If there is one vice most Latinas have, especially as we get older, is that we don't exercise enough. It's clearly evident with the skyrocketing diabetes rates among us.

So why don't we exercise more? No time? Exhaustion? Just don't care? Too busy?

Jennifer Lopez explains why she's training for a triathlon.

Younger Latinas are trying to change that perception. One example is the singer Jennifer Lopez. After giving birth to twins, she is now training for a triathlon and sharing her experiences on a blog at Self.com.

But she's a celebrity, right? She probably has maids, cooks and nannies and so of course she has time to exercise, but what's the excuse for the rest of us older Latinas who are not doing it?

Well, it might have something to do with being Latina. Researchers at the University of Texas are conducting an unique study on Latinas, and other women of color, 40-60-years of age, to gauge our perspectives on exercise — they need our help.

If you qualify, there's a little bit of an incentive for participating. Read on to see if you would like to be a part of helping in this worthwhile study.

It was only 10 years ago that the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences decided to create a separate category honoring Tejano music at the annual Grammy awards.

Now comes word from industry insiders that the Tejano category is in danger of being scrapped because not enough Tejano CD submissions for this year's 51st Grammy awards show have been received for judging.

The deadline for CD submissions is only one week away, on Sept. 3.

Before Tejano garnered its own category, it had been lumped within a broader category titled Mexican American music. Yet, Mexican American only identifies the ethnicity of the artists and doesn't begin to represent the differences between Tejano and other kinds of Latin/Mexican music.

Had there been a Tejano category in 1993, Selena, the acknowledged "Queen of Tejano," would have won a Grammy for best Tejano album rather than "Best Mexican-American Album."

It would seem a shame to turn the clock back when such progress has been made in 10 years by elevating the Tejano genre to its rightful place alongside jazz, rock, alternative, etc.

Being awarded best Mexican-American album is like saying we speak Mexican — It's Spanish tonto!

Tejano artists need to move fast before a worthy category is eliminated. If that happens, then it's no one's fault but the artists who failed to understand that to be in the game, you have to play!

While not much is being reported in the traditional press about the ongoing battle along the U.S.-Mexico border between U.S. residents fighting the Department of Homeland Security's intent to construct a physical barrier between Mexico and the U.S., it's still happening.

Marches are still being walked in protest and residents fear how construction will impact their way of life — it's a foregone consensus that the fence will not complement the environment.

The latest media organization to travel down to the Texas Rio Grande Valley and see for themselves what is happening with the controversy is the film crew from PBS' NOW program.

Their findings appear in the NOW episode titled "The Border Fence."

Featuring familiar CNN journalist, Maria Hinojosa, the show explores people's fears about the fence, but in a new twist also attempts to find out if some residents are actually getting preferential treatment in having their properties spared from the wall.

The video is available for viewing online, along with, some personal insights by journalist Hinojosa that gives a well-rounded report on what is happening at the Texas/Mexico border and why people have no faith in the wall, current immigration policy or this Administration.

Today is the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. It's also National Women's Equality Day.

Even with all the progress that's been accomplished by women and for women over the years, and on the heels of the first serious woman contender for the presidency of the United States — it's common knowledge that women still have a long way to go.

Yet, some women are content with the rights and privileges they currently have and feel that nothing more is needed and everything has already been gained. These are women who choose to go through life with their "eyes wide shut."

Otherwise, they might see a few things:

For one, the 2006 annual median earnings for a full-time, year-round working woman was $32,515; a full-time, year-round working man earned $42,261.

Strange that there should be such a discrepancy in earnings, especially when the rates of women (25-29) receiving their Bachelor's degrees stand at 32% versus only 25% of men of the same age receiving their degrees.

And then there's the issue of a woman's right to reproductive healthcare.

On August 21, 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released proposed regulations that could seriously undermine access to basic reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion.

The rule leaves open the possibility that based on religious beliefs institutions and individuals can deny women access to birth control. It also permits individuals to refuse to provide information and counseling about basic heath care services. And it expands existing laws by permitting a wider range of health care professionals to refuse to provide even referrals for abortions.

While it's admirable for people to take a stand on principle and to fight for what they believe in, women's reproductive rights have always been fought in the arenas of religion and male dominant circles, with no voice from women allowed. The surprising element is that women have been OK with those parameters in the ongoing debate.

Yet, this is the 21st Century and if women will ever reach parity with their male counterparts, it's time that women be allowed to truly make decisions for themselves and not be subjected to a biasness that has nothing to do with the best interests of women, but rather an old-school notion that men know what's better for women, than women know themselves.

The public has 30 days to let the Department of Health and Human Services know what they think about these new health regulations for women.

The American Civil Liberties Union has created an action alert to use to send to government officials your thoughts on the new regulations, as well as, a page explaining what these regulations mean to the average woman.

It's not good nor does it sound like a policy that should be coming from a nation that just saw their first woman run for president.

Will it take another 88 years before real progress can be claimed for women's rights?

The idea that the Latino vote could play a pivotal position with this year's presidential election is one that is appreciated by all Latinos.

It's also being capitalized upon.

After all, knowing that both parties are strategizing on how to better reach out to the Latino electorate provides the perfect platform for Latino organizations to make their voices heard about the issues that are important to the Latino community.

These issues, which will impact the country's future if they are not addressed in a timely manner, are presented in a new report released today.

The preliminary report, The State of Latinos 2008: Defining an Agenda for the Future,” is the collaborative result of The University of Denver (DU) and Grupo Salinas’ Fundacion Azteca America, the non-profit arm of the Azteca America Network.

The full report will be released on September 23 in a televised forum to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., as well as, to both presidential campaigns.

The report focuses on five issues of importance to the Latino community: education, health care, the economy, immigration and the Latino vote.

Among the general findings are that Latino communities want to be self-sufficient and contribute to the U.S. society. However, Latinos face major challenges in accessing quality education, health care, and economic services. And a lack of comprehensive immigration reform widens disparities and limits the future progress of the Latino community and the nation.

While the fuller report will make policy recommendations, one such suggestion included in the preliminary report is that the next administration create a "presidential advisory committee on Latino issues to increase the access of the Latino community to vital educational, health, economic, and civic opportunities."

This report signifies that it is no longer sufficient to merely "diagnose" the ailments that afflict the Latino electorate but it is time to rectify the problems before the future majority demographic of the nation also transforms this country into one that is the most highly under-educated, unhealthy, working poor and apathetic towards civic engagement.

The problems are known and even how to fix them, but what is lacking may be political will or acknowledgement of just how big an impact Latinos will have on the U.S. economy/society in the future.

It's called "Hecho en Tejas," (Made in Texas) and what started out as an anthology of great Chicano/a writers who share the special bond of being from the Lone Star State has morphed into a traveling literary show where Chicano/a pride comes alive on stage.

According to one of the writers, Christine Granados, who has been instrumental in organizing the traveling literary fest, each show usually attracts about 200 people.

"Imagine 200 Mexican Americans in a room digging the arts. It’s a beautiful thing. What is also beautiful is the array of talent Hecho offers, mixing the old with the new and allowing the new to shine, our future to spring forth," Christine said.

Though the shows have been concentrated in Texas, courtesy of online video we can all now enjoy at least highlights of the show. It's a great reminder of how rich the Mexican-American culture really is.

Hecho en Tejas-Dallas event from Rick on Vimeo.

One is an author, another is a deputy sheriff, another is a pediatric nurse practitioner, the other is an accountant and the last one is an educator and parent support specialist, but what they all have in common is that they are mothers and are the faces for a new campaign called Five Moms: Stopping Teen Cough Medicine Abuse.

The bilingual campaign's intent is to educate parents about a little-known drug abuse problem happening among teenagers today — getting high off of cough medicine.

According to the site:

Cough medicine abuse happens when teens take extreme amounts—sometimes as much as 25 to 50 times the recommended dose—of cough medicine to get high. The “high” is caused by consuming a large amount of dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in many over-the-counter cough medicines. The reality is that that one out of every 10 teens—more than two million—has abused cough medicine to get high.

The abuse has already generated slang terms for it: "Robo-tripping, Dex-ing, Robo-fizzing, and Skittling." The kids refer to themselves as "syrup heads" or "robotards."

The 5 mothers are working with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association to spread the word about cough medicine abuse so that families can avoid the sad and deathly consequences of cough medicine abuse.

The goal of the campaign is simple — alert more parents that cough medicine abuse is happening.

For symptoms of the abuse, its consequences and how to talk to teens about it, visit the five moms website.

Hispanic Heritage month is a little less than a month away but already there are plans underway to mark the annual observance.

Among those revving up for the special month is PBS. The public education channel has a whole host of special programming, along with, some new changes that will stay long after the Oct. 15 deadline. Most notably, those changes involve the backbone of their programming — children's shows.

Sesame Street's newest characters are Murray the Monster and Ovejita his Spanish-speaking lamb.
(Source: Sesame Workshop)

It seems Sesame Street gets a new Spanish-speaking character named Ovejita (little lamb) who is the sidekick to a new monster in town named Murray. Ovejita tries to help Murray figure out a new problem every day but first, Murray has to figure out Ovejita's clues which are delivered in Spanish. Some other children's shows will also be adding Spanish to their vocabulary : Between the Lions, Dragon Tales and Jay Jay the Jet Plane.

In addition to the children's programming, PBS plans to air some repeats of favorite Latino-themed shows along with three new ones:

LOS LONELY BOYS COTTONFIELDS AND CROSSROADS
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 9:30-11:00 p.m. ET
After a childhood of playing cantinas and honky tonks from Texas to Tennessee, Los Lonely Boys have rocked their way to the top of the American music industry, determined to fulfill their father’s long-held dream. This documentary feature film tells the story of three Mexican-American brothers from San Angelo, Texas, who create a unique sound that melds the core of the early San Angelo music scene of the 1950s and 60s with a signature style they call “Texican.”

LATINOS ’08
Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET
LATINOS ’08 examines the 2008 election through the prism of ethnic politics. Latinos are less cohesive than other voting blocs, and they do not fit the black/white racial binary that has long shaped American politics. This documentary examines how today’s candidates and advocacy groups are trying to mobilize and attract this unpredictable group of voters. Will McCain manage to win back Latino defectors, in light of his party’s harsh rhetoric on immigration? Will Obama succeed in securing the votes of the many Latinos who supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries? Another subject of inquiry will be the effectiveness — or lack thereof — of Latino politicians in advancing Latino interests and promoting Latino unity. As these politicians enter the upper echelons of American politics, they face inevitable pressure to abandon their ethnic identity and constituencies. Will the Latino electorate coalesce nonetheless, united around the immigration issue and hemispheric foreign policy considerations? Or will ethnic considerations be trumped by class, education and other factors? In investigating such questions, LATINOS ’08 sheds light on an important part of America’s future. In HD where available.

P.O.V. “Calavera Highway”
Tuesday, September 18, 2008, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
When brothers Armando and Carlos Peña set off to carry their mother’s ashes to south Texas, their road trip turns into a quest for answers about a strangely veiled past. As they reunite with five other brothers, the two men try to piece together their family’s shattered history. Why was their mother cast out by her family? What happened to their father, who disappeared during the notorious 1954 U.S. deportation program Operation Wetback? “Calavera Highway” is a sweeping story of seven Mexican-American men grappling with the meaning of masculinity, fatherhood and a legacy of rootless beginnings.

Check the PBS press page for a full listing of other specials to be aired for Hispanic Heritage Month.

There are five states, according to the U.S. Census, where the percentage of girls who have not graduated from high school and who gave birth in 2006 was higher than the national average.

The states are: Arizona, California, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.

The question must be asked, "Why do these particular states share this sad statistic?"

The U.S. Census released a new report today — New Analysis Offers State-by-State Look at Fertility.

(Source: lacuna.org)

Among the findings, there is an interesting tidbit of news that is not really new but doesn't get the attention from media or the health field as it should —

Second generation Hispanic women tend to have lower fertility rates than either foreign-born Hispanics or those who were third generation (i.e., native and of native parents).

In plainer English, women whose parents came directly from the Mother Country have fewer children than their own daughters.

The natural assumption would be that with each successive generation there would be smaller families and education would play a more dominant role. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that third-generation Latinas (native-born and themselves children of native-born) are doing the opposite.

We see more third-generation Latinas dropping out of school, getting pregnant and working in low-skilled jobs and that may be the reason for the Census findings.

In a separate report on Hispanics, in preparation for Hispanic Heritage Month 2008, the U.S. Census found that 20.6 percent of Latinos lived in poverty and only 13 percent, ages 25 and older, had a Bachelor's degree or higher.

The scenario that all this data seems to suggest is that there may be two scenarios: Some immigrant parents arrive in the U.S. with high hopes for their children that education will be their ticket out of poverty. The children seeing the struggles of their parents are move motivated to do well in school and succeed. They pass these same expectations onto their children.

The other scenario: Some immigrant parents arrive here with a strong work ethic and a weak appreciation for education. For these families, it's all about labor and the sweat that comes from manual muscle flexing, not from mental gymnastics. It doesn't matter that their jobs are minimum wage jobs - it's dinero.

For these families, their lives revolve around work and family. The bigger the family, the bigger the pride. It's a perspective that is passed down to children and grandchildren — until someone realizes a college degree can bring in a higher paycheck, and with it the realization of just how much it costs to have a bigger family.

Mention the name Selena, and still 13 years after her tragic murder her name is recognizable and synonymous with the genre she helped elevate to Grammy heights — Tejano music.

Tejano, with its mix of accordian, guitar, saxophone and trumpet, is the signature music of Texas' early Latino residents. It has evolved into a music genre uniquely Texas.

And Texas being a big state with a lot of Tejano music fans, it's only fitting that the National Tejano Music Convention be brought back to Texas after spending the past few years in Las Vegas.

This year, the convention is in Dallas, Texas from today, August 15-17. Organizers expect over 10,000 fans to descend on Dallas for three days of everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-Tejano-music-y-más. Sessions for Friday and Saturday are devoted to the history and current state of the Tejano music industry, as well as, lessons on how to dance cumbia and polka. Both nights are capped off with "mega Tejano dances" lasting till after midnight and featuring well-known and legendary Tejano music artists.

If you're thinking that's great but I can't be there to enjoy it, you're wrong!

Word has come that the event will be live blogged featuring video and pictures. What's unique about the live blog is that it will be in English at a Spanish-language site.

Dallas' Spanish-language daily Al Dia's music blog will be handed over for the weekend for the express purpose of letting fans of Tejano music know what is happening at the convention — but in English.

To check out the Tejano National Convention, click over to Loca por la Musica blog and enjoy some foot-shuffling, body-twirling music blogging!

Whoever coined the old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" never imagined a haunting photo exhibit as the one titled Ausencias. Otherwise, the saying would have been "A picture is worth a thousand words unsaid — and more."

There are few times in our lives when we can sincerely say that we are touched by a photograph of strangers but in an exhibit that started last year in Europe and this fall is winding its way through Latin America, Ausencias is leaving art patrons speechless.

Ausencias chronicles a small part of the "forced disappearances" of over 30,000 Argentinians between 1976 and 1983 by the Argentine military dictatorship. The brainchild of photographer Gustavo Germano pairs decades old photos with new ones — the photos are the same: same location, same people, same poses, with one exception — there is someone missing in every modern-day photo. They are the ones who disappeared at the hands of the military junta in power at the time.

The pictures are riveting knowing that the missing people were never to have been seen again. They were young people: sons, daughters, parents themselves, novios, etc. To this day, family members in Argentina wonder where the bodies of their loved ones are. These people have become known as "Los Desaparecidos."

Laura with her parents in 1976. In 2006, Laura alone.
(Source: Ausencia exhibit)

The exhibit highlights an era in Argentine history that needs to be remembered and through Ausencias, it is.

Since the exhibit doesn't currently have any U.S. dates, the following YouTube video gives a small glimpse of what the exhibit is like and we can hear in Gustavo's own words (in Spanish) his reasons and feelings for creating Ausencia.

There's a new book blog in cyberspace these days. Yet, unlike Latina Lista's own Bookshelf that basically reviews non-fiction books for the adult market, the Latin Baby Book Club (LBBC) reviews books — can you guess — for children.

Yet, the LBBC has more than just book reviews. The site also carries reviews of:

bilingual songs and literature for children (ages infant to young adult), book suggestions for Latino parents, interviews with emerging and established authors, the official LBBC's Book of the Month/Libro del Mes, special events being held at local libraries and/or bookstores, and mucho, mucho más!

The book blog is the brainchild of Latin Baby founder Monica Olivera. Latin Baby is an online baby store boutique that carries bilingual and bicultural products for young families. Olivera wants to encourage reading in today's families, along with, promoting Spanish usage, and so she has teamed up with some other notable, entrepreneurial, bilingual moms to deliver their expert advice to help parents find those books their kids will most enjoy — in two languages.

And for those of us stuck on what kind of books would make good gifts for young ones, they offer great advice in that department too!

Back when former LA Times reporter Sonia Nazario decided to record the story of one boy's journey from Honduras to the United States, through gang-infested areas of Guatemala and Mexico riding on the dangerous roofs of moving trains, she had no idea how far her book, Enrique's Journey, would take her.

Now in its 21st printing, Sonia tells Latina Lista that Enrique's Journey is being used as a ” freshman read” (the entire entering class is assigned to read one common book) at dozens of universities and high schools around the country.

I’m spending six weeks solid in the fall speaking at universities at cities that have made Enrique’s Journey their “one city, one book” read. San Diego did this last year, and it was a huge hit.

However that's not all, Sonia reveals that the Lifetime cable movie channel is turning Enrique's Journey into a two-hour movie to air sometime next year.

Luckily, there's another Latino-inspired movie of real-life events that will be airing a lot sooner on the woman-focused cable movie channel. It's titled "Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story."

The movie is about a woman named Luz Cuevas who was told that her infant daughter Delimar was killed during a fire in her Philadelphia rowhouse home. Yet, Luz never believed it and the movie chronicles how Luz' maternal instinct led her to discover the truth about what happened to her little girl.

Cast of the Lifetime movie Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story.

The movie airs this Sunday, August 17, at 8 p.m. EST.

Because of what happened in the life of Luz Cuevas and her family — WARNING- DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED — Lifetime is partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to provide parents tips on how to keep children safe.

Not all true-life stories have happy endings but it sure is nice when they do, and it's nicer to see real stories about real Latinas/os being aired over those created around stereotypes.

On December 10, 2008, the world will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It's especially poignant that after 60 years human rights are under assault in all corners of the world, just as intensely as ever. From third world countries to industrialized nations, the basic human rights of men, women and children are still being ignored and trampled on in the name of "rule of law."

Amnesty International wants to highlight this momentous anniversary with a special four-month concert series. September 10 to December 10, 2008, called "Small Places Tour." The name is taken from a famous 1958 speech, dubbed "small spaces" speech, that former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt delivered calling out for "concerted citizen action."

The Small Places tour will consist of hundreds of tours around the world dedicated to elevating human rights concerns while also recruiting thousands of new human rights activists, along with, much needed funds for Amnesty campaigns.

Amnesty’s 2008 priority campaigns include working to stop violence against women, stopping torture, ending the killing in Darfur, controlling small arms, demanding the closure of Guantánamo, challenging China’s human rights record including its actions in Tibet and working for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in Burma.

A fairly recent addition to Amnesty International is Aliados con Amnesty.

Members of Aliados con Amnesty are dedicated to promoting human rights for Latinos. They originally were brought together because they were fans of the Mexican group Jaguares and learned about Amnesty International at these concerts.

So it's not surprising that Jaguares has signed on to join the Small Places Tour and will use their concerts to encourage their fans to join Aliados con Amnesty, which is reported to be the fastest growing network of Amnesty International members.

The Mexican rock group is such a fan of Aliados con Amnesty that they plan to participate in events hosted by Aliados volunteers and include information about the group when their new release, "45", hits the market on Sept. 2, 2008.

In the meantime, check the tour's MySpace site to see where there's a concert happening near you.

Her name is spelled Ylse and she says to think of it as a combination of "illegal" and "sexy," and no she's not an undocumented immigrant. She's a Latina entertainment journalist who aspires to do some serious reporting.

Actress Ruth Livier brings to life (writing, producing and acting) a new web-based series called Ylse.

Or as serious as she can seeing that she's a fictional character.

Ylse is the brainchild of Latina actress Ruth Livier (remember Yolanda in HBO's Resurrection Blvd?) and is the latest series developed especially for the web, and starring a Latina.

Launching today, Ylse is a bilingual, bicultural cross between Ally McBeal and Larry Sanders.

A not so politically correct comedy about a young woman's climb up the journalistic ladder and the colorful characters that make up her life. Ylse struggles with her professional life, while navigating the unique circumstances of those living a dual existence; being an American woman of Mexican descent working in the male dominated entertainment news industry. This is no easy ride as Ylse has her own notions as to how things should get done.

Being a web-based series, Ylse is free to watch and can be seen either at the web site, on iTunes or YouTube. The first episode is up at the site and while it plays to some Latino stereotypes for comic relief, the show moves well without any over-the-top drama.

Reminding me more of Bridget Jones, Livier's character shares with the audience her inner-most thoughts while dealing with the absurd requirements of her job doing fluff interviews. An amusing touch is how "Ylse" wears a locket around her neck with her idol's picture in it — Oprah!

It's good to see that the web has opened up the playing field for more actors and actresses of color to showcase their talents to wider audiences — and Latinas are leading the way.

Artist Margaret Parker describes herself as an explorer.

My journeys take me to the territory of the personal, political, and spiritual. I have no preconceived notion before I start, and I use the medium that best fits the terraine. The evidence I bring back is my work. Since 9/11, I've been exploring what it means to be human in a global age. I see myself as an American, helping to build the New World.

Margaret's latest journey is what she calls "Escape/Return Escape/Regreso" and she wants to take all of us along with her. Her idea is to have visitors to her installation walk through a tunnel woven out of reconstructed T-shirts.

Sketch of installation using T-shirts from both the United States and Latin America to form a tunnel representing migration into the United States from Latin America.

But she wants the T-shirts to be from both the United States and Latin America. The walk through the tunnel is supposed to mimic all those migrants who have immigrated to the United States — a representation of "an epic migration of people."

However, not just any kind of T-shirt will do for this exhibit. Margaret is asking for short sleeved shirts with no collars or cuffs. The shirts should have text, logos or special traditional symbols that identify the country it came from. The idea is that the text from the shirts will be recorded before the shirts are cut apart to be woven into the tunnel.

After walking through the tunnel, visitors will be met by a display on the back wall, at the end of the tunnel, showing all the texts that were on the T-shirts.

Margaret is hoping to collect the T-shirts in time to create the installation to go on display during the
2009 Women's Caucus for Art Annual Conference in Los Angeles next February.

You can either email Margaret, if you have a question or send the T-shirts to:

Margaret Parker
210 S. Ashley St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Since she wants to collect from Latin America too, if you have any friends south of the border share Margaret's project with them too. They can be directed to her site which has instructions on what to do in Spanish.

If you can't get enough of Latino art, blogs or tidbits of New York City's cultural scene, then a new arts and culture blog dedicated to promoting Latino talent and headquartered in New York City is where you need to visit.

It's called mundoss, and while it's NYC-focused, it is attempting to find and promote artists from Latin America and Spain.

A quick visit to the site recently reveals some interesting topics: "bullet-proof designer wear," where to go in Brooklyn for a dinner featuring wine from women winemakers from South America and an introduction to the mixed art works of a Mexican artist named Jose Leon Cerrillo.

The content director of the site is currently looking for short films by Latino filmmakers to round out their expanding list of Latino talent to showcase.

With more and more artists turning to the Internet to reach new audiences, it's a safe bet that this site will never be short of new and interesting news to post on what lies on the horizon for Latino artistic talent.

As we count down to the November election and each side is either performing mental or CNN-style calculations at to how many will be voting, one thing is certain — those who vote who will be citizens of the United States.

The idea that anyone other than citizens be allowed to vote is considered blasphemy nowadays.

Not so south of the border.

Spanish vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega meets with Mexico's President Felipe Calderon to discuss broadening domestic voting rights to include permanent residents from their respective countries.
(Source: El Universal)

This week, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Spain's vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega met to discuss something a little revolutionary — the two countries plan on working on initiatives to review and amend federal legislation that would allow permanent residents of Spain living in Mexico to vote in Mexico's presidential elections and permanent residents of Mexico living in Spain to vote in Spanish presidential elections.

Recognizing that permanent residents are just as much vested in a country's political future as are the citizens, Spain's initiative seems like a 21st Century move to address the realities of today's global mobile society.

This past weekend at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released the much anticipated report, Estimation of HIV Incidence in the United States.

One group that was anxiously awaiting the release of this report was the Latino Commission on AIDS. Given the rising incidence of AIDS cases among Latinos, the group was hoping the CDC report would finally reveal what the true picture of AIDS is among Latinos.

But that's not to be the case.

Today in a press release, the president of the Latino Commission on AIDS, Dennis deLeon, blasted the CDC report for its failure to include Puerto Ricans in the AIDS incidence among Hispanics. With the omission of the Puerto Ricans, deLeon claims that the CDC report presents a gross undercount of how many Latinos actually are afflicted with HIV/AIDS.

Why this infuriates deLeon so much is because reports like the CDC that undercount AIDS among Latinos also effectively deprive funding and resources to the Hispanic community to battle the epidemic.

The medical community already knows that Puerto Ricans make up a good share of the cases of AIDS/HIV. The CDC, in a report in January 2008, included Puerto Ricans when calculating the number of new Hispanic HIV/AIDS diagnosis and found that Puerto Ricans accounted for 20% of the new cases, raising the total from 17.3% when Puerto Ricans were not counted to 22% when the numbers were revised.

When contacted by Latina Lista to answer the criticisms of the Latino Commission on AIDS, Dr. Irene Hall, chief of the HIV Incidence and Case Surveillance Branch of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC said:

Because Census data is collected differently in Puerto Rico compared to the rest of the U.S. (data is not collected by race in Puerto Rico), we do not have data on race/ethnicity which would allow us to calculate rates for this population.

Therefore, data from Puerto Rico could not be included in the current analysis of HIV incidence for the U.S., which calculates rates. While data for those infected with HIV while living in Puerto Rico are not included, data are included for those of Puerto Rican descent who are infected and living in the 50 states or Washington D.C.

Today, CDC is providing training to all areas who participated in HIV incidence surveillance to allow individual areas to calculate their own incidence estimates. CDC supports efforts by Puerto Rico to calculate their own incidence estimate, and will provide technical assistance to Puerto Rico on this as needed.

HIV continues to exact a devastating toll among Latinos across the US, and CDC is committed to working to reach those in need with prevention services and accurate information about the epidemic.

However, the CDC's response will do little to appease the outrage of representatives from the Latino Commission on AIDS.

"We call on everyone to mobilize, demand respect, and call for recognition from CDC of the health crisis that HIV/AIDS represents in our Latino\Hispanic communities in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands", stated Guillermo Chacon, vice president of the Latino Commission on AIDS. "We will not allow our experience of the epidemic to be invisible. Our health crisis is real. We want an accurate picture of the impact of HIV/AIDS now."

The Houston Chronicle reports that Rice University sociologist delivered some startling news to attendees at a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce gathering:

Houston, Texas

• 70 percent of Houstonians over the age of 60 are Anglo. • 75 percent of Houstonians under the age of 30 are non-Anglo, mostly Hispanic.

Wonder why this is so troubling? Because the under-30 crowd who will be depended on to keep the economic engine of the city alive, as well as, contribute to the coffers of Social Security will for the most part be under-educated, doing low-skilled labor.

There won't be much money to spare from their paychecks to supplement viejos on fixed incomes.

What's happening in Houston, and other cities across the Southwest that are already majority Latino, is only the start of what is to come for the rest of the nation.

While the government is so intent on driving out immigrants, they should be more worried about going into those communities where immigrants live, alongside native-born Latinos, and get half as serious as they are about deportations, and fix up these schools, the curriculums and improve teacher quality.

This country won't be fixed by the deportation of these people who by their very nature are more industrious than most native-born. This country, more than ever, must realize the future of this country rests with today's children — the same who are native-born and whose parents are being deported.

An investment in the future of this country is to educate these children and keep them emotionally healthy so that they can be prepared to take this country to the next level of global competition.

Otherwise, the future will prove to be far more bleak than anyone could have dreamed.