51st State of Mind - Puerto Rico

51st State of Mind - Puerto Rico

For all of you who are secretly looking to visit all the great states that make up this land of ours, as well as for those of you who own flags.. get ready, you may have to do some adjusting.... Why? Well because Puerto Rico may become our 51st state!

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote tomorrow on The Puerto Rico Democracy Act (HR2499), which includes the holding of a plebiscite in Puerto Rico to decide if it wants statehood. In other words to decide if Puerto Rico wants to be the 51st state of the United States of America.

Reuters reports that it is expected the House will pass the Puerto Rico statehood bill HR2499. However, we don't know what will happen in the Senate. If approved by both the House and the Senate and signed into law by the U.S. President Barack Obama HR2499 will formally consult the citizens of Puerto Rico on their preferred political status if they want a U.S. statehood or continue to maintain their current status.

U.S. is giving parental blessings for the first time in 112 years to Puerto Rico to vote for its future status.

If HR2499 is passed the government of Puerto Rico can amend its constitution and come up with a second constitution with options of U.S. statehood, current status or even an independence.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory since 1898. It is self-governing, but depends on Washington in matters of defense, monetary policy, immigration and customs.

The issue of people's self-determination is on the agenda and of concern to other European countries as well. Consider the frozen conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan. One of the recent successful cases in the world is the case of Kosovo. The conducted a referendum and voted for independence from Serbia. Serbia has not recognized it, but the world has. There is peace now in the Balkans.

Next case may be Azerbaijan. Nagorno Karabakh, a majority Armenian populated enclave in Azerbaijan is a de facto independent republic. After seemingly endless negotiations a formula for peace is put forward by the Minsk group mediators. According to the scheme the liberated territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh will be returned to Azerbaijan in exchange of the latter's recognition of of Nagorno Karabakh's right to self-determination and referendum. Azerbaijan is afraid that referendum will lead to independence because the Christian Armenian population does not want to leave in the same country with Azerbaijan because of the cultural differences and past oppressions.

The move by the United States to give its paternal blessing with the passage of HR2499 for Puerto Rico status, whether its statehood or independence, may send a peace message to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova to recognize the change in the global dynamics that the 21st century is the end of colonization and beginning of peace.

And there's absolutely no way this will pass the Senate. In fact, I'm taking bets on the losing spread. Just think about it for a second. It passed the house with much controversy. There's literally no way on gods green earth 100 of the world's most selfish assholes would dilute their voting power by 2 for some place that most of them couldn't even point to on a map. I mean, we all know that 100 senators will of course vote for it because the United States is a shining beacon of liberty, right?

"I choose to give more voting power to brown colored people" - No senator ever

I do wonder how many people against PR statehood could actually point it out on a map.

Puerto Whereco??? -Americans

The scary thing is that Puerto Rico, if a state, will likely put Republicans in power. They are highly conservative when it comes to social matters due to tight catholic upbringing but they also have things in there that most liberal would kill for in the states. They have a public health option but it's only given out to the poor, you can scare shitless most establishments that try to fuck with your consumer rights cause they have fully functioning and ruthless consumer rights agency called DACO.



If PR becomes the 51st state, the whole identity of the current parties in there would dissolve since the only thing that separates them from each other is their position on when it comes to statehood/independence/pragmatism.

Puerto Rico being a state and maintaining Spanish as their principle language could also have a real positive effect against "English only" and other anti-brown laws around the country targeting immigrants and Latino citizens.



Though, hasn't Puerto Rico itself voted multiple times not to become a state? Yeah, it's been over 10 years since the last vote and recent polling has been fairly even along the 'eh who cares not like they want us' or 'no fuck em' lines, and if we actually show 'hey why don't you come on in and get actual representation' to them, I'm sure they may be more positive to the idea.

So right now it's looking decent but any poll isn't a good gauge until we can get some US side reaching out to them. Not to mention the American racist. I can't even imagine what people would do if Puerto Rico actually became a state. I'm pretty sure that people in the south are still calling for the deportation of Puertoriquenos. And if they did, just imagine the tea bagger shit storm, a Hispanic state where white people can't try to force the browns out. It's their nightmare come to life.


Oh Glen Beck, you're such a moron...

So how did the voting go down yesterday in allowing Puerto Ricans to decide their own political future and relationship with the United States? The vote was 223 to 169. Rep Louse Slaughter, D-N.Y. voted present. The Republicans attempted to add provisions to the legislation that would have made English the official language of a potential Puerto Rican state.

Yes, that's right. Every Hispanic Republican is human garbage. There is no denying that. they are literally trash.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

I used to do a little segment piece here that would be just me mindlessly ranting on about a picture for a thousand words. In reality it was often more than a thousand words because, as you know, I can ramble on for days. So much like something retro, I'm bringing it back. Especially since it's this picture ripped from the headlines!



'What the hell?', you say? I'll tell you what. It's the family of the Spanish Prime Minister. Yes, my glorious home of origin's prime minister and his daughters. Perhaps Zapatero should tell his daughters to stop following fashion trends from the early 90s. They look like they sleep in caskets.

At first I thought that it was the half-dozen goth march onto Washington. Though I remembered that the only marches that were scheduled were the ten million patriot march and the fifty thousand Muslim march. No goths are scheduled to appear at any of those.

There's an interesting back story to Zapatero's Prime Ministership. In that there is a Spanish law that protects the right of the child to have their own image due to the good work of all the gossip magazines. When Zapatero was trying to be the Prime Minister he asked the Spanish media not to show images of his daughters. So when this photo came out all the Spanish media has been going crazy with the conservative media mocking the two teenagers.

I sort of admire the braveness of the Spanish president taking his half-goth daughters with him to meet Obama. You don't have to dress like Jackie O in a pink dress just because you're a politican's spawn. But it does sort of make the picture look very much fake.

I sort of half expect Obama to make a joke about it.

Obama: - nudge - "Your daughter wears combat boots"

PM: "Que?"

Obama: "It's a riff off an old saying here - your mother wears combat boots."

PM: "Mi Madre non esta violencia - mi Madre es muerte, es con dios."

Obama: "No, no, it's a joke, hey Michelle, help me out here..."

Michelle: - Snort - ...not on your life...

PM: "Que es "riff", que es "joke"?

Obama:...forget it....

But by now it seems that Obama is just going through the motions with his photo oppurtunities. Don't believe me? Take a look at this

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

We Don't Need No Pinche Walmart Supermarket.

We Don't Need No Pinche Walmart Supermarket.

I have to say, I'm not sure if I'm against or for Wal-mart. On one hand it offers a lot of food and other clothing options at a cheap price for those on a limited income. On the other hand it tears apart towns, puts mom and pop stores out of business and seems a little tacky. They do have a great selection of toys and gifts to choose from when buying crap for my friends during Christmas at a slightly lower price, so why not. I'll be for Wal-mart for the purpose of this blog.

It's already known that Los Angeles doesn't like them. In every attempt they have had to open one in the greater Los Angeles area, they've meet a lot of resistance. Perhaps with this new step they'll win the battle of Los Angeles...

Wal-Mart to open new Hispanic-focused chains

Wal-Mart plans to open its first Hispanic-focused supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas as the largest US retailer continues its drive to expand its dominance of the US grocery business.

The pilot stores, named Supermercado de Walmart, will open in Phoenix and Houston in remodelled 39,000 sq ft locations occupied previously by two of Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Market stores.

The retailer said that the stores were in “strongly Hispanic neighbourhoods” and would feature a “new lay-out, signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers”. The staff will also be bilingual.

Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club warehouse store also plans to open a 143,000 sq ft Hispanic-focused store called Más Club in Houston this year.

Several leading regional US supermarket chains already operate Hispanic store brands, including Publix in Florida, which operates three Publix Sabor markets, and HEB in Texas, which opened a Mi Tienda store in Houston in 2006.

The markets include elements such as cafés serving Latino pastries and coffee, and full service meat and fish counters.

Leading retailers are also pursuing Hispanic consumers online, with Best Buy and Home Depot having launched Spanish-language versions of their e-commerce sites in recent months.

Eduardo Castro-Wright, the head of Wal-Mart’s US stores since 2005, has also been an advocate of testing new smaller, more focused formats, and raised the idea of turning the Neighbourhood Market into a Hispanic-style bodega concept several years ago.

He has also developed Wal-Mart’s efforts to customise its larger Supercenter stores, which have been grouped according to differing community profiles, such as urban, suburban, Hispanic and African-American, with customised merchandise.

A 195,000 sq ft Supercenter that opened in Texas last year included a tortilleria bakery, Hispanic foods and a larger selection of Spanish-language music and DVDs.

Mr Castro-Wright was previously head of Wal-Mart’s Mexican subsidiary, whose store network ranges from large US-style Supercenters to small local bodegas, an upmarket supermarket chain and two restaurant chains.

Last year, Wal-Mart also began testing four new 10,000 sq ft Marketside convenience grocery stores in the Phoenix area – its first new format in a decade. Tesco, the UK retailer, also has more than 25 of its small Fresh & Easy markets in the Phoenix area

Sweet, a place that I can buy Mexican groceries for my hipster dinner parties without going to some scary looking hole in the wall! Why is anyone surprised about this? Hispanics are the largest minority group in America and spend billions annually. What ever will happen to the Madre and Padre shops when Wal-mart moves in? Now all the mom and pop hispanic owned stores can be put out of business too.



Thankfully I'm from L.A. so nothing is going to change. Believe it or not, Wal-marts are really different in different areas of the US. Sure you have your DVD and iPods, but in Utah and other Mormon areas they have larger, I want to say arts and crafts, but that's just not politically friendly. There's sushi made fresh and daily in some areas and in most ones near Spanish communities have plenty of Mexican products. So yeah, Wal-Mart is just making public what has been going on for a while.

Even with saying that, these new stores will probably be as authentically Hispanic as Wal-mart opening an Italian version of itself by selling six variations of Sargento cheese (look! REAL Italian cheese!) instead of the four varieties sold in the regular Wal-marts. I have to say, unless you're in a small town, there's really no reason why you can't find the ethnic markets that will provide you with what you need.



There's a bunch of giant ass Korean supermarkets in the US too. Hell, I love shopping at Korean, Japanese and Chinese markets. You'll catch me on Wednesdays at El Super weekly picking up very low priced and delicious fruits and veggies. But naturally no one cares because it's not a Pavilions or Ralph's. People seem to go all up in arms, especially in that part of the states. OH NO HISPANIC SUPERMARKETS!!!

Ethnic markets are awesome, I love the weird and wonderful stuff you can get at Asian ones. I'm sure whenever I end up taking my speshul lady to a Mexican mercados we'll find something neat and not often found at American markets that would be apart of a fresh and tasty meal. What are some of the differences? I guess the bakery and the whole fact that there's an in house Tortilla factory pumping out fresh Tortillas daily. Tortilla bakery may seem a bit different and strange but it's really a blessing as you have not lived till you had a freshly made tortilla.


Oh the delicious REAL sodas to be found here.

I'm not sure if Wal-mart is going to be anything more than a regular Wal-mart with a Tejano face to it. Is there a risk of driving out a lot of the genuine independent Mexican mercados? Maybe. But I doubt it as customers to that type are very loyal. Add in that you simply can't beat the prices at some of these places. They already have their regular Carnicerias to go for their meats. Hell, I have plenty in my neighborhood.

Hopefully the entire music section is dedicated to those cheesy generic bands that all wear the same outfit for some reason:





Oh, I guess they already do that...

I really hope their phone systems say 'for English, press 2' so people flip out even more. This is going to be in Texas after all. They bastardize Mexican food with Tex Mex, they deserve to get annoyed by having Spanish be the first language there.

Perhaps the fact that I'm sure many people will get outraged by this culture clash is a sign of how young our country really is. This shouldn't be news. I like living in a city that makes it less covenant for me to be complacent with knowing just one language. The United States needs to be more worldly and open to cultures and foods that aren't what your average white American grew up on.

Take a trip down to whatever ethnic area is near you and go into a store that does not look like they speak English if they could avoid it and look around. You'll be surprised on what new things you may see and eventually enjoy if you just give it a chance.

Dawn Of The Dead

Dawn Of The Dead



Dia De Los Muertos is the day after Halloween. So while all you ghouls and ghost are trick or treating and you "sexy ______" costume wearers are feeding a hangover you'll be nursing, us Mexicans are preparing our menudo and getting ready to go to the next celebration, Day of the Dead



The idea of the day is that the dead come back to wander the earth for one day. While everyone is wearing costumes and has their face painted up as skeletons and other such things, the dead slip on by without being noticed to just chill. To appease them, family members build a shrine in their honor as well as leave out their favorite meal and other trinkets that remind them of the dead. It's a celebration of life, as morbid as it may sound on paper and it's a festive holiday that I rather enjoy for my own reasons.

Those may include such instances were I love skeletons, sugar skulls and the celebration of loved ones who have passed. Old memories and new ones made. In all, it's a time where you can dress up like the dead in a non-sexy manner. The Hollywood Forever Cemetery does it all in style. A good place to really soak in the culture of it all. Since I really don't want to type anymore, here's a lot of pictures so you get some idea of what this is like








Utterly awe inspiring to have a cemetery turn into a shrine for the dead.. Oh wait, that's what it is normally. Hey, it's just bringing some life to the joint, is all.


Disney is jumping in on the Dead wagon and are commemorating the holiday with displays of skeletons and flowers on day of the dead alters near the Rancho Del Zocalo Restaurante in Frontierland. Guest can get their spirit on by getting their face painted. They even went so far as to offer something for those hardcore Disney zombies, the button collectors by giving them a special button to try to capture.



In all, it's really interesting that it's getting more media attention. Then again, we are in Southern California. With a large Spanish population, it would be hard to remain silent to the mass population of SoCal residents. Here's more pictures in light of me just not wanting to type more content.






If that's not awesome at the same time being terrifying to any child within reach, well, I don't know what is. Good job Disney. Way to get on the ball. If I said we mounr the dead on this day, I'll have to correct myself. This day isn't so much about mourning the dead as it is celebrating with them. When we go out and party, drink up, eat up and take part of these festivities, those loved ones are with us. Enjoying the good times together. With that I'll leave you with quote.. but don't worry, I'll be coming back from the dead.

“Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
Mark Twain