Adventures of the Coconut Caucus

So yes, I do know that our Hispanic Patron Saint, Cesar Chavez, was born on a March 31….. and that was a few days ago, but guess who else wishes you a Belated Happy Cesar Day….

Congressional Hispanic Caucus 110th Congress – Congressman Joe Baca, Chair

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, April 02, 2008

César Chávez Hailed by Hispanic Caucus

( Washington , DC ) – Several Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) were joined by other Members of Congress and organizational leaders this week as they recognized the life and work of César Chávez, a labor organizer and civil rights activist.

This week’s floor statements (surely not even C-span broadcast those) and press conference (not attended by any press) coincided with a week that shares both the anniversaries of his birth and death. Across the country, the week is being marked with celebrations in 65 cities in over 30 states, including statewide holidays in 10 states.

Specifically, they were supporting H. Res. 76, a Congressional non-binding resolution urging the establishment of a federal national holiday honoring César Chávez, and urging public schools to teach about his life and contributions. The resolution currently has 61 co-sponsors.

It totally goes on an and on as almost each Hispanic in Congress tries to prove that they love Cesar more than all the rest....

Read the rest of this entry »

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It has been a while since what is left of the Hispanic Caucus has done much of anything, but no politician can resist cameras, especially if Kennedy is involved.

So like 5 minutes before radio DJ Piolín and his media caravan arrived at the Capitol with something like 1 million signatures in favor of immigration reform, members of the Caucus found out about it and decided to join this dream photo op.

AND in case you are some kind of skeptic that actually believes the congresspersons where planing way ahead of time to be there to support the humble efforts of those who signed the letters and not just when they found out Univision would be there, check out this note on the press release (their typo)

Media: Please note there will be no multbox available at press conference. So please bring appropriate sound equipment to attach to podium.

So anyway, in a great show of unity, Baca, Napolitano, Solís, Diaz Balart, Menéndez, Martínez and others showed up to drool allover the cameras and mics….(and wished they had half of Piolín´s ratings)

AND not only that, according to defacto fearless leader Joe Baca´s press release, the million letters where for them…and the press conference was all about unveiling a bunch of empty boxes… (Yes, the boxes where symbolic of the more than a million letters, who knows where those are, I will let the old media investigate that one)

Bi-Partisan Members of Senate and House Accept Over
1 Million Letters from Univision Radio Personality Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo in Support of Immigration Reform

Members of Congress Call For Immigration Debate
To Continue

Press Conference Today in Senate Upper Park

Who: Senator Kennedy
Senator Martinez
Senator Menendez
Senator Specter
Rep. Joe Baca, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (because we have no idea who is coming, we just “invited” them a few minutes ago)
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference (We hope none of them show up, but since they are all Cuban, probably Mel Martìnez already told them)
Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo

What: Press conference unveiling over 1 million letters signed by U.S. citizens and/or legal residents (because they had to show ID or proof of citizenship… NOT) collected by Univision Radio personality Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo during his cross country trip to support the passage of a fair and just immigration reform bill this year.

Where: Senate Upper Park ( Senate Swamp )
Corner of Constitution and Delaware
Washington , DC
Alternative Rain Site: H-122 in Capitol
When: Thursday, June 14, 2007

Time: Appx: 1:30 P.M. (because we don`t when the live feed from Univision will be on, and we will basically be there when the cameras are)

Interesting to note, Mel Martínez was way ahead of the pack of Democrats, annoucing that he would be there and on camera, waaaaaaay before the others even found out who Piolín is…(Like 15 minutes earlier)

So what have our Latino luminaries been up to lately?… a random sampling…

An amazing, incredible first… Hispanic Caucus sends a press release on the same day that something actually happened…it was all about cloture.

A bunch of Hispanics get together on the border to talk about la frontera

Mel Martínez busy uniting the Republican Party

Nydia Velázquez and Hilda Solís want to investigate AIDS in Puerto Rico,

Mario Díaz Balart still trying to protect us from hurricanes

Charlie González explains to us what a passport is… in case you want to wait 3 years to get one…

An article about Luis Gutíerrez and it is not related to immigration...

Bush still supports his best abogado ever…

AND in case you didn`t know… de-facto Caucus leader Joe Baca is 3 feet tall:

The dozens of readers of this blog probably think Alberto GONEzales is the only Hispanic around, because of our intense coverage of him lately, and that is pretty bad considering he is not even a “true” member of the Coconut Caucus, but hey we need to get all the mileage we can out of him before he resigns for personal reasons and to spend more time torturing his family…

So what have the rest of our fearless leaders been up to lately? Here is a glimpse:

Loretta Sánchez takes on Nancy Pelosi… and wins…

Luis Gutiérrez represents Illinois, but he is everywhere else

Since Richardson López is sooooo well known by voters… he no longer needs to be on TV

Meanwhile…. Ciro Rodríguez and Henry Cuellar attend a funeral

Hilda Solís gets a Post Office named

Meanwhile, super busy Senator, Mel Martínez, now also in a campaign to promote gay marriage

Diaz Balart, the only Latino not driving a Honda... (or at least pretending to support Ford)

Despite representing New York, José Serrano still thinks he was elected in Vieques or something…

When he is not busy promoting Bush´s immigration plan, Carlos Gutiérrez is waiting for Castro to die…

Grace Napolitano does some complicated local water hearing thing for political reasons

You probably didn’t know, because NOBODY gets this day off, except a few bureaucrats in California, but it is Cesar Chávez day around this time of the year, and members of the caucus are busy sponsoring nonbinding César Chávez resolutions. (Because they won´t actually do as Chávez did and actually participate in a march, boycott or protest)

Now we already know that the members of the Hispanic Caucus spends half their time trying to name plazas all over the country after Chávez and won’t rest until every barrio in U.S. has at least one Chávez mural and whenever possible a virgen de Guadalupe one as well, but since it is the anniversary of this birth (March 31) they are especially busy:

House Committee Holds Hearing on Solis’ Bill to Honor Latinos and Environment

Legislation Recognizes Contributions of Cesar E. Chavez

Washington, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis (D-CA), a Member of the House Natural Resources Committee and Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Task Force on Health and Environment, testified before the Natural Resources Committee in support of H.R. 359, legislation she introduced to authorize the National Park Service to determine ways to tell the story of Cesar E. Chavez and the farm labor movement in the National Park System. H.R. 359 has broad, bipartisan support and previously passed the U.S. Senate unanimously. Sens. McCain (R-AZ) and Salazar (D-CO) have reintroduced the Senate companion. This hearing coincides with Chavez’s birthday on March 31st. Prepared remarks follow.

Of course it goes on and on… you can read it here, but don´t expect me to address all of it, because unfortunately I have to work, instead of blogging, on César Chávez day…

However we do have a list of useful suggestions to put in practice this legislation and make people learn about César Chávez when they really want to just have a picnic: Read the rest of this entry »