Overheard at Table 2: Cambio de Ruta (2014)

Cambio de Ruta

It was a really sweet movie.  Love the location.

The wife and I were completely stoked that we finally saw a movie where we knew where the location was.

 I mean, we had just spent a week at the Riviera Maya a few months ago.  And we knew the lighthouse, we knew Tulum, we knew that hotel, we knew most of those sites.

It was so beautiful.  Everything was great,

In the movie, also, I loved how they made the Spaniards the ones who wanted to destroy the natural beauty of the Yucatan.   Sort of like how they did it 500 years ago right?

Could've done without her sleeping with the guy on the first night.  I mean, I thought the character had integrity, but one drink at a stand-up comedy club and they're deep-dishin' it on the beach.  I mean, really?

Just then, my teenage son asks, "So next year can I go to the Riviera Maya?"

Overheard at Booth 3: Death Came a-Knockin’

“Most people still have this image of Death as being this big spectre with the skull head and the black robe, at least in kind of a metaphorical sense, anyways, they think Death is just gonna jump out from around the corner one day with a big ol’

“GOTCHA! . . . but me,

“I don’t think Death is like that at all.  I think Death is more like something that reminds of your third grade teacher, who calls you over to sit beside her on a park bench, and she says, ‘Hate to break this to you, sweetheart, but you’re gonna need to clear your calendar for, well . . . forever!’”

Overheard at Table 3: #Sanctuarycities driving people to think abt murder

"yesterday on the radio talk show - on that supposedly Christian AM channel but which's really a front for conservative talk - there was a caller talking about these so-called 'sanctuary cities' where they don't enforce the Federal immigration laws, and this guy suddenly launched into how he could understand if the dad of that woman who was killed in SanFran would be so pissed off that he would want to kill the councilman who voted to make it a sanctuary city!

"and yeah, even though the talk show host is, like, super-conservative, even he had to jump in and say, 'listen, sanctuary cities disgust me, too, but you can't be talking about supporting murder and vengeance like that' and he dropped the call and went on to a different topic,

"but here I am thinking, this is what we've come to.  This one talk show host might have dropped thiis call, but damn all this stuff going around does nothing but drive people insane, makes 'em mad enough to actually think about this kind of retribution.

"I gotta say that I'm really scared about where this all is leading to."

Overheard at Booth 1: Survivor, a 2015 Movie

Niall Carter: all I gotta say about this one is that this has got to be the umpteenth movie that I've seen where the "deadliest" assassin in the world, blows apart an apartment door with a bomb, and then comes in with a silencer on his gun.  I mean, seriously?  Why bother with the silencer when you've just blown open a door.  In an apartment building.  In MANHATTAN!

Now listen, I may not know any assassins personally (although I've got my suspicions about my pal Johnny over there) but I do know that they get paid for getting the job done without anyone knowing about it.   This trope in the movies just bugs me.

The only bright side about this flick was Milla Jovovich's eyes.  Man, those eyes kill me every time!

Overheard at Booth 3: Dreaming of You

Husband:  I had a dream about you last night.

Wife: Really?  What kind of dream.

Husband:  Erotic dream.  We were making love on the beach.

Wife: Was it me?

Husband:  Whaddaya mean?  Of course it was you.  Who else would it be?

Wife: Whenever I dream of you having sex you're always having sex with some other woman?

Husband:  Really?  Anyone in particular?

Wife:  Like I'd tell you!   No, you're just having sex with other women.

Husband:  Do you ever dream of me having sex with Salma Hayek?  Oh please!  Oh please!

Wife: See how you are?  See how you are!  I can't believe you - and here I am this morning having prayed for you to be a godly husband!

Husband:  Well, at least you know that I know how to spot an angel!

Overheard at Table 2: Choices

"This whole new parenting style 'choices' thing just goes all through me.  The other day, there was this lady at the grocery store, and her little toddler was going for some can, and I hear this mom say, 'is that the best choice?' in that phony 'mom' voice and I'm thinking to myself, 'how the hell does this kid know if it's the best 'choice' or not - I mean give the kid a break!  He's 2 frikkin' years old!  All he knows is 'PRETTY COLORS"'

"I think the focus is to raise the children to think independently."

"But a two year old CAN'T think independently.  Look, being able to make a choice requires 2 things: information and reasoning.  You have to have enough information to be able to know there is a distinction between courses of action, and you have to have reasoning to know what might be the results of the action.  Look, if you and I go out to buy a house, we look can make a choice only when we know the price, the school system, the tax base, the commute, the inspectors reports."

"The mom wasn't asking the kid to buy a house.  She was asking him not to touch a can on a shelf."

"Then she should say 'don't touch that!'  Simple!  But don't give this BS that he has a 'choice'!  Look, that kid doesn't know what that can is.  He doesn't know if walking into the street is going to get him flattened by a car or if a pot of boiling water is going to burn his hand.  He can NOT make choices!"

"So glad our children are almost grown.  We don't have to deal with that."

"Until we get grandkids.  I can see Samantha buying into this.  I kid you not, honey, if Sam gives me this 'choices' crap I'm disowning her . . . but she can still bring the grandkids around."

"I'll let her know.  Sure she'll be right on board.  But be ready for her to text you saying that you're not making a very good choice."

Overheard at Booth 2: Virtue and Vice

"In my class we're going over the works of Samuel Johnson, man there were a lot of quotes in those times about virtue and vice!  So I got to thinking, were they more virtuous then than we are today?"

"Aw hell no! They weren't no more virtuous or full of vice than we are today.  They just THOUGHT about it more.  With a lot more intensity, y'might say.  They knew when they were being virtuous or succumbing to their vices.  The only different of today is that we've gotten rid of this whole concept of shame, so we simply call virture and vice 'personal choices' so we don't have to think about them."

Overheard at Table 2: GOP Presidential Candidates

"There has GOT to be some sort of pool in Vegas about the GOP candidates.   There is absolutely no way that these guys could have all come out in force at one time.  I just wanna look at the GOP and say 'Really?   300 million people in this country, and this is the best you can give us?'"

Overheard at Table 4: Sheep! You're ALL SHEEP!!

"One of the greatest days of my life, it was 1993, September I think, I'd been working at this cube farm for about 6 months or so.  Total mess, all day long, collecting credit card debt.  Call after call.  Huge floor, had about 30 of these circular pods, about 5 of us to a pod.  No one ever really talking to each other all that much, just little hushed whispers in between call after call, and at the end of one call, mid-afternoon, I just stood up and yelled

"SHEEP!   YOU ARE ALL SHEEP!

"Then, I got my shit and started walking calmly toward the door before they could call security to escort me out."

Overheard at Booth Three: Grooming Your Husband

Wife: You do this all the time.

Husband: Do what all the time?

Wife: The same look.  Every time I tell you about something you need to do to better your health you look at me like I'm some screaming bitch.

Husband:  Bitch?  No.  Never.   ... you CAN get a bit screamy though.

Wife: I just think you need to take care of yourself better.  Using cleanser on your face will help take care of some of those wrinkles you're starting to get.

Husband: I thought you said you wanted me to look distinguished.

Wife: Distinguished, yes.  Old, no.  But every time I tell you to clean them, you give me that look.  That look like you can't stand hearing about it.

Husband: Maybe it's your timing.  You spring this stuff on me either a) in the morning, when we're rushing to get ready for work, or b) right before bed, when we're both flat-out exhausted.

Wife: Well, then do it right when you get home from work then.  Cleanse your face.

Husband: Listen, that's just one more thing to put into my daily routine.  One more thing.  I've already got a million things I have to do every day.  Why do I gotta do this one more thing?

Wife: Do you wipe your ass every time you take a dump?

Husband: I would hope you know the answer to that.

Wife: Do you think that wiping your ass is just "one more thing"?

Husband: No.

Wife: Then think of putting cleanser on your face when you get home every day as wiping the entire day's shit - the shit of dust and grease and pollution and sweat - off your face.   There.   Now it's not just "one more thing"

Husband: Damn you sure have a way of putting things into perspective.

Overheard at Table 2: No Birth Certs for Illegal Children

So in Austin they're denying birth certificates for children born to illegals, becuase basically down here in Texas if your Hispanic, you're essentially screwed.  Seems like the whites who still control the legislature have this complex about the War for Independence and are still mad about it.  

Basically, it's about power, about control.  They don't want a rising Hispanic population that has any sort of legitimate voting capacity, because that will eventually affect the power currently held by the white population.   Denying birth certificates to people born on US soil is a way to achieve that goal.

Now, their arguments will be 1) that they want to control fraud.   This is a logical fallacy, possibly an appeal to ignorance or evidence of absence.  I'd even say it's a red herring.   There is no evidence of fraud in obtaining birth certificates for children.

People obtain birth certificates for their children so that their children can get Medicaid and go school.  So, they will argue point 2) that they don't want the illegals taking "OUR" social safety nets.
Well, according the 14th Amendment, the children ARE citizens, and therefore cannot be denied these social safety nets.

So here comes 3) - REINTERPRET the 14th Amendment to make damn sure that those children of "illegals" don't ever have a home.   Because they certainly weren't born in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala or anywhere else.  They were born right here.   And if they were born right here, where the hell else are they going to call their birthplace.

What this boils down to is this: the white establishment in Texas fears the growing Hispanic population, and this denial of birth certificates is a reaction to that fear.  What makes them successful is that they can couch it in the language of preventing fraud, but in reality it's a bully tactic.  Because the undocumented community is unprotected.   And a bully always beats up on the weakest, most vulnerable, unprotected - of any society.