.:.adaeon.net

All over the news is the relatively recent Arizona law …

which proponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status. (nytimes.com)

A preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law was issued by Judge Susan Bolton of the Federal District Court just days before 1200 National Guard troops were sent to the border to assist, as a result of the federal government suing Arizona. The law has …

… renewed calls for an overhaul of federal immigration law and led to repeated rebukes of it from President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who maintained that immigration policy is under the purview of the federal government, not individual states. The Mexican government, joined by seven other Latin American nations, supported one of the lawsuits against the law; the attorneys general of several states backed Arizona. (nytimes.com)

This becomes interesting when considering a recently recirculating spam massage attempting to push home the irony …

The shoe is on the other foot and the Mexicans from the State of Sonora, Mexico doesn’t like it. Can you believe the nerve of these people? It’s almost funny. The State of Sonora is angry at the influx of Mexicans into Mexico. Nine state legislators from the Mexican State of Sonora traveled to Tucson to complain about Arizona’s new employer crackdown on illegals from Mexico …

Unfortunately, the actual delegation visit was in January 2008 and does not concern the new immigration law (SB1070) which was signed into effect on 23 April 2010. (snopes.com)

It was a nice try by those rabid few looking to get frothy about something.

Facebook is the all-pervasive force of the world today. It’s purpose is to find and add friends. While doing so today, I had my account blocked. Well, I enjoy Mafia Wars, and I added people that said they wanted to be added for Mafia Wars. Blocked. Not only is there extensive apparent security with the “captcha” codes … just BLOCKED. I will miss the mundane inanity of my previous 500+ “friends” but the stupidity of Facebook itself will never be missed. Account: DEACTIVATED.

(their message says i can reactive at any time if i am so desperate – i hope this is not so (the desperation i mean))

As I was born at 3:54 am in America, this would be the actual birthday dinner. We went to だんまや, a local Asakusa izakaya. Every thing was quite brilliant. Shrimp and tuna sashimi, salmon sushi, potato salad, a wonderful salty fish, surprisingly good shrimp/cheese rolls, skewered scallop, and a huge salted prawn. The shocking thing was a tofu pizza. It sounds horrible, but it really works! It’s deep fried tofu with tomato sauce and cheese and peppers. I also tried for the first time a kiwi sour … you grind up a kiwi and put it in the drink. Very nice indeed.

We went to Lawry’s The Prime Rib for my birthday and had … prime rib. Here they have cuts ranging from Tokyo to Lawry’s. We had the Tokyo cut (they vary only in size apparently), which is the smallest possible portion and it was HUGE! It was absolutely incredible … so unbelievably tender, but even the small bit was well impossible to finish. The “chef” cut’s and serves it all at your table.  Unfortunately they have an absolute fail on things other than prime rib. For 2000 extra you can add lobster (fried or steamed), but the steamed was pedestrian and the fried … well, whoever thought that up should be shot – it tasted to me like peculiarly bad plastic. We somehow got the only waitress with poor English and the Yorkshire pudding was dismal. They also seemed to be pushing an English – British – champagne. Just don’t! The birthday fetish at the end was a song and a pathetic piece of cake. To end up, yes, you should go to Lawry’s, but have the prime rib and don’t condemn yourself to any other offerings or else you’ll be angry at the quite extreme expense.

I was at the dentist this week and she mentioned that my teeth have become worse since coming to Japan. When asked why she thinks that might be, she said I probably need more fluoride:

(me): But don’t you put fluoride in your water here?

(dds): No. It’s not like the US and other countries.

(me): But, it’s in toothpaste and other dental stuff, right? <hesitant stupid question>

(dds): No. It’s not in any over the counter Japanese products. There may be some things which say fluoride, but it’s such a nominal trace amount to be useless – just for marketing maybe. You need to go to the dentist … You could go to an import shop and buy American products.

I was shocked. A first world country with bad teeth partially due to lack of this controlled substance. I suppose it might relate to the prevalent protectionism of this country. They recently changed the law to allow you to buy such dangerous drugs as aspirin at convenience stores (drug stores must be protected), but after months and months and months I have never seen it for sale. I can certainly buy a fresh white business shirt at the conveni so the soiled one from yesterday doesn’t reveal I’ve been out all night, but a Tylenol would be going too far! So, don’t even think of holding out for fluoride; Just visit your friendly dentist for a smile.