HispanicLatinas: More than Solid in Obama’s Corner — for a Reason

So the polls show between 63 and 70 percent of Hispanic/Latinos (men and women combined) supporting President Obama 75 days until the election.  For the sake of argument, let’s say it is 70 percent, which is where I believe it is.  If that is the case and given that men overall support the President to a lesser extent than women, then a much as 85 percent – or more – of HispanicLatinas support Obama.  How did Obama get to those stratospheric levels?  Perhaps war, healthcare, the economy and women’s issues have something to do with it – and not necessarily just immigration, the shorthand topic to which the media instantly jumps.

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Latino Veterans: An untapped source within the Hispanic community

More and more Hispanics or Latinos are coming to understand their unique placement in the flow of American history that at this moment calls on them to understand their growing responsibility for the fiscal fate of the country.  Two groups within the HispanicLatino community know and feel the mounting obligation the best:  College-educated professionals and veterans.  Individuals holding college degrees most often are the ones who rise to play leadership roles within the community.  But the vast numbers of HispanicLatino veterans – many of them having put their lives on the line for the country – are as cognizant and are especially important today.  They, more so than most, know what is at stake in a pivotal election in which they can make a decided difference.

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Chief Justice Roberts: A Catholic in the Making

I do not know John Roberts.  Never met the man.  I have been reading about him for years.  Could not avoid him, really.  Upon any vacancy or near-vacancy on the Supreme Court, Republican insiders incessantly pumped him as a rising jurist and, lo and behold, he now sits as Chief Justice.  I do not know Antonin Scalia either.  Observed him once at a reception.  Said to be an intellectual.  He seemed to be enjoying what he was eating and drinking.

Both men were raised Catholic, something I do know about, and it might shed light beyond Linda Greenhouse’s contribution in The New York Times and the notable, or not so notable, depending on your view, reporting of Jan Crawford of CBS about Roberts changing his vote at the last minute to uphold The Affordable Care Act. The reasons for his switch are as speculated upon as they are myriad in number.  But I wonder if Roberts’ vote was the result of the good Catholic gene winning over the bad Catholic gene that burdens all Catholics, including Scalia, who no one can doubt from his increasing vitriolic and bitter dissents has let his bad Catholic gene run amuck.

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Intensity after Court decision is not one-sided

I am often struck by the conventional wisdom that sprouts instantly on television after, say, a Supreme Court decision on health care.  Conventional thinking is like angel dust to reporters who in the immediacy of an event have to say something that by the end of the day is repeated often enough during the 24/7 news cycle that it becomes fact.

So it is with the “intensity argument” that is supposed to give the Republican campaign of Mitt Romney a much-needed boost in the arm.  Trailing in every state that is supposed to be competitive in a supposedly close election, Romney, it is thought by the conventionalists, received an injection of energy sure to change the dynamics of the campaign.  I am not convinced.  I doubt more can be done to increase the anger-level of the virulent anti-Obama camp.  In contrast and perhaps as important is the fact that three million young Americans up the age of 26 can stay on their parents’ insurance policies.  Add to that perhaps as many as five million grateful, anxious parents and anyone can begin to see that the intensity argument does not flow in one direction only.

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More than about civil rights, education is about national security

Last week in Washington, Mitt Romney said the failure of schools with minority students “is the civil rights issue of our era.’’  Hmmm.  It is more the seminal national security of our time but who’s quibbling?  If HispanicLatinos do not accelerate their educational – and thus their economic – attainment in the short term, they will not be able to stave off the nation’s crushing fiscal demands in the long term.  Without the tax revenues necessary to keep abreast with the technological advances in defense systems, the country’s defenses ultimately will be on par with other nations.  It is only a matter of time.  Not to mention keeping up with other costs.  But this is a fella who cannot bring himself to support any version of the Dream Act, and he seems to not understand how college-opportunities programs after World War II set up the nation for long-term economic growth.

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Women Should Uncork a Knock-out Punch in November

Were I a woman, I would use the election in November as a blunt political tool: In one fell swoop, millions upon millions of women could send an unvarnished message to right-wing Republicans, the Catholic Church, the U.S. Supreme Court and gasbags like Rush Limbaugh to shut the heck up.  What prompted this blog posting – okay, this is downright rant – is that, among other things, I have a niece, recently graduated from college, who is beginning to start building a professional career and, hopefully, a successful life.

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Justices Damage the Nation and HispanicLatinos — Its Very Future

The damage the Supreme Court inflicted on the country with its wrong-headed ruling in Citizens United should be evident enough even to its most ardent proponents, except for the columnist George Will, of course.  The justices, with the likes of Will pulling at the floodgates, enabled multi-billionaires to pour millions of dollars into a presidential campaign that demonstrates how unceremoniously and crudely Citizens usurps the constitutional intent that the vote of any one individual is no more equal than the next.

Now come the warning signs that the court is going to undo programs that seek to increase the number of minority students in institutions of higher education.  The court has accepted for review a case involving The University of Texas at Austin that five justices will use almost undoubtedly to roll back so-called affirmative action programs.

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Newt: Not America’s BFF

When writing, it takes effort and discipline to not hurl labels at people.  By now, though, Newt Gingrich has revealed himself for what he is: Aside from being labelled as unstable by people who worked with him, he has all the makings of a budding fascist.  Gingrich’s attacks on the judiciary are nothing less than breath-taking.  His suggestions that judges be hauled before legislative committees by police to explain their decisions speaks to a time and place that the History Channel deals with every day.

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HispanicLatinos at a Crossroads

HispanicLatinos are living through a nationally decisive moment.  The pressure is building on HispanicLatino leaders – elected, appointed, self-proclaimed and otherwise – to step up to a point in history as important as any since the mid-1960’s.  In but a few months, the Supreme Court could waylay the progress HispanicLatinos have made over five decades to achieve social, economic a political parity with mainstream society – and in the process the Court could jeopardize America’s very future.

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The Supreme Court Disrupting the Future

Redistricting and immigration are difficult and complex subjects and are easily and simply intertwined for one reason:  They relate directly to the power of the two political parties in the country since most HispanicLatinos vote Democratic.

Given the expanding number of HispanicLatinos in the nation relative to the rest of the population, any fair handling of redistricting going forward should favor HispanicLatinos and, therefore, Democrats.  And given that immigration is the lifeblood a country, any mishandling of it could be catastrophic for the long term.  That seems natural and reasonable enough, though the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to confirm the unfairness and outright hostility that state legislatures and other political entities are visiting upon their HispanicLatino populations.

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