IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL CAN HIT CLOSE TO HOME...

By Jim Heffernan

My wife and I recently attended a Grandparents Day program in a Twin Cities suburb at the elementary school of our 10-year-old granddaughter.

The fourth-grade children put on a program – including a flag ceremony and a solemn, hand-over-the-heart, recital of the Pledge of Allegiance -- in the school gymnasium before moving, grandparents in tow, to classrooms to meet teachers and look over school projects prepared for the occasion.

As we joined our granddaughter following the program, she brought with her a classmate and asked if we would serve as the classmate’s grandparents for the day because the other girl’s grandparents couldn’t attend. Of course we were happy to be surrogate grandparents for the bright, cheerful, pretty little girl.

As the session in the classroom played out, the two girls showed us some of their school projects at their table, after which they had been told to escort grandparents around the room, viewing their small library, a computer in the corner and art projects festooning a wall.

Since my wife and I were there for both our own granddaughter and her friend, I joined the friend for the tour of the room and my wife went with our real granddaughter.

Chatting with the girl a bit as she showed me around, she told me her real grandparents couldn’t attend because they live in Mexico City. Responding, I asked the child about her own family and she proudly stated that her mother had “walked across the desert” to get to America. I didn’t pursue it, nor could I forget it.

I couldn’t help but think about that little girl when President Obama addressed the nation outlining his planned immigration overhaul. And I think of her, too, when I hear Republicans in Congress rail against Obama and his plans for protecting some 4 million undocumented people whose children are United States citizens because they were born in this country.

It made me wonder if my surrogate granddaughter for a day is a United States citizen because she was born here, and if her mother is not. It made personal for me just what the president has done to protect certain families from being broken apart.

What does a 10-year-old child know of political forces swirling around the president over whether he was overstepping his bounds in protecting some immigrants? But a child would clearly understand if her mother was arrested and deported. She’d likely have to leave this country too. As a result of Obama’s action, I feel confident that if this girl showing me around her classroom needs that kind of protection, she’ll now have it.

In her school program, she’ll have pledged allegiance to the flag of a country I am more proud of because of what the president did. Or, as Obama put it in his speech, deporting millions is “not who we are.”

Let’s hope not.

Remembering Oberstar...

Oberstar did many big things, 

and also some small ones

 By Jim Heffernan

I knew Jim Oberstar quite well – in the way journalists often know politicians.

The genial former congressman, who died Friday at age 79, was a frequent visitor to the Duluth News Tribune, meeting with the editorial board several times a year. I was part of that board.

Oberstar represented Minnesota’s Eighth District for 36 years before being ousted from office in 2010. This weekend he is being lionized in the media for his great service to his district, the state of Minnesota and his country. Even President Obama issued a statement praising Oberstar’s service. The president is one of many who have spoken about Oberstar’s brilliance, his efforts to enhance all forms of transportation in the United States and his steadfast attention to issues in the Northland, especially regarding the economy.

Oberstar deserves all of that praise.

But here’s a different insight into Oberstar the man. When he’d visit the newspaper we’d sometimes go to lunch at a nearby restaurant to do our talking, rather than stay in the office. One such time we went to the revolving restaurant atop the Radisson hotel, just across the street from the newspaper.

As we were ushered from the elevator to our table – there were perhaps five of us including the congressman – I noticed a woman server standing with her back to a wall as we swept passed by her. She signaled Oberstar and he immediately stopped to talk to her as the rest of us went on to be seated, perhaps 30 feet away.

I could see emotion on her face as she addressed Oberstar, who was listening intently to her. When they were finished talking – were those tears in the server’s eyes? – he gave her a warm hug, and then moved on to join the rest of us.

What that was about was never totally clear. I believe he said he’d helped her or her family with a foreign adoption, and let it go with that. On with our discussion of the really important matters of the day.

But you got the sense that the concerns of one restaurant server who needed his help were as important to Oberstar as those of the lobbyists, special interests, his party associates and big-wigs he dealt with all the time as the sometimes chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

And as the revolving restaurant slowly spun around a couple more times, we undoubtedly discussed the mighty issues of the day. Who can recall? But I’ll always remember the thankful server, standing there in her work uniform, who got as much attention from Oberstar as a captain of industry might…or a newspaper editorial board.

For more about the recent death of Congressman Jim Oberstar, read the story in today's Duluth News Tribune HERE.

Devil missing from hell; said lurking in details...

By Jim Heffernan

Here’s some good news you won’t find in the mainstream media – just in time for the holidays.

DATELINE HELL -- Officials here announced today that the devil has gone missing. “Our ruler disappeared from his golden throne the day after Thanksgiving and hasn’t been heard from since,” a Hades spokesman stated in a terse message. He denied the disappearance had anything to do with Black Friday, a perennial favorite of the prince of darkness.

Christians and others around the planet, together with multitudes already in heaven, were jubilant, although U.S. church authorities urged caution before jumping to the conclusion that the devil is dead. “Without the devil, of course, there would be no need for the churches,” said a retired Episcopal bishop who asked not to be identified by name for fear of being struck down.

Nevertheless, Pope Benedict XVI said Catholics should celebrate the news in Christmas masses, and veteran protestant evangelist Billy Graham issued a statement from his hospital bed expressing hope that reports of the devil’s demise are true. “If they are, I’ve finally won,” Graham exuded.

President Obama spoke briefly from the Rose Garden, saying, “First we got Osama bin Ladin and now I am pleased to learn that Satan might also be eliminated.” Obama faces a tough election next year.

The surprising news had the effect of shaking leading Republican candidates for president, catching them off guard. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said he wouldn’t be surprised to learn the devil had taken up residence in the White House, “where he has often been a guest.”

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has been rising in the polls, said on Fox News, “Beelzebub is a wily character who throughout history has been known to show up at various times and various places outside of his home base. I know him well, and he’ll be back.”

In a statement from the Netherworld, where he has resided since his death in 1972, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover said his agents know exactly where he is. “The devil is in the details,” said the disgraced ex-top cop.

Film at 10.