Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog

Good up-to-date info over at RedState.org . I'm glad to hear that Gonzalez is still not being considered. If he is nominated, I will blog up a storm. Gonzalez is not acceptable, and will continue to weaken the constitution. He may be a good lawyer, and a friend of the president, but that does not make him a good judge. The President is still not considering Gonzales. Here is the round up of what is being considered so far, according to the RedState.org source . So, who will it be? Larry Thompson's name is still in play. Michael Luttig's' name is back up. Edith Jones's name is also in play. Owen's name is there, but she is now considered less likely. This is all to say that I have no idea other than it will not be me.

Saludos! I just wanted to let readers know that I will be traveling to South Africa this coming week, and will be in flight over the weekend. So, this means very little to no posts. Because during my time in South Africa I will be away from a computer, and may have little Internet access, I am not sure how much I will be posting next week. I would like to invite regular readers to email me with guest-posts for me to include here in Latino Issues. You are welcome to include your nam,e, blog address, and email at the end of your guest-post as a way for me to say thank you. I would really enjoy getting some diverse perspectives to be included, though they should be from a TRUTH basis. I am pro-life, conservative, and from a judeo-Christian worldview. While I don't expect my guest bloggers to be of any particular faith, there should be an intent to seek Truth (real Truth, not the liberal kind). I have never had a guest blogger, so for now, I think you can email your final, spell-checke...

RedState.org has a post to a story about the Swedish Feminist Party, and their push for the abolition of marriage. Mark my words, this is where gay marriage will take us here in the United States if we continue to allow fringe ideologies to drive public policy. Now, I realize a lot of you may not get the connection, so I encourage you to look at the statistics in Netherlands, and other countries where gay marriage is the norm--marriage is on the decline. I don't care what you think, declining marriages is NOT good for a society. And yes, the divorce trends in this country are just as alarming and socially speaking, just as harmful. I realize many of you may have gone through divorce, and I don't know what that feels like. But, talking strictly about social cause-and-effect, a propagation of divorce as the solution to break downs in relationship (or poor choice of spouse in the first place) is detrimental to society and to future generations. Take a look at New Orleans--I am no...

Here is some hard expert testimony against Referendum C, which I thought was great. But, as many have come to expect from the mainstream media, the coverage by the Rocky Mountain News leaves a lot to be desired. Hat tip goes to Firestorm Strategies for pointing me to this story. Milton Friedman, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economic Science opposes Referendum C. Friedman believes that Ref. C is bad for Colorado's economy. "I strongly urge the voters of Colorado to reject Referendum C, or any action that would suspend Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights. I strongly favor the continued and uninterrupted use of TABOR, including it's so called ratchet mechanism. The ratchet is one of the best features of TABOR. It is the only thing that will reduce out-of-control government spending," the 93-year-old Friedman said. When the environmental groups make a statement in favor of Referendum C, the Rocky Mountain News calls it "grim news." A coalition of envi...

Solid review over at Plugged-In. Check it out . This is a great resource for parents or individuals interested in discerning and being carefull about what they watch at the theater. If you don't care about what movies you watch, thats fine--skip on Plugged-In. Don't come back and give me grief about how they do their reviews. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the real-life story of Anneliese Michel, a German college student and devout Catholic who died during an exorcism in 1976. Doctors said her seizures and visions were caused by epilepsy. Her family and their bishop believed it was demon possession. German officials responded by prosecuting the parents and priest for criminal negligence. (They were found guilty but given suspended sentences.) Co-writer (with Paul Harris Boardman) and director Scott Derrickson, a graduate of Biola University, said his purpose in making Emily Rose was “not to persuade” and “not to provide any metaphysical answer” to the question of whethe...

Missionary organizations are concerned, as Venezuela's Chávez has used the Robertson flap as a pretext to suspend permits for foreign missionaries . This could mean trouble for many individuals who are giving of their lives to serve and help the Venezuelan people.

This has to be the best link on Drudge Report today. The hipocricy of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) knows no bound. Perhaps UFCW should be more carefull about who they hire to picket--even the protestor agrees Wall Mart paid well, and said he would consider going back to work for Wall Mart. The union accuses Wal-Mart of dragging down wages and working conditions for other grocery-store workers across the nation. "Whether you work or shop at Wal-Mart, the giant retailer's employment practices affect your wages. Wal-Mart leads the race to the bottom in wages and health-care," says the UFCW's website. "As the largest corporation in the world, Wal-Mart has a responsibility to the people who built it. Wal-Mart jobs offer low pay, inadequate and unaffordable healthcare, and off the clock work." But standing with a union-supplied sign on his shoulder that reads, Don't Shop WalMart: Below Area Standards, picketer and former Wal-Mart employee Sal ...

El Heraldo , a Honduran Spanish national newspaper, is reporting on the second group of Honduran's to travel to Iraq to work in security related posts. "These guards will work in security related activities in Iraq, after "Your Solutions Honduras" corporation moved to increase the number of Hondurans that are working in Iraq. It's important to note that the first group of 12 laborers left for Iraq this last 26 of July to work under a six month long contract. They are working in Bagdad, the capital of Iraq, where it is expected the second group will be working as well. It's good to see our Latino nations doing a small part to fight terror. At the same time, these are diverse and better paying job opportunities for these men. Benjamín Canales, an executive with "Your Solutions Honduras" is quoted at UOL, a portugese language web site , stating that the Honduran security guards are being paid a monthly salary of $990 U.S. dollars. The names of the Ho...

News and perspective from Father Babendreier , the chaplain at Strathmore School, Nairobi, on the proposed new Constitution and the defense of life. It seems the proposed Constitution leaves a door open for legalization of abortion, but it's a step forward in the right direction. Of course, I know nothing of Nairobi politics, so I could be totally missing the flaws in this. Because of political tensions over other issues, such as devolution, let me add that I am not arguing the right-to-life case with the hope that people will vote Yes. I am trying to clarify a contention that has direct bearing on a moral issue where the Church has a duty to speak clearly. Here I address only the question of abortion, as debated on moral grounds. If the proposed document is voted in, Kenya will join others countries where the law protects the right to life of the unborn. There is some merit to the fear that the wording gives Parliament the authority to draft a Bill that would make abortion-on-dema...

by Josue Sierra Honduran congressman ( Diputado ) Leonel Ayala, has confirmed that the Honduran congress passed legislation and is formally recognizing a day to honor the “unborn child” (dia del nino no nacido). The legislation was aproved this last March 25th, and it is unclear what is covered under the legislation. I expect to be talking to him more in depth later this week, and will have more information on this, and other news on Honduran politics. The Honduran government is also working to amend their constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman heterosexual relationship. The first step in the constitutional amendment process has already passed. Tags: Politics , Reproductive Rights , Religion , Feminism , Honduras

The Exorcism of Emily Rose, directed by Scott Derrickson, entered the box office at number one this weekend. It beat the action flick - The Transporter 2. Biola grad's movie debuted at number #1 with gross of $30 million. Derrickson is reportedly allready busy working on his next movie. Tags: the Exorcism of Emily Rose , Entertainment

This is a little old, but very interesting nevertheless. This was writen by Ariel Delgado Covarrubias and was transmited via phone to CubaNet.org , as the Cuban government controls all access to the Internet. You can read the original article in Spanish here as well as the English summarized version here . HAVANA, August 25 ( www.cubanet.org ) - Although Cuba is a shareholder in the new Telesur television network organized by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, viewers on the island can't find the channel on their dial. When the signal went on the air in late July, Cubans thought they'd have a fifth channel to watch to provide a change from the programming on the four government stations. Instead, an educational channel carries a news selection called "the best of Telesur" while news stories credited to Telesur appear on newscasts on other channels. But the complete programming avail...

This is a revealing article . As I have been pointing out, the riots, violence and anarchy seen in New Orleans has nothing to do with poverty, and everything to do with cultural values. It's speaks loudly of the cultural poverty of the many residents that resorted to uncivilized behavior in the wake of Katrina. Rich or poor, there is a lesson in contrasting the victims of Mitch in Honduras, and the victims of Katrina in New Orleans. The televised images are eerily familiar and strikingly different: Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Gulf Coast last week and Hurricane Mitch, which struck Central America in 1998. I had been in Honduras to report on the aftermath. These things were the same: Buildings shattered to their basic elements: splintered pieces of wood, scraps of metal and broken glass. Elderly people, their faces forlorn, huddled in a stadium awaiting help. Children clinging to the necks of adults who carry them through streets of infested, churning water. These images are...

Cuban Cardinal sssailed Raúl Roa Kourí, accusations that the Catholic church in Cuba is pro-U.S. In a story by Zenit.org , Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, the archbishop of Havana, issued a statement in response to the ambassador's Statements to the Italian news organization ASCA. The Cardinal said Kourí accusations are "Unacceptable and False." In that interview Roa praised the Holy See's posture vis-à-vis the government of Cuba, but accused the country's bishops of taking sides with foreign powers. The cardinal said Roa's comments make it seem that "all the responsibility for the difficulties of Church-state relations in Cuba fall on the bishops, ignoring all that corresponds to the government of our country," and that that episcopate serves the interests of the United States in the island nation. The archbishop of Havana added: "We, the bishops of Cuba, are used to reading all kinds of newspaper articles, where we are accused of being 'col...

Stron show of support being reported from Belgium in the pro-family demonstrations. Spain's pro-family organizations organized in support and Spanish families protested in front of the Belgian embassies and consulates in Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Malaga, Mallorca and Tenerife. Here is the full story from Zenit.org . BRUSSELS, Belgium, SEPT. 11, 2005 ( Zenit.org ).- Organizers say more than 4,000 people took part in a pro-family march in Brussels that protested legislation that would allow homosexual couples to adopt children. "The Family Is Truly Important!" was the theme of Saturday's rally in the city's Parc du Cinquantenaire, organized by the Institute of Family Policies. The demonstrators represented 10 international pro-family federations and 600 not-for-profit organizations. Preceding the event, some 20,000 signatures were obtained in support of the idea of marriage being only between a man and a woman, and the right of children to have a father a...

May we never forget the sacrifices made for the freedoms we enjoy. "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our country is strong." —George W. Bush, 9/11/01 This from Benedict XVI via Zenit.org : "Today, September 11, we remember the victims of terrorist violence throughout the world," the Pope said today in English after reciting the Angelus with crowds gathered at the papal summer residence, south of Rome. "May God inspire men and women of good will everywhere to renounce hatred and to build a world of justice, solidarity and peace."

From RedState.org : On this fourth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we all pause to remember our countrymen lost in that tragedy and the heroism and loss of the many folks who worked to rescue the survivors and who worked tirelessly around the clock to ease the suffering of so many. Here's a piece written on the one year anniversary entitled, " Ora et Labora ", reminding us to pray as we worked, to remember those who are lost, but to remember them -- and to honor them -- as we soldiered on. As Faulkner said, "Man will not only endure, he will prevail", and prevail we will. We hope you'll take a moment today to remember those who fell that day, to stop and say a prayer for them and for their loved ones who every day go through life without them and who every day are reminded of their loss. We will not forget those who fell, will keep them in our prayers -- ordinary people, heroes all. Go on over there , and join in on th...