Latinos 'hold the key to the White House'

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) welcomed respected national leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) to speak at its 25th annual conference. The National Leadership Luncheon kicked off with a $1 million donation to NALEO from State Farm Insurance Companies.

Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) were met with a standing ovation when they took the stage to give their welcome address. Salazar thanked Reid for being a champion of Latinos and diversity but also reminded conference attendees that Latinos still had a long way to go. Menendez said the past year had been transformational with around 17 million Latinos eligible to vote and praised the record turnout for elections. Despite a bout of laryngitis, Pelosi took the stage and reminded the crowd that Latinos ‘hold the key to the White House.’

Reid said that this election was an opportunity for the Latino population to shape the country. He credited Puerto Rico for having the greatest percentage of their men and women serving America in the military compared to all the other states. Menendez mentioned that the first soldier to fall in the war on Iraq was a Latino and not even a U.S. citizen.

Clinton gave the closing remarks and made a call for more Latino elected officials. In reference to the more than 1.3 million Latinos who applied for naturalization, a number greater than the goal set by the ‘Ya Es Hora’ campaign, Clinton said America must honor its immigrant heritage and ‘start acting like America again.’

Myths about torture revealed

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) hosted a discussion on 'Torture, Justice and Democracy: Myths and Misconceptions.' Alice Verghese, a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow and program coordinator for Asia and the Pacific at the International Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture, was invited to share her findings on torture particularly in Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Verghese defined the paradigms of torture as pain and suffering, physical or mental, which is intentionally inflicted by public officials for purposes such as coercion or obtaining information. She attributed the difficulties in obtaining reliable reports on torture to the lack of consistent data collection methods, fragmented responses from those in the field and the secretive nature of torture itself.

Victor Madrigal-Borloz, a human rights specialist at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said that international justice systems are not international criminal bodies and that strengthening democracy at the local level was vital. Madrigal-Boloz also said that making the public aware of torture was 'an element of healing' to victims of torture. Dr. Allen Keller, associate professor of medicine at New York University, pointed out that the psychological impact of torture should not be underestimated and that it had much longer lasting effects compared to physical torture.

Roundtable discussion on diversity does not go in circles

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and syndicated columnist George Curry chaired a roundtable discussion on the challenges and experiences in achieving model diversity initiatives. Representatives from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Verizon Communications, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and other companies offered their opinions on how to create a more inclusive work environment.

Ellie Hollander, Chief People Officer of AARP, said that AARP had taken a holistic approach to maximize the engagement of all their employees. Hollander attributed this level of involvement to AARP’s several human resource groups that cater to the needs and concerns of diverse individuals such as minorities and disabilities.

Verizon Communications was named number one this year by Diversity Inc. According to Emilio Gonzalez, vice president of strategic alliances for Verizon, 25 percent of the Verizon board of directors are from minority groups and 95 percent of the workforce is within the U.S. Gonzalez attributed the success to four core concepts which are employment, procurement, philanthropy and governance. The GAO representative aptly said that America ‘has not arrived’ but remains committed to the inclusion of diversity initiatives.

Safety comes last in construction industry

Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.) said that with an average of four construction workers dying on the every day, construction is one of the most dangerous industries for workers. The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on “Is Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) failing to adequately enforce construction safety rules?”

Edwin Foulke, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, defended the administration’s accomplishments in maintaining the lowest levels of injury, illness and fatality rates in the nation’s history. Foulke also pointed out that the overall fatality rate in construction has declined by 18 percent since 2001.

George Cole, ironworker and the brother-in-law of Harold “Rusty” Billingsley who was killed in a recent Las Vegas construction accident, was seated next to Foulke. Cole testified that OSHA had failed to enforce safety standards for steel erection and misused Compliance Directives that removed safety provisions for ironworkers at construction sites. According to Cole, Foulke had left Las Vegas without taking any action on the Compliance Directive which contributed to the death of Billingsley.

Compounded to that, Cole said that OSHA had withdrawn all citations and fines. When Miller asked Foulke why the fines had been removed, Foulke said that it was the Nevada OSHA’s responsibility, not his, because they have full jurisdiction over their own safety programs.

No escaping the plug-in hybrid

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted a presentation of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Technology Perspectives 2008. Neil Hirst, director for Energy and Technology and R&D at the IEA in Paris, discussed facing the triple challenges of increasing energy demand for economic growth, drastic climate change and threats to energy security.

The IEA demonstrated that deeper cuts in carbon dioxide emissions are achievable and that new technologies such as carbon capture and storage as well as renewables are the key to a more sustainable energy future. According to Hirst, reducing global energy emissions by half or more will require significant emissions reduction in the transport sector.

The IEA found that plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles could be gradually introduced as infrastructure develops. Light-duty vehicle oil use and tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions can be cut by 75% or more by 2050. Also, according to the IEA, fuel cell vehicle (FCV) technologies are viable but need at least another ten to fifteen years of research and development before large scale deployment can proceed.