by Javier Sierra

For millions of consumers the weekly trip to the gas station is starting to feel like a visit to the dentist.

As I write these lines, the average price of gas in the US has hit a record $3.28 per gallon. In 2007, inflation rose by more than 4 percent, due in large part to the increase of energy prices.

According to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, 72 percent of respondents said the increase in gas prices has caused them economic hardship. Sixty-four percent of them said they have had to reduce their car use and 5 percent that they are no longer driving.

But, according to the survey, the effects are expanding to other areas. Thirty-three percent said they have reduced their food and drug expenses because of expensive gas and 57 percent that they are afraid they will have to in the future. Almost half have cut down on their heating and electricity expenses for this reason.

During a recent Sierra Club discussion group with Latinos, one of the sentences most often heard from participants was, “every time I put gas in my car, I get upset.”

Frustration is palpable throughout the country because we all get to pay for the federal government’s incompetence, the car industry’s negligence and the greed of Big Oil, whose profits in the past seven years have topped $100 billion.

To alleviate your frustration and save at the pump, let me give you a few tips:

• Drive Smart! When you drive aggressively, you waste gas and put others at risk. Observe the speed limit, avoid rapid acceleration and braking, and maintain a constant speed on the road.
• Keep Your Car in Shape. A well-tuned car burns less gasoline. So make sure that you get your oil and air filters changed regularly, and that your tires are always properly inflated.
• Change Your Commute. Sitting in rush hour traffic burns gas and gets you nowhere. If possible, adjust your work schedule so that you avoid rush hour traffic.
• Carpool. Carpool or use ride-share programs if you can. This might also enable you to shorten the time of your commute by using High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes.
• Use Public Transportation. Look into the public-transportation options in your area, and use them as much as possible.
• Go for a Ride or Walk. Rather than drive your car to the corner store or a friend’s house, walk or ride your bike there.

The most effective step to save gas, however, is in the hands of the automakers —to raise the effi ciency standards for all the cars and light trucks built in the US. The Energy Bill passed in December forces Detroit to increase the effi ciency of its vehicles by 40 percent.

But this industry possesses the necessary technology to do much more.

Advanced ignition systems can save up to 25 percent in gas by switching the engine off every time the car is stopped and idling, and restarting it when you put your foot on the gas. The use of lightweight materials, such as steel, aluminum and plastic, can save up to 30 percent of fuel.

The auto industry and its allies in the White House have opposed all these changes. But excuses, and cheap oil, have been exhausted. The Bush administration must abandon its policy of increasing extraction of fossil fuels and commit itself to leading the way to a future of clean, renewable sources of energy that end to our oil addiction.

But, as The New York Times said in a recent editorial, for this to take place, “the nation has to replace the oilmen in the White House.”

Javier Sierra is a Sierra Club columnist. Visit www.sierraclub.org/ecocentro.

by Edward Barrios Acevedo

Edward Barrios Acevedo

He could have been one heck of an auto mechanic. But the prevailing forces of the civil rights movement, a raging war overseas, and a leap of faith in education, rewrote the destiny of Armando Vázquez-Ramos.

Beginning in March and extending throughout the year, countless events will celebrate the 40th anniversary of what Armando and many others of his generation hail as the birth of the Chicano Movement. Theyconnect it with the March 1968 walkouts involving hundreds of East Los Angeles high school students.

Led by a passionate young teacher named Sal Castro, Mexican-American kids defied their instructors and in many instances their parents to protest institutional racism and inequitable education conditions on their campuses. Their actions lit a fire that engulfed young, brown teens throughout the whole Southwest.

This year Armando celebrates a parallel 40-year stretch at California State University at Long Beach that began as a student leader and continues as an activist professor. He doesn’t appear ready to slow down any time soon.

“Much has happened since then,” the burly, bespeckled professor reflects. “But we still see a similarity to the conditions we faced 40 years ago — unpopular war abroad, attacks on civil liberties, and a continuous dehumanization of immigrants and Latinos.”

There has been tremendous progress, he admits, but challenges are everywhere, including raging dropout rates, poorly prepared college entrants, unacceptable retention statistics, and unequal representation at almost every level of business and government.

Today, the Chicano Studies professor says, he is offering tune-ups not of automobiles, but of the lives of underserved young people in this beachside town 20 miles south of Los Angeles.

At an early morning breakfast, I caught up with the professor to press him on the environment he fi­nds himself in 2008.

“My mission is the same today as it was 40 years ago — to improve the educational level of my community,” he insists. He’s juggling a dozen projects, including writing a detailed account on the history of Mexican Americans in Long Beach for generations that follow to read.

Over the years, Vázquez-Ramos has assisted thousands of students. Many return to him as elected offi cials, educators and business leaders, some seeking his counsel on issues, others just to absorb an old fashioned pep talk from a trusted adviser.

“Seeing students succeed as professionals and do things of value in their own communities is the greatest glory of teaching,” he insists.

Against a backdrop of poverty and lack of role models, Armando came to the United States from Mexico City when he was 12 years old. Life as a skilled laborer was a hopeful goal.

Then, when he graduated from Lincoln High School, where the walkouts were incubated the following year, he was accepted at California State University at Long Beach as part of the first Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) class in 1967-1968.

Today, the EOP program continues to identify promising students who need enrollment and education assistance.

“It really changed my life,” he reflects. “It has inspired me to do the same for others just like me.”

He argues that there is a direct correlation between the success of students and curricula that refl ect the cultural and ethnic content the Latino students demanded during those walkouts four decades ago. He recalls leading some fellow college freshman to visit Lincoln High and encourage the rebels to pursue their reform mission.

“It’s a constant struggle to eliminate ignorance and hate through education,” he says as he drives home his fi nal point: “We all benefit from the investment. We owe our kids the same effort and opportunities that gave us our chance.” Hispanic Link.

(Edward Barrios Acevedo is a teacher and freelance writer in Los Angeles. He can be reached Edwardfactor@yahoo.com). ©2008

by Marvin J Ramirez

Marvin J. Ramirez

Many of you who are fanatics of the only newscasts in the nation monopolized by a few that transmit ‘the news’ for the [North] American people, might have heard that Gavin Newsom is the favorite of the Democratic Party to run for governor of California.

And many of you who faithfully read El Reportero every week, might have read in the past, that the San Francisco Mayor did not showed up in two of the most important marches held by mostly Latino immigrants yesteryear.

But now that he is planning to run for governor, we hear and read that he is one way or another, supporting the City’s Sanctuary, which, “symbolically,” protects undocumented immigrants’ rights from the persecution of ICE (the federal immigration service).

Newsom and Sup. Tom Ammiano recently launched a public awareness campaign to promote the San Francisco Sanctuary announcing that “accessing city services does not make an individual vulnerable to federal authorities.”

But how about making them vulnerable to city authorities?

What the campaign is saying, is that city employees (the police) will not report individuals or their immigration status to federal immigration agents, but it doesn’t say that its agents will go like the feds after their cars, because is profitable for the city’s coffers.

However, I question the sincerity of these two democratic politicians, who for years, have ignored requests from this writer, to extend that protection to the undocumented’s vehicles, which everyday the city’s employees (the police) keep confiscating their cars.

“As much as I want to help him,” said a police officer who had just stopped a vehicle driven by an unlicensed driver, “I don’t want lose my job. I have to impound the car,” he told El Reportero.

The officer opened the vehicle’s trunk and found it filled of carpentry tools, while his 6-year-old daughter was in the car waiting for the mother to pick her up. It happened on 24th Street.

The brother of the unlicensed driver arrived and started helping him unload the tools.

The red, compact, car, would not sleep at home that and possibly many nights, or ever again. It will end up at the City’s towing garage, where it probably will cost the humble worker, a few thousands if it is impounded for 30 days.

If you don’t know, the San Francisco Municipality, as every one in the country, when they over spend beyond their fi scal budget, they go after the citizenry, increasing the fi nes or creating new ones and new excuses to tax the people, regardless if they are taking the money for their medicines and food or if they already are unemployed.

And the money they collect now from its citizens, is not to pay for this year’s city services and salaries, but for the future, since the Federal Reserve Bank already paid or loaned the money for this year’s. I know, you’re probably thinking while scratching your head: “how can this happen? Only a few politicians know the truth.

Remember, there is not real money in circulation, only debt certifi cates called: Federal Reserve Notes. Look at one dollar bill. Finally, I feel pain in my heart for that humble man who got his car confiscated.

by Margine Quintanilla

Susana Baca

Famous Afro-Peruvian singer Susana Baca, winner of the Latino Grammy, will be visiting the United States in an artistic tour that will include only two presentations in San Francisco.

During this tour, Baca will present her most recent CD produced by Greg Landau and Ricardo Pereira, as well as songs not recorded by the great Peruvian composer Chabuca Granda. This new album, it received good critiques from the national press and music experts.

Baca will offer two concerts in San Francisco on April 3 and 4 in the Brava Theater, 2789 24th St. (and York St.), San Francisco, from 8:00 p.m. Tickets cost 25 $ in advance and $30 at the door. For more information call 415/647-2822 or visit www.ticketweb.com.

You, and your family and friends are invited to a special seminar on the law by Zeke

You will learn about the legal process and how to defend yourselves and your families from the corrupt judicial system.

Excerpt from Zeke’s Website à http://www.powerpolitics.com/about.php.

“In 1997 we started this site in an effort to help people learn about the legal process so they could help themselves solve the problems they were running into in the Courts.

“We found that most people don’t care and of those who do, very few are willing to put in the time and energy to understand how to wield the Judicial Power of the Constitution as envisioned by some of the forefathers of this great nation.

“So, if you want to put forth the effort, get technical, read a lot, study, and learn to assert and defend your rights, then you can begin your journey to Sovereignty by learning about the three Powers that were established and delegated by the Constitution.

“This concept is new to the 21st century legal theories and is an exercise of power by the individual, which has been unheard of for over 100 years.”

Saturday 1710 South Amphlett Blvd. Conference Room No. 126, San Mateo, CA 94402. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. for Registration. For more info visit: http://www.powerpolitics.com/.

SFWFF will present movies only for women

A series of educational movies dedicated especially for women of all ages, will be the main attraction during the San Francisco Women Film Festival (SFWFF).

During the shooting, the women of San Francisco and especially young adolescents, will have the opportunity to submerge in the experience lived by other women.

During the SFWFF there will be offered the possibility of protecting the movies of young filmmakers as it is the case of the film Of the Next Generation: Movie done by the youth for the youth.

Another movie which they will be able to enjoy is Passion and Power: the Technology of the Orgasm, by Wendy Slick and Emiko Omori, which will be exhibited from April 11, in select theaters and social centers across the Bay Area.

The closing film The Women will appear on April 13, a documentary produced by Alexis Krasilovsky, who behind the camera, explores the lives in countries like China, India, and Iran.

So much as the opening films as those closing ones, will be presented at the Women’s Building, 3543 18th Street, San Francisco, from 7:00 p.m. Tickets will be $10. For more information call 510.235.0709. http://sfwff.com.

Outstanding journalist analyzes effects of conservatism in America

Peter Scoblic, Executive Publisher of the New Republic, will expose an analysis on The effects conservatism has caused in America since the last century.

Also Scoblic will explain the ideology of the Bush Administration Bush in foreing policy, as well as the topic with how the political decisions taken during this government have threatened our future, and also will detail the different forms in as these damages might be invested. This event will be held on Thursday, April 23 of April at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

For more information call 415-597-6712 or 415-597-6734. guestservices@commonwealthclub.org.