interesting article on the boarder issue

i just read this article and was connected from rudy's blog... i thought i would share and bring up an issue that is not fixed but has taken a back seat to other things it seems.

"The first measure that the House approved was 700 miles of border fencing. It was for show. It showed America that folks in Washington don't really understand how the border works.

First, as any border patrol agent will tell you, there's no fence that can keep out someone who is desperate to feed his family and who's willing to go around, go over, or go under.

Next, every time we crack down on the border, it enhances the bottom line for these multimillion-dollar smuggling outfits. Whereas it used to cost about $500 to cross the border, now the price is closer to $3,000. If we build more walls, the smugglers will raise prices again. That's bad. It creates an incentive for smugglers to stay in business since business is so good.

Lastly, we've built fences before, and it only resulted in more illegal immigration. It used to be that one member of a family would go north -- a father, son or brother -- and he'd work and go back to Mexico for Christmas or Mother's Day.

Each time he returned home, there was the chance he'd stay. Now, it's too difficult and expensive to cross, so the workers no longer go back. Instead, they're paying smugglers to bring their families to join them in the United States.

That's why the numbers have gone up. Like I said, "Immigration Reform for Dummies."

The smart thing is to stop the magnet that draws illegal immigrants here: Jobs, jobs, jobs provided by U.S. employers.

And yet, nowhere in the GOP's 10-point enforcement plan do you find any mention of employer sanctions.

I don't suppose that has anything to do with the fact that the Republican Party is the party of business, and, more and more in America, businesses depend on illegal immigrant labor.

Say, maybe those Congressional Republicans aren't so dumb after all. They know a thing or two about survival. Now if they could only brush up on the requirements of leadership."

by Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune and a nationally syndicated columnist.

fantasy football can change you

i took a year off from fantasy football last year. it has usually been a fall ritual to get into a league and test my management skills in cyber space. this year i was invited by a co-workers to jump into his league and remembered how fun it was before, so i accepted the invitation. i really love watching football and this makes it all the more interesting, because who have a stake in a number of the games. it is almost like betting on each game, but i am not in danger of losing any money.

but what i had forgotten is how this little game called fantasy football can change your loyalty to a team so quickly. my league has 14 teams, which means good player get swiped up fast and after the draft their is really no one left worthy considering picking up. but my starting quarterback for my team is "drew bledsoe" of the dallas cowboys. i hate (greatly dislike) the cowboys, becuase they were my brothers favorite team and me as the little brother has to hate what he likes. that how i started liking the trojans... he is a huge ucla fan thus you gotta like usc.

but now that i need drew bledsoe to do good so i can win this stinkin league... i find myself cheering for the cowboys. i am almost disgusted with myself... but i am in second place in the league, so i am happy.

last week, i love carson palmer, so i am a bengals fan and my heart first wanted them to kill the steelers.... BUT i have "parker" the steelers running back. so i was happy with a close victory and two touchdowns for parker.

i guess fantasy football really shows how much you are willing to sell out for... i guess the movie "pretty women" is right... we all have a price. i am sad to say that mine is a free fantasy football league that has no payout at the end for the winner. i am just a cheap trick. lol

the death of the gathering

i held off on this post for awhile, because i wanted to make sure we emailed all the right people to make them aware of the situation. it was a few years ago... a group of us got together and began to dream and brainstorm about a spiritual community that would focus on reaching people who have felt neglected, ignored or straight offended by the traditional structure and language of the american church. it had also occured we had spent years reaching out to kids in our community, but as they left high school many did not connect with the traditional structure of the church as a whole.

this led us to create the gathering... a journey that lasted for about 1 year and a half. we had a lot of fun... i don't think ben and i would have become so close if it was not for the gathering. i had to step away from helping to lead the gathering, because of my own life drama and a team of people really did step up and lead the gathering. we changed location because of the adventist church not allowing us to meet for free there. i am not sure of when the gathering began to circle the drain, but for the last few months i knew it was inevitable. it was a matter of time before it would be completely gone.

the night of the last gathering... i knew it was what had to happen and it seemed like i was cool with it, but as i chilled with my boys at home by myself. i think it hit me that i think almost everything in my life has been flipped upside down over the last 16 months. what is once considered my life passion and focus has been reshpaed. that is except for my boys (kade and evan) who are the bomb and because of the changes i have a lot more time to chill with them... give them mohawks... pick them up early from school because they bit a teacher. i guess that is the one change that i would not change.

so i think i am good over time with all of the changes and the new refocuses... i am still with uywi... that is the other anchor in my life besides the boys. my extended family has grown to include old faces from many years ago and the constant ones that i have served the community with forever.

i have not quite decided where and who i will call church for me and my boys in the next chapter of my life, but i know that it is not the gathering. i will miss the gathering and maybe someday i will help shape something again that will live out the values that we dreamed of for the gathering, but until than i will continue to make friendships and grow my extended family with those who i interact with. peace.

good weekend for j-lou

- i went to the afi concert on friday night with omar from alhambra and jake from la habra. it was crazy... jake had me in the pit the whole time... i feel like i got jumped three times.
- kade had a great soccer game and both of his grandmas came to see him play. he scored a goal and played some great defense.
- the notre dame football team got thier buts handed to them... YEAH for overrated Irish Team and all thier fans.
- USC's defense shut down nebraska and dwayne jarret put his name in heisman conversations. i did not hear anything out of mr jones the defensive back from nebraska either. hey nebraska .. you need to go back to the drawing board before you are considered in usc class.
- i than had a quick vacation and flew with some friends to houston to vist our friend luis. we sat around and did nothing all day sunday and monday. YEAH! for lazy days.

i feel like i am back in high school

here is the latest on the mohawk situation. i have not had this much action on a post in awhile. j-lou gets a call from the principal of kades school because someone called them and suggested that they read j-lous confusion, becuase i am writing about how they would not allow kade to have a mohawk. who are you? who placed the call? they did not write down his name. this is ridiculous.

if you know me... you know that i am a carefree guy that loves to joke around. i joke around with most of the teachers at the school and i did have a good relationship with the admin building. i think hair is hair, but if they have a rule its all good. i did not try and fight the system and get parent sigs on the issue i explained to kade and we went home and shaved off the mohawk. i explained we had some great pics and someday he can have it again. i was not angry upset or anything.

the post on this blog was a bunch of friends joking around about it... picture us all sitting around in a living room and talking about it. but since ben is in ohio, jeremy is in new york and others are spread around so cal. we use the blog to chat. i was not trying to bring down the school or act as if they are a bad school.

so whoever you are who called... i would appreciate you if commented, emailed, break me off a phone call, send a letter by the mail man (oh i have a mail women... by bad), or stick a note on to my car. whatever ... please approach me if you have a probelm with me and not call the principal... but hey thanks for letting me feel like i was in high school again and had been sent to the principals office. gosh.... j-lou is so confused on who would put hiim on blast.

MOWHAWK UPDATE!!!!

here is a MOWHAWK update. i went to pick up kade from school yesterday and all the teachers had a sad look on their faces. the front office... the administration building... the people who write the rules and try to hold the little people down.. told the teachers to inform me that mowhawks are not allowed and kade would have to cut his hair. i went to the front office and asked for the written account of no mowhawks but they just spun their words and made up some crazy story. so we cut the mowhawk off and now he is just another pelon runnin the streets of alhambra. lol. the little people were brought down again... a sad day at kades school in alhambra. we will regroup and survive.

how about a MOWHAWK!?

kade decided he needed a new look for the school year and soccer season. in honor of chuck liddel's ufc victory he chose a mowhawk. kades new look led the sharks onto victory over the fireballs 6 -5. oh my bad, we are not suppose to keep score... if we lose i will forget about the score. it was a lot of fun for our first game and our kids did great. enjoy the pics and we will keep you updated on there run! peace.

the sharks

i have been give a promotion in the world of ayso soccer and am know the head coach of "the sharks" a group of 7 five year olds looking to have a great time every saturday afternoon on the soccer field. it will be a little different than last year, becuz the coaches have to stay on the sidelines and last year we were allowed on the field.

we have a game tommorow at 3 and i will try and get some pics to shwocase on monday.

peace.

booty call

hey since i left a depressing blog earlier, i just thought i'd leave a message for all of the usc trojan doubters that there is always a silver lining in the clouds... usc is ready to go and booty got the call and showed up. it looks like the coaches and the writers are in agreement and have usc up to 3 in both polls.

what a week!

i just send an email to a friend and thought it summed up last week. so i decided to copy it over and blog it for everyone else to read as well...

"I had a pretty crazy week last week. Here is the short version…

Tuesday, I get a phone call at about 7 am that Anais, a girl that was in my youth group and very special to me died the night before in a car accident. I was at a lost for words and really did not know what to say or think. They were about to send an email out about it, but decided I should not here over an email. I was pretty devastated. I think as a dad, the pain is a little more knowing the love her mom and dad had for her as well.

Wednesday, I had to take kade to the dentist because he had a cavity which ended up in a root canal. Boy that was tough to watch but he was a trooper. He did really well. The dentist even said Kade did better than many adults in his office having root canals. I bought him two new toys from the cartoon, "Avatar". Wednesday ended with soccer practice... i am now the head coach of the "sharks".

Thursday, was good during the day, because I did not work and hung out with kade and evan because their school was closed to get ready for school starting next week. So that was great, but I spoke at the viewing on Thursday night. I was asked to share some anais stories, so I did. I held it together for the most part, but saw a lot of former students that were friends of anais and had been part of the youth group or oikso as we know it. We cried together.

Friday was the funeral. It was nice also but sad. You should never have to bury a 20 year old friend. I than needed to get away for the weekend, so me and some friends from la habra got out of town. We had a good time. I think I needed to get away. But than this morning I was reminded of Anais again as I read some messages from people about what I said at the funeral and how much they enjoyed me being there. So I am not doing so good toady… Peace.