Friday, May 14, 2010

Eric needs CliffsNotes



CliffsNotes, please
(by R.P.Edwards)

Eric didn’t read it
Didn’t have time
Just caught the headlines
Another’s opine
And yet, he makes comments
Judgments to come
But Eric didn’t read it
That sounds kind of…dumb


You gotta love it.  As I was mulling over Eric Holder’s admission that he hasn’t actually read the ten page (whew!) Arizona immigration law, and that he is seriously considering a lawsuit to stop it’s implementation; it brought me back to that ancient aid for lazy students…CliffsNotes.  If you recall, these handy summaries give you the “what the teacher wants” gist of whatever boring novel or literary work Mrs. Crabtree assigns.  I must admit, I used them a time or two.  But CliffsNotes for a ten page document?  You won’t find it (yet).

Well, trying to be one up on the Attorney General of the United States, I pulled up said document and…looked it over.  Confession:  I skimmed.  Too darn dry.  But, what came across was not some naziesque “Final Solution” Latino hunt, but rather a trying to deal with a problem that…thanks to an inept federal government, shouldn’t even be there.  And so, the police, while in the natural course of their duties, may ask about immigration status (Illinois used to treat seat-belt violations this way), but, it’s always going to seem like racial profiling.  So, Jan, Eric, here’s an idea:  How about “every time” police pull someone over for a non-immigration mess up; they have to prove citizenship.  This removes the race factor. Everybody.  Every time.   But first…there has to be a non-immigration violation.

Back to CliffsNotes; as I was checking the website I saw, at the bottom, a (no kidding) CliffsNotes App for the i-phone.  If Mr. Holder had that he could have, after the pesky question, taken a quick potty break and prepared for the test.  Yes, a whole new opportunity for the CliffsNotes folk.  And, as I said in the beginning…you gotta love it.

That’s what I think.  How about you?  Click comments below…and say.

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