Wading In

When cooler heads don't prevail By Kelvin Wade | | July 30, 2009 23:36 It's been interesting observing the national debate over the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest. Some see racial profiling. Some just see the race card played. Still others see police abusing their authority. People want apologies. And every group seems to be using the incident to push their agendas. I just see a stupid event. And I agree with Gen. Colin Powell that 'adult supervision' was necessary. Was it racial profiling? Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley taught a class on racial profiling alongside a black officer at the police academy. He certainly doesn't fit the stereotype of the racist white cop. Likewise, there are many who seek to portray the 58-year-old Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor who graduated summa cum laude from Yale, studied at Cambridge and was the first black to receive an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, as a rabble-rousing Al Sharpton type. Th...

The Other Side, Fairfield Daily Republic Getting guns off the street By Kelvin Wade | | July 16, 2009 23:50 Fairfield will soon be offering a gun buyback program. Turn in a gun and receive a gift card to Best Buy or other retailers. It's a decent idea but it could have gone either way. This could easily fall under the category of Doing-Pointless-Things-To-Make-Us-Feel-Good, which I loathe. On the surface, gun buyback programs always sound ridiculous. What banger is going to walk up to some gun buyback drive, hand over the .380 in his waistband in exchange for a gift card? Would you give up your $400 Sig Sauer 9mm for a gift card? I know some criminals are stupid, but unfortunately for us, they're not that stupid. There have been critics and studies showing that buyback programs have a negligible effect on crime. Even some gun control advocates have called them worthless. Often guns that are turned in are old, non-working and not the type typically used in crime....

By Kelvin 'Byg Datty' Wade This week marked the end of the annual ‘running of the bulls’ at the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona , Spain . A man was killed last week while many others were injured running from six bulls and six steers along old cobblestone streets in a three minute race. What I’m here to tell you is that this tradition is the key to a global conspiracy. By the time you finish reading this you may even be convinced that Pamplona means Darwin in Spanish. Follow me. The information I’m about to present to you is classified and ranked Above Top Secret. Sure, everyone knows about Area 51 and the illegal extraterrestrial aliens who snuck across our planetary border in 1947 and stole the aerospace jobs that Americans weren’t smart enough to do. Of course, the moon landing was filmed at Universal Studios. Yes, Elvis is alive and is a Wal-Mart greeter in Pensacola , Florida . And everyone knows President Obama is a Vulcan who was ...

The minority rules in Sacramento By Kelvin Wade | | July 09, 2009 17:42 California is crumbling. We're contemplating closing 219 state parks. We've cut medical services to the poor, elderly and disabled with more to come. Sacramento is handing out IOUs. We've got the Democrats' union masters running ads saying soak the rich. We've got Republican legislators who only want to cut our way out of this $26 billion hole. It's as if California is Wimpy, stuffed with hamburgers, and its Tuesday. It's time we think about lowering the two-thirds requirement to pass budgets to 55 percent. We're one of only three states that require a supermajority to pass the state budget. Why is a simple majority good enough for most other states? While California budgets should require only a simple majority, the idea is a nonstarter for most people. So why not a 55 percent compromise? Perhaps having to pass budgets with 55 percent of the vote will mean that our...

Be safe, sane with fireworks By Kelvin Wade | | July 02, 2009 16:14 It was the Fourth of July and I was in my late teens. For some reason, I don't recall, I was home alone. I opened the back door of the house and holding a plump red firecracker in my left hand, lit it with a lighter. The green fuse sparked to life and I swiftly tossed the firework end over end into our large backyard. Independence Day is the day we celebrate our national birthday by sacrificing various dead dry-rubbed animals on Kingsford and Weber altars. It's the holiday where we go outside, see our neighbors, go camping, or swimming at Lake Berryessa, Lake Solano, or your pool. It's a day for softball, basketball and other outdoor recreation. And for many it's a day of libation. Alcoholic beverages flow quite freely, greasing our party wheels. But it's also a day of fireworks. While the big, professional fireworks shows are a great way to end such a festive day, it's the il...