The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

Immigrants contribute $10.6 billion a year to Long Island's economy by increasing productivity, generating new business and paying taxes...While many Long Islanders have said that immigrants drain government resources, the study says they contribute $2,305 more per person in taxes and government fees than they use in schools, health care and law enforcement. It found that spending by immigrants -- those who are legal residents as well as those who are undocumented -- leads to creation of about 82,000 jobs a year.

Why is looking at Long Island, the suburbs of NYC important?

In a week's time, ICE arrested 78 people in Pennsylvania and Delaware. The media is playing up the fact that some of those arrested had criminal records and in an effort to stir up fear, called an emergency meeting in the communities where the arrests happening.

The emergency of immigrant familias?

After all, Bloomy is not just a politician, he's an economic insider, a former Wall Street trader and the man behind the business information company that has his name. Pero what short term memory people have.

Remember the praise Giuliani got post 9-11-01? How well he handled the crisis? So we face a "new" threat and we need more of the same?

Sometimes all there is, is music and poetry. Rebel Diaz knows.

Why, don't you know, those migrant workers, low-income wage-earners, illegals in the military, undocumented students struggling to afford college, caused the financial collapse of Wall Street, Main Street, all streets!! Now we need a $700 billion dollar bailout for them!

It started with the ambitions of a single illegal alien.

That’s right. I said it. We have no time for political correctness now. If Sen. McCain can suspend his campaign, I can suspend my intelligence to state things plainly. And plainly, my investment banker siblings, it always starts with one.

And we ignored the signs, even when it appeared in the news way back when the Mexicans first began ousting CEOs.

Via / Culture Kitchen

* Would allow up to $700 billion in mortgage assets to be held by Treasury at any one time.
* Allows the Treasury to buy any mortgage-related assets, both residential and commercial, for a two-year period. The plan does not detail the types of mortgage assets this could cover and or how long the government could hold them, and does not establish how they would be valued. However, if deemed needed to promote financial market stability, any type of financial instrument could be bought.
* Assets must have been originated or issued before September 17, 2008, by a financial institution having "significant operations" in the United States. This provision could also be waived if deemed needed to promote financial stability.
* Assets could be bought from any financial institution, including but not limited to banks, thrifts, credit unions, broker-dealers and insurance companies. If deemed need(sic) to promote financial stability, however, assets could be purchased from non-financial companies.
* Grants the Treasury broad authority to decide how to purchase, manage and dispose of the assets, including setting up a special fund and naming financial institutions to work for the Treasury Department.
* The Treasury secretary would be given these powers to ensure stability or prevent disruption of financial markets and to protect the taxpayer.
* No court or government agency could review the secretary's decisions. The secretary would report to Congress within the first three months and then twice yearly.
* The U.S. debt limit would be increased by $700 billion to fund the plan, to $11.315 trillion from $10.615 trillion.

Santa Monica-based Entravision's political ad sales will double to $12 million from the last presidential cycle, said Lloyd Walmsley, an analyst in San Francisco with Thomas Weisel Partners.

Univision Communications Inc., which went private last year, expects to take in as much as $20 million in political ads in the second half of 2008, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Hobson said. That would represent a full-year gain of as much as 78% from 2004...

Azteca America, owned by Mexico City-based TV Azteca, almost doubled its political ad sales from 2004 during the primaries, and projects similar gains in the general election, said Brian McCullough, director of spot TV sales in New York. Azteca has nine affiliate stations in Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Nevada, he said.

Telemundo, part of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, also enjoyed record primary spending, said Enrique Perez, senior vice president of sales, who wouldn't provide specific numbers.

Via / LA Times

From New York to Miami to Los Angeles, the downturn in the U.S. economy is hitting Hispanics especially hard, with unemployment rising faster in that community than in the overall U.S. population. And the slowdown has had a ripple effect, with a significant drop in payments being sent home to families in Latin America.

"For the last year, Hispanics have been losing jobs at a faster rate than any other group," said Agustine Martínez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

It's hard times and everyone's apretándose el cinturón. Have you had to cut back on expenses just to make ends meet? Where are you spending the most money and what, if anything, do you have to sacrifice? Let us know in the comments.

Via / Baltimore Sun

Legal experts across the nation agree that the best chance immigrant detainees have to avoid deportation is to post bond immediately and contest their case in the courts. Posting bond sets jurisdiction in the district where the arrest took place, thereby avoiding ICE's rapid transfer of detainees outside the district. Posting bond also increases the detainee's ability to argue his/her case for a stay of deportation before a judge. Lastly detainees able to post bond have better access to community resources and family support.

All of celebrity gossip land is abuzz over Ms. Anthony's recent disclosure that she never let's the twins wear the same outfit twice:

"Jennifer was approached by a charity and asked to donate some dresses for a celebrity auction. She agreed and donated a gorgeous £5,000 frock.

"She also offered some of Max and Emme's clothes, telling organisers that she never lets them 'repeat' outfits.

"But the auction deals only in adult clothes. Jennifer told them it was a shame, as some items cost over Û1,000 (£500) each."

Now far be it from me to begrudge a fellow Latin@ such an extravagant lifestyle (really, I do, but I can at least be gracious about how much I begrudge her!), but I did have to wonder if little Max and Emme actually appreciate their mami's dedicated grooming patterns. New outfits are itchy!

Via / Gothamist