Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog

I was exploring TownHall.com today, and just discovered some of Linda Chavez's work and the Center for Equal Opportunity . One their home page , they have a statement on immigration that I really liked. With the United States admitting high numbers of immigrants, America's ability to accept newcomers will increasingly depend upon finding a pro-assimilation middle-ground between nativists who say that today's immigrants cannot assimilate and multiculturalists who say that they should not. CEO promotes the assimilation of immigrants into our society and research on their economic and social impact on the United States. The Center for Equal Opportunity web site has a paper written by Chavez, titled " Immigration Is Not About Race " that is worth reading. In it she comments on a book by Forbes senior editor Peter Brimelow called Alien Nation. [Brimelow] confirms the worst fears about what immigrants are doing to America. According to Brimelow, the United States is in...

This article made me think about something my Economics professor said in class sometime in relation to China's potentially damaging influence on the U.S. economy. China has been investing heavily in U.S. dollars and government bonds, as well as Gold. Should they want to cause some serious damage to the U.S. economy, all they would need to do is dump the cash and bonds in the world markets, effectively causing massive problems for our economy. Why is it that no one is talking about this? Here is another story from Market Watch on Gold closing up by over 4% . We should be keeping a closer eye on China! HT: Drudge Report

Drudge Report has a link to a Jerusalem Post story on a Christmas speech by Hugo Chavez , where he alluded to the Jewish community and made anti-Semitic comments. As if the news of shortages wasn't enough, Chavez keeps revealing who he is--good old fashioned, power-hungry, socialist and communist. A Jewish rights organization accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of making anti-Semitic comments during a Christmas Eve speech. The Los Angeles, California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded an apology from Chavez in a statement issued Wednesday, saying such remarks have long been used to persecute Jews. "Some minorities, descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ ... took all the world's wealth for themselves," Chavez said in the Dec. 24 speech. "In your words, the two central arguments of anti-Semitism emerge ... the accusation that Jews killed Jesus (and) associating them with wealth," the Center said in a letter sent to Chavez. "Our center...

From the Associated Press via Drudge Report : Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had emergency brain surgery for five hours Friday after doctors detected further bleeding and increasing pressure, a hospital official said without giving details on the premier's condition. Sharon, 77, then was taken from the operating room for a brain scan, Hadassah Hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy said. We continue to pray for his prompt recovery.

I don't usually care or comment on what Robertson says on his TV show . I am not even sure I understand why he says the things he says, or what sort of viewers he has that put up with his mouth. (CNN) -- Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed. But, I thought I would throw in my 2 cents simply to contrast and clarify--he does NOT represent the opinions and perspectives of all Christians. He does NOT represent the opinions and perspectives of most conservatives. He does NOT represent or come close to sharing my views, perspectives, and probably a lot of aspects of my theological perspectives. Yesterday I was listening to Medved , who had a great discussion on the repercussions of Sharon's having to step down. I am concerned for Israel, and their pending political turmoil. Sharon is my prayers and the nation of Israel is my pray...

Publius Pundit is reporting of increasing shortages in Venezuela. And so the beginning of the end is at hand. Oil prices may be able to sustain the fool's ambitions, but nothing can stop the actions of the economic "Invisible Hand." Chavez is getting his Economics 101 lessons--I suspect he will get an "F" regardless. Pay attention to this, as it is economics playing out according to basic rules. We have hundreds of years of history as proof of what works and what doesn't--but some refuse to get it. Lives are lost because of misplaced ideals and collective philosophy. Artificial price controls are a no-win situation for the producers, and the net result has been rationing of coffee and other goods due to inevitable shortages. These shortages occur in every communist country - and it makes me recall that it was price controls that took down the Soviet Union, following decades of stories about factories that made thousands of left shoes - and no righ...

Wow. Talk about the Roman courts going overboard . The truth is that there is no story here. This is all about a PR stunt by an atheist who wants to sell more copies of what I am sure is an uninformed book. An Italian court is tackling Jesus -- and whether the Roman Catholic Church may be breaking the law by teaching that he existed 2,000 years ago. The case pits against each other two men in their 70s, who are from the same central Italian town and even went to the same seminary school in their teenage years. The defendant, Enrico Righi, went on to become a priest writing for the parish newspaper. The plaintiff, Luigi Cascioli, became a vocal atheist who, after years of legal wrangling, is set to get his day in court later this month. And here is the truth. "In my book, 'The Fable of Christ,' I present proof Jesus did not exist as a historic figure. He must now refute this by showing proof of Christ's existence," Cascioli said. Speaking to Reuters, Righi, 76, sou...

I noticed I am now featured on PunditDrome. Its an interesting automatically updated Table of Contents to a selection of syndicated blogs. Check it out . Welcome to PunditDrome readers who are visiting for the first time. Also, thank you to A.M. Mora y Leon at Publius Pundit for his strongly worded compliment. Welcome to Publius Pundit readers. I welcome and usually respond to comments. I hope you all enjoy this first visit (if its your first) and will come back often. For those who haven't read it yet, check out A.M. Mora y Leon's comments on immigration. He has a solid post. Good stuff . There's an immigration crisis in the U.S., prompting our more Neanderthal congressmen to propose building a wall to keep illegal immigrants out. Latin America's good presidents, people like Vicente Fox and Tony Saca and Oscar Berger, much to my grief, have taken offense at this. But the Le-Pen-like reaction of our U.S. Congressional Neanderthals is a response to a problem that is r...

Jake Jacobsen from from Freedom Folks commented on yesterday's immigration post. I just feel it's time for Mexico to get it's shit together and start taking care of it's people. That is not the United States problem nor responsibility. And unfortunately, we provide a relief valve for the corrupt Mexican Gov. by eliminating the need for them to change. So long as people can come here illegally, and so long as remittances comprise such an astronomical portion of the Mexican economy, I guarantee they won't change. The thing is, we live in a growingly global economy, and this has real implications for society and culture. So, in fact, it is our problem too! But, you are right--it should NOT be our responsibility. That's why I have been in favor of CAFTA and NAFTA, because it empowers Latin American countries to take steps forward economically. Jacobsen is affirming the exact point I was attempting to make--that "we provide a relief valve for the corrupt Mexica...

BlueLatinos.org is reporting that expatriate Mexicans will be allowed to vote in the 2006 elections. I am not sure what to think of this. On one side, it reflects the growing influence of the expatriate voting block. Perhaps legally emigrated Mexicans will put political pressure on the Mexican government to enact real changes to improve the Mexican economy, and secure the borders from that side. After all, research is showing that a majority of Latinos do not agree with illegal immigration. But, who knows. It may just make things even more convoluted than they already are. Are you a Mexican citizen? If you are, you might be eligible to vote in next year's presidential elections. Earlier this year, the Mexican government passed a law giving Mexican citizens abroad the right to participate in the July 2, 2006 presidential elections. In the U.S. alone, approximately 4 million Mexicans could be eligible to vote in this historic election. This move to allow expa...

Mary Katharine Ham wrote over at Hugh Hewitt on the whole idea of socialism, and the truth about Castro's "forty-seven years of crimes against humanity and the human spirit." It's a must read for the day . There is a whole region of the world at stake, along with generations of the people who live within it. When I see these things, I wonder how people can be taken in yet again by a theory proved wrong so many times over. Charismatic leaders, the promise of something better, and an idea that sounds nice. But it's not nice. It's brutal in practice and soulless in theory. Socialism is a nice idea, in theory, they tell me. I won't be conceding that point anymore. Too many have conceded it for too long, and too many have been fooled into thinking it can work-- again. And, the costs of that particular thought are just too high. If you're so inclined, a donation to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a great way to help everyo...

Olga Vives , long-time NOW activist, a former sales and marketing professional and originally from Cuba, was on C-Span along side other NOW executives calling on all Latinos to stand against the Alito nomination as part of a larger NOW campaign to defeat the Alito nomination. She used common concerns to Latino immigrants, saying that Alito was a threat to the fight for women's rights, discrimination, and my all time favorite--"reproductive rights." What an embarrassment!! The NOW website is using biased, unsubstantiated scare tactics, calling Alito a "fanatical, anti-abortion judge." *Newsflash* Restrictions on legal abortion increasing. Women refused access to birth control. Access to justice denied. They can call it "defending" women's rights, "fighting" discrimination, and paint it any other way, but its still the same thing--plain old extreme-left scare tactics. The real danger is NOW's ongoing discrimination and war against trad...

I can't say that these immigrant dollars are coming from illegal immigrants. And I don't see a problem withMexican ex-pats contributing to the development of their home towns per say. But this quote from IconCulture points to the root of US immigration problem--broken Latin American economies and corrupt or lazy governments that refuse to correct the problem. Tenango, a rural Mexican town , built its electrical grid through a government program called Tres por Uno (Three for One). For every dollar immigrants in the U.S. contributed, the Mexican government threw in three - funding some 1,436 similar projects in the country in 2004. NEWSDAY 12.4.05 What is clear, though, is that Mexico (and many other Latin American countries) continues to rely on the U.S. economy as a crutch for their own failures and refusal to accept that socialism does not work. That is the problem. The mass movement of labor from third world countries to the United States is a clear demonstration of the func...