Arizona’s New Immigration Law & Racial Profiling

The new Arizona law in effect orders every Arizona law enforcement officer to conduct an investigation to determine someone’s immigration status. If they suspect people they encounter in the course of their duties are illegal immigrants, they must now determine whether the people are in the country legally and make an arrest — as long as it is practical and doesn’t interfere with an ongoing investigation. Backers of the law contend that it simply empowers local police to use existing federal immigration laws and will be applied sparingly. “Officers in Arizona are professionals,” said Brian Livingston, executive director of the Arizona Police Assn., “We don’t care what race people are.”

“This law will make every officer in the state an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officer, said Salvador Reza, a Latino activist here.

What is wrong with enforcing our country’s laws?  And since Arizona sits on the US – Mexico border, then how can it be racial profiling if a law enforcement officer asks someone they suspect of being in the country illegally for identification?  Of course someone who looks like they are from Mexico, and does not speak any English, will be confronted more frequently.  The law of averages, and basic investigative skills doesn’t automatically equal racial profiling does it?

iPhone

I must say that the iPhone has to be one of my favorite toys – ever. In the beginning I didn’t even want an iPhone. I was a die hard subscription music service guy. There was no way I was going to pay alacart for everything. Well I must confess that the iPhone is incredible. I find new ways to enjoy it every week. The app store is just amazing. I’m not sure how we managed to do anything before the iPhone. Right now I am typing this blog post lying in my bed – in the dark. My wife is asleep next to me and I’m not even disturbing her. I will have more to say about the iPhone later. Time for bed. GMar

Last Night

I just finished a book – Medical Mysteries.  It’s based on a TV series on ABC.  There are some pretty wild ailments out there.  Did you know there are people who eat while sleeping.  They sleep walk into the kitchen and make all kinds of weird things to eat, and never wake up.  Weird.  I’ll tell you more later.

I’m trying a new photo sharing service called Smugmug.  I prefer it over Flickr and Picasa.  It cost a little more, but in the end you get what you pay for.  I think a lot of us are afraid to pay a little more for good service, but not me.  Good service/products should be supported.  Software, movies, and music need support too.  Just say no to piracy and support peoples creativity and hard work, or someday it will just disappear all together.  I think that’s what happened to customer service.  The Walmarts of the world are so big that helping each customer on a personal level is impossible and not important to them.  If they piss you off – it’s no big deal they have thousands of customers waiting in line behind you.  So I urge you to support those companies, or whatever, that you find that gives you a great product, or service, or both.  And don’t be afraid to pay a little extra.  You will benefit in the long run.  Back to Smugmug.  It looks super nice and is easy to work with.  I think I will be subscribing.  Basically I upload all my pics to Picasa (in their largest compressed form) for online backup purposes.  Then I’m going to use Smugmug to share the best of the bunch in full resolution.  Smugmug also has a lot of features that I would like to use in the future.  GMar

Poem

My Grandma

My Grandma

 When I think of my Grandma I think about Christmas Eve in her basement – I think about her calling me Don, or Doug, and then remembering my name is Greg. 
  I think about spending the night, reading Little Black Sambo, playing dominoes and eating Devils Food cookies.
  I think about pie, cobbler, homemade green beans, and grape juice.
  I remember her singing and humming gospel songs while making breakfast.
  I remember weekends at the lake, pickled cucumbers, fresh tomatoes, and wilted lettuce – I see her fishing for crappie.  The way she holds the pole up with her left hand while keeping her right hand on the reel.
  I remember her boat shoes and citronella candles.
  But most of all I remember her smile.

GMar

Hot.

Just plain HOT!

I’m really getting tired of this heat.  Don’t get me wrong.  I still love hot weather, and prefer it over cold weather any day.  However,  a whole month of temps over 100+ with our humidity to boot.  Well, like I said, it’s starting to get old.

We started the month of July of with temperatures reaching or exceeding the 100 degree mark on 17 out of the first 19 days.  Reaching 109 on July 7th.  Factor in the humidity we have down here and you get some pretty extreme heat indices. 

NOAA

McAllen’s Unique Record, Statistically
The City of McAllen, in particular, was a unique case. At Miller International Airport, the monthly temperature was nearly a whopping 7°F above average. This was a full 2.7°F higher than the previous all time record of 90.1set in 1998. Twenty–three daily record highs were equalled or exceeded, and 25 record high minimum temperatures did likewise at Miller. In fact, on 18 consecutive days stretching into August, the temperature did not fall below 80°F. This included 16 straight days in July, shattering the previous record of 7 set in June, 1999. For the McAllen cooperative station at the water plant, the monthly temperature was nearly 6°F above average, and 2.1°F higher than the previous all time record of 88.7, also set in 1998.

So if I sound like a broken record complaining a little bit about the heat – just remember – it is record setting heat.  I Love The Valley (sarc.).  Fortunately, we will be moving to Austin, Tx. soon.  Just in time to enjoy their record setting heat and drought.  What global warming?  GMar

No End In Sight

Image by serhio via Flickr

Well I surfed the Internet ALL day and I didn’t come close to finding the end  

The Internet continues to change the world we live in.  Putting newspapers out of business (news from the Internet is better), and now it’s got it’s eye on good old snail mail, and POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service).  Stay tune for more rants regarding this subject because it really interest me.  One more thing before I turn in.  I watch those medical mystery programs on cable – like ‘Mystery Diagnosis‘ - and I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to some of those people if they hadn’t had the Internet to research their symptoms.  The Internet is a forced multiplier when it come to medical research.  GMar

Sunday Morning

Image by cnycompguy via Flickr

It’s Sunday morning and all is quiet here in the GMar household.  Everyone is still in bed - I can’t “sleep in”anymore because my back hurts too bad and I have to get up    I had three cups of coffee and I could probably drink one more.  We have one of those Keurig K-Cup coffee makers and really like it.  Right now we are drinking Gloria Jeans Butter Toffee flavored & Timothy’s German Chocolate Cake flavored.  They are both really good, and the German Chocolate Cake coffee really does taste like German Chocolate Cake.

I think the rest of the day will be spent getting things ready for the big garage sale next weekend.  Our subdivision (Sommerset) occasionally has a subdivision wide garage sale and it brings in a lot of people, and since we will be moving soon, we have a lot to sell. 

BedBunker: Sleep Soundly with WWIII Under Your Pillow – Highly recommended by Sarah Connor

I need to put one of these in every room of my house before 12/2012.  Didn’t I see one of these in that old movie – Tremors.  I think Reba was sleeping on it?  These are very en vogue in Juarez, Mx.

via BedBunker: Sleep Soundly with WWIII Under Your Pillow – Bedbunker – Gizmodo.

Police: DWI officer’s car hit by drunk driver : (singing) If it wern’t for bad luck I have no luck at all ….. Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

Police: DWI officer’s car hit by drunk driver

via Police: DWI officer’s car hit by drunk driver.

Beer Box Coming to Your Fridge : Not mine.

Beer Box Coming to Your

Fridge  —  Not mine!

According to the Wall Street Journal , the MillerCoors company is testing a new 1.5 gallon “Home Draft” for Miller Lite and Coors Light beers. The container is meant to fit in your refrigerator and be available to consume beer periodically, rather than for one-time party use. The beer box is selling for $20 and is being tested in 13 cities, including Dallas, Phoenix and San Diego.

The “Home Draft” system is designed to be placed upright in a refrigerator, which will keep the beer fresh for about 30 days.

via Beer Box Coming to Your Fridge.