on The Rev. Evans points out that you can't take conservative minority for granted, nor can we be ignored. If they left chooses to stereotype, and ignore our traditional conservative roots, then they are going to continue experiencing the fruits of electoral defeat. What I do not agree with the Reverend is using race as a reason to make a Supreme Court decision. Rev. Evans suggests that in order to sustain this new emerging class of new Republicans, the president should nominate Clarence Thomas as the successor to Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Again, race is an unacceptable parameter for the naming of the next Justice. May the best man win. Let's just leave it at that. I don't think anyone is putting into dou

Fred Barnes is reporting on the Weekly Standard that Gonzales is probably no longer a contender for the court, absent a change-of-mind. This, of course, is good news to me (a Hispanic), but they way Supreme Court predictions have been going lately, I would not trust it until its all over. My hope is that Bush will not make a decision based on neither race nor gender, but qualifications and commitment to uphold the constitution in its original intent. THOUGH HE DEFENDED Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against conservative critics, President Bush now appears highly unlikely to nominate Gonzales to replace retiring Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Nor is Gonzales expected to be chosen to fill a second vacancy on the high court should Chief Justice William Rehnquist or another justice steps down in the near future. UPDATE: Thanks to Slate Intern Megan O'Connor for the link and quote. To Slate readers, welcome. I hope you will take a look around, and bookmark the

Here is another example of the absurdity of the left's claims of defense of freedom of choice. They don't want you to be free to choose! They would much rather keep you ignorant, deceived and stupid in order for them to sell more condoms, and make more money of abortions. They don't care that having an abortion increases your risk of breast cancer, that even so-called "protected" sex still leaves you exposed and at risk of countless of STD's, and they don't care of the emotional scarring that occurs from wasting away the gift of sexuality with no regard to it's true design. You where made for more! Make the right choice. With the unblushing Lady Liberty looking on from the corner of the page , NARAL Pro-Choice America declares, "Throw your hands up and say it loud: Screw Abstinence!!" This is the press release I have sitting on my desk. What a confusing message. On one hand, Lady Liberty is sitting as the American symbol of freedo

What is it with the left? Even I am getting tired of this non-story. The left is so determined to find something to bring Bush down, it has blinded them from reality, and made them forget their training from first-year journalism school. Google news has as laundry list of sites carrying stories on Karl Rove--did he leak, did he wistleblow, fire him, do something! It's sickening. Why won't the lib's just give it up? Hugh Hewitt had this link to Polipundit.com on the briefing yesterday . "I donÂ’t even know how to describe the journalistsÂ’ questions in the briefing. I guess I could say they were disrespectful and disgraceful, but that does not quite do it justice. When I was watching, I just could not even get terribly angry about it because I was laughing too hard. Here are these blow-dried reporters who have spent years focusing their reports on whatever points the Democrat leaders tell them are important, rather than correctly framing and reporting the sto

Is it safe to assume that these sort of individuals are living among us ? I think so! A friend told me the story of a large group of Muslims celebrating and dancing openly in the student lounge at Florida International University in Miami. How many of our future bombers have we educated? How many have we welcomed among us? Again, we have to assume that there are others, like the London suicide bombers, that are living among us now. There are two kinds of dangers. The first, is the Muslim terrorist that gets through the Mexican border and comes into our country undetected. We know there must be many of those already here. Then, there is the sleeper cells. This is why we need to keep the Patriot Act. If we do not actively fight the enemy, they will do harm again on our soil.

AP news has a story today being commented on at WorldMagBlog on Santorum's book, "It Takes a Family," aimed at countering Clinton's message and asserting liberal politics have weakened the American family. According to the AP, Clinton had not commented on Santorum's book, but this Tuesday, the article tells of an exchange ...when the two senators passed each other in the basement of the Capitol. "It takes a village, Rick, don't forget that," Clinton called out. "It takes a family," he countered. "Of course, a family is part of a village!" she replied. The two continued on in opposite directions. The 449-page book by Santorum tackles domestic issues ranging from home schooling to welfare reform, and promotes family over what he describes as the big government, or village, in Clinton's 1996 book. I liked some of the comments on the blog discussion in response. Hillary ruined the perfectly valid concept of a community be

A WorldMagBlog reader posted a good question I would like to respond to . He said, We all know most Muslims are not terrorists but most terrorists are Muslims. So where do we go from there? With an eternal perspective we can't go around smoking all of them even if we could. But I don't see a lot of thought being put into finding a Christian way to deal with this. Where is it? Posted by wiley at July 13, 2005 09:27 AM I liked Joel Mark's response,"God ordained governing authorities to deal with (read; "wield the sword") against evil-doers." I would like to ad to his comment with some thoughts on individuals responsabilities--yes, even Christians. God ordained many sacred institutions, including work, the family, the church, and yes, even government and authorities. While the institution where ordained by God, being that we are all flawed, it is evident that all institutions are imperfect. Nevertheless, as Christians, we are called to serve our own in

Quaerens Sapientiam made some comments on my post about Wal-Mart, and wrote more about his thoughts on the subject on his blog . I thought it was well balanced and thought out. Since I have only been blogging for a short time, I have to say that his post made me realize I am not yet sure where the boundaries of my personal ideas on capitalism. The free market inherently supports companies that scrounge for every last cent of profit regardless of all other considerations, like Wal-Mart. Companies that care for their employees, and sell the products that best balance quality and cost, will only survive if employees value working for caring employers and buyers realize the true cost of savings. The education and the entertainment-advertising systems are largely to blame for society's current ignorance in these matters. In the name of savings, Americans shop at big-box stores, and some of us defend it by arguing that we are supporting capitalism. Though I generally support a free mark

Telecommunications companies will drastically increase their focus on the Hispanic market this year, according to a new report released by research company In-Stat . Among recent telecom initiatives following this trend are Qwest ’s low-cost long-distance calling plan to Mexico and a nationwide mobile service geared to Hispanics from Movida Communications , which is allied with Sprint PCS . The report, Culture Shock: Trends in Ethnic Marketing , predicts that there will be a decrease in revenue from all ethnic subscribers, but Hispanics and Pacific Islanders will experience the smallest decrease because of their steady population growth. In-Stat, which is owned by Reed Business Information, the parent company of Hispanic TV Update , also predicted that although 40.4 million white customers will subscribe to broadband by 2009, the growth rate of Hispanics and Pacific Islander subscribers will be much greater. "In-Stat has also found that some ethnic g

Cristina Saralegui, host of Univision Television Network’s El Show de Cristina, has been elected to Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her 15 years of contributions to the electronic arts. She joins a long list of television industry luminaries that includes her Univision colleague Mario "Don Francisco" Kreutzberger from Sabado Gigante (Giant Saturday). The 15th annual Hall of Fame ceremony is taking place on Oct. 24 in New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Check out the press release here .

For the first time, Univision ranked as the top-rated network in prime time in the 18- to 34-year-old demo for an entire week. From June 27 to July 3, the network averaged 1,175,000 viewers in the demo (up 26% over the same period last year) besting the top-ranked English-language networks — ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC — according to Univision. The network reports that those networks have seen their viewers in the demo drop by 16% over the same period last year.

The Washington Post reports that nearly 23% of all people born in the U.S. in 2002 had a foreign-born mother. The article cites a report by the Center for Immigration Studies, which says the country has not seen as large a share of its children born to immigrants since 1910. According to the study released last week, nearly one in 10 births in the United States in 2002 were to women born in Mexico. Hispanics, as a whole, accounted for 59% of all births by immigrants. Read the story here . Registration required

I posted the following in the WorldMagBlog open thread. Interesting thoughts: The poorer, less educated, and older consumers are, the more they believe in the goodness of Wal-Mart. Adults with a high school diploma and adults age 65+ gave Wal-Mart nearly as high a grade for "good corporate citizenship" as for "lowest prices." AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHICS PERCEPTION STUDY, ADVERTISING AGE 6.6.05 What do you all make of it? I posted my reaction on my blog, but now I am thinking I need to hear other people out? Why is it that Wal-Mart is so hated? Is this just good ol' Political correcness run amock? I am sure there are some legitimate concerns regarding how WalMart does business, but tend to think those can be addressed without vilifying the company. Any comments? Josue Sierra http://latinoissues.blogspot.com/ Posted by Josue Sierra at July 12, 2005 03:46 PM *** Lefties hate Walmart because they aren't unionized and socialist but ignore the fact they

World Magazine reported that Wal-Mart is taking heat from pro-abortion groups because it refuses to sell the morning-after pill in its pharmacies. Wal-Mart has said it doesn't stock the pills for "business reasons," but Planned Parenthood and NARAL are responding with classic political tactics: letter-writing and picketing campaigns. NARAL spokesman Ted Miller calls Wal-Mart's stand "disconcerting" because "for many rural women, Wal-Mart is their only pharmacy." In cases across the country, however, others are finding it disconcerting that they are being forced not only to tolerate but to actively promote abortion and homosexuality. (see "One choice fits all") They have a full article here :

I just read this quote from an IconCulture email in the Market Facts column . It says: The poorer, less educated, and older consumers are, the more they believe in the goodness of Wal-Mart. Adults with a high school diploma and adults age 65+ gave Wal-Mart nearly as high a grade for "good corporate citizenship" as for "lowest prices." AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHICS PERCEPTION STUDY, ADVERTISING AGE 6.6.05 I don't tell you I believe in the goodness of Wal-Mart, but I don't follow the hype and lib-mantra about low-wages, and such. No one forces anyone to work at Wal-Mart. No one forces anyone to buy stuff at Wal-Mart. Why do they? Because it evidently must be to their benefit. People demand lower prices, and Wal-Mart knows how to be competitive and provide quality service at the same time. So, yes, I do shop at Wal-Mart nearly every week. Am I poor? I don't think so. But I am frugal, and cautious in how I spend my money. I have goals for the future, and a wife

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), and Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo-Vilá are scheduled to address participants at a luncheon during the 2005 National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Annual Conference in Philadelphia. NCLR says that more than 2,000 people are expected to attend.

Let's hope the Senate doesn't start expecting this from now on. The problem with this sort of courtesy gestures by the white house is that they get distorted through history, and it sets bad precedent that threatens to tip the balance of powers between the legislative and executive branch of our Federal government system. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush and his top advisers listened to suggestions from Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday about candidates for filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court, but did not tip his hand about his favorites. "He didn't give us any names," Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters after the breakfast meeting. Besides Reid, Bush met with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the committee; and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Also in the room was Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Chief of Staff

ESPN Deportes to Showcase Exclusive Telecast of Real Madrid vs. Chivas Rayadas De Guadalajara; New York, NY--July 12, 2005--ESPN Deportes, the 24-hour Spanish-language sports network, will showcase what is said to be one of the most anticipated soccer matches to take place in the U.S. The match featuring well-known Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid vs. Club Deportivo Guadalajara will air on Saturday, July 16, at 5:30 p.m. CT / 6:30 p.m. ET. Real Madrid is the nine-time European club champions, and will face Mexican power Club Deportivo Guadalajara at Chicago's Soldier Field. The match will be the second game of a doubleheader that will also feature an MLS regular season game between the Chicago Fire and the Columbus Crew. Real Madrid, winner of 29 Spanish league titles, is widely recognized as one of the world's most popular soccer clubs. The team features several of the world's greatest players, including David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Owen, Roberto Carlos a

More violence in Spain . MADRID (Reuters) - Explosions near a power station in Spain's northern Basque country on Tuesday followed a call to a newspaper by Basque separatist guerrillas ETA warning of four bombs, police said. The four small blasts caused no injuries and the plant at Amorebieta was undamaged, Basque officials said. Police had cleared the area after the warning, which came about half an hour before the explosions, evacuating more than 100 staff from the plant.

This is a serious concern. The Washington Post is reporting on the FEC hearings on the issue of media exemptions, but it doesn't seem they have extended this to independent bloggers. I do believe that bloggers need to provide for some sort of self-regulation, and we need to protect ourselves from profiteering bloggers that would take money from a corporation or PAC. The ones that will ultimately suffer are the little guys--the independent blogger. The 2006 and 2008 election are going to be paramount, and without the accountability that the blogs provide, it would be a mess and a disaster! I personally do not take any money from anyone for my blogging. If that changes in the future, I will post it here and let my readers know. The FEC appears to have settled on about half a dozen issues, the most contentious of which is known as the "media exemption." It refers to provisions that exempt the news media from campaign finance laws, including a nearly 100-year-old law barri

Just read on Captains Quarter about the Hawaiian activists that want race-based public policy. The New York times writes about a bill being introduced that could go before the Senate for a vote as soon as next week. The bill; ...would allow native Hawaiians - defined, in part, as anyone with indigenous ancestors living in the islands before the kingdom fell - to elect a governing body that would negotiate with the federal government over land and other natural resources and assets. There is a lot of money and property at stake, including nearly two million acres of "ceded lands," once owned by the monarchy; hundreds of thousands of acres set aside long ago for Hawaiian homesteaders; and hundreds of millions of dollars in entitlement programs. M.E.C.H.A. or whatever, entertaining these kind of separatist ideas can only divide our nation, and may even one day take us to another civil war. We pray to God this not be the case, but enough is enough--stop the political correctness

Power Line has some great comments on the NAACP and their efforts to extort money from corporations. As I said before, all this does is create a victim mentality among the African American community, and further hinder their struggles to gain economic success. Good thing there are thousands of African Americans that do NOT follow or listen to the voice of the NAACP. Here is the Power Line post : The NAACP resorts to extortion The NAACP, a once-great civil rights organization, will now devote itself to extorting money from corporations whose predecessors it thinks can be tied, in some fashion, to slavery. The extortion tactics are described by the Washington Times . The money will come from shareholders who had nothing to do with the "peculiar institution," and whose ancestors probably didn't either. In many cases, the ancestors weren't even in this country during the time of slavery, and themselves suffered from various forms of discrimination when th

What is it with all this talk I hear about improving black and Latino relations? I found this article on AlterNet about how Vicente Fox snubbed the NAACP!! Give me a freaking break! The Lefty Libs at NAACP just have no clue! This is what I think is going on. The lefty NAACP leadership is trying to make their candle shine a little bit brighter by snuffing out the latino's candle. The fact is there is one major difference between latinos and African Americans as minorities--we don't feel we have been victimized. I will admit, African Americans where victims of some horrible things through out history, but the truth is that today, all in all, we are in a much more civil, free, and equal-opportunity society. While racism still exists, it is not a population wide problem the way some in the modern so-called civil rights movement would have you believe. In my case, as a Hispanic, I have never been called a 'spic', I have never had a job refused because of my dark hair, bro