Con Frijoles http://www.confrijoles.com A Beaner's Perspective Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:13:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Merle Haggard: The Immigrant Song http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/30/merle-haggard-the-immigrant-song/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/30/merle-haggard-the-immigrant-song/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:13:16 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=954

Merle Haggard knows the value of immigrants to the United States economy. So, if you’ve never heard it, have a listen, and if have heard it, listen anyway.

The Immigrant – Merle Haggard

]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/30/merle-haggard-the-immigrant-song/feed/ 0 VotoLatino is Hiring Field Organizers http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/votolatino-is-hiring-field-organizers/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/votolatino-is-hiring-field-organizers/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:56:28 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=928

Voto Latino is hiring Field Organizers in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Florida, and California.

Voto Latino seeks to immediately hire several field organizers for its United We Win 2010 mid-term elections voter registration campaign. The organizer will be responsible for conducting non-partisan voter registration in Phoenix, Tucson, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Rio Grande Valley, Denver, and southern Florida.

The ideal candidates will be experienced in handling a wide range of grassroots organizing tasks, will be detail oriented, and will be self-starters with the ability to work independently with little or no supervision. This person must be well-organized, and work well under pressure while remaining flexible, resourceful, and efficient.

This individuals will form part of Voto Latino’s national United We Win campaign team. Founded in 2004, Voto Latino is the first and leading national, nonprofit, civic engagement organization to mobilize the fastest growing group of Americans – Latino youth.

The Field Organizers will:

- Register American Latino voters between the ages of 18 and 34 at a wide variety of locales, including but not limited to community college campuses, festivals, concerts, places of worship, and places of commerce
- Distribute United We Win campaign collateral to individuals and community groups
- Build local partnerships to maximize impact
- Recruit at least 20 local youth volunteers to maximize impact
- Report to Voto Latino’s national, Washington, D.C. office on a daily basis

MUST HAVE:

-Excellent interpersonal skills
-Excellent time management skills
-Strong knowledge of local Latino demographics
-Strong verbal and written skills
-Strong knowledge of social media and digital technology
-Strong interest in Latino politics and civic life

STRONGLY PREFER:
-2+ years experience with grassroots organizing or political campaigns, or 3+ years in a communications field
-Contacts at universities, NGOs, and community groups in the region

Compensation is commensurate with experience. Candidates will need to have their own car, as this position will require significant travel across the area.

To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to jobs@votolatino.org with “Field Organizer Position – (Preferred Location)” in the subject line.

]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/votolatino-is-hiring-field-organizers/feed/ 0 Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29 http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-08-29/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-08-29/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:33:00 +0000 brownboyrocks http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-08-29/

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]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-08-29/feed/ 0 Cornyn Checks Himself Before He Wrecks Himself http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/cornyn-checks-himself-before-he-wrecks-himsel/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/cornyn-checks-himself-before-he-wrecks-himsel/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:25:51 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=944

An article in today’s Houston Chronicle shows how weak and full of shit Senate Republicans are when it comes to repealing the 14th Amendment. Texas Senator John Cornyn, who supported “looking into” the repeal of the 14th Amendment has changed his tune.

Cornyn, the head of the GOP Senate campaign committee, softened his stance while visiting a port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. He met with the Texas Border Coalition, a group of local mayors and business leaders focused on border security and traffic backlogs at ports that affect commerce.

I knew this was coming. Republicans, especially those in the Southwest, know that they would not have their seats without the votes of Latino and Mexican American people. Supporting the repeal of the 14th Amendment is political suicide. Apparently that dumbass John Cornyn has realized his folly. . . for now.

]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/cornyn-checks-himself-before-he-wrecks-himsel/feed/ 0 Tax Cuts For Corporations Don’t Help Workers http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/tax-cuts-for-corporations-dont-help-workers/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/tax-cuts-for-corporations-dont-help-workers/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:40:20 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=931

I received the following comment that didn’t really fit where it was posted, yet I still wanted to respond to it. I’ll just do that here. First I’ll let you read the post.

In the Aug 25 Houston Chronicle, race and ethnic politics expert Victoria DeFrancesco Soto cautions that President Obama’s current proposed tax increases on the US oil and gas industry not only runs counter to efforts to revitalize the economy but would disproportionately affect communities of color: The Latino community has been especially hard hit in this recession with unemployment rates consistently above that of the national average. Even in the midst of the immigration debate, jobs still remain the top concern for Latinos, as shown in a recent AP-Univision poll … Amid the deepest recession we have seen in 70 years, every effort should be made to balance environmental, security and economic concerns. These goals are not mutually exclusive; however, recent legislation seeks to make them so.
For example, an amendment added earlier this month to the Senate’s “Small Business Jobs” bill by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., repeals a tax credit currently available to all American manufacturers. If passed, this amendment would have the perverse effect of cutting U.S. jobs, increasing our energy prices, and providing foreign firms a competitive advantage. I invite Baucus to come to Harris County, Texas, and see for himself how his proposal fares with the thousands of people whose livelihood depends on American oil and gas companies … In 2008, more than 67 percent of the Latino population voted for Barack Obama. Spending more than $20 million to target their community alone, his campaign was the most aggressive to date in courting the Latino vote. Candidate Obama and now President Obama promised he would protect the jobs of Latinos. In this high stakes energy debate, he has an opportunity to do just that. Visit the Houston Chronicle to read the full piece.
Victoria DeFrancesco Soto’s work political psychology and race and ethnic politics gives her a unique perspective on issues that will play into this November’s elections. Her research projects examine the influence of social group identity on political behavior, in particular with regards to campaigns; black-Latino intergroup relations; comparative race studies; and attitudes toward immigration. A third major component of DeFrancesco Soto’s research is the area of campaign media effects, where she and Jennifer Merolla were the first to publish a study on the role of Latino-angled campaign advertisements on electoral behavior in 2006.To speak with Dr. DeFrancesco Soto, email media@DeFrancescoSoto.com or call +1-202-579-1103.

I won’t call myself an expert, but I do have a few responses to this comment, and the news article it’s promoting. There are many Latino people who work in the oil industry, my father was one of them, but the affect of a petroleum tax is not something that workers in the industry should really be worried about. The multi-billion dollar corporations that are adamantly opposed to any form of tax, are cutting jobs and reducing workforces without the tax. The point of a corporation is to make money, and they make money by paying people as little as possible and getting as much work out of their body’s as possible. The one thing that forces companies like these to support their employees is well-being is a federal tax that supports the entire country’s well-being. If corporations wanted to “revitalize the economy,” they would not be sitting on top of more than $800 billion of cash. 1  Appealing to the economics hardships of Latino people who are hurting more than others for the benefit of those who hurt them in the first place is a disgusting tactic of the oil companies.

Notes:

  1. “Corporate Cash Hoarding Isn’t Sustainable,”Fortune, 2 August 2010. ↩
]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/tax-cuts-for-corporations-dont-help-workers/feed/ 0 Reading Marx: Learning to Reject the False Prophets of Profit http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/reading-marx-learning-to-reject-the-false-prophets-of-profit/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/29/reading-marx-learning-to-reject-the-false-prophets-of-profit/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:00:51 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=927 I would like to know who this artist is. I like his/her work.

“The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.” 1

For too long the work of Karl Marx has been dismissed in the United States. The Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the Cold War, all made it a nearly treasonous act to study and promote the works of Marx in this country, and because of this the religiosity of free-marketers has been allowed to reign unchecked for half a century. Political, economic, and social modes of thinking in the United States must revisit the works of Marx and his intellectual descendants in order to better understand the forces of brutal capitalism. Most of all we need to learn how to reject the false prophets of profit.

The quote atop this post is from Marx’s “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” that was first published in 1852 as an article in the New York magazine Die Revolution. 2 In this essay, Marx investigates the farce that was the February Revolution of 1851 and argues that the coup d’etat of Louis Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I, was but a return to the “oldest form, to the shamelessly simple domination of the sabre and the cowl.” Rather than destroy the feudal systems of domination that lingered well into the 19th century, the February Revolution actually restored those modes of power. 3 The importance of this essay to the current state of affairs in the United States cannot be mistaken.

Today, on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream,” speech thousands of foolish people are listening to a man who “invoked the founding fathers and the ‘black-robed regiment’ of pastors of the Revolutionary War.” 4 This person, with a worldwide audience of buffoons hanging on his every disingenuous word, is conjuring the perverted ghosts of American history in order to advance his fake bourgeois revolution. Appealing to god, country, and ways of old, this teabagger icon appropriates some of the greatest of American ideals, and has now appropriated the day, the memory, and the space, of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest moments. The pseudo-celebrity of this Faux News anchor has mutated into what his supporters, and the circle-jerking media, call a movement by doing exactly what Marx says Louis Bonaparte did in 1851.

By appealing to the base fears of American society, people like those who today desecrated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are attempting to rewrite the course of history. Unlike the cunning of Louis Bonaparte, the current crop of neo-liberal charlatans are blatantly calling for a return to an era that so many working class people fought and died to make disappear. These people, so-called tea party patriots drape themselves in the constitution, yet rip it apart to suit their xenophobic desires. Marx’s criticism of the false February Revolution certainly applies to the actions of the tea party because this corporate financed “movement” operates not for the advancement of society, of American democracy, or even spiritual glory, but for the benefit of the uber-wealthy. If the tea party wins influence in November the American people will see a  massive drop in public spending, infrastructure, education, health-care, and the list will go on. These false prophets of profit will see America turn to rubble while they build their palaces and transition from their roles as de facto American nobility to de jure nobility with titles, land grants, and the political power to complete the circle.

The burden here falls on the educated classes. Those who had the privilege and time to read Marx’s work, understand it, and concur with his arguments, are bound by their duty to call the tea party for what it is, a ruse perpetrated by the powerful. By rephrasing Marxist thought in the terms of inclusion, democracy, and appeals to the highest standards of human decency, the stigmas of 20th century Stalinism and Maoism, can be overcome. Karl Marx is only revolutionary because the same feudalistic powers that controlled the world in the 17th and 18th centuries are still lingering like putrid smells of a rotting slaughterhouse. As Marx says: “Society now seems to have fallen back behind its point of departure; it has in truth first to create for itself the revolutionary point of departure, the situation, the relationships, the conditions, under which modern revolutions alone becomes serious.” 5 We must not allow the Civil Rights Movement to be usurped by the purveyors of hate. Determining who and what we are fighting for is absolutely necessary to be successful in the American Endeavor, and the work of Karl Marx is the place to start.

Living in the land of the “free-market” it is easy to forget that there are other ways of living life especially when you get people like those who drink the kool-aid at tea parties clamoring for “their country back”. If people want to be serious about change, than one of the places we need to look to find our way is in the works of Marx. The United States is a fully developed industrial country, even if we stopped being as industrial as we once were, and our system of democracy, if un-perverted, can successfully begin the transition to a more equitable society. It’s time to revisit Marx with an open mind so that we can learn about the tactics of false prophets of profit.

Notes:

  1. Karl Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” in Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader (2nd ed.; New York, 1978), 595. ↩
  2. Robert Tucker, The Marx-Engels Reader (2nd ed.; New York, 1978), 594. ↩
  3. Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” 597. ↩
  4. I’m referring, here, to Gle.n B.eck. I refuse to use his name in my posts, and so I’ll only refer to him by his actions and vomit-speech. “In Washington, a Call for Religious Rebirth,” New York Times, 28 August 2010 (quote). ↩
  5. Marx, “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” 597. ↩
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]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/22/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2010-08-22/feed/ 0 Bill White For Governor – SD6 GOTV Meeting http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/21/bill-white-for-governor-sd6-gotv-meeting/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/21/bill-white-for-governor-sd6-gotv-meeting/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 01:28:56 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=915 Photo of Sheriff Adrian Garcia Courtesy of DosCentavos.net

EAST END DEMOCRATIC HEADQUARTERS

BILL WHITE FOR GOVERNOR

GET OUT THE VOTE MEETING

TOMORROW - SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, @ 10 AM

HCDP – COORDINATED CAMPAIGN

10605 Market Street Road – - 77029

JACINTO CITY, TEXAS  – - – MAP LINK – CLICK ( HERE )

  • Take either the Mercury Drive or Holland Ave. exit south off of  IH 10 (East Fwy).

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Sheriff Adrian Garcia

State Representatives:

  • Ana Hernandez
  • Carol Alvarado

Precint 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia

Bill Whites Field Director  J. D.Gins

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL OR EMAIL:

Allan Jamail

  • Texas State Democratic Executive Committeeman
    • Senatorial District 6
    • Rules & Legislation Committee

allanj211(AT)aol(dot)com

]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/21/bill-white-for-governor-sd6-gotv-meeting/feed/ 0 Save KTRU Rice Radio http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/17/save-ktru-rice-radio/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/17/save-ktru-rice-radio/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:04:38 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=910

Let Rice Know You’re Unhappy.

A website was just put up to help gin up support for KTRU. Students, alumni, and invested interests are trying to keep Rice University from selling the 91.7 FM frequency and tower. There’s also a petition you can sign, if you’re so inclined. I say do what it takes to keep KTRU on Houston’s airwaves because it is an amazing resource that celebrates the city’s diversity.

]]> http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/17/save-ktru-rice-radio/feed/ 2 Rice University Sells KTRU Radio Frequency http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/17/rice-sells-ktru-radio-frequency/ http://www.confrijoles.com/2010/08/17/rice-sells-ktru-radio-frequency/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:15:32 +0000 JaimeRafael http://www.confrijoles.com/?p=907 Rice University Sells KTRU to the University of Houston-System

The Great Recession strikes again. Famed, beloved, and renowned radio station, KTRU will no longer be broadcasting on Houston’s airwaves. I heard it this morning on KUHF News, but it was confirmed when I received an email that was sent out to the entire Rice University community. This is sad news in Houston Radio. One of the last great radio stations is calling it quits. You can read the letter from Rice President David LeBron, but suffice to say it is another major blow to independent music in the 3rd largest city in the United States. Fortunately, it is not the complete end to KTRU. The radio station will live on in the form of Internet Radio. The current FM channel, 91.7, will be taken over by the University of Houston in order to provide the city with one 24-hr Public News station and one 24-hr Classical Music station. At least it’s not becoming another KRBE.

Date: August 17, 2010
To: Rice students

I am writing to let you know that we have reached a preliminary agreement with the University of Houston System to purchase Rice’s 50,000-watt radio frequency and broadcast tower for use by Houston’s local public broadcasting station, KUHF. Rice’s station, KTRU, will continue to operate a Web-based radio station at www.ktru.org.

We made the decision to sell the radio tower and frequency for several reasons. The economic downturn which began two years ago has forced Rice — and virtually all colleges and universities across the country — to make hard choices to prioritize spending and maximize the use of our resources. As we have implemented necessary budget cuts over the past two years, our goal has been to focus on our core missions of teaching and research and, to the extent possible, to avoid layoffs. We have constantly asked, and will continue to ask, how we can best apply our resources to achieve our aspirations.

The KTRU tower stood out as one of the university’s most underutilized resources. In an era when Internet radio is rapidly growing in popularity, it became apparent that the 50,000-watt radio station that broadcasts KTRU’s programming is a valuable but vastly underutilized resource that is not essential to providing our students the wide range of opportunities they need, including media opportunities.

A recent Arbitron report showed that KTRU’s audience was so small that it did not even register in the ratings. Most college radio stations around the country have less than 5,000 watts, and since the late ’90s a number of them have added the online format and moved to online only.

At the same time, KUHF, Houston’s National Public Radio station, was looking for a way to provide both 24-hour all-news and all-classical music programming. Houston is the only major city in the country that lacks these dual services. To fill that gap, the University of Houston System expressed an interest in purchasing Rice’s FM frequency and tower, and we eventually agreed on a price of $9.5 million.

Some of the sale proceeds will go toward the cost of the new East Servery, which will be adjacent to Lovett and Will Rice residential colleges on the south campus. This will both provide one of the most desired improvements to the residential experience in the south colleges, as well as help us achieve our overall capital plan approved by our board of trustees. We also plan to form a committee including students to provide input on other uses of the proceeds, such as for scholarships, improvements to recreational facilities and enhancements to the online station and other student media facilities and programs.

KTRU will continue to serve its campus and external audience with student-managed programming via www.ktru.org. The Internet already brings KTRU to national and global listeners, and there are opportunities for that audience to grow. Will Robedee, the station’s first general manager, will continue in that role.

KUHF plans to use the additional frequency to broadcast 24-hour classical music and fine arts programming on 91.7 FM; 88.7 FM will become its all-news channel. KUHF will raise funds to pay for the acquisition.

The sale must be approved by the UH Board of Regents at its meeting today, and then by the Federal Communications Commission.

We realize that some loyal fans of KTRU may lament these changes. It is important to remember that KTRU is not going away. Fans can still find KTRU’s unique blend of music and programming online. Meanwhile, a greater number of students can benefit from the improvements in campus facilities and offerings made possible by the sale of the broadcast tower.

For more information about the KTRU plans, see the story and FAQs on rice.edu.

I wish you great success in your studies this year.

Warm regards,

David W. Leebron
President, Rice University

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