The Texas Panhandle War Memorial is getting a valuable addition early in the coming year.

It will be a refurbished F-100 fighter. It will be mounted on the memorial grounds, next to the Randall County Courthouse Annex at Georgia Street and the Canyon E-Way.

This is a big deal. Indeed, Randall County Judge Ernie Houdashell — himself a pilot — could hardly contain his enthusiasm this past week as the plane was getting ready for its move from English Field to a spot near Tradewind Airport, where it will be prepared for installation at the memorial. The move took place this past weekend, with officials having to take great care to ensure the plane made it safely on its arduous trip along Loop 335.

The war memorial only recently has been added to the signage on Interstate 27, enticing motorists to pull off the highway to visit the site that honors those who have fallen in all our nation’s armed conflicts dating back to the Spanish-American War. It contains stone tablets with brief narratives of the conflicts along with lists of those who have died in defense of the country.

Soon, a jet fighter will be part of the exhibit.

Here’s the question of the day as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin conducts her book tour: Is Palin qualified to be president of the United States?

The question was put today on a news talk TV show to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, one of the Republican Party’s brighter bulbs. “Well, she’s constitutionally qualified,” Barbour said.

That’s it? That’s how you answer a straightforward question about someone being touted as her party’s possible standard bearer/savior in 2012?

Well, I’m “constitutionally qualified” to serve as president, too. I was born in the United States. I’ve never been convicted of a felony. I’ve been married to the same woman for 38 years. I have reared two fine sons. I pay my taxes on time. But I’ll never be president.

I think the former governor’s many fans — and she has a lot of them right here in the Panhandle — need to come up with something better than her being qualified under the rules set by the U.S. Constitution.

I’ll welcome any recommendations on her real qualifications.

I was talking to Rep. Mac Thornberry the other day about the decision to try Khalid Sheik Muhammad in New York City on charges that he masterminded the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

The Clarendon Republican lawmaker then threw me a bit of a curve. He referred to Muhammad as “KSM.”

Since that conversation, I’ve heard other officials and even a few commentators use the term.

I don’t get the initials being used to refer to this guy. Customarily, we Americans refer to folks in such a manner who have a considerably higher standing than a man who reportedly has confessed to killing thousands of innocent people. You know who I’m talking about: JFK, LBJ, FDR, TR, RFK. These are presidents or, in RFK’s case, someone who was running for the office. They’re generally iconic political figures. We often use nicknames — some flattering, some not — such as Honest Abe, Tricky Dick, Condi, Ronnie, Dubya, Goodhair, Ike, or Give ‘Em Hell Harry while referring to our leaders.

But I truly prefer to save the initials and informal monickers either for American leaders or public figures, or those for whom we have something other than utter loathing and contempt.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s conservative credentials are unquestioned. He’s now lent them to U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her bid to unseat her fellow Republican, Gov. Rick Perry.

This just in: The presumed frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination is not qualified to serve as commander in chief, according to recent polls.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/16/cnn-poll-most-americans-say-palin-not-qualified-to-serve-as-president/

Yet there she is, the subject of water cooler talk all across the nation as she hypes her book, “Going Rogue.” I’m talking, of course, of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who quit her statewide office halfway through her first term.

Slightly more than half of all Republicans think Palin is qualified. A fraction of Democrats would say she is capable of serving as president. Independents split somewhere between partisans on both sides. All this comes from a CNN/Opinion Research Dynamics survey, which is generally considered to be one of the better political polling outfits in the country.

Republicans have no shortage of potential candidates who are actually qualified to serve if elected. Former Govs. Mitt Romney (Mass.) and Mike Huckabee (Ark.) come mind.

But their standing pales in comparison to Palin’s — at the moment.

Thank goodness that nothing is permanent in politics, which is something Palin is likely to find out the longer she lingers under the glare of the public spotlight.

The shuttle Atlantis has just launched, with six more shuttle missions to go before NASA retires the fleet.

So help me, ever since Jan. 28, 1986, I still freeze at the 73-second mark of these shuttle flights. That’s when the mission communicator tells the shuttle, “Go at throttle up.”

It was at that point during that January launch nearly 24 years ago that the shuttle Challenger blew up, killing all seven astronauts on board and sending the nation into a prolonged period of profound grief over its loss.

Atlantis has entered orbit. All is well. And I’ve cleared the lump in my throat.

It will return at the end of the mission, when the ship re-enters the atmosphere en route home. History reminds us that on Feb. 1, 2003, Amarillo’s very own Rick Husband and his crew died when the shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas on its way home.

These space flights perhaps have bored millions of Americans. That’s too bad. They surely are never “routine.”

Godspeed, crew of Atlantis.

A utility company is considering some routes to string power lines across the High Plains.

It is my sincerest hope that they do not stretch them across Palo Duro Canyon.

The company is Sharyland Utilities. It will conduct two public hearings this week, Tuesday night in Wildorado and Thursday night in Panhandle. They’re giving residents a chance to comment on proposed routes for the lines that will carry electricity generated by wind turbines.

I’m becoming more of a fan of wind energy all the time. It’s clean, it’s renewable and it’s ours. Man, we’ve got plenty of it throughout the High Plains.

But we have to be mindful here of protecting one of the true treasures of Texas. Palo Duro Canyon should not have its horizon blighted by transmission lines. Surely the company can find routes that take the lines away from the canyon rim.

The canyon panorama is just too spectacular to be soiled with sight pollution.

What gives with these critics?

Some lawmakers, chiefly Republicans, have raised objections to the Justice Department’s decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Muhammad to New York to stand trial for plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Why?

Well, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., calls it an “insult” to the families of the victims that Muhammad and other defendants would stand trial in an American courtroom, given the rights that all criminal defendants get under the Constitution.

Attorney General Eric Holder said he is seeking the death penalty. Hmm. Do you think he’ll seat a jury that will sentence Muhammad to death if he is convicted of his crimes? The jurors will come from New York City, the site of the Twin Towers’ collapse, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Yeah, I think they’ll send this guy to his death, just like another federal jury did to another criminal defendant. Surely, you’ll recall Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who was executed six years after blowing up the Murrah Federal Building in April 1995.

The Muhammad trial will occur just blocks from the Twin Towers site. The decision to try him in the city where most of the victims died in the 9/11 attacks is the right one.

Childress native Lou Dobbs is headed for superstardom.

I cannot say how well David Swinford knows T. Boone Pickens, but they now both have something brand new in common.