ABC News promotes Latinos to weekend anchors and 2016 election team

The winds of change!

Rebecca Aguilar

Big changes at ABC News.

The network announced today that two Latinos, Cecilia Vega and Tom Llamas have been promoted to anchor ABC’s “World News Tonight” Saturday and Sunday editions.  Both are accomplished award-winning journalists with a resume of experience.

Also announced today: Vega, Llamas and Senior National Correspondent, Jim Avila have been named to ABC’s 2016 Presidential Election Team.

In my opinion this is HUGE!

Two Latinos named to anchor weekend news at the same time has to be a first in media history, and definitely at ABC News. Yes, Elizabeth Vargas filled the seat on her own a few years ago.

Naming three Latinos to the prestigious presidential election team has to be a first too. In 2012 you hardly saw any Latino journalists assigned to election coverage on any of the network or cable channels.  Jim Avila will be a great addition because he can cover any…

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Obama just paying lip service to immigration reform

“This idea that the president has been unwavering on immigration doesn’t really pass the smell test,” Graham said on ABC’s “This Week.”Graham, who has been invited to the Oval Office twice in recent weeks to discuss his work with Sen. Chuck Schumer D-N.Y., said Obama’s interest in the issue is only due to an upcoming march on Washington.”A hastily called meeting Thursday because of a rally next weekend is not unwavering,” he said. “This idea that this administration has been unwavering on immigration reform is just political spin and the people at the rally ought to know that.”Immigration reform proponents are planning a massive rally in Washington later this month. The rally is organized by Reform Immigration for America, a left of center group.

via Graham: Obama just paying lip service to immigration reform – TheHill.com.

New U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO to Fight for Small Businesses

 

 

Javier Palomarez, the new CEO and President of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, readily admits that he is a “corporate animal,” having worked as an executive at companies such as Allstate Insurance, Sprint, and, most recently, ING Financial.

But his incredible up-by-the-bootstraps story has kept him in touch with the little guy, and, he says, it is the little guy — namely, small businesses — he intends to fight for.

via New U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO to Fight for Small Businesses – HispanicBusiness.com.

Latinos Better Not Get Out Of Line. Or Else!

The speaker seems to have a problem with her Latino co-workers thinking for themselves. Nobody explained to her that abortion in the Latino community is not part of the spa treatment the speaker is so fond of in San Francisco. Seems that in Washington Hispanics are to be seen and not heard. Hispanics need to begin preparing for the real change that is coming to the political spectrum and take control over their future as a majority demographic. Where are the real voices of Latino leaders? Time for Independencia!

California Democrat Xavier Becerra has learned a lesson about calling out Nancy Pelosi.

Don’t.

In the run-up to this month’s House vote on health care reform, Becerra suggested to the Congressional Progressive Caucus that party leaders gave up too easily on the favored “robust” public option.

That didn’t sit well with the speaker, and witnesses said she made her displeasure known to Becerra and other top Democrats at a subsequent leadership meeting.

“I understand I have tire tracks on my back because Xavier threw me under the bus,” witnesses quoted Pelosi as saying. The speaker went on to accuse Becerra of trying to improve his “street cred” with progressives by undercutting her.

Becerra was back on the hot seat on Monday, when Pelosi demanded to know why seven members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus had voted for the anti-abortion Stupak amendment before final passage of the health bill, even after she had acceded to the CHC’s wishes in preventing an immigration amendment from being considered on the floor.

via Pelosi: Dem ‘threw me under the bus’ – Jonathan Allen – POLITICO.com.

Few Hispanic in Leadership Positions at California Nonprofits

While Hispanics make up more than a third of California’s population, they are the least represented ethnic or racial group in nonprofit organizations throughout the state, according to a new report released today.

In the first study of its kind, the Urban Institute said Hispanics lagged significantly behind whites, Asians and blacks in nonprofit leadership and employment.

“When you look at the Latino proportion of your state, there’s still a lot of work to do,” said lead researcher Carol de Vita, a demographer at the research institute based in Washington, D.C. Her team looked strictly at the numbers and not the causes and effects of Latino underrepresentation. “I don’t think anyone has figured out what’s going on.”

via Few Hispanic in Leadership Positions at California Nonprofits – HispanicBusiness.com.

Illegal immigration may threaten health vote

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hispanics mull boycotting 2010 census

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.

Chavez says Obama did nothing to deserve Nobel

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.

Commentary: Obama drops ball on immigration – CNN.com

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.

45% Of Doctors Consider Quitting If Health Care Overhaul Passes

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.