Your Voice is Your Vote
Hilbert Morales, MPH, EL OBSERVADOR
I know that too many times, to the point of being very repetitive,  I have encouraged Latino resident citizens to register to vote, learn about the public policy issues, and then vote in their own best interests. Why? Because we must realize that those who choose not to vote never speak to an elected official.
Since Elected Officials want to be re-elected, they tend to make public policy after listening to those who have supported them. Simply put, elected officials listen to and respond to the needs and opinions of those who communicate with their vote. Many programs are funded with your tax money and do provide jobs in your communities.
On Tuesday, June 3, 2008 registered voters will select the candidates who aspire to be County Supervisor or a City Council member.
In addition, two measures on the use of eminent domain plus a few bond issues are presented for voter approval. Those communities with high voter participation will benefit first from the use of tax revenues.
This year is a transition year, a year for change. Many things are happening that impact Hispanic individuals, especially those who are resident citizens eligible and registered to vote.
In the County of Santa Clara, it is simple to register to vote. Just fill out the appropriate form with your personal information and sign it. Then have that form get to the Registrar of Voters. To learn how to deliver that form phone 408-299-VOTE.
There are many who would like to make registering to vote and voting at a polling place much more difficult. The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled-as being constitutional-an Indiana state law that requires photo I.D. when a voting. A proposed law in Missouri would require a photo I.D. for all residents. Members of our Hispanic Congressional Caucus are already standing up to these developments at the national level.
Assembly Member Joe Coto (D-District 23, San Jose) has been consistently encouraging resident Latino citizens to register to vote. About 18 months ago a survey indicated that of the six million resident citizens in California who were not registered to vote, an estimated four million were Hispanic. Today that number has decreased to three million. The good news is that a million more voters are Latinos who may vote.
New elected officials will be selected. Will a Latino(a) be elected to replace Supervisor Blanca Alvarado who terms out come December 31, 2008?
Will another Latino(a) be elected to the San Jose City Council? Will more Latinos(as) be elected to local school boards and commissions? It is these elected officials who provide our community with direct representation. It is these elected Latino officials who stand up to those who would want to treat us all as if we are all undocumented residents.
So it behooves us all to use our vote as our voice:Just vote on June 3 and encourage others to join you.∆

What good is a government if it cannot protect its citizens?
Lessons must be learned by all governments before the next tragedy
by  Gil Villagran, MSW
As we look to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in our nation and presently  at China with thousands dead and more trapped, dying in collapsed buildings, and then at Burma after a cyclone destroyed whole cities, sixty thousand missing; it is critical to ask:  What is  the purpose of government, if not to protect the people from such forces that kill thousands in moments and then hundreds of thousands more due to inadequate government response?
The only legitimate purpose of government is to create an infrastructure for harmonious living by all its citizens    and to mitigate the harmful effects of natural phenomenon as earthquakes, hurricanes (cyclones), or public health crisis as epidemics, environmental toxicity.   A good government will create an infrastructure of agencies to anticipate such disasters which are usually not sudden and without warning, and act immediately to provide lifesaving services to victims. 
A smart government will use scientific knowledge to prevent human made tragedies by ensuring that all structures are well constructed and in areas that will not be subject to predictable natural events, will ensure that nature is understood and respected rather that modified to benefit developers who build on inter-tidal areas, marshes, bays or steep mountainsides.  A smart government will ensure the safety of air, water, food, and medicine.   A smart government will use science to determine safety, rather than allow industry to determine what is safe.
Hurricane Katrina was not a sudden storm that came out of nowhere, but rather one of dozens of annual storms capable of transforming the natural power of wind and ocean to wreck havoc. Such storms are tracked by satellites that reported Katrina was moving toward New Orleans days before it destroyed the city and surrounding areas.  Our Commander-in-Chief was AWOL in the face of Katrina's attack and derelict in his  duty to marshal all branches of government dedicated specifically to respond to such disasters.
Likewise in China and Burma we see tragic consequences of government ineptitude to prevent disasters and respond immediately, effectively after a disaster. In China, though earthquakes cannot be prevented, earthquake zones are known, as is earthquake survivable construction. But building code enforcement is often negotiated by bribes and governments more eager for development than safety.  In Burma, its military dictatorship holds an iron grip on its citizens even in the face of disaster-not allowing entry to foreign rescue workers, limiting even disaster supplies.  There is evidence that food and other supplies are being horded by the military, while people living in fecal infested flood waters are offered moldy rice.  Meanwhile, shiploads of food and supplies from other nations await permission from the military to allow entry.
Mendacity and ineptitude are a deadly combination in governmental decisions, deadly for victims of governmental action, such as in war, or governmental inaction as we now witness. Such governments are not worthy of public confidence.
What can be done?  The United Nations begins to recognize the idea of "Responsibility to Protect" as a defining role of all governments, to protect all people living in its territory no matter ethnicity, gender, religion, class, or citizenship status.  When a government fails to protect, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty seeks to establish  "the foundations for a new normative and operational consensus on the role of military intervention for humanitarian purposes."   To establish a  "principle of international responsibility to protect foreign populations under threat of mass killings, ethnic cleansing, or inadequate and in effective governmental response, where these governments are either complicit or ineffectual."
Unless the United Nations accepts its role, without timidity, to legitimately intervene to protect humans, without invitation when agreement cannot be negotiated with a nation state, we will continue to witness brutal, corrupt, or inept governments allowing massive suffering by citizen who are in realty--victims of these illegitimate governments. To protect its citizens is the only legitimate role of government. ∆