Posts Tagged ‘Arizona’

The Paddy Wagon

August 4th, 2010 by John Feehery

It is unclear whether the paddy wagon got its name from the Irish who were hauled off in police wagons in the late 19th century or from the Irish cops who threw them in there in the first place.

What is clear is that when the Irish descended upon America starting in the 1840’s, it created social disruption, political chaos, and a crime wave for a generation.

My great great grandfather on my father’s side was one of those Paddys who came to New York fleeing a desperate potato famine in the 1840’s, and while I don’t know for sure if old Tom Feehery ever ended up in a paddy wagon, I know for sure that some of his friends probably did.  Tom Feehery was a legal immigrant, but old Joe Hurley (my mother’s grandfather) probably wasn’t.

The No-Nothing Party was founded as a reaction to the Irish masses.  It didn’t do much to stop them though, and pretty soon the Irish were running the big cities, dominating the police forces and fire departments, and making in-roads into the Democratic party North of the Mason-Dixon line.  Read more...

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Posted in Economy, Foreign Relations, GOP, Government, Theory | No Comments »

Prom Weekend

May 3rd, 2010 by John Feehery

It was an interesting weekend in Washington D.C.

As an oil slick approached oyster beds off of New Orleans, a car bomber missed in Times Square, the water shut off in Boston, and as thousands of friends of illegal immigrants protested a law targeting illegal immigrants in Phoenix, Hollywood invaded the nation’s capitol.

Hollywood takes seriously its frivolity, while Washington often treats serious matters like war and peace frivolously.  This past weekend, when so many Hollywood stars made their way to Washington for the White House Correspondents dinner, there was a perfect storm of frivolity and seriousness, all intersecting in a furious vortex of brunches, pre-parties, after parties, and after after-party brunches.

I only went to one brunch and one after party, but reading the guest lists from the other parties, I am stunned by the stamina of the folks who not only attended the two parties that I went to but also attended almost every other party.

What is most interesting is the cult of the media personality celebrity.  Reporters whose day job is to report the news have now all become celebrities on par with Kim Kardashian and Tim Daly.  Now, if you can tell me who Kim Kardashian or Tim Daly is and why a reporter would want to be put on the same pedestal as these B-list celebrities, you win the prize.  Read more...

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Posted in Government, Hollywood, Immigration, Politics | No Comments »

Immigration Reform Compromise

April 29th, 2010 by John Feehery

The new law in Arizona should be seen less through the prism of politics or constitutional law and more through the lens of national psychology.  It really is a cri de coeur, or a cry from the heart.

The law may seem punitive or intrusive from the ACLU’s perspective.  But as I have said before, desperate times require desperate measures.

You only need to glance over the border and see the situation that is unfolding in Mexico to understand that the people of Arizona are panicking that the drug war, like a swarm of killer bees, is coming to a location near them.

Arizonans read stories like this and it makes them rightfully concerned:  “Gunmen killed more than 20 people — eight in one slaying — on Wednesday in one of the bloodiest days of the year. There were multiple shootings outside a nightclub, outside a convenience store and outside an elementary school as the violence flared up with fury. Juárez police reported shootings as the night wore on, but it was not immediately known how many were dead. One news outlet dubbed the event ‘Black Wednesday.’ More than 40 homicides have occurred since Monday despite a heavy presence of federal police and soldiers in the city.”  Read more...

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Posted in Foreign Relations, Government, Immigration, Theory | No Comments »

National Guard Or a New National Drug Policy

April 27th, 2010 by John Feehery

I turned on Fox News and watched Laura Ingraham interviewing a State Senator from Illinois.  The State Senator wants to call out the National Guard to patrol the streets of Chicago, which has been enduring a running gun fight for months now in the city’s toughest neighborhoods.  Laura asked a simple question:  Why can’t the cops handle it?  The answer:  They are out-gunned and out-manned.

In Arizona, the news lately has been focused on the new law, aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants.  Lost in the spotlight has been the plaintive cry for help from those who live near the border:  Call out the national guard and help us patrol our streets.  Our police force is outgunned and outmanned.

In Afghanistan, the National Guard is only part of the elements that are in theater, fighting the Taliban.  But as they fight the Taliban, they are also fighting those who make a lot of money from heroin production.

In Washington, the Attorney General says that he won’t prosecute those who use marijuana.  The President says little about the carnage in his home town of Chicago, and blames the people of Arizona for passing a tough law that he calls “misguided.”  Read more...

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Posted in Drugs in America, Immigration, Laws, Politics, Theory, national security, war | 1 Comment »

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

April 26th, 2010 by John Feehery

The Mexican drug war has spilled out over the border in the Southwest and has helped precipitate the new immigration law that just was signed into law in Arizona.

Washington activists can cry out about the unfairness of the law all they want, but until the President and his Administration take seriously the threat posed by the Mexican drug gangs, the people of Arizona will have no choice but to take extreme measures.

70 percent of the people of Arizona support the law just enacted.  That tells you something right there.

Both Arizona and New Mexico were in the top eight most violent states in the union last year.  Most of that can be attributed to the fact that the drug war has spilled out over the border.

I was listening to NPR (the voice of communism as my friends used to call it) and the story I heard was chilling.  The drug gangs now control the illegal passage ways into the United States, and if someone wants to come to America to find their version of the American dream, they can come illegally, which is very unlikely (given the cost and the time involved) or they can cut a deal with the drug lords.  Most cut a deal with the drug lords, and they become a mule for illegal narcotics.  Read more...

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Posted in Drugs in America, Foreign Relations, Immigration, Laws, Politics, Theory, war | 1 Comment »