Here's an Arizona Republic column on illegal immigration I wrote after a trip down to Douglas ... back in March 2000. It's still current if you change some names ... and that's damn sad. BORDER TOWN HAS BECOME BATTLEGROUND Mar 1, 2000. Copyright 2000 - Arizona Republic - All Rights Reserved DOUGLAS - The United States ends right ...
More »Pouring Gasoline on the Immigration Inferno
It’s not every day in Arizona a candidate for political office proposes something so stupid, it makes national headlines. Actually, it’s like twice a day. Still … even by Arizona standards the latest brainstorm on the street … a campaign bombshell from Barry Wong, a candidate for Corporation Commission … seems pretty desperate. [caption id="attachment_192" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Barry ...
More »The time and the tragedies slip away
Sometimes I wonder where the years go … and where the feelings that were so intense yesterday disappear to when they vanish? [caption id="attachment_187" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Alfred P. Murrah building: Can't believe it's been 15 years"][/caption] It’s a question that always comes up for me this time of year, on the 20th day of April, the ...
More »Dan Rather and the Art of Sorry
You know what we don’t do well in America any more? Apologize. Take Dan Rather, for example. Have you seen this bit of stupidity from Chris Matthews show? It's the whole "watermelon" fiasco in 30 seconds: Dan Rather, Fool. That’s dumb – and really offensive. But so is Rather’s written apology afterward. He blamed his childhood in ...
More »Zero tolerance makes zero sense
You know what I have a zero tolerance policy for? Zero tolerance policies. The reason I bring it up, of course, is the story of 11-year-old Zane Champion. Stop me if you’ve heard a tale like Zane’s before: Young kid, a good student, quiet, well-mannered, brings some relatively harmless object to school and ends up facing ...
More »Weigh in on Kevin Smith
If there’s a story genre I hate, it’s the he said, she said tale. There’s no better example of why than the Internet war between movie director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. [caption id="attachment_173" align="alignright" width="197" caption="The hero of the tale: Not So Silent Bob?"][/caption] On Saturday, Smith … who’s happy to tell you he’s really fat ...
More »Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell … Don’t Make Sense
While I wasn’t a big fan overall, some of the stuff in President Obama’s State of the Union address last week made sense to me. And one proposal even got me off my feet. The president’s decision to call on Congress to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gay soldiers. I think after 17 ...
More »The State of the Union? Bored.
Watched the President’s State of the Union speech last night. I got what I expected. The usual laundry list of new programs, tough talk and patriotic speechifying. I’d give it B-minus … mostly for President Obama’s skill as a speaker. [caption id="attachment_163" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Glad to be here? You must be a Dem."][/caption] You know what killed me ...
More »On Government, Taxes and Pain
Say I begin today by telling you a personal fictional story. Imagine: Hey, guess what? I have like $100,000 in credit card debt. I’m teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. [caption id="attachment_158" align="alignright" width="250" caption="I'm all out of dough. But I keep spending!"][/caption] No big deal, though. I’m still living off credit and spending much more than I ...
More »Harry Reid A Racist? No. A Moron? Sure.
[caption id="attachment_152" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Nevada Senator is under fire"][/caption] We live in amazing times. Nevada Senator Harry Reid shoves an awful health care bill down our throats. Great. But he makes a remark about the skin color of the President and he’s a villain? Ridiculous, as is the whole “Harry Reid’s a racist” controversy. You’ve heard what ...
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