The illegal immigration issue is emerging as the biggest threat to passing healthcare reform in the House.Congressional Hispanics have threatened to vote against the bill because of a last-minute threat from within the Democratic Caucus to bolster the House bill’s immigration restrictions to match those included in the Senate Finance bill.And they’re also fighting President Barack Obama, the original sponsor of the language prohibiting illegal immigrants from accessing the public health insurance exchange.On Thursday afternoon, four leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus CHC traveled to the White House to meet with Obama on behalf of the entire group.Officially, the purpose of their meeting was to talk to the president about healthcare.But CHC members, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the group’s message was clear: Drop your insistence on preventing illegal immigrants from accessing the public exchange, even if their only option is to pay for insurance plans entirely out of their own pockets.

via Illegal immigration may threaten health vote – TheHill.com.

Angered by President Obama’s lack of success in legalizing illegal immigrants, some Hispanic activists are urging all Hispanics to boycott the 2010 census as a sign of displeasure.

Other groups have asked the federal government to suspend immigration raids while census takers are in the field, hoping that will make illegal immigrants more likely to respond to questions.

It’s just the latest trouble in what’s turning into a rocky run-up to the census next year.

via Hispanics mull boycotting 2010 census – Washington Times.

Venezuela’s socialist leader Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that U.S. President Barack Obama had done nothing beyond wishful thinking to earn the Nobel Peace Prize.

Chavez, who has mixed praise for Obama personally with criticism of his government’s “imperialist” policies, said he thought it was a mistake when he read the U.S. leader had won.

“What has Obama done to deserve this prize? The jury put store on his hope for a nuclear arms-free world, forgetting his role in perpetuating his battalions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his decision to install new military bases in Colombia,” Chavez wrote in a column.

“For the first time, we are witnessing an award with the nominee having done nothing to deserve it: rewarding someone for a wish that is very far from becoming reality.”

Chavez said giving Obama the Nobel award was like giving a baseball pitcher a prize simply for saying he was going to win 50 games and strike out 500 batters.

via Chavez says Obama did nothing to deserve Nobel | International | Reuters.

President Obama has placed the immigration reform community at the back of the bus.This same president who insists the country can’t wait to fix what he calls a broken health care system tells reformers to wait for him to get around to fixing what they consider to be an equally broken immigration system.The same president who tried to juggle a half dozen major policy initiatives in his first few months in office now seems unsure of his ability to — as he told Univision’s Jorge Ramos in an interview last weekend — “solve every problem at once.”And the same president who seems to understand that the longer he waits to accomplish health care reform, the more difficult it will be to get, doesn’t seem to understand the same is true with immigration reform.

It could be reasonably assumed that a great majority of those doctors who would consider quitting, serve Latino communities. Could Washington possibly force a bill that would totally undermine the medical industry in such a way as to make health care for Latinos a potential disaster? If doctors start to leave their practices in these communities Latinos could find themselves with emergency room type clinics as the only access to medical care. That would not be good!

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.

The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors’ own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul.

It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration’s claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost.

The IBD/TIPP Poll was conducted by mail the past two weeks, with 1,376 practicing physicians chosen randomly throughout the country taking part. Responses are still coming in, and doctors’ positions on related topics — including the impact of an overhaul on senior care, medical school applications and drug development — will be covered later in this series.

A senior member of a Mexican drug cartel has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murders of 17 people at a rehab centre, reports say.

Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, a suspected hitman and drug smuggler, was held in connection with the murders in the city of Juarez, near the border with Texas.

He has long been on wanted lists held by both the Mexican government and the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

via BBC NEWS | Americas | Arrest over Mexican drug murders.

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in rival demonstrations for and against President Hugo Chavez.

Opponents held a rally against what they called the president’s growing authoritarianism.

They were concerned about an education law they fear could lead to socialist indoctrination in schools.

Meanwhile, one government minister told Chavez supporters that 29 more radio stations would be closed, reports said.

The radio closures are part of a continuing campaign against what the government considers to be right-wing media, with 34 stations already closed down.

Education concerns

The anti-Chavez protesters were angry about a new education law that boosts the government’s control over schools and universities.

The law requires schools to base their teaching on “the Bolivarian Doctrine” – a reference to the ideals of 19th Century independence hero Simon Bolivar, such as Latin American unity and national self-determination.

A previous attempt at education reform was one of the factors that led to mass protests in 2002, eventually culminating in a failed coup attempt against Mr Chavez.

“It’s very concerning because education is Venezuela’s future,” engineering student Carlos Delgado told the Associated Press news agency.

via BBC NEWS | Americas | Venezuela rivals march in Caracas.

Protests against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have got under way in several cities across Latin America.The demonstrations were organised by Colombian activists after Mr Chavez criticised Colombia for allowing US forces access to seven military bases.Organisers used social networking sites to set up “No more Chavez” protests.President Chavez’s supporters have also turned out to show their solidarity with the socialist leader by marching through Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.Organised from Colombia through the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, the protests brought thousands of opponents of the Venezuelan leader onto the streets in the east of Caracas to make their point.

Competing rallies

It was a demonstration which was repeated on a smaller scale in several other cities in Latin America, the United States and Spain.

“It is important that we show the world we are not with Chavez.”

The economic illiterates in Washington are so impressed with the “success” of Cash for Clunkers that they’re readying Cash for Clunker Appliances. The ludicrous “stimulus” bill gave $300 million to the Department of Energy to provide rebates for 10 types of appliances that have been rated energy efficient.

Before government extends Cash for Clunkers to more products, it might be a good idea to examine the original. The fact that Washington and the buyers who took advantage of Cash for Clunkers are gaga is hardly evidence that it was in the public interest.

It wasn’t. As usual, the program has been judged only by its first and most visible consequences, violating Henry Hazlitt’s teaching in his classic, “Economics in One Lesson”:

“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

via RealClearPolitics – Economic Illiterates in Washington.

President Obama has figured out that, for African-Americans, the next epic civil rights battle will be fought not in the streets but in the classroom.

In a recent interview with black journalists, Obama identified education as the most important challenge facing the African-American community.

“If we close the achievement gap, then a big chunk of economic inequality in this society is diminished,” Obama told them. “Now, how do we do that? Better teachers, greater accountability, and more resources combined with more reform.”

Not bad. Obama got three out of four answers right. Yes, we need better teachers, greater accountability and more reform. But, beyond repairing the crumbling infrastructure of some schools, we don’t need more resources.

via RealClearPolitics – Problems Money Won’t Solve.