>>>>http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/10/obama.immigration/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
>>>>
>>>>The man is on a hot streak.
>>>>
>>>>This is something he promised in the 2008 campaign and sort of wound up on the back burner in the financial crisis and the battle over health care reform . (Something every president in nearly 100 years vowed and he was the first to deliver).
>>>>
>>>>He hit the nail on the head. We are a nation of immigrants. With the exception of Native Americans we all came here from somewhere else. I ask every one of you who is belligerently against immigration reform to take an honest look in the mirror. Bill K, German, right? PA crew, were your folks on the Mayflower? John H., how about you? It's ridiculous.
>>>>
>>>>We all know what this is really about. It's Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. They are the latest wave -- after Irish, after Italians, after Germans, and the list goes on -- to come pouring in. What makes this different is geography. We are a rich nation that shares a 2000 mile border with a poor nation. Do you honestly blame them for walking or swimming across the border to find a better life for themselves and their children? Would you not do the same?
>>>>
>>>>The other thing that irritates me is the lingering image of Mexican immigrants just being tomato pickers. That is way out of date. My daughter's boyfriend is Mexican-American, American born, and will be attending one of the best colleges in the country. My girlfriend's husband was/is Mexican-American and has a top position at one of the best universities in the country. Her father asked her not to tell her grandmother that she had a Mexican-American granddaughter. I have known countless Mexican-American kids and their families through soccer. They care about the same things we do -- national pride, family, religion. They laugh at the same things "American" kids do. They tease each other and smile when they score goals. They go to Iraq and Afghanistan and die there as American soldiers. Please, really, just stop it.
>>>
>>>
>>>Yep. Screw all the people who have come here (or are trying to come here) legally and have skills that will allow them to make a living without going directly to welfare (which most of your mexican border jumpers will qualify for as soon as they get a free pass into the country).
>>>
>>>It's OK. The gub-mint will pay fo' it. It be gotz lotsa bling (sorry - just had an operation and I'm talking with an NBA accent)..
>>
>>Bill, that comment about NBA accents was blatantly racist.
>
>Is the NBA a race? Please explain?
>
>My youngest son was flipping channels a couple of nights ago and came across a Lakers game (or highlights or something). An announcer asked one of the players a question. My son then asked me if the answer was in English or if I could translate. Followed up with "Don't those guys go to college?".
>
>Is it racist to imitate someone in the NBA?
>

It's racist to say "I'm talking with an NBA accent."

I will give it a rest. As Mike C said, I am in no position to sit in judgment.

Now here is something more upbeat. You may not read many sports books but it you ever do you could do a lot worse then "7 Seconds or Less" by Jack McCallum, a fly on the wall account of the Phoenix Suns' 2005-2006 season which I have been reading lately. McCallum was the award winning NBA writer for Sports Illustrated who was granted almost complete access to the Suns from the preseason through the playoffs. I liked that team a lot at the time -- run and gun! -- and like them even more now. McCallum paints indelible portraits of the players and coaches. Where the players came from, their issues as players, the 24/7 fanaticism of the coaches. Head coach Mike D'Antoni, how head coach of the Kinicks, tried to never let it show. He knew most of his players had grown up in much worse circumstances than his. One star player's mother -- there was no father on the scene -- had been arrested for drug possession, prostitution, probation violation, and DUI. Another player's mother gave birth to him at 14. One thing that comes through is these guys are not idiots. It's not just a matter of having a 36 inch vertical leap. There are lots of plays you have to know and you have to be able to react at a moment's notice.

My favorite character is D'Antoni, who had a pretty good career in the Italian league but never quite reached the top level. He has an implacable calm and a willingness to trust his own judgment, even when it is not in sync with conventional wisdom. ("You can't win in the NBA with an up-tempo style"). And Steve Nash, a guy no scriptwriter would have gotten away with a character in a movie. McCallum: "The odds on a normal-sized Canadian Caucasion becoming a two-time MVP aren't even calculable." Really terrific book.