11. November 2008 by Tony Magana.

Felix Longoria grew up in a small town called Three Rivers between Corpus Christi and San Antonio, Texas.  His father was initially a foreman for the railroad but when his engine was destroyed he was dismissed and thereafter sought work as a migrant farm worker.  Taking his wife and small children on a truck they would canvas the state looking for work. As was common in the 1930s many times the family had to use the truck as a home if no barn was available because “Mexicans” were not allowed in hotels.

Young Felix emulated his father in learning how to fix things.  His late sister once said that he could fix just about anything around the house or on wheels.  Like many young men, he eventually married and moved to Corpus Christi to seek his future as a truck driver but the world was at war and he was now of age to serve in the military.

In 1945 he was a part of the invading forces retaking the Philippines.  Several reports indicate that he found life in the military different without the discrimination he had felt at home growing up in Texas. His family last heard from him when he was in California just before being shipped out to the Pacific. On June 15th, 1945 he was in the jungle of Luzon in the Philippines when a sniper’s bullet killed him instantly.  His family received word of his death some time later and that he had been buried in a temporary grave.

Three years later in 1948, his sister had received word that the body of Private Felix Longoria was being returned to the family. The body was shipped by train to Three Rivers and she took a bus trip from Corpus Christi to Three Rivers.  Initially the Rice Funeral Home had told her they would handle the body and funeral but just as the train was arriving, his widow Beatrice and her young daughter were told that the funeral home could not provide chapel services because “the whites would not like it”. Other accounts have carried the quote as “I’m sorry, but the whites would object… because Mexicans are not served here.”

She called Dr. Hector Garcia, a well known physician and recent founder of the G.I. Forum, who got the message out to the press and to the young ambitious Senator from Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson.The Senator had been a school teacher in Texas for poor Hispanics. He once had donated 75% of his salary to help a school for Mexican-American children. The national press embarrassed the State of Texas when Walter Winchell said on a national radio broadcast “the state of Texas, which looms so large on the map, looks so small tonight….”.

Horace Busby in an interview years later stated that then Senator Johnson on hearing about the incident said  “These boys go off and fight and die and they run into this at home.” He had been an aviator and awarded a Silver Star in the Pacific theater in 9142 before President Roosevelt ordered all members of Congress back to Washington.  In a statement to Congress, the young Senator noted that he had found out that Mexican Americans were winning medals for courage more than any other group.  On January 11th, 1949 he sent to the following telegram to group of over 1,000 people including Dr. Garcia which said ”I deeply regret to learn that the prejudice of some individuals extends even beyond this life. I have no authority over civilian funeral homes. Nor does the federal government.  However, I have today made arrangements to have Felix Longoria buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery here in Washington where , the honored dead of our nation’s war rest…. This injustice and prejudice is deplorable.  I am happy to have a part  seeing that this Texas hero is laid to rest  with the honor and dignity his service deserves.” U.S. Senator Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Congressman John Lyle, and President Truman’s military aide, Gen. Harry H. Vaughan joined the Longoria family for a full military burial with honors at Arlington National Cemetery on February 16, 1949.

That was not the end of the story. An official state inquiry found that there had been no wrong doing in Three Rivers. Since that time many have questioned the motives of the ambitious young Senator and what was really said. Unfortunately, the truth is that the Longoria family really just wanted Felix Longoria to be buried close to home and in that simple request there was no mercy. Today LONGORIA, FELIX Z ,PVT USAGF- 27TH INF rests in Section 34 of the Arlington National Cemetery.

Felix Longoria was a hero but so was the late Hector Garcia-Founder of the G.I. Forum, Beatrice Longoria-wife, Sara Posas-sister, then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson who took a political chance for a righteous cause and many others who stood up for what was just. The shy Beatrice Longoria died at the age of 88 this year (shown at the right).

Years from now what will future generations say about what we are doing now for our veterans?

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »

1. November 2008 by Laura Elizabeth Morales.

First of all, let me start by saying that I’m glad I’m not the Dallas Morning News, New York Post or Washington Times, after all they were kicked off the Obama plane…possibly for being papers that endorsed McCain…no says the Obama camp.

Moving on to redistribution of wealth news, this from Barack Obama:

“The point is, though, that — and it’s not just charity, it’s not just that I want to help the middle class and working people who are trying to get in the middle class — it’s that when we actually make sure that everybody’s got a shot – when young people can all go to college, when everybody’s got decent health care, when everybody’s got a little more money at the end of the month – then guess what? Everybody starts spending that money, they decide maybe I can afford a new car, maybe I can afford a computer for my child. They can buy the products and services that businesses are selling and everybody is better off. All boats rise. That’s what happened in the 1990s, that’s what we need to restore. And that’s what I’m gonna do as president of the United States of America.

“John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic,” Obama continued. “You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.”

First of all, if this is a reference to a great read: The Virtue of Selfishness by the great Ayn Rand then it would be worth it for any and all conservatives and libertarians to remember this:

The meaning ascribed in popular usage to the word “selfishness” is not merely wrong: it represents a devastating intellectual “package-deal,” which is responsible, more than any other single factor, for the arrested moral development of mankind.

In popular usage, the word “selfishness” is a synonym of evil; the image it conjures is of a murderous brute who tramples over piles of corpses to achieve his own ends, who cares for no living being and pursues nothing but the gratification of the mindless whims of any immediate moment.

Yet the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word “selfishness” is: concern with one’s own interests. (Introduction - Virtue of Selfishness)

Obama would have you believe that concern for your welfare, concern for success and concern for your idea of your own American Dream is wrong, immoral, irrational and if Joe Biden had anything to add - unpatriotic.

I leave it to ethics, just like Ayn Rand, to answer the intent of each individual man’s own interests, but there is nothing immoral, wrong or bad about having concern for your own interests.

If you still don’t buy that, remember this analysis from Rand’s Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal

America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America’s industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance- and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way.

More at Hot Air:

This reveals the basic underlying philosophy of the Left - that one cannot possibly be charitable unless they use the government to redirect their funds.

We do not redistribute wealth nor sacrifice rational self interest for society because it is the individual who creates the fortune, prosperity and greatness that is the American Dream.

I leave you with this final thought from Ayn Rand:

…I use the word “rightist” to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of individual freedom and capitalism–and the word “leftist” to denote the views of those who are predominantly in favor of government controls and socialism.

This post originally written for Memoirs From a Young Conservative

Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

21. October 2008 by Tony Magana.

No doubt one of the key concerns in the upcoming election is jobs. The State of Texas has been luckier than some states but still has seen unemployment increase from 4.3 % in September 2007 to 5.0% in September 2008 according to the Texas Workforce Commission. In our local McAllen area the unemployment rate is actually 7.8% which is higher than 6.3% a year ago.  Although that was the highest unemployment rate in the state it is notable that the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area was reported by  the Texas A&M Monthly Review of the Texas Economy to still have the fastest growth job rate in the state at 4.1% in September 2008.

What if any difference will there be between the Obama and McCain presidency in job creation for our state?

Shanea Watkins, Ph.D., Policy Analyst for Empiric Studies at the esteemed Heritage Foundation this week published an in-depth analysis looking at the likely job creation on a state by state basis which would occur under either an Obama or McCain Presidency. A macroeconomic model which has been commonly used by government agencies and Fortune 500 companies to evaluate economic indicators effects was combined with each states employment data to formulate outcomes. Employment over a ten year period, gross domestic product, and disposable income were evaluated. 

Senator Obama’s job growth plan depends mostly on income redistribution through tax changes and rebates or credits to low income groups to bust consumption while Senator McCain’s plan decreases business taxes and allows for deductions of business purchases complete within the first year. Dr. Watkins concluded that owners of businesses would hire more employees and invest more in development under McCain’s plan than Obama’s plan.  Interestingly, the Obama plan would depend upon a trickle down effect from boosting consumption, however, based upon the data she concluded it was not likely that business investment or increased job creation would occur. Overall her analysis found that “job growth under Senator John McCain’s  plan at the national level is more than two times faster than job growth under Senator Barack Obama’s  plan.

The Table below shows a state by state comparison:

As the table above indicates the difference in outcome between job creation is rather dramatic throughout the United States. Under a McCain plan Texas would gain an additional 91,739 jobs than with the Obama plan. Total job creation for the State of Texas would be 161,171 for the ten year period. This important academic study should be considered by voters.

Since the study did rely on mostly macroeconomic factors it is very possible that the job creation effect could be magnified in South Texas where there has been a more robust economy than in other parts of the country. On the other hand, if a President Obama negates the North American Free Trade Agreement than of course that would be very deleterious to our area even more than his less favorable approach overall.

Go To Contempo Magazine Home Page

Posted in politics, Uncategorized | Print | 1 Comment »