Koch Brothers Extremists Reach Out for Hispanic Votes

Ashley Parker. New York Times.

MIAMI — The crowd that lined up around a megachurch here last week — largely Hispanic and mostly poor — came for the Saturday services, but also for the free flu shots that were being offered in the church, and for the Thanksgiving turkeys being given away just outside.

   But before they received their turkeys, those in line were asked to answer a few questions: Were they more likely to vote for a Republican or a Democrat in the 2016 presidential election? And did they feel that the government should increase or decrease federal spending in order to improve the economy?

Volunteers, holding clipboards and speaking mainly in Spanish, collected the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of everyone who showed up.

The approach — a free Thanksgiving turkey in exchange for some personal information — captures the mission of Libre, a multimillion-dollar effort financed by the conservative billionaire Kochs and devoted to winning over Hispanics, with the message that economic freedom and smaller-government principles will yield opportunity and prosperity.

Read the entire piece here. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/us/politics/libre-backed-by-the-kochs-aims-to-raise-gop-standing-with-hispanics.html?_r=0

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Labor asks for a No vote on Prop. 32.

By Duane Campbell

Many in labor believe that California Proposition 32 would be a near fatal blow to the California labor movement.

On the grounds that "special interests have too much power over government,"  conservative attorneys  wrote   California Proposition 32 to   ban direct contributions to California candidates by corporations and labor unions. It prohibits the collection of "political funds" from corporate employees and union members via payroll deduction, even if the employee or member voluntarily approves. Political funds include money spent for or against a candidate or ballot measure or for a party or political action committee, or PAC.

The proposition prohibits corporations and unions from using payroll deductions for political purposes, but of course corporations don’t use payroll deductions; they use their profits.  So, corporate donations would not be banned. Only unions would be affected by this ban.  It is a political bait and switch.  The proposition pretends to ban political contributions from both corporations and labor, and then they exempted the corporations.

If Proposition 32 passes, unions would lose much of their ability to organize and to fight back in politics. Learn more at www.stopspecialexemptions.org

Ruben Navarrette is a fool - and misinformed

Ruben Navarrette is a fool.  And, he is published in the Sacramento Bee as an informed essayist on the Latino population.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/30/4015119/latino-numbers-are-up-why-isnt.html#ixzz1cJJKqYNI

Navarrette is a paranoid fool who spends too much time reading  Tea Party/ Republican talking points developed and funded by the Koch brothers. He is primarily  a source  on the fringe party element of the Tea Party.  Read his other writings on Cesar Chavez and the UFW, you will see his very conservative perspective.

  RE: bilingual education establishment. I guess he hasn't read the paper since 1996. Bilingual Education was eliminated in almost all California schools with Prop. 227. - an anti immigrant proposition much like those of Arizona and Alabama.  In Sacramento City Schools, for example, there are 77 schools.  Five of the schools have a bilingual program for less than 20% of the students in the schools. It usually lasts 2-3 years of schooling at best.  Only one school is fully bilingual, The Language Academy.  The Academy is a charter school.  Only parents who want to have their children there are enrolled.  The same campus has an English language school.  The hypocrisy of Navarette and his Tea Party allies is revealed.