Panel discussion on illegal immigration in the media now and this weekend. See below for information.

D.A. King president, of The Dustin Inman Society, was a panelist on a seven member panel discussion on Latinos and illegal immigration that was broadcast live on Texas PBS TV [KLRN-TV] and Texas Public Radio from San Antonio last Sunday, May 7, 2006.

Different versions of the event available this online and on PBS TV this weekend.

Panelists were:
Henry Cisneros, former Mayor of San Antonio and former HUD Secretary in the Clinton administration.

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, author, radio host and Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
Archbishop of San Antonio Jose H. Gomez.
Macarena Hernandez, Editorial writer, Dallas Morning News
D.A. King, president the Dustin Inman Society/columnist, Marietta Daily Journal, Marietta, Georgia.
Richard Langlois, Chairman, Bexar [TX[ county GOP, Criminal defense attorney, San Antonio.
Lee J. Terán Clinical Professor of Law, St. Mary’s University & Immigration Lawyer

Moderator: Maria Hinojosa, PBS NOW correspondent and National Council of La Raza Ruben Salazar Award winner , formerly with CNN.

We hope that you can find time to watch or listen to one or all of the three versions of the event. There was a live audience present and the Q&A segment was quite lively.

Information on accessing the panel discussion below.

Listen to a tape of the live audio of complete one hour panel discussion [ without Q&A] taped from the live broadcast on Texas Public Radio [unedited] here. Available now.

Watch The PBS broadcast [edited, with some Q&A] here . Please check your local PBS listings for the NOW show. See NOW schedule online here. [ hold the “face for radio” letters please.]

CLIPS FROM THE COMING PBS BROADCAST HERE.

Listen to Latino USA - NPR national radio broadcast [edited] here.

Read San Antonio Express-News report here.

Feedback to D.A King [please] DA@TheDustinInmanSociety.org contact info for PBS and NPR available on respective Websites above.
Phew.

Veteran war correspondent Fred Reed is one of those manly fellows, like actor John Wayne, who finds life in Mexico more to his taste than life in America. So, Fred moved to Lake Chapala outside Guadalajara a few years ago, making him one of the very few pundits who knows Mexico and Mexicans.

Fred writes:

The Latinos coming into America are heavily Indian and uneducated. Mexican ophthalmologists do not swim the river. Mexicans who can make a decent living do not want to live in the United States. Thus the US gets the losers, the second-grade educations, people who on average have neither the intellect nor the urge to study. Yes, there are exceptions. But they are exceptions.

Everyone says, “But the Hispanics work hard.” They do indeed, in the first generation. Many people in fields such as construction have told me that the Latinos are the backbone of their operations, that blacks don’t want to work, have attitudes, show up if they feel like it and quit without warning. The Latinos work, now. Their children do terribly in school, however, drop out, and lose the desire to work. Then they join gangs.

Los Angeles Mayor Anotonio Villaraigosa rode into office as the Latino Mayor, flexing the political muscles resulting from the hispanic population explosion in the city. He was touted by the media as emblematic of America’s new latino power. But now he is obviously looking in the mirror, thinking higher office, and being the Mexican Mayor doesn’t sound quite so cool [ The mayor's immigration dilemma, LA Times, 5/14/06].

Like so many other politicians throughout U.S. history, Mexican American candidates usually seek to leverage their ethnicity to win elections and gain access to the mainstream. They unabashedly appeal to their Latino base, but, once in office, they seek to broaden their profile, with their next bid for a higher post in mind.

As Molly Ivins says, “You gotta dance with them what brung you.” Villaraigosa’s rise to power is completely the result of Los Angeles becoming a Mexican city, and he won’t easily put that behind him — although he is apparently mounting a media campaign to erase a past now politically inconvenient for a man with ambitions.

Interestingly enough, there is another article from today on the identical subject [Immigration rallies force L.A. mayor into political tight spot - Villaraigosa backs away from image as single-issue leader, SF Chronicle 5/14/06].

He still fumes at a Time magazine cover on his election victory that bore the headline “Latino Power.” He insists he was elected not because of his name or heritage, but because of his proposals on issues like improving education, reducing violence and improving health care in Los Angeles.

“Some people say I won because of this growing ‘Latino power,’ ” said Villaraigosa, his finger stabbing the air. “I won because the people of Los Angeles … judge people based on their talent and what they can do.”

Yeah, right. He puts on an expensive suit and expects us to forget his former life as an Aztlan activist.

We haven’t forgotten his expressions of loyalty to his ancestral home (e.g. L.A. Mayor: Mexico Will Shape My Policies) and particularly his support for Special Order 40, the city’s tough sanctuary policy which prevents police from checking the immigration status of criminals. Mayor Vile has never repudiated his Chairmanship of the UCLA chapter of the MEChA brown power racists, along with numerous other unsavory relationships.

Also, listen to a 1997 sound clip of Assembly Member Villaraigosa declaring that it is the duty of all elected hispanic officials to support benefits for illegal aliens.

Good news, bad news: WE haven’t forgotten the obnoxious past of Mayor Vile, but the hopeless MSM never noticed in the first place.