Damn!

Wal-Mart is opening a new chain of Hispanic friendly stores in Phoenix and Houston. The stores will require a bilingual staff and cater to every aspect of the Hispanic community. How ironic that in Phoenix, the center of anti-Hispanic sentiment masked behind the illegal immigration issue, you are going to get a store that caters to the very needs of the people many Phoenix residents want out. Still, you can't be mad at Wal-Mart. They are in the game to make money. Wal-Mart has proven time and time again that they are willing to do anything to make money. Catering to the Hispanic community can make a business a lot of money.
What bothers me about Wal-Mart's new plan is that opening a business where the staff must be bilingual does not help the local community assimilate into American culture. A major complaint from anti-immigrant groups is that many people don't speak English. It's hard to argue against that logic.
It's not about never speaking Spanish again, although I'm sure there are many Republicans who would love to see that happen, it's about becoming part of mainstream society. Speaking Spanish should be a bonus ability for an employee and not a requirement.
As hard working as these migrant groups are and as much as they do contribute to society, their existence in society is jeopardized because they don't speak the English. Opening stores or centers where everything will be available to them in Spanish won't help them learn.
The Spanish-speaking community should learn a little something from the Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Americans and Korean-Americans that have been in America as long as Hispanics have. Learn the language. It won't hurt and will benefit the community as a whole.
Unlike European immigrants who came and continue to come to America, Hispanics will still be labeled illegal immigrants regardless of their actual legal status. There is little that can be done about that. However, by learning to read, write and speak English, things can get better for people in those communities. It would benefit society as a whole.
When corporations and government agencies facilitate a group's native language, it tells members of that groups that is fine not to speak English, hindering the group's ability to assimilate into American culture.
Still, in all fairness to Wal-Mart, they are practicing pure capitalism by tapping into a demographic that will make their corporation millions of dollars. Honestly, in America, it is about being No. 1 no matter who you walk over.

Just a thought...

I'm kind of tired of listening to the pissed-off right wing acting as if Obama is some sort of messiah that will lead the nation to destruction. First of all, he's no messiah. He's just some politician who won the election because the party before him messed things up so bad that people were not willing to allow them to continue leading. Also, if any group of people in this nation view their leaders as messiahs, it's the conservative right. The Pat Buchanans and Sean Hannitys of this world view the Republican Party as if it is God's gift to mankind. Where do they get the nerve to label Obama as the messiah of the left-wing?

Seriously people, stop being so paranoid. Don't forget it's just politics and if Obama fails worse than Bush did, we can vote him out of office in 4 years. To all of those out to the far right, stop using your religious fanaticism to scare people. The only scary part about the whole situation is your insistence on labeling Obama some sort of prophet for his supporters while you refuse to acknowledge that the only people in this country which see their political leaders as a gift from God are you guys.

Democracy has spoken!

We have a new president and it seems the conservative right lost its mind. Chill out my Republican brothers. Obama winning the White House does not mean America is doomed. Remember the federal bureaucracy can't be changed over night, even if he has a Democratic House and Senate. If you are mad that he is giving the middle class a tax cut, don't forget that Bush gave the same tax cut to the upper class. It's the middle man's turn. If you were happy that those making $250,000 plus a year got a tax break, don't get offended that the middle class will get the tax break now. That would be hypocritical.

If there is anything to worry about, it's his approach to foreign policy. Don't forget that in foreign policy, the president has an enormous amount of power. He can get more done internationally than he can domestically because of his status as the "sole organ in foreign affairs". Domestically he must deal with Congress and the courts, even if using an executive order to enact policy. However, internationally his executive agreements carry the same weight as a treaty but it requires no Congressional oversight. Furthermore, only one executive order, of the nearly 6,000 that exist, has ever been ignore (double check if you want). Obama has no international experience and that is a reason to worry. Let's just hope he surrounds himself with knowledgeable people to deal with international affairs.

So please people, stop panicking. If the Republican Party had not ruined the economy, mismanaged the war and polarized the nation between conservatives and nonconservatives, they would have retained the White House. As a registered Republican myself, it's frustrating to see that the party failed the nation and is mostly responsible for the bad situation America is in. The Republican Party needs to reconsider this strategy of only catering to the upper class and Bible freaks. There are a lot of us Americans who don't fall into either one of those categories.

I wonder...

The current death of Tim Russert from Meet the Press caught a lot of us off guard. Here was is one of America's most intelligent and very well respected journalist in the world of politics. Russert was one of the few political analyst that would interview politicians without softening his questions. He never jumped into an interview unprepared. Unfortunately, networks have candidates on that they support to make them look good. Even though Russert worked with Democrats on a few elections, he did not overlook their shortcomings. Many times Russert would have guests on the show and show them video clips that were taken at different places and times that contradicted each other and made the person clarify their position.
Russert was a true political journalist who put personal biases to the side and interviewed his guests with disregard to their party affiliations. It didn't matter if his guests were Republicans or Democrats, Russert interviewed everyone with hard-hitting questions and addressed any and all inconsistencies in the guests statements or actions. Russert will definitely be missed by those of us who follow politics and who still have faith the media in a time of right-wing propaganda.

bored!

I have been up since 4:30 a.m. and have not been able to go to sleep. However, I am tired enough to not want to do anything but not enough to take a nap. So I tried watching the news but it is all garbage. Fox News is foaming at the mouth about anything that disagrees with the right wing ideology. CNN and MSNBC keep running the same damn Hillary story. I missed my best source for news, Telemundo, so now I have to wait until 6 p.m. to see what they have to say. In all honesty, I know some people will find it hard to believe, Telemundo is very balanced when presenting the news. You know they support the Hispanic community but their news stories are not left wing oriented like Fox news is for the conservative right. I guess I am going to have check out their website but that requires reading and I am not really in th mood for that. I read enough during these past four months.

For once I'm nervous

I have a job interview at 2 p.m. I usually don't get nervous about things like this but it will be the first job that I apply for that isn't retail or warehouse work. It is somewhat of a professional job. I have my resume and references in order which is good. I am going to go for my walk, come home, shave and shower. If I get this gig, things are going to start getting a lot better. I'm praying for the best.

Good times.

During my intense three-day weekend, Robert, Evan and I gave the Mexican cops the biggest fuck you we could have ever imagined. As we walked down the dirty streets of TJ, in a very intoxicated state of mind, we were stopped by the Mexican police. As we approached the patrol car, I had a feeling we were in for some good ol' fashion south of the border harassment. As they check our IDs and questioned why we were in the "party" area of TJ, I was using every possible angle to wiggle our asses out of that situation.

The moment they heard we were college students from Los Angeles, they thought that meant we went to UCLA and they got really excited. So I ran with that one. I played the "we want to be sports journalist" card and they backed off smoothly. Then he asked where we were going to next. At that point, I used my geographical knowledge of the city to impress the poor 5'5" official de la ley. I gave him specific directions, including landmarks, as to where my cousin lived. At that point he realized he wasn't dealing with some dumb fuck American tourist and told us we could go on our way. I realize how lucky we were and I hope the luck remains with us always but, there is a great sense of joy and pride in knowing that these bullshit cops wanted to catch us slipping and they fell on their fucken faces doing it.

Also, without getting into too much detail, I was lucky to walk away from one of our local law enforcement agencies. Good mothereffin times!