Barack Obama has appointed senior VP of The National Council of La Raza (The Race) Cecilia Munoz to “oversee the White House office responsible for relations between the administration and state and local governments.”

Via WaPo:

Munoz, meanwhile, will oversee the White House office responsible for relations between the administration and state and local governments. The 2000 MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” winner is a senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza, a leading Hispanic civil rights group. There, she has spearheaded many of the organization’s immigration initiatives. Currently, she is in charge of the group’s entire advocacy and legislative agenda.

“We’re continuing to build a White House team that can rise to the challenges facing this country — and I couldn’t be more excited to announce Jon and Cecilia,” Obama said. “I’m confident that at a critical time in our history, this White House will restore openness and accountability to our executive branch and help to put government back in the hands of the people it serves.”

McCain open-borders advisor Juan Hernandez is bummed, but you never know. If Hillary can be Obama’s Secretary of State, why can’t Juan serve as Obama’s ICE chief?

Hope lives.

***

Here’s Hernandez’s Youtube resume:

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Also in line for an Obama slot: Former MEChA member and radical open-borders congressman Raul Grijalva.

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Flashback: 15 things you should know about “The Race”

Previous La Raza blogging.

Tucscon residents remain up in arms over the unhinged open-borders mob, led by reconquistadora Pima County (AZ) public defender Isabel Garcia, who beat and tore apart an effigy of tough, anti-illegal immigration Sheriff Joe Arpaio at his recent book tour event.

See the videos here in case you missed it yesterday.

Garcia is now gloating about the incident–calling it “funny.” She has posted a bigotry card-playing response at her militant website, Derechos Humanos. Laugh line: “We stand for the principles of peace and justice.”

Can you imagine if pro-enforcement activists–let alone a government official–had whacked an effigy of Garcia or any other prominent illegal alien sympathzier to pieces and paraded around with the head for the local TV cameras?

Where’s La Raza/The Race to call for an end to the incivility and hate speech?

Oh, wait. Never mind.

***

Tucson radio show host Jon Justice and his listeners continue to step up pressure on their local government officials. Be sure to check out the very ironic video clip there of Garcia.

Reader Tim C. in Tucscon sent me an e-mail about some completely unhinged open-borders activists who mobbed a book event for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A group of young pro-illegal alien protesters repeatedly beats an effigy of Arpaio as Isabel Garcia–local reconquistadora and an official from the Pima County legal defender’s office–eggs them on. She then parades around with the effigy’s head as onlookers cheer and hoist up the rest of the battered body.

And they call us uncivil?

Unbelievable.

Watch the video for yourselves:

Tim writes:

“Last week, we had an interesting situation here in Tucson that our local media, with the exception of one local talk radio host, seems to be afraid to cover.

Maricopa county sheriff Joe Arpaio has recently released a book and was in town for a signing at a Barnes and Noble store. Sheriff Arpaio is well know for his strict adherence for enforcing the laws and has some unique ways of dealing with offenders – county prisoners live in tents, work on chain gangs, etc. I would be surprised if you haven’t at least heard of him. Anyway, a local “civil rights” group, Derechos Humanos (http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net/) was on hand to protest his visit to Tucson. Isabel Garcia, is a member of the group’s board and holds a position with the Pima County Legal Defender’s office, was at this protest. I believe, and many others in Tucson agree, that Ms Garcia’s actions were way beyond what would be considered as an acceptable form of free speech from a member of the Bar association and as a county employee.

I’m hearing from many other upset Tucson residents. Reader Tyler writes:

For some reason (most likely a sympathic view/common ideology), her superiors, other city employees, and news agencies refuse to report on the situation, and those who are questioned see nothing wrong with her actions.

This is obviously in conflict with the ethical code of conduct she is expected to follow, and is clearly spelled out by the Arizona Bar Association: she is expected to behave in a respectable manner, in or out of office, and is not to show disresepct to fellow members of the legal institution.

Please give this story the attention in deserves.

The La Raza twins were unavailable for comment.

***

Contact info for Pima County administrator Chuck Huckleberry:

ADMINISTRATOR CHUCK HUCKLEBERRY
(520) 740-8661 chh@pima.gov

Well, they already gave their blessing to “Happy ACLU Day” despite the litigious group’s long-standing efforts to take down the Mount Soledad cross.

Might as well put their weight behind the ethnic supremacist group fighting against assimilation, funding reconquista schools, advocating speech suppressiong, and promoting lawlessness, too!

The La Raza Twins, Obama and McCain, approve.

***

From the PDF of the draft resolution (hat tip – readers Jeff and Edgar):

Flashback: Top 10 reasons McCain should repudiate La Raza/The Race

Might be worth forwarding that list to the San Diego City Council. Contact them here.

Now, John A. Ward, a former teacher at a Tucson High School magnet school that peddles a Raza/Race curriculum, gives an insider’s look at what’s being taught on your dime. Ward has been attacked as a “sellout” because of his Hispanic heritage. Here’s a key excerpt, but read the whole thing:

During the 2002-2003 school year, I taught a U.S. history course with a Mexican-American perspective. The course was part of the Raza/Chicano studies department.
Within one week of the course beginning, I was told that I was a “teacher of record,” meaning that I was expected only to assign grades. The Raza studies department staff would teach the class.

I was assigned to be a “teacher of record” because some members of the Raza studies staff lacked teaching certificates. It was a convenient way of circumventing the rules.
I stated that I expected to do more than assign grades. I expected to be involved in teaching the class. The department was less than enthusiastic but agreed.
Immediately it was clear that the class was not a U.S. history course, which the state of Arizona requires for graduation. The class was similar to a sociology course one expects to see at a university.

Where history was missing from the course, it was filled by controversial and biased curriculum.

The basic theme of the curriculum was that Mexican-Americans were and continue to be victims of a racist American society driven by the interests of middle and upper-class whites. In this narrative, whites are able to maintain their influence only if minorities are held down. Thus, social, political and economic events in America must be understood through this lens.
This biased and sole paradigm justified teaching that our community police officers are an extension of the white power structure and that they are the strongmen used “to keep minorities in their ghettos.”

It justified telling the class that there are fewer Mexican-Americans in Tucson Magnet High School’s advanced placement courses because their “white teachers” do not believe they are capable and do not want them to get ahead.

It justified teaching that the Southwestern United States was taken from Mexicans because of the insatiable greed of the Yankee who acquired his values from the corrupted ethos of Western civilization.

It was taught that the Southwest is “Atzlan,” the ancient homeland of the Aztecs, and still rightfully belongs to their descendants – to all people of indigenous Mexican heritage.

As an educator, I refused to be complicit in a curriculum that engendered racial hostility, irresponsibly demeaned America’s civil institutions, undermined our public servants, discounted any virtues in Western civilization and taught disdain for American sovereignty.

When I raised these concerns, I was told that I was a “racist,” despite being Hispanic. Acknowledging my heritage, the Raza studies staff also informed me that I was a vendido, the Spanish term for “sellout.”

The Tucson public school system is a favorite breeding ground for the Raza/Race ethnic nationalists.

You may recall that open-borders radical Dolores Huerta–Hillary Clinton’s campaign co-chair–was an invited speaker at a mandatory assembly at Tucson High Magnet School, where she inveighed that “Republicans hate Latinos.”

Flashback: Conservative high school student objects to Huerta’s hate-speak.

What does upcoming La Raza/The Race annual conference speaker John McCain have to say about this abuse of tax dollars for the spread of poisonous open-borders propaganda?

Ask him! 50 more brownie points available now.

Not everyone’s looking the other way. Editorial page editor Colin McNickle at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review warned today:

“McCain had made significant progress in reaching out to conservatives over the last month or so. But his La Raza embrace is a serious lapse of judgment, one of a number of lapses that, if the primaries are a valid indicator, could lead to a full quarter of the Republican electorate staying home on Nov. 4.”

Guess McCain’s counting on all his left-wing global warming fear-mongering friends to make up the difference.

***

Related from The Other McCain: Mr. Reformer’s Glass House.

***

Previous:

Update: What happened to the La Raza/The Race earmark?
Paging John McCain: GOP House leader Boehner rips La Raza earmark
John McCain gets away with his slippery, open-borders talk again
5 more reasons McCain should stay the hell away from La Raza/The Race (but won’t)
Top 10 reasons McCain should repudiate the National Council of La Raza
How about reaching out to these Hispanics, McCain?
McCain to speak at open-borders La Raza (”The Race”) conference

Here’s an update on the La Raza/The Race $25 million earmark that had been tucked into Barney Frank’s massive housing bailout bill. (Previous coverage here and here.)

It was stripped out of the final version of the bill that passed the House yesterday. But that doesn’t mean they won’t get their money:

The original bill directed $100 million to four community groups, including $25 million each for housing programs run by the National Council of La Raza and the Urban League. Republicans balked, saying the money was meant to help Democrats in an election year.

The language was stripped out before the bill came to the floor. But La Raza, the Urban League and scores of community organizations are still in line for housing-development money, plus $230 million for the remainder of this year and another $230 million for fiscal 2009 for mortgage counseling.

“It’s a political-ally slush fund,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, (R., Texas), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, which opposed the package.

As I’ve reported previously, the left-wing mortgage counseling racket is and will continue to be well-funded by the Dems while Republicans sit back and do nothing. Refresher:

The Department of Housing and Urban Development funds hundreds, if not thousands, of these groups across the country. In October, HUD announced more than $44 million in new housing counseling grants to over 400 state and local efforts. The White House has increased funding for housing counseling by 150 percent since taking office in 2001.

Here’s a list (PDF) of national, regional, state, and local housing counseling grantees for fiscal year 2007–all of whom presumably were in operation when subprime borrowers got into the current mess. Among the major recipients:

*The AARP scored nearly $400,000 for training.

*The National Council of La Raza scooped up more than $1.3 million.

*The National Urban League raked in nearly $1 million.

*ACORN Housing Corporation received more than $1.6 million.

There is no concerted effort in Congress to de-fund the Left. There is no organized outcry from fiscal conservatives or immigration enforcement proponents or responsible borrowers/homeowners/renters to end these publicly-subsidized political pay-offs.

And so you keep paying the price of apathy–forking over your hard-earned tax dollars to radical left-wing outfits that use the cash to further shake down the government and corporations.

La Raza/The Race’s good friend John McCain was unavailable for comment.

Fresh from the desk of House GOP leader John Boehner:

Democrats are prepared to bring to the House floor legislation purportedly written to assist Americans impacted by the recent housing slump. But in recent days, it has become increasingly clear who this legislation is really out to serve: scam artists, speculators, and trial lawyers.

That’s right: the bill forces taxpayers to pay for a massive $300 billion bailout at the expense of innocent victims who truly need assistance and hard-working families who continue to pay their mortgage on time. And it includes language slipped-in by House Democrats at the last minute to fund a giant $35 million slush fund for trial lawyers seeking to capitalize on the housing downturn.

But the goodies for the friends of the Democratic Majority don’t stop there. House Democrats quietly tucked another giveaway into the long, complicated bill in order to benefit their political allies with virtually no prior public scrutiny or debate. Take a look at this political giveaway – “Assistance for the Raza Development Fund” – straight from the text of the bill:

(c) ASSISTANCE FOR RAZA DEVELOPMENT FUND.—

(1) USE.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may make a grant to the Raza Development Fund for the purpose of providing technical and financial assistance to local non-profit organizations to undertake community development and affordable housing projects and programs serving low- and moderate-income households, particularly through organizations located in neighborhoods with substantial populations of income-disadvantaged households of Hispanic origin. Assistance provided by the Secretary under this subsection may be used by the Raza Development Fund…

(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— There is authorized to be appropriated for grants under this subsection—

(A) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and
(B) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

In short, House Democrats are expecting American taxpayers to shell out $25 million to the Raza Development Fund – an arm of the National Council of La Raza and Democratic political ally that has made its name by promoting pro-illegal immigration policies and opposing real border security.

American families are struggling with rising costs for everything from gasoline to food to mortgages. Times like these require Congress to work in a bipartisan way on behalf of the American people. But instead, this Democratic Majority has produced a bill that rewards scam artists, speculators, trial lawyers, and political allies like La Raza…all at the expense of taxpayers and homeowners who really need help. Sadly, it’s yet more example of what American taxpayers have come to expect from a broken Washington under the leadership of House Democrats.

Sadly, we haven’t heard a peep from House Republicans–or any prominent Republicans–about John McCain’s decision to legitimize and honor La Raza (“The Race”)with his presence at its annual open-borders convention in July.

Hello?

10. La Raza supports driver’s licenses for illegal aliens.

9. La Raza supports in-state tuition discounts for illegal alien students that are not available to law-abiding US citizens and law-abiding legal immigrants.

8. La Raza opposes cooperative immigration enforcement efforts between local, state, and federal authorities.

7. La Raza sponsors militant ethnic nationalist charter schools subsidized by your public tax dollars, including the “Aztlan Academy” in Tucson, AZ, the Mexicayotl Academy in Nogales, AZ, and Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School in St. Paul, Minn.

6. La Raza gives mainstream cover to a poisonous subset of ideological satellites, led by Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MEChA), which the late GOP Rep. Charlie Norwood rightly characterized as “a radical racist group…[and] one of the most anti-American groups in the country, which has permeated U.S. campuses since the 1960s, and continues its push to carve a racist nation out of the American West.”

5. La Raza opposes a secure fence on the southern border.

4. Former La Raza president Raul Yzaguirre, Hillary Clinton’s Hispanic outreach advisor said this:

“US English is to Hispanics as the Ku Klux Klan is to blacks.” He was referring to US English the nation’s oldest, largest citizens’ action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States.

La Raza also pioneered Orwellian open-borders Newspeak and advised the Mexican government on how to lobby for illegal alien amnesty while avoiding the terms “illegal” and “amnesty.”

3. La Raza is currently leading a smear campaign against staunch immigration enforcement leaders and has called for TV and cable TV networks to keep immigration enforcement proponents off the airwaves–in addition to pushing for Fairness Doctrine policies to shut up their foes.

2. La Raza has consistently opposed post-9/11 national security measures at every turn.

1. The National Council of La Raza means The National Council of “The Race,” for God’s sake.

Their signature slogan, chanted at pro-illegal alien rallies from coast to coast, is “La raza unida nunca sera vencida.”

“A united [Hispanic] race will never be defeated.”

What possible good will come out of a GOP presidential candidate giving legitimacy and credibility to a sovereignty-undermining, assimilation-rejecting, law-defying group that calls itself “The Race?”

***

Victor Davis Hanson:

I agree that John McCain should not attend any conference of a group called “National Council of the Race.” In a multiracial society, Rev. Wright’s “rich white folks,” Obama’s “typical white person”, and clingers comments, and the idea of “The Race” will eventually doom us all. And it’s time no one gets a pass any more.

Jonathan Martin cluelessly suggests that McCain is “trying to show that he’s not George W. Bush by going into the lion’s den and taking hostile, unscripted questions from adversarial groups.”

Hostile? Adversarial? Do your homework, MSM.

McCain was honored by The Race in 1999, keynoted The Race’s 2004 conference, and has championed their agenda for years.

You know: The National Council of The Race.

Now, via Hans Bader at Open Market, comes word that the latest housing bill making its way through Congress includes a a $10 annual million earmark specifically for La Raza in the federal housing bill.

That’s right: a special earmark for The Race.

Such a quandary for John McCain!

He opposes earmarks.

He embraces “The Race.”

WWMD: What Will McCain Do?

Eenie, meenie, minie, mo….

Here’s a taste of what you missed–with thanks to all the bloggers, photographers, and readers who sent in their submissions.

From Pacific Northwest photojournalist Byron Dazey, reconquistadors are alive and well (or whatever) in Seattle:

Urban Infidel braved the moonbats in Union Square, NYC:

Freedom Folks has video of the open-borders tantrum in Chicago. Watch for the lovely use of the American flag as a stroller cover and the left-wing thug attack on Blogs 4 Borders reporter M.J. at around 4:30:

In Boston, intrepid Michael Graham went undercover to interview open-borders marchers.

Antihippies in Portland snapped photos of the May Day mayhem. Why can’t the nutballs leave our flag alone?

***

Moderate Risk has more Portland. More Chicago coverage from Flying Debris. More Denver coverage from Slapstick Politics.

I have asked before whether Barack Obama would be marching this year, as he did last year, with the pro-illegal immigration crowd. Will he stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with them again?

One race panderer on board: Jesse Jackson, whose Rainbow-PUSH group has teamed up with Latino open-borders groups to organize the Chicago May Day demonstration tomorrow.

Here is their “list of demands:”

Our Demands

EQUAL RESPECT / EQUAL PAY FOR EVERY WORKER
Legalization for All NOW !
Second Chance for All NOW !
Defend the Right to Organize
Fight for a Living Wage
Legalization for Elvira Arellano and Flor Crisostomo

PEACE BY JUSTICE, SECURITY BY RESPECT
End the War in Iraq, bring the Troops Home
Respect for the Self-Determination of Nations
Clean Up for Vieques
Replace Globalization with Nobilization

KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER
Stop the Separation of Families
Stop the Hate, Stop the Violence,
Stop the Guns, Stop the Drugs
Health Care for Every Family
Equal, Quality, Respectful Education
A Moratorium on Mortgage Foreclosures
Naturalize Foreign-Born Spouses of LGBT Couples
Refugee Rights for LGBT People Fleeing Persecution

FAIR TRADE MAKES FAIR BORDER,
Renegotiate NAFTA
Good Jobs on Both Sides of the Border

VOTE FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT VOTE
Vote for the Children
Vote for those without papers
Vote for those in and out of prison

How about Teddy Kennedy? Will he come out again and share his Spanish warbling?

Here are more details on the Bay Area goings-on:

Organizers in cities and towns around the U.S. are hoping to bring back the historical significance of May 1st in international labor and workers’ struggles, and to reignite the labor movement by integrating recent undocumented workers’ struggle for amnesty. Marches, rallies, and other gatherings on that date will focus on issues such as federal agencies and ending harassment by local police, raids, and the separation of families in immigrant communities; stopping the use of “no-match” letters to intimidate worker organizing efforts; holding elected officials accountable to supporting immigrant rights; funding human needs and services instead of militarism and war; and amnesty for those who do not have current documents.

Under the broad theme of Workers Uniting Without Borders –Amnesty for All, protesters will gather in San Francisco on Thursday, May 1st for a 2:00pm rally in Dolores Park, a 3:30pm march to Civic Center, and a 5:00pm rally and musical performance. The final planning meeting will take place on April 24th at 7pm at 522 Valencia St., near 16th St. BART. In Santa Cruz, march participants will wear green in solidarity with campus workers. There will be a 12pm rally in Quarry Plaza, followed by a march to a 4pm celebration in San Lorenzo Park. A march, rally, outdoor film screening, and other activities will take place in Watsonville starting at 4pm in the Plaza. An Immigrant Rights May Day March in Oakland will gather at 3 pm at Fruitvale BART Plaza for a march down International Blvd. to a 6pm rally at Oakland City Hall (14th & Broadway). In San Jose, an Immigrants Being Active Participants in Change march will gather at 4pm in the Mi Pueblo Foods parking lot (Story and King Roads) and will head down King Road and Santa Clara Street to San José City Hall (Santa Clara and 5th Streets). In Fresno, a March for Immigrant Rights will gather at 3pm in the Fulton Mall Free Speech Area, with plans for a 5pm march (imc_video.gifVideo). In San Diego, the community will gather at City College, march down Broadway to Pantoja Park, and then the day’s events will continue with a public assembly at Memorial Park at Oceanview and 30th .

Keep me posted if you plan on covering or protesting the circus in your neighborhood.

***

Latest campaign headlines…

BO leans on his biography.

He understands your anger.

He scooped up the coveted Bruce Springsteen endorsement.

Hillary is losing ground.

Baracky vs. Hillarocky takes place tonight on ABC at 8pm.

SKYY® Vodka, Made in the USA, Proudly Supports Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

America’s Most-Popular Domestic Vodka Decries Absolut® Vodka’s Suggestion to Redraw North American Map

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican-America War (1846-1848). With the signing of this treaty, the United States gained control of what was to become the Golden West, including California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado and New Mexico. Today, SKYY® Vodka, the number-one vodka produced in the United States, spoke out against suggestions by Absolut® Vodka to disregard that treaty, as well as the joining of Texas to the Union in 1845, as depicted in Absolut’s recent advertising.

“Like SKYY Vodka, the residents of states like California, Texas and Arizona are exceptionally proud of the fact that they are from the United States of America,” said Dave Karraker, SKYY Vodka. “To imply that they might be interested in changing their mailing addresses, as our competitor seems to be suggesting in their advertising, is a bit presumptuous.”

In the ad, an “Absolut World” is depicted where the map of North America is re-drawn with Mexico claiming much of the Western United States, negating the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, as well as the Gadsden Purchase (1853), and the independence of Texas (1836).

“Don’t get me started on the Gadsden Purchase,” continues Karraker. “I think the folks in Tucson and Yuma would be rubbed the wrong way if they hear this landmark deal was somehow nullified as suggested by Absolut, a Swedish-owned brand.”

SKYY Vodka was founded in San Francisco in 1992 and continues to be produced in the United States. Premium SKYY Vodka is made from American grain carefully selected from the Midwest and 100% pure filtered water. SKYY’s proprietary four-column distillation and three-step filtration process consistently ensures exceptional quality. SKYY Vodka products include luxury SKYY90® and new SKYY Infusions™, a unique, all-natural infused experience made with premium SKYY Vodka and succulent real fruit.

Cheers:

For those of you in the Baylor University area, tonight is your chance to ask Juan Hernandez about his radical, open-borders agenda and his role in the McCain campaign. The event is free and open to the public. Bring your video camera:

Dr. Juan Hernandez, author of The New American Pioneers, will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday in Kayser Auditorium on Mexican immigration. His lecture will be based on his notes, “Why are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants?”

Hernandez, a member of former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s cabinet, will be the final speaker for The Academy for Leader Development and Civic Engagement’s spring lecture series on leadership in public life. Hernandez has previously served as a speaker in Chapel.

“Participants will gain another perspective on the issues of immigration; hopefully expand the dialog on immigration reform asking the question, ‘Where should we as a nation be in creating reform on this issue?’” said Ramona Curtis, director for Leader Development and Civic Engagement. “When I met Dr. Hernandez last year, I found him to be very passionate about communities working together for the greater good. No matter where you stand on the issues of immigration, this lecture will prove to be engaging.”

Hernandez has a lengthy history of involvement in the Hispanic community. From serving as the first United States-born member of the Mexican cabinet to founding the Organization for Hispanic Advancement in October 2003, Hernandez is a proponent of immigration reform.

“He’s playing a key role nationally by facilitating an important discussion about immigration, and he’s certainly an expert on the topic,” said Dr. Frank Shushok, dean for student learning and engagement. “He has strong opinions about immigration reform that will spur on needed dialogue among students.”

Ask him about this comment: ““We must not only have a free flow of goods and services, but also start working for a free flow of people.”

Ask him about his lobbying for illegal alien driver’s licenses and Mexico first. Ask him about his defense of Mexican bus operators carrying illegal aliens to the USA, and promoted extending banking privileges to illegal aliens.

Ask him about this comment: “I want ‘em all to think Mexico first.”

Ask about his work for the Soros-funded Reform Institute.

Your refresher video via Digger’s Realm:

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Previous Juan Hernandez blogging.