Although there are a lot of hateful comments on this site (which contrary to haters’ beliefs is the majority of the comments I received – I don’t censor all of the reasonable conservatives) I have *met* some very thoughtful responders with different views, some of which I email with on a regular basis. The last few weeks have been busy with real work (this blog, unfortunately, is only an unpaid hobby) and so I missed a lot of things including the Palin-Letterman exchange. I mean, I totally, 100% missed it. Like, if you’d called me up and said, “So what do you think about Palin-Letterman?” I would have replied “Who is that?” Anyway – my lack of commentary solicited this response from one reader:
Alicia-
Once again those of us who starve for information and insight from you have been overwhelmingly disappointed that you have seemingly sacrificed your morals and values, choosing instead to take the high road concering Letterman’s comments about her 14 year-old daughter
at the Yankees game.And don’t tell me an educated Harvard individual believes he was speaking of her 18 year-old daughter, who wasn’t even at the game.
If this comments or those similar had been said of Chelsea when she was 14 you would have raked the television host over the coals.
And then you would have really went to work on him. You’ve taken shots at Palin before, yet you can’t come out and be brutally honest against one of your fellow Democrats here?So is it that don’t care about the well being of teenage girls or you don’t care about making our country a better place? So since my favorite Democratic progressive blocker can’t criticize one of her own, maybe you can enlighten me and send me a response.
Close your eyes and pretend these things were said against a young Chelsea or another teenage daughter of a famous Democratic politician. I can’t expect you to do the right thing here and blog about it, but maybe you can enlighten me on what it is you would have said.
Blogging about this incident would have been so commendable of you.
Yikes! I was, of course, immediately taken back. I think of this as a fun thing to do when I can and it had never occurred to me that I might need to make that clear. So I emailed the reader back… read more…
A gruesome header, I know, but the crime is so much worse. My friends at Presente.org are sending congress a message to respond to this ugly act of violence and I encourage everyone here to join us. Regardless of how you feel about immigration, we can all agree that there is no room for violence in this debate. From Presente:
Nine-year-old Brisenia Flores was sleeping soundly in her bed in Arivaca, Arizona when she was shot and killed in cold blood.
It was no random act of violence.[1] Shawna Forde, the suspected mastermind of the home invasion robbery in which Brisenia and her father Raul were killed, is the leader of the vigilante group Minutemen American Defense and has been tied to the national Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).[2] Both groups have been labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups” and have a long record of routinely dehumanizing immigrants and vilifying Latinos.
The problem is bigger than FAIR or any other group. Some members of Congress have been legitimizing these organizations for years—inviting them to testify as “experts”—while the rhetoric coming from these groups has given rise to violence against Latinos, like the killing of Brisenia and Raul Flores.[3] That needs to end now.
I’ve joined Presente.org in demanding that Congress renounce FAIR, the Minutemen, and other anti-immigrant hate groups. Please click below to join me, and ask your friends and family to do the same:
I love when an idea is so good that it takes off overnight. TextsFromLastNight started back in February – it’s a site where people can input their – you got it- texts from last night. And -wow- now it’s one of those things everybody seems to know about. Some of the texts are very, very funny. And whether they’re real or fabricated, it doesn’t matter to me. Here is my latest favorite: “(856): I just fell asleep with a sandwich in my mouth at Cosi..people definitely saw.” However, some of the texts are really pathetic and sad (yes, I know my aforementioned favorite might be pathetic and sad to others), and the recurrence of bad sexual situations and mentions of “awkward” detracts once you’ve followed the site for awhile. In fact, given the references to college, etc it seems that the site is heavily trafficked by millenials – begging the question- can my generation take over if we can’t pick up the phone and we can’t get over how awkward everything seems? Maybe I will text all my friends and ask.
Well, it’s already more than a little dated, but here’s the second installment of Rock the Vote Radio with Rebecca Young, Jillian Bandes, David Centofante, Noble Freeman and yours truly showing my more moderate stripes.
A few points of clarification:
I just don’t understand why Chris Wilson went with the “intellectual heft” argument. It’s the least substantive argument against Sotomayor, (and as such, the easiest to knock down) and unlike criticism of her legal opinion, it sounds personal. I never suggested that Republicans would vote against her because of her race, only that this nominee puts them on a political tightrope, as their arguments against Judge Sotomayor can be easily (mis?)interpreted as arguments against a pivotal moment for the Hispanic community. I think most Republicans understand how delicately they will need to proceed, even if Wilson refused to acknowledge that reality. Last but not least, all credit to AEW for the Puerto Rican/Summa sentiment!
Last week’s television adventure and corresponding Miami Vice outfit.
Tomorrow (and for the next 70+ days) we can talk about the in’s and out’s of Judge Sotomayor’s judicial record and the political battle that will ensue. Today, this Latina is going to focus on what a remarkable moment this is.
My blogging has definitely been on a down-turn, and part of that is a result of my new found appreciation for Twitter.com. At first I thought it was very lame, but if you limit who you follow, it can act as a great aggregate news feed, and yet another way of checking in with people without actually having to see them in person (the horror) or talking with them on the phone (occasionally even more horrific).
If you’re interested in learning about how Twitter works, I recommend checking out this video (which I learned about when my friend at Molly taught my friend Casey how to use Twitter).
My friend Andres Ramirez has a good article in Roll Call about the connection between the census, electoral participation and Latinos’ political power. The data Andres draws from is promising, and reminds me of the necessity of building a Latino pipeline. One of the groups I work with, Democracia USA is doing just that. Check out this interesting glimpse into our leadership academies:
I have a new show I like called Say Yes to the Dress which is basically about the inner workings of Kleinfeld’s – a high end bridal shop in New York City. (Sidenote: When I recently met Alan Colmes he said “I saw your blog. Are you getting married?” “No,” I explained. “I just really like weddings.” ) At first, I thought “how interesting can a bunch of women shopping for wedding dresses be?” Answer: particularly interesting (especially when DVR’d and fast-forwarded). Don’t believe me? Watch webisodes here. If you’re like me you’ll cry in spite of yourself everytime a mom cries. Part of the reason it’s so interesting is the sheer number of choices you have to make: shape, cost, color. Today, my weekly Real Simple Wedding email (don’t judge you’re on lame email lists too) informed me that there are 200 shades of white. WHAT?! See, this is why I almost exclusively wear black. Or, in the words of Asian Elle Wood, “I can’t even pick a tinted moisturizer.” More advice from Real Simple after the jump… read more…
