By Lorena Dominguez at Noticias 22

By Gabriel Lerner at La Opinion

“¡Es un privilegio ser abuela y bisabuela!”, grita Rosa Ayala. “Haberme hecho ciudadana para poder votar… pero la juventud son el futuro, hay que cuidarlos”.

Ayala habla desde un escenario improvisado en el patio de la Iglesia Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Ángeles, en la Plaza Olvera.

“Para que estudien, para que no anden como yo limpiando oficinas”.

La abuela se dirige a los fieles que entran y salen del templo en el centro de la ciudad. Es domingo y junto con otras abuelas ha venido a participar en un evento para registrar nuevos votantes a las elecciones del 2 de noviembre.

“Bendito Dios por cada uno de los jóvenes, y porque somos un pueblo de guerreros”, concluye Ayala, y enardece a los presentes.

Axel Caballero, organizador de Cuéntame, me lleva ante las abuelitas. Están sentadas en una mesa similar a las de votación, esperando a que la gente salga de la iglesia para ofrecerles registrarse para votar por vía electrónica, con unas computadoras.

“Los que quieran se lo podemos hacer manualmente”, dice una. Es fácil, ríe Caballero, hasta una abuelita lo puede hacer.

Son Rosa Rodríguez, Guadalupe Díaz, Carmen Reyes, Amalia González, su esposo Lorenzo González y Rosa Ayala. Visten las playeras de Cuéntame, una “comunidad interactiva de Latinos, para Latinos y el publico en general”, como explica Axel.

“Tiene doble significado — cuéntame a mí, de cuentas, y cuéntame tu historia, de contar”.

By Gabriel Lerner at Hispanic LA

“It’s a privilege to be a grandmother and great-grandmother,” shouts Rosa Ayala. “I became a citizen, so I could vote… but more importantly, our youth are the future and we must protect them!”

Ayala speaks from a podium placed in the patio of Our Lady of Los Angeles Church, “Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles”  in Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles.

“They should go and study, so they don’t end up like me, cleaning offices!”

The abuela speaks to the congregation as the first Mass ends and people are leaving the church.  It’s Sunday, and together with other abuelitas she is here to participate in voter registration before the November 2nd election.

“Blessed be the Lord for each and every one of our young people and because we are a nation of warriors.”  She ends her speech and those around her cheer.  Axel Caballero, an organizer for Cuentame, takes me to the abuelitas.   They sit at a table that resembles one in a precinct, and wait for the community members to finish their prayers so they can offer to register them to vote.  A couple of laptop computers sit in front of them, facing the crowd, for online registration–”But we can register them by hand,” says one of them.  It’s easy, says Caballero and laughs.  Even an abuela can do it.”

By Roger Lindo at La Opinion

Ana María Irueste se inscribió como votante en la Placita Olvera ayer. Por primera vez. Antes no sabía cómo hacerlo.

“Es importante votar, porque ahorita, si no votamos, al ratito nos pasa lo que a Arizona; ya andan corriendo a ciudadanos y discriminando, y no es justo”.

Irueste se inscribió gracias a una iniciativa conjunta de jóvenes y personas de la tercera edad, que ayer se instalaron a la salida de la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles, en la histórica plaza. Su objetivo es hacer crecer las listas de votantes latinos para las próximas elecciones nacionales y estatales, que tendrán lugar en la primera semana de noviembre.

La campaña de inscripción se denomina “Es tan fácil que hasta tu abuela puede hacerlo”.

“Tengo cuatro nietos y ellos votan, pero además tengo 35 sobrinos y todos ciudadanos, ya los conté; dicen que me fallaron en estas votaciones pasadas, pero que ahora están dispuestos a votar. Perdimos esos votos pero hoy los vamos a tener de regreso”, explica Rosa Ayala, una integrante del “Club de las Abuelas”, una de las fuerzas de la campaña.

“Mis nietas, mis hijos tienen que votar para que su voz se escuche”, agrega.

Los jóvenes, por su parte, pertenecen a una organización cívica denominada “Cuéntame”.

By Judy Lin at Associated Press

Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday said she has a plan to revive the “Made in America” slogan, as she focused on job-creation one day before her first debate with Republican challenger Carly Fiorina.

The three-term senator, facing a tightly contested re-election bid, said she wants to focus on investing in clean-energy technology, transportation infrastructure and protecting California’s coastline if re-elected to a fourth term in November.

“We have to move forward with clear policies that will create jobs and make the words ‘Made in America’ a reality once again,” Boxer said.

She also went on the offense against the former chief executive of Hewlett Packard Co. during a speech to The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. She said Fiorina would promote a return to Bush-era policies that the senator claimed led the country into recession.

Fiorina, who has attacked Boxer’s record on jobs and federal spending, was in Fresno on Tuesday calling for an end to big-government spending. Fiorina’s spokeswoman Julie Soderlund said Boxer has supported higher taxes and regulations that hurt small businesses, and contributed to the national deficit.

“In just the last year and half she has voted to bail out Wall Street and big businesses at taxpayer expense and has done nothing to prevent the largest tax increase in history from being leveled on Americans during the worst economic time of our generation,” Soderlund said.

Boxer said that had the federal government not assisted banks and Wall Street institutions, the nation would have likely fallen into a depression. She said she supports extending Bush tax cuts for everyone except for the wealthiest.

The senator said 23 million jobs were created during the Clinton administration, compared to 1 million under President George W. Bush. She noted that was the worst record since Herbert Hoover, who was president at the start of the Depression.

By Joe Garofoli at San Francisco Chronicle

Debate season for California’s major political candidates begins Wednesday in Moraga, with a televised U.S. Senate matchup at St. Mary’s College between Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Republican Carly Fiorina.

Ordinarily, debates are a chance for office-seekers to outline what they would do if elected. Don’t bet on that this year. So far, it has been far easier to bash the opponent.

With voter frustration – and the state’s 12.3 percent unemployment rate – boiling, candidates are finding it simpler to say what they won’t do instead of what they will. Going negative, in short, chops down an opponent’s poll numbers quicker than going positive builds an office-seeker’s ratings.

Analysts say the negative strategy is unlikely to stop when Fiorina and Boxer tangle for an hour beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown begin a series of three gubernatorial debates starting later in September.

Better response

From recent research he’s seen, Democratic pollster Ben Tulchin concluded voters respond more when candidates attack than when they express positive messages.

“(Negativity) is working,” said Tulchin, a San Francisco strategist who is advising San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s campaign for lieutenant governor. “The voters are in such a foul mood that, quite frankly, a negative message is working better than a positive message.”

In her 25-minute speech to the California Republican Party this month, first-time candidate Fiorina mentioned “Barbara Boxer” 21 times. However, she didn’t once mention Hewlett-Packard, the Silicon Valley company where she served as CEO until she was fired in 2005.

That was a slightly slower opponent-name-dropping pace than that set by GOP gubernatorial candidate, and fellow first-time office-seeker, Whitman. Whitman dropped 21 mentions of Democratic opponent Brown in her 20-minute convention speech, with scarcely a shout-out to eBay, which she helmed as CEO for 10 years until 2008. While she has run positive advertisements linked to her eBay tenure, she also has repeatedly pounded Brown in other ads as a “failed” politician.

By Scott Thill at Wired

Crossover street artist Shepard Fairey is offering a tour of his Los Angeles studio and signed prints of five pro-peace screen prints in an online auction launched by charitybuzz.

Open to bidders now through Aug. 25, charitybuzz and Fairey’s latest auction benefits Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Foundation, the grassroots social-justice and economic-disparity group that employs media and volunteers to help realize “an open democratic society.”