Oscar-nominated movie on immigrants: A Better Life

In case you have not seen A Better Life, I strongly recommend that you do.

The movie on the plight of a Mexican (or any) immigrant in the US even had its lead actor, Demián Bichir, nominated for the Oscar, for Best Actor.

Bichir's performance is quite amazing, though he will have to fight off George Clooney in "The Descendants", Jean Dujardin in "The Artist", Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Brad Pitt in "Moneyball" for the nomination.

I truly hope he wins, for many reasons - my main being political, as it will draw further attention to a movie that does a fantastic job in portraying undocumented immigrants' situation in the US without resorting to cliches or any cheap short cuts.

I finally got a chance to see  A Better Life, and hope you do as well. It truly deserves wide dissemination.

AMLO vs. Javier Sicilia

AMLO criticized Javier Sicilia's announcement that he would spoil his vote in the coming elections, stating that by doing so, Sicilia is "playing the game of the rightwing."

Beyond AMLO's obvious self interest - he is, after all, running as a candidate in 2012 - I fully agree with his point: Spoiling the battle will not do the least service to Mexico's progressive forces, quite the contrary, just like the foolish 2009 "voto nulo" campaign achieved absolutely nothing but effectively handing over more votes to the PRI. 

Sicilia is in every right to spoil his ballot, and call upon others to do the same. 

We are also all in our right to denounce this as reckless stupidity.