son tiempos peligrosos para los mexicanos

it's late and i just read this AP story that annoyed and angered me to no end. the article concerned our ass of a president wanting to shore up our "southern" border (ie Mexico) to make sure our borders are safe against terrorists.

ok, anyone who didn't know my politics willknow them now after this blog entry.

what's the deal now with immigration, keeping borders safe, terrorists out and making sure our migrant population (ie mexicans)? since when do those things really go together? i can understand doing an overhaul on the country's immigration laws. i'lll give the government that.

however, it's gone beyond that now. it's now a matter of f*cking over the migrants, who are mostly hispanic. we don't want them here, oh no. they're bad people who come to our country and corrupt. what bullshit. most migrants just want to earn money for their families.

then, on top of that, now bush wants to send troops to secure our southern border. taht's a joke, right? through most of that southern border, what is parts of texas, new mexico, arizona, and california, it's a big desert with miles and miles of nothing. many illegals who try coming through there die on their way or get caught because of heat exhaustion or dehydration. what terrorist is going through all of that shit?

the way i see it, canada is the way to go. with lots of empty land around montana and north dakota and the water of the great lakes, it's easy for a terrorist to come through anywhere on our northern border.

i guess what angers me most it that the consideration to place national guard troops at the border excludes the canadian border. all of the talk is for security on our southern border. i really don't understand what the urgency is on that border, unless they know something we don't.

if the government is going to place troops, which i think is a stupid idea, on the bordes, it must be done uniformly on both borders. fair's fair, after all. don't make this a race issue, because that's what it seems is happening. the mexicans are being exploited in all of this mess. i think it's bullshit.

i heard something that all of this immigration business came up as a result of the government trying to deflect how bad the situation in iraq, iran and other areas around the globe are and shifting to a hot topic like poor mexicans trying to earn a decent living by doing hard labor.

it's also bullshit how this immigration (mexican) issue is being lumped in with terrorists all of a sudden. why didnt' we keep our borders safe back afte 9/11 when it was really bad, when we didn't know if something else was coming or who was responsible for the world trade center bombings? no there was no serious talk about it then as there is now, now that the issue of immigration is also on the table.

if you ask me, bush's 31 percent approval rating is driving some of this stuff. hey, man, you're losing the vote that got you in. what a shame that innocent migrants have to be caught up in the middle of this mess.

"viva los mexicanos! adelante, fuerte, y con esperanza."

shut down

so my weather story was off by a few days, oh well. meteorology isn't an exact science, isn't it?

when i wrote my story, the guy said by tuesday afternoon it was gonna drop and rain tuesday night. instead, it was rather hot (holland had the highest temp. in the state) and no rain. then wednesday the same thing. it wasn't until last night that it started raining.

and it rained and rained. in fact, it is sort of still raining. and it's freaking cold and windy like a sonofabitch.

dawn called this morning and said the kinderparade was postponed due to the weather. that's the only parade that is postponable. tulip time made it through the volksparade without incident yesterday. and that's fine, since if it had rained, too bad so sad.

now the kinderparade is rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon. and if it's still bad tomorrow,then too bad so sad again.

this is the first time in years that a parade has been cancelled due to weather. i asked tamra bouman that question monday and she didn't know the last time one had to be postponed. i wonder if a parade has ever not taken place due to the weather? could be a first tomorrow.

it might be a bad end to tulip time this year if this type of weather persists through the weekend, which is supposed to be the case. what is the muziekparade is shut down? holy shit, that would be a hoot. sucks for the tt people though.

winds are bad outside. i keep hearing thins moving around. it's as if we're in a mini hurricane. i keep waiting for the big tree out front to keel over into the porch. bad thoughts. the tulips? what state arethey in? poor babies were already failing. these winds should be knocking their pretty little heads around.

strange comment from soneone at work yesterday. said he was glad to see my hair growing back. odd. i had reservations after cutting it short and still do. but i like where it's at now. i guess i won't go bald? nah. as it is, the cool weather makes my head cold with the little hair i do have now.

article

i checked my work e-mail yesterday. force of habit, since i'd say about 99 percent of what i receive is junk. but there was one e-mailed whose subject head was titled "article." i knew it concerned an article i'd written. always intrigued by my millions of readers, i clicked on it to open it.


well, this one wasn't from my "number one fan" as it turned out. the man was writing to inform me that an article i'd written last week was one of the worst "pieces of literature" he's seen in the newsppaer in recent times and that my article reinforces why he's dropping his subcription to the paper.

at first i was peeved. peeved? well, i guess i was mildly upset. i started questioning my writing ability (only briefly) and maybe the article wasn't that good (i know it was an average story). then i calmed down and realized thsi guy was a f&*king moron, who obviously didn't know what i had to do to put the article together.

dawn read the article online and said there was nothing wrong with it. and she's pretty honest with what i write, so she would have told me the truth.

then i sat back and started thinking about the e-mail. he starts off by saying his only coment is that he thought it was a poor article. well, that'sn no comment at all, it's an opinion that's baseless and stupid. he didn't attack the grammar (as a prominent former school teacher often likes to point out in personal snail mail letters i've received), or a slanted view, or sentence structure or misinformed.

that's when i calmed down and pretty much passed off this guy as someone who's too emotnoally involved with the issue and decided to lash out at me, who has nothing to do with the issue.

here is what happened with the wrting process of that article. we received a fax at about 6 detailing what happened earlier that day. since the person who normally writes about this particular issue was out of the office and i was pretty much available, i got it tossed my way.i had no background on the specific issue and had to look up back stories to familiarize myself with why it happened. then, i had to look for a telephone number to make calls, since it was after hours. i finally got one individual, left a message, then he called me back. i had to call two others. both declined serious comments and i had to make do with what i had to create my story.

this dork who e-mailed me has no clue what i had to do to get the information i needed for the article.also, attacking me for his emotions is completly idiotic. people need to stop shooting the messenger. if you have a beef, take it up with the party at hand. get a life, bubba.

"cancel my subcription to the resurrection..."

architecture

dawn and i took a day and a half trip to chicago this weekend, with little more plans than just getting away for a bit. it turned out to be an architecturalally themed trip.

i have of late been curious about architecture, buildings, design, style, period. whatever. i'm no expert or even novice. i'm just trying to learn about architecture. this weekend we found some great things in chicago, which is a great city to come across interesting buildings. we hit a goldmine.

we arrived to beautiful weather, if not a little chilly mid-morning. we headed out with my sister-in-law laura and her husband todd. we went to graceland cemetery (4001 clarke st.)

i know it might sound morbid, but it was anything but that. we stopped and got a $10 book that sort of a walking tour guide that helped immensely. we set off. i had seen online some of the monuments and mausoleums and knew what to expect. i wanted to experience then in person.

some of what i wanted to see was work by louis henry sullivan, a chicago architect wit the firm of adler and sullivan. he designed three of the monuments there. his marker was a huge rock with a cityscape cut into the sides. very nicely done.

we found a work by sullivan that is egyptian but its style predates the pyramids. beautiful work.

we saw the burial places of marshall field, phillip armour, potter palmer, jack johnson, john root, daniel burnam, carter henry harrison and george pullman.

the sculptors who designed and created field's monument (a person sitting on a chair) are th same people who designed the lincoln memorial. seeing the graceland monumetn it's easy to notice the similarity between both. palmer and pullman's monuments were grand. way grand with columns extending more than ten feet high

two of the strangest are the seven-foot-tall statue of dexter graves. it's creepy. the color has faded and it's now green, except for portions of the face, which are still black. we photographed t, but it doesn't photograph well. in addition, there'a life-sized statue of a six-year-old girl (inez clarke) encased in plexiglass. she little girl died in the 19th century after being struck by lightning while on a picnic.

we made our way later to jackson park, the location of the columbian world's expositon of 1893. it was disappointing because there is nothng remaining of the fair or commemoration of it.

we headed through town back up north and stopped by prairie avenue and saw some nice mansions. we saw this big one belonging to marshall field jr. it was a big one. others, as a sign posted read, had been demolished. what a shame. prairie avenue was the place to settle down if you were rich, before potter palmer made it "cool" to settle up on north lake shore drive in what's now called the gold coast.

after driving up to michigan avenue, we stopped in at millennium park. it's not a typical park in the sense that there are trees and lots of grass. it's modern with metal bridges careening at odd angles and this weird metal type of network overhanging a place where bands or orchestras play. there is this weird object called "the bean" that is all glass and you walked underneath it or by it and you look short or tall. it's like a modern funhouse mirror where you change shape.

apparently the park cost hundreds of millions if not more. i can see why it might attract people, but it was only okay for me. i preferred looking at the various skyscrapers and old buildings surrounding the park.

sunday we headed off to astor street, where walked in awe of some of the structures and designs mixed in side-by-side. we encountered a building that is now the historical architectural society. the building was codesigned by sullivan and frank lloyd wright.

we then walked through old town and stopped by st. michael's cathedral and admired a buddhist temple.

it was quite enjoyable. there is so much there. and so much we still haven't seen. i love th sense of history and the work that went behind designing these monuments, parks or buildings.

i only wish my vision was better so i could see the finer details better. still, i have to appreciate it as i see it with what i can see.