I think the Rethugs are trying to lay the groundwork to take back the Hispanic vote from the Democratic Party.  Maybe George Bush is getting the message that his administration really screwed thing up for them.  Ha ha.

A news flash from LULAC:

Bush Administration Announces Last Minute Changes to Guestworker Program

The Bush Administration, with the Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security, announced on December 10th, regulatory changes to the H2-A Agricultural Guestworker program, changes that will take effect January 18th. The changes relax rules many current regulations that protect both guestworkers and reduce obligations for growers to recruit U.S. workers. The new rules would ease administrative burdens by allowing employers to simply “attest” that they’re meeting various program requirements. The Department of Labor said this would trim unnecessary paperwork; while critics fear this will invite abuses. Essentially, the regulatory changes would weaken oversight and enforcement of the H2-A program. For more information please contact Iris Chavez at 202-833-6130, ichavez@lulac.org.

If this results in some better conditions for migrant workers, then good.  I will appreciate the note of justice if this turns out to be good.  I’ll keep my eye on this one!

Posted: December 11th, 2008 under immigration.
Comments: none

I’m loving this video.  The fact that Jack Black looks exactly like my son notwithstanding, this is a fantastic, tongue-in-cheek commentary on the ridiculousness of trying to leverage the biblical morality argument against gay marriage.

So one day, Jesus is hanging out…

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’
And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

–Mark 12:28-34

So what does this mean?  Jesus is saying that love is the greatest commandment behind loving God.  I hate to remind you this, but God created gays.  Doesn’t matter how much it bother you, or how many pickets signs you carry, the fact remains that God in his/her infinite wisdom decided it was ok by him/her to have gays on the planet.  What’s left for us is to love one another.  That means that gays can love one another, and that means that we should love all people, gay or straight.  People who love don’t deprive their loved ones of happiness.

Anyway, here’s the video:

Posted: December 4th, 2008 under Gay marriage.
Comments: none

The debate over marriage equality, especially in light of the goings-on in California over Proposition 8, has people a little uncomfortable.  In my opinion, however, this is the last frontier of civil rights in the United States.  I say this because the restriction of legal marriage because of sexual orientation means that one group’s rights to “…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” will be infringed.  The writers and ratifiers of the Declaration of Independence meant for all citizens of the United States of America to have equal protections and rights under the law.  It was, and still should be, considered the act of a patriot to hold these rights as “inalienable,” in other words, they were meant for all citizens.

We Latinos understand that terminology.  It wasn’t all that long ago that the only job that a Mexican could get was building railroad or picking vegetables.  I know people that grew up in the San Luis valley here in Colorado that were beaten as schoolchildren because they made the horrible mistake of speaking Spanish in the school yard.  We can also think back to the old times, when New Spain ceded Texas to the United States, and how immediately laws were passed barring Catholics from owning land.  People who were given land grants from the Spanish crown, sometimes for acts of heroism, were suddenly homeless because of their native language and because of their faith.

We Latinos understand the way civil rights are infringed upon…all too well.

Now, I want to make a huge distinction between civil matters and religious matters.  There’s the whole separation of church thing, remember?  I am a practicing Roman Catholic, and the last thing I want is the government mixing it up in my religion, telling us what to do, even though I would be totally ok with gay marriages being sanctioned in the Church.  But the Church is an organism separate from “the world.”  If the Church decides she doesn’t want to bless gay marriages, then that’s a battle we need to fight internally, without the interference of government.  This is a totally different thing from the civil right to marry whomever one chooses.

In the final analysis, no matter how weirded out we get by the prospect of a gay marriage, that marriage has no effect on heterosexual marriages.  In fact, nearly 52 percent of them will end in divorce all by themselves, without any undue influence from a gay underground.  We heterosexuals napalm our own relationships because we cling to sexist ideals, to unrealistic expectations of one’s partner, of moral incompatibilities.  There are no gays at the gate waiting to ambush you as you open the door for the morning paper.

Is it fair to deny equal access to marriage to a couple that happens to be of the same gender?  No, just as much as it’s not fair to have laws that make interracial marriages illegal, or marriages between a citizen and an undocumented resident, or between a Catholic and a Jew, for example.  As we all know, there was a time in which it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry.  Now we look back at that past with a jaundiced eye and wonder what the hell was wrong with us.

Let’s get over this weirdness we have about gay marriage and just let people try to be happy with someone they love, for crying out loud.  Ok?

Posted: December 1st, 2008 under Gay marriage.
Comments: none