Immigration Reform- Let's Blame John

President Obama announced today that he will go on national television tomorrow night to announce changes he is making to immigration enforcement. There is a long history of presidents taking executive action regarding immigration policy. This marks the first time that Congress has tried to paint the president as an Emperor trying to impose his will above that of the Congress and the People. There are those who are attempting to paint this as a racial issue. The other presidents taking executive action were all white and President Obama is only half white. I disagree. The political world is so partisan at this point that it seems unlikely to me that if the president was white the reaction by Republicans would be any different. As far as the Speaker of the House and future Majority Leader in the Senate claiming that this action will "poison the well" or destroy any opportunity for bipartisan action on other issues. Really? After six years of fighting every issue and proposal now you are ready to act in a bipartisan manner. I think not.

So who is John and what does he have to do with immigration reform? John was here from another country in the early 1970's and his time to stay in the United States had expired. He wanted to stay but a conviction for possession of cannabis resin gave him little standing to stay. John and his wife wanted to remain here because her ex-husband had taken her daughter and disappeared somewhere in the United States. They wanted to remain to work together to find her. John's wife had made contributions to the arts in the United States and was allowed to stay. The United States government wanted John deported due to his stance against the Vietnam War and were using his cannabis conviction to bolster their case. John's attorney, Leon Wildes, argued that the documents he found showed the government had allowed deferred deportation action in 1,800 cases. He used the argument that deferred action had been used in those cases and could also be applied to John's case, This was the first time the deferred action argument had been made in court and the appeal which settled the case in 1975 allowed John to stay in the United States. It also provides the basis for the deferred actions being put into place by President Obama. He is not changing the law he is simply determining the enforcement actions that will be taken by the Department of Justice. It is similar to a policeman determine which car to stop when 10 cars speed by him. He can't enforce his limited resources against all of them and he is duty bound to enforce the law. Choices are made. You might be wondering John who? I wish there was a happier ending to this story as several years later on a street in New York City, John was shot to death. Maybe things would have ended differently if John Lennon had been deported.

Another Project

The plan this year was for me to make a quilt for each of our six granddaughters. It seemed like a good idea to give them something I had made with my own hands. Plans are always well intentioned but they don't always work out like you think they will. The quilt I am posting about tonight is the third of the six. The pattern is called Disappearing Nine Patch. You begin with a big stack of 5" square blocks and sew them together into this pattern.

So this is a single block. The color choice for this quilt was a combination of white, black and red fabrics. I realize some of these appear blue in the photograph but they are black.

The quilt consists of 24 of the 9 patch blocks. These are the blocks laid out together. Once this step is complete the blocks are cut into four equal sized pieces and sewed back together in a random pattern. So those blocks pictured above end up looking like this.

When the 24 blocks have been reconfigured to this look they are all sewn together to make a quilt top that looks like this.

The completed top will now be turned over to Carol for quilting. She will add batting in the center layer and a fabric on the back. Her quilting machine is beyond the capacity of my feeble mind but I will choose the pattern that is quilted into the fabric.

Seems like a strange way to make a quilt top doesn't it? Make perfectly good blocks and then cut them apart and rearrange the pieces to make something that looks completely different. Carol convinced me to try this and I must admit I am impressed with how it looks compared to what I had in mind. She really has a good eye for these things and IF, and that is a big IF, I am smart I will continue to heed her advice.

I Wish I Was My Dog

It has been a while since Lily Lu has been the feature of a blog post. One might wonder what a day in the life of Lily Lu is like. Well most days she acts as our alarm clock. She tells us that 6 am is the time to get moving. She doesn't recognize daylight savings time so the change in Spring and Fall messes her up for a while. We get up and take her for a short walk down Solomon Ave. so she can do what she needs to do. Generally after that it is a cup of coffee or two for us while Lily Lu takes a brief nap. Walking and sniffing for the right spots are tough jobs. After coffee it is time for our daily morning walk down to Jaycee park and a stroll around the half mile loop. The total walk is about a mile. Some days we see other people and dogs. Some days we don't. There are days we see some of the local characters. One guy we have nicknamed "Coffee Cup Man" because every time we see him he has a coffee cup in one hand. He must have a job somewhere that only requires the use of one hand. There is also an old man who jogs in the park. I'm 60 so when I say old I mean OLD. He looks to be well into his 80's. His feet never get far off the ground and his steps are short, but he is out there moving. After the walk we have breakfast. Lily Lu hangs close in case we are having something she likes. She also gets her daily Denta Stick. We have to keep her teeth clean. When breakfast is done she settles in for another nap. Either she is tired or we are really boring. Probably both.

Miss Lily Lu is relaxing on the guest bed. She likes it because it sits up high enough for her to see out the porch windows. Something might go by that requires her to alert us with a volley of barks. She almost always barks at the trash truck or any tractor that goes by.

Lily Lu is laying on our bed helping me determine what the best pattern would be for this quilt project. Always trying to be helpful.

Of course there are plenty of places to lay around in the house so she chose the living room love seat this time. The house was a little cool so she got covered up in her favorite blanket. If you get up from where you are sitting on the couch or love seat she will move and take the abandoned warm spot.

On with her day. At least once or twice each morning she whines to go out and we walk down to the corner and back. It is a half mile round trip. Sometimes she has a reason to go sometimes it is just for the opportunity to go outside and sniff.  Lunch here is at noon. Carol gives me a razzing from time to time about being on such a rigid schedule but I like lunch at noon. Lily again hangs around to see what we are having and if she can convince us she should get a bite or two. Some days at lunch she gets a hot dog or two. After lunch the real whining begins and that is usually when we take our long walk. Lily Lu and I go out and walk somewhere between 2 and 3.5 miles. By the time we get back she is ready for another nap and a big drink of water.

That's the look we get when we are having a meal. Lip a little curled and the give me some of that stare. After supper there are generally a couple of walks down to the corner and back. This time of year it gets dark early and she sees better at night than me. So every now and then there will be a quick jerk to the side when she spots something of interest. There is also one other thing that will upset her every time she sees one. Skateboarders. I don't know why but she will jump at them and bark like she would like to rip the wheels off that thing they are riding.

Some time around 10 pm we call it a night. Lily Lu normally sleeps with us now. She starts on top of the covers near our feet. If it gets too cold in the house for her she moves up, pulls the covers down with her paws and burrows under, down by our feet to get warm. If she gets too hot down there then it is back out on top of the covers. This may happen two or three times during the night. Then 6 am rolls around and we start a new day with the same routine. Not a bad life for a wonderful companion. Comfy places to sleep, table scraps and hot dogs to eat, lots of walks and attention.

Another Parade

There was another parade on Tybee Island today. Don't take the next comment as making light of the subject but someday here there will be a parade because it is Tuesday. Today's parade was to honor our military veterans and their families. When someone in the family serves it effects everyone in the family. When they go to war the family in a way goes with them. The family deals with the stress sometimes for years after the veteran returns from battle. They are never quite the same and neither is their family.

This is the Tybee Island American Legion Color Guard leading the parade and they are leading. At this point less than two blocks into the parade they have opened up a half block lead on the rest of the parade. When they got past us to the next intersection they stopped and marched in place so the parade could catch up to them. Don't let those older veterans fool you, they are still got getters and ass kickers.

This picture is included for two reasons. First, look at the Color Guard's feet. They are not walking down the street, they are marching. One man is calling out the cadence and the group is keeping perfect time. Impressive for folks who served many years ago. The second reason is the man in the wheelchair in the rear. He is the Chaplain. It serves to remind that not everyone escapes the battle unscathed.

This is just to show more clearly these are not young folks.

You see this jeep around town from time to time. It is marked as a Fort Screven MP vehicle in honor of the former military base on Tybee Island.

A bus load of parade participants.

The gentleman on the far right wearing the kilt looked over at me and suggested that I was being a bit wimpy for wearing a hoodie and hat on a day in the mid 50's with gusty wind. I never argue with a man who is comfortable wearing a skirt in public.

One of several parade floats.

This contingent of soldiers was from one of the local army bases. They were march to a cadence called out by the soldier walking on the side toward the camera. They were not shy about what they were saying or doing. It was an impressive sight.

The local Coast Guard station participated as well.

Some day when time allows I will have to check out what this group is.

There were about 10 motorcycles representing the Red Knights Motorcycle Club. Since they were participating I assume they are made up of former military.

Another parade float this one honoring Army Rangers.

This is where the parade started to get a bit weird. This is a local roller derby team. Not sure why they were in the parade other than to perhaps show their appreciation for veterans.

Another float.

The previous three photographs I cannot explain. What that was intended to say or mean in this parade is beyond my ability to understand. The last picture is included just to restate to anyone who wonders, the Civil War (here the War of Northern Aggression) is not over. If you wonder take a gander at the flag on the left side of the truck sporting the stars and bars of the Confederacy. It is the state flag of Georgia.

The float from the Crab Shack.

Bringing up the rear of the parade the Tybee Island Fire Department. Overall it was a nice parade and a good way to honor our local veterans and their families.

Random Rantings

So many things and so little time.

The Chicago Bears. The season began with many dreamers thinking that Chicago was headed to the Super Bowl. The season currently is in the Toilet Bowl. The team Bears fans want to see the Bears beat is the Green Bay Packers. Last Sunday night the Bears gave up 6 touchdown passes in the first half. On more than one reception the Packer receiver was open by more than 10 YARDS. There are many who would like to lay plenty of this blame on Jay Cutler. He does deserve some but come on folks when the defense gives up 42 points in the first half your quarterback had better be Jesus Christ because no one else is going to perform that miracle and get you back in the game. Lots of money was spent on the defensive side of the ball in the off season and it seems to have paid very little in dividends. The past two games the Bears defense has given up over 50 points in each one. It is time for a change in coaching staff starting with the defensive coordinator. Some of the players have not been playing up to their potential. Bench them and play the second or third string guys. Really, could they get beat any worse? Having kinda defended Jay Cutler it seems fitting he get brought down to size by this picture.

Corporations. Every week you seem to hear something about American based corporations complaining about the corporate income tax rate. The highest tax rate for corporations is 35%. This is above the rate for other countries but does not take into account the numerous write offs that mean corporations actually pay a lower rate. When you lump everything together the rate actually paid comes out at about 25% which is below the international average of about 28%. Still as a percentage of GDP the corporate tax rate generates a lower percentage of income now than it did in the 1950's. It reinforces my belief that the small guy is getting screwed over while the big players lobby and make contributions to change the rules to favor their positions.

We recently had one of those elections that folks are so proud to participate in. The Republican party won control of the United States Senate. No big surprise there. What seems surprising is now they want to, if you believe what they are saying on television, work in a bipartisan manner with the President. Really? Do we actually look that stupid? Turns out we do. After all in every state where the voters had a chance to sound off about raising the minimum wage it was supported by a majority. Yet on the same ballot the voters cast ballots to elect or reelect representatives who oppose raising the minimum wage. It appears based on more recent rhetoric from Republicans in Congress that their idea of bipartisan work is for the President to support what they want. If he doesn't then he isn't working with them. Not real good at this but I don't think that's how compromise works. There is however an explanation for our stupidity. We are infected.

Yes dear readers there is a stupidity virus. There is a virus named ATCXC-1 that attacks green algae in lakes and rivers. It can also infect the human brain impairing cognitive activity, learning and memory. It makes the infected person less intelligent. The current small study of 92 healthy adults found that 44% of them had the virus. The participants who had the virus performed 10% worse on cognitive tests and the study showed those infected had lower attention spans. This was also accompanied by a significant decrease in visual processing and visual motor speed. So, those dumb people you deal with out there every day- they are diseased.

Finally for today Facebook bullshit. There seems to be an increasing amount of stupid shit on Facebook. Conservative postings recently have been the worst. For example a WalMart in southern Florida was approached by a group of Muslims from the local area requesting the retailer carry Halal meat. It is meat blessed by the processor and is required as a tenant of faith. The conservative group posting about it asked if retailers should be required to carry Halal meat. The question had nothing really to do with what happened. The WalMart store manager made a decision based on market. If the product sells after being introduced they will continue to sell it. If it does not it will be dropped like other slow or money losers at WalMart. The group that approached WalMart was in no position to force the retailer to do anything. In a similar stupid post the question was asked if butchers should be jailed for selling pork to Muslims. If you took the time to read the article the butcher in question was selling pork to Muslims while claiming it was veal. He was not going to jail for selling pork to Muslims it was for misrepresenting his product. Of course, those commenting on the entries made stupid inappropriate comments about Muslims and spewed their hatred about anything from that religion. What do we expect? Seems we should expect exactly that since like the prior paragraph, they are infected with the stupidity virus. The only safe approach is to avoid stupid people before they infect you.

Quilt

I'm back. I took a few days off to recharge my thinking processes, do some walking and finish some quilt blocks. Originally the thought process was to complete about 16 blocks, lay them out and see how things looked. That happened on Monday. It seemed like the quilt needed more blocks so I added 4 more to make the total 20. Once that was done then some time tonight was spent laying them in different patterns to see how they looked.

The pattern is called log cabin. Here are all 20 blocks laid out in the same orientation. Not especially interesting. If you are wondering about the fabric some of it is from old bandanas of mine.

I found this pattern more interesting but the blue blocks seem to overwhelm the red.

This one looked pretty good with the blue blocks running down the center and half blocks on the upper and lower edges. Carol came in at my request to review and offer suggestions She suggested turning the upper left and lower left blocks so the blue was on all four corners.

The change was made in this picture and the quilt pattern was Lily Lu approved. She likes sleeping on the bed and thought since we were in the bedroom it was time to go to bed for the night.

As far as this quilt project goes now the blocks need to be sewed together, backing material selected, and the quilting done and binding put around the edges. Hopefully finished in the next week or so.

Evening at the Beach

Carol and I got invited to go to the beach last evening by a couple we met during the island wide yard sale a couple of weeks ago. It was going to be a chance to watch the moon rise over the Atlantic Ocean. I played with the camera for a while hoping to come up with a setting that would be able to capture the event. Since I don't have a tripod the idea was to use a combination of ISO speed and aperture opening. The results were iffy at best. If I'm going to get this right a tripod is going to be required. The bad news for the evening is that a cloud bank completely obscured the moon so there were zero moon pictures. The good news is that a group had been to the beach earlier in the day and created some nice sand sculptures. All of them were created below the high tide line which means that today they are all gone. Here are the pictures I took last night.