Roman Polanski is shopping a live action version starring Selena Gomez. He needs financing fast, she's almost eighteen.

In the wake of the Arizona immigration debate, some people have started raising a stink over Dora the Explorer, wondering if she is an illegal immigrant.  Take it away, CBS News:

Most question her immigration status, with many assuming she’s an illegal immigrant from Mexico. In one on Facebook, she’s sailing through the air over the U.S.-Mexico border.

University of Cincinnati sociology professor Erynn Masi de Casanova explains that Dora is a kind of blank screen onto which people can project their thoughts and feelings about Latinos. She says they feel like they can say negative things because she’s only a cartoon character.

*Sigh*

I’m going to tread lightly here, because I have zero interest in starting a PoFlaWa in the comments.  Shut up.  It’s a cartoon.  If I were the parent of a small child, I’d be much more concerned that this show is teaching children that it’s cool to pal around with monkeys with zero adult supervision.  Remember that lady who got her face torn off by one last year?  Those things are no joke.  Hell, that’s how I got my pseudonym.

If life was like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and we could interact with cartoons to investigate their potential crimes, then fine.  We could charge Pepe Lepew with sexual assault, Tom and Jerry for battery, and look into this brown-skinned toddler’s immigration status.*  But we can’t.  So to everyone involved in this debate, why don’t you relax, take a deep breath, and hold it until you pass out.

* If she was here illegally, then we could replace her on the show with a new, all-American figure .  In fact, I’ve got the perfect replacement – we’d barely even have to change the title:

"Diora the Explorer" would be a huge hit, albeit with a different demographic.