Party Barbie

Republican Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Friday signed into law a new state immigration bill, entitled the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhood Act," saying that the state had been "more than patient waiting for Washington to act." Gov. Brewer added that the bill would protect Arizona citizens without violating individuals constitutional rights.

The sweeping legislation makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are here illegally, even if that suspicion is based on the color of their skin and nothing else.

Immigrants unable to produce documents showing they are allowed to be in the United States could be arrested, jailed up to six months, and fined $2,500.

This is a bad idea on many levels. What does one look like who is here illegally? Brown skin? What happens if they stop someone with brown skin and he is here legally but has some type of contraband on him? Legal stop? What if you left your wallet at home?? What if? What if?

My good friend Jack and I rode our bikes from Anaheim Hills to the Huntington Beach Pier down the Santa Ana River Bed bike path. It was a great day for a ride, which totaled 52 miles round trip.

We had lunch at a burger stand at the pier and took in the local scenery. Jack became in engaged in a marathon conversation with the owner of the burger stand which was quite entertaining.

So the heavy winds a couple of weeks ago were the final straw for our mail box holder. It developed a noticeable lean and was hanging on by a thread. It was over 21 years old, so it served us well for a long time.

We bought a 4" X 4" fence post and, with the help of my friend Jack, put together a reasonable copy of the original. It had to be close to the original because we live in an area with a home owners association. Karen did all the painting, even going so far as to use Q tips to fill in the while numbers.

Tony, the neighbor next door to us, painted the mail boxes and put them on. I dug the whole and set the post. The results are pretty good I think. Hopefully it will last another 21 years.

Saw this license plate on the freeway on the way home the other day.

Party!!!

After 55,000 miles, I had to put some new tires on my FJ cruiser. So Karen and I took a trip to Norco Tires and paid a few schekels for tires and few more for breakfast at Polly's. Road trip!!!

Karen and I took in our first Rancho Cucamonga Quakes baseball game of the 2010 season. Along with the usual entertainment in the stands, the game was quite exciting. The Quakes tied the score at 3 in the bottom of the ninth and won it in the bottom of the tenth, 4-3.

Friday afternoon I went for a bike ride at Puddingstone Lake. It was a pretty day with temperatures in the low 70's. I rode 2 1/2 figure eights around the lake/airport for a total of 25 miles. As you can see, there is still some snow on the local mountains. Lots of fishermen and a few seados on the lake today.

There is a lot of water in the lake from all the rain and snow we've had in SoCal this winter. You can see in the photo below where the water comes right up to the trees. Over last summer, there was about 5' of beach there and I used to ride my bike from those trailers you can see off in the distance along this beach. From that cement wall in the foreground, there was about 15' of shoreline before the water started last summer.

There are lots of birds and animals to see in the park, including squirrels, rabbits, and geese. Not snakes so far.

When I started my third figure eight, I couldn't decide where to stop for a break and eat my banana. Well fate stepped in and told me where to take my break by causing me to have a flat tire near the entrance to Raging Waters. It was a quick fix and I was on my way in about 20 minutes.

Unbelievable!!

Easter Message

Glenn Miller is running for the U.S. Senate in the state of Missouri. He's asking for your write-in vote. Shown below with his family, Miller describes himself on his website as;

"Retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant. 20 years active duty, with 2 tours in Vietnam and 13 years in the elite Green Beret paratroopers. 3 and 1/2 years college - Johnstone Tech College, Smithfield, NC. Married w/5 children. 43 years actively working for rights of white people."

Seems like a nice enough guy, until you go to his website, http://www.whty.org./ There you find photos such as this;


Interestingly, your cursor turns into a Confederate flag when you go on his website!!

You see, Glenn Miller is a white supremacist. He once formed a North Carolina based group called the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which later became the White Patriot Party. Miller gives his side of the story leading up to his arrest and three year prison sentence by saying, "The WPP marched in camouflage uniforms, 400-500 strong through main streets of dozens of towns and cities, carrying confederate flags, while "War Songs of the Third Reich" blared, and while we screamed our truths about niggers, jews, and mongrels in the streets..."

It just amazes me that there are still people out there with these kinds of beliefs. Where do they get this kind of hatred for their fellow man? I tell my kids all the time that we are all cut from the same sheet of cloth. We are all the same living, breathing, organism in just different shades and from different regions. We can never hope to have "world peace" until we learn that we are all the same.

It can't be us and them. It can't be Christian and Muslims, or white and black, or heterosexual and homosexual. It's we. "We the people..."

John Lennon wrote;

Imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
and no religion too.
Imagine all the people,
living life in peace.

You may say that I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
and the world will be as one.

Let this be your Easter message this year. "We the people."