I couldn’t help myself. I laughed my behind off when I saw the front page story in Wednesday’s AJ about the couple who wrote a song to counter the Dixie Chicks new song, “Lubbock or Leave It”. It’s called, ok are you ready for this: “Trouble in the Henhouse”. Pretty clever from a guy who graduated from Monterey High School don’t you think? Wonder how long it took him and his wife to come up with that jewel.

Almost as good as that all time favorite, “My Achy Breaky Heart”!

Who are these people??

The line that really got me going is the one that says something to the effect that this, I assume they’re talking about Lubbock, or pardon me, “The Giant side…” is as close to “…paradise as you will ever be”.

Paradise? Have these people never visited any place other than Lubbock? Oh wait. The writer, Billy Briggs and his wife loved their “Lubbock Paradise” so much that they decided to move to their present paradisiacal city; Dallas.

Kind of reminds me of Mac Davis’s tribute to this city which proudly proclaimed that “happiness is Lubbock, Texas in my rearview mirror”. Ok, he does end by saying that he wants to be buried here when he dies. But what good is that; he’s dead!

Perhaps what both writers are trying to say is that this is paradise when you don’t have to live here or when you’re buried here?

Oh but I’m willing to bet that the people who have been writing those anti-Chick letters which have appeared in the local paper, are ecstatic; they probably think that Briggs should have a statue built in his honor right here in a city he wasn’t even born in!!

My advice to Mr. Briggs, “don’t quit your day job”.



Well, now that I have stopped laughing and regained my composure, let me continue…

Speaking about letters, seriously, have you seen some of what has been coming in to the local paper for public consumption? Makes you wonder, just who are these people?

In a lot of ways, the letters confirm what the Chicks have written about this city. Their song is talking about the critical wrath a person incurs if one dares to be critical about Lubbock or say something which they don’t agree with; or heaven forbid look different and speak a second language. In short, the letters are filled with hypocritical

superiority.

And the ones that define how some people really feel about the Hispanic community in this city are the most hateful and a true reflection of the intolerance in this city. For example, a letter writer recently made reference to Hitler using illegal immigrants to further his ambitions, and asks how long we think it will be before Mexico does the same thing. The writer finishes his attack on “illegals” by saying he doesn’t mind “legals” coming here to work; as if that’s all people coming into this country are good for.

Unbelievable!

But also sad. Sad, but also true that this intolerance is imbedded in the pea sized brains of the very people who profess to be Christian and claim to be proud of their “steeple lined’ city.



¡Español no Se Habla Aquí!

Pretty soon, we’ll all have to change our names, at least those of us that have Spanish surnames, to names that, well, do not sound like Spanish. I know it sounds ridiculous; but not any more ridiculous than some of the stuff some people have been trying to pull lately.

Here are 3 examples:

• Last week the Republican mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania Lou Barletta, (guess where his ancestors came from; wonder if they came here legally; or is that where the term, WOP, “without papers” came from) introduced, and the City Council tentatively approved, a measure that would revoke the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants; impose $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants; and make English the city’s official language.

• A city zoning board in Wilkes-Barre Pa. has put off opening a store called “La Esperanza”, a store which would carry Mexican products; because they are afraid the store would be a gathering ground and hang out place for “kids and Mexican gangs”

• A place in Philadelphia called Geno’s Cheese Steaks put up a sign that says that a person must order in English



Once again, who are these people?

That my friends, is what you get when Republican politicians like Sensenbrenner, and Tancredo, Senator John Kyl from Arizona, and our own Randy Neugebauer from “the giant side of paradise” pass legislation like HR4437 and then proceed to run around like chicken little’s claiming that we are being invaded by “illegal aliens”: All in the name of patriotism and homeland security, and the global war on terror, and on and on and on.

Sooner or later, those people

who are like ticking time bombs, just waiting to explode, will jump on the anti-immigrant bandwagon and pretty soon, what we wind up is legislation that tells those of us who are smart enough to know and speak a second language that we can no longer speak it.

Well translate this: Gente Pendeja! Son una bola de idiotas!





A Truer Quote was Never Spoken

Congressman Jack Murtha from Pennsylvania, a decorated former Marine who served in Viet Nam, commenting on criticism he had heard from Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to President Bush, on the Iraq war

“He’s (Karl Rove) sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside-saying stay the course. That’s not a plan!”



And finally, my good friend Doc tells me that if the local AJ gets any smaller, his newspaper carrier will be able to provide “real home delivery”. He can just stick it right through the key hole…



Email: acruztsc@aol.com