Puerto Ricans Blindsided by New Birth Certificate Law

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

Millions of native Puerto Ricans living outside of La Isla were blindsided after learning that their birth certificates will become invalidated after July 1, 2010.

More than 4.1 million natives residing in the United States have until July 1 to file for new birth certificates after Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, enacted a new law meant to curve identity theft in December.

Raids executed last year exposed a criminal ring that had stolen thousands of birth certificates and other identifying documents from several different schools in Puerto Rico. This has posed a serious security risk for U.S. officials since the owners of the stolen documents could have entered the U.S. under the assumed identities and are now living undetected.

As much as 40 percent of the identity fraud in the U.S. involves birth certificates from Puerto Rico, according to State Department officials.

The black market value of a Puerto Rican birth certificate has risen between $5,000 and $10,000 over the past few years and the problem is increasing.

Due to the fact that the U.S. and Puerto Rican governments have failed to properly inform or educate Puerto Ricans about the new law, Puerto Ricans are learning about the law from one another and social networking sites.

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., has been getting a steady stream of calls about the law at his office. Serrano, also a native of Puerto Rico, must replace his birth certificate as well.

"No one has thought about what effect this could have, if any, on those of us born in Puerto Rico who now reside in the 50 states," Serrano said.

There is no exemption for age. The law only waives the $5 fee for a new birth certificate for people over 60 and for veterans.


318,000, Puerto Ricans residing in New York were born on the island.

Click HERE to read PDF.

Please direct all general inquiries for the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs to 202-778-0710 or info@prfaa.com or click here to visit the site.

Contact Information for Representative Jose Serrano

WASHINGTON OFFICE 2227 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-3216 (202) 225-4361 Fax: (202) 225-6001

BRONX OFFICE 903 Dawson Street Bronx, New York 10455 (718) 620-0084 Fax: (718) 620-0658

View the PDF document on the new law below

Making a Traditional Boricua Thanksgiving Meal

How to Make a Traditional

Puerto Rican Thanksgiving Day Dinner

BY Alicia Cruz

Editor-in-Chief

Día de Acción de Gracias or Thanksgiving Day for us puertoriqueñas is actually two celebrations in one. For us, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Christmas season. On Thanksgiving Day, we begin putting up our tree and other decorations while we prepare our Thanksgiving meal. After dinner, we sit around and watch the lights on the tree and drink and eat more.

Even though Thanksgiving was not always a traditional holiday on the island, many Puerto Rican families calling the States home began celebrating it by adding a touch of Sabor Latino. A traditional Puerto Rican Thanksgiving menu will likely consist of Pavochon, Mofongo stuffing, Arroz con Gandules (rice with pigeon peas), Tostones, and Tembleque or dulce de leche.

I serve a green bean casserole with my meal and for an appetizer I fry up some Platanos versus the Tostones. I season mine with garlic, black pepper and salt and serve them with Mojo Criollo.

I’m usually cooking enough food to feed at least five Marines so I get a 12-15 lb turkey and call it a day. My mom always taught me to begin prepping my turkey the day before Thanksgiving so my seasonings have time to soak into that bird.

Two Days or One Day Before:
To thaw your bird slow you can stick it in the refrigerator two days before or for fast thawing submerge it in it’s wrapping (DO NOT take wrapping off) in your tub or a deep sink in cold water. Make sure the entire bird is submerged. The bigger the bird the longer it’ll take to thaw. A big turkey like the ones I cook usually take 2 days to thaw out in the refrigerator.

The Day Before:
Season your bird with Adobo, inside and out. Be generous. Your guests will appreciate it. No one wants a bland turkey. Gather your black pepper, garlic salt, oregano and paprika and rub them all over the bird. Poke holes in your bird with a fork so that the seasonings will soak into its skin. Set the bird back in the fridge.

THANKSGIVING MORNING:
I usually begin cooking my bird around 4 a.m., which only leaves me room to do other things like pull out my tree and decorations and set up other dishes. Begin by preparing your mofongo stuffing.

Mofongo Stuffing
You’ll need:
6 large green plantanos,
1/3 C of chicken broth
4 tsp. chopped garlic1 lb bacon chopped into small pieces and cooked. Throw away fat.
3 sweet chili peppers, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix bacon, garlic, peppers, and olive oil. Mash the platanos and olive oil mixture in your pilon. Repeat until all ingredients are gone. Mix mofongo and broth and if mofongo isn’t moist enough, add more broth. Stuff the bird with the mofongo and cook. and follow instructions that came with your bird.

NOW FOR THE BIRD:

Heat your oven to 375º.

Rinse your turkey well. Rinse the inside once you remove the bag from the turkey’s cavity. Be sure to pull out the bag from your turkey BEFORE you begin cooking it!!! Muy Importante!

Put the bird in a deep and sturdy aluminum or tin foiled roaster. LINE it with aluminum foil first.
Place chunks of butter on top of and all around the turkey. Place an entire stick of butter inside of the turkey’s cavity. Be generous. You’ll have a juicy turkey in the end.

Now begin stuffing your turkey with the mofongo. If you’re a newbie cook, forget the mofongo and just whip out the Stove Top Stuffing and follow directions on the box. It’s okay. We’re all beginners at one time.

Cover the turkey with aluminum foil and put it in the oven.

TURKEY SIZE & COOKING TIME:

4 to 6 pound turkey = 3 to 3 ¾ hours.

6 to 8 pound turkey = 3 ¾ to 4 ½ hours.

8 to 12 pound turkey = 4 to 5 hours.

12 pound and beyond = 5½ to 6 hours.

Always be sure to read the side of the turkey wrapping for exact cooking time. Better to be safe than undercooked. Yuck! About 45 minutes before your bird is done, remove the foil on top and continue to cook uncovered until the bird is crispy on top.

12 Lb. turkey
Lots of Adobo
Paprika
2 tsp. of Black pepper
4 cloves of garlic (mash in a pilón)
2 tsp. of oregano (Leaf)
4 sticks of Butter

Making Your Arroz con Gandules:

YOU’LL NEED:
2 packs of Sazón
3 cans of Gandules
6 cups of water
4 cups of rice

continued here

Lite Rican Ensalada

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

Theblackurbantimes

There's nothing like a cool seafood salad on a hot summerday. Your papi chulo y su ninos don't want anything too heavy on their stomachs so I like to make a quick, cool Caribbean Pasta and Seafood Ensalada as an appetizer to hold them over until dinner. I serve this with Merlo (room temp) or sweet tea and maybe crackers.

Caribbean Pasta and Seafood Salad
½ c. shrimp (cooked)
½ c. diced crab meat (cooked)
½ c. diced lobster meat (cooked)
1½ tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 c. elbow macaroni, cooked
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 tbsp. green pepper, chopped
2 tbsp. onion, chopped
½ c. celery, chopped
½ c. tomato, chopped
¼ c. stuffed olives, chopped
½ c. salad dressing or Mayo
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper

Begin by mixing the lemon juice, olive oil and then combine with your pasta. Place in the fridge for an hour or so and stir it occasionally. Add the Mayo and the remaining ingredients. Set back in fridge for an hour.

Latino News: Luis "DJ Wiz" Cedeño Has His Memoirs Complete

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

TheblackUrbanTimes

In Latino News:
If you're like me, you fondly remember those summer nights with jams in the park in the South Bronx projects; dancing to the scratching and mixing of DJ's like Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc and then, there was Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño. Yes, that's right, talk about a blast from the past, huh?

DJ Wiz is credited for being the first Latino hip hop DJ and the first to make a “mixed plate” in 1977 along with Grandmaster Caz and the legendary group the Cold Crush Brothers. He was also featured in the Emmy-nominated VH1 Rock Doc NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell, and creator/founder of the Hip-Hop Meets Spoken Wordz series.

DJ Wiz has been educating the world about the early years of hip-hop to include the days of summer jams in the South Bronx. Wiz was a major contributor in the opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle in 2000, and was instrumental in the making of Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn’s "Yes Yes Y’all."

Latino DJ's like Kid Capri have Wiz to thank for paving the way. As the first Latino hip-hop deejay, the now 48-year-old Bronxnite is finally getting the props he is due with the release of his memoir, "It's Just Begun" {Simon & Schuster}. This Boricua/Cubano sensation had his DJ career sidewsiped when at the age of 17 he was charged with attempted murder and sentenced to nine years in prison. His battles included two bouts with Cancer, alcohol, drugs, women and violence. "A lot of people don't survive the things that I did. My goal is to save lives and to touch young kids," says Cedeño. Carlito Rodriguez, former editor of "The Source" is currently working to put Cedeño's story on the silver screen.

DJ Wiz (Left), born Luis Cedeño, was born in the Bronx, New York, to a Puerto Rican father and a Cubana mother is also the grandson of late Puerto Rican artist Santero Norberto Cedeño.

DJ Wiz appears in a few documentaries on Hip-Hop history including “1 LOVE”, a film Produced by noted Hip-Hop Historian James "Koe" Rodriguez about the lives of Joe Conzo, Ernie Paniccioliand Jamel Shabazz; Hip-Hop’s first photographers.
As a poet, DJ Disco Wiz performed at the Apollo Theater and the landmark Nuyorican Poets Cafe and his poetry can be seen in the upcoming book “Born in the Bronx.”

His career in Hip Hop came after attending a jam in the South Bronx featuring Kool Herc. Afterwards, DJ Wiz teamed up with his best friend, Casanova Fly aka Grandmaster Caz, to form a group called the Mighty Force crew. Mighty Force is credited as being one of the first Hip-Hop DJ crews in the mid-to-late 1970s. Legendary for their DJ battles in the streets of the South Bronx, the Mighty Force crew. DJ Wiz is a board member of the Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip Hop Culture, chaired by Hip Hop alumni, Afrika Bambaataa of the Universal Zulu Nation. Fellow board members include Grandmaster Caz, Kurtis Blow, DJ Tony Tone, KRS-One (Fellow Bronxnite)Jorge Pabon, Joe Conzo and Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Buy his book here

Check out his myspace blog and follow him on Twitter. Click here

Joseph Acaba: Boricua en la Luna

By Marcelo Ballvé

An old Puerto Rican tune, "Boricua en la Luna," seems almost tailor-made to describe the cosmic destiny of Joseph Acaba.
The 41-year-old schoolteacher is readying to become the first astronaut of Puerto Rican heritage.
By all accounts, the California-born Acaba, who lives in Houston, will feel Boricua even floating above planet Earth, swaddled in an orange spacesuit.
"He’s very proud of his heritage," said Shane Kimbrough, an astronaut and spaceflight veteran who trained with Acaba.
Barring delays, Acaba will launch Sunday as part of a seven-member crew on the space shuttle Discovery.
The mission: Fly to the International Space Station and deliver power-generating components...

Read full story here

Ricky Martin's Living La Vida Feliz Now!

Foto courtesy of OMG

Meet Matteo and Valentino Martin! Ricky's sons Born via surrogate in early August, Ricky Martin's 4-month-old twin boys make their debut in this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. A joyful Martin, 36, spoke candidly with PEOPLE at home in Puerto Rico about his desire to be a parent, the decision to seek the help of a surrogate, and juggling caring for twins.

Click title to follow the story