Wading In

The assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is sad but not surprising. I know some speculate that Musharraf was behind it but one has to remember that radical Islamists have tried to kill Musharraf 9 times. Now, I don't doubt that Musharraf is probably pleased at this news but I doubt he had a direct hand in it. It's more likely the military intelligence had a hand in it. Perhaps had a hand in providing shoddy security. We're in bed with smarmy dictators. We always have been. Aligning ourselves with the Saudi royal family and the unpopular Mubarak in Egypt as well as Musharraf in Pakistan have ticked off a lot of people. Of course, our lockstep with Israel has won us no favors in the Middle East. A lot of the terrible people we're in bed with are just less terrible than the alternatives. I've always thought we should draw a line in red paint around the globe and tell the Islamo-Fascists that you guys stay on THAT side of the line and live in ...

What a horrific Christmas story. A tiger escapes from its confines and kills a 17 year old boy and injures his two friends at the San Francisco Zoo before police shoot the big cat to death. Now there is a report that the three friends may have been taunting the tiger since blood and a shoe was found between the fence and moat. This has led some people to have sympathy for the Tiger. Others don't think animals should be in zoos anyway. Hey spoilsports, where are we supposed to see tigers then? Monty Cox, a tiger trainer and animal wrangler, discounts the taunting theory because Tigers in a zoo or taunted every day. He says the distance was too far anyway for a cat to go after someone for teasing it. But I think this is a silly road to go down. Animal lovers will say, "See, those boys got what they deserved for taunting that animal." But who's to say what's taunting to a tiger? Eating a damn hot dog might taunt a hungry tiger. Fumbling with a camera taking its pictu...

Gag gifts and all, the holidays are fun By Kelvin Wade | | December 26, 2007 16:14 I love the holiday season as much as the next guy, but I'm glad Christmas is over. There's only so much holiday cheer one can take. It can be hectic and exhausting. I'll give you some examples. My girlfriend's grandson Kawika got a Hasbro Power Tour rock guitar for Christmas. It allows a kid to play loud rock guitar with no previous musical experience. It was hysterical to see this almost 3-year-old metamorphize into a rock god before our eyes. You had to be there to see the Eddie Van Halen-like fretwork, the Jimmy Page poses, the Chuck Berry-like struts and the clichŽd rock grimaces from Vika that had us in stitches. Of course, after his third encore, I was tempted to show him an old Who video so maybe he'd emulate Pete Townsend and smash his noise-making guitar on the coffee table. Another example, one of the gag gifts I received was a 14-inch long barbecue lighter ...

Pinch penny papa wasn't a Scrooge By Kelvin Wade | | December 19, 2007 20:51 Now I'm not a Scrooge, but as I get older, I see myself becoming a lot more like my late dad during the holiday season. It's not just me. I can see it in my brothers, too. For one, these brothers of mine hold onto a dollar so tight around Christmas, George Washington is screaming like a girl from the grip. I got an e-mail from my brother Orvis asking if we could just exchange ornaments of no more than $10 this year. Really? Why not doilies, balloon animals or recipes? I suspect his wife, Patty, sent this e-mail. While the cheapness sounds like Orvis, ornaments really don't. Cheapness was a hallmark of our dad and my brothers have followed suit. Forget Black Friday, the mall and incredible deals. My brothers usually finish their Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. By then they've scoured every yard sale, flea market and dollar store they can find selecting gifts that reflect just how li...

Not voting makes a difference | | December 12, 2007 15:15 By Kelvin Wade This week Vallejo swore in its second mayor in a week's time, Osby Davis. His opponent, Gary Cloutier, had been certified the winner by four votes just days earlier. A manual recount found Davis winning by two votes. Cloutier filed for an emergency injunction against the county's certification of Davis' victory and his swearing in but it was refused by a judge. So now Cloutier, who alleges fraud during the recount, is going to court to seek relief. Come on. Vallejo's been a city for 140 years and can't hold a mayoral election? Why is voting and counting votes so difficult? We elect members of student government in schools. We elect people in clubs and social organizations. We elect union representatives. Why is it so difficult to run a municipal, state or federal election? Perhaps it's because most of us don't care. Solano County saw a 36 percent voter turnout this pas...

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Out of political correctness, politeness and/or tact, we generally try to prevent small children from pointing out in a loud voice how fat someone is in a checkout line in a store or that someone is in a wheelchair or disabled in some way. If a man has one arm, most parents try to dissuade young Timmy from pointing out the obvious. But I think it’s time for the masters of the obvious to speak out about something going on in our world. This week a British teacher was pardoned and released from a Sudanese jail after being sentenced to fifteen days for allowing a teddy bear to be named Mohammad. She could’ve been sentenced to 40 lashes. Some extremists called for her to be put to death for blasphemy. This follows the fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for author Salman Rushdie to be killed after publishing the novel, “The Satanic Verses” in the 80’s. It comes after the murder of Danish director Theo Van Gogh who directed a film about violence against...

Fairfield's ready for the new year By Kelvin Wade | | December 05, 2007 22:28 A nagging illness kept me from attending the festivities at City Hall Tuesday evening but thanks to Channel 26, I was able to watch the proceedings. First, it was great to see a standing room only crowd at a City Council meeting. I would normally deride anyone who attends such meetings as someone who usually gets their kicks hanging out at insurance seminars, grass-growing observations and paint-drying demonstrations. I understand there were enthusiastic supporters and well-wishers who wanted to cheer their candidates on. There seemed to be a lot of love in the room with Frank Kardos starting off the love fest with a tribute to outgoing council members Marilyn Farley and Jack Batson. Then Councilman John Mraz delivered a heartfelt thanks to City Manager Kevin O'Rourke. It was a very nice if not Alice in Wonderland moment. It was a far cry from a campaign that saw the political equivalent of drive-by s...

I was attacked by wild turkeys and lived to tell this tale By Tony Wade | | December 02, 2007 23:06 I would think that not too many things would be funnier than watching a 6-foot-4 man fighting off three wild turkeys with a stick early in the morning except for the fact that the man was me. Yes, they must've read my column last week about Thanksgiving turkey tryptophan robbing me of my creativity and decided to extract a measure of revenge for their fallen and delicious comrade (although that article wasn't printed in Turkish, as far as I know). Or maybe they read the one the week before about my bird phobia. By the way, my sister-in-law Patty was extremely compassionate when she learned of my condition. At Thanksgiving, her derisive, convulsive laughter only stopped when she started to choke. As I walked along Tolenas Road on Friday morning, I encountered the turkeys and could not believe how aggressive the Foster Farm refugees were. I actually landed sever...