Adventures of the Coconut Caucus

In case you were wondering what your elected representatives have been up to lately….

Senator Ken Salazar doesn´t want to wait in line at the airport…

“In my view, these waits times are unacceptable for the traveling public,” said Salazar, D-Colo. “I’ve personally witnessed lines snaking the equivalent of several city blocks at peak periods.”

Rep. Ciro Rodríguez not so sure about horse meat tacos…

“I personally don’t believe in all honesty that you can just put a ban on all that because there are people who do eat beef,” he said. “Like we eat beef, they eat beef, but it’s a horse meat.”

Rep Ileana Ros Lehtinen knows more than the rest of us about bombing Syria…

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the senior Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They expressed their anger at the fact that the Bush administration ‘has thrown an unprecedented veil of secrecy around the Israeli airstrike. It has briefed only a handful of very senior members of Congress, leaving the vast majority of foreign relations and intelligence committee members in the dark. We are among the very few who were briefed, but we have been sworn to secrecy on this matter.’”

AND speaking of Cubans from Florida, all 3 voted against their party in favor of gay rights. Yes, 3 republican Latinos, and 2 of them male, voted in favor of protecting gays against discrimination…

Dixie Representatives Split on Gay Rights. When the US House recently passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which extends job-related civil rights to gays, five Southern GOPers left their party and supported ENDA: FL: Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart & Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; LA: Jim McCrery; and VA: Tom Davis.

Rep Henry Cuellar paying attention to obscure district matters…

“As a Congressman, I don’t do investigations,” Cuellar said. “I do make inquiries, and I surely have made inquiries into this … . My understanding is that there is already some investigation going on.”

AND Nydia Velázquez appeared in this photo…

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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:

As we mentioned way back, the 100 Primer Impacto Hours agenda for the Hispanic Caucus included getting us an Official Museum to exhibit Selena’s dresses and all that Chicano art on loan from Cheech Marin.

And yes, our very own museum is moving forward, faster than immigration reform or universal healthcare.

Now you may think this is a non-controversial bill, with not much conflict in sight (other than where the hell are they going to find room for it on the Mall).

Well, think again.

According to our nonbinding unconfirmed sources, there is growig tension among Hispanic legislators who, despite their public bipartisan bigender support of the Museum, are privately shouting at each other and arguing about everything from the name of the building to the order in which the 7 foot wax statues of themselves will appear.

(It is only a matter of time before the gringo media does this story, so please credit us exclusively, with the exclusive details you will only find here).

Here are some of the names they are fighting over:

• The Cesar Chavez Chicano Si Se Puede Museo, proposed by Hilda Solís
• The Si Se Puede Cesar Chavez Museum of La Raza, proposed by Joe Baca
• The Cesar Chavez-Dolores Huerta-Ricardo Montalbán Si Se Puede Museum, proposed by Grace Napolitano
• The Elvira Arellano Latino Immigrant Contributions To America Museum, proposed by Luis Gutiérrez
• The Hispanic-American Third World Country Museum of Freedom, proposed by Ileana Ros Lethinen
• The We Have Been Here for Five Generations Museum, proposed by Ken Salazar
• The Latino-Chicano-Mexitlán Museo de Nuestra Raza, proposed by Lucille Roybal Allard
• The Valentina Frida Kahlo Latina Power Museum, proposed by Loretta Sánchez
• The Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Virgen Morena Patrona de América Museum, proposed by Ciro Rodríguez
• The Humble Beginings From a Dirt Floor In Texas to the Mall Museum, proposed by Silvestre Reyes
• The Xavier Becerra Nuestro Orgullo National Latino Museum on the Mall, proposed by Xavier Becerra

Some of the exhibits and items that may be featured:

Read the rest of this entry »

Another very, very busy week for the Caucus:

• Hilda Solís wants a guest appearance on Ugly Betty
• Since the drug war was soooooo successful in Colombia…
• Size does matter to Nydia Velázquez (When it comes to biz)
• Ed Pastor reminds us that Bush is ignoring us
• Grace Napolitano named to super important committees
• Still waiting for Fidel Castro to die, for real.
• Latinos and Blacks still hate each other, Whitey chuckles.

AND I bet you didn´t know: Donating “Hispanic blood” can make you fat.

Recent Caucus adventures in the news…

• Xavier Becerra prepares to slam Bush in Spanish
• Mario Diaz Balart swears himself in, in Third World Country Florida, because Washington “is not reality”.
• Ileana Ros Lehtinen takes a break from calling for the assassination of world leaders and wants “real” reforms at the U.N.
• Comerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez, represents Bush at inauguration of Hugo Chávez ally.
• Nydia Velázquez introduces legislation to expand the internets in el barrio.
• Robert Menéndez does something related to genocide in Armenia.
• Silvestre Reyes politely disagrees with Cheney
• Ken Salazar thanks democrats as self appointed official spokesperson for the whole state of Colorado.