Idol thought

I can't explain all taste in movies, artists, whatever, but the fact that little J's favorite contestant, Jordin, won Idol and not that poser Blake makes me feel a little better about the American publics ability to discern musical talent. But then I think back to the last couple of presidential elections and I'm not that sure of their ability to choose a president. Yeah, Junior lost the popular vote the first time around, but it was still a stupid system electoral system that meant he won anyway. Or at least it gave the Supreme Court some reasoning to make a horrendous decison.

The immigration quandry

It's very American to have this inherent tension between being mostly a nation of immigrants who believe in the opportunities this country affords its citizenry and the desire to close the floodgate to competing newer often undocumented immigrants. Honestly, it's an issue that will never go away. And from this morass of conflicting values, Congress is trying to compromise on some sort of policy going forward. It's one of those pieces of legislation that no one really wants to deal with and absolutely no one is going to be happy with. That seems to be the definition of good legislation these days.

Has there been a huge wave of undocumented workers entering the country? I think the data would show, no more than before. They are still coming and coming for the same reasons. They don't want to blow up buildings and destroy the American way of life, they want to earn a buck for their families. So what are the reasons this legislation is happening now?

1. Big business needs it because they are having problems retaining qualified high skilled workers.
2. Political posturing. The presidential horse race has started early this time. And pretty much everything Congress does until November 08 will be done to paint someone into a corner on an issue. McCain's name is on this so he really needed this one. Some get to rant about the amnesty issue. Some get to rant about tighter border security. Some get to rant about low wages for American workers.
3. Political distraction. Junior has no domestic policy and his foreign policy scares everyone. At least this will keep DC from talking about all the scandals for about 5 minutes.

And here's the dirty little secret that no one on any side of the issue has really figured out yet. None of this is going to make a difference. There are at least 12 million undocumented aliens here. So obviously, they're getting here and they're earning money. Essentially none of our immigration laws have been enforced against them. So what happens after this law is passed? Nothing. We'll still have a whole bunch of undocumented people earning a living here. There is no enforcement mechanism and there is no real incentive for anyone but the richest of the bunch to pay $5000 to begin earning their way to citizenship. Except at the new walls they want to put up all the same problems will remain.

Point of View

I haven't really talked about writing in a while. The easy answer would be blaming it on the little one and all that she demands. That's just a fact of life now. She needs time and attention and I enjoy giving it to her. It's endlessly entertaining. But that's not really why writing has been challenging recently.

I'm actually in the middle of two or three short pieces that should finish pretty soon. One is about Elvis and one is about a kid at a gas station. I've never taken an improv class, but I imagine this writing is sort of like that. Tell a quick joke or something and make it smart and clever. It's easy when inspired. It's not so easy if you think about it too much.

And I have started getting a little bit into the idea for a novel. I don't have a story to hang all my brilliant ideas around yet, but thinking about it. I'm been wondering about what point of view to write it in. First person or third? Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Overall first is probably easier, more natural, because that's how people talk, but there are limitations on what you can accomplish over a couple hundred pages in one voice too. I've written stories in both, but I need to know my story better before I can really get out there on what view point to use.

Just reading the Kite Runner. Good novel.

Got GWOT?

War- 1. a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations 2. a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism (parsed from about 10 definitions at M-W)

Today Junior and his British lackey got in front of everyone and with straight faces declared that the war in Iraq was not a mistake because Iraq was now the main battleground in the global war on terrorism.

Look at those definitions for a sec. GWOT is the boogeyman. There is no GWOT. And really there never has been. There's just Junior using that as cover to launch unprovoked attacks on other nations. True there are al-queda elements in Iraq attacking US soldiers. What everyone is conveniently forgetting, is that Saddam had no connection to those people, and in fact feared them. Saddam didn't let those people in Iraq. Junior did.

But there is a civil war going on in Iraq. Despite the Constitutions, the elections, and every other step towards democracy that is supposed to be occuring even as the violence escalates. Now we're waiting for September so we can measure progress with undefined benchmarks. No real benchmarks means no Fs.

Kudos to Fiengold today. 94-1. Stand up sir. I'm not sure we can rationally pull troops out just like that, but your vote is one in the right direction.

Little baby on Mommy Day.

Six month old Little J and I entered negotiations about a week ago to prepare for Mother's Day. I explained that mommies are meant to be honored for all the special things they do for us. Some of us would be virtually helpless and very stinky without them. And her mother (Wifey) had been especially kind ever since J had been around. I hinted that she should try and think of something special to do. But really, she seemed to think Mother's Day would just be another day where someone else would feed her and change her diaper. Finally, after a couple days of firm encouragement on my part, we agreed that I would front J the money for a small present, but it would have to be returned when she has an allowance some day. Little J ended up getting her mom a CD and suggesting a champagne brunch that turned out pretty well.

Still, I'm not sure if J fully got the concept of Mother's Day. My parents drove up from LA for the weekend, and Wifey's parents and Grandma were around so on Sunday evening we had four mothers in the room at my sister-in-law's place, including a couple generations of loving women that preceded J. But the entire evening, she was the one that everyone wanted to hold in his/her lap and play with. She was the center of attention the entire time. I think she's got the wrong idea about this holiday right now. We'll have to work on that in the future.

Jury & Justice

I narrowly avoided jury duty. About five numbers lower and I would have spent my day sitting at the courthouse today waiting for something resembling due process to happen. No one ever really wants to get jury duty, but I'd go as far to say, I don't deserve it again. I had it a couple years ago. I lost about two weeks of work and ended up serving as a jury foreman for a very difficult child molestation case. It was a very difficult thing to do and it took a few weeks before I really felt like a human being again. So I feel like I've done my civic duty. If I don't get jury duty for another twenty years, I think it would still be fair.

Yesterday I was thinking about bringing little J with me to the courthouse. There's no way they could choose me if I was carrying a drooling little baby, could they? When they asked if anyone needed to be excused, I wouldn't say anything, I would just smile and shrug my shoulders.

And while we're briefly on the idea of justice, for some reason Paris Hilton thinks she's been done a great injustice. Now her and her derranged fans who claim she brings joy and happiness to their lives (Please get real lives) are petitioning everyone to overturn the sentence. Injustice would be her getting off. I would be very very disappointed if Arnie even considered a pardon in this case.

Dig Dug

The Gonzales and Wolfowitz dramas are yet to play out, but I think Junior has been able to avoid a new scandal for over a week now. Wow. Maybe he's growing up. Not that things are all peachy keen in the White House, but it does feel like there's a bit of a news repreive. Though it's sad that about a week without a true blow up should be seen as anything resembling success.

They have a large crane outside my office today. They're taking soil samples in preparation for knocking down our building next year. Our days here are numbered.

Warriors of the Womb

A couple friends came over to watch some basketball on Saturday. We had a little wine and grilled some food. Or more accurately the guys drank a little wine. The womenfolk couldn't partake because of the little ones developing in their bellies. Who would have figured? I never would have imagined that outside a La Maze class or a hospital that I'd be part of a gathering where everyone is chatting about layettes, and exersaucers. Little J is going to add several more playmates in the next few months.

It seems like I'm somehow past my sophisticated adult years already, if I was ever in them. Wine, affairs of the world, real silverware those sort of things. I've reverted to parenthood, something past my youthful days and not really a second childhood, but not really adult anymore either. I wonder how long this lasts.

Spider Sell-Out Man

Don't get me wrong. I'm a life long fan of the web crawler. The cool quip, normal guy's super hero. Much more appealing than the propoganda icon, Captain America or the omnipotent alien, Superman. His comics are usually good, and at times great. His movies are fun even if no- talent Kirsten Dunst has been horribly miscast as the Maryjane Watson. I can't help but go see the new movie coming out.

But Spidey needs a little talk with his marketing agent and the concept of oversaturation of the market place. I think I can buy everything from Spiderman Cereal to Spiderman toilet brushes at Safeway right now. His displays cover everything in the store. It makes one long for one of Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs. Okay, I get that Marvel needs a reasonable return on their hero, but the shilling has got out of control.

The Veto is Arrogance.

In some ways it's fascinating to watch the machismo and stubborn conviction of Junior as he leads us down the unending path of war. He's made clear to everyone that he will not listen to the UN, to allied nations, to Congress, or the American people. His belief trumps any need for validation beyond his cynical Veep.

Even Daddy tried to push him towards some semblance of reason by enlisting a bi-partisan panel headed by his numero uno, James Baker, and Junior just shoved it aside. Daddy offered him a political out, and Congress just gave him an out. Yes, they've been grandstanding and their solution might not make sense militarily, but they are doing what they can to end the war. They essentially offered him an out. All he had to do was accept some sort of compromise and later on he could blame them for the continued carnage going on there. But conviction outweighs political consideration and he continues to fight. The surge meant nothing. His veto sadly enough means continued nothing.

Yeah, the war's lost already.

Yes, we should get out. There's no reason our soldiers should be in the line of fire. It was a mistake to go in and our continued presence is a continued mistake. Still, I'm somewhat amused by all the left wingers who have been taking Congress to task for not ending the war already. I wonder if these people know the Constitution or know how to count votes. Congress may suck at times but mob rule really wouldn't be any better.