Wading In

I feel that I've talked about and written about the accident so much in the past week that there's nothing left to say. Now it's a matter of getting better. The road rash injuries are healing faster than I expected them to. They are less painful day by day. The stitches and bruising on my right leg are more problematic, increasing in pain and raising the specter of infection, my biggest nemesis. I'm on a course of antibiotics to try to stave off a battle that could send me to the hospital. Both kids are doing fine. They were not hurt in the accident. I think Lauryn and I are both somewhat shell shocked by the experience. The first time I drove since the accident, Lauryn was with me and I could tell she was uneasy. As was I. There's a psychological component after a car accident. Most people aren't at the scene of their accident every day like I am. It's hard not to obsess over it. I wrack my brain thinking about the incident and how it could've been prev...

Printed on: Thu, May 31, 2007 Missing a chance at infamy By Kelvin Wade I've often told friends that I never wanted to be the victim of a "freak accident." No one wants their demise to be fodder for the Darwin Awards. But like O rings in the Challenger disaster, little things can often add up to big problems. What happened to me last Friday, with apologies to Lemony Snicket, was a series of unfortunate events. I'd had some minor setbacks during the day that put me in a grumpy mood. I was distracted, preoccupied. Being a distracted driver doesn't require a cell phone, CD or foodstuffs. One's thoughts are enough. I was in my minivan on my driveway with the engine running, ready to take Lauryn, 10, and Kawika, 2, out for dinner. Lauryn was having difficulty fastening Kawika's car seat. Though the clasp is a bit snug, Lauryn is usually able to do it. However, earlier in the day, she'd injured the fingers on her right hand and she coul...

This week's column focuses on a traffic accident by a California State Senator. Developments happened in the story after I'd submitted my column for publication. After you read the column below, I've followed it with an article from the San Francisco Chronicle. After that, are a few more comments from yours truly. Enjoy.

Printed on: Thu, May 24, 2007 Senator's story is suspicious By Kelvin Wade There's something fishy going on. Last Friday, state Sen. Carole Migden crashed her state issued 2007 Toyota Highlander SUV into a Honda at the intersection of Highway 12 and Beck Avenue here in town. The impact crushed the back of the Honda by three feet and sent the driver and a baby to the emergency room. Migden claimed she was reaching for a ringing cell phone when the accident happened. The juicy part of the story is that Migden championed the bill that banned cell phone use while driving in California without using a hands-free headset. The law doesn't go into effect until July 1, 2008. Of course, we always love it when someone is hoisted on one's own petard. But the really interesting part is the half dozen motorists who called 911 to complain about the senator's erratic driving between Berkeley and Fairfield. Anyone who drives I-80 sees erratic driving. For it to...

Migden says she's battling leukemia She suspects medication is a factor in accidents / Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Thursday, May 24, 2007 State Sen. Carole Migden revealed for the first time Wednesday that she has been battling leukemia for nearly 10 years and said the medication she takes could have been a factor in her erratic freeway driving last week that the California Highway Patrol is investigating. Migden was involved in as many as three accidents on Friday, twice hitting the center divider on Interstate 80 and then rear-ending a car that was slowing to make a stop near Fairfield, according to the CHP. The driver of the car Migden collided with suffered minor injuries. In an interview with The Chronicle, Migden said she remembers being distracted while using her cell phone immediately before the rear-end collision, but she said she does not remember hitting the freew...

Hey man, how was I supposed to know the woman had leukemia? When I first read this on Wednesday evening after I'd submitted my column, I felt sick. I never want to see a story that I've written on have additional developments after I've submitted a column. So this was nauseating. But after reviewing it, it's not as bad as I thought it was. I had a deadline and had to go with the facts I had at the time. Looking over my column, I'm kind of proud of the way I left open the idea that there could've been a medical problem. But the point of my column was that there were things about the story that just didn't add up. And I wanted to just point out those inconsistencies and say, "Hmmm...what's going on here?" I have no idea if her leukemia was at fault or some medication or whatever. All I know is that the facts as I knew them seemed suspicious to me. And even if you do have some neurological condition that impairs your performance, have it checked ...

I was going to write a column on Jerry Falwell's death. Actually, I did write that column but at the last minute decided to go with a column on Iraq. My girlfriend thinks I shouldn't speak ill of the dead. My mother would say if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, say nothing at all. I'll have to disappoint both of them. Falwell leaves a legacy that is a sad one. As the father of the Religious Right, he helped tear down the hedge between religion and state. His organization begat many others who spread a message of intolerance of homosexuals and a denial of science. I can understand a church teaching that homosexual acts are immoral. After all churches teach that many things in society are immoral. And no one is compelled to like anyone in our country. In my church, smoking, drinking, masturbating, and dancing were /are considered immoral. But what these organizations do is go a step further. They use bogus studies to support absurd conclusions about homo...

The website TMZ.com posted a picture of Teletubby Tinky Winky waving bye-bye under the words “Jerry Falwell 1933-2007.” Falwell once accused the children’s character of being a gay role model. Maybe it was in poor taste but Falwell was no stranger to poor taste. Jerry Falwell actually played a role in my leaving the church I was raised in. I was angry to find political Moral Majority literature in my church foyer prior to the 1984 election profiling candidates. I felt it had no business in church. It was really the proverbial straw for me. Falwell took a weed whacker to the hedge between church and state with often ugly consequences. While Falwell will be remembered as the father of the Religious Right and successfully fusing God with the G.O.P., for many he was what Sen. John McCain said he was an “agent of intolerance.” This man hawked a videotape in the 1990’s called “The Clinton Chronicles” that accused the President of drug smuggling and murder. He later ad...

It's been a long time since I've written about Iraq and just felt the stars had aligned for me to do that. I don't write about it to bash George Bush. But I do take issue with where we are in this whole mess. In the last month and a half, 150 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. That's 150 U.S. families in mourning. Right now we have missing soldiers. We have soldiers being maimed. Of course, its expected. It's war. And it would be the price we pay if we were achieving something. I don't see what we're achieving. I watched Sen. John McCain on "Meet the Press" say that he would go back to Baghdad and walk the same market he walked earlier this year but without military protection. Oh really? I double dog dare you, McCain. Sen. Lindsay Graham said he would walk through downtown Ramadi. What are they waiting for? Get your asses on a plane. Show us this amazing feat. The Democrats better get ready because there's about to be two open seats in the ...

Ignoring everyone on Iraq By Kelvin Wade Last week, 11 Republicans met privately with the president and tried to talk some sense into him about Iraq. They even went so far as to tell him that news about Iraq should come from Gen. Petraeus, the general in charge, because Bush no longer had credibility on the issue. Somehow, I don't think Republican words will have much effect on this president. It will take action. The Republicans lost Congress last year over Iraq. The American public wanted to see a course correction. We're tired of seeing how many different ways our troops can be killed or maimed while babysitting a civil war. Bush's answer? Increase the number of targets . . .er . . . troops in Iraq, despite the fact that the majority of Americans opposed it. On the anniversary of Bush's Mission Accomplished stunt on the USS Lincoln, the Congress sent him a military spending bill with a timetable to withdraw American troops. Bush vetoed it. Never mind that, a...

I recently went to see my daughter and granddaughter perform hula and Tahitian dancing for a group of senior citizens. Okay, so they're not really my daughter and granddaughter but let's not nitpick, okay? You know the deal. Sheryl had told me they were expecting three hundred people but I thought she was way off the mark. Boy, was I wrong. When I arrived at the location, you'd need a shoehorn to fit in more cars. What? Are the elderly hard up for entertainment? The old Lawrence Welk and "I Love Lucy" reruns just aren't cutting it anymore? While I sat in my car in the parking, I saw a flash of red to my left. A car swung into view in front of me coming to a rollicking halt, inches from my front bumper. I suppresed the urge to scream. The woman had parked at such a severe angle that I thought for sure she would be straightening the car out. Nope. She climbed out of the vehicle and raced into the Community Center. (Did I say raced? She went as f...

Somewhere along the way, we went off the rails. I believe in self-esteem as much as the next person. I think people should think positively. I think kids should believe they're capable of giving a tremendous effort. I think kids should believe they're capable of doing great things. With that said, we can't protect them from adversity. We can't give every team a trophy in a tournament. Everyone playing a game shouldn't get a blue ribbon. There are winners and losers. There's a lot of lesson to be learned in losing. It's how winners are made. Somehow we decided as a society that we don't want kids to feel any pain. It's noble. It's nice. But it's not helpful in the long run because as adults we know that A) life is not fair and B) life can be painful. It's better that those lessons are learned growing up so we don't have a generation of adults with unrealistic expectations. No, everyone can't be the next American Idol. Only a frac...

Printed on: Thu, May 10, 2007 Children can't win all the time By Kelvin Wade Even a stopped watch is right twice a day and some things are true even if conservatives say them. Just how did we end up in this marshmallow, namby-pamby world where we're afraid to crown winners, celebrate mediocrity and scorn causing children the least bit of discomfort? I'd like to think adversity forges character or in any case, reveals it. How does giving everyone a trophy help children? I recently attended my 10-year-old granddaughter's school science fair. She'd done a fantastic exhibit on fingerprint collection. I was proud to see the big fat blue first-place ribbon on her exhibit. That is, until I looked around and saw many blue first-place ribbons dangling off of exhibits. Now, in all fairness, not everyone received a blue ribbon. Some received red second-place ribbons. And some even received gold honorable mention ribbons. My eye was caught by a truly ho...

My column this week is about talking to the police. Many, especially in urban areas, no longer talk to the police when they witness a crime. A shooting can go down and no one sees or hears anything. It's not a new phenomenon but it has grown more prevalent as a new generation is introduced to omerta via hip hop. No one wants to be a snitch. It's an ugly word. But perspective is necessary. There's a difference between gossiping and telling police what you know about a crime. Society as we know it would fall apart if we didn't honor this compact that we will tell what we know if we witness a crime. Why give a safe haven to criminals? In 2004, Cathi and I observed a man across the street suspiciously standing near an apartment window, looking around. He started prying off the screen. Then he climbed in the window. I told Cathi to call 911, which she did. The cops arrived in record time. And they were smart about it. They parked their cars on another street and came walking...

Printed on: Thu, May 03, 2007 Don't close your eyes to crime By Kelvin Wade It was reported that over the weekend, a 19-year-old Fairfield man was stabbed while trying to break up a fight at a raucous party. You know, one of those parties that neighbors just love where drunken guests spill out onto the street like ants from an anthill. The part that shouldn't have surprised me was the end of the Daily Republic's article on the incident: "The victim didn't give police a description of the suspect." Perhaps there was too much commotion that night at the hospital for the victim to give a description. Of course, there were 30 to 40 people in the street at the time of the incident. Surely they saw something. They probably even gave the police the name of the suspect. Anyone? "60 Minutes" recently highlighted a disturbing trend in inner-city crime and that's the fact that so few people talk to the police. We've seen it here. B...

The crowds of illegals were smaller this year than last. I don't know what to make of that fact. But still, across the country, thousands of illegal immigrants and their supporters rallied in city squares. They marched. They learned from the criticism of last year's marches to carry American flags in lieu of, or with the flags of their country of origin. I acknowledge that most of the people who come here are looking for a better life and are hardworking. It's a fact that illegals burden hospital ERs. It's a Snopes-verified fact that 70% of births at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas for the first quarter of last year were to illegal aliens. There's some debate as to whether illegal immigrants depress wages. I would think that it's just common sense that if I, as an employer, have a cheap labor pool to draw from, I have no incentive raise wages. The people who rallied on Tuesday were calling for everything but the kitchen sink. They want amnesty for ev...