By Sal Osio, JD
From the Publisher’s Corner

June 2, 2009

         

                      I have referred to the central district of Tijuana, along Revolucion Ave., as ‘Old’ Tijuana to distinguish this district from the ‘New’ Tijuana , the modern, affluent and trendy high rent district which is the home of several luxury hotels, world class restaurants, upscale retail shops and the night life that features the best disco clubs in the San Diego/Tijuana Metropolitan area. The population of Tijuana (“TJ”) exceeds 1.7 million, officially. Unofficially it exceeds 2 million. This compares to San Diego’s 1.5 million inhabitants. Together, the border crossing is the busiest in the world accounting for some 40 million crossings per year.

By Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com

June 2, 2009

From Mexico City

 

            Much has been written about the spring "swine flu" epidemic that started out in México, but here I offer a little more personal view.

     I had already planned a three-day visit of the state fair at Aguascalientes in the middle of April when I heard a few comments about a spring flue outbreak in México. But nothing was going to make me change my plans to visit México's largest state fair.

             As this is read hundreds of thousands of illegal narcotics transactions are going down throughout the United States with billions of dollars changing hands from people with some money to people with more money

Most of the buyers are white middle-class, most of the sellers are from the ranks of stuck-in-ghetto poverty classes. They don’t keep all the money; they only keep part of it, most of it goes to filthy rich Mexicans and Colombians.

By Steven J. Ybarra, JD/HispanicVista.com

June 2, 2009

   Notas por La Casa Politica

 Happy almost Memorial Day!  It is a great time to be an American once again.  We have a U.S. President who operates his government not based in fear mongering.  

We have a country that will create a generation of the children of a Republican economic depression.  This means we will create a nation of people who once again know how to save rather than spend every dime they do not have.

 

By Manuel Hernandez-Carmona
 June 2, 2009

Latino Education

Latinos not only bring their language with them to America, but they carry one of the strongest cultural expressions in the universe, pun intended. As a matter of fact, the four main Latino groups (according to US Census population statistics) are very politically, economically and culturally diverse. This uniqueness raises huge questions on how to meet their academic needs. Mexicans have always been geographically intertwined with the United States, but today the majority of Latino illegal residents are Mexicans.

 

“Shenandoah had the richest deposit of Anthracite of all the known fields. The Mammoth vein, the largest known anthracite coal vein, runs directly under the town. Coal brought thousands of immigrants to Shenandoah. First came the English mine owners and bosses, then the Welsh skilled miners. These were quickly followed by the Germans and the Irish. By the early 1870's, the Irish were the predominant immigrants to come to Shenandoah. Beginning in the late1870's, immigration into Shenandoah shifted from the Western European countries to the Eastern European countries, primarily Lithuania, Poland , the Ukraine and Slovakia. As each new wave of immigrants arrived in Shenandoah, they set about to establish their own church with services in their native language and eventually to establish parochial schools where their children could be taught both English and their own language and customs. In the 1930's Shenandoah boasted 22 nationalities, 22 churches and a large synagogue.”

The Greater Shenandoah Region Historical Society.

 Re “Focus on Immigration Crimes Is Said to Shortchange Other Cases” (front page, Jan. 12): The FBI remains highly committed to the investigation of public corruption and organized crime.

First, uncovering and investigating public corruption by public officials at all levels remain the top criminal priority for the FBI. Today, more FBI agents are assigned to public corruption than ever before, an increase of 38 percent since 2003. Over the past three years, the FBI helped prosecute nearly 2,500 corrupt local, state, and federal officials—a substantial increase over the previous three years and the highest number of prosecutions for such a period ever.

 By Jeffrey Passel and Paul Taylor, Pew Hispanic Center

Is Sonia Sotomayor the first Hispanic ever nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court? Or does that distinction belong to the late Justice Benjamin Cardozo, who served on the court from 1932-1938 and whose ancestors are Portuguese?

Unscrambling Cardozo's family tree is best left to historians and genealogists. Here we take a stab at a more daunting question. Just who is a Hispanic?

If you turn to the U.S. government for answers, you quickly discover that it has two different approaches to this definitional question. Both are products of a 1976 act of Congress and the administrative regulations that flow from it.

 By Janet Hook

Reporting from Washington -- While some prominent conservative activists are accusing President Obama's Supreme Court nominee of racism, more Republicans are telling them to chill out and "grow up," or they risk damaging the party's chances of expanding its reach to women and Latinos.

Members of the Republican establishment are trying to steer the debate over Sonia Sotomayor away from the battle cries of conservative icons Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, in favor of a more measured conversation about the legal philosophy and qualifications of the first Latina to be nominated to the court.

 May 26, 2009

     THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Well, I'm excited, too.  (Laughter.) 

     Of the many responsibilities granted to a President by our Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than selecting a Supreme Court justice.  The members of our highest court are granted life tenure, often serving long after the Presidents who appointed them.  And they are charged with the vital task of applying principles put to paper more than 20 [sic] centuries ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time.

    So I don't take this decision lightly.  I've made it only after deep reflection and careful deliberation.  While there are many qualities that I admire in judges across the spectrum of judicial philosophy, and that I seek in my own nominee, there are few that stand out that I just want to mention.

 Family members of Judge Sotomayor in attendance at today’s East Room announcement:

Celina Sotomayor (mother)
Omar Lopez (stepfather)
Juan Sotomayor (brother)
Tracey Sotomayor (sister-in-law)
Kylie Sotomayor (niece)
Conner and Corey Sotomayor (nephews)

Judge Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since October 1998. She has been hailed as “one of the ablest federal judges currently sitting” for her thoughtful opinions,ⁱ and as “a role model of aspiration, discipline, commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity”ⁱⁱ for her ascent to the federal bench from an upbringing in a South Bronx housing project.

 

By Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press

Contending that U.S. borders are more secure than ever, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday it's time for the White House and Congress to overhaul immigration laws to stem the number of people coming into and living illegally in the U.S.

"We can pass strong, fair, practical and effective immigration reform this year," said Schumer, D-N.Y.

President Barack Obama plans next month to meet with a small bipartisan group of Senate and House leaders to discuss immigration with the intention of beginning debate on the issue later this year, according to an administration official who requested anonymity because the White House was not ready to announce the meeting. Schumer was expected to be among those attending.

 

By Louis Warren

California’s crisis is such that the number one manufacturing and farming state is unable to sell its bonds. As I explained in my last post, this condition stems in part from constitutional requirements of the supermajority.

Some commentators on the right prefer a different explanation. This is the useful canard that California is congenitally left, and that liberal policies lead inevitably to financial collapse.

To be sure, the left is not blameless in this debacle. But much of California’s political upheaval of the last decade and a half has been driven by the collapse of the state’s once-formidable Republican Party. Alarmingly, national Republicans now seem to follow their lead. Progressives may think this cause for celebration – - but if the Republican Party in the U.S. becomes what it is in California, America has some hard days ahead.

Americans' demand for pot, cocaine provide enticing market

NEW YORK – Associated Press – May 26, 2009 - The Mexican drug cartels battling viciously to expand and survive have a powerful financial incentive: Across the border to the north is a market for illegal drugs unsurpassed for its wealth, diversity and voraciousness.

Homeless heroin addicts in big cities, "meth heads" in Midwest trailer parks, pop culture and sports stars, teens smoking marijuana with their Baby Boomer parents in Vermont — in all, 46 percent of Americans 12 and older have indulged in the often destructive national pastime of illicit drug use.

This array of consumers is providing a vast, recession-proof, apparently unending market for the Mexican gangs locked in a drug war that has killed more than 10,780 people since December 2006. No matter how much law enforcement or financial help the U.S. government provides Mexico, the basics of supply and demand prevent it from doing much good.

 (Former) Ambassador Garza recently spent some time with John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet (NASDAQ: CSCO; www.cisco.com). 

Mr. Chambers talked with the ambassador about his company's recent landmark investment in Mexico, leading Mexican President Felipe Calderon to say, "Cisco is a key ally in the country's development."  The two also talked about Mr. Chambers' views on the global marketplace and the role of public-private partnerships to foster greater competitiveness and prosperity.

Here, Mr. Chambers (JC) offers his own unique perspective to Ambassador Garza

 Your Money

By Ron Lieber

New York Times

At first glance, the sweeping credit card legislation that passed the Senate on Tuesday looks like a huge victory for consumers. The bill (and similar legislation that has already passed the House) contains relief from penalty fees and instant interest rate spikes. It even limits expiration dates on gift cards.

And certain cardholders who carry a balance may ultimately pay less under the new rules. But for people who pay their bills off each month, and milk the card rewards programs for everything they are worth, there is some cause for concern.

 

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written,  The Mexican Perspective: Establishing Personal & Business Relations by Understanding Their Culture & Protocol,   a short but intensive E-book on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The E-book is also an in depth primer on Mexican culture and protocol for better understanding that allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals. Literally this book has been of immense help to thousands, you too can gain from Mr. Osio's lifetime experience.  ONLY $9.95

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