Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog

Via Hispanic Business wire : The Grammy-award winning percussionist was given a heart bypass in January and underwent further surgery two weeks later following complications with an artery. Born to Puerto Rican immigrant parents in New York in 1929, Barretto was widely credited as the godfather of Latin jazz and was the first Hispanic to record a Latin song which became a "hit" in the American Billboard Charts. You can listen to a sample of his music , check out pictures, and read the extensive list of musicians he played with at drummerworld.com . It's a sad day.

Powerline linked to the Rasmussen Reports, which did a survey on Vice-President Cheney's hunting accident. More proof that the media just missed it. Tags: Cheney , Bush , Politics , Dowd , Gregory

I'm personaly going to wait to buy the whole set, in about what: 6 or 7 years? I forget how many books there are in the Narnia series. I read them all multiple times--I highly recomend them to any parent, for themselves or for their children. I thought LWW was great, though even in the book, the story goes a bit slower. Prince Caspian, which is rumored to already be in production, should prove to have a more rapid pace and more intense battle scenes.

I am surprised this came out of Fox News, but then again, it was from the mouth of Geraldo Rivera. Gary Schneeberger has an interesting commentary on this whole Cheney shooting media fiasco, and provides great perspective into Geraldo's comments on Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor." I think its funny because no matter how hard the media tries to exploit any little thing to bash the White House, it always backfires. Now, thanks to Geraldo's stretch of imagination, Kennedy's Chappaquiddick fiasco is in the news . As a refresher, "Chappaquiddick" is the shorthand used for the 1969 scandal in which already-Sen. Kennedy drove a car off a bridge in the middle of the night after a party on Martha's Vineyard, swimming to safety himself but leaving a passenger, a young woman named Mary Jo Kopechne, inside the car to drown. Kennedy did not report the incident to authorities until the next morning, about nine hours later. How does Geraldo sum up tha...

A reader, Malcolm Lathers , posted some comments and had a question for me on the subject of immigration. I think it is 1924 and the door should be shut for a respite (20-30 yrs) with H(1b) a possible exception (250,000-300,000 per Yr). I wrote because I noted you wrote on 8/8/05 that this is a nation of diversity , and I would like to disagree. In order for America to remain a nation it must [be] a nation of AMERICANS of diverse heritage, but they must be here to be Americans, first, last and always. As I am sure you have heard Teddy Roosevelt had some comments on hyphenated Americans when we had this problem of uncontrolled immigration the last time. While I am sure we disagree on many things, I would suspect we agree more than you realize. To be honest, I am still finding it difficult to articulate on the subject of immigration in a way that balances my Christian worldview, and the truly American compassion towards the world, and the also very America value of law and...

The Pennsylvania court system is bowing down to political correctness. The Associated Press has a story , saying that the Pennsylvania court system was "playing it safe." Ya right! Playing it politically correct is more like it. CitizenLink has more: Art Heinz, a spokesman for the AOPC, said the photograph was altered in a brochure about the courts to avoid the cost of taking a new one. "This particular booklet was reprinted at a time when there was pending litigation at the national level about the propriety of displays of the Ten Commandments in or on government buildings," he told Family News in Focus. In other words, they chickened out to the scare tactics of the ACLU and friends. This is one area where excessive litigation is having a real threat to religious freedom in America. When the ACLU can go around filing lawsuits left and right, there are many organizations that either get scared into retreat, or just can't afford the fight. That's besides the ...

Update: Another example today of the false notion that pornography is free speech. I can think of a professor's words about the difference between freedom and liberty. Once is anarchy, the other is restrained by moral guidelines--discerning between right & wrong. In this story, its obvious that the officer's where out of line , but I can understand the frustration when political correctness exposes our children and adulst to damaging content. The sexual harassment policy forbids the "display of offensive or obscene printed or visual material." But in a library, which is both a public arena and a county workplace, the U.S. Constitution trumps Montgomery's rules. *** I know this goes a bit far from what I usually blog about, but the true effects of porn, I suspect, has far-reaching social, economic, and yes, political implications. I also take personal interest in the subject, having personally experienced what porn does to an individual and a family. You don...

I've seen this a bunch of times , but it tears me up every time. Regardless of what you hear from the media and the protests, America does honor our soldiers. I am incredibly grateful for their service. We affirm what you are doing, and the sacrifices you make to preserve freedom, for us and the world.

Enough already! The media's pathetic hunt for a controversy on Cheney is beyond understanding. As I watched today's press conference from the Corpus Christi hospital, reporters kept asking the same questions. What is it they say about insanity? I think it goes "doing the same thing again and again, and expecting a different result." It seems to me reporters continue to ask questions in an attempt to show that Harry Whittington is getting preferential treatment just because of the VP. The hospital spokesperson had to explain why he was in a private room, etc. With the insanity the press has shown, I would have guards at my door! Memo to the media: give it up! Of course, the news today on this is Fox New's exlusive interview with Cheney. Should be interesting, but I think way overdone.

NRO has a fun piece just for Valentines, and I was happy to see my favorite Economics author listed: Thomas Sowell : A professor who writes and says things you can actually understand. He is true north on the intellectual compass and a tuning fork that finds the exact pitch to explain clearly the way the world works. If you don't have the time or patience to get up to speed on political arcanery like the Kyoto Accords or global warming, just read Sowell and you'll sort it out in minutes. Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple days. I'm having real busy days at work, and giving the rest of my time and energy to my first lady.

This is at the Big Pharaoh : A voice came out of the fire telling me “The Big Pharaoh, I am Allah, I chose you to carry a message to my beloved Muslims. I know they are not happy with how they are looked upon internationally and especially in the Western world. I know they are trying to find ways in order to remedy that and this is why I will give you 10 commandments to post on your blog. I just hope they listen to me” You just have to read these! They are funny, and yet so right-on, it's almost not funny. 4. Thou shall understand that the West gets their info on Islam not from your preaching nor from the books you translate to them but from your actions.

From World Magazine comes this news: Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota and Wisconsin – have passed laws that force abortionists to tell women having abortions that their babies will feel pain at least during and after the 5th month of pregnancy and they can give their unborn babies anesthesia to alleviate that pain. Wisconsin’s governor vetoed his state’s bill. Why is NOW and Planned Parenthood so afraid of the truth? Could it be? An unborn baby is actually a human being; a life? If you knew for a fact beyond a shadow of a doubt that the baby you carry inside of you is an actual live human life, would you still abort? If you don't know this for a fact, are you willing to take the risk of going through an abortion, if there is a possibility that this is true? If you don't know this for a fact, will you find out before you make a decision to abort. Life is precious, and very much worth the time and effort to investigate the truth about pre-natal human development, and abortion. The co...

UPDATE3: It looks like temperatures are going up, as I can see snow starting to melt. UPDATE 2: Here is a shot of my apartment complex parking area located in Annandale, just east of 495. The trees are pretty weighed down, and the snow plows are clearing out the parking lot, so I'm sure we'll have to dig our car out from under the snow! So, I guess my camera has the wrong date in its system! Correction: today is Feb. 11, 2006. UPDATE: AP (via Yahoo News) has a picture of an Annandale resident trying to dig his car out. An Annandale, Va. resident attempts to clear the snow around cars, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006, after a large snow storm blew through the Washington, D.C. area. The region's first major storm this winter slammed the Northeast with a foot of snow by early Sunday and showed no signs of letting up, canceling flights from Boston to Washington, D.C., and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes. *** Yup--I'm one of them. Lost power around midnight, interrupt...

UPDATE (02/12/06) I thought I would provide a short update to my comings and goings since my last welcome post. In my continued quest to grow as a professional, I accepted a job offer in the DC metropolitan area where I am now living. I've been here for about 3 weeks now, and I am enjoying the energy and the people I have met. As always, the one thing I enjoy the most about blogging is the comments from readers. I specially like to hear from those I know read my blog frequently--your readership is greatly appreciated and valued, and your comments and feedback are important to me. Also, I can now celebrate being linked by Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt, among others, which has brought in many new readers. To all of you, welcome. The power of the blogosphere continues to amaze me, as I, a regular individual, can earn the priviledge of having an audience for my thoughts, comments and perspectives. I've been reading Hewitt's book, "Blog, Understanding the Information Reformat...

The New York times writes about the escalating violence at the Mexican/US border coming from criminal syndicates. It sounds to me like they are feeling the heat, and their business revenue source is being threatened! That is GREAT news! Now is the time when the American people, and specially those of immigrant heritage, must call to our congress and the administration to continue working for solutions to our border security problems. Mexican criminal syndicates are stepping up their attacks on American agents patrolling the border as officials of the Homeland Security Department intensify efforts to stem the flow of immigrants and drugs into the United States, American officials said this week. In recent months, scores of Border Patrol agents have been fired upon or pelted with large stones as well as with cloth-covered stones that have been doused with flammable liquid and set ablaze. Since October, agents have been attacked in more than 190 cases, officials said on Thursday. Most ...

It's looking pretty bad for NY and the whole Northeast coast. Here is the weather map.