Congratulations Chhimi and Tabitha! Yesterday little Erik Ma made his debut in the world right on his scheduled due date! He made his debut on Palm Sunday! A good sign! The Ma family are so adoreable! You can see pictures of them at www.babychhimi.com. Tabitha has never looked so beautiful as she does holding her baby boy! Now Chhimi can realize the fullness of his GADness!

So right now is Holy Week, yesterday was Palm Sunday and now we are working our way towards Easter. ABC is celebrating by playing a new movie verison of Moses life. I'm not sure how much I like this version, so far the cartoon version "Prince of Egypt" seems to be a better depictment. Dialog seems a bit lacking, plus I see no reason why everybody always has british accents in these movies. It's just too weird. On the plus side Arnold is really happy because Moses first son whose name is Gersom just appeared. For Arnold this is significant because Gershom is the English translation of Arnold's real name. It means "Stranger in a Strange Land' because Gershom was born during Moses time in exile from Egypt. Fitting since Arnold is strange, plus he is a foreigner in a strange land. Which brings me to immigration....

I have to start off by saying that I have no idea how to solve the multide of immigration problems with policies or strategies, but... if I hear one more person complain about how they "immigrated legally" and it was so much bother and work and everybody else is "unfair" because they immigrated illegally I will just have a stroke! My husband is a legal immigrant, I have personally filled out the piles and boxes of paperwork that legal immigration requires. It is a PAIN IN THE ASS! It is confusing, expensive and irritating to say the least. We've been married for four years and my husband is still a good five years from being eligible to be a citizen. Really annoying would be a kind way to escribe the immigraiton process. But still, this whole "I immigrated legally and it's unfair to me that other people didn't, doesn't take into account many, many factors"

1) Not everybody can immigrate legally. If anybody says the truth, there are only a few reasons you can immigrate legally

1) You have a relative who is a U.S. Citizen
2) You are rich.
3) You have an in-demand skill/college education (which means you are rich)

So if you are poor in Mexico with limited economic prospects. Would you want to see your children malnourished? Would you let them grow up with access to good education? Or would you cross the border and hope that you could make a better future for your family?

Besides, how is it unfair to me that other people came her illegally? Illegal immigrants power the conomy, sustain California's important ag industry, pay sales tax and in many cases federal and state taxes. Yes, it's true many immigrants work under the table, but many immigrants also work using false social security cards which means they pay state, federal and social security taxes.

Plus as an illegal immgirant you have 1) No rights 2) Constant fear of deportation 3) Extremely limited access to a system that you pay into via the aforementioned taxes. How is the situation of the illegal immigrant at all similar to my husbands who has a drivers license, will receive social security, no fear of deportation and access to financial aid?

I love having a blog to spout off my opinions, my own personal cyber soap box Even weirder, and believe me I never thought I would say this, but the Cardinal of Los Angeles agrees with me. Strange! I do not envy policy makers or the Senate in this situation. It's tricky stuff. On my blog I get to spout off my opinion without the dificulty of actually providing solutions but I will say this turning illegal immigration into a felony is a repulsive idea. To say that people are breaking the laws of this country is objectively true from any angle, but to so severely criminalize people willing to work the low wage jobs that Americans are not willing to take so that they can better support their families is ridiculous.

And with that, it's back to Moses, we're starting with the seven plagues against Egypt. Good stuff! Right now we are on No.2 the frogs that took over Egypt. Arnold says the frog thing was the same at the Villavicencio seminary and that they use to throw frogs at each other for fun. Mental note: "Stay in Bogota, do not go to Villavicencio!"