Arizona Illegal Immigration Facts And Opinions

I try to avoid politics in an open forum, but when I saw this I couldn't let it go.  My hubby is really into the news and politics, a guy thing I think. I am not politically inept, I just don't like going on about it.  Most people take it to seriously and getting my house fire bombed doesn't sound to good to me.  Enough on me here are the facts:

1. 
   
    Arizona has a very high unemployment rate very close to 10% (9.7% as of August) (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).  With a state wide population of nearly 6.6 million people (source: US Census Bureau estimate) that leaves 600,000 people unemployed.
2. 
   
   Arizona's illegal immigrant population peaked in 2008 at 560,000, and a year later dipped to 460,000. (source: CBS news April 28, 2010) 
3. 
   
   The report for 2009, released this week, shows Arizona -- with an average complaint rating of 119.4 per 100,000 population -- trailing Florida. Texas, California and Nevada round out the top 5. dropping us to #2!  The FTC received 7,875 complaints from Arizona about identity theft in 2009, spread across several categories. The biggest group, about 30 percent, was employment-related fraud; 15 percent stemmed from government documents or benefit fraud. Credit card fraud and utilities fraud accounted for 12 percent each. (source: Phoenix Business Journal February 26, 2010) *Before 2009 AZ was the highest. 
4. 
   
   One in three houses are facing foreclosure in Phoenix. 33% in May and 36% in June (source: abcnews15)
5. 
   
   McDonald's had and in store job fair (for roughly 800 jobs) 15,000 people showed up! These are entry level jobs and $7.25 per hour! (source: azcentral.com September 9, 2010)
6. 
   
   Phoenix Ranch Market (local grocery store) got busted for hiring illegals, 300 people got fired for being illegal (equaling 20% of their employees ) and hundreds (news didn't give an exact amount) of people showed up the very next morning looking to fill those jobs. (source: azfamily.com April 22, 2010)
7. 
   
   In 2007 Arizona passed its law which entailed penalties for employers who don't ensure their workers are in the country legally. in 2008-2009 the number of illegal immigrants dropped 18%! (source: LA Times April 14, 2010)
8. 
   
    Arizona's illegal immigrant population peaked in 2008 at 560,000, and a year later dipped to 460,000. (source: CBS news April 28, 2010)   6.6 million total AZ population (US Census Bureau estimate 2009)
9. 
   
   2009 crime rate in Phoenix down 16%! so far in 2010 these rates are still down for all violent crimes. Three years ago 85% of homicides in Phoenix were involving illegal immigrants, now it is 5%! (source: fox10 news September 24, 2010)  I couldn't get the video with Levi Bolton from the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association to embed into this post so read the next one titled: SB1070 - It Works!  20 Year Record Low Crime Stats  to see it. (I really posted it first so it would follow this one! Genius!)

Now for the meat! This is a nice medley of what we are facing here in the southwest:
*PLEASE NOTE: this video is film clips here in America not in Mexico.  That said......

Watch it again! Pay attention to what these people are saying! Do they hate America? Are the DECLARING war? Do they feel that they are above the LAW and can do as they please?

The sad truth is yes!  This does not look to me as a peaceful people who are just trying to have a better life.  In fact, it looks like a hostile takeover.   American is a land of laws, and we can't pick and chose who must obey and who doesn't have to!  If  I robbed a bank, even if it was to feed my family and pay my bill and have "a better life", I still have COMMITTED a CRIME and when caught I WOULD be PUNISHED!  Sorry folks those are the rules.

SB1070 - It Works! 20 Year Record Low Crime Stats

B A N A N A S







12/08



word problem

Joan is extremely fussy about everything, particularly her numbers.  She likes 225, but not 224. She prefers 900 to 800, and she absolutely loves 144, but loathes 145.

From this information can you tell is she would like 1600 or 1700?

TRI-Stitch

This is by far my favorite stitch!

This is a simple shell border

 This is a crown shell.

 A lacy shell

A simple trim.

These are all made with three colors for the body, and trimed either with one of the three colors or using a forth matching or contrasting trim. Any way you look at it they are beautiful.  I've made a lot of blankets in this stitch, more than I've posted here.

The age of the Universy

The post is more for my than you. In my Quest, I went off on another track and that would be the big bang theory and the age of the Universe.  The is intresting to me at this point because last night I spen like 8 hours discusing religion and science with a friend. and we kept getting hung up on timelines so today  started searching timeline of human history and thought to myself that it didn't make sence to start in the middle or near the end but at the beginning, hence the beginning of the universe here is what I came up with thus far:

1. Hubble (the man credidted with the big bang) using the red shift comes up with 15 billions years
2. hubble telescope research Dr. Wendy Freeman 9-11.5 billion years & Dr allan Sandage 11.5-14.5billion years.
3. Isotope dating of rhenium and osmium 8-11 billion years.
4. radioactive uranium dating  12.5 billion years.
5. NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe estimaes 13.73 billion years give or take 120 million years.

NASA's is the most resent as of 2008 so that is the number I'm going to go with in my time line. it also happens to be the middle ground so it would work well as an average too.

So there we have it 13.73 billion years ago the universe was created.

The Job Interview and the Old Neighborhood

Today I had a job interview (WOOHOO!!),and the site of the interview was just around the corner from where I grew up.  I'm a very punctual person so I arrived way too early and had about 20 minutes to kill. So I went cruising the old neighborhood. Wow! I can not believe how much has changed. It was really sad to say the least. A lot of the houses were empty, most run down, and one was missing altogether (must have burnt down only the foundation left to prove it was ever there).  My grade school's marque was in Spanish, and all the cut-ins (ways for walking kids to get on school grounds without having to walk all the way around the very large playground)  in the fence were gone.  there use to be a large bike area and from there you went up a cement slop to get to the school building, well the slop is gone and the bike area and they sealed the doors off! At least the trees we planted when i was in third grade are still there and they are BIG!
Then I drove by the field where we used to ride our bikes.  The dirt trails where we had our ramps and such is now a variety of stores, and a Circle K is standing in the low spot that would gather water after the monsoon where we use to catch tadpoles.
The cotton field, where we would hang out when I got older and did the thing teens do, is a strip mall.  I think that hurt the most.  There use to be a little bridge over the irrigation ditch in the middle of the field and we would sit under there and drink, smoke and talk about boys. Part of the field is still there and the irrigation ditch is there though part of it has been re-routed out of the way of the parking lot, but the bridge is gone and the way back into the neighborhood is closed off by a high wall.
I really need to go back with my camera and hit my mom up for some old photos from when I was a kid!

So I go to my interview and all went well with that hopefully I'll have a job soon!

P.S. If you ever have to have a drug test that is an oral swab be warned: It tastes AWFUL!!! bring plenty of mints with you on any interview just in case.  I ate 10 wintergreen lifesavers and I still had that taste in my mouth! Very gross to say the least. You have to hold that swab gathering spit for a long time, not fun, it made my eyes water! Then it goes into a container and like a pregnancy test in about 15 minutes you have your results (I passed DUH).  Pretty cool, but man does that swab taste bad!

The Quest Begins...

So here I go. Not on my original thought, but hopefully a good one anyways. Its late night Tuesday I'm reading my Bible looking for something (that has nothing to do with what I'm on) for Kenny and the next thing I know I'm on a quest! In the process of this quest I really realized something. Religion is flawed. The church (any organized one) has deemed itself the only entity who know what God wants. Really! There are so many early christian works that are left out of the Bible because back in the days of old, the Church voted on what would be canonized and what was unimportant.  The book of Revelation got in by only one vote! My favorite book! Not to mention that the original texts were passed down and rewrote on scrolls and such, and any crocked or self serving religious leader could change things for his benefit.  Who knows how much skewing went on before the set print of the King James Version came along? The Jewish Bible (Christian Old Testament), Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Church's all agree on only one thing....the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) Therefore those five book are probably pretty much intact. After that everything is a toss up.  Martin Luther (Lutherans) did a great thing to have the Bible wrote up in German for his people, for he believe every man should be able to read the Bible for himself, but he also wanted books left out he didn't like or agree with. So one with it, I'm searching down missing texts and in that quest I come across the dead sea scrolls (which of course I've known about) , the church deemed them to be mostly daily diaries and as such unimportant and as a whole we don't know much about them. But in them are many old copies of the early books of the bible, of course they are badly damaged and some are nothing more than bits and pieces. Wouldn't you think that the church would want this info out as it predates most common texts? Or will they (the scrolls) show how much the early church has hidden from us? What was lost in the dark ages of book burning? What was lost in the great library at Alexandria?
I'm finding a lot of information on missing /omitted texts, and I hope to find some interesting stuff.  I'll post what I find as I find it!  But on a lighter note for us Jesus freaks, Jesus made it clear that if we seek him we will find him. God is more in our hearts than in any books or churches.  If it feels wrong when it probably is.  It is simple really: Do unto others as you would have done unto you! I don't want my house robbed so I don't rob other homes. I wouldn't want someone sleeping with my husband so I don't sleep with yours. etc etc. and on that note I conclude this blog. Peace!

A Small Load

Riddle me this

What is greater than God,
More evil than the Devil,
The rich need it,
The poor have it,
And if you eat it,
You will die?

Pink Elephants on Parade!

Pretty pink elephant, that won't give you a headache in the morning!

Front View

Side view

Oops how did a blue one get in here? HAHA

I love making these guys.

I freehand sew the pieces together so everyone is a bit different. I embroider all the features so there is not any buttons or glass eyes to come off so they are very kid friendly, plus it gives it more personality.

Part 2: Sedona

After leaving Oak Creek Canyon we continued towards home through Sedona.

On the road.

The red rocks in and around Sedona are breathtaking! they are much prettier at dawn and sunset but we were there in the afternonn so the colors are a little washed out but still very pretty!

This would make a great postcard!

The bridge, we had to stop before we crossed it to get these cool pictures........

That is a HUGE pine tree down there.

Another postcard shot. You have to buy a permit to park and go through alot of the trails in Sedona, which suck, so we just snapped form the top.  that is Oak Creek down there.

BEAUTIFUL!!

In Sedona there is a cool church built into the rock it is called The Chapel Of The Holy Cross.

Pretty cool huh?  We would have taken pictures from inside but there were people doing their thing with God, some just sitting a praying others lighting candles, and since I'm not a rude tourist. all my pictures are from outside......

Views from the outside of the church (to the right). It has a large outdoor space that you can walk almost all the way around.
Near the center of this picture is a huge mansion!

The other view....(from the left of the curch)

the view from near the front of the church!

Kenny, Bella, me, Rachael sitting outside the church. the veiw is from the back of the church.

mom dad and baby make three :)

Some cactus and plantlife growing in the rock crevass.

Need I say more?

Once again another great Saturday!  $30 for a tank of gas, sodas and food from home, makes for a nice day trip. 

Part 1: Oak Creek Canyon

A tank of gas at $30.00.  Fun in Northern Arizona Priceless!

Rachael in the tall grass. She informs us that this grass will cut you and to prove it, she cuts herself , on accident, right after she says that!  This shot was taken on our way into the creek itself.

Rachael and Tyler in the creek rock climbing.  This a small branch of the creek.  It is really beautiful in Oak Creek.

Me and Bella Chilling on a rock. Rachael and Tyler heading off to explore.

 Time to climb!

 Posing on the side of the canyon wall.

Bella, just hanging out.

Isn't she just too cute?

Bella and her daddy Kenny! The water is moving pretty good just below them see how the rocks are splashed? If only i had the camera just a little lower....

Here is where the creek widens out.

Me and Bella sitting on a rock in the middle of the creek. 

What is that in the distance?

Why its Rachael laying on a rock playing in the water!!!

Bella Throwing rocks in the water.

I think this was the highlight for Bella.  She spent a full 15 minutes just throwing in rock and then looking at them under the water.

One last picture before we headed out of the creek and into Sedona!  So this is the end of the first half of the Saturday day trip.  I'll post Sedona tomorrow.  Until then.....

At Dillon's

It's 9 o'clock on a Friday.  I'm on the outskirts of Flagstaff visiting my son. it's quite cool outside, wish I would have brought a jacket!  I'm sitting outside under a canopy of stars, there would be more if the moon wasn't so bright! I must sit outside because my broadband doesn't work inside, which sucks.  I just made meatloaf for everybody, Dillon the poor kid has been living on ramen and bologna for a month now!  I took him to do his laundry and went shopping for some food.  All in all we are having a great time.  Gonna play Monopoly when I'm done with this short blog.  Did I mention how beautiful the stars are?  The city lights from Phoenix washes them out except the really bright ones. It is so quiet and dark. I'm in love wish I could live here maybe someday.  Well that is it for now.

Evolution: God vs. Science

When will science learn the more it tries to disprove God the more it proves His existence?

GOD: Genesis 1:2 the earth was without form and void. (meaning it didn't exist)
SCIENCE: Initially, the universe was permeated only by energy. (meaning it didn't exist)
GOD: Genesis 1:3-5 Let there be light.
SCIENCE: Some of this energy congealed into particles, which assembled into light atoms like hydrogen and helium. (ie Big Bang Theory=light)
GOD: Genesis 1:6-8 God created the firmament separating the waters above and below. ( ie atmosphere)
SCIENCE: Over a relatively short time, something like a 100 million years, enough material had been released to form the oceans and to give the earth an atmosphere.
GOD: Genesis 1:9-13 the waters separated in land and sea and vegetation grew.
SCIENCE: with an atmosphere the earth stabilized the waters settled and allowed dry land to formed, plant life started to grow.
GOD: Genesis 1:14-19 God sets time by the sun and moon and star. day night seasons.
SCIENCE: the earth is fully stable with regular tides days nights and seasons.
GOD: Genesis 1:20-23 Fish and birds.
SCIENCE: things get sketchy here the first animal life forms in the ocean (science has the birds coming later)
GOD: Genesis 1:24-31 land animals and man.
SCIENCE: the aquatic life evolve and came to dry land for more food sources and populated the earth and eventually man comes to be. (though they don't know how, still missing some links).
　
And there you have it. if you take away the 6 day thing and it is all in the right order. and we must be really egotistical to truly believe that God bases his days on the earth revolving around the sun when the whole universe is His clock! Also remember moses who wrote the first 5 books of the bible lived in the 1500 BC!  long before any of this science stuff started and yet the bible is dead on :)

Redneck Swimming Pool

Whats in a name?

This is Boo  AKA Boots                                                                             This is Scout  AKA Gout

I got a couple of  kittens a few weeks ago thanks to Kenny's bright idea of going to the pound.  We found a really nice and beautiful cat there but after spending two hours with a lot of run around and general bs we left without it.  Well that made Bella and Rachael both depressed and moody. So off I go the craigslist. There i found and then went to get a kitten.  We couldn't agree on one so we got two.

It took us almost a week to name them.  Boo was afraid of everything so her name came easy.  Then we came up with Boo & Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird.  So there you have it but Bella whom I know can say both boo and scout calls the kittens Boots and Gout!  So now they are Boots and Gout. From two literary characters to things to do with feet who would have guessed?

Masterpiece

This is my ambitious project.  It all started with the castle.  I wanted to try something new that would take a little more time. So i did and afghan stitch which is kinda like knitting with one needle. after that i cross-stitched the castle on to.  well what to do with a panel like that? so i sat on it awhile and decided that i could make a family blanket! little did i know what i was getting myself into...

so i figured every one could draw up their own panel. that would take a while right? so off i went to the store to get graft paper and told everyone to draw me a picture and i would turn it into their special panel! 5 people and 9 panels total well i already had the center the castle! and i would come up with stuff for the other 3. anyways this is Kenny's panel. Believe.

Dillon finished his next. cute story. he was practicing drawing on graft paper and for his subject the electrical socket, you know the thing on the wall you plug your stuff into.  well then he started playing around and turned the socket into a pig! he liked it and decided that is what he wanted to be remembered for. if you look at the pigs face you can see its made out of a wall socket!

So here is Jacob's he was into pirates at the time. can you tell? nice work free hand.  and trust me it is not easy drawing in graft blocks.  meanwhile I'm still working on all my other panels too which silly me didn't take picks as i went too bad. but i realized i would have to find a way to connect all these panels. so i made rose trims to go around each one.

Josh is a creative one to he just grabbed his colored pencils and started going.  Pretty neat right? well i think so! well i realized i needed corner panels too. and they weren't gonna be very large at all and i needed 16 of them so i used the 12 signs of the zodiac and the 4 seasons. plus 24 rose panels!

And finally joey's he took forever and i thought i would never get this project done. he really took his time coming up with what he wanted to do. i had just about every thing done,except sewing it all together, when he finally gave me his graft paper.  the pic is his rendition for the hammers in Pink Floyd The Wall.

Here it is before i started sewing just be sure of what i was doing. 12 simple rose panels for the vertical and 12 with buds for the horizontal. also i finished a spider (for my favorite holiday HALLOWEEN!) the lion cause all my boys are Leos and a butterfly up to for beauty freedom and the ability to change :)

remember this was only one little panel to try something new and it turned into a HUGE project. notice the ones in back are standing on chairs? yeah who knew that 9 little panels 24 edging and 16 corner pieces would be so big when all sewn together?

so here it is! this whole project took me over 2 years to put together! now that is not exclusive years i still made other projects along the way.  but if i was to guess i would say i put some around 300  hours into it! I love it! it will be a family treasure even after I'm gone! the only down side is i finished this in January of 2006 and i was so sure that i wouldn't be having anymore children and in 08 i had Bella......what to do????