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Latino media to White House: Immigration reform now!

People rally asking for an immigration reform.

by Elena Shore

Ed. Note: President Obama announced last week that he expects Congress to propose a comprehensive immigration reform bill in early 2013. Last Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced renewed talks to bring back their own immigration reform bill. Immigration reform may be retaking center stage in national media, but in the country’s Spanish-language newspapers, radio and TV programs, it has been the lead story for years.
Latino media are again taking the lead in the push for comprehensive immigration reform. The day after President Obama’s re-election, an editorial in the Los Angeles-based Spanish-language newspaper La Opinión argued that Obama “owes” it to Latinos.
The election, editors write, showed that Obama’s reelection was made possible thanks to the Latino vote, which can no longer be ignored in the path to the White House.

“Obama owes Latinos a debt,” the editorial argues. “We hope that the White House proposes an immigration bill and that GOP lawmakers take the opportunity to earn brownie points with the Latino community with a reasonable, positive law.”

Editors contend that the Republican Party needs to support immigration reform in order to gain back the votes of Latinos.

“The question,” they write, “is whether the GOP understands that it needs to adapt how its message is communicated, and in part also the content, to recover the ground lost among Hispanics. Passing comprehensive immigration reform in Congress would be a good step in that direction.”

Anchor Jorge Ramos makes a similar argument in a column titled, How to Lose an Election,” writing that Republicans must lead the effort for immigration reform in 2013.

The future of the GOP, he says, depends on it.

“As the party moves forward,” Ramos writes, “it needs to rally behind more moderate members like Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and a potential presidential candidate in 2016, who supports immigration reform and knows that without Hispanics, the GOP’s future looks grim. Those Republicans who would prefer to carry on as usual need to take a hard look at the numbers … If Republicans don’t reach out to our community, their party is doomed.”

Gaps and Failures

The way Rodrigo Cervantes, editor of Atlanta-based Mundo Hispánico, explains it, his newspaper, like many other Latino media, “has documented the gaps and failures of the current immigration system and how it has affected different communities and people -not only immigrants, and not only undocumented immigrants.”

A Nov. 8 editorial in Philadelphia’s Spanish-language newspaper Al Día, for example, looks at the limits of the Obama administration’s achievements, from health care to deferred action.

Al Día’s post-election editorial questions “why undocumented immigrants have been wholly precluded from purchasing — with their own money — coverage from insurers in your plan … Further, we wonder why undocumented young adults who are granted deferred action will not be given the ability to purchase health insurance from ACA pools either.”

Editors also wonder why Obama has failed to push for the DREAM Act, and ignored the pleas of Dreamers to issue an executive order to protect them. “And, no,” editors note, “the deferred action you penned isn’t anything comparable to an executive order, no matter how many times it is carelessly referred to in that way.”

The editorial concludes: “We applaud [deferred action] while feeling it was a small, conveniently-timed band-aid on a wound that you are responsible for exacerbating.

“That wound is immigration, Mr. President. The hundreds of thousands of people you’ve deported; the tens of thousands of families you’ve separated with detention and deportation; the thousands of U.S. citizen children placed in foster care because of your deportation policy; and the yet-to-be-counted total of children that have been adopted out because their detained parents were judged to have ‘abandoned’ them — these are our brothers, sisters, children, parents, friends and acquaintances — and your immigration legacy so far.

“You’ve said we can do a lot, together, in four years. We agree. And we’ll hold you and your party to it.”

A Bit of History

Latino media’s role at the forefront of the immigration reform movement should come as no surprise; the sector has a history of defending the rights of its community and immigration reform is no exception. John Esparza, editor of Vida en Valle, in Fresno, Calif., says his newspaper has taken a stand in support of comprehensive immigration reform since the mid-1990s, when communities began to express concern about Proposition 187, the California ballot measure that sought to prohibit undocumented immigrants from using social services.

The newspaper’s long tradition of advocating for immigration reform is a reflection of its location and the community it serves. “The heart of our distribution area is the San Joaquín Valley,” Esparza explains, “where farm production leads the nation thanks to a largely undocumented workforce.”

In 2006, Spanish-language radio was credited with urging many Latinos to take to the streets in the Labor Day immigrant rights marches, where millions of people protested the Sensenbrenner Bill in cities across the country.

Latino TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and online media have not spared President Obama in their criticism of U.S. immigration policy.

Latino media have taken the Obama administration to task for deporting a record number of undocumented immigrants; allowing immigration detention facilities that had inadequate medical care and poor conditions to remain open; enforcing policies such as Secure Communities that lead to deportation and detention of non-criminals; and a system of detention and deportation that separated families and left thousands of children in foster care.

On the state level, Latino media have also been at the forefront of the pushback against a wave of unprecedented state laws that took a hard line on illegal immigration, from Arizona’s SB 1070 to similar laws in Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Utah and South Carolina.

When Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law HB 87, for example, Georgia’s state immigration law, Atlanta Spanishlanguage newspaper MundoHispánico was published with a blank cover. In an accompanying editorial, editors wrote that the blank cover reflected the mood of the community and demonstrated their silent rejection of the state immigration law.

“It is my belief that journalism follows that principle of public service: to alert the structures of power on how a bad decision that they take can affect, denigrate or prejudice others,” MundoHispánico editor Rodrigo Cervantes explains.

Voices for Reform Growing Louder “I don’t necessarily see support for immigration reform as growing, but rather getting louder,” says Esparza of Vida en el Valle.

“The United Farm Workers has been working with the Nisei Farmers League and other agricultural organizations to push for immigration reform since 2005. That is a remarkable achievement considering the past history of the UFW and [agriculture].

DREAMers have added to that louder voice.”

Esparza says his publication continues to push for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including farmworkers and DREAMers; a visa program that provides safeguards for guest workers so that they are not abused; family reunification; and establishment of an immigration program that avoids the pitfalls of the 1986 Immigration and Reform Control Act. The last push for comprehensive immigration reform, however, resulted in a ratcheting up of enforcement and deportations, without any of these reforms. The question this time is whether these efforts will be successful. Additional reporting by Suzanne Manneh.

 

California government wages insanity: Cop earns $484,000; psychiatric earns $822,000

by J. D. Heyes

As California continues to drown in red ink, it’s worth noting how the state got into such fiscal dire straits in the first place, as a lesson about how not to run a government.

In a move that smacked of blatant political favoritism, one-term Gov. Gray Davis, who nine years ago became the first U.S. governor in 82 years to be recalled, implemented policies that continue to screw over the state’s 20 million taxpayers who got stuck paying the tab.

“Davis escalated salaries and benefits for 164,000 state workers, including a 34 percent raise for prison guards, the first of a series of steps in which he and successors saddled California with a legacy of dysfunction,” Bloomberg News reported recently in a piece detailing the state’s ongoing budgetary woes. “Today, the state’s highest-paid employees make far more than comparable workers elsewhere in almost all job and wage categories, from public safety to health care, base pay to overtime.”

‘It was completely avoidable’

What’s worse, in the years since, Gray’s successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was unable to convince enough state lawmakers to help fix the out-of-whack salary structure, despite successive budget deficits totaling tens of billions annually. Seems like lawmakers beholden to public employee unions instead of taxpayers don’t mind police officers making $484,000 and a psychiatrist $822,000 a year, respectively.

According to payroll data compiled by Bloomberg on 1.4 million employees in the 12 most populous states, California is a stand-out. The state “has set a pattern of lax management, inefficient operations and out-of-control costs,” the financial newswire reported.

All across the country, such poor public policy and leadership in the past is forcing states to cut school funding, public safety operations and benefits for their poorest residents “as they struggle with fallout left by politicians who made pay-and-pension promises that taxpayers couldn’t afford,” Bloomberg said.

“It was completely avoidable,” said David Crane, a public-policy lecturer at Stanford University.

“All it took was for political leaders to think more about the general population and the future, rather than their political futures,” said Crane, a Democrat who worked as an economic adviser to former Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican. “Citizens should be mad as hell, and they shouldn’t take it anymore.”

Big payouts

The pattern of state governments handing out largess to political allies has been repeated from coast to coast and is largely responsible for contributing to combined state budget shortfalls of $500 billion in just the past four years alone.

So much red ink has caused some governors, like Republican Scott Walker of Wisconsin, to remove collective bargaining (union) rights from most government employees, as well as taking other steps to cap or cut payroll spending.

In the Golden State, Gov. Jerry Brown – a stalwart of California politics for most of his professional life who served as the state’s chief executive previously, from 1975-1983 – has been unable to curb overtime expenses that lead the 12 biggest states. He also has not been able to limit payments for accumulated vacation time that saw one state worker collect $609,000 at retirement last year.

He has; however, continued requiring workers to take an unpaid day off each month, which Bloomberg says could burden the state with new costs at some point in the future.

Here’s one of his “solutions” to solving California’s $160 billion budget debt: He waived a cap on accrued leave for prison guards while giving them additional paid days off, compliments of the state’s taxpayers.

Brown did that despite the fact that California’s existing liability for unused leave of its state workers has more than doubled in the past eight years and currently stands at $3.9 billion.

“It’s outrageous what public employees in California receive in compensation and benefits,” Lanny Ebenstein, who heads the California Center for Public Policy, a Santa Barbara-based research institution critical of public payrolls, told Bloomberg. “Until public employee compensation and benefits are brought in line, there will be no answer to the fiscal shortfalls that California governments at every level face.”

More taxes, more spending?

Here are some additional shocking statistics and figures:

— As stated, one state psychiatrist in California was paid $822,000, while a state Highway Patrol officer collected $484,000 in pay and pension benefits; 17 other employees got checks for more than $200,000 for unused vacation and leave.

— State psychiatrists were among the highest paid employees in other states, too, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey, with total compensation $270,000 to $327,000 for the highest-paid.

— Some state police officers in Pennsylvania got checks as big as $190,000 for unused personal leave and vacation time, even as they were able to retire young enough to begin second careers.

— Virginia paid some active state officers up to $109,000 in overtime alone.

Again, though, California stands out.

“California spends most of its money on salaries, retirement payments, health care benefits for government workers, and other compensation,” said Schwarzenegger. “State revenues are up more than 50 percent over the past 10 years, but still we’ve had to cut spending on services because so much of that revenue increase went to increases in compensation and benefits.”

One thing Brown has succeeded in accomplishing: He convinced voters to back a huge tax increase last month, all the while promising that the extra money will only be used to help balance the state’s budget.

Where have we heard that before?

Honduras’s wake up to second coup in less than four years

by the El Reportero’s news services

Latin News report – Soldiers surrounded the national congress in Tegucigalpa on Dec. 11 and well into the small hours of the next day. Inside a decisive majority of legislators voted to dismiss four supreme court (CSJ) magistrates who had ruled two weeks earlier that a law designed to purge the police of corrupt elements was unconstitutional.

In so doing congress, with the tacit approval of President Porfirio Lobo, flouted the Constitution which nowhere confers upon it the power to dismiss CSJ magistrates. Unravelling the twisted skein of Honduran politics suggests that there was far more at play than just this law, and that the inter-institutional tension which resulted in the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009 remains unresolved.

Nicaragua plans more investments in main port

Prensa Latina – The Porto of Corinto, the main point where merchandise enter or leave Nicaragua, will undergo improvement worth 2.5 million USD to increase the country’s competitiveness, it was reported today.

According to Executive President of the National Port Business, Virgilio Silva, infrastructure work in 2013 will reach at least 60 million cordobas (some 2.5 million USD).

Investments respond to the purpose of the government of President Daniel Ortega to turn Corinto, in the Pacific Ocean, into one of the best infrastructures for maritime trade in Central America.

We’re (nearly) all middle class now Latin News report – Latin America’s middle class numbered 152 million people as of 2009, up 50 percent from 103 million in 2003, according to a new World Bank report.

Defined in income terms as anyone making between US$10 and US$50 per day, the middle class made up 30 percent of the region’s population in 2009.

Moderate poverty fell from more than 40 percent in 2000 to less than 30 percent in 2010, meaning that 50m Latin Americans escaped poverty over the decade.

More foreigners arrive in Guatemala to celebrate end of Baktun

Prensa Latina – Guatemala is awaiting the arrival today of even more foreigners, here to celebrate the change of calendars on Friday, according to the Mayan calendar, while indigenous organizations have announced they will celebrate this event separately from the government.

According to the estimate provided by Pedro Duchez, director of the Guatemalen Institute of Tourism (Inguat), this country expects nearly 200,000 foreigners to visit in order to celebrate the end of the 13th Baktun.

Some months ago, different indigenous groups expressed their nonconformity with the preparations promoted by the Guatemalan government to celebrate the event. The National Indigenous Observatory criticized the Executive´s multi-million expenditure to promote the celebrations.

According to a government accounting in September, the Ministry of Culture and Sports had spent 26 million quetzals ($3,270,440 USD), while Inguat spent 40 million quetzals ($5,031,446 USD) to prepare the celebration activities.

The 13th Baktun will end on December 21, while many have speculated that date marks the end of the world, according to an apocalyptic interpretation of the Mayan scriptures.

Each Baktun is equivalent to 144,000 days, so in other words, 13 cycles of that type total 1,872,000 days (5,125 years).

Neurologial disorder MMF found to be caused by vaccines: scientific proof

by Jonathan Benson
Natural News

It is a little-known condition that can trigger persistent and debilitating symptoms similar to those associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) and fibromyalgia, but is also one that the medical profession at large is still unwilling to acknowledge. And yet emerging research continues to show that macrophagic myofascitis, or MMF, is a very real condition brought about as a direct result of vaccines that contain aluminum adjuvants, which become lodged in muscle tissue and lead to severe neurological damage and other problems.

First identified in 1998, MMF is characterized by debilitating muscle and joint pain, chronic inflammation, and incapacitating fatigue.

Though clearly distinct from both fibromyalgia and MS, which are also now believed by many to be neurological conditions triggered by vaccines, MMF is similar in that it appears to involve the demyelination of the central nervous system, or the loss of the fatty layer myelin sheaths that protect nerves.

With this loss, comes the development of serious lesions, as well as a type of autoimmune reaction in which the body is unable to properly transmit nerve impulses, and essentially ends up attacking itself.

The end result of this can manifest as severe pain in muscles and joints, chronic fatigue, persistent brain “fog,” and of course lasting nervous system damage.

Numerous studies link vaccines containing aluminum to MMF

The medical industry, if it is even willing to acknowledge the existence of MMF — for years, conventional medicine also tried to deny the existence of fibromyalgia — insists that the condition has no known cause. But copious research, including a study published in the journal Brain back in 2001, reveals that there is indeed a known cause of MMF, and that cause is vaccines.

As it turns out, vaccines that contain aluminum adjuvants, which include
vaccines for hepatitis A and B, as well as the tetanus shot, are directly linked to spurring the inflammatory lesions associated with MMF.

“The association between MMF and multiple sclerosis-like disorders may give new insights into the controversial issues surrounding vaccinations and demyelinating CNS disorders,” explains the Brain paper (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11522584). “[I] ntramuscular injections of such vaccines (that contain aluminum) in experimental animal models induce comparable but transient lesions at the site of injection, suggesting that MMF may occur ‘in a predisposed subset of individuals with impaired ability to clear aluminum from the deltoid muscle.’”

A later study published in the Ear, Nose & Throat Journal in 2007 made a similar but much more direct connection. In its opening assessment, the study explains that the pathophysiology of MMF “has been traced to the presence of an aluminum adjuvant used in vaccines.” According to the findings, aluminum from vaccines aggregates at the site of injection, and as many as one-third of people that develop MMF as a result also end up developing autoimmune disease as well. (http://www.entjournal.com).

Health authorities deny MMF, as well as any link to vaccines

When presented with this damning information back in 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO), which steers the policy decisions crafted by its many member countries, which includes the U.S., decided to ignore it. Not only did WHO deny any link between MMF and vaccines containing aluminum, but the organization also denied the very existence of MMF altogether.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of studies has continued to emerge acknowledging MMF and its direct link to vaccines. One such study published in the journal Medical Hypotheses in 2009 acknowledges that MMF and autoimmune disorders in general appear directly linked to the aluminum adjuvants found in vaccines. (http://www.medical-hypotheses.com)

“This case has highlighted potential dangers associated with aluminumcontaining adjuvants and we have elucidated a possible mechanism whereby vaccination involving aluminumcontaining adjuvants could trigger the cascade of immunological events which are associated with autoimmune conditions including chronic fatigue syndrome and macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF),” explains the study.

For a list of common vaccines that contain aluminum adjuvants, visit: http://www.immunizationinfo.org.

The Hispanic celebrations of Christmas

by Santos C. Vega
Hispanic Link News Service

Bundled up against the cold, they carry candles and sing traditional songs as they make their way in procession along winding barrio streets. They stop at designated homes. With one cupped hand, each protects a candle’s fragile flame from the cold night breeze. The illumination dances, reflecting their joyous faces.

Among them, they carry the figures of the Holy Family. Mary and Joseph again are in search of a shelter, re-enacting the Bible story set in Bethlehem.

The group is divided into pilgrims and innkeepers. Each night, for the nine days before Christmas, a different home is designated as the posada — inn. Through song, shelter is asked by the pilgrims several times and refused by the innkeepers. Finally, the pilgrims gain admittance and celebrate with songs, hot chocolate and sweet breads. The celebrants may gather around a nativity scene Nacimiento or Belén (Pesebre in Chile) and sing songs correlating with the Christmas story depicted by the nativity scene.

In the final day of Las Posadas, the group arrives at the church grounds or someone’s yard, where the children break a piñata.

At church, the faithful may also perform a drama called La Pastorela or Los Pastores — mystery plays of Spanish origin dating from the Middle Ages.

They are presented anytime between Christmas and Feb. 2, even as late as March 19. These are dramatic interpretations of the shepherds’ reactions to the angels’ announcement of the birth of Christ.

Prophets had foretold the coming of Christ some seven centuries before his birth; they had foretold the place of his birth, Bethlehem (Mica 5). These dramas may be staged before or after Christmas, but on Christmas Eve, the faithful attend Midnight Mass (Misa del Gallo). It is through these traditions that the Hispanic people honor Christ during the Christmas season.

Mexican Americans begin their Christmas Liturgical calendar with the period of Advent, four weeks of preparation for the coming of Christ. The Virgin Mary, mother of the Child Jesus, is the central figure as the faithful celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12 with a Mass and home rosary services. The Virgin Mary is honored as Empress of the Americas. The faithful recall her apparitions to the Mexican Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City.

Churches and homes are decorated with the Bélen (nativity scene). In this scene the story of Christmas is depicted. Through Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem, the faithful are brought to the Nativity of Christ. In Bethlehem, the time came for Jesus to be born. The humble Joseph and a patient Mary sought shelter. Finally, Jesus was born, wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. A scheming Herod plotted the death of the infant Jesus. The Magi, Three wise men who came from the East seeking the child Jesus, (Matt. 2:1-12) followed the Christmas Star.

In the Nacimiento, the wise men are moved closer to the crib each day until the day of Epiphany on Jan. 6. Epiphany commemorates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles in the persons of the Magi, who brought gifts to the child Jesus. For this reason, many Hispanics give gifts to loved ones on that day, el Día de los Reyes.

The journey of the three kings demonstrates the spiritual longing for God’s fulfillment of His promise to send to humanity a savior, a Messiah, named “Emmanuel” by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:13).

Today, this period of waiting for the promised Christ and this time of preparation by the faithful for his coming, celebrated by Christmas, is called Advent (from the Latin “Advenire,” meaning “to come”). The coming of Christ is celebrated by Hispanics, like the Old Testament faithful, by waiting and living lives in tune with God’s expectations. After the fall of Adam and Eve, God promised to send a Savior to his people (Genesis 3:15). Thus, the Season of Advent is a “waiting time” of preparation for reliving the birth of Jesus Christ.

The story of waiting and searching, praying and celebrating is carried out by Las Posadas, El Nacimiento, Las Pastorelas, and La Misa del Gallo. The Hispanic Christmas culture brings the faithful together in celebration with family and friends.

In Puerto Rico, groups of faithful drop in unannounced on friends and relatives to sing aguinaldos. The surprise visit is called an Asalto. Aguinaldo means gift and in the case of asaltos, the gifts are Christmas songs. Appreciative hosts supply treats such as drinks of coquito (coconut milk and rum eggnog), arroz con dulce, sweetened rice and pastries. The asaltos continue for eight days after Jan. 6, Epiphany, Día de Reyes.
Epiphany is important to the Hispanic world. Cubans celebrate the Nochebuena (Holy Night of Christmas) Dec. 24. Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans and Latinos from Mexico and throughout the Americas attend Midnight Mass (Misa del Gallo). After Mass and during the days of celebration, Cuban Americans enjoy dinner with the traditional roast pork, guinea hen fricassee, black beans and rice. Desserts may include yuca, buñuelos, turrones (nougat candy of Spanish origin) and fruits and nuts.

Mexican Americans return home from Misa de Gallo to eat tamales. They are a particular favorite in Texas. Celebrants in New Mexico often prefer empanaditas (turnovers filled with sweet, spiced meat). For Mexican Americans, Christmas dinner may include chicken with mole (a thick spicy gravy-type sauce), pozole (hominy and beans) and more tamales.

Puerto Ricans’ Christmas dinner (Cena de Nochebuena) may consist of roast pork, rice with chick-peas (arroz con gandules), and for dessert, coconut custard (bien me sabe), fruits and nuts.

Dominicans gather on Christmas Eve for a dinner of roast pork, teleras (yolk bread), smoked ham, and after dinner, pastry called pastelitos dominicanos. Other desserts may include figs, dates, grapes, apples, and pears. Ponche crema (milk eggnog) is the traditional drink.

Early Augustinian Missionaries introduced Las Posadas to the Americas. At the end of the posadas, children celebrate by breaking piñatas. The piñata was used initially by missionaries as a teaching aid: Christian life is a struggle against unseen spiritual enemies. (Eph. 6:12) A person (a child breaking the piñata) triumphs with the rod of virtues. When children break the piñata, all kinds of candy fall out; these are the fruits of the efforts, fun and joy celebrating the birth of the Child Jesus.

The victory for all humanity was gained with the birth of Christ. The historical piñata was broken and salvation given to humanity by God as a gift. Many Hispanics celebrate the Reyes Magos on Jan. 6. This is the time for gift giving, especially in New Mexico.

In the Hispanic world, no two Christmas celebrations are alike. The meaning to each individual depends on his or her perception within the context of the celebrating community.

Christian culture gives each person an opportunity to participate in Las Posadas, a Pastorela, attend a Misa del Gallo and honor Christ in the Christmas Hispanic culture.

(Santos C. Vega, Ph.D., Emeritus College, retired in 2004, Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University in 2004).

Ron Paul’s farewell to the United States: Embrace liberty or face self-destruction – Part 4

by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. RamirezMarvin J. Ramirez

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Dear readers: I am introducing to you, a memorable speech, which I consider the speech of the century. It is by a man who I believe has the biggest conviction on liberty than any one I have ever known. This man is Congressman Ron Paul, who is leaving Congress after 36 years. Mike Adams, editor of Natural News, took the time to transcribe it. Because the text came out too long, El Reportero will publish it in parts for several weeks. I hope you will enjoy it, and see for yourself, how this man’s vision brings out the raw corruption of our political system, with the hope that we all can help stop on time, the destruction of our Republic. PART 4

Ron Paul’s farewell message to America: Embrace liberty or face self-destruction

by Mike Adams

Ron Paul’s recent farewell speech is arguable the single most important speech in American history. Dr. Paul lays out the fatal problems facing America while pulling no punches. This speech is a must-read piece by anyone who seeks to understand the real reasons why America remains in a downward spiral of social and economic failure under the endless growth of Big Government and runaway debt.

Here’s another part of the full text:

Is there any explanation for all the deception, the unhappiness, the fear of the future, the loss of confidence in our leaders, the distrust, the anger and frustration? Yes there is, and there’s a way to reverse these attitudes. The negative perceptions are logical and a consequence of bad policies bringing about our problems. Identification of the problems and recognizing the cause allow the proper changes to come easy.

Trust Yourself, Not the Government

Too many people have for too long placed too much confidence and trust in government and not enough in themselves. Fortunately, many are now becoming aware of the seriousness of the gross mistakes of the past several decades. The blame is shared by both political parties. Many Americans now are demanding to hear the plain truth of things and want the demagoguing to stop. Without this first step, solutions are impossible.

Seeking the truth and finding the answers in liberty and self-reliance promotes the optimism necessary for restoring prosperity. The task is not that difficult if politics 2doesn’t get in the way.

We have allowed ourselves to get into such a mess for various reasons.

Politicians deceive themselves as to how wealth is produced. Excessive confidence is placed in the judgment of politicians and bureaucrats. This replaces the confidence in a free society. Too many in high places of authority became convinced that only they, armed with arbitrary government power, can bring about fairness, while facilitating wealth production. This always proves to be a utopian dream and destroys wealth and liberty. It impoverishes the people and rewards the special interests who end up controlling both political parties.

It’s no surprise then that much of what goes on in Washington is driven by aggressive partisanship and power seeking, with philosophic differences being minor.

Economic Ignorance

Economic ignorance is commonplace. Keynesianism continues to thrive, although today it is facing healthy and enthusiastic rebuttals. Believers in military Keynesianism and domestic Keynesianism continue to desperately promote their failed policies, as the economy languishes in a deep slumber.
Supporters of all government edicts use humanitarian arguments to justify them.

Humanitarian arguments are always used to justify government mandates related to the economy, monetary policy, foreign policy, and personal liberty. This is on purpose to make it more difficult to challenge. But, initiating violence for humanitarian reasons is still violence. Good intentions are no excuse and are just as harmful as when people use force with bad intentions. The results are always negative.

The immoral use of force is the source of man’s political problems. Sadly, many religious groups, secular organizations, and psychopathic authoritarians endorse government initiated force to change the world.

Even when the desired goals are well-intentioned — or especially when well-intentioned — the results are dismal. The good results sought never materialize. The new problems created require even more government force as 7214a solution. The net result is institutionalizing government initiated violence and morally justifying it on humanitarian grounds.
This is the same fundamental reason our government uses force for invading other countries at will, central economic planning at home, and the regulation of personal liberty and habits of our citizens.

It is rather strange, that unless one has a criminal mind and no respect for other people and their property, no one claims it’s permissible to go into one’s neighbor’s house and tell them how to behave, what they can eat, smoke and drink or how to spend their money.

Yet, rarely is it asked why it is morally acceptable that a stranger with a badge and a gun can do the same thing in the name of law and order. Any resistance is met with brute force, fines, taxes, arrests, and even imprisonment. This is done more frequently every day without a proper search warrant.

No Government Monopoly over Initiating Violence

Restraining aggressive behavior is one thing, but legalizing a government monopoly for initiating aggression can only lead to exhausting liberty associated with chaos, anger and the breakdown of civil society. Permitting such authority and expecting saintly behavior from the bureaucrats and the politicians is a pipe dream. We now have a standing army of armed bureaucrats in the TSA, CIA, FBI, Fish and Wildlife, FEMA, IRS, Corp of Engineers, etc. numbering over 100,000. Citizens are guilty until proven innocent in the unconstitutional administrative courts.

Government in a free society should have no authority to meddle in social activities or the economic transactions of individuals. Nor should government meddle in the affairs of other nations. All things peaceful, even when controversial, should be permitted.

We must reject the notion of prior restraint in economic activity just we do in the area of free speech and religious liberty. But even in these areas government is starting to use a backdoor approach of political correctness to regulate speech-a dangerous trend. Since 9/11 monitoring speech on the internet is now a problem since warrants are no longer required.

Vacationing in Managua is nicer – especially if staying in a mansion for a cheaper rate

by Dania Isabel Hernández
Campos Specia for El Reportero

Staff members at La Mansion Teolinda.Staff members at La Mansion Teolinda.

For the many Nicaraguan tourists that are visiting their native Nicaragua, as well as for the Latino community in the Bay Area, staying in a comfortable place, and at a very reasonable price, are instrumental to a super holiday. Compared to large hotel consortiums, sleeping in a mansion full of history and personal service for much less money, it’s a privilege.

In the capital of the land of lakes and volcanoes, Managua, there is one of the most distinguished and traditional hotels in the country, the Mansion Teodolinda.

The hotel, a family business founded in March 1993, and which will soon be celebrating 20 years of serving national and international tourists, is known as a quiet, safe and relaxing place, just as being home.

The location of the hotel is key, as Teodolinda Mansion, formerly owned by the Gonzalez Holmann family, was a benchmark for every passer-by. It then became a religious school for young ladies, until the earthquake of 1972. They therefore wanted to keep not only the land, but also the name and history of this place.

As accounted by Neville Cross, one of the owners, the hotel had seven rooms in the beginning, and eventually when the clientele grew, this number was extended to 42 rooms.

Its prices – proportionally less than those of the big hotels- vary according to the seasons. It has a pool, a restaurant, meeting rooms for all type of events, and guided recommendations of the city. Its rooms have air conditioning, internet, safe, gym, parking, laundry and other facilities.

Moreover, it’s close to the center of the capital, near Loma de Tiscapa, a short distance from the house of Mejia Godoy, and has an efficient security service.

It also has transport services, and partnerships with tour operators for visits to the countryside.

For the owners of Teolinda, good environmental practices are part of their commitment to the environment, such as the use of recycling bins in the hallways and a modern energy saving system.

As for its cuisine, the restaurant offers a national and international menu of high quality in meats, seafood, and other combinations that are greatly demanded by guests.

Moreover, they also have partnerships with the National Theatre “Rubén Darío” and other re-known venues that feature national artists and shows, and Ruta Maya among others.

Teodolinda Mansion Hotel is a landmark for tourists who live abroad and offers special rates to residents of San Francisco and other California cities, where there are thousands of Nicaraguans who visit or want to visit Nicaragua.

For more information visit: http://www.teodolinda.com.ni/es/.

Nearly 500k people watched Alejandro Sanz concert online

by Hispanically Speaking News

Alejandro SanzAlejandro Sanz

Nearly half a million people viewed the live online broadcast of Alejandro Sanz’s Dec. 6 concert in Miami, the Web site Terra reported Monday.

The Terra Live Music special with Alejandro Sanz obtained 375,000 broadcast requests during the live performance and about 100,000 more via video on demand, said Terra in a communiqué.

Concert promoters expect the number of people who view the approximately one-hour concert Sanz gave to rise in the coming weeks.

“We’re very satisfied with the incredible results of this initiative available via multiple platforms and happy to share this concert with the world via Video on Demand,” said Fernando Rodriguez, the executive director of Terra in the United States.

The broadcast, which can be viewed free from laptop computers, cell phones and other mobile devices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States (including Puerto Rico), El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela, also made a big splash on social networks.

Sanz, who on Tuesday will celebrate his 44th birthday, has sold more than 22 million albums during his career and is the Spanish artist with the largest number of Grammy awards – 19 – including 16 Latin Grammys.

Hollywood tribute for Spanish director Pedro Almodovar
Pedro Almodovar unveiled the first footage from his new film, “Los amantes pasajeros” (I’m So Excited), during a Hollywood tribute to the Spanish filmmaker in the English capital.

Almodovar chose the intimate and moving retrospective by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to show the trailer for his much-anticipated film, a comedy that unfolds on board a plane and whose cast includes Javier Camara, Cecilia Roth, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz.

The film is due to premiere in Spain in March.

A scene in which three flight attendants dance in front of the passengers to the tune of The Pointer Sisters’ song “I’m So Excited” was shown at the end of Thursday’s tribute.

The maker of films such as Volver (To Return) and Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother) was surrounded by family and friends during the ceremony, including his brother and producer Agustin.

Also in attendance were leading figures in British cinema including director Stephen Frears and actors Miranda Richardson and Kristin Scott Thomas.

U.S. filmmaker Quentin Tarantino also paid tribute to Almodovar in a videotaped message, calling him the contemporary director he most admired.

“I’m surrounded by family and friends and they are the ones who deserve this tribute because I do what I do thanks to them,” the 63-year-old filmmaker said.

Almodovar, who gained fame in the 1980s with a series of sexually charged melodramas, has won a pair of Oscars for two of his more recent and less outrageous efforts – best original screenplay for the 2006 film “Hable con ella” (Talk to Her) and best foreign-language film for Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), which was released in 1999.

Arizona conservatives back S.A.N.E immigration reform

Conservative groups aline to supoort an immigration reform.

by Valeria Fernández
New America Media

PHOENIX – In 2010, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery was among those firmly in support of Arizona’s controversial anti- immigrant legislation SB 1070. Today, he belongs to a bipartisan coalition of some 40 community and business leaders calling for legalizing the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.br/>“If you look at the problem from a proper perspective, you can identify solutions that provide consensus,” said Montgomery in an interview with New America Media.
His comments came just hours after the release of the Real Arizona Coalition’s S.A.N.E Solution to Federal Immigration Reform, representing a broad array of interests, including the immigrant rights community, law enforcement and local agriculture.

The plan calls for, among other things, the creation of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants via a temporary visa granted those who pass a background check and agree to a fine. The coalition hopes the platform can ultimately serve as a catalyst for Congress to draft a solution to the country’s longstanding immigration impasse.

“Important conservative principles are reflected in this platform,” Montgomery continued, referring to provisions within the plan addressing border security. “Commitments to operational control (of the border) and continued enforcement are two hallmarks of what conservatives have believed all along to be necessary components of any federal immigration resolution.”

Other sections of the S.A.N.E. plan focus on reducing wait times for applications, increasing the number of work visas available based on market need and granting green cards to graduates from colleges or universities.

“It’s a recognition that for us to accomplish something we can’t just focus on one component at a time,” Montgomery explained. He said the changes would create legal paths for those seeking entrance into the country, while “eliminating the avenues” for those looking to enter unlawfully.

Not an Amnesty

While the legal details have yet to be worked out, under S.A.N.E those deemed eligible for temporary visas could be required to return to their country of birth if they want to apply for citizenship. Drafters say they have yet to reach full agreement on this point, though they note that those brought here as youth – commonly referred to as Dreamers – will be exempt.

Montgomery insisted that whatever the final decision, the aim is to ensure that citizenship will be attained in a lawful way.

He also rejected descriptions of the plan as a form of amnesty.

“Even if you sought to deport those present without lawful authority they have U.S. citizens for children and so you want to deport 50 million people, roughly 30 million children with them,” he said. “I don’t want to be living here when those 30 million citizens exercise their right to return and are ticked off.”

The Real Arizona Coalition came about in the aftermath of passage of SB 1070, which brought with it a severe economic downturn as tourists shunned the state while close to 100,000 immigrant families fled to other parts of the country.

“I don’t think our effort right now to achieve a federal immigration solution is necessarily predicated on [the fact] that Arizona did something wrong,” said Montgomery. “We felt an enforcement gap created by federal inaction and SB 1070 was one example of what Arizona tried to do.”

Conservatives on Board

Montgomery was elected in 2010 after his predecessor, former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas resigned to run in an unsuccessful bid for Arizona Attorney General. Since then he has pursued a law enforcement policy similar to that of his predecessor, including prosecuting cases of identity theft involving those caught in sweeps of local businesses that hire undocumented workers.

“I’m in an enforcement position, [and] we’re still going to continue to do that. But there’s an overarching issue that needs to be resolved,” he said.

Montgomery insisted there is an opportunity for other conservatives to get on board with S.A.N.E, which he hopes carries with it ripple effects across the country.

Following the recent presidential race, in which Latino voters proved a key voting bloc in Obama’s victory, the tone of the immigration debate took a sharp turn, with conservatives in the lead.

Former President George W. Bush recently joined the ranks of GOP members calling for immigration reform. And late last month, soon-to-retire Republican Arizona senator Jon Kyl presented the ACHIEVE Act to the U.S. Senate, a bill that would grant permanent legal status to undocumented youth.

Montgomery said Arizona stands to benefit immediately from S.A.N.E’s guidelines.

S.A.N.E already has the endorsement of a number of high profile figures in Arizona, including Phoenix Democratic Mayor Greg Stanton, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Republican Senator Bob Worsley, who took over after SB 1070 architect Russell Pearce lost his seat in a recall.

“I think this is a unique moment in time, where we have a couple of years focused on enforcement only, and I think after the presidential election and poor showing of the Republican party with the Latino community, anyone considering our future as a party needs to know we need to have a more Latino friendly platform,” said Worsley.

Worsley is meeting with other Republicans to get the platform moving, including Republican Congressman Jeff Flake.

“This will be the next big thing that gets worked on,” said Worsley. “I think it will come very close to where we are, because this has been a lot of the different constituencies negotiating.”

Will Brewer Get on Board?

Arizona Republican governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law in 2010, a move most political observers said guaranteed her re-election.

Members of the Real Arizona Coalition said there was a representative from the governor’s office attending most of the meetings held to draft the platform over the past 8 months.

Brewer, who is currently out of state on official business, was not available for comment, said Matt Benson, a spokesperson for the governor.

She has made headlines nationally for issuing an executive order to ban licenses for youth that qualify for a reprieve from deportation under a program from the Department of Homeland Security.

And while the tone among conservatives has been shifting toward favoring some form of immigration reform, Brewer has received heavy criticism for staying to the right of this issue.

“What the governor is doing to address circumstances here in Arizona is not inconsistent or mutually exclusive to what we’re doing here today,” said Montgomery. “The governor needs to do what she’s doing on behalf of Arizona, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still take a look at what has to happen at a federal level.”

 

Eight-year-old girl to be given forced vaccinations against mother’s will per court ruling

by Ethan A. Huff
Natural News

An Australian mother who desperately tried with all her might to protect her young daughter from being poisoned with vaccines has lost the battle, according to News.com.au. Judicial tyrants in the Victoria region of Australia recently ruled that the 8-year-old girl, whose mother had chosen to avoid vaccines and instead feed her child organic, biodynamic, and unprocessed foods, would have to subject the girl to the government-mandated vaccine schedule from here on out into the future.

The mother, who has not been publicly named due to legal restrictions, had made the conscientious and informed decision from the time when her daughter was first born not to have the child vaccinated.

Instead, the mother chose to administer safe, side effect-free homeopathic immunizations to her daughter, in addition to feeding her healthy food and clean water, and exposing her to fresh air, dirt and other natural immunity boosters.

But trouble arose when the little girl’s father, who is divorced from the mother and lives elsewhere, decided to have the girl vaccinated behind her mother’s back while in his custody. According to reports, the father secretly allowed his new wife to take the girl to a medical center and have her vaccinated several years back for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B, polio, HIB, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), and meningococcal C, in total violation of the mother’s trust.

State decides homeopathic remedies are ‘ineffective,’ orders mother to inject her child with poison

All the dedication and hard work that the young girl’s mother had invested into keeping her daughter safe from being injected with formaldehyde, mercury (Thimerosal), aluminum, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and the dozens of other chemical adjuvants commonly added to vaccines, in other words, was destroyed in an instant with just a single covert visit to a state-run medical office.

And the vindictive former husband who allowed it all to happen told a family court later that he had planned to continue “secretly vaccinat[ing]” the girl against her mother’s wishes.

The mother, whose hopes for her child’s health had been grossly violated, tried to stop her former husband from continuing to have the girl vaccinated by filing an injunction against him. But when the issue was finally brought before family court Judge Victoria Bennett, it was determined that, because a senior pediatrician from Royal Children’s Hospital personally believed there was not enough evidence to prove the efficacy of homeopathic immunizations, the girl’s mother would have to continue having her daughter vaccinated in accordance with the official vaccine schedule.

So the state, rather than the parent, has once again made the final determination about what will be forcibly injected into a child’s body, proving that parental sovereignty is no longer recognized and respected by many that occupy positions of power in government. And if parents are no longer free to choose what medical procedures are appropriate for their own children, then there is no more freedom, and tyranny has won.

In other vaccine news:

Ohio-based TriHealth company fires 150 employees for refusing deadly flu shots

by Ethan A. Huff

Health freedom is under attack in Ohio, where a major Cincinnati-based healthcare conglomerate is forcing all of its 10,800 employees to take a “free” flu shot or else face termination.

According to WLWT News 5 in Cincinnati, the 150 objectors who have thus far refused the shot have until Dec. 3 to either comply with the company’s demands, provide a valid reason why they cannot take the vaccine, or else get fired.

The non-profit group TriHealth reportedly sent out letters to all of its employees several months ago notifying them that vaccination for the flu was miemtory this year, and that all healthcare workers would have to get jabbed by Nov. 16 in order to be in compliance with company policy.

And on Nov. 27, WLWT reported that 150 TriHealth employees had refused the shot, and that they were being immediately terminated from their positions.

This authoritarian type of flu shot coercion is becoming increasingly common throughout the Western world, especially in healthcare settings where workers are being pressured to take the shot to protect patients.

But missing from all this flu shot hysteria is any discussion of the potentially deadly side effects associated with taking flu shots, not to mention the fact that flu shots are scientifically useless according to the science.

“The flu shot is not a guarantee that you’re not going to get [the flu], and if you don’t take the flu shot, it doesn’t mean that you are going to get [the flu],” explained Judge Andrew P. Napolitano during a recent Varney & Co. segment about the issue. Because of this, he added, workers who are threatened with termination, or who are actually terminated, may have grounds to actually sue TriHealth for wrongful termination.

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