How much is $700 billion?

The details of the massive aid package for troubled financial institutions proposed by the Bush administration would make the eyes of even the most grizzled Wall Street analyst glaze over. But beyond the minutiae about “credit-default” swaps and other arbitrage esoterica is the bluntly simple size of the bill the taxpayers will foot in this bailout: $700 billion.

How much is $700 billion?

The cost of the war in Iraq is widely understood as colossal. According to adjusted Department of Defense figures, each month of the Iraq conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers $10.3 billion. Now imagine that same monthly cost of $10.3 billion borne for another five and a half years and you will have some idea of how much more of a burden we are adding to our national debt.

And here's something even more sobering: many experts predict $700 billion is just the first installment.

The Bush administration pushed this country into a costly misadventure in Iraq. We should think hard about the full implications of this bailout before we let ourselves be led into another rash decision we will later regret.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Just the facts

A summation of Sarah Palin’s qualifications for Vice President of the United States.

Professional qualifications:
Mayor of a town of 9,000
Governor of a state of roughly 600,000 (two years)
Has traveled to Mexico and Canada
Made a trip to Iraq, Kuwait and Germany in 2007
Met a head of state for the first time several days ago

Political qualifications:
Pro-gun, long time NRA member
Opposes abortion even in cases of rape
Supports teaching creationism in public schools
Evangelical Christian
Just your "average hockey mom"

Based purely on the facts, it’s clear the GOP enthusiasm for Sarah Palin rests far more with political orthodoxy than professional competence.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Two Latinas become first ever sisters to serve in congress

DREAM IN COLOR
By Linda and Loretta Sanchez with Richard Buskin
Grand Central Publishing – September 2008

A book review by Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Linda and Loretta Sanchéz are the only sisters to ever serve in the United States Congress. Their new book, DREAM IN COLOR, does much more than define the Sanchéz sisters as politicians, however. In an engaging and candid narrative, we discover the sharply distinct identities of two women who share a rich legacy of values.

The Sanchéz sisters were raised in the same working-class household, but their personalities and professional styles could not be more different. Loretta is fastidious and an early riser. Linda is laid-back and does her best work in the wee hours of the night. Yet both were given a rich inheritance in a home headed by Mexican immigrant parents. From their mother Maria, the sisters received the gift of compassion, a love of learning, and a passion for community service. From their father Ignacio they gained a tireless work ethic and a respect for the dignity of honest labor. Even as their family immersed itself into the U.S. mainstream, Maria and Ignacio encouraged their children to retain the Spanish tongue and Latino customs. These assets would serve Linda and Loretta well as each later found her way into the world of politics.

More than an inspirational story, DREAM IN COLOR, gives us an insider’s glimpse into the bare knuckles arena of congressional politics. Despite the undertow of Washington’s political gamesmanship, the Sanchéz sisters emerge with their ideals intact, thanks to an upbringing that was modest in affluence but rich in social values. The Sanchéz sisters’ book reveals the challenges all legislators face in Washington’s swirl of competing agendas; a place where yesterday’s opponent becomes today’s ally. The sisters pull no punches either, bluntly disclosing the details behind their public feuds with other elected officials.

The rise to success of the Sanchéz sisters is a testament to the values shared by many Latino immigrants: a devotion to family, a tenacious work ethic, deep faith, and a strong sense of community. Engaging, revealing, and inspiring, DREAM IN COLOR is a portrait of two new faces in Washington who portend much about the future face of the United States.

The LPGA takes a mulligan on English its proficiency penalty

Shortly after announcing a new policy that would have fined foreign players who were not proficient in English, the LPGA withdrew the proposed rule. The reversal came following a widespread public outcry with many calling the new policy racist and xenophobic.

"I hope they consult civil rights groups, community organizations and leaders, so they don't come up with the same stupid decisions they came up with the first time," California state assemblyman Ted Lieu told the Los Angeles Daily Breeze.

Few would argue that proficiency in English is a worthwhile goal for foreign golfers playing in the United States. But the LPGA’s punitive approach created a well-deserved firestorm of protest. After hitting one this far out of bounds, let’s hope the LPGA will take a better shot at helping its players adapt to the demands of playing in a U.S. league.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Political spin personified

Want to see the art of political spin in action? Watch this.



It's an oversimplification, I know. But I've seen a distinct pattern in the ways each party campaigns.

The Democrats resort to double talk, trying to sound reasonable by giving vague answers to difficult questions.

The Republicans use lies, distortions, and unfounded accusations then call it "straight talk."

Most people who voted for George W. Bush later regretted electing someone who seemed like "a great guy to have a beer with" but turned out to be a disastrous president. Now Sarah Palin comes along and the same people are going to vote Republican once again because Palin seems like "the hockey mom" next door.

We get the government we deserve.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

America Libre selected as a fiction finalist in the Writers' League of Texas awards

I received a letter today announcing my novel AMERICA LIBRE had been selected as one of the six finalists in the Writers’ League of Texas Violet Crown fiction awards. Besides AMERICA LIBRE, the other fiction finalists are:

River’s Ebb by Jim Ainsworth
Harpsong by Rilla Askew
Evacuation Plan by Joe O’Connel
Sandhill County Lines by Clay Reynolds
Trail of the Red Butterfly by Karl H. Schlesier

Congratulations to my fellow authors. The winner of the fiction category will be announced November 1, 2008 in Austin, Texas.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

The party of Lincoln becomes the party of Rove

John McCain resisted the torture of his North Vietnamese jailers. He could not resist the dark allure of dirty politics.

Republicans once proudly called themselves the party of Lincoln. Today, they have become the party of Karl Rove.

John McCain began his campaign touting a Senate record of bi-partisan cooperation that earned him the reputation as a maverick. McCain often crossed the aisle to get the job done, much to the dismay of the Karl Rove wing of the Republican Party who would have rather hurt the country than side with a Democrat.

McCain’s bi-partisan reputation helped him win the Republican nomination. Even Republicans were tired of the bitter partisanship that had been so much a part of the Bush years. In February of this year, during the nominating campaign, McCain denounced Cincinnati radio personality Bill Cunningham for his disparaging use of Barrack Obama’s middle name, Hussein. That was the old John McCain, the true maverick and gentleman.

But after Senator McCain won the nomination and found himself trailing Obama, he turned to the dark side. He fired his campaign leadership and brought in the Karl Rove brigade.

The hyper-partisan hacks, who once gleefully hurled the “flip-flopper” label at anyone who had the courage to revaluate their position, convinced McCain he should change his views on many of the bi-partisan bills McCain co-authored that had earned him his reputation as a maverick. McCain did a 180 on taxes, tobacco, and immigration. The same handlers also convinced McCain to choose Sarah Palin when the senator really wanted Joe Liebermann. But the Rovers knew they had to fire up the raw meat Republicans and two moderate candidates on the same ticket were not going to do that, no matter how qualified.

The Rovers were also behind the nasty, pit-bull tenor of the Republican convention speeches on Wednesday. These hate-filled screeds attacked Obama without offering any tangible examples of alternatives. To paraphrase the CNN slogan, it was all negativity, all the time. Look for more Swift Boat smears of Obama and Biden coming up shortly.

John McCain, like so many others, has compromised his principles in his quest for the White House. We now have the sad spectacle of a once-independent senator and public servant descending into the caricature of a mud-slinging flip-flopping politician. John McCain resisted the torture of his North Vietnamese jailers. He could not resist the dark allure of dirty politics.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Imagine if it had been one of Obama’s daughters

News of Bristol Palin’s unwed pregnancy has drawn much sympathetic head nodding among the GOP faithful. “It’s happened in the best of families,” seems the most common reaction—and I agree. Many young women have been carried away by a moment that seemed so right at the time. Unfortunately, the consequences are often a mother and father who are not emotionally or financially ready to become parents and an atmosphere of shame; hardly the ideal environment in which to raise a child. That’s why our culture encourages young people to wait until they have a stable home before they make the choice to have children.

All the same, I wonder if the Republicans who have been so sympathetic to Bristol’s fate would be as sympathetic if it was one of Obama’s daughters who were pregnant and out-of-wedlock? Would we hear the same compassion? I very much doubt it. I suspect a pregnant black teenager would have regressive tongues wagging about irresponsibility and uncontrollable urges. In the usual racist code words, she would be cast as a role model for the perceived sins of her race.

Of course, Obama’s oldest daughter is only ten. So the possibility of a pregnancy is out of the question. Still, I have little doubt that if the tables were turned, the conversation would be tainted by the same racism that has stained every aspect of this campaign among some voters.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Would sex education have made a difference?

I feel guilty posting this image. Bristol Palin's fate is no different from that of thousands of other unfortunate teens. But the irony was just too much. Dan Quayle, who Palin resembles in so many ways, once derided the TV character Murphy Brown for glamorizing out-of-wedlock pregnancy. How ironic that the current Republican VP candidate would find her own daughter in a similar predicament.

Bristol Palin does not deserve to be publicly humiliated. All the same, right-to-lifers like Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle need to be lambasted for their narrow views. These hyper-moralists oppose any kind of birth control education. Their only solution to teenage pregnancy is abstinence.

Would Bristol's pregnancy have been avoided by education about contraceptives? No one can say. One thing is certain, though. Sarah Palin did not want her daughter taught anything about ways to prevent a pregnancy.

The entire Palin family will now have to live with the consequences.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Gustav could not have come at a better time for the GOP

The president's hurricane dodge has a downside. If the federal government’s response to hurricane Gustav is less than stellar, Mr. Bush has set himself up for yet another ignominy.

As a powerful hurricane once again threatens devastation to a fragile region of the U.S. coast, many at the Republican convention are grateful. The reason? President Bush will be “focusing on the planning for hurricane Gustav” and unable to attend the convention. Vice President Dick Cheney is also embroiled in these “high-level plans” and will skip his planned convention appearance as well.

Of course, everyone within the GOP knows this is simply a convenient excuse. Republican politicians have been moving away from President Bush like someone with B.O. on a bus. The hurricane ruse helps take some of the sting out of the humiliation.

What an incredible collapse for a president who once held record approval ratings. The high-water mark of the Bush presidency came in 2003 when he strutted on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a flight suit and declared the war in Iraq as a “mission accomplished.” Five years later, Bush is a pariah within his own party.

Is George W. Bush the worst president ever? You’d have to be a die-hard Bush supporter if you didn’t at least admit he’s in contention.

This hurricane dodge has a downside, however. If the federal government’s response to hurricane Gustav is less than stellar, Mr. Bush has set himself up for yet another ignominy.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez