It’s not brushfires, monsoons, traffic or earthquakes,
That motivated me to write to you today.
It’s the blight of California’s Collateral Damage,
Providing the fodder for what I have to say.

Last night I watched the movie,
Collateral Damage is the name.
Starring California’s Governor,
Part of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s claim to fame.

Arnold plays a fireman,
Who loses his beloved son and wife.
Determined to eliminate the terrorist,
Who cost them both their life.

One man against all odds,
The typical Schwarzenegger plot.
The same one that elected him Governor,
If I’m not mistaken, is it not?

The terrorist in the movie,
Lives south of the border.
That’s where most of Arnold’s scenes are shot,
Wreaking havoc and disorder.

This fact struck me as ironic,
As Governor, it’s Mexico he chooses to ignore.
California’s largest trading partner,
He avoids Vincente Fox, like a character he’s scripted to abhore.

The bad guys in the movie,
Have plenty of money to support their every need.
It reminded me of our Governor’s fund raising prowess,
The unabashed results of narcissistic greed.

Captured by the Latin American revolutionaries,
Arnold realizes he’s lost his U.S. passport while on the run.
He utters an incredibly telling statement to his cellmate,
When asked why he’s imprisoned he says, “I’m an illegal alien.”

There’s a scene where Arnold’s desperate,
Escaping danger by holding onto the undercarriage of a truck.
You’d think an experience like this would produce empathy,
For immigrants whose lives are at risk, evading life’s muck.

Captured and incarcerated,
Locked up in a dark and dingy cell.
You’d think this would give Arnold a social conscience,
For those who attempt to flee a living hell.

Handcuffed and wrestling with his captors,
On a dirt floor, struggling desperately to be free.
I thought this should have given Arnold an appreciation,
For those who strive for freedom, a California reality.

“Help me stop him!” cried our acting Governor,
The damsel replied that, “It’s too late.”
Arnold pleaded with the woman and her son,
Promising his protection for their collective fate.

My heart swelled with admiration at this scene,
For just an instant it seemed to me, “Wow! Arnold’s groovy!”
Then reality had its way again,
“Oh No! This is just a movie!”

As the movie edged toward the climax,
Down an elevator shaft he flew.
I love the determined look on Arnold’s face,
When he’s en route to the rescue.

The ending? Well, I must admit,
At the irony I laughed.
The danger was in the little Latino boy’s toy dinosaur,
In Arnold’s California, the children of illegal immigrants still get the shaft.

The Latino villain didn’t see the danger,
As Arnold unleashed the fumes of natural gas.
Of course Arnold survived the explosion,
Dodging the tough stuff, like he always has.

A movie career dedicated to fighting evil,
Never once did Arnold duck or yield.
Why can’t a man with all this courage and experience,
Eliminate the injustice of immigration’s less than level playing field.

To his critics he’s just another flavor of outspoken political sausage;
Nice wrapper, foreign ingredients, baloney and pimento.
Priced right for the impulse buyer,
What have we all bought into as our Governor in Sacramento?

“Unavailable for comment,”
Are the last words spoken in the movie’s final scene.
Indicative of the compassion of California’s Governor,
Who’s perceived by ordinary Californians as “distant and kind of mean.”

The final blow in the movie,
An axe through the Latino villain’s heart.
Perhaps the collateral damage can begin to be repaired,
By a Governor who can bring this state together, rather than blow us all further apart.

The only line in the movie,
Arnold spoke in espanol,
Was a brief “muchos gracias.”
Sound bites and one-liners won’t make us whole.