Check out this adorable video:
I love that Kendy’s parents took her to vote. My parents always took me with them and it instilled in me both a love of the Democratic process and the Democratic Party. I also love how matter of fact she is about the fact that she peed on the Governor. Full story here: http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/13331/voting-for-and-peeing-on-governor-corzine
This story from the LA Times is just incredible:
The wedding was all set. The bride would travel from Mexico City to Rexburg, Idaho, where she would walk down the aisle of the Mormon temple in her white dress. She would marry that crazy guy from the radio who had been courting her.
Then it all fell apart, here in Los Angeles, in the bowels of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
The bride had to go through immigration in L.A. before catching her connecting flight to Idaho. She thought her papers were in order. So when the immigration agent asked her the purpose of her visit to the United States, she responded truthfully, “I’m going to get married.”
Before she knew it, she had been deported and was on the next plane back to Mexico.
Deyanira Escalona’s Idaho wedding had to be canceled. This pushed her fiance, the already excitable Benjamin Reed, nearly over the edge.
“They treated her very poorly,” Reed said of the agents at LAX. Among other things, he said, they took wedding invitations they found in her purse and handled them as if they were evidence of a criminal conspiracy. “They treated her like a dog.”
I first met Ben Reed, a veteran Idaho radio DJ, while reporting a story for The Times nine years ago. Ben is not someone you easily forget. He’s a former Mormon missionary and fluent Spanish speaker who used to be a conservative talk show host. Among Spanish radio listeners in southern Idaho he’s known by his on-air persona as “El Chupacabras,” or the goat vampire.
Reed once was a devout Reagan Republican. Then his corner of southern Idaho filled up with Spanish-speaking people. He fell in love with his new neighbors. They were emotional people who always seemed ready to hug him. He became addicted to their music and their food. And he fell hard for Deyanira too.
All of this has led him to put on “the moccasins of the immigrant,” Ben told me. Now nothing looks quite as simple as it used to. Love and empathy will do that, which is why some people think love and empathy are as dangerous to America as the swine flu.
Indeed. Fascinating how positions change once people come into your life and their situations are no longer…alien.
My paternal grandmother Evangelina passed away on Friday. There is lots to write and say, but for now, just a beautiful picture.
Governor Corzine, Mayor Booker and Essex County Executive Divincenzo at Breast Cancer Awareness 5k
I am envious of how comfortable these men are going out in public in shorts (and short shorts at that)! Are there more? Oh yes, yes there are: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joncorzine/
If I were on the Corzine campaign, I would take out a media buy and run this as an ad right now:
Check out the Enough is Enough blog for updates on the Latino community’s various efforts against Lou Dobbs. And while you’re at it, be sure to sign their petition at www.tellcnnenoughisenough.com.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has a new video out celebrating the many contributions of Hispanic-Americans. While I appreciate the RNC’s efforts to court Latinos, especially given my critque of their Latino outreach, this video is a bit…problematic. For starters, I didn’t realize the only Latinos to contribute to American culture were all Republicans! Next, who is the audience here? Is Steele talking TO Latinos or ABOUT Latinos? And if he is, indeed, talking TO Latinos, why is he talking ABOUT us to OURSELVES? It makes no sense. In fact, it makes almost as little sense as the Spanish version of the corresponding press release.
That’s a strike!
Newt Gingrich, one of the only Conservatives who seems to fully understand how critical the Latino electorate will be to future elections, just launched a new website: The Americano. Funny that the same man who called Spanish “the language of the ghetto” just two years ago is now leading the way on bilingual Conservative media. I’ll give it to Gingrich – he’s smart. Hopefully this effort serves as a good reminder to Progressives that they can’t just take Latino voters for granted.
Check out this awesome video and then please consider signing the petition at www.TellCNNEnoughisEnough.com
I understand that a lot of folks who read this blog regularly disagree with my approach to immigration reform (tough, practical, and fair – I don’t think rounding up and deporting 12 million people makes a whole lot of sense). But I also know that most of my readers are very thoughtful and can agree that this rhetoric is fear mongering at its worst. We can disagree on what immigration reform looks like. In fact, I welcome the disagreement. I only ask that we all stick to the facts, and attempt to have a principled conversation about how we move forward.
