Latinos For Texas Blog

Santos writes in to share that the edition of La Voz de Austen. is available online in pdf, and for several of Austin’s communities. The July issue covers the “many unanswered questions from the [death of] David Morales”, checks in on Johnston High’s future, and of course, “La Guerra en Irak” and more.

Check out the community info at http://www.lavoznewspapers.com.

After four years of the Iraq War, 60% In CBS/NY Times Poll say the President is not respected by foreign leaders. In fact, Americans are so discouraged by the President’s handling of the Iraq War, they’d prefer he not get involved in the Mideast crisis.

To read the rest of the story>>

In a rare stand of courage and commitment against an administration that refuses to investigate faulty intelligence resulting in thousands of American lives, Harry Reid spoke out for thousands of American soldiers serving and dying in Iraq.

In the wake of the rising death toll in Iraq and the indictment against Scooter Libby for undermining national security, our American troops demand respect, honesty, and answers. Disgracefully, our American troops are not getting that from our current administration.

Instead of investigating breakdowns in intelligence gathering resulting in over 2,000 American deaths, the Bush Administration prefers to discuss bird flu pandemics and radical Supreme Court nominees.

What are they trying to hide?

In typical White House fashion, when the news is not good – distract and divert.

In an attempt to distract and divert recent news coverage of criminal charges that go straight to the heart of national security and the integrity of the president, the White House just named a radical judge as a Supreme Court nominee.

This morning, the White House named Judge Alito as Supreme Court nominee to replace Sandra Day O’Conner. Judge Alito was the lone dissenting judge to vote that a woman must get the man’s consent before terminating a pregnancy. Fortunately, the other judges on the court disagreed. However, I’m sure more of his personal-agenda rulings will be uncovered in the days ahead.

And this is exactly what the White House wants. By nominating Alito, this, of course, will create a fight that will be sure to turn news coverage away from the possible criminal actions of lies and deceit to conceal the truth about their reasons for going to war.

After all, when President Bush took the White House, he indicated that he wanted to “restore honor and integrity” to the White House.

Unfortunately, lying to the American people about connections between Iraq and 9/11 while thousands of young soldiers – fathers, mothers, brother, and sisters – die in Iraq, is neither honorable nor truthful.

After 2 1/2 years of combat, no Bin Laden connection and/or capture, no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, nearly 2,000 American deaths, over $200 billion of U.S. tax dollars, and a White House trail of lies and deceit, a majority of Americans are finally coming to the realization - Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

According to a poll published in The Wall Street Journal, for the first time, a majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was the “wrong thing to do.”

For those of you just now waking to reality - good morning…better late, than never.

If you weren’t entirely convinced yet that the Bush Administration lied about the reasons for going to war and is too inept to manage any future catastrophes, Colin Powell’s right-hand man, Colonel Larry Wilkerson, will certainly convince you.

In a rare public rebuke of the secretive Bush administration by a former insider, former State Department Chief of Staff, Colonel Wilkerson blasts the Bush Administration for collusion and ineptness. What makes Colonel Wilkerson’s criticisms particularly damaging to the White House is that Wilkerson is a distinguished military veteran with first-hand experiences of the inner-workings of the White House.

Colonel Wilkerson said:

“What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld,” he said. By cutting out checks-and-balances, “we have courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran, and generally with regard to domestic crises like Katrina.” If there is a nuclear terrorist attack or a major pandemic, Wilkerson continued, “you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that’ll take you back to the Declaration of Independence.”

As for the Republican foot-soldiers, he says:

They “truly abandoned their oversight responsibilities” and said past presidents had also circumvented the national security structure. But, he said, “the case that I saw for four-plus years was a case I have never seen in my studies of aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations, changes to the national security decision-making process.”

This humble blogger has to ask, is this the administration that we really want running our country and responsible for our sons and daughters in the Iraq War?!?!

Here is an email I received from a friend. The writer here is Rick Ufford-Chase, the moderator of the PC(USA)’s General Assembly (the national governing body of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.). For the record, I’m a deacon at Austin’s Central Presbyterian Church. Our motto is, “Deliberately Diverse and Fully Inclusive.” A refreshing change when all we hear about in the mainstream media are religious bigots and extremist politicians who pander to them.

Friends,

June 26th, 2002 was the last time I spent the night here at the shelter for migrants in Altar, Sonora, Mexico. It seems hard to believe that it’s been almost three and a half years. That night, I was with a group of seminarians from Chicago, and a dozen or so migrants from southern Mexico and Central America. We North Americans heard their stories, and then after they had drifted off to the dormitory, the rest of us quietly opened our bedrolls, spread our sheets and blankets, and carried their stories to bed with us.

We had heard about their families and their harrowing tales of hiking in the desert. Their desperation became real to us as they shared that the two gallons of water each had carried with him had disappeared all too quickly, finally becoming a few precious swallows that nothing short of a miracle could make last through the miles that still lay ahead. They had stories of hiking hard for three and four days, getting picked up by a car arranged by their smuggler, and being apprehended by the Border Patrol a few miles short of the safe house in Tucson where they were headed. Their stories evidenced a grim determination, a resolve that nothing would stop them from trying again and again to reach for a steady wage to send money home to their families.

And then, everyone else slept that night while I sat on the floor in the dark and wondered what God would have me do. That was the night I first discerned a call to stand for the position of Moderator. I felt called to lift up these stories, and to implore Christ’s church to respond.

Now, forty months later and after serving the church as Moderator of the General Assembly for almost sixteen months, here I am again. This time I’m accompanied by a different group of people.
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Following the recent deaths of 14 Marines, Americans are losing confidence with President Bush’s ability to handle the Iraq War. An AP-Ipsos Poll finds that President Bush’s approval rating has dropped to 38%.

Yesterday, 14 Marines died in one of the deadliest single attacks in Iraq against American forces while President Bush is setting a new vacation record in Crawford.

When is the President going to realize that his lackadaisical approach to his job as commander-in-chief is disrespectful to our sons and daughters who are dying in Iraq?

In today’s Austin-American Statesman, Jorge Mariscal, a University of California professor, poignantly illustrates the irony that Latinos find more respect abroad, than at home, during times of war.

From the Austin-American Statesman: