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.
Tag Archives: Hispanic
From the ashes of war perhaps light
The images of U.S. troops leaving Iraq after a senseless, tragic waste of lives and money that left America nearly bankrupt is a blunt and brutal lesson for HispanicLatinos. Except for the families who suffered the direct loss of loved ones, few individuals should walk away more sobered than HispanicLatino men and women in charge of businesses. Business owners intuitively understand the impact of an $800-billion war debt to a struggling economy.
Demean Sports? No Longer Cricket.
Last week I was one of the 500 million viewers who watched a global megaevent. I do not know how many of those viewers were in a bar, but that is where I found myself, among a pack of well-mannered sports fans enthusiastically enjoying the competition between Real Madrid and Barcelona, two European soccer – that is to say – football powerhouses whose clash goes by the name of el clásico. Half a billion viewers would make anything a classic. The Super Bowl draws about a quarter of that size of an audience if it is lucky. Of course, the Olympics and the World Cup eclipse everything else.
But this post is not about the relative irrelevancy of American football, which I also follow religiously, on a global stage. That is a tedious subject. Rather it is about sport itself and its new relevancy.
LBJ: An Eternal Gift to DOJ
What was it worth to me, those many years ago, as a young teenager watching President Johnson give his memorable speech in support of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to a joint session to Congress? When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke Tuesday at the LBJ Library on the very matter that made Lyndon B. Johnson a hero in American history, my mind went back through time, and I was left pondering the void of leadership that has formed since.
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.
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.
A Niche to be Filled
It should be fairly evident by now that HispanicLatino population growth can create new markets for smart business owners who are on top of and can interpret demographic change. HispanicLatino population growth also creates new ways for corporations and businesses – HispanicLatino and non-HispanicLatino alike – to reach those new markets.
From W to Newt: Downward, Ever Downward
I remember watching George W. Bush on television at one of his first group meetings with foreign leaders. It was a NATO summit meeting of European leaders in Brussels six months after he took office. As the leaders gathered for the traditional group picture, they stood around the nervous President of the United States, who at one point looked up and behind him to laugh at something one of the leaders had said. In that split second, Bush looked like a lost schoolboy, out of his element. I will never forget the thought I had then.
This country is rich – rich enough to squander the Presidency.
Any country that would elect a neophyte and a person so lacking in intellectual depth was presumptuously wealthy enough to risk the Presidency on someone whom I was convinced would be a disaster. I had only a clue from someone who knew him how much of a debacle was at stake. Now we all know. The same thought came to me as I watch the spectacle of today’s Republican presidential candidates.
George Will: Wrong for So Long
Years ago, when I was an editor at The Austin American-Statesman, I had to decide whether to run George Will, the conservative columnist at The Washington Post, on a regular basis to balance the pages with perspectives from the left and the right.
I had admired Will’s writing but more and more I had to force myself to read him – still do. My struggle began many years before with a piece that suggested to me that he fundamentally misunderstood where the country was headed. Will had written at the height of the Reagan Revolution – I’m paraphrasing – that the country had entered a conservative era that would last for generations.
No Newt is a Good Newt
A cardinal rule in politics holds that you cannot beat somebody with nobody. Another rule becomes operational when the first rule is violated: Political animals roam the landscape in search of a political void. Another reality is that journalism is not dead – meaning no one should crown Newt Gingrich just yet.