Even before debate began Tuesday night, almost three-fourths of the Senate Republican Conference had already announced opposition to the first Latina ever nominated to the nation’s highest court. The party’s 2008 standard bearer, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), joined the chorus of opposition this week, and no likely contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has spoken in support of confirmation.

Some Republican strategists warn that the tone of the debate and statements of personal praise for Sotomayor’s hardscrabble upbringing in the Bronx will fall short with Latino voters, because the final GOP vote will appear so lopsided against her.

“Latinos see her as a symbol of Hispanic leadership in America,” said Lionel Sosa, a Latino political strategist who has advised several presidential candidates on Hispanic outreach, including McCain. “If they vote against Sotomayor, it’s a vote against Hispanic leadership in America. That’s the way Latino voters will see it.”

Others disagreed, saying there was little to be gained by trying to appease Latinos by voting simply based on ethnicity

The person who sent the letter has not been identified, but he or she was employed by a Washington lobbying firm called Bonner & Associates.– a pioneer in “strategic grassroots/grasstops” lobbying whose clients have included Citicorp, Aetna, PhRMA, Dow Chemical etc.

After being notified of the bogus Creciendo Juntos letter, staffers in Perriello’s office dug through the letters, e-mails and faxes Perriello received about the bill — the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 — and found five more forged letters, these purportedly from the Albemarle-Charlottesville branch of the NAACP.

So mail fraud or a simple exercise of First Amendment rights?

Chita Rivera is an accomplished and versatile actress, singer, and dancer, who has won Two Tony Awards and received seven more nominations while breaking barriers and inspiring a generation of women to follow in her footsteps. In 2002, she became the first Hispanic recipient of the coveted Kennedy Center Honor etc etc.

Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Indian war chief, is the author of seminal works in Native American history and culture. He is the last person alive to have received direct oral testimony from a participant in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. A veteran of World War II, Medicine Crow accomplished during the war all of the four tasks required to become a “war chief,” including stealing 50 Nazi SS horses from a German camp.

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Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Olga A. Méndez in 2004.
The cause was cancer, said her nephew, Erick Vazquez.

The accord would allow Mr. Zelaya to return as president, although with limited executive powers.

The military communiqué is significant because it is the first sign of support for the San José Accord by a powerful sector of the de facto government.
(See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/world/americas/26honduras.html )

However, the whole episode did bring up an important and rather uncomfortable point about Mr. Dobbs’ birth certificate. Nobody has actually seen it. To make matters worse a 16th century petard in the veteran commentator’s collection of antique armaments exploded at his home last evening, hoisting him several feet into the air and causing a broken leg.

She IS the future of the Republican Party!

Why care? Two reasons.
1 - Global warming. The interpretation with the strongest implications predict that a 2 degree Fahrenheit increase in average temperatures will lead to a 7.7 percent decrease in U.S. GDP and a 7.4 percent decrease in total GDP among the 97 countries in the data presented here.

2. The theory presented is a significant departure from any of the conventional wisdom about the economic disparity between the “developed” and the “developing” worlds

The Relationship between GDP and Temperature. A new study

The bodies of the 11 men and one woman were found tied and blindfolded near the town of La Huacana on Monday.

They had been ambushed by members of a drugs gang, in apparent retaliation for the capture of one of their leaders.

This is a frightening death rate of 30%, especially when compared to a death rate of less than one half of one per cent for the population in general for this virus.

Given the alarming obesity rates in the US we could be looking at a real problem