legal news, State news

Let's define 'Southern heritage'

The Sons of the Confederate Veterans are going to have a steep hill to climb in defending a flag that one time symbolized an act of treason.

Many of us out here will be all ears.

At issue is an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over Texas’s refusal to allow the display of the Confederate flag on motor vehicle license plates. The state says the design is offensive to millions of Texans, as it reminds them of the Confederacy’s declaration of war against the United States of America. And, yes, slavery was one of the issues that brought about the Civil War.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans say the flag merely depicts “Southern heritage.”

Really?

Does that “heritage” include the Confederate States of America going to war with the United States? Does it mean we should honor the effort of a collection of Southern states that sought to split the United States apart? Do we honor the war that killed roughly 600,000 Americans — Southerners and Northerners — on battlefields throughout the nation?

And do we honor “Southern heritage” by displaying a flag that symbolizes modern-day hate groups who’ve committed horrifying acts of barbarism and cruelty against African-Americans?

I want the Supreme Court justices to ask the Sons of Confederate Veterans legal team questions that deal with some of these issues.

 

national news, political news

Cruz has some explaining to do

Now that Ted Cruz has declared his candidacy for president of the United States, I think it’s fair to commence the questioning about one aspect of his public service record.

It goes something like this:

The U.S. senator from Texas is in the middle of his first term. He’s a tenacious Republican lawmaker who fancies himself as the savior of the modern conservative movement. His Senate experience mirrors that of the man he hopes to succeed in the White House, Barack Obama, who was elected in 2008 while he was part of the way through his first term in the U.S. Senate.

President Obama’s critics have made a great deal of noise ever since he took office that he lacked “experience” to become the Leader of the Free World. And with the world going to hell all over the place, they continue to harp on the idea that Obama’s lack of experience has somehow contributed to what they call a “feckless” foreign policy.

The Cruz Missile, thus, is going to have to explain to his critics whether he possesses the requisite experience to become the next commander in chief.

Indeed, at least Obama had served in the Illinois Senate before being elected to the U.S. Senate, but that hasn’t quieted his critics who keep referring to his role as a “community organizer,” as if to denigrate such work and seeking to diminish the importance of pulling community groups together to work for the common good.

So, Sen. Cruz, how do you have the government experience it takes to do the most difficult job in the world? Well, do you?

 

local news, State news

Sullivan threw out the bait; I took it

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Michael Quinn Sullivan runs an outfit called Empower Texans. He sent out a mailer to Texas Senate District 31 residents which contained a bit of red meat of which I took a bite.

It implied that state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, opposes a Senate bill that would provide $4.6 billion in tax relief for Texans. Dumb me. I fell for it.

Seliger called this morning to remind me that he voted for Senate Bill 1, but simply declined to sign on as a sponsor of the bill.

The antipathy between Seliger and Sullivan is as strong as ever. Indeed, I happen to stand with Seliger in his distaste and distrust of Sullivan, who sees himself as a kingmaker, seeking to elect legislators and statewide officials who agree with his brand of ultraconservatism.

I also happen to agree with those who believe the state should hold off on tax cuts until it takes care of some essential needs, such as infrastructure improvement and restoring money to public education.

Lesson learned: Read everything that Michael Quinn Sullivan sends out — carefully.

 

Uncategorized

Smart phone is smarter than I thought

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ON THE HIGHWAY BETWEEN HOLBROOK AND PAYSON, Ariz. — You’ve heard already about my addiction to my cell phone.

I’m about to tell you about another discovery my wife and I have made about this annoying device.

It has a Global Positioning System, which is good.

My wife programmed the GPS to guide us to our destination in Mesa, Ariz. Her cell phone, which is identical to mine, charted a route to our destination. It gave us the road directions and posted an estimated time of arrival, just like the other GPS devices we own.

Then it started beeping at us — or, more to the point, at me.

Why the beeping noise? The phone knew how fast I was driving and was beeping at me, the driver, to remind me that I was exceeding the speed limit. Not by a lot, mind you. If the speed limit on the highway was 65 mph, and I was traveling at 66 mph, four loud beeps went off.

This phone not only is smart, it’s damn smart. So smart, in fact, that it’s smartness annoyed the daylights out of me as we made our way through some gorgeous mountainous Arizona countryside.

I’ve noted already that I haven’t yet gotten acquainted with all the “apps” available for use on my cell phone. My wife, who keeps insisting she isn’t very tech-savvy, actually understates her expertise with these devices. She’s much better at finding various uses for the cell phone than I do.

I appreciated her finding the GPS in her cell phone. I do not appreciate the smart-alecky device reminding me with all those beeps that it’s watching me like a hawk.

 

 

national news, political news

Morris 'thinks' a lot of things

Dick Morris has been “thinking” a lot lately.

He thinks Barack Obama wants Elizabeth Warren, not Hillary Clinton, to succeed him in the White House.

He thinks the White House leaked the Clinton email story to the press to torpedo the former secretary of state’s presidential ambitions.

He thinks the email controversy will linger the way the Watergate scandal did in 1973-74.

Obama wants Warren over Clinton, Dick Morris says

How does The Hill columnist, former Bill Clinton pollster and one-time Fox News contributor know all of this? Hard to say. He just thinks it.

This kind of peanut-gallery analysis slays me.

Dick Morris hardly is an insider in the Obama White House. He’s become a fierce critic of the president and, for that matter, of Hillary Clinton. Does he have some inside knowledge? He might be moonlighting these days as a mind reader, for all I know.

Warren says she will not run for president. The president isn’t likely to endorse a party nominee prior to the convention next year. As for the email matter, the only reason is will remain in the public eye is because critics, such as Morris, will ensure that people like me keep commenting on it.

How credible is Morris’s thought process on these political matters?

In the days prior to the 2012 presidential election, he thought Mitt Romney would win in a landslide.

It didn’t work out that way.

 

national news, political news

Maybe Cruz will … oh, never mind, not a chance

First-term Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s allies are putting the word out to political reporters across the nation.

Be sure to listen to the senator’s remarks Monday in a major speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/236501-cruz-speech-stirs-talk-of-2016-launch

The tongues are wagging. The Cruz Missile might be getting ready to launch his 2016 presidential campaign.

Liberty U, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, often has been at the forefront of Republican politics. It’s a conservative campus, with a conservative faculty, teaching subjects with a conservative slant.

Now the school is going to play host to one of the Senate’s most conservative members. Cruz has been decidedly un-bashful about seeking public attention for this or that speech.

This one is being billed as The One to Watch.

Almost every political expert predicts Cruz will run for president. Perhaps he thinks if another Senate hot-shot — Barack Obama — can run for president in the middle of his first term in the Senate, then he might join the fight, too. But will the nation elect two of them in consecutive elections?

I look forward to hearing what Ted the Texan is going to say.

But do you suppose he’ll … naww, never mind. Not a chance.

 

legal news, State news

Supreme Court to hear Confederate plate case

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This is going to be an interesting case headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans think Texas license plates should carry a design that includes the Confederate flag. Millions of Texans are on their side. Millions of other Texans — as yours truly — think the design is offensive in the extreme.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/03/21/supreme-court-consider-confederate-license-plates/

The state Department of Motor Vehicles has denied the design, citing a state law that says it can deny a specialty plate ā€œif the design might be offensive to any member of the public.ā€Ā Former Gov. Rick Perry opposed the design, citing its offensiveness to millions of Texans.

Cut-and-dried, yes? Hardly.

The Sons of the Confederacy think a denial deprives the organization of freedom of speech.

Here’s how the Texas Tribune reported the sequence of events: “The group challenged the DMVā€™s decision in federal court, but a district judge upheld the state’s decision to restrict what it determined to be offensive content. The Sons of Confederate Veterans appealed to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court’s decision. The court said the DMV had unlawfully discriminated against the Confederate group’s beliefs that the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage in favor of those who were offended by it.”

Southern heritage? I suppose it does represent oneĀ element of Southern heritage. That segment happens to include a Civil War that killed 600,000 Americans, a war that was fought over the South’s contention that states had the right to do certain things — such as sanction slavery.

The Confederate flag in the 150-plus years since the end of the Civil War has become a symbol of hate groups who fly the flag proudly whenever they’re protesting issues, such as granting all Americans — including African-American — the right to vote.

The symbol is offensive and should not adorn motor vehicle license plates.

I just hope the Supreme Court sees it that way, too.

 

International news, national news, political news

Clinton gives Benghazi panel fresh ammo

What in the world is Trey Gowdy hoping to find in those mysterious emails filed by Hillary Rodham Clinton?

I think I know. He wants to find something that incriminates the former secretary of state in that infamous incident now known simply as “Benghazi.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/trey-gowdy-hillary-clinton-email-server-116268.html?hp=l3_3

“Benghazi” has become shorthand for the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans — including the U.S. ambassador to Libya — died in the attack. Congressional critics of Clinton have contended she covered up what she knew in advance of the terrorist attack. She’s denied any such thing and has rejected allegations that she didn’t do enough to protect the personnel who were attacked.

Those pesky emails, according to Gowdy, might shed light on the incident. Gowdy chairs the Select House Benghazi Committee, which until now had come up empty in its search for Clinton culpability in the attack.

Now that HRC has revealed that she used a personal email account instead of the State Department account while she served as secretary of state, Gowdy smells a rat — at least he thinks he smells a rat.

Gowdy is demanding that Clinton’s lawyer turn over her email server to an independent third party to examine its contents.

I remain quite dubious that Congress is going to find anything that incriminates Clinton. Having said that, it’s probably a good idea for Clinton’s lawyer to do as Chairman Gowdy is asking/demanding/pleading.

Perhaps then we can put “Benghazi” to bed — for keeps.

 

legal news, local news

Drug-bust stories becoming … um, boring

“Police grab drugs in ‘traffic stop.'”

You hear and read these headlines all the time. I almost always chuckle when I see these stories. Why? Because the traffic stop, such as it is, usually is something of a ruse. The police pull motorists overĀ expecting to find contraband hidden away.

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/28575346/dps-finds-15-pounds-of-marijuana-on-i-40

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have gotten really good at this.

The Interstate 40 corridor across the Texas Panhandle usually is among the most lucrative for DPS traffic troopers of any district within the state police network.

How do these troopers do it? As I understand it, they “profile” motorists as they blaze their way along I-40. If the motorist or a passenger looks suspicious when they pass a DPS trooper, the officer will give chase. Then they just might find something in the trunk of the car, or stuffed under the seats, or duct-taped to the undercarriage a “controlled substance” of some sort.

The War on Drugs, which has produced mixed results — and that’s the best thing I can say about it — has made law enforcement officers quite proficient at intercepting drugs on our major highway corridors.

Have these “traffic stops” done anything to curb the manufacture, sale, distribution and use/abuse of these drugs? Not one bit.

However, I continue to marvel at how good the police have gotten at this endeavor.

To be sure — as any cop on the beat will tell you —Ā none of these “traffic stops” ever can be called “routine.”

national news, political news

'Schock and awe' probe could expose others

Aaron Schock is about to leave his congressional office.

The Illinois Republican quit his House seat amid swirling controversy over how he spent lots of public money on extravagant outings around the world. The young man has expensive taste and now it might be that he accepted gifts illegally … allegedly.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/aaron-schock-fbi-probe-spending-116257.html?hp=r1_3

A grand jury is looking into it. Congress should examine it, too.

Indeed, the Aaron Schock story suggests there might be a giant iceberg under that ethical tip.

Is he the only member of Congress to live large? Might he be the lone member of either legislative chamber to, um, take staffers on outings that go far beyond their official duties?

A part of me seriously doubts he’s alone in this kind of alleged misbehavior.

I don’t intend here to beat up on Aaron Schock. He’s going to face authorities back home in Peoria, Ill. What’s more, his resignation from the House stunned his colleagues; Speaker John Boehner didn’t know Schock was leaving until he actually announced it publicly.

The one-time rising GOP star, though, is leaving some questions that need answers.

Is he the only one who has done the things he’s been accused of doing?

I doubt it. Is Congress ever going to look inward and start a thorough House-and-Senate cleaning?

 

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