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Archive for April 15th, 2008

Pilar O'Leary Lavish spending. Mis-use of government funds. Soliciting tickets to social functions like concerts and awards shows. Resigning over scandal.

Sounds like a Washington politician scandal? Well, the Washington is accurate, but this is not about a politician. Headlines across the nation are focusing on the release of a report investigating former Smithsonian Latino Center director Pilar O’Leary’s misconduct:

The director of the center, Pilar O’Leary, resigned on Feb. 8 after two and a half years in the post. At the time, the Smithsonian said only that she had stepped down and was being succeeded by an acting director.

But a report released on Monday after an inquiry by the inspector general, A. Sprightly Ryan, said, “The evidence gathered in this investigation indicates that on multiple occasions O’Leary violated these general ethical rules as well as specific prohibitions on conduct that constitutes or appears to constitute a conflict of interest.”

According to the NY Times article, the Smithsonian’s 19 museums are under particular government scrutiny because 70% of their funding comes from the federal government.

Via // NY Times

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Voto Latino : Music With a Message

12:01 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|Music · Comments Off

15 Apr 2008

itunes_300x300.jpgWhat do you call a 3.99 album download featuring Pitbull, Aventura, Don Omar, Los Amigos Invisible, Aterciopelados, Ceu, and Hip Hop Hoodíos with proceeds going to Voto Latino, a non-partisan effort to register Latinos and get out the Latino vote? Muy cool! The compilation, via National Records, features old and never released politically charged musica and is available today over at iTunes.

The Voto Latino tracklist is as follows:

1. Notch – Aquí Me Quedo
2. Pitbull & Kurse – Across The Waters
3. Ozomatli – (Who Discovered) America?
4. Don Omar – Angelito
5. Los Amigos Invisibles – All Day Today
6. Salvador Santana Band – My One True Love
7. Ceu – Roda (Bombay Dub Orchestra’s Grateful Dub Mix)
8. Aterciopelados – Cancion Protesta
9. Aventura – Mi Corazoncito
10. Chingo Bling – They Can’t Deport Us All
11. Ceci Bastida – Empieza A Amanecer
12. David Garza – There Go The Weirdos
13. Volumen Cero – El Mar
14. B-Side Players – Nuestras Demandas
15. Hip Hop Hoodíos – Viva La Guantanamera

Get your copy (and register to vote) here.

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Mexican Congress on Lockdown Over Pemex

10:57 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|mexico|Money · Comments Off

15 Apr 2008

capt.ab04f71540fe4515ae8555f73f9df299.aptopix_mexico_oil_reform_mxmt103.jpgI got to give it to some members of the Mexican Congress who are sitting in the lower house of their congress to protest President Felipe Calderon’s reform proposal concerning Pemex, the nation’s state oil company. The proposal would allow Pemex to partner with private companies for exploration and refining. This is needed according to the president to help boost sagging oil production. The opposition maintains that this is just an attempt to privatize the oil industry.

Read more…

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Link Love : Your ‘conspiracy theory’ is my blood and flesh

8:51 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Linking Latinos · Comments Off

15 Apr 2008

I’m crazy behind this morning in my blogging pero go give a looksie over at All About Race and a recent post about how conspiracy theories about people of color and our children globally have been played as the guinea pigs of science all in the name of progress.

In the winter of 2004, a source first told me that the Federal government had sanctioned testing an AIDS vaccine on mostly black and Latino foster children ages1 month to late teens. I did not believe it. When finally convinced that it was true, I sobbed openly as we walked through the park. I had only the back of my hand to wipe my eyes and my nose, but I didn’t care. I was so enraged and so impotent. It was excruciating and useless to have this knowledge because I didn’t have enough of the story to go to a reporter and it would be almost impossible to prove anyway cloaked as it was in the “private records” of foster children.

I’m currently reading Andrea Smith’s Conquest (a fuller review will come when I’m done) and it’s heartbreaking and anger inducing, but it is also a call to action when you comprehend and digest how ethics get thrown out the window when it comes to the bodies and minds of people of color.

Check out the entire post here.

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VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.

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