I’m baffled by the election results out of Iran.

The returns are in and an Islamic cleric named Hassan Rowhani has been elected the next president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He’s been called a “moderate,” which well could have much different meanings in Iran than it does in the land of the so-called “Great Satan.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/world/middleeast/iran-election.html?hp&_r=0

I’ll admit, though, to being mildly optimistic about what the returns mean. Might they mean a gradual cessation of the bluster and sabre-rattling we’ve heard from the current Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Could it mean that the new leadership wants, finally, to talk to us instead of threatening us with violence? And might it mean that our most valued and trusted ally in the Middle East, Israel, can stand down just a bit from the high-alert status created by Iran’s declared intent to wipe Israel off the face of the planet?

Rowhani’s victory well might signal the dawning of a new spring in Iran, where the economy is tanking thanks in part to the choking sanctions imposed by two American administrations – led by George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Rowhani well might be listening to those who put him into power; he finished with 50.7 percent of the vote in a six-man field of candidates, avoiding a runoff.

Of course, time will have to tell us what all this means. It could mean nothing at all. Rowhani’s policies could turn out to be just a continuation of his predecessor’s madness. Then again, Rowhani’ victory could portend a new day that brings some semblance of reason and sanity to an Iranian government that, by my reckoning, never has experienced either trait.

If the latter is the case, the Iranians’ learning curve will be steep, but not insurmountable.

I was heartened to hear the election results out of Pampa this past month that allowed alcohol sales on Sunday.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=910028#.Uby6Fkoo6t8

It’s going to be a reality in a town that had forbidden such activity for reasons that always have baffled me.

None of this activity means that people necessarily will abuse the booze. They won’t all climb into their cars and create a madhouse on city streets, roads and highways. Nor will they become drunken slobs staggering down the street in droves.

But the new city ordinance will, according to Pampa officials, bring additional revenue to retailers who choose to sell alcoholic beverages. Thus, the city and state will derive financial benefit from sales tax increases, which could be spent on such things as, say, ways to prevent alcohol abuse.

Many communities in Texas still prevent the sale of alcohol on Sunday, believing the holy day shouldn’t be tainted. I don’t understand any of this in an era when people are mobile enough to drive to the next community or even to the next county to imbibe.

It might have made some sense when Panhandle residents had to rely on horses and buggies to get from place to place. But that was then.

Welcome to the 21st century, Pampa.

John McCain doesn’t seem to think arming the rebels fighting the Syrian government isn’t enough.

What does the Republican senator from Arizona want? More troops on the ground? More American blood being spilled?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324049504578545772906542466.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

President Obama has decided to give weapons to the rebels fighting forces loyal to the hated Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. national security team has determined that Syrians have used chemical weapons against the rebels, a line that Obama said Assad shouldn’t have crossed. His response has been to become more actively involved in the civil war that reportedly now has killed more than 90,000 people, including several thousand children.

McCain, who’s been highly critical of the Obama administration’s foreign policy on many levels, believes arming the rebels is insufficient, but he won’t take the next step by declaring categorically what he really seems to want: direct military intervention.

We’ve ended the Iraq War after a decade of fighting there. The Afghan War is drawing to a close, after a fight that’s lasted even longer. We’ve already used air power to help topple Moammar Gadhafi in Libya; indeed, congressional Republicans were critical of that effort, suggesting that the president was “leading from behind” while our pilots were enforcing a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace.

So what now, in Syria?

By my reckoning, U.S. arming of forces loyal to the rebels well could turn the tide. I harken back to the 1980s when the late U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-Lufkin, spearheaded congressional efforts to arm rebels in Afghanistan fighting the invading forces of the Soviet Union. Wilson pursued that effort doggedly and got enough of his congressional colleagues to go along with the effort that the mujahadeen eventually wore down the Soviet invaders and forced them out of Afghanistan. What resulted, of course, eventually would turn out badly for everyone, but the point is that we can provide sufficient firepower to turn the tide of battle in a region that is vital to our national interests.

And John McCain, of all people – given his own history of combat and imprisonment as a prisoner of war in Vietnam – should understand the costs associated with more warfare.

Gov. Rick Perry did it once more to the Texas Legislature: vetoing a bill with strong bipartisan support on specious grounds that it duplicates federal law.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/06/14/senator-perry-vetoed-equal-pay-bill/

Someone has to explain why the governor keeps sticking it in the eye of legislators from both parties who this legislative session have found ways to lock arms to forge bipartisan coalitions. The latest target of Perry’s veto pen is House Bill 950, which mandates equal pay regardless of gender. Yes, it looks and sounds just like the Lily Ledbetter Act approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2009. Perry vetoed the state law on the grounds that it duplicates federal law.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, told the Texas Tribune: “I am deeply saddened by his action not just because of its impact on thousands of families affected by wage discrimination but because it’s a rejection of the bipartisanship that this body and the House showed by voting that bill to his desk.” Davis was a co-author of the bill that would have brought state law into synch with federal law.

Is that an unreasonable thing to do? Of course not. Perry, though, seems intent on wrecking the spirit of bipartisanship that became something of a pleasant surprise in the 2013 Legislature.

Perhaps it is Perry’s belief that Texas should stand alone against what he has labeled federal intrusion. Virtually every other state has approved laws that mirror the Ledbetter Act.

Why not Texas? Looks to me to be nothing more than partisan stubbornness.

I’m not a big fan of U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. It’s not that he’s done anything grossly objectionable, it’s merely that he’s flown mostly under my radar during all the years I’ve been interested in civic affairs.

But he said something the other day that resonates. The longest-serving – ever – member of Congress said Capitol Hill has gotten too nasty, too mean, too bitter, too partisan, too angry, too … well, take your pick.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/305521-toasted-as-longest-serving-dingell-urges-greater-civility-in-congress

He longs for a return to the days when Democrats and Republicans used to work together for the common good, such as when Democratic President Lyndon Johnson worked hand in hand with Republican U.S. Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois to get the Voting Rights Bill passed in the mid-1960s. Dingell was there for it.

It’s a new day now. We have the likes of, oh, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas questioning decorated Vietnam War vets’ appreciation for the military. Remember when then-Democratic U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York launched into a frothing, screaming soliloquy on the House floor, calling his GOP colleagues every name in the book?

Dingell remembers a day when both politicians of both parties were Americans first and Democrats or Republicans second. These days it’s the other way around.

Effective governance doesn’t function well under the current toxic environment.

I have concluded this about Republican politicians: They should shut their pie holes when the subject of abortion comes up.

U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., is the latest Republican inductee into the Political Hall of Shameful Comments They Wish They Could Take Back.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/12/rep-franks-tries-to-clear-up-rape-comment/?hpt=hp_bn3

Franks said the other day that the “incidents of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low.” He was speaking about a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. The bill does not exempt pregnancies that result from rape, an event that Franks said doesn’t warrant an exemption because there are so few of them.

Hmmm.

OK, now he says his comments were “taken out of context,” that he meant to reference rape-caused pregnancies in which the baby is in the womb for more than six months.

We all know by now what two other recent GOP pols said about rape. Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri said infamously in 2012 that women’s bodies have a way of preventing pregnancy after the woman is raped, making a ridiculous reference to what he called “legitimate rape.” Then came former Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock’s comment that a pregnancy caused by a rape was “God’s will.” Both men lost their bids for higher office.

Now we have Trent Franks stepping into a realm into which he knows nothing.

I don’t particularly care how Franks intends to “clarify” his remarks. He has spoken stupidly about the hottest of hot-button issues.

In the future, when the topic of abortion comes up, simply do this: Shut. Up.

We all love firefighters. They put their lives on the line whenever the alarm goes off. They’re the real deal.

This morning, I witnessed a brief exchange between a group of Amarillo firefighters and a little boy who I guess is around 4 or 5 years of age.

The firemen, about eight of them, were shopping for groceries at the United Supermarket at 45th and Bell around 10:30 a.m. The little boy saw them in the produce department and spoke out, apparently recognizing that they were firemen; I’m not sure how he would know that, as they weren’t wearing their fire-proof suits and hats, so I’m guessing someone said something to him.

Some of the firemen walked over the youngster to engage him in some conversation. The youngster’s grin said so much.

I think I overheard one of the men ask the boy if he wanted to be a firefighter someday. I’m pretty sure the boy said yes. “Give me a high five,” one of the firemen said to the youngster, who happily obliged.

Those men made one youngster’s day.

And to be honest, just by watching what happened, they made mine, too.

Well done, fellas, and thanks for your service to the community.

It always intrigues me that whenever Panhandle media make note of the region’s legislative delegation, they find a way to omit the name of one of its best.

State Sen. Bob Duncan, a Republican who lives in Lubbock, is on Texas Monthly’s list of 10 best legislators. Duncan’s Senate district sprawls through much of West Texas’s South Plains region, but it does include a tiny corner of the Panhandle.

It’s good – for me, at least – to know the region is represented by someone who’s held in fairly universal esteem by those who watch Texas government’s wheels grind along.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/best-and-worst-legislators-2013

None of the Panhandle’s other lawmakers made the “Best” or “Worst” lists. Good to know that our delegation isn’t embarrassing itself – and the rest of us – by “honored” with dubious distinctions such as being on the “10 Worst” list published every other year by Texas Monthly. But it is disappointing, at least a little, to see that we haven’t made the “Best” list this year.

We don’t lack for hard-working legislators. Republican state Reps. John Smithee and Four Price of Amarillo are serious fellows who take their jobs seriously. Smithee’s been doing it longer (since 1985) than any of the Panhandle delegation and, thus, has earned the title of “dean” of the bunch. Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, the “other” Panhandle senator, also is a serious fellow who has yet to make a splash big enough for the Texas Monthly gurus to notice.

It’s not that Texas Monthly is the end-all to this kind of recognition. It’s just that the magazine’s lists are cause for celebration or derision when their names are revealed.

I’ll now give a hand-clap to Bob Duncan, one of the best of the state’s 181 state legislators. He’s one of ours to boot.

In my new job, I’ve been advising young men and women that they should value their true friends, because they are so rare. Cherish them, I say, because they will be the individuals you’ll count on when you need them, or when so much time passes that you can renew your relationship as if no time at all had passed.

I had the distinct pleasure just the other day of renewing my relationship with three fine men. Dennis, Mark, Tim and I got together for the first time in a decade to laugh our backsides off at some of the goofy things we did as kids and to poke fun at some of the individuals we encountered back in The Day.

I’ve known these guys about as long as I’ve known anyone. Dennis and I go back to the seventh grade, where we were enrolled in the same junior high school home room. Mark and Tim came along just a few years later, but we hit it off immediately as our paths crossed at the McDonald’s restaurant that employed all of us.

Well, we gathered once more in Portland, Ore., where we all came of age. The visit was brief, just one evening, which we spent at Tim’s brother’s house and then on to a night club in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb that used to be a country burg, but which has grown into a city of nearly 100,000 residents.

We listened to some rock-and-roll music from a band that included Tim’s brother, Jay, on the drums. I knew about Jay’s drumming skills, but saw them in the flesh for the first time just the other night. The boy can play.

Communities change, yes? But friendships – the kind the four of us have forged – remain intact. I cherish them all.

I was sitting this morning in the terminal at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston when I witnessed and overheard the following:

An airport employee pushed a woman to the gate in a wheelchair. The woman in the chair appeared to be of Muslim faith, as she was wearing a scarf that covered her hair. The airport employee parked the woman at the end of a row of seats and then bid her goodbye by saying the following: “God bless you, even though you’re a Muslim. God bless you.”

I looked up … and laughed out loud. I don’t believe the airport employee heard me, as she just kept on walking away. But a fellow across the way did. We exchanged smiles and head shakes. I asked him, “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?” He nodded yes.

I believe I witnessed a well-intended remark jump seriously off the rails.

Nice try, Mme. Airport Employee … but you missed the mark.