Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) issued a statement yesterday on the immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate. Anyone paying attention to the debates has probably noticed that Ron doesn’t sound much like the other Republican candidates…

I have reprinted the statement below, in it’s entirety.
You can see the original posting here.

The much-vaunted Senate “compromise” on immigration is a compromise alright: a compromise of our laws, a compromise of our sovereignty, and a compromise of the Second Amendment. That anyone in Washington believes this is a credible approach to solving our immigration crisis suggests just how out of touch our political elites really are.

The reality is that this bill will grant amnesty to virtually all of the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in the country today. Supporters use very creative language to try and convince us that amnesty is not really amnesty, but when individuals who have entered the United States illegally are granted citizenship – regardless of the fees they are charged – what you have is amnesty.

What is seldom discussed in the immigration debate, unfortunately, is the incentives the US government provides for people to enter the United States illegally. As we know well, when the government subsidizes something we get more of it. The government provides a myriad of federal welfare benefits to those who come to the US illegally, including food stamps and free medical care. Is this a way to discourage people from coming to the US illegally?

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   The noon meal is important to help your body refuel from a morning workout or to provide you with energy for an afternoon business meeting.  Being properly nourished can also help fuel your mind by helping with your memory, concentration, and even your mental energy; all things any boss would appreciate. 

    You don’t want to undo the benefits of your morning workout by skipping lunch or worse yet, choosing a lunch of greasy, high fat fast food. You also want to avoid the typical lunch box cuisine of a processed meat sandwich on white bread with a bag of chips and a soda which will not provide you with the nutrients you need for a healthy, active mind and body.  If this is the type of lunch you are used to eating, your lunch box could use a nutritional makeover.  A great way to energize your mind and body is by packing your lunch box full of healthy foods.  To ensure that your lunch is providing your body and mind the nourishment it needs be sure to pack foods from at least three to four different food groups.  Whole grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and meat or a meat substitute are great things to put in your lunch box.  If your lunch box is due for a makeover, you can make changes gradually by switching your white bread to whole-wheat or by adding a piece of fruit. 

    If your lunch is not a meal without a sandwich, try some of these different, tasty fillings between different varieties of whole grain breads, bagels, and English muffins:         

• Peanut butter topped with chopped dried fruit
• Light cream cheese, grated carrot, and golden raisins
• Ricotta or cottage cheese, tuna, and sprouts
• Lean ham, Swiss cheese, and fruit chutney
• Tabouli salad, lettuce, and feta cheese
• Bananas mashed with ricotta cheese or peanut butter
• Hummus, sliced tomato, fresh spinach, and sprouts.
• Salmon, grated carrot, and low fat mayonnaise
• Avocado, sliced cucumber, grated carrot, lettuce, tomato, and low fat cheese

Along with a healthy sandwich, make sure you take along some nutritious side items such as fresh fruit or a no sugar added fruit cup, some cut up fresh veggies, or soup, and some low fat yogurt or milk.  By packing and eating a healthy lunch you not only get the health benefits of good nutrition, but it gives you lots of energy to get you through that next workout or meeting.

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There are some cool things going on around town the latter part of this week. To start with there are two concerts Thursday night that I feel are more than worth your time to check out. The first one is the Damien Rice concert at the Orpheum at 8pm. Tickets are still available for about $37 apiece, so yeah, they are a little pricey. Damien is one of the best singer-songwriters I've heard in a long time and the Orpheum is a beautiful venue for any music, much less the intimate sounds of this troubadour. Check out the Orpheum site for more information.

The other concert coming through town tomorrow night is a country rock band called Cross Canadian Ragweed. The show is at the Gibson Lounge at 8:00 (doors open at 7:00) and tickets are still available for $20. If you ever caught yourself singing along to a Shooter Jennings, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynrd, Bo Diddley, or Todd Snider song they you might be interested in checking this band out. Their website has some more info and free songs to check out, so head by there if it sounds like your cup of tea.



One more thing on the agenda for this week/weekend is the Memphis Italian Festival going on at Marquette Park out east. It's next to the Holy Rosary at Park and Mendenhall. I know this is a bit of drive out of midtown, but I've gone several times over the past few years and it's always a blast. I don't want to compare it to BBQ fest, because nothing compares to that, but it definitely has some of the same characteristics. This might be more of a neighborhood event, comparable to Cooper-Young Festival, but it keeps getting bigger every year, so check it out this year before it gets to big for it's current location.

GENERAL ADMISSION: $10 at gate, $8 in advance at Memphis area Little Caesars outlets.
Kids 12 and under FREE!

Gates Open 6 pm Thursday, 11 am Friday & Saturday
FREE ADMISSION Friday 11:00am-1:00pm. Come join us for lunch!

Marquette Park Corner of Mt. Moriah and Park Avenue (Grazie, Memphis City Parks!) Map

Bring a lawn chair, but no coolers, pets, bikes, skates, etc. All bags subject to random search.

Free Parking/FedEx Shuttle Audubon Woods Campus, Park&Perkins. Grazie, Trammel Crow!Continue Reading »

Could you imagine Jessica Alba as Tennessee’s first lady?

The idea of the actress who played the Invisible Woman in the “Fantastic Four” movies taking up residence in the governor’s mansion in Nashville may seem a bit far-fetched, because it is.

But hear me out: I firmly believe that former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s next run at political office will be in the 2010 gubernatorial election. And if he’s looking to appeal to “family values” voters, Ford may have to give up his bachelorhood.

So why might he do that with Alba? Well, just ask her.

According to an interview published in the June issue of In Style magazine, Alba thinks the former Memphis congressman is just dreamy.

“He is so cute, he’s adorable and he’s single,” the magazine quoted Alba as saying. “I went to one of his fundraisers.”

In the interview, Alba goes on to describe her dream man: “Confidence is key and I really like someone who’s evolving. I think that’s really important. Someone who’s open to change and knows that you can only be happy in life if you’re growing.”

Not even Ford’s harshest critics could say he lacks confidence. As for evolving, well, some of his critics during last year’s Senate campaign said his positions on the issues were anything but static.

I’m not saying Ford will win the governor’s race. Nor am I saying he and Alba will get romantically involved. But if those things do happen, remember that you read them here first.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I’ll be vacationing the next couple of days, so don’t expect any new blog postings before Monday. Take care, all.

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The unblinking eyes of Germantown’s red light cameras have caught one guy in town who really should have known better.

According to a story in today’s local news section, the cameras caught Germantown Municipal Court Judge Ray Clift slipping through a red light on a left turn at Germantown Road and Wolf River Boulevard.

Clift, whose duties include hearing traffic cases, paid the $50 fine without protest.

Good for him, I say. Although I wonder how tempted he was to try to use the “my-foot-was-stuck-on-the-accelerator-because-it-was-tangled-in-my-judicial-robes” excuse.

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I’m sorry I haven’t blogged lately. I’ve been on vacation and had some major changes. I had to put to sleep my dog Tipper. She was 14 and in a lot of pain.

My pet column tomorrow will explain more. This is a picture taken by animal photographer Peggy Foster of Tipper (left) with her mother Molly. Molly died a few years ago. Here is a story written in July 1993 about Molly being protective of her pups.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
Date Thursday, July 29, 1993
Headline ELUSIVE CANINE GUARDS PUPS FROM WORKERS

Source By Wayne Risher The Commercial Appeal
A mother dog, protective of her seven newborn puppies, held construction workers at bay for two days last week before Harbor Town workers removed the dogs from beneath a home.
The mixed-breed dog was later reunited with her puppies when Stephanie Wolf, an employee of The Commercial Appeal, agreed to care for the dogs until the puppies are ready for adoption.
Harbor Town resident Pat Murphy said the wily mother dog had lived on Mud Island for more than six months, evading capture by moving from house to house and living beneath construction dumpsters.
The dog lived on scraps left by construction workers and food set out by neighborhood residents, Murphy said. The dog, a stray, became pregnant after a neighbor’s dog got loose when the stray was in heat, she said.
The mother dog had her puppies July 17 in the crawl space beneath a house that is under construction on Harbor Bend.
“She went under the house and came out 10 pounds lighter, ” Murphy said.
Tony Babb, owner of the house, said construction was delayed for a day and a half after an electrician came to turn on power for his central air- conditioning system. “She kind of got after the electrician and wouldn’t let him get out of the truck, ” Babb said.
Babb said he tried to retrieve water hoses from beneath the house and the dog “chased me back into the house.”
Harbor Town workers set a trap for the mother, placing a cage outside the opening to the crawl space.
A maintenance supervisor, Nancy Wright, said the dog was lured into the cage with a piece of luncheon meat.
After the dog and puppies were removed July 21, Wolf volunteered to keep them.
She said she has a soft spot in her heart for stray animals and has kept several at her Midtown home until permanent homes could be found for them.
Murphy lamented that the dog had apparently been dumped at Mud Island by a former owner.
“She wasn’t a bad dog - someone just dumped her here. I knew when she had the puppies, it would be the end for her. She couldn’t be moving from house to house. She was vulnerable, ” Murphy said.

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OK, so maybe Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" didn't make the same kind of emotional connection as his magnificent first novel "The Kite Runner." After all, the "Suns" story was about the lives and friendship of two women in wartime Kabul, overlaid with the politics that have made that city and that part of the world nearly unbearable, compared to the autobiographical-sounding tale from the earlier novel. (Click here to read an excerpt and hear an interview with Khaled Hosseini, the author.)

But I can't stop thinking about Mariam and Laila ...

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