With the "Fast and Furious" debate raging in Washington and Senator Issa hunting for heads from the Justice Department, let's take a moment to remember 25 years ago this summer when the nation learned via hearings in DC the extent to which Ronald Reagan and his advisors (let's remember the "President was briefed verbally" moment) were funneling weapons to Iran and the Contra terrorists in Nicaragua. Don't forget to have a look at the Oliver North files at the National Security Archive, HERE.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Poor GOP: So Close to Catholic Latinos, So Far From Catholic Votes
More on the use and abuse of Mexican History.
Since Glenn Beck's failed crusade to Jerusalem (see The Guardian article here) I've lost track of the nutter, but back in May he apparently took a shot at Eva Longoria for comments she made on the Bill Maher show stating that the United States had occupied Mexico. Beck seeks to, erm, set the record straight regarding the "Mexico was occupied crap" that was dropped on "us" (he had a mouse in his pocket). His reasons for saying Mexico was not occupied by the United States:
1) In Mexico they speak Spanish (not Mexican, he said, which will come as a shock to all the nahuatl speakers and perhaps the 51 other indigenous language speakers in Mexico), not Enlgish, which would be a sign of occupation (again, which would come as a shock to all those Mexicans that remained on the north end of the 1847 war AND all the Mexicans speaking English to deal with the tourists and 1 million economic refugees from the US that live in Mexico). No, the true sign of an occupation is that Spanish and Hispanic come from a Roman (he also says Italian) occupation of Spain and then a 300 year Spanish occupation of Mexico. The part of Mexico that became Texas was only Mexican for 15 years, so no occupation happened.
2) The war with Mexico was a product of Mexican aggression. The presence of US forces in Mexico City was not an occupation because it was resolved with a treaty. Interesting. He does take a moment to recognize that Manifest Destiny was in play.
3) Even though the US "routed" Mexico we were benevolent enough to purchase what became the Western American States for $15 million. "We went the extra distance" and paid for it. So, since what was left of Mexico was not occupied with military forces or controlled by the US politically, and because the part that was militarily occupied was paid for and won in war then no occupation happened. The Mexicans living in the US were bought for, fair and square. Not occupied.
4) Anybody that thinks any portion of Mexico was occupied is ignorant, and that ignorance of history creates the current climate of bad immigration policy.
5) The US and Israel are the only two nations in the world that are slandered and attacked as wrongful occupiers of invaded lands, even when justly conquered in war. Not even China's occupation of Tibet.
6) Israel is a benevolent nation, rightfully given land by the United Nations, and just vanquisher of wrongful Arabic aggression.
7) The world is devoid of truth.
8) Disagreeing with the Beckian version of history means you hate the United States.
See the full nuttiness here.
Beck got all of that from a statement in which Longoria said Latinos are not a monolithic voting bloc because Cubans are welcomed as political refugees but Mexicans were occupied. From Nogales to Tel Aviv in a few short minutes of Beck logic. While Beck gets some surface facts correct, his disregard for other goings on is a history crime aided and abetted by some strange interpretations. The only thing I think we can fully agree on his the seventh point - that the world is devoid of truth - starting with the void space between his ears.
I'd point out that not two weeks after Longoria's "betrayal" of the United States, her movie about the Cristero war and how "big bad gubment" beats up on the defenseless and weak Catholic Church in Mexico has become a darling of the American right-wing.
Since Glenn Beck's failed crusade to Jerusalem (see The Guardian article here) I've lost track of the nutter, but back in May he apparently took a shot at Eva Longoria for comments she made on the Bill Maher show stating that the United States had occupied Mexico. Beck seeks to, erm, set the record straight regarding the "Mexico was occupied crap" that was dropped on "us" (he had a mouse in his pocket). His reasons for saying Mexico was not occupied by the United States:
1) In Mexico they speak Spanish (not Mexican, he said, which will come as a shock to all the nahuatl speakers and perhaps the 51 other indigenous language speakers in Mexico), not Enlgish, which would be a sign of occupation (again, which would come as a shock to all those Mexicans that remained on the north end of the 1847 war AND all the Mexicans speaking English to deal with the tourists and 1 million economic refugees from the US that live in Mexico). No, the true sign of an occupation is that Spanish and Hispanic come from a Roman (he also says Italian) occupation of Spain and then a 300 year Spanish occupation of Mexico. The part of Mexico that became Texas was only Mexican for 15 years, so no occupation happened.
2) The war with Mexico was a product of Mexican aggression. The presence of US forces in Mexico City was not an occupation because it was resolved with a treaty. Interesting. He does take a moment to recognize that Manifest Destiny was in play.
3) Even though the US "routed" Mexico we were benevolent enough to purchase what became the Western American States for $15 million. "We went the extra distance" and paid for it. So, since what was left of Mexico was not occupied with military forces or controlled by the US politically, and because the part that was militarily occupied was paid for and won in war then no occupation happened. The Mexicans living in the US were bought for, fair and square. Not occupied.
4) Anybody that thinks any portion of Mexico was occupied is ignorant, and that ignorance of history creates the current climate of bad immigration policy.
5) The US and Israel are the only two nations in the world that are slandered and attacked as wrongful occupiers of invaded lands, even when justly conquered in war. Not even China's occupation of Tibet.
6) Israel is a benevolent nation, rightfully given land by the United Nations, and just vanquisher of wrongful Arabic aggression.
7) The world is devoid of truth.
8) Disagreeing with the Beckian version of history means you hate the United States.
See the full nuttiness here.
Beck got all of that from a statement in which Longoria said Latinos are not a monolithic voting bloc because Cubans are welcomed as political refugees but Mexicans were occupied. From Nogales to Tel Aviv in a few short minutes of Beck logic. While Beck gets some surface facts correct, his disregard for other goings on is a history crime aided and abetted by some strange interpretations. The only thing I think we can fully agree on his the seventh point - that the world is devoid of truth - starting with the void space between his ears.
I'd point out that not two weeks after Longoria's "betrayal" of the United States, her movie about the Cristero war and how "big bad gubment" beats up on the defenseless and weak Catholic Church in Mexico has become a darling of the American right-wing.
Post PRI 2012: Pay For the Votes You Bought, Cabrones
Hey, if you're going to buy votes, pay up. These ladies from Atzcapotzalco have a few palabrotas for the PRI.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
2012 Election - the PRI IS Back.
Reports of hormiga style vote stealing (a few hundred here, a few hundred there), armed robbery of ballot boxes, mis-counting, bribery, and an interesting hacking job by anonymous showing that AMLO won has the outcome of the 2012 election a little more up in the air than the pundits in New York and D.C. are reporting. Hold on to your hats folks - if there is a shred of justice left in electoral politics in Mexico this SHOULD get interesting.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Historia Mexicana - ala Facebook.
Mexican History / Historia Mexicana is now on Facebook. Richard Grabman of Editorial Mazatlan and Jason Dormady (yo) have gotten together to create a Facebook page to post information on history in Mexico. You can find it here. Please sign up or come participate.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
In the last years of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship, Bishop Banegas y Galvan of Querétaro made the following observation, inteded to chasten the wealthy in Mexico: “You rich men, there is no other way open: either you must open your hearts to charity and reduce the hours of work and increase wages, or you are accumulating hatred and resentment . . . and your riches and yourselves will be buried.” It isn't like we're talking about a flood of Liberation Theology in Mexico in 1900 - even the very conservative Catholic church recognized a disaster coming down the pike when they saw it.
The recent disaster in the Pena Nieto campaign for the presidency of Mexico has given Mexicans another taste of Porfirian-style disdain (let's face it, it is pura PRI-ista, but a historian has to eat, no?). In response the mocking that fluff-boy PN got for his inability to talk about books that have shaped his life, PN's daughter re-tweeted a comment saying "hello to all the idiots in the proletariate that only know how to crticize those they envy." No shocker that a PRI-bot has created a nasty well of anti-worker / anti-peasantry / anti-most-people-in-Mexico sentinment in his home. This is a dangerous time for the PRI to be engaged in such hijinks. With violence in Mexico beyond intolerable levels making the PAN non-viable in 2012, there could be a political response to dig AMLO's credibility out of the ground and "bury" the men of wealth ... and their petty daughters.
Lest the US get smug, spend five minutes on Faux News or looking at the pictures of the Wells Fargo "Homeless" themed party of foreclosure and PN's daughter looks down-right charitable.
The recent disaster in the Pena Nieto campaign for the presidency of Mexico has given Mexicans another taste of Porfirian-style disdain (let's face it, it is pura PRI-ista, but a historian has to eat, no?). In response the mocking that fluff-boy PN got for his inability to talk about books that have shaped his life, PN's daughter re-tweeted a comment saying "hello to all the idiots in the proletariate that only know how to crticize those they envy." No shocker that a PRI-bot has created a nasty well of anti-worker / anti-peasantry / anti-most-people-in-Mexico sentinment in his home. This is a dangerous time for the PRI to be engaged in such hijinks. With violence in Mexico beyond intolerable levels making the PAN non-viable in 2012, there could be a political response to dig AMLO's credibility out of the ground and "bury" the men of wealth ... and their petty daughters.
Lest the US get smug, spend five minutes on Faux News or looking at the pictures of the Wells Fargo "Homeless" themed party of foreclosure and PN's daughter looks down-right charitable.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Freedom University - F.U.[,] Georgia.
Lorgia Garcia Pena, Pamela Voekel, Bethany Moreton, and Betina Kaplan are four professors at the University of Georgia in Athens that have decided to take on the the not-so-peachy state and the UGA Board of Regents' decision to ban undocumented students from the state's top three campuses. Freedom University is a clandestine (at least the classroom is Bat-Cave secret to protect the alumnos) school for undocumented students where the four profesoras teach on Sundays at no cost to the students and for no benefit to themselves. And I will give my (FWIW) plug for the group: Voekel was my undergraduate advisor and Moreton was a teaching assistant (both at the University of Montana) that I had the benefit of learning from. Voekel is a top flight writer and a PhD out of UT Austin. Moreton is a Yale PhD and the author of a fantastic book on Wal-Mart. Both of them are incredible thinkers and great teachers, and the students at Freedom U. are getting one heck of an education - for free.
Huffington Post did a bit on Freedom University a few months back, and now CNN has run a piece in English and Spanish on the group. CNN does a great job of crunching the numbers and showing that even though the undocumented might be tax payers AND still paying 3X the price to attend a Georgia school, the regents have banned the "flood" (27 students in all) of undocumented students to make sure that every seat in the class room goes to a Georgia citizen. Seriuosly? Watch the CNN interview and see what kind of students Georgia is excluding.
If you feel like donating to the cause (either books or money), visit the group's web site see here. Freedom University.
To see the CNN bits, visit here for Spanish. Visit here for English. To read the HuffPost piece, see here.
And, hey, go F.U. [,] Georgia.
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