HispanicVista Columnists - February 21st, 2005

By Patrick Osio, Jr.

It would take the most incredibly naïve and gullible persons to believe Congressman Duncan Hunter’s assertion that building 3.5-miles of fence along the US-Mexico border will stop terrorist infiltrations and illegal immigrants from entering the country. His argument is so grossly devoid of any logic or intelligent reasoning as to make one wonder whether the Congressman has a hidden agenda when he inserted it into the REAL ID Act (H.R. 418) approved by the House and now pending in the Senate.

By Felipe de Ortego y Gasca

 Almost 18 years ago, en route to the Arizona Capitol during the October 22, 1988 march against the English Only Proposition, I was struck by the fallacies and inconsistencies persistent in the arguments of those pressing for its adoption. The English Only law was passed but later declared unconstitutional. And here we are in the year 2005 still beset by those same arguments for English Only laws.

 As a professor of English (now retired), I am not surprised by how little Americans really know about their language and its linguistic roots. For in the strictest sense of the word it’s not English that we speak in the United States but "American," as H. L. Mencken correctly described it more than 60 years ago.

From the Publisher's Corner

By Sal Osio, JD

At year end a new national magazine - BELLO - premiered. It launched with a cover featuring Alejandro Fernandez, the son of legendary Ranchera music Vicente Fernandez, and an accomplished singer superstar in his own right, as "ZAPATA," Mexico's revolutionary hero. The publication in high gloss quality tabloid print, all 118 pages, providing professional quality content: "Power, Culture & Success." …The publication is aimed at the English language dominant American Hispanic, in his cultural heritage and diversity, whether Indigena, Mestizo or Africano.

COUNTERPOINT

By Daneen G. Peterson, Ph.D.

 “Just imagine if millions of Americans were to enter Mexico illegally, demand that the local government provide free medical care, demand bilingual doctors and nurses, demand bilingual government forms, fly the US flag from their homes and cars, demand courses on American culture in their schools, demand local driver's licenses, and insist that local law enforcement officers speak only English.  

 America is the greatest and most successful experiment regarding the integration and assimilation of people of differing cultures, languages, and religions.”(1)- Alan Caruba --The above quotes dramatize why most Americans object the massive illegal immigration that is taking place in our country today.  

By Erika Robles
Average reading levels in Mexico are much lower than those in countries such as Argentina, Spain and Italy. In average, Mexicans read one or two books per year, compared to 10 to 12 books read in Spain, Italy and Argentina….  Many bookstores in Mexico are on the verge of closing down, and many others have already done so. Meanwhile, from 2001 to 2004, around 10 percent of all publishers have shut down. According to the Mexican Booksellers Association, "despite having three times the population of Argentina, Mexico produces 2,000 fewer titles each year. There are roughly 500 bookstores in Mexico, serving a population of 100 million, which equates into one for every 200,000 Mexicans, compared to a ratio of one to 35,000 in the US and one to 12,000 in Spain.

By Onkar Ghate

 Only private universities can ensure that every citizen’s freedom of speech is respected.

 Because the comments he made shortly after September 11 have come to light, obscene comments in which he vilifies the World Trade Center victims as “little Eichmanns” and lauds their killers as “humanitarians,” Professor Ward Churchill has resigned as chairman of the University of Colorado’s ethnics studies department. But, with the support of other faculty, he retains his professorship. Four members of his department have expressed “unconditional support” for his “freedom of expression and First Amendment rights.” The Faculty Assembly of the university, though it regards his words as “controversial, offensive, and odious,” defends his freedom to utter them. 

By Domenico Maceri

 The hunt for weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein was supposed to posses was called off recently. The absence of weapons proved the Iraq war unnecessary to protect the United States. Either the Bush administration is incompetent or some people lied about the situation.
 Now Bush wants people to believe him about the need to privatize social security. He says if nothing is done, the system will go bankrupt.
Really? Even assuming that social security is in danger, something most analysts do not believe, Bush's solution of privatizing it will mean the program's demise.

By Camilo Mejia

I was deployed to Iraq in April 2003 and returned home for a two-week leave in October. Going home gave me the opportunity to put my thoughts in order and to listen to what my conscience had to say. People would ask me about my war experiences and answering them took me back to all the horrors—the firefights, the ambushes, the time I saw a young Iraqi dragged by his shoulders through a pool of his own blood or an innocent man was decapitated by our machine gun fire. The time I saw a soldier broken down inside because he killed a child, or an old man on his knees, crying with his arms raised to the sky, perhaps asking God why we had taken the lifeless body of his son.

By Frank Gómez

 Twenty years ago, troubled by poor translations in advertisements aimed at Hispanics, I often called ad agencies to point out errors.  Translations have improved markedly since then, notwithstanding occasional lapses and the resulting embarrassments for clients.  The agencies, both Latino and mainstream, have improved because they have developed an internal “culture of translation.”

 Government agencies, however, and some Spanish language media have a way to go…

By Elsa Salazar Cade
Yes, it is a sordid affair. Prostitutes have been hiding in the White House Press Corps. But, it isn't about prostitutes because many of us know that prostitution is a way for the poorest of people to feed  and care for their families. So, I refuse to slam them. As for gay men, I have know some and found them to be noble and caring in spite of the  hatred that is constantly heaped on them. So I don't have any problem with them. I don't have problems with reporters as I regarded them as our eyes and ears on the ground to help us understand the things we  didn't have time or money to investigate ourselves. So, a male reporter that prostitutes on the side, no biggie. Yawn…   But wait…

By Raoul Lowery Contreras

 "After quitting one job and losing another, Fernando Suarez del Solar is supported financially by anti-war groups. They fly him all over the country to speak about the need to end the war in Iraq to stop the death of soldiers like Jesus."

 So wrote Erin Massey, North County Times

 Basic facts of Fernando Suarez del Solar: He immigrated his family to the United States 9 years ago when son Jesus was 14 years old from Tijuana (not as rumored for the sole purpose of Jesus joining the U.S. Marines). At 18, Jesus voluntarily joined the Marines. The Marines say he was a good Marine. He died in the Iraq invasion a Mexican citizen because father Fernando never secured citizenship for himself or his family.

By Mike Kirchubel

On November 4^th, 2004, two days after the GOP-dominated national elections, an emboldened Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an “emergency” regulation to stop the 5:1 patient to nurse ratio law for three years.  Interestingly, his “Finding of Emergency,” his official excuse for stopping the law, read as if it were copied from the hospital lobby’s web site. Was this a real emergency?  Was the Governor protecting Californians from a real danger, or was he merely parroting the hospital industry’s propaganda and doing their bidding?    

By Richard N. Baldwin T.

Recent world history should be teaching a lesson to México that so far is being ignored. We have seen a number of countries, due to popular uprisings, that have driven out elected governments. The most recent was in the Ukraine where demonstrations lasting several weeks forced the resignation of a blatantly fraudulently elected government. Popular uprisings threw out governments in Bolivia, forced recalls in Peru and Chile. And the "pots and pans" demonstrations in Argentina drove out 6 successive presidents.

…These overthrows were about a "peaceful" as you could expect.

Another View

By Dr. Andrew Bernstein

 The on-going persecution of Wal-Mart, including the latest uproar over the closing of one of its Canadian stores, is a clear indicator of the malevolence of the anti-capitalist left, charged Dr. Andrew Bernstein, a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.

 Wal-Mart, which said that labor organizers would require it to hire 30 unneeded workers and submit to inefficient work rules, chose instead to close its unprofitable store in Jonquiere, Quebec, after its employees voted to form a union. CEO H. Lee Scott declared that Wal-Mart would not accept “altruism” as a way of doing business.

As received by HispanicVista

 If you told me one year ago that I'd be standing here today, as your choice for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I wouldn't have believed you. And neither would have a lot of other people.

But let me say that standing here with the opportunity to lead this party, is a great honor.

 I am thankful.

 I am humbled.

 And I'm ready to get to work.

By Gabriel Espinosa-Gonzalez

Bush Administration Should be Embarrassed as Brazil, Peru and Cuba Help Broker Compromise while U.S. Policymakers, led by (Roger) Noriega, try to whip Colombia into a Frenzy
• Washington’s Latin America policy continues to be afflicted by a severe case of short-sighted tunnel vision that makes it unlikely that the many ruptures with hemispheric nations that developed in Bush’s first term will be mended during his second term.

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual to save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.

By Jessica Leight

• Recent arms sales could have an explosive impact on U.S.-Venezuela relations.• Recalling Czech small arms sales to the leftist Guatemalan government in 1954, which led to a CIA-supported coup, the same could happen in Venezuela. • Colombia and Venezuela resolve recent conflict despite no positive U.S. assistance. • Washington’s irrelevance represents a massive diplomatic defeat, marking yet another setback to Roger Noriega’s pathetic mishandling of U.S. relations with Latin America.