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June 2, 2009 It’s Not Fair Casually to Call People Racist Remember Judge Charles Pickering? By Mona Charen The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has already achieved a boon for our political culture: It has helped leading liberals and Democrats to discover that being tarred as a racist on flimsy grounds is unfair and deeply unpleasant. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D., Calif.) for example, when asked on Face the Nation to respond to Rush Limbaugh’s and Newt Gingrich’s comments about Sotomayor, said, “That’s an absolutely terrible thing to throw around. Based on that statement — that one...

By now many of you have either heard about or read about the infamous sentence spoken by President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life” (From a lecture delivered by judge Sonia Sotomayor published in the Spring 2002 issue of Berkeley La Raza Law Journal entitled "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation.”)...

Around Christmas of 1973, a fellow sophomore approached Frank Reed, a leader of Princeton University's Chicano Caucus, to hand him a formal complaint she had typed up and to ask him to support it. Sonia Sotomayor was head of the other Latino organization on campus, Acción Puertorriqueña. And after a history of fruitless student talks with Princeton administrators over the lack of Hispanic professors and staff, Sotomayor believed the time had come to lodge a grievance with the federal government over the university's hiring practices. The written complaint, filed that April with what was then the U.S. Department of Health,...

With the recent Obama nomination for the United States Supreme Court of La Raza member, Sonia Sotomayor, it got me to thinking. I have often said, that whenever you want to really learn about something, you must first start at its inception, or its root system. Otherwise one will only see what grew on top, and never see, in this case, how rotten and ugly the root system is, and if those roots should be pulled out by it’s tap and burned in the fire! If you go to the website of La Raza, you will get the warm and...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama expressed confidence Saturday that efforts to scuttle Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court will fail despite intensified scrutiny of her judicial career. He said senators should work quickly to elevate the federal appeals judge. "I am certain that she is the right choice," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address in which he scolded critics who he said were trying to distort her record and past statements. Those include her 2001 comment that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. With the Senate...

Questions over the fact that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, claims membership in La Raza, which has promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs and no immigration law enforcement by state and local police, are spreading, with both CNN and MSNBC featuring discussion of the issue with a severe critic of illegal immigration. WND reported earlier this week when it was confirmed the American Bar Association listed La Raza, which means "the Race," as one of the groups in which Sotomayor is a member. Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh described Sotomayor as a "racist" based on her...

Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are rushing to contain racially tinged rhetoric in the debate over President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, fearing that attacks emanating from some conservatives opposed to appellate court Judge Sonia Sotomayor could damage GOP prospects among women and the rapidly growing Hispanic population. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said today he was "uneasy" over allegations by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and talk-show host Rush Limbaugh that Sotomayor is racist. Sessions, who lost a 1986 bid for a federal judgeship amid concerns over his own racial sensitivity, said Republicans...

Tancredo: La Raza is "Latino KKK" Anti-immigration crusader and former Colorado Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo was on CNN this afternoon whacking Sonia Sotomayor for her association with the National Council of La Raza, which was listed in a 2000 American Bar Association bio of the judge. "If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case... which is from my point of of view any way... nothing more than a ... Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses. If you belong to something like that in a way that's going to convince me and a lot of...

Sure, President Obama’s appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is blatantly racist. The smiling senorita was chosen simply because she is a Latina. If Sotomayor had been a lily-white Methodist from Minnesota, she would not have received the slightest chance for consideration. Few commentators note that 60% of Sotomayor’s rulings were overturned by the Supreme Court - - Few note that Ms. Sotomayor received her education in the heyday of affirmative action - - a time when functional illiterates were entry to the hallowed halls of ivy for the sake of diversity.....when standardized test scores, including law board...

Senate Republicans investigating Sonia Sotomayor’s record are zeroing in on a speech she delivered in 2001 in which she stated her hope that a “wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences,” including appreciation for Latin-American cuisine, “would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” They are also taking a close look at the Supreme Court nominee's skepticism, expressed in the same speech, about whether it is possible for judges to “transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices.” Sotomayor delivered the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture in 2001 at...

Obama names appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor as his first Supreme Court nominee, and like his first hundred days in office, the so-called “centrist” president has once again chosen the most far left option on the table as a replacement for the very disappointing Justice Souter. High on the list of Obama’s Marxist agenda is “amnesty” for millions of illegal aliens currently bilking American taxpayers out of their future, via countless “free government services” and a laundry list of left-wing “affirmative action” initiatives that place race ahead of all other considerations.

The nation's television screens many days recently have been filled with scenes of huge crowds carrying the colorful green and red flag of Mexico viewers could well have thought it was a national holiday in Mexico City. It was instead, downtown Los Angeles, Calif., although the scene was recreated in numerous other cities around the country with substantial Mexican populations. Hordes of Mexican expatriates, many here illegally, were protesting the very U.S. immigration laws they were violating with impunity. They found it offensive and a violation of their rights that the U.S. dared to have immigration laws to begin with....

As President Obama's Supreme Court nominee comes under heavy fire for allegedly being a "racist," Judge Sonia Sotomayor is listed as a member of the National Council of La Raza, a group that's promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs, and no immigration law enforcement by local and state police. According the American Bar Association, Sotomayor is a member of the NCLR, which bills itself as the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. Meaning "the Race," La Raza also has connections to groups that advocate the separation of several southwestern states from the rest...

LAW OF THE LAND Sonia Sotomayor 'La Raza member' American Bar Association lists Obama choice as part of group Posted: May 27, 2009 11:20 pm Eastern By Joe Kovacs 2009 WorldNetDaily As President Obama's Supreme Court nominee comes under heavy fire for allegedly being a "racist," Judge Sonia Sotomayor is listed as a member of the National Council of La Raza, a group that's promoted driver's licenses for illegal aliens, amnesty programs, and no immigration law enforcement by local and state police.¨According the American Bar Association, Sotomayor is a member of the NCLR, which bills itself as the largest national Hispanic...

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a pointed warning to opponents of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination Wednesday, urging critics to measure their words carefully during a politically charged confirmation debate. “I think it is probably important for anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they’ve decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation,” Gibbs said. He was replying to a question from CBS’s Chip Reid about a blog post by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accusing Sotomayor of imposing identity politics on the bench and declaring: “A white man...

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to become the newest Supreme Court justice, is on the record with some controversial remarks about 'diversity,' 'judicial activism' and female judges vs. male judges. For example, the New York Times reported that in 2001, at the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture, Sotomayor had this to say: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences,”...

It’s an old device in politics: Set up a straw man to criticize when you can’t win an argument on your own. Such tactics, unfortunately, are standard fare when it comes to efforts by a handful of special interest groups to bring about amnesty for illegal immigrants. Organizations such as the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Migration Policy Institute know that most Americans disagree with their desire for amnesty. Most Americans want to see immigration laws enforced. So these groups create straw...

CASE: Flu victims VS Mexico and "pro open borders" lobbyists Will the ACLU sue all those that pushed/push for leniency on the border on behalf of the infected flu cases in the US? Or that demagogue (of the 'amnesty for illegals') his stupid frequent smirks on his face each time he's on CNN playing the "victim" and the "race" card (even the racist "La Raza" plays the "race" card, imagine that) on concerned Americans. A rhetorical question, as the ACLU and the likes are ONLY political groups, just like ACORN here and B'tzelem in Israel. --- Swine Flu Proves Need...

Clarissa Martinez De Castro, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, says that money inspires the anti-immigration rhetoric of talk radio hosts and CNN’s Lou Dobbs. She took part in a panel discussion at an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday. “People like Lou Dobbs and other similar folks, to go from a certain platform to a very shrill voice and persona that they have got, is they’re making money, folks, right?” Martinez said when an audience member asked how to “educate someone like Lou Dobbs? “The thing about Lou Dobbs...

Clarissa Martinez De Castro, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, says that money inspires the anti-immigration rhetoric of talk radio hosts and CNN’s Lou Dobbs. She took part in a panel discussion at an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday. “People like Lou Dobbs and other similar folks, to go from a certain platform to a very shrill voice and persona that they have got, is they’re making money, folks, right?” Martinez said when an audience member asked how to “educate someone like Lou Dobbs? “The thing about Lou Dobbs...

snip Those arguments continued after Mr. Emanuel was elected to Congress, and were heightened in the run-up to the 2006 election, when he led the successful Democratic effort to take control of the House, she said. According to widespread reports at the time, Mr. Emanuel urged Democrats who were seen to be most vulnerable in the election to vote in 2005 for a bill that would increase enforcement against illegal immigration. Mr. Emanuel said he simply gave his political advice to members who asked for it, and he noted that he himself voted against the bill. "There's no more brilliant...

DALLAS -- A judge blocked the Texas Department of Public Safety on Thursday from continuing to enforce new rules that prevent some legal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses and identification cards. State District Judge Orlinda L. Naranjo in Austin issued a temporary injunction and found DPS acted outside its scope of authority when it adopted the policy last year. "This case is not about illegal immigrants obtaining driver licenses, it is about legal residents who have been denied or have been threatened a denial of a driver license," Naranjo wrote.

Census Bureau: We’ll Work with ‘Community Organizations’ to Count All Illegal Aliens in 2010 Thursday, April 02, 2009 By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter (CNSNews.com) - The acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Thomas Mesenbourg, told CNSNews.com that the bureau intends to work with community organizations to make sure every illegal alien in the United States is counted in the 2010 Census. The Census is used to apportion the seats in the U.S. House of Representative. There are 435 House seats that are divided among the states in proportion to their population, which is determined by the decennial census. States...

Advocates of legalization have crafted a plan that could alienate businesses and key Republicans, including Sen. John McCain. But it is designed to lure a powerful new ally -- organized labor. BY PETER WALLSTEN With their prospects in Congress sinking along with the economy, liberal advocates of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship are launching a risky strategy to push lawmakers and the White House to take up their cause. They are devising a proposal in which millions of undocumented workers would be legalized now, while the number of foreign workers allowed to enter the country would be examined...

House Democrats are laying the groundwork for another major immigration debate later this year, despite the risk that it could prove politically destructive for their party. Moving broad legislation that would put millions of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship seemed politically impossible until fairly recently and may still end up too hot for Congress to touch. Yet Obama sent a signal this month to Hispanic Democrats that he is still committed to the cause and that he plans to host a White House immigration summit before the end of May. That has bolstered the hopes of the legislation’s...

On his very full plate, immigration was one issue that President Obama had yet to take on - until yesterday, when he discussed it with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. At a town hall meeting in southern California yesterday, Obama renewed his support for comprehensive reform, including a possible path to citizenship for law-abiding people who entered the country illegally, along the lines of the bill that stalled in Congress in 2007. According to the White House account of yesterday's one-hour closed session, it was "a robust and strategic meeting" in which Obama announced he will go to Mexico next month...

Despite his solemn promise to the American people to keep lobbyists out of his Admkinistration, two more have slipped in. The latest waivers were provided for Jocelyn Frye, director of policy and projects in the Office of First Lady, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president. Munoz was a senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza. She was heavily involved in the immigration battles in Congress in recent years, and is now a principal liason to the Hispanic community for the administration.

Thirty-five thousand people from all over the country signed a petition calling on the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate Arizona's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Meanwhile, Arpaio received a letter from the Justice Department Wednesday informing him of a probe into allegations of discriminatory and unconstitutional searches and seizures. Finally, it seems that the abusive Maricopa County lawman could get what's coming to him. The petition, initiated by America's Voice, a Washington-based group for immigration reform, was delivered to the agencies Wednesday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Min.), Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Rep. Jerrold...

President Obama has issued waivers allowing two appointees who were formally registered lobbyists to work for his administration. The waivers ensure the two appointees can work for the administration under his executive order on ethics, which was intended to reform the revolving door between K Street and the government. The waivers were provided for Jocelyn Frye, director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president. The two waivers were announced on the White House blog Tuesday evening, which said the exceptions were granted...

Termite research, walrus rehabilitation and pig manure are among the more than 8,570 of earmarks in the omnibus spending package currently before the Senate. Critics charge the bill is stuffed full of so many pork barrel projects -- $7.7 billion worth -- that President Barack Obama should veto it. Perhaps the most controversial is a direct earmark for a Hispanic civil-rights group -- the National Council of La Raza -- worth $950,000. The group has been a lighting rod of controversy since it helped organize large protests in 2006 aimed at derailing efforts by conservative congressional Republicans to enforce U.S....

Tell corporations to stop funding the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a group that funds radical pro-Hispanic and anti-white activists, lobbies for illegal alien amnesty, and promotes affirmative action mortgage lending. Coca Cola, Ford, GM, and Wal-Mart are some of NCLR’s primary corporate backers. Below you will find a link through which you can send an e-mail to several corporations at once, as well as other contact the model e-mail or one of your own composition. Here are the email addresses for the corporations’ philanthropy or public relations departments. allfound@allstate.com, natalie.abatemarco@citi.com, gina.doynow@citi.com, corprel@freddiemac.com, lynn.markley@pepsico.com, community@ups.com, corp.comm@aa.com, corporate.giving@aig.com, bfstrustfund@bfusa.com, CommunityRelations@cardinalhealth.com,...

Capitol Hill Republicans threw the first legislative punch in the fight over union law on Wednesday, February 25. But Democrats could land a haymaker of their own later with a bill that is much more likely to obtain congressional approval. Members of the House and Senate GOP introduced a bill that would mandate secret-ballot elections to form a union. The measure is meant to counter a bill Democrats could debut any day that would make it easier for employees to organize. Called the Employee Free Choice Act, the Democratic bill would force companies to recognize unions when a majority of...

Stemming home foreclosures in Hispanic communities is crucial to restoring financial stability and ending the nation's economic crisis, former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros said Tuesday. “It is critical for this country to grow the backbone of its economy, its middle class, and the future middle class in large measure is going to be Latino,” Cisneros said. Cisneros made the comments during a telephonic symposium on Latinos and the economy — “Back to Basics: Restoring Latino Financial Security” — sponsored by the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic rights organization, and the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning...

It is not official yet, but you can bet on this happening. Thomas Perez, the current Labor Secretary for the State of Maryland, and former board director for Casa de Maryland, one of the most influential immigrant advocacy organizations in the country, will take over (literally) as the Head of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). According to Wikipedia, CASA de Maryland is to Maryland politics what MoveOn.org is to national politics. CASA is affiliated with the National Council of La Raza, which is the largest Hispanic "civil rights and advocacy organization" in the United State. CASA has...

In the story of the emperor with no clothes, it took someone whose observations are rarely heeded -- a child -- to point out the obvious fact that no one else could acknowledge. In the case of drug policy, it takes people who are usually ignored by Washington policymakers -- Latin Americans -- to perform the same invaluable service. Last week, a commission made up of 17 members, from Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa to Sonia Picado, the Costa Rican who heads the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights, did nothing but admit the truth: The war on drugs is a...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), one of the country's foremost Latino media advocacy and civil rights organizations, announced today that it will host a press conference in Washington, D.C. on January 28th at the National Press Club to discuss three important elements related to hate speech in the media.

Left-of-center nonprofits are getting the bailout they wanted from the U.S. government, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The news comes a month after Independent Sector president Diana Aviv demanded it. Our lawmakers are intent on pissing away billions of dollars on utterly useless giveaways to their supporters in the liberal nonprofit establishment. The money will have virtually no positive impact on the economy, except perhaps that it might bolster employment at nonprofit groups. One of the more egregious line items is the $1 billion allocation for community development block grants (CDBG). These are slush funds that liberal groups like La...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — After two failed attempts in 2006 and 2007, immigration reform could finally be pushed through both houses of the US Congress starting in September, civil rights activists said. "We are confident and very optimistic that there's likely to be a big window of opportunity between September 2009 and March 2010," America's Voice pro-reform group director Frank Sharry said in a telephone conference. "I think that would be a good time simply because there are no federal elections going on, and beyond that, it is really important for us to get this really done at a time when...

WASHINGTON (CNN)—Arizona Senator John McCain is adopting a major 2008 campaign slogan for a new political action committee designed to support not only his own planned re-election run in two years, but help him put his stamp on the rebuilding of the Republican Party. The formation of the “Country First” PAC is to be announced Wednesday, two sources familiar with the plans tell CNN. One of the sources called it the “first official step” of the GOP Senator’s re-election campaign. McCain made it clear not long after losing the presidential election that he intended to seek re-election to the Senate...

California Rep. Joe Baca has long pushed legislation he said would "open the doors to the American Dream" for first-time home buyers in his largely Hispanic district. For many of them, those doors have slammed shut, quickly and painfully. Mortgage lenders flooded Mr. Baca's San Bernardino, Calif., district with loans that often didn't require down payments, solid credit ratings or documentation of employment. Now, many of the Hispanics who became homeowners find themselves mired in the national housing mess. Nearly 9,200 families in his district have lost their homes to foreclosure. Congressional districts with large Hispanic populations often feature heavy...

Building a border fence, tougher immigration laws and resources that could allow local law enforcement agencies to target immigrants are all symptoms of a bias against Hispanics that must change, Rosa Rosales, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, said in El Paso this weekend. "One of our top priorities is civil rights. It was the same way before me," she said. "To this day, we feel there's still a lot of discrimination in employment, discrimination in housing, discrimination in the overall issues that pertain to minorities." Rosales, in El Paso for a quarterly LULAC...

An immigration reform organization is voicing concern about president-elect Barack Obama's naming of a pro-illegal alien activist to his White House staff. Obama has named Cecilia Munoz to serve as director of intergovernmental affairs in his administration. Munoz is an 18-year veteran of the National Council of La Raza, which has been a leading advocate for illegal immigrants. According to Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Munoz has been a longtime supporter of open borders.

(CNSNews.com) – An 18-year veteran of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), who advocated for federal legislation to give the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship, has been tapped for President-elect Barack Obama’s White House staff. Cecilia Muñoz, who currently serves as senior vice president for the office of research, advocacy and legislation at the NCLR, will serve as director for intergovernmental affairs in the Obama administration.

Barack Obama has appointed senior VP of The National Council of La Raza (The Race) Cecilia Munoz to “oversee the White House office responsible for relations between the administration and state and local governments.” ... McCain open-borders advisor Juan Hernandez is bummed, but you never know. If Hillary can be Obama’s Secretary of State, why can’t Juan serve as Obama’s ICE chief?

President-elect Barack Obama continued rounding out his White House staff today, naming Jonathan Favreau director of speechwriting and Cecilia Munoz director of intergovernmental affairs. -snip_ Munoz, meanwhile, will oversee the White House office responsible for relations between the administration and state and local governments. The 2000 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" winner is a senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza, a leading Hispanic civil rights group. There, she has spearheaded many of the organization's immigration initiatives. Currently, she is in charge of the group's entire advocacy and legislative agenda. "We're continuing to build a White House team...

WASHINGTON - Prompted by the murder of a Latino immigrant in Patchogue, civil rights leaders gathered Monday in Washington, D.C., and denounced Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, other political leaders and media outlets for fostering intolerance through "immigrant bashing." Janet Murguía, president of the Latino civil rights organization National Council of La Raza, criticized Levy for pushing an anti-immigration agenda and using derogatory or misleading language in the broader debate about immigration and undocumented immigrants. "Suffolk County is a particularly good example of elected officials stoking the fires of anti-immigrant sentiment," Murguía said. "For two years we have urged politicians...

A group of senior and up-and-coming Hispanic conservatives with close ties to leaders of the Republican Party will meet in the coming weeks to work out how to salvage the GOP’s electoral chances with a voting bloc that deserted them on Nov. 4. Like many Republican groups in the aftermath of a crushing election cycle, the Hispanic conservatives plan a political post-mortem to lay bare what the party did wrong and how to fix it.

The march to protest Proposition 8 is continuing to wind its way downtown, and marchers got louder as they passed a cluster of three people holding "Yes on 8" signs. One of those holding the signs, David Cruz, said he wanted to remind marchers that the majority of voters have spoken by the passage of Prop. 8 in the Nov. 4 election. "They are not going to overturn the will of the majority,"said Cruz, 34, a College Area resident. Just then, marcher David Gonzales pushed toward Cruz, screaming that he was a disgrace. March volunteers kept them separated and Gonzales...

Report cites Frank's proposal to cut military 25% President-elect Barack Obama raised questions during an election campaign stop in Colorado Springs when he asserted the U.S. needs a "civilian national security force" that would be as powerful, strong and well-funded as the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force, but few of those questions have been answered. But now one report is proposing a possible solution for part of the equation: From where would the money for such an organization come? Democrats in Congress now are floating the idea of cutting U.S. military spending by 25 percent, or $150 billion a...

Weeks before Barack Obama won the presidency, he met privately in Washington with his former Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and Latino political leaders who had fervently backed her bid. The cards were laid upon the table, according to one of the participants. The Hispanic leaders said they expected at least two Latinos to be named to an Obama Cabinet — meeting the standard set by President-elect Bill Clinton in 1992 — but preferred three. Of course, they also wanted sub-Cabinet-level posts. In return, Obama needed assurances that Hispanics — who had overwhelmingly voted for Clinton...