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<p> Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets last week to protest violence related to drug trafficking and the Mexican government’s inability or unwillingness to prevent it. U.S. and international activists who want to show solidarity with the people of Mexico must recognize that the most effective step we can take is to bring the war on drugs to an end.</p>
Commentary
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<p> Republicans in Washington, D.C. continue to push for cuts to housing assistance for veterans, cuts to Medicare, cuts to Social Security, cuts to children’s health, and cuts to job training programs all so that they can keep giving tax breaks to oil companies and the richest Americans.</p>
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<p> As California faces a severe fiscal crisis at the state and local level, my Republican colleagues in the Legislature have suggested a range of “solutions” for California’s budget crisis including instituting a spending cap, repealing environment regulations and reforming our pension system. </p>
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who speak without thinking and Read more…
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<p> One hundred and fifty years ago, on April 12, 1861, the first shots of the Civil War were fired. A century and a half later, the issue of race still haunts us.</p>
<p> Back then, most everyone understood that America’s bloodiest war — more than 623,000 dead — had its roots in race. But race is not a subject Americans like to think about anymore. At every turn, prominent voices try to pretend that since we’ve achieved a colorblind society, we can forget all that old unpleasantness.</p>
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<p> Californians, like all Americans, love breathing clean, healthy air. We relish that picture perfect moment: a clear view of the mountains or ocean, kids playing soccer or baseball, enjoying a picnic in the park on a warm day, or just a brisk walk with the dog.</p>
<p> These are also the moments we’d like to forget — missed school or missed work due to bad air days, asthma and bronchial attacks and the associated costs to families, business, and the economy. </p>
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<p> It’s become a TV ritual: Every year on April 4, as Americans commemorate Martin Luther King’s death, we get perfunctory network news reports about “the slain civil rights leader.”</p>
<p> The remarkable thing about these reviews of King’s life is that several years — his last years — are totally missing, as if flushed down a memory hole.</p>
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<p> President Obama and Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes discussed immigration, drug trafficking, and the economy during Obama’s trip to El Salvador. But missing was mention of the controversial Central America Free Trade Act (CAFTA).</p>
<p> Thousands of protesters held marches and demonstrations against CAFTA while Obama was in town. The free trade agreement is big news in El Salvador as corporations are suing the country for daring to have environmental laws.</p>
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<p> 50-million Hispanics in the USA! Faster than a speeding bullet, that’s us…</p>
<p> American Hispanics, like famous come–from-behind race horse Silky Sullivan of yesteryear, have sped past the American Black population in numbers, in economics and is rapidly catching up in educational level. By 2050, four decades from now, one in four Americans will have Hispanic backgrounds if nothing less than Hispanic grandparents.</p>