Reply #27: Lookie here, Guess Cruz isn't the first one they've done this with

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

May 11, 2001

Union Tribune Exposed Villaraigosa, Now Hides Story

SHERMAN OAKS -- American Patrol -- May 11 -- On February 13, 1999, the San Diego Union-Tribune ran a story entitled, "Speaker-elect product of a humble past, fiery ascent." by Ed Mendel, a Union-Tribune staff writer. Unfortunatley, it can no longer be found on the Union-Tribune website even though the archive goes back many years.

Villaraigosa praises former Mexican President Zedillo for helping to kill Proposition 187. The photo above was taken in Mexico City (L.A. Times, August 4, 1999). Download a more precise PDF version .

In the story, the Union Trib reports says that Villaraigosa is very much a product of his past and is proud of it -- both his rise from the streets of East Los Angeles and his political involvement
http://www.americanpatrol.com/CALIFORNIA/VILLARAIGOSA/VillaraigosaTribStory.html

And here's an interesting perspective I found on a blog site..great blog btw:

August 20, 2003
Bustamante and the Anti-MEChA Canard
As the rightwing guns for Cruz Bustamante, it was inevitable that they would use a racist attack on his membership in the organization, MEChA. Oh yeah, and in true Orwellian doublethink, they would cloak their racist attack by labelling MEChA "racist" or even "fascist."

Let's be clear what MEChA is-- it's been the major student organization of latinos in California for decades. It is so mainstream that almost every major progressive latino in the state was a member at some point. When I was in California, MEChA involved the main leadership of latino activists fighting for education funding and a range of other issues.

So if you call MEChA racist and fascist, you are basically saying that most latino politicians in California are the equivalent of Nazis.

Which is what the Right wants to do. Take this section of the diatribe I linked to above, with its unsourced allegations. At least here is quoting from an actual official MEChA document, its early "Port Huron" style manifesto. Says TownHall's Malkin:

http://www.nathannewman.org/log/archives/001071.shtml

Here is a site that I did find:
HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
The fundamental principles that led to the founding of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán are found in El Plan de Santa Barbara (EPDSB). The Manifesto of EPDSB sees self-determination for the Chicana and Chicano Chicano and Chicana Movement in El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán (EPEDA). A synopsis of El Plan stipulates: 1) We are Chicanos and Chicanas of Aztlán reclaiming the land of out birth (Chicano and Chicana Nation); 2) Aztlán belongs to indigenous people, who are sovereign and not subject to a foreign culture; 3) We are a union of free pueblos forming a bronze nation; 4) Chicano and Chicana nationalism, as the key in mobilization and organization, is the common denominator to bring consensus to the Chicano and Chicana Movement; 5) Cultural values strengthen our identity as La Familia de La Raza; and 6) EPEDA, as a basic plan of Chicano and Chicana liberation, sought the formation of am independent national political party that would represent the sentiments of the Chicano and Chicana community.
Both EPDSB and EPEDA served as the historical foundation for the establishment of a viable Chicano and Chicana Movimiento, and are therefore, fundamental to the M.E.Ch.A. philosophy.

M.E.Ch.A.'S PHILOSOPHY

The Chicano and Chicana student movement has been plagued by opportunists that have sought to rechannel the energies of our people and divert us from our struggle for self-determination. The educational plight of Chicana and Chicano students continues to be ignored by insensitive administrators. Overall, Chicano and Chicana junior high, high school and college push-out rates have risen since 1969, forcing many Chicanos and Chicanas to a life of poverty. These factors along with a growing right wing trend in the nation are combing to work greater hardships on Chicanos and Chicanas. New repressive and racist immigration laws are continuously directed at our Gente. The Federal government is campaigning to pacify and assimilate our Gente by labeling us "Hispanic." The term "Hispanic" seeks to anglicize and deny our indigenous heritage by ignoring our unique socioeconomic and historical aspect of our Gente. These factors have made it necessary for Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán to affirm our philosophy of liberation (i.e. educational, socioeconomic, and political empowerment) for our Chicano and Chicana nation.
Joining with other community-based Chicano and Chicana nationalist organizations, M.E.Ch.A. is committed to ending the cultural tyranny suffered at the hands of institutional and systematic discrimination that holds our Gente captive. We seek an end to oppression and exploitation of the Chicano and Chicana Community
http://www.panam.edu/orgs/mecha/nat.html

http://www.panam.edu/orgs/mecha/MEChAlnk.html