Gonzales: 'Pride and Deception'

Another translation from WatchingAmerica.com. Colombian newspaper El Tiempo calls for the Latino leadership in Congress to 'join the outcry' for Alberto Gonzales' resignation.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez: a 'Terrible Betrayal'

"In a community so desperate for good role models, the ascent of Gonzales represented a double triumph: Not only would he be the first Latino Attorney General, but he would also be the first Latino to occupy one of the four positions of greatest influence in the presidential cabinet.

"Two years on ... Gonzales hasn't lifted a finger in defense of the Hispanic community.

"His record shows a noticeable tendency to erode minority voting rights."

"The latest scandal in which Gonzales has been involved is the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, in what appears to be a political purge of government officials who failed to adhere to the political agenda of the Republican Party."

In what the paper calls the "most aberrant" case, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam was dismissed for allegedly neglecting cases of illegal immigration in San Diego in "her eagerness to prosecute real criminals."

Lam

'The luck of the ugly'

I have a new translation posted at WatchingAmerica.com of a column in El Tiempo, a Colombian newspaper. The U.S. show "Ugly Betty," originally a Colombian telenovela, just won several Golden Globe awards, but some Colombians aren't too happy about it. In the American version, Betty is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant.

The newspaper El Espectador mentions that this new version of "Betty la Fea" will go a long way toward transcending United States immigration policies: to portray the conditions of immigrants in a soap opera followed by tens of millions of U.S. citizens would assure a change in mentality and relax the legal difficulties and daily treatment of "ugly Betties" that hold secondary positions in the great corporations in New York, Miami and San Francisco.

What emerges in this soap opera is, however, the irreconcilable differences between the Mexican immigrants and American tycoons. It's impossible that such mockery could lead to understanding.

And yet... the show is phenomenally popular worldwide. According to Wikipedia, the series has been adapted from Israel to India.