• Thoughts
  • Jun2

    Exclusive: The Truth About ‘La Raza’
    Rep. Charlie Norwood

    It was instead, downtown Los Angeles, Calif., although the scene was recreated in numerous other cities around the country with substantial Mexican populations. Hordes of Mexican expatriates, many here illegally, were protesting the very U.S. immigration laws they were violating with impunity. They found it offensive and a violation of their rights that the U.S. dared to have immigration laws to begin with.

    Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa mounted the podium, but any hopes that he would quiet the crowds and defend the law were soon dashed. Villaraigosa, himself, has spent a lifetime opposing U.S. immigration law.

    For law-abiding Americans without knowledge of the dark side of our current illegal immigration crisis, all this is unfathomable. For those who know the truth about the “La Raza” movement, these demonstrations were a prophecy fulfilled.

    It is past time for all Americans to know what is at the root of this outrageous behavior, and the extent to which the nation is at risk because of “La Raza” — The Race.

    There are many immigrant groups joined in the overall “La Raza” movement. The most prominent and mainstream organization is the National Council de La Raza — the Council of “The Race”.

    To most of the mainstream media, most members of Congress, and even many of their own members, the National Council of La Raza is no more than a Hispanic Rotary Club.

    But the National Council of La Raza succeeded in raking in over $15.2 million in federal grants last year alone, of which $7.9 million was in U.S. Department of Education grants for Charter Schools, and undisclosed amounts were for get-out-the-vote efforts supporting La Raza political positions.

    The Council of La Raza succeeded in having itself added to congressional hearings by Republican House and Senate leaders. And an anonymous senator even gave the Council of La Raza an extra $4 million in earmarked taxpayer money, supposedly for “housing reform,” while La Raza continues to lobby the Senate for virtual open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.

    The Mexican flag flew over a crowd of pro-amnesty marchers in New York. Marches like this across the U.S. have been supported by the “La Raza” movement. (Reuters/Seth Wenig)

    Radical ‘Reconquista’ Agenda

    Behind the respectable front of the National Council of La Raza lies the real agenda of the La Raza movement, the agenda that led to those thousands of illegal immigrants in the streets of American cities, waving Mexican flags, brazenly defying our laws, and demanding concessions.

    Key among the secondary organizations is the radical racist group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan (MEChA), one of the most anti-American groups in the country, which has permeated U.S. campuses since the 1960s, and continues its push to carve a racist nation out of the American West.

    One of America’s greatest strengths has always been taking in immigrants from cultures around the world, and assimilating them into our country as Americans. By being citizens of the U.S. we are Americans first, and only, in our national loyalties.

    This is totally opposed by MEChA for the hordes of illegal immigrants pouring across our borders, to whom they say:

    “Chicano is our identity; it defines who we are as people. It rejects the notion that we…should assimilate into the Anglo-American melting pot…Aztlan was the legendary homeland of the Aztecas … It became synonymous with the vast territories of the Southwest, brutally stolen from a Mexican people marginalized and betrayed by the hostile custodians of the Manifest Destiny.” (Statement on University of Oregon MEChA Website, Jan. 3, 2006)

    MEChA isn’t at all shy about their goals, or their views of other races. Their founding principles are contained in these words in “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan” (The Spiritual Plan for Aztlan):

    “In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal gringo invasion of our territories, we, the Chicano inhabitants and civilizers of the northern land of Aztlan from whence came our forefathers, reclaiming the land of their birth and consecrating the determination of our people of the sun, declare that the call of our blood is our power, our responsibility, and our inevitable destiny. … Aztlan belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans. … We are a bronze people with a bronze culture. Before the world, before all of North America, before all our brothers in the bronze continent, we are a nation, we are a union of free pueblos, we are Aztlan. For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada.”

    That closing two-sentence motto is chilling to everyone who values equal rights for all. It says: “For The Race everything. Outside The Race, nothing.”

    If these morally sickening MEChA quotes were coming from some fringe website, Americans could at least console themselves that it was just a small group of nuts behind it. Nearly every racial and ethnic group has some shady characters and positions in its past and some unbalanced individuals today claiming racial superiority and demanding separatism. But this is coming straight from the official MEChA sites at Georgetown University, the University of Texas, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Colorado, University of Oregon, and many other colleges and universities around the country.

    MEChA was in fact reported to be one of the main organizers of those street demonstrations we witnessed over the past weeks. That helps explain why those hordes of illegal immigrants weren’t asking for amnesty — they were demanding an end to U.S. law, period. Unlike past waves of immigrants who sought to become responsible members of American society, these protesters reject American society altogether, because they have been taught that America rightfully belongs to them.

    MEChA and the La Raza movement teach that Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and parts of Washington State make up an area known as “Aztlan” — a fictional ancestral homeland of the Aztecs before Europeans arrived in North America. As such, it belongs to the followers of MEChA. These are all areas America should surrender to “La Raza” once enough immigrants, legal or illegal, enter to claim a majority, as in Los Angeles. The current borders of the United States will simply be extinguished.

    This plan is what is referred to as the “Reconquista” or reconquest, of the Western U.S.

    But it won’t end with territorial occupation and secession. The final plan for the La Raza movement includes the ethnic cleansing of Americans of European, African, and Asian descent out of “Aztlan.”

    As Miguel Perez of Cal State-Northridge’s MEChA chapter has been quoted as saying: “The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan. Communism would be closest [to it]. Once Aztlan is established, ethnic cleansing would commence: Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled — opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep power.”

    MEChA Plants

    Members of these radical, anti-American, racist organizations are frequently smoothly polished into public respectability by the National Council of La Raza.

    Former MEChA members include Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was officially endorsed by La Raza for mayor and was awarded La Raza’s Graciela Olivarez Award. Now we know why he refuses to condemn a sea of foreign flags in his city. California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is also a former MEChA member. He delivered the keynote address at La Raza’s 2002 Annual Convention.

    The National Council of La Raza and its allies in public office make no repudiation of the radical MEChA and its positions. In fact, as recently as 2003, La Raza was actively funding MEChA, according to federal tax records.

    Imagine Robert Byrd’s refusing to disavow the views of the KKK, or if Strom Thurmond had failed to admit segregation was wrong. Imagine Heritage or Brookings Foundation making grants to the American Nazi Party.

    Is the National Council of La Raza itself a racist organization? Regardless of the organization’s suspect ties, the majority of its members are not. When one examines all the organization’s activities, they are commendable non-profit projects, such as education and housing programs.

    But even these defensible efforts raise the question of whether education and housing programs funded with federal tax dollars should be used in programs specifically targeted to benefit just one ethnic group.

    La Raza defenders usually respond by calling anyone making these allegations “a racist” for having called attention to La Raza’s racist links. All the groups and public officials with ties to the La Raza movement can take a big step towards disproving these allegations by simply following the examples of Senators Byrd and Thurmond and repenting of their past ways.

    If they are unwilling to admit past misdeeds, they can at least state — unequivocally — that they officially oppose the racist and anti-American positions of MEChA, and any other groups that espouse similar views.

    Through public appearances, written statements, and on their respective websites, La Raza groups and allies must:

    1. Denounce the motto “For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada,” as repugnant, racist, and totally incompatible with American society or citizenship.

    2. Acknowledge the right of all Americans to live wherever they choose in the U.S. without segregation.

    3. Commit to sponsorship of nationwide educational programs to combat racism and anti-Semitism in the Hispanic community.

    4. Denounce and sever all ties with MEChA and any other organizations with which they have ever been associated which held to the racist doctrines held by MEChA.

    5. Acknowledge the internationally recognized borders of the U.S., the right of the citizens of the U.S. to determine immigration policy through the democratic process, and the right of the U.S. to undertake any and all necessary steps to effectively enforce immigration law and defend its border against unauthorized entry.

    6. Repudiate all claims that current American territory rightfully belongs to Mexico.

    If the National Council of La Raza, other La Raza groups, and local and national political leaders with past ties and associations with the radical elements of the La Raza movement can publicly issue such a statement and live by every one of these principles, they should be welcomed into the American public policy arena, with past sins — real or imaginary — forgiven.

    If they cannot publicly and fully support these principles, Congress needs to take appropriate steps and immediately bar any group refusing to comply from receiving any future federal funds. Both the House and Senate should strike these groups from testifying before any committees, and the White House should sever all ties. Both political parties should disengage from any further contact with these groups and individuals.

    There are plenty of decent, patriotic Hispanic organizations and elected officials to provide Congress with necessary feedback on specific issues confronting Americans of Latino heritage. Any group or individual who can agree with the simple six points should be welcomed into that fold.

    If not, the American people will know there’s a wolf in their midst, and take the necessary precautions to defend our Republic against an enemy.

    The nation’s television screens many days recently have been filled with scenes of huge crowds carrying the colorful green and red flag of Mexico viewers could well have thought it was a national holiday in Mexico City.


    Mr. Norwood, a Republican, represents the 9th District of Georgia.


    via - HUMAN EVENTS.

  • May27

    More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time

    Also, fewer think abortion should be legal “under any circumstances”

    by Lydia Saad

    PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice.” This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.

    The new results, obtained from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50% were pro-choice and 44% pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46%, in both August 2001 and May 2002.

    Read the full story at More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time.

  • May21

    It’s amazing how God can use the show American IDOL to his glory. It’ll be really fun to watch Kris as he is able to walk out his faith. We’ve seen other AI winners, Chris Sligh specifically, who have done great things with where their faith has taken them.

    Kudos Kris! Walk the good walk.

  • May20

    Check out the video I put together to promote the Creation Road Crew. If you love Creation Fest, you need to be a member!

    Creation 09 Northeast • 31st Annual • The Nation’s Largest Christian Music Festival • Mt. Union, PA.

  • May20

    Google ‘falling behind Twitter’

    • Co-founder Larry Page says search engine has been losing out to micro-blogging site in battle to provide real-time information

    • Chief executive hints that Google could go into partnership with Twitter

    via Google falling behind Twitter, admits chief | Business | guardian.co.uk.

  • May19

    A poem by Mike Huckabee. I wish he would have been President, but the pendulum has swung left. Soon it’ll swing back.

    Here’s a story about a lady named Nancy
    A ruthless politician, but dressed very fancy
    Very ambitious, she got herself elected Speaker
    But as for keeping secrets, she proved quite a “leaker.”

    She flies on government planes coast to coast
    And doesn’t mind that our economy is toast
    She makes the Air Force squire her in their military jets
    There’s room for her family, her staff, and even her pets.

    Until now, she annoyed us, but her gaffes were mostly funny;
    Even though it was painful to watch her waste our tax money.
    But now her wacky comments are no laughing matter;
    She’s either unwilling to tell the truth, or she’s mad as a hatter!

    She sat in briefings and knew about enhanced interrogation;
    But claims she wasn’t there, and can’t give an explanation.

    She disparages the CIA and says they are a bunch of liars;
    Even the press aren’t buying it and they’re stoking their fires.
    I think Speaker Pelosi has done too much speaking;
    And instead of her trashing our intelligence officials, it’s her nose that needs tweaking.

    If forced to believe whether the CIA and her colleagues in Congress are lying;
    Or it’s Speaker Pelosi whose credibility and career is dying.
    I believe in the integrity of the men and women who sacrifice to keep us safe;
    Not the woman who has been caught flat-footed, lying to our face.

    I say it here and I say it rather clear-
    It’s time for Nancy Pelosi to resign and get out of here.

    via Fancy Nancy – News – Mike Huckabee.

  • May7

    We used to use a method which is similar to this in our company. It’s nice to have somebody distill it into a short and sweet document. If you’re looking for how to choose a domain name, use this guide:

    Effective Strategy for Choosing Right Domain Names

    Naming is linguistic design, and a good domain name is an important part of the overall design of a website. A name plays a prominent role when people discover, remember, think about, talk about, search for, or navigate to a website. It establishes a theme for the branding of a website before people even visit it for the first time.

    Coming up with a good domain name requires a combination of strategy, imagination and good linguistic design practice.

    You’ll find some basic pieces of advice all over the Web, and it’s worth mentioning those right away. Ideally, your domain name should be:

    • Short
    • Catchy and memorable,
    • Easy to pronounce,
    • Easy to spell,
    • Not too similar to competing domain names,
    • Not a violation of someone else’s trademark.

    These are all good rules of thumb. But they lack specifics. These are really criteria to use to evaluate ideas for names after you’ve thought of them. To come up with a name in the first place, you need to know what type of name is best for you. And before you can answer that question, you have to answer two others: one about your resources, and the other about your Web strategy.

    Two Questions

    The first question is easy: Are you willing and able to spend lots of money on your domain name? If not, you can forget about a .com domain that’s a single real word, like Twitter.com or Amazon.com. They’re all registered, many by domain speculators, and buying one will cost a lot. You’ll need to look for a different kind of name. Real words on .net and .org domains are pretty hard to come by, too.

    Word Map
    Image from the Visual Thesaurus, Copyright © 1998-2009 Thinkmap, Inc. All rights reserved.

    The other question is a strategic one and takes more thought: How do you plan to get traffic to your website? Answering this question can help you avoid a lot of confusion about what makes for a good name. Some views on this issue directly contradict others. For example, Rob Monster, CEO of Monster Venture Partners, believes that Google.com and Yahoo.com are “lousy domain names” and that podcast.com and slideshow.com are great ones. Marketing guru Seth Godin advises against real words like these and in favor of unique made-up names like Squidoo.com (his company).

    So, what’s going on here? These two views correspond to different strategies for getting Web traffic. Monster is interested in what we might call a “discoverable” domain name. That’s a name that can be found by someone who doesn’t know about your website but is doing web searches on keywords and phrases related to a specific topic, or by typing those words and phrases directly into the navigation bar of the browser. Discoverable names are generically descriptive.

    The type of name that Godin is talking about is a “brandable” domain name. A brandable name establishes a distinct identity and communicates indirectly to evoke interesting ideas and feelings. Some brandable names, like Squidoo, provide a unique character string unlikely to be found anywhere except in documents that mention that particular website. That means people who know the name of the website can easily use a search engine to navigate there. Godin makes good use of this advantage, though it may not be a significant source of traffic. A unique character string also makes it possible for mentions of your website to dominate top search results for your name. That helps establish credibility, which may be considerably more important.

    Discoverable Or Brandable?

    So, do you need a discoverable name or a brandable name? If you intend to rely primarily on organic search results for a specific topic, you might want a discoverable name… but not necessarily. Even if your website has a brandable name, it can still rank well in search engine results for keywords and phrases as long as it’s full of relevant content. Discoverable names are only necessary for people counting on “type-in” traffic.

    Domainsbot
    Domains Bot, a search engine that is geared specifically towards finding a domain name. It works best if you’re looking for a compound-word domain rather than an invented word.

    Discoverable names are real words and phrases. If you don’t have the budget to buy a single real-word domain, then you’ll need to go for a phrase. Common phrases are often registered as well, so it can take time to find one. The trick to a discoverable name is not to be clever but to think of a phrase that other people would likely think of as well and would type in a search engine or navigation bar. The catch is that you have to find one that hasn’t yet been registered. Instant Domain Search and Domains Bot are great tools for checking the availability of domain names and suggest available alternative names.

    If your marketing plans involve paid search listings and buzz generated by prominent mentions of your website, then you will almost certainly want a brandable name. A brandable name is distinctive, evocative and memorable.

    Strategies For Brandable Names

    So how do you come up with a brandable name? It takes some creativity. You sometimes hear people, including marketing people, say that a name should be an “empty vessel,” so that it can get all its meaning from other forms of branding. That’s not the most productive way to think when coming up with a name. Most great website names are connected to the purpose of the website in an indirect and interesting way. Often they use sensory images or tap into people’s personal experience in some way.

    Some names are metaphors. PageFlakes, for example, uses the unexpected flake metaphor to help people understand something about how to use the website: you drag little boxes of content around, and they stick in the places you drop them, like flakes. Smashing Magazine is based on a word used in an enthusiastic appraisal of a performance, outfit, or design — “That looks smashing!” — but it also evokes the idea of being physically clobbered. That metaphor is brought to the foreground by the tagline: “We smash you with the information that makes your life easier. Really.”


    Image credit: eBoy.

    How do you come up with a metaphor? First, you have to have a clear understanding of what makes your website special and interesting. Then you have to find a simpler concept that helps people understand that concept by analogy, usually by imagined sensory experiences. The sensory information used in metaphors makes them vivid and memorable. There’s no algorithm for finding a metaphor, but it often involves thinking visually, which should come naturally to Web designers.

    Some names have indirect connections to a website’s purpose but not through a metaphor. Flickr.com, for example, relates to photography through the concept of light that’s implicit in the word “flicker.”

    Putting Names Together

    Because you won’t be looking for a single-word name (unless you have big bucks to spend), you’ll have to build your name out of pieces. There are several different ways to do that:

    • Compound
      Example: YouTube
      Two whole words, often two nouns, stuck together. Don’t let anyone tell you that this kind of name is a “fad” and will go away. This has been the most common way to coin new English words as well as to create new names, and that’s unlikely to change in the next few hundred years.
    • Phrase
      Example: Six Apart

      Words put together according to normal grammatical rules. Phrase names can be similar to compounds, but have a different pattern of syllabic emphasis. In compounds, the emphasis goes on the first word, the way we emphasize “white” in “the Whitehouse.” In phrases, the emphasis often goes on the second word, the way we emphasize “house” in “a white house.”

    • Blend
      Examples: Microsoft, Farecast

      A blend combines a part of a word with another word or word part. The name Microsoft combines the “micro” part of “microcomputer” with the “soft” part of “software.” When blends involve a surprising overlap in sound between the two words, they’re a form of wordplay. Farecast is like that. It combines the words “fare” and “forecast,” and “fare” resembles the first syllable of “forecast.” When you create this kind of blend, be sure to avoid awkwordplay: don’t pile up consonants in ugly ways (like in the name Syncplicity), and don’t use important words to replace syllables that aren’t emphasized (the way the names Mapufacture and Carticipate do).

    • Tweaked word
      Examples: Flickr, Zune
      Sometimes you can find a good domain name that’s basically a real word, but changed in some small way. It might have a modified spelling, like Flickr, or it might have a changed or added sound, like Zune (from “tune”) and iPhone.
    • Affixed word
      Example: Friendster
      Some names are new words created by sticking a prefix or suffix onto an existing word. Friendster, for example, is “friend” with the suffix -ster attached. Biznik is “biz” with the Yiddish-derived suffix -nik (as in “beatnik”).
    • Made-up name
      Examples: Etsy, Odeo
      Sometimes you can find a name that is, or seems to be, completely made up. For example, Etsy is an online hand-made goods marketplace, and Odeo is an online music website.

    When building a name out of pieces, be sure that both pieces contribute something interesting. The name LibraryThing fails in this respect. LiftPort, the name of a company that wants to build an elevator to outer space, is not much better. The words “lift” and “port” have very similar meanings; both relate to moving things around. Neither relates to what makes this company really exciting, outer space.

    Linguistic Design Guidelines

    Here are some general guidelines on linguistic design that you can use in your quest for a name:

    Meaning

    Be specific:

    • Good: 37signals
    • Bad: LibraryThing

    Appeal to the senses in appropriate ways:

    • Good: Twitter
    • Bad: BookGoo

    Make every piece count:

    • Good: YouTube
    • Bad: LiftPort

    If you use a metaphor, make sure it’s enlightening:

    • Good: PageFlakes
    • Bad: Fairtilizer (how is fertilizer related to music?)

    Sound

    Keep groups of consonants simple and appealing:

    • Good: Biznik
    • Bad: Sclipo

    Preserve the natural syllabic emphasis of words:

    • Good: Farecast
    • Bad: Carticipate

    Use sound to support your meaning:

    • Good: Etsy (a short sound for a hand-made goods marketplace)
    • Bad: Syncplicity (an awkward blend for an application that’s supposed to sync your computers seamlessly)

    Conclusion

    If you’re a Web designer, you know that the design process isn’t unfettered creativity. Rather, it involves elegant, creative solutions to specific problems. Naming is no different. Forget the cliche of the crazy adverstising or marketing genius who’s struck by the perfect idea as if by lightning. Approach the naming process in a strategic, rational way, and look for elegant solutions to your particular naming challenge. Even as domain names become scarcer and scarcer, with the right strategy and enough attention to linguistic design principles, building a great name is still possible.

    Resources

    • Instant Domain Search
      Checks the availability of domain names in real time as you type, and provides links to popular registrars.
    • ThinkMap Visual Thesaurus
      Shows words linked to synonyms and other related words in interactive maps made of nodes and links. Paid membership required after a brief free trial period.
    • Visuwords
      A free visual thesaurus based on Princeton’s WordNet database.
    • Visual Dictionary
      Online version of the Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary. You can look at images to learn the names of things.
    • Name Types
      Types of names in more detail, with lots of examples.

    Related posts

    You may be interested in the following related posts:

    About the Author

    Christopher Johnson is a naming and verbal branding consultant from Seattle, WA, USA. He has a PhD in linguistics and writes about names and language on his blog The Name Inspector.

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