What You See At 35000 Feet

If you fly a lot, you know when you get into your cereal box the airlines call a seat, you want to make sure you have access to all of the in flight magazines, especially if your journey is one of those cross country beauties. Perhaps the best thing to look at on a plane, especially if you like to laugh, is that SkyMall Catalog. This little baby has every useless invention known to man, all of them costing at least an arm, if not more. Well the other day I was doing a little Facebooking [Yes! It is now an accepted verb] and one of my friends had a little picture bit from The Huffington Post. It was called the Most Ridiculous SkyMall Products Ever. Here are just a few of my favorites to start your weekend off right.

First Arrests Under New Arizona Immigration Law Announced

ARIZONA (INAC News) - Three suspected illegal aliens were reported arrested in Southern Arizona early Sunday morning. News of the arrests are only now becoming public. According to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Juan Ojosbuenos, William Loper, Mary Daly, and Hans Kung were all spotted walking their dogs before dawn. The three suspects had their animals on leashes in a local park, cleaning up after the dogs had their morning constitutional. The three individuals are the first people detained under a controversial new law signed Friday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Here is a transcript of a hastily called news conference from Sunday Evening. Sheriff Juan - Buenos dias, dejar me un momento hacer, oops, I forgot you all don’t speak Spanish. As I was saying, give me a moment to make a statement and then you can ask your questions. I want to say that the Sheriffs Department of Santa Cruz County acted completely within the new law. Governor Brewer signed the law Friday, and our job as members of the law enforcement community is to uphold that law, whether we agree with it or not. My officers saw the suspected illegal aliens walking their dogs in the park. As they approached the individuals, our officers felt something was just not quite right. When they asked each of the people for proof of citizenship, all they could produce were drivers licenses, Costco cards, and a host of credit cards, none of which can legally used to establish legal right to be in the United States. Since none of the three could prove citizenship, or provide the requested documentation, they were taken into custody. I am thankful the members of my department put aside their personal dislikes of this new law and did their job. Now I will take a few questions. Samuel Delamigra - La Opinion ~ Sheriff, how did you determine that these people might have been illegal? Sheriff Juan - It was very simple, we watched them, observed their actions, and from that, made an accurate judgement that this group of individuals was not from here, and therefore had to be here illegally. Maria Lamojada- Univision ~ But what was it that led you to initially suspect that these people were illegals? How did you justify probable cause? Sheriff Juan - First of all, they looked different from the rest of here in Southern Arizona. And then, they had their dogs on a leash. Come on Maria, you’re from Mexico, you know we don’t walk our dogs on leashes and we certainly don’t carry bags with us to pick up dog… uh, poop. Can I say that? Peter Lelo - Fox News ~ Hold on Sheriff, are you saying that you could tell these people are illegal based on how they looked and just their actions? Sheriff Juan - Yes I am. Look, you heard Congressman Bilbray on Friday didn’t you? He said you can tell people were illegal, or don’t belong, by the way they’re dressed, “right down to their shoes.”. All three of these people had nice clothes, designer shoes, and, well they just stood out. So we took them into custody. Peter Lelo - A follow up question Sheriff... you just looked at the people, and made a judgment based on that? Sheriff Juan - Peter, Peter, Peter... you know us better than that here. We looked at other things too. Like their car. It was a Volvo. Ain’t nobody around here driving a Volvo. We all drive Chevys man. That, and the fact it had dents from some intentional accidents, were real red flags. Those dents were real man, probably from an accident targeting us real citizens, like Senator McCain said. Look, here is what we did. We were patrolling an area where we have had some problems. In the course of that patrolling, we spotted three people in an area where they stood out and were acting in a way not consistent with the general population of that area. We stopped them and asked to see proof of their citizenship, which they were unable to produce. We then arrested them in accordance with the recent law signed by Governor Brewer. If they are innocent, as some people are telling me, when we see their birth certificates they will be released from custody. Until that time, they are in jail, awaiting arraignment. No mas preguntas. Gracias por su tiempo.

What Are You Listening to?

I came into my office today and the Administrative Assistant had a question for me. She wanted to know why she, as an African American woman, only hears the same 30 or so songs each day from the local Christian radio station. Basically she was asking why the station was only playing the typically popular white Christian music. Now I know that stations pay lot of bucks for demographic studies and such, but really, are we so isolated that we can't have a little variety in our radio preferences? For instance, as I write this, I am listening to Grover Washington, Jr. in his prepop funk stage. His songs like Funkfoot, Sausalito, and On the Cusp are just fantastic. But I am pretty sure there are not a lot of 50ish white guys listening to Live at the Bijou these days. What about you. What is on your ipod that if someone saw it would be a surprise? What do you listen to that would just drive those demographic studiers nuts? If you are interested, click here to listen to Sausalito, one of my favorite cuts off this album.

Arizona, Immigration, and Christianity

In light of the newly proposed immigration bill working its way through the Arizona government, I'd like to consider a few things. But before we get started, you can see my views on what I believe are some sensible solutions both here in Part I, and here in Part II. I wrote these posts back in 2006, but even as I reread what I wrote, those ideas still seem to make sense. Now on to the tough stuff. I am always trying to see life through a lens of faith. For me, that faith lens is Christianity and the Bible. Now I wish I could say that this is what the bible says, and that it is clear as day with no competing viewpoints. But that is just not the case and no amount of wishful thinking can make it so. For a view on the conservative side here is an excellent post for you to check out. If you want to see the more liberal side, here is another post. Suffice to say that like a lot of stuff in the Bible, you can probably make a case for either side of this debate. What should not be at issue though is this. As Christians we are called to be compassionate, show mercy, and act justly towards the immigrant who is here legally, or illegally, just like we should act towards everyone. So let me pose a few questions for you. If the Arizona law is passed and upheld, which I doubt, how will the police determine if there is a reasonable possibility that someone is here illegally? Will he not speak English? Will he not have papers? What if he doesn't speak English, appears to be from a Latin American country, forgets to signal before a lane change, gets stopped by the police, and is a citizen of the United States. When the police ask for proof of citizenship, how should he respond? I mean, if he is a citizen, why would he carry that proof with him? I don't. do you? Doesn't this sound a little like the dark period of American history when we placed thousands of American Citizens in internment camps because they were of Japanese descent? Finally, as a good friend of mine used to say, "Riddle me this Batman." In all of our headlong rush to label President Barack Obama a Socialist and accuse him of supporting the policies of Hitler, Marx, Lenin, and even Dr. Evil, isn't there the least bit of irony in the fact that those who are screaming loudest at Obama are the biggest supporters of this proposed legislation? Finally, in closing, the picture above is the father of one of my dearest friends in Mexico. His Dad came across the border during WWII to enlist in our Army. After the war he was offered citizenship for himself and his family. He declined and walked back to Mexico. Today I wonder if someone like this would be demonized for even trying to come across our border. I'm just askin...

Are You Ready For Some Football?

It is never too early to think about football, especially if you are a fantasy football aficionado. So, I decided to talk to my football guru, also known as my son, and get his thoughts on some scoring locks and potential sleepers for the upcoming season. Here are his thoughts. Quarterback Drew Brees - Saints Peyton Manning - Colts Philip Rivers - Chargers Sleeper Kevin Kolb - Eagles Wide Receiver Andre Johnson - Texans Desean Jackson - Eagles Reggie Wayne - Colts Sleeper Sidney Rice - Vikings Running Back Ray Rice - Ravens Adrian Peterson - Vikings Chris Johnson - Titans Sleeper Jamaal Charles - Chiefs Wildcard Aaron Rodgers - Packers

Faith and Politics, Pt. IV

One of the words, or concepts I struggle with is integration. What seems so simple for others, for me can be a real chore. As a Christian, I try my best to follow what Jesus taught in the Gospels. It seems like such a simple concept, one which Charles Sheldon put forth in his early 20th Century book, "In His Steps," When we are faced with a decision to make, we just look to Jesus, as expressed in His life and words, to guide us. The problems come when we can't reconcile what the Bible actually says, to our current life. This leaves us, or at least me, with some problems integrating life and faith. Let me give you a few easy to understand examples. Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount, to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Seems like pretty straight forward stuff. But when we try to apply it to real life situations, like say Iran, or that neighbor who drives us bonkers, people say we are crazy. We are told it is idiotic to think that we could love the Iranians, or their regime, and pray for them. People tell us the only way to affect change in Iran is through military action. Now this may true. But how do we integrate that real world stuff into a faith that clearly teaches another path? Here's another to look at. In his Epistle to the Philippians, Paul teaches us in Chapter 2 that we are to "consider others better than ourselves." Nowhere does Paul say that this only applies to fellow believers. In fact he goes even further, calling us to treat people with so much humility that we do as Jesus did, laying our life down for them. So in the real world for me, this gets sticky in how I think about and deal with others. Many times the thoughts I have towards others are anything but charitable. Particularly when it comes to politics. It is easy for me to see people mocking President Obama and see where they fall short in this area. But if I am going to be honest, I must also own up to being one who did not try and see the best in President Bush, or even the person in front of me at the market today who couldn't work the simple self checkout scanner. But perhaps the most difficult thing for me to grasp is this. When someone accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, it is understood that all that we have in life, is turned over to Him. Our hopes, dreams, hearts, and all of our stuff become His. We give everything up as a way of emptying ourselves so we can take up the cross. In effect, all that we have is His, and we are just stewards of what He has given us. So then, how do we live, thrive, and support a system such as capitalism, that stands in direct opposition to the values expressed in the New Testament? If we believe that we really do give everything up when we become Christians, and that all that we have is His, how do we integrate our belief into a system that has as one of its very virtues, private property? Or rather, property that does not belong to God? Integration. Fitting my faith in Jesus, and how I believe He wants me to live, into a 21st Century American life is not an easy task. I have no answers for questions like these for they are way to difficult for me to understand. Perhaps that was what Paul spoke of when he told us "to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling."