Racism Is Not Dead

There are some REALLY good points in here. 
Pretending racism doesn't exist and making the person who feels it think they're the ones with the problem is NOT going to make it go away.
Yes, sometimes people might see racism where it really isn't, or where it is ignorance instead.
But racism still exists, and when it does surface, the victims need to be validated. 

Kanye West Knows You Think He Sounded Nuts on Kimmel

Six of One - Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act AKA America's Finest

Thank you Jimmy Kimmel, for revealing just how wonderfully blind, ignorant and illogical people can be.
Instead of blindly following and believing the opinions of your spouse, family, friends, or that ass hole on the TV show you love,  WHY DON'T YOU GO OUT AND LEARN ABOUT THE ISSUE BEFORE MAKING AN OPINION!!!!!

I will be the first to admit that I have not done my research on the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, THEREFORE, I withhold my judgement until such a time that I have learned more about it.

These people, obviously did not do the same, seeing as many agreed with some of the major points of the Affordable Care Act, but still did not agree with it when it was called Obamacare.

Meanwhile, others straight up fabricated reasons why the Affordable Care Act was better than Obamacare, when in fact, they are the same thing.

Enjoy.
Spread it around.

Para la familia y los amigos

Hoy hice mi primero altar para Día de los Muertos.
Me duele mucho que este año, tengo tres fotos en mi altar.
Ha muerto un amigo bueno, que fue a Argentina con nosotros el año pasado.
Él era muy joven, y tenía una esposa de solo tres semanas.
Nunca te olvida tú familia.
Nunca te olvidan tus amigos.
Están con nosotros para siempre.

Viven en nuestras corazones.

Basset Hounds Running

Okay,
I know this doesn't have anything to do with Hispanic culture...
but my boyfriend and I took our 5 month old puppy to the dog park yesterday where a good friend met us with his 5 month old puppy and an awesome new camera.

I just HAD to share some pictures with you.... for obvious reasons.

Luna is just way too adorable. And I wanted to get the awesome picture below to show up in google images searches of basset hounds running... If you've never searched that, you're in for a treat.

Meet Luna... Her Most Adorableness.

BASSET HOUND PUPPY RUNNING

Sangria Mmmmm

I think this one speaks for itself.

Enchiladas verdes de pollo

Here, my friends and I made salsa verde by boiling tomatillos and chiles rather than roasting them, and made homemade tortillas but this time with wax paper which made it muchhhh easier. 

We boiled then shredded chicken and topped it all off with queso fresco and a side of refried beans, not homemade but you really couldn't tell. Can't remember the brand though. 

Empanadas Argentinas!!!

Another staple if you've ever been to Argentina:

Here my friends and I made several fillings for our empanadas and used a store-bought pie crust for the dough. 

We made some with butternut squash and corn, some with ground beef, chiles and hardboiled egg, and some with sweet and spiced butternut squash. 

The beef turned out pretty much exactly how we remembered them. 

We had an empanada press but I found it was actually easier to just stuff and roll them by hand, not to mention prettier! 

(You'll probably be able to tell which ones were mine.)

Argentine Torta!

I chose to make this dish similar to the way my host mom did in Argentina. My roomie and I had two of these to last us all weekend every weekend when she'd head off to her weekend home in Las Pampas. Usually, we had one of cebolla (and seriously, this means CEBOLLA, nothing else), one of spinach and cheese, or ham and cheese. I don't like ham, so if it was an onion torta I had to suck it up and eat it. 

Below are two that I've made; the first is a spinach and swiss, the second a butternut squash. 

This closest analog I know is a quiche, however torta has less eggs and more veggies and cheese. 

Torta pascualina is a very similar Argentine pie that also has hard boiled eggs inside and more spinach and less egg. Mine is basically a cross between the two.

I hand made the crust with flour, oil, egg and baking powder. 

The filling is onion and spinach, sauteed, swiss cheese and 5 eggs.

Basically, delicious. I lived off of these. 

Homemade Tortillas!

It's a little harder without wax paper or a tortilla press... But we used them to make spinach salsa verde enchiladas!

RESPECT

Every human being deserves respect. It does not depend on his/her job, background, education level, socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation, native language, skin color, hair style, clothing, music preferences, ANYTHING.

Our representatives in government have to stop preaching the opposite. None of them are perfect. But they must SET A GOOD EXAMPLE for all of us, and we for them.

It is time for us to tell men like Rep. Don Young that this is not acceptable.

There is no excuse for his words. They reflect his true opinions and how he really thinks, which is deplorable.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/gop-lawmaker-calls-hispanic-workers-wetbacks-124131854--politics.html

Don't Blame the Victim- Nunca tiene la culpa la victima

Everyone should watch this:
Todos deben verlo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z84USDWJdbY


PREACH ON SISTER!
These three perfectly put into words what I have been trying to explain about the issue our country has with rape. It's not about what women can do to prevent rape. It's not the victim's fault. We have to change the way we talk about rape because that creates the culture that fosters men who don't respect women, which leads to rape.

It's all about having respect for women and their bodily rights. Lawmakers have to set an example by passing those laws that do give women those rights.

Many conservatives love to say that they want "less government" and that the government should leave us alone. Why doesn't that apply to women too?

If you don't want the government to interfere with your life, but you're okay with them being elbow-deep in your wife, sister, or friend's vagina, then you are a hypocrite.

La victima de la violacion nunca tiene la culpa. Tenemos que ensenar respeto entre los hombres y mujeres. Mujeres tienen que tener la autonomia de sus cuerpos y saben que los hombres se respetan.

Nunca es la culpa de la victima.

Hugo Chavez

Ha muerto hoy Hugo Chavez, el lider de Venezuela.
Aunque su version de la democracia no fue la misma de la que los Estados Unidos, la mayoria de la gente venezuela la queria, y eso es lo que es importante.
No hay duda, Chavez fue un gran lider de la gente venezuela y la gente latinoamericana.
No era perfecto, pero hizo lo que el penso fue mejor para su gente.
Chavez trato a tomar el poder merecido a la gente latinoamericana, y fue un gran ejemplo.
El trato a cambiar el sistema entre Latinoamerica y otros paises como los Estados Unidos, y por eso, merece nuestro respeto.
Adios, y vaya con Dios.

Today Hugo Chavez, the leader of Venezuela, died.
Although his version of democracy was not the same as that of the US, the majority of the Venezuelan people wanted it, and that is what's important.
Without a doubt, Chavez was a great leader of the Venezuelan people as well as the Latin American people.
He was not perfect, but he did what he thought was best for his people.
He tried to take the power the Latin American people deserved, and was a great example.
He tried to change the system of power between Latin America and countries like the US, and for this, he deserves our respect.
Goodbye, and go with God.

Say No to the Exploitation of the Tar Sands

From the Sierra Club via Business Insider:
"These Pictures Show How Oil Sand Mining Releases Carcinogens Into Candaian Lakes"
by Robert Johnson

This article reporting on a study that found a direct link between the tar sands and higher levels of carcinogens in Canadian water came out on Jan. 9th and here we are, a month later, and everything continues as planned.
I am not a Canadian citizen, and probably neither are you. Even if you don't live on the North American continent, this affects you. It affects us all. The evidence is in: it's time to end sand oil mining. We can no longer put off the effects of our bad decisions until tomorrow, or the subsequent generations; this hard evidence cannot be ignored.

http://www.businessinsider.com/canadian-report-links-alberta-athabasca-oil-sands-to-carcinogens-in-water-2013-1?0=bi

Human Rights Violations Coverage: the "Latin Bias"

Columbia Journalism Review - Behind the News
Worth the read.

Notes from MLK day from a public school teacher in Mississippi

http://news.yahoo.com/diary-first-teacher-racism-alive-well-kids-mississippi-185037297.html

Although the title suggests something negative, this short entry is actually uplifting and gives us hope for the future. Even though racism may still be alive and informal segregation evident, the kids see the positive side of it. And that, is enough for progress to work with.

Sierra Club to Engage in Civil Disobedience for the First Time in Organization’s History to Stop Tar Sands | Sierra Club National

Sierra Club to Engage in Civil Disobedience for the First Time in Organization’s History to Stop Tar Sands | Sierra Club National

Give it a gander. Climate change is NOW. Not 50 years, not 100 years, NOW. We have to support organizations like the Sierra Club and do all we can to help before it's too late. If today, all CO2 emissions were halted, it would still take 50 years to clear the atmosphere. We can't sit by idly and hope it all goes away. It's up to us.

Léelo. La crisis del medio ambiente está pasando AHORA. No en cincuenta años más, no en cien años, AHORA. Tenemos que apoyar las organizaciones como el Sierra Club y hacer todo que podemos antes de es demasiado tarde. Si hoy, todos los emisiones de CO2 fueran parados, pasarían cincuentas anos antes de seria limpia la atmosfera. No podemos quedarnos aquí y esperar para desaparecer las emisiones. Tenemos que actuar.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I hope everyone had a good day and took a little time to think about the man for whom this day is named.
If we all continue to fight for equality and accept all people as they are, MLK will not have died in vain. He has inspired millions and continues to do so with his words, his life, and his values. I hope we all continue to learn from this great man.
The fight is not over. This concerns ALL people, black, white, brown, gay, straight, lesbian, the list goes on. Our differences make us stronger and the ability to work together is our greatest strength.
Never give up.

And on a lighter note...

Here combines my favorite Star Wars original character with one of LA's most comical if infamous stereotypes:

Gotta love it. Can't believe this has been missing from my life for so long!

Tamales!

Tamales are a huge part of Mexican culture and are always present during the holidays. Often, families and friends get together to prepare them as they really are time consuming, but you'll find they are totally worth it.

In places with a large Mexican population, buying prepared masa from a store is the easiest way to go. Here in Montana, however, the only option you really have is to buy dried prepared corn flour by a brand like Maseca. This corn flour is treated with lime and perfect for tamales. Lard or vegetable shortening can be used, but lard is more traditional.

I bought lard and hand-whipped it with a fork, which I don't suggest if you have access to an electric mixer! Once the lard is nice and fluffy and the consistency of frosting, you're ready to add the corn flour. Once the corn flour is completely mixed in, warm water or warm chicken broth is added and mixed until the a small ball of dough will float in a glass of water (if it doesn't quite float but almost does, it will be fine).

For the filling, I decided to make two types. Pork filling is probably the most common, aka carnitas. These are made by slow-cooking chunks of pork shoulder in various spices. I made a spicy red chile sauce to go into the tamales with them. For the second type, I made salsa verde (tomatillo and green chile sauce) and bought Muenster cheese to go in the tamales as well.

Dried corn husks soaked in warm water for at least thirty minutes are used to wrap the tamales. The masa is spread on the husk, then the filling is added and the edges and ends wrapped in. Next, steam the tamales for an hour to an hour and a half. If you don't have a steamer deep enough for the tamales to stand upright, a deep colander can be used in a large pot. Make sure the gently boiling water does not hit the bottom of the tamales. If a colander must be used, wrapping the top edge with foil is a good way to keep in the steam.