Gov Brewer and Pres Obama "Face Off"...

Huff Post Reports Brewer and Obama Face Off over her book and immigration reform

Shout out to Bernardo Jimenez whose post on this got my attention.
Gov Brewer has been mentioned in this blog before. When I saw this story, before watching the video below, I was pleased to see the president confront the representative for AZ uber-conservative government. However, the angles in the videos leave out the still with the pointing taking place.

(photo: Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Watching the video opens up the ambiguity of what happens during the exchange which is described on the AZStarNet: "According to pool reporters who were present Wednesday afternoon, Obama and Brewer seemed to be talking at the same time, seemingly over each another, until he walked away in mid-sentence."

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/obama-steps-off-his-jet-into-a-clash-with-brewer/article_10dd71c3-aaf0-5b5e-81d2-bf2576139c1c.html#ixzz1ka95d68f

The Huff Post isn't allowing the video to embed, but you can see the raw AP footage with interesting timed cut-aways here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/jan-brewer-obama_n_1232367.html

Update
Better yet, check out Pocho.com's take on their "Exclusive Audio" of the interaction:
http://pocho.com/exclusive-audio-when-obama-met-brewer-at-the-airport/

NPR's story: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/26/145910143/the-public-respects-civility-but-rewards-rudeness?sc=fb&cc=fp

Lastly, internet memes can be poignant:

Prop 107 bans Affirmative Action in Arizona

More Bad News from Arizona

A few friends went to the All Souls Procession yesterday and one of the local news channels said a few people found the procession to be a good place to vent about Prop 107 banning affirmative action in AZ (http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=13460971).

(photo from coachella.com website)

It's only slightly ironic that the channel is K-OLD when in fact the Souls Procession is linked to the Dia de los Muertos celebration of those friends and family members who've passed away because it is a kind of show of respect many times for elders who are no longer with us. But the disappointing situation with the passing of 107 means that much of the progress to reverse structural inequality that makes it difficult for people of color to succeed in higher education will be lost. NPR has a good story on the current debate (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129216337) and what seems to be overlooked many times by students who claim to have their places in school 'taken by less qualified students of color' is that less qualified non-students of color (athletes, legacies & children whose parents make endowments) might be taking their spots. Still, it's easier for these entitled students to argue for what should come to them, even though affirmative action was started to offset the balance of educational inequality in public schools. It's too bad voters are the last to know that 'pulling oneself up by their bootstraps' is a myth because it doesn't account for the support of others or the presence of a functioning educational system.

Eduardo Galeano on NPR

The Book Hugo Chavez Gave Obama

Eduardo Galeano's Latin American History book Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent has been billed as the leftist history book that Chavez presented Obama on the 'scandalous' occasion when Obama shook Chavez' hand.



Truth be told, I'm waiting on a copy via Interlibrary Loan because the UA's went mysteriously missing, but I did catch the NPR interview with Galeano this morning & I think it's worth a listen:

(photo by Marcelo Isarrualde)

Eduardo Galeano Contemplates History's Paradoxes

I especially like when he says: "Richness in the world is a result of other people's poverty. We should begin to shorten the abyss between haves and have-nots."

Richard Rodriguez on NPR

Inspiration for Latin American scholars everywhere, Richard Rodriguez discusses Cosmic Race & Age Beyond Race (from Feb '09)
Never a disappointment, Rodriguez espouses the age of Americans wanting to be 'multiple'. Conceptually, this interests me, but practically, I can see where this might be appropriated by 'the rhetoric of the end of racism'. "The notion of being of several things" sounds an awful lot like the myth of the melting pot. Something in me wonders if he's just stoking the fire when he says things like "I don't want to be Mexican" and goes on to say all of the ethnicities that he wants to be; it's true that he's arguing against mono-culturalism, but does he do so in a conscious attempt to be controversial by infusing his arguments with digs that feed into his contrarian ethos as a self-loathing minority?

Blog & Site to Check Out

I enjoy NPR Latino USA Podcast, but this site looks good for a quick fix of daily issues:

http://www.hispanictips.com/


Under the influence of post-Marxism in Rhet, I don't know if it goes against the ideology to keep an eye on business concerns, or if it makes me better informed. I'm siding with the latter.

http://latinobusinessreview.blogspot.com/