There is a debate going on in Congress now that will affect Americans in so many ways. It seems nearly impossible for me to read about the immigration dilemma without being swayed one way and then the other.

This much I do know. It is a human problem that needs solving. Hopefully decisions will be made that will not break hearts and tear families apart. I hope our legislators will consider this carefully as they look for a compromise bill that will benefit us all.

As a Californian, I am concerned about our small farmers, farm workers, and our agriculture industry as a whole. I am also concerned about our tourism industry and other areas that are now the source of a living income for immigrants, legal and non-legal.

As a citizen of the United States my heart goes out to the 12 million people illegally in our country and especially to the many children. How terrible it must be to chase a dream of a better life and have that dream always out of reach - just fingertips away. How awful to live in fear of the Immigration and Naturalization Service , the police, and even the neighbor who might just turn you in.

As a teacher, I know the need to educate all children and yet I also know the drain this has put on our school system. When sometime in the 90’s our state legislators talked about keeping non-citizen children out of California schools by requiring school districts to ask for proof of legal status of all students attending , I promised myself that I would never turn a child away from my classroom door. I would quit teaching first. This wasn’t just talk. I would have done exactly that. . . ended my career before denying any child an education. Thank goodness, this bill was never passed.

Yes, our ER rooms are full of people using them for routine medical procedures. Our taxes are rising and our health insurance diminishing. Certainly these are huge problems, but realistically we can’t blame all of this on illegals. There must be a way to solve these problems in a humane and understanding way.

I believe border security is of top priority, but pales in importance to safety of those crossing the borders. I understand the death figure for people illegally crossing our desert borders over the past ten years, is close to 3,000. This is terrible. It is not right and it certainly has to stop. I am not sure that fence-building is the answer.

My thinking leans toward that of California Senator Diane Feinstein who recently stated,
“So the question before us — and I think it’s a very practical question — is, are America and Americans better served if people come out of furtive living and are able to act responsibly and have a consequential path to become legal?”
We have an opportunity to chart a new destiny for a lot of people. We have an opportunity to do something which has a chance to work, which is real, which meets the needs of real people out there, and which can stop the illegal infusion through our borders in the future if we act wisely, well and effectively.”

In the United States, we may not always agree. We may not always be correct, but isn’t it wonderful to be able to think out loud, listen, and voice our opinions?

Phillip Roth’s book The Plot against America is my local book club’s selection for this month. I remember thinking as they passed the books out at our last meeting, “Well this will be an interesting read.” I was right. It rekindled a childhood interest in Charles A. Lindbergh and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Charles Lindbergh because young Charles, a high school senior from a neighboring town in Minnesota, came to Sauk Centre for a dance. My mother at the time was a high school freshman and at one point in the evening he asked her to dance. This of course led to my mother’s complete fascination with his successful career. In fact, I have the radio that she bought as a young woman, specifically for the purpose of listening to the historical flight of the Spirit of St. Louis. As children, my brother and I toured Lindbergh’s boyhood home and listened to the horrific story of his son’s kidnapping and murder. My dad would often tell the story of how he and my mother were stopped and questioned as they left a restaurant with my blonde, curly headed brother who was a toddler at the time. The police wanted to make sure he was not the Lindbergh baby.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt because in my family, he was the liberator , the protector of the working man, and I believe if my father could have arranged canonization, he would have put Roosevelt’s name right up there next to St. Michael and St. Patrick on the favorite Catholic Saints list. Roosevelt was President at the time I was born and remained in office until his death when I was a nine year old. I thought he would be President forever in the same way a king rules forever.

So with this in mind, I was intrigued with the idea of a novel in which Roosevelt is defeated in an election and Lindbergh becomes President. As I started to read I became aware of a great gap in my knowledge. I did not know of Lindbergh’s political views on isolation and anti-Jewish sentiment. After a quick search on the web for more enlightenment and a discomforting affirmation of these facts, I settled down to read more of the book.

As a child during the Second World War, I could identify with many of the situations of the times. The fear of becoming involved in a war, the not always blatant, but always present prejudices, and since Phillip Roth is such a good writer, I found myself frequently forgetting I was reading fiction and saying to myself, “When did that happen?’ and then pulling back and reminding myself that I was reading a novel.

The Newark Jewish family he insightfully portrays lives, as do all the other American Citizens who happen to be Jews, in justifiable fear during the alarming years of the Lindbergh Presidency. This fear increases as Lindbergh reaches an amicable understanding with Adolf Hitler and publically blames the Jews for pushing America toward involvement in a futile war with Nazi Germany.

Roth weaves the story well and his characters are most believable. He made me see the effects of propaganda, paranoia, and devastating despair in this skillful portrayal of a family caught -up in the political tides of history rewritten. I like a book that makes me think and Plot against America did just that.

I am back posting and hoping the cold and flu season are officially over with the new signs of spring. Bob and I returned from our Palm Desert RV Rally with colds. Our conversations of the past few days have been zombie like inquiries such as “Are the orange ones Daquil and the green ones Nyquil?”

The good news is we are both on the road to recovery. The bad news is that any creative muse that might have been hanging around has fled for a healthier environment. I am completely at a blank for blog writing, so be patient, it will come.

Today, I will go get my hair done, shop for Easter gifts, and stock up on a few groceries for the coming week. I might even take the dogs out for a little walk in the desert.

Thanks for all your good wishes and comments while I was on the couch watching “Golden Girl” reruns and feeling sorry for myself. Just an aside, I suddenly realized the actors in these reruns don’t get older. . . just me watching them. Suddenly, I am identifying more with the old one from Shady Palms Home than the others. Hope that is just an effect of the pills and the cold.

What a wonderful web of learning the blog weaves for me. Just yesterday, Lucy mentioned in her comment that it wasn’t birds that Canary Island was known for but dogs. This led me to google the following information about Presa Canario Canary Dogs which was totally new and humbling knowledge for a woman who watches all the AKC Dog Shows and prides herself on knowing the breeds. Since the islands are off the coast of Spain, I immediately thought of Mar and the beautiful photos she has been posting that give me a terrible tourist itch and desire to travel beyond the USA, once again.

Then over at Chancy’s blog, she wrote about the 12th anniversary of the founding of Wordsmith.org. So of course, I immediately went to the site and signed up to receive a new word each day.

This morning I received my first word new word and one that I did not have in my
vocablulary, “dodecagon”. A dodecagon is a polygon having 12 sides. The word was then used in a sentence. The Australian 50-cent coin is a regular dodecagon. Wow, this immediately brought to mind, my friends Peter and Merle and I went to look up the twelve sided coin.

Then this little gem caught my eye and there was my word of the day!
“And probably they will build a new Court 1 here at Wimbledon, a huge
thing that will appear to be a second Centre Court, complete with the
dark green, Elizabethan-theater look of the present Centre Court, with
its dodecagon roof, built in 1922.”
John Jeansonne Wimbledon: It’s Back To The Future; Newsday (New York);
Jun 28, 1993.

Being a non-sport person, I knew nothing about Wimbledon so I was off on another google quest to find the dodecagon roofs at Wimbledon. I think I found the main one in this aerial shot, but I’m not certain that I can count 12 sides. So maybe my friend, Big John over in Merry England will enlighten me.

Then as I was still perusing, I came across a URL for the movie, Wimbledon. I didn’t even know there was a movie! Where was I in 2004 when it came out? Probably at the computer writing posts. Sigh!

All of this and I am still on my second cup of morning coffee. What an amazing world has opened with the computer, the internet, and best of all BLOGGING!

In an attempt to thwart the spread of the bird flu, President Bush has bombed the Canary Islands.

Thanks to Bob’s daughter Dee for this item.