Can Marv Albert Do This?
Posted by Matt Ortega · April 9, 2008 · Comments (1)
MiSpace?
Posted by Matt Ortega · April 6, 2008 · Comments (2)
MySpace, the popular social networking website, announced that it will launch a bilingual version of the site tailored to Latinos in the U.S.
MySpace Latino is to be unveiled at a Latin Billboard music conference in the US state of Florida next week.
The website will be in Spanish and English and its offerings will include entertainment, sports, music, and fashion content from Impremedia, Gibson Guitar, Remezcla, Billboard and Spanish Broadcasting System.
1492: Spanish Crown Expels Jews
Posted by Matt Ortega · March 31, 2008 · Comments (2)
In recent years, Hispanics from the American Southwest have discovered roots that were only the subject of rumor. From the Boston Globe in December 2004:
He tested the DNA of his relatives, along with some of the parishioners at Albuquerque’s St. Edwin’s Church, where he works. As word got out, others in the community began contacting him. So Sanchez expanded the effort to include Hispanics throughout the state.
Of the 78 people tested, 30 are positive for the marker of the Cohanim, whose genetic line remains strong because they rarely married non-Jews throughout a history spanning up to 4,000 years.
Michael Hammer, a research professor at the University of Arizona who is a specialist on Jewish genetics, said less than 1 percent of non-Jews possessed this marker. That fact, along with the traditions in many of these families, makes it likely they are Jewish, he said.
It was through the New Mexico DNA Project that my father tested positive for this marker and our family confirmed rumors that we were descendants of conversos, Spanish Jews that converted during the Spanish Inquisition following the Alhambra Decree issued by the Spanish monarchs, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. Read more »
Study: Colonization of the Americas Shifted Genetics
Posted by Matt Ortega · March 31, 2008 · Comments (0)
More than a week ago, the BBC reported on a recent study, published by the Public Library of Science Genetics.
European colonisation of Latin America resulted in a dramatic shift from a native American population to a largely mixed one, a genetic study has shown.
It suggests male European settlers mated with native and African women, and slaughtered the men.
The study reaffirmed a brutal history of Spanish colonization –
Explaining the fate of native males when the Europeans arrived, Professor Luiz-Linares said: “It is a very sad and terrible historical fact, they were basically annihilated.
“Not only did the European settlers take away land and property, they also took away the women and, as much as possible, they exterminated the men.”
The life of a person with a mixed background is a truly unique experience.
The title to the autobiography of Governor Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico), born to a Mexican mother and white father, is a rather apt portrayal of the mixed experience: Between Worlds.
“… Could Melt Lou Dobbs’ Heart — If He Had One”
Posted by Matt Ortega · March 28, 2008 · Comments (0)
(Hat tip: Elenamary)
IL-14: Democrats Take Hastert’s Former Seat
Posted by Matt Ortega · March 8, 2008 · Comments (0)
Democrat Bill Foster defeated Republican Jim Oberweis in Saturday’s special election for former Republican House Speaker Denny Hastert’s seat. Hastert resigned from his post representing Illinois’ 14th Congressional District in late November 2007.
Saturday’s defeat was another electoral setback for Oberweis, who ran for the U.S. Senate twice and sought the Republican gubernatorial nomination, making him 0 for 4 at the ballot. Oberweis enjoyed the support of former Rep. Hastert’s political machine and the clout of Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), who headlined a fundraiser and traveled to the district to endorse him. Oberweis’ stunning defeat is a major embarrassment to McCain.
To get just how big of a victory this is for Democrats, Daily Kos sums it up quite well:
This is a red district. Former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert represented this district since 1987, winning reelection by huge margins.
This district includes the city of Dixon, which is the birthplace of Ronald Reagan.
This is a district that President Bush won twice, and in 2004 he received 56% of the vote.
The NRCC poured over $1 million here to hold onto this seat — nearly a third of its cash on hand.
John McCain actually took time from his presidential campaign to come to Illinois and hold a fundraiser for Oberweis and formally endorse him.
This was as big a victory for the immigrant community as it was for Democrats. Oberweis was very well known for his anti-immigrant stances, including “eliminating” birthright citizenship, speaking at several Minute Man meetings, and an infamous advertisement.
Rosanna Pulido, State Director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, wrote of Oberweis in 2007:
Let’s give the successful, admirable Oberweis a chance to bring success to Illinois. Oberweis has always supported the Minutemen and has shown up to our meetings when invited.
He has always shown his full support for grassroots activist who have fought illegal immigration in Illinois. Now it is time for Minutemen types to support him.
This election cycle, we are seeing that anti-immigrant rhetoric continues to lose at the ballot box, even in historically Republican areas like the Illinois 14th Congressional District. John McCain’s association with someone like Jim Oberweis will not pay off in November.
Updated 03/08/08 at 11:15pm: Whither Rep. Tom Cole (R-Clarence, N.Y.)? It has been a rough 2008 for the NRCC chairman. Between Oberweis’ defeat in the +5 Republican district, the brewing scandal at the NRCC and the lingering tinge from the Mark Foley scandal last cycle, things do not look good for the New York congressman.
Quote of the Day
Posted by Matt Ortega · February 1, 2008 · Comments (0)
The march I support would be the marches that would occur on Election Day in November, straight to the voting booths.
-Janet Murguía, President and CEO of NCLR
(Dallas Morning News, 01/31/08)
