Muslims, Polls and "Otherizing" groups of peoples.

Well, This Time Magazine poll shows, once again that people continue to follow the steps of the ones that lived before them.
"Otherizing" groups of peoples in America has not be uncommon during our history. It happened to Native Americans, white men with no property, African Americans, Women, Irish immigrants, Mexican Americans, Mexicans, even people who drink alcohol! and recently Muslims. Fortunately it is also part of the country's history the fact that reactionary cultural mindframes have been defeated and the US is a great country because of that.
A must read for you guys.

TIME Poll: Majority Oppose Mosque, Many Distrust Muslims

Legal problems for Taqueros in Oklahoma City

Las barreras culturales con las que chocan hispanos no paran con el idioma o las costumbres. En ocasiones, tambien chocan con ellas cuando hacen negocios. En Estados Unidos, abrir una empresa es un proceso, especialmente riguroso cuando se trata de negocios de comida.
Muchos hispanos por desconocimiento o por no saber hablar ingles no se enteran de los detalles legales que rodean prepararle comida a un cliente en este pais. Aqui el reporte.

Mexico restringira uso de Dolares

En un esfuerzo por combatir el lavado de dinero, la delincuencia organizada, el gobierno Mexicano restringira la cantidad de dolares que una persona puede cambiar diariamente en los bancos. Aqui el reporte.

Leyes estrictas pero tambien camino a legalizacion.

Oklahoma City. Sorprendente. Asi lo percibi, cuando escuche el ultimo resultado de una encuesta a nivel de Oklahoma. El 75% de los Oklahomenses favorecen una camino ganado a la legalizacion para millones de inmigrantes indocumentados. Sorprendente, porque despues de todo, este estado no se ha caracterizado por ser amigable con los inmigrantes indocumentados.

En 2007, se aprobo con abrumadora mayoria en el congreso estatal una propuesta de ley que obligaba a los oficiales carcelarios a investigar el estatus migratorio de quienes cayeran arrestados, sin importar si eran arrestados por faltas menores como manejar un carro sin licencia de conducir. Dicha ley, llamada hb1804, tenia facil el respaldo de mas del 70% de Oklahomenses.

Sin embargo, esta encuesta realizada por Soonerpoll y encargada por el periodico Tulsa World muestra otra cara de los Oklahomenses:

la de personas conservadoras, pero realistas que quieren leyes estrictas que aseguren la frontera; que establezcan un sistema migratorio que trabaje y que ofrezca un camino ganado a la legalizacion para que millones de indocumentados.

Esto es una llamada de atencion para los politicos que viven y quieren perpetuarse en el poder corroborando medias verdades y a veces mentiras; jugando con los miedos, preocupaciones y aspiraciones de la gente conservadora proponiendo medidas irreales para solucionar el problema de la inmigracion indocumentada.

De esta encuesta se puede interpretar que los Oklahomenses, siendo conservadores, son justos y realistas y quieren soluciones justas y realistas al problema de la inmigracion indocumentada.

Aqui el reporte completo en manos de Luis Estrada de T30 Noticias. Telemundo Oklahoma.

Illegal Immigrants, Political Russian Roulette, the 14th Ammendment and the Republican leadership.

by Carlos J Toledo on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 2:49pm
Time to wise up!

Why is it that republicans and so called "conservatives" want to change the Constitution's 14th amendment so that children of illegal aliens who were born in the United States of America will not be American citizens? This is not only the equivalent of Political Russian roulette, but it is also "un-conservative" and cheap politics.

I am a conservative and proud to be one, yet this approach is "un-conservative". I wonder, what is conservative about punishing a child for what his or her parents did? What is so conservative about depriving this individual from having a legal category for the illegal actions of his or her parents? Do conservatives want to send the message to all Americans that if your parents came to this country illegally, overstayed their visa, crossed the border illegally; as an American citizen, you would be punished for the actions and decisions that somebody else took when you were not even born? I thought as conservatives we wanted to oversee and guard the decisions of parents regarding their unborn children and young citizens since they can’t have a say of their own, isn’t it our conservative morale the one that needs to take care of a child’s future? Aren't children sacred for us conservatives? Aren't we the ones who strive to protect children when they are still in the womb? This is clearly not conservative, but it is the direction the republican leadership is taking the party by asking for a revision of the 14th amendment that guarantees anyone who was born in the US is an American citizen.

According to the Washington Post, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R) says, “ America faces a new and growing foreign threat: illegal immigrants and tourists who come to here for the express purpose of giving birth so their children obtain citizenship” .Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other top Republicans quickly jumped on the issue and called for hearings." In my opinion, these actions of the republican leadership are luring their party into a political game of Russian roulette, for they risk alienating the biggest and fastest growing minority in the country: Hispanics. Now, some Hispanics might go along with the republicans favoring the modification of the 14th amendment and some of them might not; probably the majority would not go with the republicans on this one. The truth is we don’t know for sure; that is why I believe it has become a game of chance, -a political Russian roulette- leaving the odds wide open to either fail or succeed. They are risking losing for a good time the Hispanic voting bloc.

So, what in the world is the republican leadership saying to American citizens with a Hispanic background? Is it something like this: “had we had it our way you guys would not have been American citizens”, or maybe the republican leadership is saying something like this to parents of Americans “Hey you Latino parents: had we had it our way your sons and daughters would have not been American citizens”. This is cheap politics, bad policy and it is even a bad political electoral strategy.

Altering the 14th amendment is bad electoral strategy; conservative Karl Rove, former political advisor to President Bush, also known as the architect, knows that playing the immigration card in this manner is risky for republicans. President Bush was placed in the White House by the contribution of the 41 to 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. John McCain, the presidential republican nominee in 2008,just got 31% of the Hispanic vote, after a primary season in which he moved to the right on immigration issues. The rest is history, McCain is not in the White House and Obama is. Take this additional element into consideration, according to Politico.com “a CNN/Opinion Research poll shows that a majority of Americans favor -sb1070- Arizona's Immigration law. Fifty-five percent of the 1,018 adults surveyed nationwide favor the law, compared with 40 percent who oppose it, but among Hispanics the number spikes. Seventy-one percent of Hispanics said they oppose Arizona’s law." So on immigration issues, Hispanics might not go with the republicans on this one; hence, after analyzing number and statistics, modifying the 14th amendment and playing political Russian roulette is leading the republicans into spinning the chamber and waiting for the bullet to finally hit the chamber that will trigger the end of this wager.

Revising the 14th amendment is bad policy; it’s like trying to conceal the sun with one finger. There is immigration to the United States of America because this is THE country of opportunities, of jobs, of meritocracy, of freedom; but then, there is illegal immigration because we don’t have a system that responds to our economic reality, our demand of workers and our economic dynamism. This is a created problem, created in part by the omission of the legislative and executive branches that have used the issue exclusively for electoral political gain. Insightful immigration reform is needed, one that addresses border security, the dynamism of our economy, a system to verify who is here legally in the country, a system to verify who can work legally, a system that verifies criminal background and deports criminals and a system that provides an earned path to legalization.

Proposing a change to the 14 amendment is cheap politics for it plays to the concerns, fears, aspirations and wants of the conservative base; some of these are legitimate, but misguided. The conservative base needs a real explanation, not one that makes a good 15 sec. sound bite for TV. The conservative base needs its leaders to make tough decisions, grab the bull by the horns and enact immigration reform with "earned legalization" not amnesty.

The conservative base doesn’t need political pandering, so that a politician can get elected by falsely corroborating myths or misleading statements about illegal immigration, illegal immigrants or what insightful, comprehensive immigration reform means.

The conservative base doesn’t need to elect a politician for saying popular stuff, it needs leadership; that means sometimes a politician will give our conservative base what it needs, not what it wants. Conservatives need leadership, not a mere reflection of their wants, fears or aspirations. They need leadership that will assure where they are placing their wagers; rather than placing their bets in this political risk-taking game where the political Russian roulette is being spun by many hands.

El Salvador Eartquake 2001

This report shows the first moments after the devastating 2001 earthquake that hit El Salvador. I was outthere doing a report on the dollarization of the country when tragedy stroke. After praying for my family and my then girlfriend I grabbed my camera and started to record for history the chaos that ensued. That's what journalist do.

Mexican Stolen Visas

This is one of the reports we have to do. It illustrates how Mexican legal immigrants are taken advantage of in Oklahoma. Their Mexican passports were confiscated by their employer. Thanks to the intervention of T30 Noticias and an immigration lawyer, the Mexican workers got their passport and freedom back.