Sunday, January 20, 2008

God Can You Hear Me

I've been here before
It's hard to ignore
I'm so used to fighting
The same old wars

Oh what do you see
When you're looking at me
Have I taken You for granted
I can't afford this pain anymore
Won't You help me understand it

God can You hear me
I need You here tonight
I'm tired of pretending
That everything's alright
And I know, I know
That You hold tomorrow
But I need You here tonight

I want to feel
I need something real
I want to go closer to You
I lay down my will

Oh this human disease
Yeah it's killing me
Tell me have I been left stranded
I can't ignore
This pain anymore
Won't You help me understand it

God can you hear me
I need You here tonight
I'm tired of pretending
That everything's alright
And I know, I know
That You hold tomorrow
But I need You here

Say
Won't You say
That You'll carry me
Carry me through the storm
Please stay
Won't You stay Till the morning comes
Morning comes
Just stay

---Tait---

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Dallas Morning News' 2007 Texan of the Year

…the pimple on my buttocks is more Texan…

Disclaimer: This blog in no way represents, describes, proves, or disproves a pimple is present, has been present or will be present on the posterior of the blogger. However, if it did, does or will be present, said pimple is definitely more Texan than the DMN's choice for the 2007 Texan of the Year.

Drum roll, please. The DMN’s Texan of the Year is: “The Illegal Immigrant”.

My response to this tidbit of information heard on the 10:00 PM edition of the local news (owned by the same corporation as the Dallas Morning News): “You have got to be @#$*)&% kidding me!”

The editorial board of the DMN must have misplaced their communal brain, if they had one in the first place. To be a Texan, you are a valid citizen of the state of Texas. Applying simple logic, if you are an ILLEGAL immigrant, how can you be a Texan? It’s tantamount to me saying because I vacationed in Ireland for a couple of weeks, I am Irish. I love Ireland, anything Celtic actually, but I’m certainly not Irish because of that!

Obviously the article is biased toward the illegal immigrant. I’ll pause while you get over the shock. However, in all fairness, it does point out some of the negatives of illegal immigration in very glossy terms; as if the negatives should be analyzed with a “ho-hum, so what, who cares” attitude. Why should it matter that our schools are busting at the seams, our social services are being depleted, and our laws are being broken?

Notwithstanding the illegal status of the Texan of the Year, I find the article particularly pointed regarding the nationality of the illegal immigrant. The mentioned illegals are those of Hispanic heritage. Gasp! Hasn’t it been pounded into our collective consciousness that Mexicans are not the only illegal immigrants and by singling them out, we are xenophobic?

Say it ain’t so! The DMN is discriminating against illegals of other nationalities. Where is the hue and cry over the Vietnamese, the Ukrainian, the Canadian, the _______ (fill in the blank) illegal immigrant? Why is the focus of the article solely on those of Hispanic descent? Doesn’t Texas harbor illegal immigrants of diverse ethnicities working jobs which Americans don’t want to perform at the (substandard) wages the employers want to pay?

The crux of the matter is proximity. By virtue of geography, Mexico is the only nation with which Texas shares a border and lest we forget, Texas was once a part of Mexico. Maybe the Dallas Morning News wants us to welcome the prodigal flocks back home. After all, according to the article, Texas’ thriving economy is being built on the backs of these illegal immigrants and we elitist, non-Hispanics are reaping the rewards.

I am at my wits end. As a taxpayer, I have to fund the costs of their medical care while I pay for my own; and no, I do not advocate a national health care system. As an automobile owner, I have to carry non-insured/under-insured coverage as the propensity for illegals who drive (and they do drive) is not to have insurance. As a citizen, I have had to endure endless protests and marches by illegal immigrants and their supporters; calling for civil rights and privileges which are not theirs to have. I have watched as my flag was removed from a school flag pole and the flag of Mexico flown in its place. I have read articles about a school district which handed out the Mexican flag and asked all the students to recite the Mexican Pledge. I drive down the highway viewing billboards in Spanish. I travel through parts of Dallas that are beginning to remind me of Mexico. Official documents are in both English and Spanish. Where are the other English/”pick your language” documents?

Don’t misunderstand me; I sympathize with the plight of the downtrodden and poor. I feel for the people who cannot take care of their own. I understand the desire to escape from poverty. However, with all that said, I have lost my sympathy for the illegal immigrant. I simply see a group of people who have no pride in their own country; willing to suck the teat of our goodwill at any cost. There is no desire to be American, only the craving to take what we have and call it their own. Why won’t they fight to make Mexico a better place?

To those who would have us believe that illegal immigration is a good thing, I say: Don’t play the “poor illegal immigrant” card. Don’t call the cities that try to pass/enforce laws “villainous or hateful.” Don’t cry when you have to face the consequences of breaking the law.

Most of all, don’t insult us by nominating a Texan of the Year who is not remotely Texan nor American for that matter.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A Prologue: 2007 Texan of the Year

Remember the Alamo!!!!

Let’s take a step back in history. Once upon a time, there was a skirmish at a place called The Alamo where larger than life heroes met their fate at the hands of General Santa Anna. The bloody defeat did not vanquish the Texans’ fight for independence from Mexico. Even after the Massacre at Goliad, Texans fought and won their freedom at the Battle of San Jacinto.

On April 22, 1836, Texas ceased being a part of Mexico and the glorious Republic of Texas was born. In 1845, Texas joined the United States to become the 28th state of the Union.

Monday, January 14, 2008

A Day at Blarney Castle


I did not kiss the Blarney Stone. It is said that the stone was part of the latrine system and raw sewage was poured over the stone down to the moat. I join with the Irish in laughing at all us tourists who spend money to kiss the stone; obtaining the gift of gab. Hmmm, diarrhea of the mouth. Fitting, indeed.

Blarney Castle itself is tall; more so than the other gazillion castles I saw in Ireland. The grounds are beautiful. I would have loved to picnic there, but alas, I decided to spend money at Blarney Woollen Mills. Belleek China, Waterford, and Galway Crystal made the journey back home. I can't tell you how nice it was to purchase items that did not say "Made in China".

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Albus Dumbledore Is Gay?!?

...Now Harry, grab my "wand"...

Suddenly strains of Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” started playing in my head. “Once I get you up there, where the air is rarefied, we’ll just glide, starry eyed…” Please hold while I shake myself. Whew!

With closure of her phenomenally successful Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling tells the world that the beloved Headmaster of Hogwarts is homosexual. What?!?!?! What do you mean, “what?” It’s called alliteration. Not that, what do you mean Dumbledore is gay? She meant gay as in happy, right? No, silly, she meant as in he loved another man. Like a brother, then? No. You get the picture? Yeah, but it’s not something I really want to visualize.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the books in the series. When Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows was released in July, I re-read every book so my mind would be fresh on all the details. Yes, folks, six books in less than two months. Maybe I skim read them, missing important clues as to Dumbledore's sexuality. I simply do not recall any veiled, obscure, or completely disclosed references to Dumbledore's preference for men. Perhaps my gaydar was malfunctioning.

Why now? A couple of media reports referenced this sentence from The Deathly Hallows: '"You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me.'" Dumbledore was speaking to Harry about Grindlewald; discussing how he was inflamed by Grindlewald’s idea of wizard domination and muggle subjugation. Somehow I am supposed to extrapolate being inflamed about these ideas to being flaming? That Dumbledore was in love with Grindlewald?

Let’s think about this. If you are a single male, inflamed and passionate about another man’s ideas, you’re gay? Ponder that for a moment. How many men would be homosexual if that was the case?

If Ms. Rowling knew, from the beginning, that she wanted Dumbledore as a gay character, why not “out” him in “The Sorcerer’s Stone”? Or, why out the character at all? Shouldn't it have been obvious to the reader?

I am not in a dither about it. Whether a fictional character is gay or not, has no meaning to my life. Wait, let me take that back. I’m wrong after all. I am blogging about it; and it has offered me some humor in the last couple of months.

In the end (to pun or not to pun), who cares? Does it really make a difference? Are the books any less meaningful to the reader because in the 11th hour of her fame, Rowling says Dumbledore is gay?