The Democrats cannot afford for the 2nd amendment issue to take political capital away from the broken immigration system and we appreciate seeing Mexican-American leaders such as Villaraigosa chime in on this.  We don’t want to see the 2nd amendment issue take political capital away the way that Health Care did under Obama’s first term.

Federal politics and policies will fix what is broken locally. The Immigration issue is a federal issue under the Supremacy Clause.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa On Immigration Reform: ‘The Time Is Now’ (VIDEO)

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Congress and President Obama to move now on comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to full citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Congress and President Obama to move now on comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to full citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“The time is now. We can’t wait another political season to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” he said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday. “We can’t do this piecemeal, and we can’t have a second-class citizenship. This has to be a full pathway to citizenship.”

The mayor went on to call immigration reform a moral and economic imperative. “If we bring these people — 11 million people — out of the dark and into the light, it’s about a $1.5 trillion impact to the U.S. economy,” he said. “The DREAMers alone — a $329 million impact.”

Villaraigosa will deliver this message to Washington Monday with a speech at the National Press Club luncheon on immigration reform.  FULL STORY>>>

The National Rifle Association (NRA) needs to run away from negative messaging.

I used to be an NRA member until Ted Nugent (board member of the NRA) started to

(Above) NRA message embraces ‘bitterness’

make hostile remarks against our President of the United States, and his political opposites.  As a result of the NRA turning a blind eye to the Nuge — I quit being a member.   Whether you voted for Obama or not and whether or not you stand on the other side of the political aisle — one should not wish death upon fellow Americans and certainly not our elected officials and especially our President! To my knowledge, the NRA has not yet removed Nugent from their board.

During 2012, Nugent said:

“If the coyote’s in your living room, pissing on your couch, it’s not the coyote’s fault. It’s your fault for not shooting him…” 

I am a believer in freedom of speech but how far do we take that?  God help Nugent if anything happens to our President.  I have already asserted my concerns here and my growing discomfort with the NRA.  You would think the NRA would have already learnt a lesson when Lee Harvey Oswald had purchased his rifle, a Mannticher-Carcano, through an ad placed in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine later used on November 22, 1963, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Now, before we go any further, I do believe in protecting our 2nd amendment rights, but I also believe that we should re-evaluate automatic assault rifles and our mental illness programs. How is it that we have trillion$ to spend in bombing the shit out of other countries and war yet we slash budgets that support the mentally ill here in our own Homeland?

I DO NOT BELIEVE WE SHOULD BAN ALL GUNS.   [I'm confident Mexican-Americans who revere Pancho Villa and Emilio Zapata have somewhat similar views, too. So I'm told.]

That said, I do believe it is dangerous for the NRA to embrace a negative message while tying it into the 2nd amendment agenda.  What may have been meant for good with regard to the NRA is now backfiring.  Why is it important for the NRA to run from embracing the negative message of bitterness?  Don’t they know that they are shooting themselves in the foot?  Don’t they know that subliminal messages can be taken very wrong?

How can the NRA rebrand itself before it’s too late?

They can begin with taking Nugent off their board.  They can also stop pushing such negative energy via ‘bitterness messaging’ and simply push the fact that owning guns is a 2nd amendment right under the United States Constitution.  They can also address the mental illness situation that seems to be choking our Nation.  There is no need to turn a blind eye to these realities.  It is a reality that our Arizona Congressman via Gabby Giffords was shot in the head by a madman.  Why should we run away from that reality?

We know what is going on here …  the mainstream media has gone from immigrant scares to gun scares and the gun issue is now dominating the airwaves.  Talk of banning guns is causing American citizens to purchase more weaponry for grandfather law purposes.

Extremists on both sides still have not figured out that they can start by figuring out what they do agree on so that they can build healthy discussions and move our Country forward to a better place.

The solution?  Both sides ought to find out what they can agree on and build from there.

smdh

Before … the trend in the media had much to do with “immigrant scares” and now we see “gun scares” taking place.  That said — I still can’t understand why a pipe bomber is still on the loose after years of pipe bombs being planted in our State?  Arpaio has been very good at ‘catching undocumented immigrants’ while they are working at fast food restaurants and local businesses — but can he catch the mysterious pipe bomber?

A bomb squad detonated a suspicious device Saturday afternoon at a parking lot in front of a Safeway in Central Phoenix.

The lot near 7th Avenue and Osborn was roped-off and shoppers were being re-routed.

KTAR’s Lou Romano spoke with store employees who said it was “business as usual” inside the store, but the lot was full of police cars and fire trucks.

Authorities are looking for suspects.

Too many pipe bomb incidents are occurring in our state and it seems it would be a good idea to have a bomb dog handler patrolling grocery stores, random neighborhoods where pipe bombs have been discovered in an effort to deter explosives. More importantly, these dogs are trained to detect explosive devices several hundred yards away.

I believe gun control can take political capital away from fixing the broken immigration system, too, if Mexican-Americans do not have a strong grassroots political movement, and if Mexican-American politicians do not step up to the plate. 

Gone are the days for Latinos to hold up a victim card because IMMIGRATION IS A FEDERAL ISSUE.  Obama has the power to eliminate the “Arpaios” and the racial profiling goon squads in his 2nd term now.  This is exactly

Ranking by Population — Pew

why I voted for Obama in 2012 because I know he doesn’t have to worry about getting re-elected.  This is a hot button issue and again … the immigration issue is a federal one under the Supremacy Clause of our United States Constitution.  Be reminded that both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush waited til they were re-elected into their 2nd term before addressing immigration.  Everyone knows that a 2nd term President no longer has to worry about being re-elected, therefore, the Obama administration has clout — particularly when the Democratic Party still holds the majority seats in the Senate.

More importantly, everyone knows how women and Mexican-American / Latinos helped Democrats maintain their power on November 6, 2012.  Women and Latinos made a resounding voting statement in 2012 and Democrats cannot afford to lose that momentum.

Remember when Congressman Luis Gutierrez threatened Latinos would stay home and not vote in 2012 because Obama didn’t pass immigration reform within his 1st term?  (I really like Gutierrez — I really do, but he is Puerto Rican and he needs to be careful with painting with a broad brush especially since Mexican-Americans have been working hard on getting out the vote.  Several did not think the “don’t vote” message was productive).  Mexicanos must get out the vote because that is the only way they can show Washington D.C. that we are paying attention and it is a way to flex our political muscle.

That said, it was interesting for me to see how Nakaruma quoted Cuban-Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.  Doesn’t he know Cubans only make up 3% of the entire Latino population?  More importantly, doesn’t Nakaruma know that Rubio supported the controversial SB 1070 and did not support the DREAM Act when we needed it the most?  The person to seek a quote from is Sen. Robert Menendez (also Cuban-American) who has taken the initiative to put an immigration reform bill on the floor.

Who are the ones mostly getting deported?  It’s isn’t the Cubans — it is the Mexicans who were deported in record numbers, therefore, it makes sense to talk to more Mexican-American leaders who are feeling the pain the most because they are the ones who have witnessed their extended families forced apart and deported.

Where are the quotes of Mexican-American Representatives as it relates to where most of the population is at in the southwestern part of the United States?  Raul Grijalva, Ed Pastor, Toney Anaya, Xavier Becerra, Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sánchez, and so forth? Had the Democratic Mexican-American woman and candidate via Amanda Aguirre been elected this past year, we would have seen her take the bull by the horns on this issue.

Make no mistake, we are now living in the Information Age where keeping track of the Mexican-American politician(s) is easier with regard to their voting records and the initiatives they have taken at the Hill.  I am a mere writer who has no political power — and the ones who have the power are those elected officials who have been elected to push policies that will fix broken things at the Hill. Again, Arpaio’s racial profile regime can end when Congress fixes the clearly broken system.

It is critical for the Mexican-American voters to keep track of their Mexican-American representatives (particularly in the southwestern part of the United States where Mexicans dominate in population growth).  Where is the strong Mexican-American congressional politician at  to take the lead on immigration since the  immigration issue is a federal issue under the Supremacy Clause?  We all know the Supreme Court reinforced the Supremacy Clause issue during the summer of 2012 when most of SB1070 was shredded and gutted. Chicanos must work harder and be more assertive.  It is a good idea for the DREAM Act students to assert themselves because the political game is all about the ante up while raising the call.  While the DREAMers ante up via protests, Mexican-American and/or Latinos who agree with reasonable immigration ought to find what both sides can agree on and build from there.  Note:  Mexican-Americans and Chicanos will more than likely not be for building a class of people who are paying into the federal tax reserve system without proper representation.

Can we address both gun control on automatic / assault-type of weapons and fixing the broken immigration system?

I believe we can do both.

Nonetheless, I am curious what readers think and believe this poll is necessary to ascertain intelligence.

Inauguration Day is coming up, and we should take a proactive position on policies instead of a reactionary one.

In the meantime … do pray for the safety of our United States President.  These are two tough issues, and I’m concerned about the volatility of both the gun and immigration issue under the Obama administration.    Do you know how many racists in Arizona love their automatic and assault rifle weaponry?  Two examples from Arizona I have are J.T. Ready and Shawna Forde that will point to my concern with regard to how wacko racists with guns can be.

In the meantime, please take the poll below.  I voted “no” because I think we can address both issues in a productive and reasonable manner.