The North Carolina General Assembly's only Latino member, soon to be retired Senator Tom Apodaca (R), says he finds that his rise from "former bail bondman with a Hispanic last name" to political power is "proof that anything is possible in America."  Not just any political power, but observers claim that his power is the true political power in North Carolina's legislature. So one has to wonder why he would be so viciously attacked by black North Carolinians when he offers a bill to slash tuition costs at five public colleges that primarily educate blacks, American Indians, and Appalachia's poor whites.  The schools: Winston-Salem State; Elizabeth City State; Fayetteville State; the University of North Carolina, Pembroke; and Apodaca's alma mater, Western Carolina – from which he, his wife, and his two sons graduated. The attacks were based in part on black-proffered theories that three of the five colleges affected...(Read Full Post)