It's very encouraging to hear Latino leaders take public notice of Barack Obama in the context of racial issues. Browns have a lot in common with blacks in terms of how they are seen and poorly treated by some whites. The same folks who don't want blacks "taking over" also don't wan't
Hispanics (legal or otherwise) "taking over." I believe America would be well served by a multi-racial president elected by a multi-racial coalition. This is a unique moment in history and I hope Hispanic leaders everywhere will start telling their folks that neither the Clintons nor John McCain are their real BFFs (best friends forever---as the kids say) and that the white Clinton or McCain voters are even less so.

As for NAFTA and similar trade agreements, if evidence can now be assembled that workers on both sides of borders are losing, perhaps we should come to see trade agreements not as matters of race or as matters of nations and borders and tariffs, but rather as matters of trade agreements having possible loopholes to advantage corporations over people on both sides. After all, who do you suppose supplied the lobbyists and lawyers to actually write the "details" in these agreements. Workers? Bureaucrats in government?
Nope. Corporations.

It is very disquieting that so many Latinos have rejected a person like Obama and have voted for someone as corrupt as Hillary Clinton especially since she has shown no compunction to use race against Obama.

Crediting Obama for beginning responsible discussion of anything related to NAFTA is ridiculous.

Although he constantly attacks Hillary Clinton on the subject of NAFTA, Obama himself voted for NAFTA-Peru in one of the clearest demonstrations of hypocrisy imaginable.

Obama has been lying all along about his opposition of NAFTA, and he was already outted by the Canadian consulate in Chicago a month ago. Austan Goolsbee, who has been Barack Obama's economic advisor since Obama's Senate campaign in Illinois, told Canadian consular officials in Chicago that Obama's opposition to NAFTA "is more reflective of political maneuvering than policy."

Have the authors of this article totally forgotten the exposure of the shameless hypocrite Barack Obama on the subject of NAFTA in the few weeks since he was outted by the New York Times and the Associated Press?

The problems that the America people are experiencing, as our empire rapidly and destructively declines, are all lessons not learned in our country's quest for empire. The ignorant and arrogant attitude, that gets us hated around the world, could and should have been wiped from American character after the Vietnam War. We could have learned from the Vietnam War that it's good neighbors that provide you with security, not military force, no matter how strong.
The racism discussed above certainly does exist in America today. Sadly, race is being infused by the media to divide and conquer, not to actually have a much needed discussion.
Race, and all the other social issues are being used to create fear and anger, not a more perfect union. That's the last thing that will sell in D.C.
Hoa binh

It way overdue that a public figure acknowledge that the American racial picture is not just black and white, but also yellow, red, and brown. A maddening facet of American culture is an inability to understand multi-lateral situations (which are more complex) as opposed to a two-sided fight. Perhaps this is the first step of something rare in American life, the country grows up.

Thanks for condescending to America, NateW!

If your attention span extended beyond a microsecond, you might remember that this is the same country that defeated the Nazis and the Empire of Japan.

Maybe you could bring back the 500,000 Americans who paid for those victories with their lives and explain to them that America has never quite "grown up."

Maybe you can also explain what you and Barack Obama and his "God damn America!" friends have done that gives you the right to condescend to all the brave soldiers who gave their lives for the freedom you take for granted, especially the hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers who gave their lives to free the slaves.

What is it that makes you and Obama "grown-ups," NateW, and gives you the right to lecture the rest of us as if we were retarded children?

Someone apparently needs to take a couple of aspirin and call the doctor in the morning.

Jacob Freeze- Get your argumentation playbook straight from Fox News, huh? Said strategy involves obfuscating with a wholly unrelated topic after reading something to which one can offer no qualitative reply. To be drawn into argumentation of said obfuscation merely takes away from discussion of the germane topic. That having been written, it is my right as a tax paying American citizen to comment on my country any way I deem appropriate. That it provokes an irrelevant torrent of cliched invective merely helps reinforce my argument.

Nate is exactly right - America does need to grow up. We are a extremely powerful country, with the maturity of a teenager. We're not willing to become friends and good neighbors. We have to be king of the Road, and imagine that everyone wants to be like us. We've had many chances to grow up, but when imperial quest comes at the cost of social welfare, our adults in D.C. vote to globalize the whole world. We were made to be a country, not an empire. If we can learn that then maybe we can grow up.
Hoa binh

Cripes, I must have missed where the Dead Soldier Fairy comes down from War Heaven and pwangs her magic wand and gives us all "freedom".

Says here in my copy of the Declaration of Independence that we're born with freedom as an inalienable right, that we have freedom to begin with, regardless of what governments and authorities do, as long as we're willing to accept the consequences of our actions. But hell, I guess that's pre-9/11 thinking or something.

"The Dead Soldier Fairy" is really a funny idea from "Pere Ubu." Maybe he should take a stroll around Walter Reed Hospital in his "Dead Soldier Fairy" costume and explain how the sacrifices of so many generations of soldiers meant nothing.

The typical Obama supporter thinks the slaves were freed by Malcolm X sometime around 1967, and all those white soldiers who died fighting on the Union side at Gettysburg were just racist ass-holes anyway, like all other white people.

Barack Obama and the rest of the hate-America wing of the Democratic Party are right on track to put McCain in the White House, and their contempt for soldiers is consistent with admiring the coward Barack Obama, who couldn't even stand up to his own pastor, much less risk his life for his country.

"The Dead Soldier Fairy" is really a funny idea from "Pere Ubu." Maybe he should take a stroll around Walter Reed Hospital in his "Dead Soldier Fairy" costume and explain how the sacrifices of so many generations of soldiers meant nothing.

Meant nothing? Did I say that?

No, I merely pointed out that the Founders of America, who folks like you love to quote and wank over, were a bit more subversive and libertarian than you make them out to be. That freedom is not "given" to us by governments or soldiers but is something we're born with.

If you can't handle the concept and would rather believe that someone getting his arm blown off in Gettysburg, the Somme, Almerdy, Seoul, Da Nang or Baghdad is somehow magically generating "freedom" for you, well, sorry, I can't help you there.

One question, though - if the valiant fighters who died fighting fascism gave you freedom, does that also apply to the Communist soldiers who fought it in Spain in '36?

"Pere Ubu" says that "freedom is not "given" to us by governments or soldiers but is something we're born with."

Your comic-book idea of history explains the contempt you expressed for all our brave soldiers both living and dead with your wisecrack about the "Dead Soldier Fairy."

All previous generations of Americans have understood that their freedom was purchased and defended with the blood of our brave soldiers on battlefields from Gettysburg to Omaha Beach.

But no possible sacrifice could ever satisfy the sense of infinite entitlement expressed by Barack and Michelle Obama, and their supporters like "Pere Ubu."

Now Obama claims he would have left his church if his "God damn America!" pastor hadn't retired: "Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church," Obama said.
20 years in the same congregation that cheered when Wright screamed "God damn America!" and Obama was too much of a coward to confront him!

But now he woulda coulda shoulda left the church!

Now he would say or do anything to get elected!

The problem isn't just that Obama doesn't have the courage of his convictions. He has no convictions whatsoever...

Nothing but ambition and an infinite sense of entitlement.

Jacob,

Stop being such a pawn of hate radio and enter into the discourse. The article was about hispanics in the context of this unusual period following Obama's historic speech on race. As Richardson echoed in his endorsement speech, there are ways in which Obama's message resonates with hispanics in America. While you react in spasmodic outbursts you've heard in recitations of Republican talking points, you are missing the truly remarkable thing about Obama's speech. That is his ability to transcend the media echo-chamber nonsense and talk about real issues in historical context. Others have described it as speaking to Americans as adults. By ignoring this opening in favor of a shouting match, you're also engaging in avoidance behavior. I don't imagine that I can change your mind by pointing out these facts, but for the rest of us here who are looking at the comments as a way to reflect on the article itself, I'd like to suggest that the hate crime statistics cited in the article are extremely disturbing. They are in part a reflection of the way corporations like CNN have cynically decided to scapegoat immigrants and migrants in the service of a popular xenophobic message. Lou Dobbs, to me, is one of the most odious figures on American television, and it's about time his litany of hateful distortions is recognized for the racist garbage that it is. However, this will only happen if the level of racial discourse in the U.S. rises above the level of a shouting match.

So if we Native American's are not a part of the racial discussion then what are we?

Maybe "noisefactor" didn't notice, but Lemus and Sanchez framed this issue around Obama's cover-my-ass-now-I-got-caught speech in Philadelphia, and then all it takes is one big nonsequitur to get to NAFTA and hate crimes against Latinos.

Obama betrayed workers in the United States and farmers in Peru with his vote for NAFTA-Peru, but somehow his bullshit speech in Philadelphia is supposed to make it all better!

Obama has lost the Latino vote in the primaries 58-39 to Clinton, for the excellent reason that Latino voters understand that Obama's bullshit is all about getting Obama elected, with no real commitment to anything else.

So I was responding exactly to this article when I outlined Obama's hypocritical record on NAFTA.

The real problem for the Mexican farmer-immigrants who have been forced off their land is NAFTA, and until this goddamned treaty is abrogated the situation is only going to get worse.

It's important to remember that the solution for Mexico isn't better working conditions in the United States. The solution is protecting the Mexican economy so that Mexican farmers and other workers aren't forced into immigration in the first place.

The hypocrite Obama is part of this problem, with his back-door support for NAFTA and especially NAFTA-Peru, and it's ridiculous to portray him as part of the solution.

"Maybe "noisefactor" didn't notice"

Although I listened, I did not hear American Indians mentioned once on any media discussions of race. Race is not just a black issue, just as the Holocaust is not just a Jewish issue.

As for Clinton and Obama, I didn't notice, I'm voting Green.

I think Mr. Freeze has a point on NAFTA, though I wish he'd stop using the word hypocrite as a prefix for the name Obama. I'll confess I was initially for ratification of NAFTA because of it's proposals for dealing with environmental issues along the border. But in time the condition of the border colonias have not improved and clean up has been overshadowed by physical and electronig barrier construction. On Nafta, however, Mr Freeze, Subcomandante Marcos and I are together. As for walter Reed and Viet Nam and Bush"s Wars, I offer a quote I wrote down listening toa women's and mothers' rally for peace in Washington: "What we owe to the dead is to stop the killing."

I think Mr. Freeze has a point on NAFTA, though I wish he'd stop using the word hypocrite as a prefix for the name Obama. I'll confess I was initially for ratification of NAFTA
because of it's proposals for dealing with environmental issues along the border. But in time the conditions of the border colonias have not improved and clean up has been
overshadowed by physical and electronic barrier construction. On Nafta today, Mr Freeze, Subcomandante Marcos and I are together. As for Walter Reed and Viet
Nam and Bush"s Wars, I offer a quote I wrote down listening to a women's and mothers' rally for peace in Washington: "What we owe to the dead is to stop the killing." It may be Germaine
Greer's words. This, Iregret, is more than we have heard from Mr. Obama. Dennis Kucinich said such things all the time. I'll help Mr. Freeze try to get Mr. Obama to be more straightforward
on corporate globalization if he'll help me try to get Mr. Obama to be more explicitly committed to global peace. Neither quest belongs to a single ethnicity. Both are of great interest to us all. I liked
the comment in the article about Mr. Obama's address on race in the US. I agree the discussion necessarily includes all of us. I am glad Mr. Obama's candidicy has spawned some follow
up to the expressions about race (sic. ethnicity, origin, color) that started after Katrina, but were abandoned, I applaud Mr. Obama for his remarks, though I cringe at the media imposition
of the word "complex" inserted in all the commentary about it. Love thy neighbor as thyself. I think we befuddle ourselves by approaching race relations predisposed to regard them complex.

Right on NateW and since1492! I could not agree more: the U.S.A. in general needs to achieve greater maturity. It is greatly lacking in that department.

A couple of replies to an earlier comment:

1) The war against National-Socialist Germany was not exclusively won by the U.S.A. In fact, the performance of the U.S. troops on the ground (as opposed to the aerial campaign) was relatively slight in comparison to that of the Soviet army: the strategic truth of the war against Nazi Germany is that it was largely won by the Soviet troops, whose sacrifices numbered in millions and who were responsible for disabling the Nazi military machine. By the time the U.S. landed in Normandy, in June of 1944, the Soviet army had already reached the western border of the Soviet Union, in its march toward Germany. Whenever such was possible and sacrifices of men were antitipated, the U.S. would entrust operations to allied troops: Polish and French troops at Cassini in Italy, and Polish troops to close la Falaise in Normandy. (See B.H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War (London: Pan Books, 1973).) The delegation of operations to Afghan warlords and their men in the 2001 U.S. campaign in Afghanistan is thus an old modus operandi.

2) If slavery had not been practiced in the New World by the white folks who eventually founded the U.S.A., the civil war would not have been necessary. The civil war was caused by the institution of slavery, and that institution was established by the very people -- wealthy white men, that is -- who founded the Union. The civil war was a problem caused, not by African-Americans, but by white people.

I agree with most of gsloan's serious and well-written comment.

But about Barack Obama...

1. His no-mandate healthcare plan is a joke, according to Paul Krugman, who knows more about the economics of healthcare than anyone.
2. He constantly attacks Clinton about NAFTA, but voted for NAFTA-Peru himself.
3. He constantly attacks Clinton about her vote for the War Powers Act, but votes to fund the war himself with no definite date for withdrawal.
4. He sides with the NRA about an "individual" right to bear arms in Heller v. District of Columbia.
5. About the mortgage crisis, Obama is on exactly the same page as George W. Bush: "Nudge private lenders into restructuring mortgages."
6. On the race issue, Obama preaching racial harmony after he got outted with his hate-freak pastor is about as dignified as Eliot Spitzer preaching marital fidelity after he got caught with a hooker.

I also agree with Doom N Gloom's post. Obama's discussion of race was nothing but a desperate attempt to cover his ass after 20 years with Jeremiah Wright, and it's an insult to all other minority ethnic groups historically brutalized by the majority, beginning with Native Americans.

Jacob, please read the full text of the Obama speech and think about what it says. CNN and FOX have done what they usually do - picked out a few juicy tidbits to throw up on their websites hoping to draw enough attention to sell a car or a vacation or anything of they other things they advertise.

Twenty years from now, that speech will be as important to American history as the Gettysburg Address and "I have a dream".

Mr. Freeze,

The things Rev Wright said, particularly those concerning the role of US foreign policy in the events of September 11, were hateful and bad, because?

dmia,

And, Obama's speech, which professed a breathtaking ignorance of the reality of structural racism in our society, and did not propose a single measure to address it, is "historical" because?

Dr. Lemus,
I have been in America for over 65 years. I became a citizen by being drafted into the US Army during the Korean War back in the fifties. Both, America and I have changed greatly. Regardless of what's being said, America has become a fascist country and notwithstanding the fact I've never been discriminated against I no longer hold the same feelings I once held. Our grandchildren will be stuck with the bill for all the stupidities of Administrations gone berserk.

May she rest in peace!

Reverend Wright is not a "hate-freak pastor."

Rather, he sees through the veneer of the U.S.' phoney democracy, its massive hypocrisy, its state of denial, and its imperialist designs, and he is not afraid to denounce them and indict them.

Reverend Wright is a precious voice in our dark times.

I salute you, Reverend Wright! You have my undivided respect.

Racism, tribalism, classism, sexism, ageism, anti-idealism -- what sad and sometimes cruel trips we human beings can be on. A lot of these are based on self-centered love, arrogance, greed, with a little bit of fear thrown in -- what in the East is called the'ego'.

Closer to home in America, I've seen the lack of soul-based love & joy (did see some Peace) among some of our Native Americans that I did easily see among certain indigenous peoples of Latin America.

Go to an American border city and visit the burrito places where USA-living Latin American teens hang-out. Then, cross the border into a large Mexican town/city and witness the same age group -- much more openness-of-heart freely exhibited.

Go to American Universities and see how students from the third world are when they first arrive in our culture -- and then see how they are in public after they have been here for a while (not all of it can be blamed on racism/culturalism -- some is due to our largely inhuman modern-way-of-life.

I don't know about now, but when I rode public transportation in San Francisco during the 1970's -- I would ride through the largely African American Fillmore District. Younger black males riding the bus had rather open/clear (free from ego) faces. But, as they grew into their late teens and early faces, their faces became more and more closed -- more and more hardened. The same kind of faces I saw among male Turks in Germany -- Carribean blacks in London -- Algerians in Paris --untouchables in India (women who were perhaps more sheltered from those societies were not so closed).

When I used to tell my American cohorts of some of these problems that I see in my home country -- I would sometimes hear something along the lines of: "what can we do -- people are the same everywhere"
As a monk, I know that we all have the same soul -- but I also know-from-experience that some people, some families, some communities/tribes, some societies have more of certain ego-qualites than others. The sad and tragic joke on America is that our so-called 'real world' is not the world that could and should be.
An example: the engineer who recently founded the volunteer organization "Engineers without borders' said during a recent PBS interview something like: "I have seen more smiles during one day in certain third world villages than I see during a whole academic year at the University of Colorado engineering school,"
My friends, that is real. I have spent years in those villages -- with no signs of: 'terrible twos', or, teen depression/rebellion/bullying.

So, what can any of us do, if we want? Here are a few quotes from One who knows what He is talking about (sorry to offend some of you anti-religion progressives, but the capitals are real too!):

"It is character that is of utmost imortance. It is virtues that lend greatness to any person. If everyone develops good character, the whole country will become good."

"Each one must proceed from the place where he is at -- at his own pace -- according to his own light . . . all will reach the goal of the journey, sooner, or later."

"Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a tendency.
Sow a tendency, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow your character and reap your destiny."

"Mankind should strive for the ideal of human unity by recognizing the Divinity that is present in every human being."

". . . There is one race -- the race of humanity.
There is one language -- the language of the heart. . ."

Bless

Hanuman -- I love you for your gifts of being thoughtful, insightful, and humanity-full.

I might add an illustration of principles in action:Imagine yourself a pilot whose weather is foggy and dangerous to land, and that his instruments are likened to his own principles, to best trust when the visibility is low and emotions run hot.

If not, there is a chance of one's disorientation in the moment of crisis, leading to very adverse decisions - like attempting to land the plane upside down.

Trust in that worthy investment in character building (and the instruments of your principles), to guide you to be joyous in the LIGHT of truth

Namaste
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK

I think NAFTA was a good idea at the time; lift barriers to trade so everyone benefits from the great diversity in regional markets. What really happened is that the American workforce took a hit so big, that our ability to maintain our standard of living was broken and I think beyond repair in some instances. What was missing, especially from the non-American markets, is all the labor relations regulations, living or minimum wage requirements, environments regulations, pension plan issues, collective bargaining units and safety programs (that would have prevented a good deal of misery, especially from the Chinese made products). Freeing imports and exports from barrier taxes is a good way to increase trade and provide for an increased level of business and consumer demand. Modifiying the NAFTA agreements will go along way to fixing some of the issues. As far has immigration, people who come to this country, need to come here legally - doing otherwise allows for theft and abuse. I think the big problem lies with the foreign governments who encourage and allow all this illegal immigration. American is not the only culprit in all that ills this country and our past efforts to fix problems should be respected, no scrapped entirely.

Namaste,
Thank you.

Question: was that very good need & greed quotation from Ghandi or MLK?

Bless

Hanuman — the 1st and 2nd are Mahatma, while the 3rd is MLK

Namaste

Excuse me, while I don't agree with her policy proposals necessarily, why is Hillary Clinton "so corrupt"?

please send me some solid facts as to her horrid "corrpution"?

I am sick of the woman bashing that is disguised as "progressive" - please be balanced folks.

Obama takes corporate money as well as Clinton, and just as much of it too. Is that corrupt? For one thing, it's obvious big insurance companies have him in their pocket.

Excuse me, while I don't agree with her policy proposals necessarily, why is Hillary Clinton "so corrupt"?

please send me some solid facts as to her "corruption"?

I am sick of the woman bashing that is disguised as "progressive" - please be balanced folks. The biggest secret round here is the clearly acceptable misogyny that disguises itself in the form of opinion in this country, from both men and women.

Obama takes corporate money as well as Clinton, and just as much of it too. Is that corrupt? For one thing, it's obvious big insurance companies have him in their pocket.

At least Clinton will tell you where she stands, even if I don't agree with it. Obama disguises his real policy positions, which are quite corporate, under layers of his waxing poetic.