Welcome to the Mexican State of California

It's interesting... this morning I heard this on the Bill Handel Show (KFI AM640, Los Angeles). Later, over lunch, I was listening to a previously recorded show hosted by Mr. KABC and my favorite radio personality April Winchell and it was announcement of the same story at the moment it happened. What was it (if you are too lazy to click the link)? It was a story about a Mexican couple in Los Angeles who had given birth to quadruplets. The babies are doing fine, but as amazing as having quadruplets is that is not the focus. Instead, let me outline the facts and present them as exhibit A in the case against allowing unfettered illegal aliens into the country:

• The couple have been in this country for over two decades, the husband for 28 years and the wife 22 years, yet according to the article neither speak any English. Their oldest daughter speaks very limited English.


• The couple have 10 children, nine living at home. They live in a one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles.


• The family income is $400 per week, plus federal and state assistance including $700 per month for medical expenses for a child born with hydroencephalopathy.
  
  
• The wife actually had a tubal ligation after their third daughter. Because the husband wanted a son, they later had the the ligation reveresed and they had fertility drugs smuggled in from Mexico. The wife then had triplets and finally the quadruplets.

But that is not the end of the story. It seems the family of the wife had other daughters who came into the country illegally as well. One of them married a man and, seeing they couldn't make it in Los Angeles, moved to Lexington Kentucky. According to the article they are doing well today. They and their small family have accepted America as their home, learned English, learned trades, and are making more money in Lexington than they could in Los Angeles. What is quite interesting are the comments they make about life in LA. The sister says that California has become Mexico, that there are too many people, illegals they say, that depress wages for blue-collar workers. They have large families they cannot support. Their daughters start having children of their own at age 14. They have large enclaves of like-kind and feel no need to learn English or become "more American". These aren't the words of a racist white man (the common charge) but the sayings of those who lived what is happening. Yet in the name of "capitalism" far too many supporters of big business and the ruling caste of Congress seem to be willing to accept it.

Some Information on Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Well, here we are again. The American press and the liberals-with-an-agenda-but-without-information have painted the picture of "ignorant Christians" against the so-called science of the agnostic/atheist. But things are not as simple as the press would have us believe. As things stand today, in the roughly 30 years of stem cell research there have been no medical treatments come from embryonic stem cell (ESC) studies. On the other hand, adult stem cells have yielded success in no less than 72 treatments. The potential may be great, but it is at least at present an unfulfilled potential that has as of yet not delivered on its widely touted promises. However, to further investigate this "potential" it requires the destruction of "cells" that will become fully-developed human beings. So is the possible payoff worth the ethical taint that comes from killing the innocent? Many scientists have said the answer is no. As an example, consider the following quote:

“Although embryonic stem cells have the broadest differentiation potential, their use for cellular therapeutics is excluded for several reasons: the uncontrollable development of teratomas in a syngeneic transplantation model, imprinting-related developmental abnormalities, and ethical issues.” (Gesine Kögler et al., A New Human Somatic Stem Cell from Placental Cord Blood with Intrinsic Pluripotent Differentiation Potential, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 200, No. 2 (July 19, 2004), p. 123).

Conservatives are not against stem cell research and I am getting tired of liberals and the press trying to make that case. Restrictions on federal funding does not make stem cell research, even ESC research illegal in any way. Consider the current case in California where the state has allocated $3 billion for such research and there is nothing the federal government can do about it.

Liberals should learn to think before shooting off their mouths in an attempt to score political points by abusive ad hominem attacks.

I'm NOT Nitpicky... I'm Simply Accurate

Geeze, some days I really get slammed. I mean, I like accuracy, regardless of the area of life it falls into. The past few years I have been rather upset over the liberties that film makers take with certain movies (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for instance, or more lately, X3), but when I voice such concerns I seem to be drowned out by the chorus of my friends who tell me that they "separate the book from the movie" and can "appreciate the director's interpretation" (or some similar drivel). They seem to think I don't understand how art is supposed to work. Well trust me, I understand, but what I understand (and care more about) is truth and accuracy. It is one thing to alter settings, switch around minor characters, mix dialogue, but it another to create a different story and try to pass it off as something that has a history. When I evaluate movies based on literature that I know, I have two simple criteria:

1. After seeing the movie, can you tell me a reasonable accurate summary that does justice to the primary source?
2. Do the characters portrayed on screen do things consistent with how the character in the text might do them given the same situation (see, I am flexible... they don't have to do exactly the same things, just act consistently with the character of the person in the text)

Now I can argue details, but for most people that isn't fun, but there are certain things that are just not right happening in movies today that really bother me. Here are a couple of "for instance" situations:

In the first LOTR movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, they have Arwen taking the injured Frodo to Rivendell while the book says it was Glorfindel. Fair enough, I can live with that (Story: "Important elf takes injured Frodo to Rivedell to heal", which is what happened). What I detest is the line they make her say, something NO TOLKIEN ELF would utter: "If you want him, come and claim him." ARGH! No, no, no. This is completely out of character for an elf in Middle Earth. Now, jump to X3, out this year. ******* MOVIE SPOILER ******** There is no way Wolverine would kill Phoenix. In fact, in the Dark Phoenix saga, he does have a chance to and he pulls his claws at the last minute. In a later conversation where the terror of Dark Phoenix (which actually isn't developed in the movie, it just appears), Wolverine pulls a "fast ball special" with Colossus and hurls Colossus at Dark Phoenix to kill her, Wolverine TELLS COLOSSUS HE (Wolverine) CANNOT KILL HER, that he had his chance and just couldn't do it so it was up to Colossus. And yet, what do they do in the movie??? Wrong, wrong, wrong! I can live with certain alterations, the problem of time and the need to compress and blend, but I just cannot stand it when they change the character. It would be impossible for anyone to tell me the basics of the Dark Phoenix saga from watching X3. And by the way, what's up with the bridge scene? Yeah, it looked cool, but there are so many ways for Magneto to have taken down the building and taken out the guards. Sheesh!

Anyway, I hope that this rambling makes sense. I can appreciate artistic license as much as anyone else, but just like with a driver's license or a gun license, that does not mean you can do just any old thing you want!