That Al Sharpton is presented as a quotable advocate for civil rights is the best evidence that the issue has been trivialized

A few thoughts on Arizona's SB-1070
This law does not change the mechanics of a traffic stop or the circumstances under which the cops can pull you aside and ask you for an ID. This has been decided at the Federal level by US Supreme Court and cannot be changed by Russell Pearce or anybody else in AZ. Saying this law is racist does not make it so.
This morning the President has said that SB-1070 is unfair and there have been numerous attempts in the media by activists to seize the moral high ground claiming they care about those who want a better life for themselves & their children. Maybe so, but this is selective compassion and it is the rufuge of hipocrites.
Where are all the stories about the damage done to our own citizens especially low skilled Latinos who must compete with a flood of illegal immigrants for jobs?
Where are all the stories about the downward pressure on wages in this already depressed job market?
Where are all the stories about those who play by the rules & attempt to become citizens legally?
All of this is largely ignored by the “compassionate.”
Some say the Arizona can’t afford it. Under the present circumstances that may also be true. But then again this question begs another question.
Where are all the stories about the cost of illegal immigration?
The bottom line?
Ultimately some kind of path-to-citizenship may be the only solution.
So here’s a tip for the The President & the Feds:
You’d get a lot more support if you got serious about border enforcement.

4/20
60/40 Gov. Jan Brewer will sign the "evil" immigration law. If she does nothing & lets it pass automatically- she'll get hammered anyway & to her supporters she'll look weak. Odds r- she'll sign it.

I especially like the comments from the good Cardinal in L.A. saying it encourages people to turn on each other in Nazi- and Soviet-style repression.

Ever notice that when people are losing arguments they drag Hitler into it?

4-17-10
This week's ICE bust in AZ is a joke. Its politically timed because the locals are getting restless- and the media & the public are being snowed. The NYTimes described it as an ongoing operation for 10 years but the Feds were powerless to do anything about it because those sneaky Mexicans were switching in and out of transportation like so many Chinese fire drills and they were using a fleet of Vans!

OMG- How DID ICE ever figure that one out!

Here's how it works.

AZ Rancher gets shot at border. Bad guy gets away. People get pissed. AZ passes (or is about to) pass a tough State law outlawing what is already Federally illegal thereby exposing those enablers in Washington.

Then... Prez. Obama calls Janet Napolitano & Janet calls ICE in AZ. Conversation goes something like this:

Janet: "Hey, we need to look busy. What have you got in the pipeline?"

ICE guy: "Well, we could bust that van operation in PLAIN sight in Tucson & Phx....."

Janet: "Good- Pull the trigger & let's get some press."

Bottom line: Does anybody think this "historic" bust is going to change anything?

12/1/2009

To my son, Edward,

Well, here we are on this the occasion of your 10th birthday!

I just want to let you know how much I llike being your Dad. I am so lucky to have a wonderful boy like you.

Part of your wonderfulness is that you are intelligent, sensitive, sweet and artistic. These are beautiful qualities and although at times they may appear to be liabilities I want you to know that these are some of the things that make you so very special. Trust me on this. Daddy knows.

You are already a 4th grader but I’ll bet you think time is passing slowly, at least that’s the way I felt about it when I was your age. You’re really growing up fast and soon you will be man and you’ll be talking about beer and girls. I’ll be there for you then but, just for the record, I want you to know I really llike you just the way you are right now, a ten-year old kid with a room full of Pokemon & nerf guns.

I have, and will continue to celebrate you at every age from the moment you arrived in the delivery room at St. Joseph’s where you surprised both me and your mother with that quiet, calm, knowing poise. It was so unusual, and it was so you.

And now we come to my birthday wish for you- Aside from that smokin’ hot Macintosh computer (that’s better than mine), my wish is that you celebrate yourself at every age, at every stage in your life, for you are the best son a father could ever ask for and this universe is damn lucky to have Edward J. Crummey IV!

Here’s to you, Edward.

Many Happy returns of the Day!

Some Crummey Thoughts

I am a radio talk show host based in Los Angeles.

The trick for me, these days is to keep it fresh when I go to work. I've done this job so many times that this has become the real challenge. Another thing I notice while working is the pop culture shift. I work with two guys who were born in 1982! I mean, how much do I really care that Khloe Kardashian's just gotten married to some guy who shoots hoops for the Lakers?

Actually, I accept that as part of "the challenge" and so its kinda fun posing- knowing that 20, 30, or even 40 years ago all this stuff was vitally important to people like us & we couldn't imagine it any other way.

For some reason lately I happened 2b thinking about the Stray Cats and that song "Sexy & Seventeen" which I remember playing @ WAPP in NYC back in the days when I was a D.J. I checked out the video on YouTube and I thought it was so funny-

"Cuz she's sexy & seventeen,
My little rock & roll queen...
Acts a little bit obscene…"

Back in the 80's it seemed so right on- now it feels like I'm Roman Polanski lusting after some high school kid!

And speaking of, "seventeen"... I was out on Catalina island one weekend last summer with my family. We were walking by that circular movie theatre & cultural center that William Wrigley built a number of years ago.

As we got closer, I heard the sounds of a band tuning up. As soon as I heard the bass line I knew they were about to play "I Saw Her Standing There."

So I hurried up a bit and came up on a thatched-roof/outside-bar type place. It was only mid-afternoon but it was already a boozy scene and out back they were dancing as the band played.

There was this 50ish chick with a drink in her hand, and I remember the look on her face and the way she moved, there were younger couples, too, there were professional drunks, day trippers, locals, and even my kid was into it.

"Well, we danced through the night
And we held each other tight
And before too long I fell in love with her…”

Maybe its because I shared it with my son, and maybe its because of the way the music swept away the years between those of us who were there, but it still gives me tingles when I think about it.

You know, it would have been an interesting experiment if someone that afternoon had sprayed a servicable type of aerosol dye into the air. Would this theoretical coloring of the ether reveal the shape of some kind of vibrating energy field radiating outward from the dance floor and up into the sky?

I would like to think so, thereby confirming a living aura that’s always there, albeit too subtle for us to detect on ordinary days, but a constant halo nonetheless. It would ride on an Einstein plane of quantum stealth, inexorably tying us to the righteous spirit that underpins our existence, the universal joy of being, and the emotions tapped by a 40 yr-old Beatles song.

I know it's way obvious I'm going a little deep, and I admit I'm assigning an awful lot of mojo to one sunny day on the island of Catalina, various distilled spirits & a bunch of slightly older dudes bustin’ out "I Saw Her Standing There," but as I said, at this point in time, it does make me wonder.

Why is Health Insurance so Expensive?

First, people who oppose the president’s direction on health care are not necessarily “for the status quo.” Secondly, the notion that this is about gov’t getting involved is bogus because State & Federal gov’ts have been increasingly involved for 50 yrs. I believe that it is a major factor in “the problem” and yet all we seem to talk about is MORE of it.

Here is 1 example of many I could list: Rethink the way we think about health services in general.

For example- Why are we willing to pay 2k for a flatscreen but not for a colonoscopy?

Most people would say- there’s insurance for that which I get through my job. This is largely viewed as a “benefit”, or some kind of employer subsidized freebie so we are less likely to examine what this coverage really costs. That makes it more likely we’d like everything covered down to $10.00 co-pays at the Dr’s office.

Imagine if you were buying auto insurance and you wanted to be covered for an oil change, gas fill ups etc- What do you think premiums for that would run you? What if everybody thought the same way? What do you think that would do to the price of “health care” for your car?
I think that we should get the employer out from between you & your health insurance provider, but that’s not the direction in which we’re headed. All we seem to talk about is more gov’t mandates on business & and its all sold in the name of compassion.
As I said, that’s just 1 example of how gov’t’s involvement distorts the system and I don’t hear too many politicians on the Right or Left talk about it because they quite rightly assume that most people have been conditioned to think they shouldn’t have to pay in the first place and of course that’s the obvious irony here because that’s exactly what people are complaining about!