Pew Survey: Payday Loans Fail to Work As Advertised

Services of HoyDallas.com

Research shows that the average payday loan is $375

WASHINGTON -- A new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Payday Lending in America: How Borrowers Choose and Repay Payday Loans, sheds light on the decision 12 million Americans make every year to use a payday loan. Pew's survey results reveal that people choose these loans to avoid outcomes like long-term debt, borrowing from family or friends, overdraft fees, and cutting back further on expenses. But the average loan requires a repayment of more than $400 in two weeks, the typical duration, when the average borrower can only afford $50. When borrowers have trouble paying off the loan, they return to the very same choices they initially tried to avoid.

Ciudadanía vs. Legalización

Maribel Hastings/America's Voice

Maribel Hastings

WASHINGTON, DC – Si un indocumentado vive con el temor diario a ser deportado y separado de su familia,  ¿se conformaría con obtener un permiso de trabajo que lo proteja de la deportación aunque no tenga una vía a la ciudadanía? Muchos responderían que sí. Es un temor totalmente entendible y para muchos esa sería la solución inmediata y a corto plazo. Pero, ¿qué ocurrirá a largo plazo cuando no tenga la opción de integrarse como participante activo de la democracia como lo garantiza la ciudadanía?

Autoridades de Texas responden al tráfico y trata de personas

Greg Abbott, Procurador General de Texas

El tráfico y trata de humanos es un delito horroroso que expone a sus víctimas a la esclavitud moderna, obligándolas a trabajar por muy poco o nada de pago. Desafortunadamente, este terrible delito es una creciente empresa criminal lucrativa en los Estados Unidos. Según el Departamento de Estado de E.U., mundialmente  existen hasta 27 millones de hombres, mujeres y niños atrapados como esclavos por traficantes que les roban su dignidad y derechos humanos básicos cuando abusan de sus vulnerabilidades y los explotan usándolos como trabajadores involuntarios y servicios de prostitución.

Una mirada al cáncer infantil y los hispanos

Leucemias: los más comunes tipos de cáncer infantil 

Instituto Nacional del Cáncer

BETHESDA, Maryland -- El cáncer infantil es poco común— los niños con cáncer representan menos de 1% de todos los casos nuevos de cáncer en Estados Unidos. Pero, ¿sabía usted que el cáncer es la segunda causa principal de muerte (después de accidentes) en los niños de 1 a 14 años de edad? Tras un estudio se calculó que en 2012, en Estados Unidos, más de 12 000 niños (de recién nacidos a 14 años de edad) serían diagnosticados con cáncer y más de 1300 niños morirían por esta enfermedad.

Cómo preparar un presupuesto familiar

Servicios de HoyDallas.com

WASHINGTON -- Si usted está gastando todo lo que gana y nunca tiene dinero para ahorrar o invertir, tiene que buscar maneras de cortar algunos gastos. Cuando se dé cuenta de cómo gasta su dinero, se sorprenderá de cómo puede eliminar algunos pequeños gastos diarios que sumados llegan a mucho al año. Para ello, necesita desarrollar un presupuesto.

Obama: "Llegó el momento de una reforma migratoria amplia sensata"

Maribel Hastings/America's Voice

Maribel Hastings

LAS VEGAS, Nevada --  El presidente Barack Obama declaró que el Congreso necesita actuar para conseguir una fórmula amplia que aborde de una vez y por todas la situación migratoria de los 11 millones de indocumentados en Estados Unidos. Y que si no lo hace pronto, él mismo enviará un proyecto de ley basado en sus propuestas e insistirá en que se vote por él inmediatamente.

Llegó la hora de la Reforma

Maribel Hastings/America's Voice

Maribel Hastings

LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Será el discurso migratorio que Barack Obama no pronunció hace cuatro años, cuando prometió impulsar la reforma migratoria en su primer mandato. Pero la angustiosa espera parece comenzar a rendir frutos. Con su alocución en una escuela de Las Vegas este martes, Obama dará, de hecho, la señal de salida para la carrera de obstáculos que podría culminar este año y, finalmente, con la aprobación de un plan de reforma de nuestras leyes de inmigración.

Encabeza gobernador de Zacatecas celebración de Stock Show & Rodeo en Fort Worth

El desfile del Stock Show and Rodeo de Fort Worth

Zacatecasonline.com.mx

FORT WORTH -- Con los acordes de “La marcha de Zacatecas”, el gobernador de Zacatecas, Miguel Alonso Reyes, abrió el desfile inaugural del 117 aniversario del Stock Show & Rodeo de Fort Worth, Texas, convirtiéndose así en el primer mandatario estatal  mexicano en encabezar la fiesta ganadera más importante de Estados Unidos.

FC Dallas opens preseason Monday, Jan. 21

Services of HoyDallas.com

FRISCO -- FC Dallas begins preparations for the 2013 Major League Soccer season next week as players report for physicals on Sunday, Jan. 20. The first training session of 2013 will be on Monday, Jan. 21, at the FC Dallas Stadium complex.

Anuncian servicio de mamografías en Consulado Mexicano de Dallas

Instituto de la Mujer

DALLAS -- Para todas aquellas mujeres que no se han hecho una mamografía recientemente, el Consulado General de México en Dallas informó que se unirá a las organizaciones Susan G. Komen For The Cure y UT Southwestern Center for Breast Care para ofrecer una unidad móvil con los servicios médicos de mamografías en las instalaciones del Consulado (1210 River Bend Dr. Dallas, TX), el próximo viernes 18 de enero y el viernes 15 de febrero, de 8:00 am a 4:00 pm.

Shakira y Piqué lanzan un "baby shower virtual" en alianza con UNICEF

Shakira espera a su primer bebé con Piqué

Servicios de HoyDallas.com

NUEVA YORK -- La cantantautora y Embajadora de Buena Voluntad de UNICEF, Shakira, y el jugador del FC Barcelona Gerard Piqué lanzaron una invitación este miércoles a todos sus amigos y fans a que se unan a un baby shower virtual para apoyar a los bebés desfavorecidos del mundo.

Reforma Migratoria: ironía y posibilidades

Maribel Hastings/America's Voice

Maribel Hastings

WASHINGTON, D.C. - El pasado viernes recibí dos correos electrónicos casi al mismo tiempo. Uno, sobre las figuras que participarán de las diferentes galas que celebrarán la semana entrante, la segunda toma de posesión del presidente Barack Obama; y otro sobre la detención por agentes del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) de la madre y el hermano de la soñadora (dreamer) y activista nacional, Erika Andiola, en Arizona. Pensé en la ironía y en las posibilidades.

Renewing my vows with the movement

Gaby Pacheco/Special to HoyDallas.com

I want to renew my vows with the movement- The first time I came out as an undocumented person was when I was just a teenager. I was in high school and I told my peers, teachers, and friends I did not have papers.

Illinois House approves special temporary driver's license for undocumented immigrants

Immigration Reform advocates in Ill.

Services of HoyDallas.com

WASHINGTON, D.C--  Behind strong bipartisan support, the Illinois legislature voted today to grant a special temporary driver’s license to immigrants who are in the country without authorization. This safety measure will ensure that all drivers on Illinois roads will have been tested on their driving skills and on the rules of the road, and that they will have insurance. It now goes to Gov. Patrick Quinn, who supports the legislation.

Toda "La Republika" está feliz por sus nominaciones al Premio Lo Nuestro

Sandra Velázquez/HoyDallas.com

DALLAS -- Los integrantes del grupo bachatero "La Republika" cerraron el 2012 con una gran noticia al enterarse que fueron nominados a dos Premios Lo Nuestro de la música, incluso sin haber publicado todavía un disco completo en su joven carrera.

No Dreams -The Case of Ruben Navarrete

By Rudy F. Acuña

I usually ignore people who take cheap shots in order to make themselves look intelligent. However, Ruben Navarrete’s column titled, “If I offended demanding DREAMers, I'm not sorry” crossed the line. My gut reaction was who gives a dump? But I guess I do.

Navarette begins his column in his usual self-congratulatory way: “Even for someone who has written more than 2,000 columns over the last 20 years, sometimes the words come out wrong.”

I have known Ruben for those two decades, and my impression is that he is always trying to impress you. The first words that came out of his mouth when we first met were that he had graduated from Harvard as if that somehow qualified him as an expert.

At 25 Ruben wrote an autobiography A Darker A Shade of Crimson. It was about telling us he was from Harvard.

The Amazon promo says that Navarette spent “his turbulent years as a Mexican-American undergraduate at one of the nation's most prestigious universities.” According  the piece, the autobiography was Navarrette’s “declaration of independence, spurning the labels `people of color' (offensive) and ‘Hispanic’ (too general), preferring ‘minority’ and ‘Latino.’” (Four years before that he had been a Chicano).

In A Darker A Shade of Crimson, Ruben brags how he confronted bigotry. Ruben pulled himself up by his own bootstraps.  Ruben was a self-made boy, got straight A's, a valedictorian, and his efforts alone got him into Harvard. Affirmative action and the sacrifices of others had nothing to do with it.

I could not believe that this was the same chubby kid that I met a couple of years before who tried to impress me with how Chicano he was – high fives and all. Ruben was Mr. Aztlán.

The tone of Navarette’s article offended my sense of history, and no one should mess with Chicana/o history.

I know that I am getting old. And my memory is not what it used to be. However, I remember witnessing firsthand students, educators and organizations pressuring Ivy League universities to admit highly qualified minorities. Even Michelle Obama, an excellent student, was reputed to have taken part in a sit-in at Harvard in 1988.

However, Ruben thinks he is exceptional, and the sacrifices of others had nothing to do with his admission. He was a boy genius from Sanger, California.

Perhaps at one time Ruben could be forgiven for his historical myopia. He was once a young man who wanted to make it. He had a dream of being someone. Of being called Mr. Harvard. But last month he completely blew any credibility he once had.

Navarette preached, “I know just what a lot of those so-called DREAMers deserve to get for Christmas: a scolding. There are good and bad actors in every movement and the bad ones -- if not kept in check -- can drag the good ones down with them.”

He continues, “Having declared their intention to better themselves, some in the DREAMer movement now insist that they're entitled to better treatment than run-of-the-mill illegal immigrants. You know, like the hardworking and humble folks who cut your lawn, clean your house or care for your kids. In fact, the DREAMers seem to suggest they're due a reward for good behavior.”

Then he gets nasty, “Gee, kids, can we get you anything else? Maybe free massages the next time you stage a sit-in? These kids want it all” …While they probably don't realize it, their public tantrums are turning people against them and hurting the chances for a broader immigration reform package.”
Some might call this a cheap shot.

This man who says he has written “more than 2,000 columns over the last 20 years,” offers no solution while playing to the xenophobes. Indeed, other than he went to Harvard, what has he accomplished?

Most recent research shows that people deprived of entering the dream phase of sleep “exhibit symptoms of irritability and anxiety.” Their brains stop growing. This is what has apparently happened to Ruben.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have A Dream” Speech. Like all visionaries Dr. King wanted a more perfect society.  The reverend spoke of the gap between the American dream and the American lived reality and how white supremacists violated the dream. The reaction of his fellow Dreamers was “Now.”

The response to Dr. King was not all positive. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) expanded their COINTELPRO operation against the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and targeted King specifically as a public enemy of the United States.  Some accused Dr. King of provoking enmity between the races.

Dr. King was scolded in the press. Called a troublemaker, and certainly his civility was questioned. In the end, history has judged him as it will the Dreamers.

As I have often pointed out when I arrived at San Fernando Valley State College, there were barely fifty students of Mexican origin at the college. Students opened it up by demanding and often being discourteous. They were the children of “the hardworking and humble folks who cut your lawn, clean your house or care for your kids.” They dreamt of a better life, of escaping low paying jobs much the same as Navarette escaped Sanger.

 Like Dr. King the Dreamers have led a nonviolent struggle and practiced civil disobedience to bring attention to the injustices in our society. For the information of Ruben Navarette, civil disobedience is an American tradition dating back to the Boston Tea Party and the abolitionist movement.  Today’s Dreamers follow in the footsteps of other American Dreamers, which is probably hard for Navarette, suffering from intellectual insomnia, to fathom.

 Aside from the equitable argument that the Dreamers are entitled to a path to citizenship because they came to the United States through no fault of their own – most were minors when brought here by their parents—there are more compelling reasons. In spite of living in poor neighborhoods and often attending decaying schools, they have displayed considerable initiative and perseverance in pursuing their education and being good citizens in their community.

I argue that they came to the United States not through their own fault but because the United States has not been the best of neighbors.

Mexico has a population of 115 million people. Most of Mexican immigrants migrated to the United States because of economic reasons. The North American Free Trade Agreement has been a disaster to the small subsistence farmer driving millions off their farms. Relatively little technical aid has been given to Mexico to help build its infrastructure whereas the United States is pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars to induce the Mexican government to purse a failed War on Drugs that has devastated the country.

The Nation Magazine reported “Beyond the undiplomatic opinions … the WikiLeaks cables revealed the astonishing degree to which the United States exercised its power and influence at the highest levels of the Mexican government. In some cases it appears that an essential part of the decision-making process on matters of internal security is actually designed not in Mexico City but in Washington. For Mexicans, the cables have reinforced once again that famous adage ‘Pobre Mexico: tan lejos de Dios, y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos.’ Poor Mexico: so far from God and so close to the United States.”

In the case of the Dreamers from Central America, the U.S. wrecked the economy of those countries and spent billions tearing them up. Lately, the U.S. has been exporting made in the U.S. gang members to El Salvador.

One might say the migration of the Dreamers was in most cases induced.

This debate could go on forever. But for Navarette’s information, the actions of the Dreamers that Navarette objects to are the ones that got him into Harvard. The Dreamers never would have gotten this far if they had relied on the Ruben Navarettes.  Most of them have worked hard, gotten good grades and not gotten swallowed up in the apathy that often paralyzes the poor. They dare to dream, and refuse to take less by just existing. Perhaps Ruben should re-read A Darker Shade of Crimson and remember how it was to dream.

Anuncian reglamento final para modificar el proceso de obtener un perdón (waiver)

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WASHINGTON -- La Secretaria del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, Janet Napolitano,  anunció este miércoles la publicación de una regla final en el Registro Federal que, en ciertas circunstancias, reduce el tiempo que los ciudadanos permanecen separados de sus familiares inmediatos (cónyuges, hijos y padres) cuando están en el proceso de obtener visas para convertirse en residentes permanentes legales de los Estados Unidos.

MyFitness Pal supera a Weight Watchers en estudio de Consumer Reports sobre dietas

Existen una gran variedad de dietas en el mercado

HoyDallas.com/Consumer Reports

YONKERS, New York -- MyFitnessPal, una aplicación gratuita para Smartphone y con un sitio web, recibió uno de los puntajes más altos de satisfacción en las nuevas Calificaciones de dietas de Consumer Reports publicadas en la edición de febrero de la revista y en línea en www.ConsumerReports.org.

2013, el Año de la Esperanza

Maribel Hastings/America's Voice

WASHINGTON, D.C. - No sé ustedes, pero yo no veo la hora en que el 2012 sea historia. Fueron muchas las pruebas a nivel personal y colectivo, y aunque nada garantiza que el 2013 vaya a ser mejor, cuando menos la idea de un nuevo comienzo da esperanzas de que algunas conductas puedan enmendarse, de que otras cosas puedan mejorarse, y que lo que quedó pendiente pueda concretarse.

Se buscan verdaderos líderes para la Reforma Migratoria

Maribel Hastings/America's Voice

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cuando el río suena, piedras trae. Ya es público que un grupo bipartidista de ocho senadores negocia un plan de reforma migratoria amplia y que la administración de Barack Obama iniciará una agresiva ofensiva para impulsar dicha reforma en el Congreso y en el país, contrario a cuatro años atrás cuando la promesa de campaña se hizo sal y agua.