I got my first visitor!

Not counting my sister...
Not counting my parents...
Not counting the cable guy...

Fellow blogger Stacey was kind enough to stop by my new apartment. She has been the first of my friends to visit me. Thankfully she gave me enough warning to take out the trash, throw my shtuff in a side closet, and hide some dirty dishes in the oven. You didn't seem to notice did ya Stacey? ;) It was great to see you again!

No Wicker Baskets Involved

I crossed the state line to attend a company picnic. I skipped out on the first two. The first time because I felt too new and the second because I had something to do that day (although I forget what it was). I had a pretty good time. Heck, I even played some game that I never seen before which I am calling testicles because they were a pair of balls attached together a little bit of rope and I guess the object was to throw them at some bars and get them ensnared on them. Hmm… apparently I’m not the only one that calls them that.

The park that we were at is located by the river and has walking trails. Personally, I like them and in particular I like the ones located by the river because of the varying terrain. I’ve never been to this particular park so I was eager to check it out.

One of the differences between this park and the ones I’ve been to in my county is how wide the trails are. You could drive down some of them. I’m used to ones that are not really maintained and only exist because people keep walking over them.

Only a very short section of trails actually comes up against the river and there isn’t any access point into the water…

…Well not for the humans anyways. Here are some coon tracks.

It’s been a decade?

I attended my ten year high school reunion. After almost a day of digesting the events, I am still not quite sure on how I feel about meeting my old classmates. I don’t keep in contact with most of them and I’m okay with that. Yet, when I see them again, I’m happy. I’m glad to know that they are doing okay. I don’t know if or when I will ever see any of them again, even if it would be awkward, I think I would like that.

I should choose who gets to see my penis.

Considering that the government, despite their promises not to, are saving pictures of people going through these body scanners, I would like to bring in with me a sign that says, "Objects in scanner are bigger than they appear." Or... I'll just opt for the pat down.

Is it that bad that you have to go after the kids?

Republicans in Arizona would like to withhold citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants. The way this would happen would be that a hospital would be prohibited from giving a birth certificate. This, of course, violates the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause which reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside.” Basically, this means that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen.

There is now a growing push, particularly amongst Republicans, to amend the constitution. They claim that illegal immigrants are coming to the United States to give birth to “anchor babies.” Their thinking is that if they give birth and have their kids obtain US citizenship, it would guarantee their ability to stay in America. Stripping jus soli out of the 14th Amendment would prevent these anchor babies and keep these kids and their parents deportable.

I am against getting rid of jus soli.

I get the idea of not wanting to reward illegal aliens but doing this would punish these children. If we were to go through with this, these children would be stateless. I can envision a whole new generation of people who will be born and grow up as Americans but not as citizens. They will be just like you and I but because their parents committed an illegal act, they cannot fully participate with the body politic. And then… what happens when those non-citizens start having children of their own?

In the context of illegal immigration as a whole, just how harmful and how numerous are these, “anchor babies.” My guess is that the problem it creates is just a tiny number in comparison.

The 14th Amendment prevents politicians, to a certain extent, from fraking over, racial—but now more practically—immigrant groups. It was passed to ensure that blacks could not be denied citizenship. This overruled the Dred Scott Decision which said that black slaves or their descendants, free or not, could not be citizens of the US. This became important during the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act when Chinese immigrants who could not be naturalized themselves, started having children. The Supreme Court ruled that these children were, by virtue of their birth on American soil, American citizens.

Considering how important the 14th Amendment is to our legal rights (just consider the incorporation of the Bill of Rights through the Due Process Clause), do we really want to start tampering with it?

Keeping jus soli tends to make citizenship a simple case. If we move more towards jus sanguinis, we would have to keep track of a person’s parental lineage. Who wants to deal with those potential court claims?

I don’t think that we need an amendment to punish illegal immigrants. I would allow the new citizen to stay and their parents to stay with them. However any illegal family member caught here would be forever be ineligible to naturalize.

I remember when they actually blew stuff up as well.

I went to the Chicago Air & Water Show yesterday. You may remember a post about it last year when I met up with a fellow blogger.

My only costs: train tickets at $21.90 and parking: $1:00

Please feel free to click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Walking down Michigan Avenue on my way to the beach by Oak Street.
Aerobatic maneuvers. There were a number of acts similar to these. A couple solos and duos. One memorable one was a small bi-plane. The pilot addressed the crowd through the radio. The guy must be a big fan of the Austin Powers series as he was throwing around “Yeah Baby!” left and right.


B1

A pair of Black Hawks.

KC-10

Here are a few Blue Angels flying out from the Loop.
These two were flying upside down doing a close pass of each other. It was amazing enough to cause the woman in the foreground which buried her face into her husband’s side just moments after the pass was completed and this photo was shot.

Dragons on the River

I stopped by Niles this morning to check out Riverfest. The highlights of this festival are the boat races. Personally I like the dragon boat races.

This video was taken in the morning. I believe these are just practice runs. They didn't bother with drummers.

After visiting with some people that I knew and grabbing a pop, I headed back home rather than staying to see which of the teams won. I mean, it's not like I had any vested interest in any of them. I did venture up river though to check out the boats participating in the "Anything that Floats" race. One of the teams had a kick ass version of the Mystery Machine--wish I thought of taking a picture of it.

A Yogi Bear Movie?

I'm not sure if I should be horrified or excited.

Results From Yesterday

I don’t have official numbers from yesterday’s primary but what I do have is this:

Businessman Rick Snyder will be the Republican candidate for governor having secured 36% of the party’s voters. He competed against four others: Oakland Co. Sheriff (and former state senator) Mike Bouchard, Attorney General Mike Cox, Congressman Pete Hoekstra (MI-2), and State Senator Tom George (20th District).

On the Democratic side of the governor ballot, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero has won his party's candidacy. I've actually met this guy. He was invited to one of my Poli Sci classes. I actually remember thinking that this guy was ambitious. I may not have agreed with some of his policy positions but I had to admit, he made very good arguments.

Congressman Fred Upton (MI-6) has won his primary contest against State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (61st District). He won with 57% of the Republican vote and had the edge in all 7 counties that the 6th District covers.

I’m just gonna call it right now: State Rep John Proos (79th District) will be moving to the other end of the capitol building. He has beat Todd Griffee with 77% of the Republican vote. The senate seat (21st District) is a safe Republican seat so dollars to donuts he will win it in November.

I Will Have My Say. At the Ballot Box If Needed.

I voted in today's primary. I have mentioned in the past--I do not vote in primaries but I thought that I should make this one an exception. My congressman, Fred Upton, is up against Jack Hoogendyk. Mr. Hoogendyk was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives and whose last run at an office was for Carl Levin's seat in the US Senate. Based on the campaign signs, Hoogendyk appears to have support of the party in this area. I have seen very few signs up for Upton.

I have been satisfied with Congressman Upton's work in representing MI-6. And as far as I could tell up until now, he had solid support of his constituents. But I think that the anti-incumbency and tea party movements may cast doubt on whether he will be seated again come January. Indeed, Mr. Hoogendyk supporters have labeled Upton a RINO and "water-downed Democrat." While I wouldn't call Congressman Upton a right winger, I wouldn't say he's a RINO either as he has supported many republican plans in congress, some of which that I am actually against such as the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. So if this gentleman to the right of me is a RINO, do I really have to ask what that makes me?

If the Republican party is going to creep further to the right, I don't really have a problem voting for the Democrats and I have already cast votes to prove that but I did vote today and I voted on the Republican ballot. I voted for the republicans that I felt best represented my interests. I intend to stay in this big tent and if my vote in a primary can help it from getting smaller, then I'm gonna do it.

As I make my way out from the "50%" column and into the "plus one," I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to shake my bitterness when the righties and yes--the lefties come looking for my vote.

Justice Served... With a Side of Fries

Since the changeover to digital, the number of effective channels that I have been able receive has went down from eleven channels* to three**. So I haven’t been too thrilled about it. When I moved to the new place, I decided that I wasn’t going to continue with satellite or get cable. That was too much money to spend per month. Besides, most of the television shows that I was watching were available to stream on the internet. As long as I had high speed internet I’d be fine. Unfortunately the summer is the dry season of worthwhile television shows so I have signed up for… Netflix.

To my surprise, I actually like this service. For nine bucks a month, it’s practically a steal. The cheapest rentals around here are $1 so I figure that if I watch at least nine movies a month, I’d be making it worthwhile. And I’m probably four or five months ahead at this point.

With Netflix, it’s been a trip into my past as I have been able to dredge up some almost-forgotten films and even television shows. Anyone remember that Around the World in 80 Days mini-series with Peirce Brosnan? Was anyone else upset when Earth 2 was canceled and now wishes to see those precious few episodes that aired? My last few movies that I watched were adapted from some of my favorite books that I read as a kid: A Wrinkle in Time and Where the Red Fern Grows. A Winkle it Time was pretty bad but the Red Fern, I liked.

If you like movies but don’t want to spend all that money on a DVD that you’ll probably only watch a few times, I think that Netflix would work well. I’m pretty sure my dad and sister would probably appreciate all the anime crap that is on there. :P



* 7-ABC/Chicago, 9-WGN/Chicago, 11-PBS/Chicago, 16-NBC, 22-CBS, 25-I forget, 28-Fox, 34-PBS, 46-Some Religious Channel, 50-What was UPN, and 57-ABC

**16-NBC, 22-CBS, and 28-Fox.