Wading In

Offering a grammar lesson guaranteed to make any English teacher cringe, President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: "Childrens do learn." Bush made his latest grammatical slip-up at a made-for-TV event where he urged Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, the centrepiece of his education policy, as he touted a new national report card on improved test scores. The event drew New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings plus teachers and about 20 fourth and fifth graders from P.S. 76.

Louisiana district attorney in the Jena 6 case, Reed Walters, said of the demonstrations in Jena last week: "I firmly believe that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened." "The Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly," he continued. Yep, I guess in his mind Jesus with his angelic German Shepherds and celestial fire hoses kept them Negroes in line. It certainly couldn't be that 30,000 people wanted to peaceably march and redress grievances like the Constitution says they have a right to do. It couldn't be that they possessed self-control and restraint and knew that violence would not help the cause. No, they couldn't possibly have any control over themselves.

Printed on: Thu, Sep 27, 2007 Garcia: A young but determined candidate The first time I read that 21-year-old lifelong Fairfield resident Matt Garcia was running for City Council, I thought either this guy is a wide-eyed optimist or a masochist. In fact, the first time I spoke with him, which was after a column I wrote on youth crime, I told him flatly that the young candidates don't win. We recently talked over ginormous roast beef sandwiches at Joe's Buffet downtown. He tore into the issue of youth crime. He explained that Fairfield has the highest percentage of Section 8 housing in the county and too often families moving here from the Bay Area have brought problems with them. Plus, they've moved to a city that's been giving lip service to a boys and girls club for years, has no bowling alley and no skating rink. Kids need things to do to keep busy. Garcia explained how he wanted to get colleges to come to the schools and promote education. A...

So the giant Jena, La rally ended with no rioting. No violence. But it also ended with an 18 year old and 16 year old being arrested for driving while intoxicated and driving with two nooses hanging from their truck. There were brass knuckles in the car and an unloaded rifle. The younger boy said his family is in the Ku Klux Klan. It's a shame these kids' folks raised them to be this way. Who would do this to their children? At some point the older idiots have got to start dying off and not raising new ones to replace them. Who thinks what this country needs is more division? Who believes that the answer to making America stronger and better is to have us all at each other's throats? You know what I'd like to see, though? I'd like to see marches like this done in the worst of the worst neighborhoods in the inner city protesting black on black crime, gang violence, drugs, irresponsible parents, inadequate police response, lack of urban infrastructure investment...I w...

Printed on: Thu, Sep 20, 2007 Let's turn the page on the book police By Kelvin Wade A woman from Lewiston, Maine, has seized two copies of a children's sex education book from her local library and refuses to return them, deeming the book "pornographic." She sent the libraries checks to pay for the books but will not return them lest a child see them. The book in question, Robie Harris' "It's Perfectly Normal," was written in 1994, updated in 2004 and is a frank explanation of sexuality for kids aged ten and up. Fairfield isn't exempt from this type of controversy. In 2000, a concerned mother objected to books like Isabel Allende's "House of the Spirits" and Mark Mathabane's "Kaffir Boy" being taught at Armijo. And five years ago, articles on teen homosexuality in the Fairfield High newspaper caused outraged parents to form a group to fight the "gay agenda." So I know that even mentionin...

It all started last August in the small town of Jena, Louisiana (Pop. 3,000 with 300 blacks) At the local high school, there was a large tree dubbed the "white tree" whish white students congregated under. At the end of August, a black student asked the principal in a joking manner if he could sit under the tree. The principal told him he could sit wherever he liked. The next day there were three nooses hanging from the tree. Three white students were found to have done this and the principal recommended they be expelled. The Board of Education overruled the principal and decided the boys should be suspended for three days since this was just a 'prank.' Now mind you , this is the kind of prank that can get you federally prosecuted, but, it was ruled a prank. There were several racial incidents the rest of the year. It was clear there was racial tension in the school was simmering. The police asked LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters to speak to the school d...

Printed on: Thu, Sep 13, 2007 Republican, Democrat brains are different By Kelvin Wade Did you hear about the recent New York University and UCLA study that found liberals and conservatives have brains that actually process information differently? Liberals tolerate ambiguity and change easier than conservatives, while conservative brains are more structured and consistent in their decision-making. This helps explain how President Bush could single-mindedly take the nation to war and ignore all the evidence of what a colossal screw up it's been. He's a victim of his neurons. His brain won't let him embrace new concepts and ideas. By the same token, it explains why Bill Clinton had those all night pizza-fueled policymaking sessions. The liberal personalities in the room weren't focused like conservatives would be. Plus Ol' Bill with his liberal brain was primed to experience new . . . uh . . . situations while in office. I've always thought this w...

Printed on: Thu, Sep 06, 2007 Ordinance right move for Fairfield By Kelvin Wade The Fairfield City Council got it right this week passing the Community Safety Ordinance. The new ordinance will allow the city to target rental properties with a pattern of lawbreaking and allow them to fine the owners $1,000. It's another tool in the city's toolbox to help clean up Fairfield. The measure allows owners to avoid paying the fine if they work with city officials to improve the problem at their properties. Eviction can be a long, nightmarish process. This really is about cleaning up the problems and not opening a new revenue stream for the city. Like the ordinance passed last year that requires party organizers to pay for the cost of police if their parties get out of hand, these laws help put the onus on homeowners to be responsible. The ordinance is not much different from what many residents already face as part of homeowner associations. Such associations have...