Here's an idea...

That's right, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! We have been busy with a lot of different things. Not much of an excuse, but it is the truth! At any rate, here is the blog for today. Actually sort of a rant.

Sue and I were talking the other day about the continuing issue of the illegal immigrants, and Farmers Branch. It occurred to me that one of the problems that people have with illegal immigration is that the people who come here illegally tend to act as though they were still in the country they illegally immigrated from! They refuse to learn our language, they demand -not ask for but demand services, have babies that automatically become American citizens, and then wonder why Americans are up in arms!

I have a solution, (of sorts -) When they come here, across the border illegally, they need to immediately assimilate into American culture. Learn the language, learn the customs, not demand anything, just act as if they had been here forever ( like the rest of us that wrested the country away from the original inhabitants) and generally not act like an illegal immigrant. In other words, they need to stop drawing attention to themselves!

I think that if they stopped acting like Mexicans, Guatemalan, El Salvadorans, Costa Ricans, Irish, whatever, and acted like Americans, no one would notice them as much as they do when they speak only Spanish, and act as if they are still in the country they claim was so bad they had no choice but to leave and come here illegally! Something to think about!

A Day Late....

Not only that, but I haven't really done a real blog in a while. We have been a tad busy. Here is the Movie Guide, and I will try to get back here later for a real blog!
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New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Third installment is confusing but has some dazzling bits, including the climactic battle sequence.
Bug
Psychodrama of surveillance technology and bio-warfare creates excruciating intensity.
Once
A street musician and a Czech lass in Dublin make beautiful music together in this modest, magical musical.
Red Road
Heroine's compulsion to watch leads her to acts that are shocking in their rawness and self-loathing.
Chalk
Scrappy mock documentary centers on the teachers and students at Harrison High.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

The Cheap & Easy one... Friday's Movie Guide

New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Shrek the Third
Latest installment has laughs, but also a been-there, done-that stench as Shrek inherits Far Far Away.
The TV Set
Like the industry it parodies, this film about the world of television has its moments but is mostly compromised.
The Wendell Baker Story
This loose-limbed comedy aims for laid-back and eccentric but more often hits lazy and annoying.
Fay Grim
Talky, snide satire of international intrigue movies turns serious about halfway through.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

Anti-Immigration Law passes in North Texas

By now you have likely heard that an Apartment ban requiring Apartment managers to obtain proof that those renting or renewing leases are in the country legally was overwhelmingly passed by the voters.

This law was the brainchild of city councilman Tim O'Hare who last fall had proposed a law with a bit more teeth. Along with the Apartment Ban was a law making English the official language, and requiring the FB Police Department enroll in an ICE training program.

The ban initially went into effect, and immediately the opposition went into action. They went to court and got an injunction. Ordinance 2903 would require apartment management to obtain proof of citizenship or legal immigration status before entering into or renewing leases or rental agreements.
The only exception to the ban would be that mixed-status families could stay if they were already living in the apartment, the spouse or head of household is a citizen or here legally, and the household includes the head of household and spouse and their minor children or parents.

Several groups got into the act complaining about the ban including the ACLU, LULAC, ( League of United Latin American Citizens) and others calling the law racist. Is it racist to ask people to follow the law? I don't think so.

I fully understand why people want to leave their home countries to come here. I understand that it is not always easy to wade through the red tape to come here legally, but the law is the law. To put it another way and I hate to use his tired cliché but "What part of Illegal don't they understand?"

It gets put to an election, the people of Farmers Branch overwhelmingly approved the measure 68% to 32%, and that is not good enough for them. The name of the organization that opposed the ordinance was "Let the Voters Decide" So the voters decided, and that apparently isn't good enough. I guess it was "Let the Voters Decide" as long as they decide our way!

The opposition now plans to clog the courts with more injunction requests, and appeals. Why? All that is going to happen is to delay the inevitable. A judge is eventually going to say "Hey, it's over. The electorate had it's say and decided that they want the ban. Go the hell away!"

Well, it is time for these people to give it up, and understand that the people of Farmers Branch have had it with illegal immigrants. If you are here illegally, and I don't care what country you are from, be it Mexico, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, whatever. If you're not here legally then you are breaking the law!

If you are breaking the law, then you are illegal no matter what country you are from. That's not racist.

Friday's Movie Guide

Here is the Friday Movie Guide - Quite a few movies this week, though I doubt anything will beat Spiderman 3!
New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
28 Weeks Later
28 Days Later sequel offers another helping of English apocalypse with a dose of current events allegory.
The Ex
A workable idea, but except for a few funny moments, this is material more fitting for a so-so TV sitcom.
Georgia Rule
Lower your expectations and your jaw, and you might find this the most watchable fiasco of the summer.
Delta Farce
Three Army reserves are accidentally dropped off in Mexico on the way to Iraq in this comedy. This film was not screened in advance for critics.
Mafioso
An unsavory task awaits a Fiat plant foreman from Milan who takes his family to Sicily in this dark 1962 comedy.
Away From Her
Truly, deeply effective tale follows a woman's slow descent into Alzheimer's and her husband's response.
Jindabyne
Aussie buddies decide to keep on fishing after they find a dead Aborigine woman in this thoughtful drama.
The Hip Hop Project
Uplifting doc follows a guy who overcame his own sad childhood to help other troubled kids make better music.
Waitress
Keri Russell's strong performance saves an otherwise too-cute sitcom about an unhappily married pie-slinger.
Home of the Brave
Americans returning home from Iraq deserve a deeper, more substantive portrait than this drama.
The Salon
This comedy rarely inspires even chuckles, much less the belly laughs generated by the Barbershop movies.
Blind Dating
Comedy mixes cringe-worthy blind jokes, the sexual immaturity of American Pie and overeager actors.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

What an Injustice! I'm too famous to obey the law!

Paris Hilton, the blond airhead heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune is apparently too famous to obey the law.

First she gets busted for DUI and Reckless operation of a motor vehicle last September. Her license was suspended. Then in February of this year, she was caught driving on the suspended license. The judge gave her 4 days in jail to being in earl June. Her story: She claimed her publicist told her it was okay to drive on a suspended license if it was "work related" What work does this airhead do? Appearing in public with the rat dog in her purse? Performing oral sex on the Internet?

Now she is appealing to California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon her. Here are some excerpts from her petition on her Myspace.com page:

"My friend Joshua started this petition, please help and sihn it," the spellcheck-challenged Hilton wrote on her MySpace blog. "i LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!"

Supporters wrote:

"Please allow her to return to her career and life," the petition reads. "Everyone makes mistakes. She didn't hurt or kill anyone, and she has learned her lesson...She is distraught and understandably afraid."

And:

"If the late Former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late Former President Richard Nixon' after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well, and we hope and expect The Governor will understand and grant this unusual but important request in good faith to Ms. Paris Whitney Hilton."

Frankly,
if Arnold grants this broad a pardon, I will lose all respect for him. We may not live in California but Sue and I know several people who do. We may get our friends to start a recall petition against the Governator if he does grant the pardon.

Friday's Movie Guide (Just a bit late!)

New releases this week
Click on the film's title to read a full review.
Spider-Man 3
The darker story line features three baddies in this fun ride with touches of humanity.
Lucky You
Poker player Eric Bana blandly tries to persuade Drew Barrymore he's more than just a compulsive gambler.
Offside
Absurdist story follows a group of Iranian teen girls who get busted sneaking into a males-only soccer stadium.
Civic Duty
A man's obsession with his new Middle Eastern neighbor escalates to an explosive conclusion.
The Page Turner
A girl plots revenge for her failed music school audition in this suspenseful, sinister tale of destruction.
The Valet
Billionaire tries to persuade his wife that his mistress is seeing the parking attendant in this French sex farce.
Grbavica
A mom takes a job for a thuggish local kingpin after the Bosnian war in this pained, clear-eyed drama.
Snoop Dogg's Hood Of Horror
The deserving get their just deserts in this trilogy of played-out neighborhood horror tales.
More movie reviews
Read about all the movies now playing in local theaters.

Writers Group

Monday night, Sue and I went to a monthly writers group that meets at the Barnes & Noble at a Mall near our house.

We were going to check it out last month, but ended up staying home because of nasty storms. We made it this time, and it was really interesting.

The leader of the group had everyone who had brought something they had written read the story to the group. We then went around and critiqued the piece. Sue and I didn't have anything with us this time, but plan to make certain we bring something with us next time.

The leader of the group Ron, has something he calls "Flash Fiction" This consists of sitting down and writing something relatively short in a short amount of time. Sue and I are thinking of trying this.

At any rate, the group seems like a lot of fun, and we are hoping to get something interesting out of it.

Teacher must really get lousy pay!

I just read on The Smoking Gun.com, about an Oregon first grade teacher, who stole a jacket from one of her students. She then attempted to sell it on E-bay!

I realize that teachers get really crappy money, but to steal from a kid?

The coat belonging to an eight year old girl went missing. The girl's mother went up on E-bay to see if she could find a similar coat, and found one that looked identical to the one her daughter was missing. She noticed that the seller came from the same town in Oregon, and got suspicious. The coat went up for sale on E-bay the day after it went missing.

After a little detective work, the mother figured out what had happened. The Teacher, Elizabeth Logan, 41 faces felony charges. The real kicker is that she was asking $25.00 for the coat, the final bid was $46.00

Here is a link to the original article on The Smoking Gun.com. Look how smug this woman is. It seems like she doesn't give a crap that she has trashed her career for $25.00.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0502072coat1.html

People just make me wonder these days.