Latino Issues, A Conservative Blog

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman, Ken Mehlman issued the following statement today, in celebration of Cuban Independence Day: “On May 20, 1902, the Cuban people victoriously concluded a long and arduous struggle against oppression and political persecution to establish a freely elected Cuban government. This passion for a free Cuba still lives in the hearts of many Cubans – many of whom have escaped to the United States to pursue freedom. The Republican Party recognizes the accomplishments and contributions Cuban Americans have made to this country, and joins them in their desire to witness once again the end of a dictatorship and the beginning of a Cuban democracy.” Its a nice gesture.

I've written before here that the reason Latin America seems to have a distaste for Capitalism is that what they know as capitalism is really what economist Gary Becker calls "crony capitalism." Glenn Reynolds writes about this in his latest GlennReynolds.com post . Here are Becker's thoughts : One legitimate reason for the opposition to capitalism in Latin America is that it frequently has been "crony capitalism" as opposed to the competitive capitalism that produces desirable social outcomes. Crony capitalism is a system where companies with close connections to the government gain economic power not by competing better, but by using the government to get favored and protected positions. These favors include monopolies over telecommunications, exclusive licenses to import different goods, and other sizeable economic advantages. Some cronyism is found in all countries, but Mexico and other Latin countries have often taken the influence of political connect...

Something to consider . One of the developments that’s recently disturbed me is the growing number of religious organizations in America that are constantly “against something.” Every month, I get magazines and direct mail from organizations and ministries upset about the latest movie, court decision, TV show, cartoon series, or mad at the homosexual community or some other special interest group. For a long time it’s bothered me, because as Christians – of all people – we should be known as “people who are for something.” We have the greatest story in the world to tell, but instead of focusing on that story, we continually get distracted by turning our focus on issues that are peripheral to our real calling. I worked at a large Christian non-profit and have wondered myself. I still look forward to the possibility of working within Christian organizations. It is one thing I enjoy about working for Gran Comision Latin America--they are for action and solutions that ch...

Good article over at FrontPageMag.com reacting to President Bush's speech. Check it out .

Read Chuck Colson's opinion column over at TownHall.com. Instead of litigating over posting the Ten Commandments in public spaces, churches in the future will be trying to keep the state from encroaching on matters of faith and morals. This will certainly become the case if sexual orientation comes to be seen as analogous to race, which is already the view among many elites, including some in the judiciary. If that happens, as looks likely, then all the force of law unleashed by racism charges will be brought to bear against the Church. Schools, health-care providers—even Christian camps and, yes, maybe pastors in the pulpit—will be uncertain if they can do their jobs in a way that is both legal and consistent with their beliefs. The best way to keep the Massachusetts dilemma from spreading is to keep the logic behind the Goodridge decision from spreading. The Marriage Protection Amendment, now pending before Congress, would not only protect traditional marriage, it would also prot...

Today's column from Linda Chavez reminds us again to not lose focus of a key element on this immigration debate. An element that Bush emphasized quite well! I have been writing about that here for months, and I cheered when I heard Bush say it--assimilation is the key. This is another key reason I like the President's speech. To talk about assimilation is not politically correct, and the President did it anyway. Way to go! From Chavez , here are the facts about Latinos and assimilation : Fear that the newest batch of immigrants from Latin America can't, or refuse to, be absorbed into the cultural, social, and economic mainstream of American life drives much of the anti-immigrant sentiment so prevalent today. I've mustered statistics endlessly in previous columns to demonstrate that such fears are overdrawn -- Hispanics are not only assimilating as each group before them has, but at a more rapid pace than many previous groups -- but for the moment, I want to put those ar...

Great resolution . Let's hope for good follow through and evidence of action in poor communities across the country. I realize many readers have had positive experience in public schools, but the anti-moral dogma, and anti-Christian discrimination that continues to grow in the public school is intolerable to many. Whereas, churches can collaborate in providing alternatives to the government school system: BE IT NOW RESOLVED that the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention encourages each church associated with the Southern Baptist Convention to heed Dr. Mohler's call to develop an exit strategy from the government's schools; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention urges that particular attention be given in the development of such exit strategies to the needs of orphans, single parents, and the disadvantaged; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2006 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention urges t...

Via World Magazine Blog, concerning news from the The Barna Group 's nationwide survey on Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code : ...the book has impacted millions of lives – but changes few beliefs. One out of every five adults has read the book but only 5% - which represents about two million adults – said that they changed any of the pre-existing beliefs or religious perspectives because of the book’s content. The survey finds that the people most likely to have altered their religious views in response to the book’s content were Hispanics (who comprise 17% of the book’s readers), women (three times more likely than male readers to do so), and liberals (twice as likely as conservatives). I recomend this resources --both in English and in Spanish--targeted at youth. It provides good answers to the questions the Da Vinci Code presents.

*** UPDATE (5/16) *** Via Hugh Hewitt: I have confirmed with a senior White House source this morning that the president is for robust fencing in urban areas --as exists in El Paso and San Diego-- and for vehicle barriers in rural areas. As usual, it seems that a major part of the problem is getting the message out. *** Hugh's sources are saying "that Senator Sessions will move an amendment that provides for 325+ miles of fencing and an additional 500 miles of vehicle barriers. " That's good news. This is not as extensive a plan as that authorized by the House bill, but it gets the Senate bill on to the same page, and if the conference report comes back with immediate construction and full funding, it would represent a significant breakthrough. I agree. Make sure to follow the coverage on the blogosphere, Hugh's radio show, and my own interview on BBC Radio Five Live . Technorati Tags: Bush , Politics , border , Terrorism , Homeland Security , MEXICO , illegal i...

Anchoress makes a great point and addresses a huge flaw on both sides of this debate! I quoted this already, but it's worth its own post. ...I just have to ask all of you people - on every side - who have decided that immigration is one man’s burden , and that every good thing President Bush has done is to be negated because he hasn’t snapped his fingers and done what YOU think is the solution to the immigration problem…what did Clinton do about immigration, what did Bush 41 do? What did St. Reagan do? What did Carter do? What has any president, congressperson or senator done about immigration for the last 30 years, except kick the issue down the road for someone else to deal with? Reagan, if you remember, was the amnesty president. Clinton was the “borders? What’s borders, everyone is our pal” president. Please read the whole post . Its worth it. Technorati Tags: Bush , Politics , border , Terrorism , Homeland Security , MEXICO , illegal immigration , illegal alien , b...

The Anchoress laid it on hard ! I can totaly relate to her fatige with politics and the rhetoric and I agree with her. I was honestly surprised at how many conservatives discounted Bush and the speech even before he spoke. It's just not intelectually sound. I cannot help but notice that a number of conservative bloggers - some of whom I have long-respected - have already decided that President Bush’s speech tonight will be insufficient to the task of undoing 30 years of neglect. They’ve heard a whisper here, an idea there, and decided that if he’s not going to do precisely what they want him to do - and only that - then he needn’t even be listened to. They’ve already pre-empted him. Attention, my conservative friends - please pull back from the edge. Please take a moment to consider what has become of you: When you have reached the point that you will not even allow a man to make his speech and put his ideas out there - if you have already decided that nothing he says can be of v...

Via CitizenLink email , a good quote: "The oddest thing about Republicans and Democrats in power is that they always know the technical facts, always know about fund raising, always know what the national committee is saying about getting turnout. But so often they don't know the message or even have a message. Which is funny, because they're in the message business. They're like shoemakers who make pretty shoeboxes but forget to make the shoes." -- Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2006

Final thoughts on the president's speech: It was a good speech. Bush said mostly what needed to say. Now, the key to the whole thing is to see some action and follow through on the whole thing. Catch and release needs to end--and it should have ended Sept. 11! He needs to do a much better job of getting out there with the message of what is being done! Enough of what we need or want to do--I want to hear about what we are doing. Actions! Real live fences. Real deportation. Real fines and prosecution of employers knowingly hiring illegal labor. I want to hear about solutions being implemented, not just debated and talked about. The administration has a serious credibility problem, and only actions will restore America's trust on our government. Technorati Tags: Bush , Politics , border , Terrorism , Homeland Security , MEXICO , illegal immigration , illegal alien , border fence

*** UPDATES BELOW-- Scroll Down for latest . Comments and excerpts of Bush's prepared remarks below, and updates as the day and evening goes forward. Of course, I'm going to be live blogging the speech tonight. *** BUMPED AND KEPT ABOVE THE FOLD UNTIL AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. Fresh content and new posts are below this one. Scroll down for ongoing posts about immigration and the Senate debate on S. 2611. Welcome Hugh Hewitt and TruthLaidBear readers! Scroll down for other posts related to the immigration issue from earlier in the day. Hugh Hewitt will have extended coverage on his show tonight, so you'll want to tune in to that. I have also been invited to share thoughts with the BBC Radio Five Live . You should be able to listen in here (You'll need RealPlayer) . Also, Truth Laid Bear will be tracking the blogosphere's reaction to the Bush speech. Feel free to email me your reactions and thoughts--I'll publish them as I get them. Updates will be publi...

I'm going to slow down a bit while I get prepared for the BBC interview. I'm listening to Hugh. You can listen to his extended coverage on these stations: KRLA 870 in Los Angeles , WIND 560 in Chicago , KNUS 710 in Denver or KSKY 660 in Dallas.

I just printed out a hard copy of the Senate's Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act ( CIRA, S.2611 ) Now, if you are going to blog about it or comment on it, I would hope you would have taken the time to read it. I know...it will take a lot of time. The darn thing is 197 pages long!! We'll see what little tidbit I find in there. Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundation has come out with a report on the effects of S.2611 . I haven't read it yet, so I can't comment on what it says or whether I agree or not. Based on the headline, it does strike me as a bit sensationalist. The headline reads, " Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years " But, generally speaking, I tend to trust the Heritage Foundation. Ad that one to tonight's reading list...my wife is not going to be happy with me. Much attention has been given to the fact that the bill grants amnesty to some 10 million illegal immigrants. Little or no attentio...

I link and quote it in my previous post, but I want to point out this is the must read for the day. Hugh Hewitt has some serious predictions and analysis on the upcoming speech and the immigration issue. National Guard deployments may signal some temporary tightening of the border, but the refusal to embrace the House program to extend existing fencing by 700 miles, and to do so with a crash construction effort, will be to signal unseriousness on border security of a thorough-going sort. The border-security faction within the GOP is not to be confused with the anti-regularization movement, and wants only for the party and president to be serious about stopping the next 11 million illegal entrants, not deporting the millions already here .

Of course, everyone is talking about Bush's pending speach tonight. From the Washington Post : President Bush joins the immigration debate when he lays out his vision for the nation's immigration laws tonight at 8 on national television. The Senate, after weeks of haggling, finally gets back to work on a bill that could grant citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. The Senate got back on track last week after Republican and Democratic leaders worked out a few parliamentary disputes, but big hurdles remain. Senators will be able to add a "considerable" number of amendments to the bill when the debate starts today. And there is a desert-size gulf between the approach of the Senate and that of the House, which has passed an enforcement-only bill that could lead to illegal immigrants being charged with felonies and deported. "Parliamentary disputes?" Right! Democrat's obstructionism is what they mean. Of course, the WAPO continues to ignore the fact ...

A.M. Mora y Leon has the round up of links and stories from all over Latin America. Its good news for the region, and perhaps this will serve as a wakeup call to the dangers of communism. Like a moving hurricane, a vast unified hemispheric move against the dictator of Caracas has now begun to form among many different nations. His conclusion: All of this says unbelievably a lot about what's happening in the hemisphere. A huge regional movement to oppose Hugo Chavez is beginning to form and take shape up and down two continents. They have never been bolder, something that probably signals that Chavez has never been weaker. Apparently, they all sense the same thing: the time to strike at this predator is right now.