Wading In

Bad flight still beats trip to ICU By Kelvin Wade November 25, 2010 It happened last weekend. I'd just enjoyed a Spamless eight-day Mexican Riviera Carnival cruise. I made it through an impossibly long Southwest line at San Diego International Airport. I made it through security without the horror (for them) of being digitally strip-searched and no one tried to touch my junk. But as I awaited my flight, I read an ominous text from my girlfriend Cathi's daughter. 'It's ugly out there. It should be a fun ride home. Like an amusement park ride. Yippee!' Yes, it was raining in San Diego but nothing to get upset about. The flight started uneventfully, a rapid ascension into the heavens. Soon we were high above the clouds looking at an amazing warm sunset from miles above the earth. I thumbed through Sky Mall while Cathi slept. I finished my second tiny bag of peanuts and downed a plastic cupful of Coca-Cola Zero. Then someone unleashed hell. The sky went black. I noticed...

Issues need to be taken seriously by both parties By Kelvin Wade November 04, 2010 'However (political parties) may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people. . .' - George Washington, Sept. 17, 1796 Many of our Founding Fathers were wary of political parties. The fear was that they would inflame the passions of the people and be used for party ends to the detriment of the republic. Watching the rise of the tea party and the Republican wave on election night reminded me of Washington's farewell address where he made the above remark. I don't write this as a Democrat because I'm not a Democrat. I left the Democratic Party a decade ago. I had found myself thinking about what was good for the Democrats first. When you liberate yourself from parties, you feel like you don't owe anyone your vote. Pol...