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Candidate is gay; and it matters … why?

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud has just announced he’s gay.

He’s also running for governor of Maine. His announcement came with this statement: Why does it matter?

Good question.

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/04/21305448-maine-gov-candidate-yes-im-gay-but-why-should-it-matter?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1

A person’s sexuality is the most intensely personal aspect of one’s life. I guess it matters to some folks in Maine that the Democratic congressman is gay only because he bothered to announce it to the world. I guess there had been rumors swirling around the state about his sexual orientation. Michaud thought he’d clear them up, and clear the air, by coming out as he did.

The overarching question, though, for the Maine gubernatorial campaign and for voters is whether a candidate’s sexuality should matter on anything. Does it inform his views on most public policy, such as taxation, road construction, public education, the environment, protecting his state’s coastline … whatever.

These all are issues that governors and candidates for governor must face as they take their case before the voters. I’m unaware of the most personal aspect of a candidate’s life affects how he or she will act on any of them.

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Impeach Perry? You must be joking

Texas Monthly blogger and columnist Paul Burka poses an interesting — but still ludicrous — question about Gov. Rick Perry.

Has the governor become too entangled in the University of Texas-Austin power struggle to have committed an impeachable offense?

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/perry-and-impeachment

What an amazing thing to wonder about the state of politics in this, of all the 50 states.

Burka’s blog post listed a couple of areas where Perry may have crossed the line into meddling in UT-Austin administrative affairs. Perry, let us remember, is a diehard Texas A&M Aggie — not that it should have anything to do with how he runs his office. However, in this world where conspiracy theories abound in all sorts of places, I suppose one could make the leap that Aggie Perry is trying to muck up the works at the hated UT.

The reality, though, is that Rick Perry never would be impeached in this state, which loves Republicans. Perry is one of them. Both houses of the Texas Legislature, which is where impeachment would originate, comprises supermajorities of Republican members.

What’s more, Perry is nearing the end of his tenure as governor. He’s not running for re-election to his umpteenth term next year. Instead, he’s bowing to likely prepare for yet another — and probably futile — bid for the presidency of the United States.

Impeachment in the cards? Hardly.

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Gov. Christie faces key election challenge

Republicans love Chris Christie, by and large.

The New Jersey governor is expected to cruise Tuesday to an easy victory in a state that’s twice voted overwhelmingly for Democratic President Barack Obama. He’s done a good job running the state. Christie has been outspoken at times, to the point of being perhaps overly blunt with constituents. But that seems to be part of his tough-guy charm.

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/04/21278657-centrist-or-a-conservative-christie-faces-fork-in-the-road-for-2016?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1

He’s also been willing — unlike many of his GOP colleagues in Congress and in statehouses around the country, such as the one in Texas — to work with the president when the need arises. Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged New Jersey on the eve of the 2012 presidential election, offers a case in point. Christie’s glowing comments about the federal response to the storm relief angered many on the right.

So now the New Jersey governor is considering whether to run for president in 2016. His good pal, Obama, won’t be on the Democratic ticket, given that he’s term-limited out by the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment. The field, therefore, is wide open.

Does the governor tack to the right or stay on course down the center?

He ought to follow the late Richard Nixon’s advice, which is good for candidates of either party: Run to the fringe of your party in the primary and then steer toward the center during the general election.

I’m supposing that Christie knows about President Nixon’s advice and he’ll follow it. His particular concern at this moment in time, though, will be whether the tea party fringe followers of his party will forgive him if he moves toward the center and plays up his across-the-aisle working relationships.

Heck, they might not be able to forgive him for saying all those kind things about Barack Obama a year ago.

Oh, the joys of running for office in this highly polarized climate.

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Happy 25th birthday, Panhandle PBS

I went to a birthday party this evening with my wife.

It didn’t honor a person. It honored instead a Texas Panhandle institution. The honoree tonight was Panhandle PBS, known formerly as KACV-TV. Panhandle PBS has turned 25 years young.

Here’s hoping for many more such celebrations.

Time for some full disclosure: I write a blog for PanhandlePBS.org, which is the website created for the public TV station. It’s called “A Public View with John Kanelis,” and I’ve been writing it since shortly after my 36-year career in daily print journalism came to a screeching halt in August 2012.

I am happy to affiliated with Panhandle PBS. I am even happier that public TV found its way to the Texas Panhandle in 1988. It took a good while since public TV arrived in the United States way back in 1953, when the University of Houston’s KUHT-TV went on the air. I used to watch KUHT programming when my family and I moved to Beaumont in the spring of 1984.

Public television is a valuable asset to any community. It brings intelligence, sane discussion, distinguished comedy (often of the British variety), heartwarming stories, in-depth reporting and first-rate educational programming.

Panhandle PBS broadcasts out of the Gilvin Broadcast Center at Amarillo College. It is run by a delightful and competent staff of seasoned and still-to-be-seasoned studio hands and technicians. The woman in charge is general manager Linda Pitner, who just stepped off the Amarillo school district board and is one of the smartest people I know … and I’m not just saying that because she’s my boss.

Public television occasionally gets whipped and lashed by some who think it’s too darn liberal. I beg to differ with that description. I prefer to call the Public Broadcasting Service reasonable and analytical. It might be too liberal in some folks’ eyes only because they see the world through their own bias prism.

I find public TV to be informative and worth every penny that it receives from private donors and, yes, from taxpayers such as me.

They threw a heck of bash tonight in north Amarillo. I hope to be around for the next big bash.

Happy birthday, Panhandle PBS.

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Cruz Sr. needs history lesson

I’ve never for a moment doubted the intelligence of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

However, I am having doubts about his father, Rafael Cruz, who serves as a sort of ad hoc senior adviser to the fiery freshman lawmaker.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/31/ted-cruzs-father-in-2012-send-obama-back-to-kenya/?hpt=hp_t5

Comments from the senior Cruz are stoking serious concern about the nature of political debate and whether young Ted is being guided correctly by the man who brought him into this world.

America is a “Christian nation,” according to Rafael Cruz. Wrong. It’s a secular nation founded by individuals who were guided by Christian principles. Mr. Cruz needs to note that the founders were quite clear that Congress must not make laws that establish a state religion. It’s in the First Amendment.

Rafael Cruz also believes President Obama should be “sent back to Kenya.” Well, young Barack went to Kenya — one time. He’s spent the vast bulk of his time in the nation of his birth, the United States of America.

These old myths dealing with the president’s place of birth keep cropping up, like pesky weeds you just cannot eradicate.

Ted Cruz — born in Canada to a Cuban father and an American mother — ought to be smart enough to counsel dear old dad about the need to speak the truth about political opponents.

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Santorum says Cruz harming the GOP

Rick Santorum knows an extremist when he sees one.

The one-time Republican senator from Pennsylvania and former GOP presidential candidate once blamed contraception as a source of what ails America today. So it is with that intimate knowledge of wacky political rhetoric that he has declared that Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has harmed the Republican Party’s brand with rank-and-file American voters.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2013/10/rick-santorum-on-ted-cruz-in-the-end-he-did-more-harm/

Santorum says Cruz is “a face” of the party, not “the face” of it. Cruz’s effort to use defunding the Affordable Care Act as a weapon to shut down the government wasn’t helpful to the cause, which Santorum says is just. He, too, wants to get rid of the ACA. Santorum didn’t think much of Cruz’s fake filibuster, nor does he seem to like the fact that Cruz is everywhere all at once declaring his intention to “do whatever it takes” to get rid of the ACA.

One problem with Santorum’s critique of his fellow Republican, Cruz, is that Cruz doesn’t care that he harms the party. He has done himself more good than harm, if you are to believe some of the polls and the political chatter back home in Texas.

That’s what matters to the freshman senator, who in just nine months has elevated his profile to a level far more visible than many of the more senior members of the body in which he serves.

He’s acting like he wants to run for president in 2016. For that matter, so is Santorum.

Come to think of it, that might explain why one potential GOP conservative candidate for president is criticizing the antics of another one.

Whatever. Santorum makes sense when sizing up the contributions of Ted Cruz to his party’s cause.

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Ducks facing dreaded SI jinx

I’m sweating bullets.

My University of Oregon Ducks are rated as the second-best college football team in the country, right behind Alabama’s Crimson Tide. So what happened to the Ducks this week? Their Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, Marcus Mariota, ends up on the cover of the nation’s premier sports magazine.

Why the heavy perspiration? It’s that dreaded Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx. Players and teams fairly routinely end up on the cover — only to tank it the next time they compete.

The Ducks are facing next Thursday what looks like their most difficult opponent. They travel to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on the Stanford Cardinal, the No. 5-ranked team in the country and a team that a year ago went to the Ducks’ crib in Eugene and smashed its way to a 17-14 upset victory.

I say “smashed” because that’s the kind of football the Cardinal plays. Stanford is big, tough and it just loves to keep the football out of the other team’s hands, which for Oregon is terrible. The Ducks faced Ohio State in the Rose Bowl a couple of seasons ago and the Buckeyes beat the Ducks 26-17 by doing what Stanford is so good at doing.

I’m not going to be a Gloomy Gus here and predict the Ducks will lose next Thursday. They have been virtually unstoppable all season long. Their go-go offense has run up a lot of points on some good teams.

It’s that SI jinx, though, that has me worried. Will it bite the Ducks in their tails?

The story is quite flattering. It says the Ducks have reinvented the West Coast Offense. Mariota is considered a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. The Ducks just might be heading for the national championship game.

Quick, let’s hide all copies of the SI issue from the Ducks. Don’t let ’em read it.

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Stay in the Senate, John McCain

The idea that John McCain might not run next year for another term as a U.S. senator leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings.

The Arizona Republican is one of the few GOP wise men left in that august body. My sense is that the Senate needs him to slap some sense into the upstarts who have taken over much of the agenda on Capitol Hill.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/john-mccain-spying_n_4184036.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

He says the government shutdown was a huge mistake, although he sounds as though he means it as a partisan strategy. No kidding, senator. He doesn’t think much of at least one of the tea party firebrands in the Senate, fellow Republican Ted Cruz of Texas, whom he’s dressed down already for questioning the ethics and integrity of another Republican, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

My concern isn’t about the future of the Republican Party. I am rather concerned about whether government can keep working the way it’s supposed to work. Whether the GOP is heading down some sort of path of self-destruction really doesn’t matter to me, although I would prefer to see a healthy — and reasonable — Republican Party perform its role in crafting meaningful legislation.

If John McCain is able to try to talk some sense into his party and continue working with colleagues who call themselves Democrats, then he ought to stay.

Yes, he ticks off many on the far right who consider him one of those dreaded RINOs — Republican In Name Only. He’s no such thing. His voting record is solidly conservative and has consistent with historic GOP values for many years.

He just happens to be willing and able to talk sense to those who need to hear it.

Pay attention.

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Voted early, still prefer Election Day

Well, I did it. I voted early for the first time in memory.

We had to go the Randall County Courthouse Annex early because my wife and I will be unable to vote next Tuesday.

I’ll admit to a couple of things. One is that I didn’t vote on every one of the nine state constitutional amendment proposals or on every one of Amarillo’s 21 amendment to its municipal charter. I didn’t know enough about them to cast an intelligent vote, so I left those spots blank.

I also did support the multimillion-dollar Amarillo Recreational Center complex. I’ve concluded that Amarillo needs a first-class rec center to attract out-of-town business and to retain those activities here that otherwise might go to other communities. I like the fact that a citizens committee is beating the bushes to raise an estimated $6 million in an effort to keep our property tax bite a bit lower. That’s good stewardship of our public money.

The other thing I’ll admit to is that I still prefer voting on Election Day.

There remains a certain sort of pageantry associated with voting. I like the notion of standing in line, kibitzing with fellow voters. I like the anticipation of waiting for a voting booth to open so I can perform my civic duty.

I keep thinking of the enormous lines I saw in South Africa in 1994 when black citizens there were voting for the first time in their lives. They waited for many, many hours in lines that stretched as far as anyone could see. They chose Nelson Mandela to lead their country as their first black president.

That’s too much, of course, to ask in a country such as ours that takes voting for granted.

Waiting in some semblance of a line on Election Day, however, remains my preference in performing this basic rite of citizenship.

If you haven’t voted already, be sure to vote next Tuesday.

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Please, please, FAA: no cellphones in flight

The Federal Aviation Administration has just removed restrictions on the use of electronic devices in flight.

Airplane passengers now can play Internet games, surf the Web, send emails … all that kind of stuff.

Has doomsday just inched a little closer?

I refer to the possibility of the FAA lifting restrictions on in-flight cellphone use. I hereby beg the flight regulators to never, ever let that occur.

I am ignorant as to how the technology works at 30,000-plus feet in the air. I guess these gadgets can pick up a signal from somewhere to operate. As for cellphones, I always have presumed they run on towers back on Earth. You get too far from a tower and you lose your connection.

There’s a fundamental issue involved with allowing cellphones aboard commercial airliners. It’s called “passenger safety.”

So help me — and I’m not alone in stating this — I don’t know what I would do if I had to sit for any length of time next to a passenger gabbing on a cellphone about nothing in particular.

I hope my fear about the FAA’s next step is unfounded. I hope the regulators understand the risk that passengers are putting on themselves if the FAA allows them to gab incessantly on cellphones while cruising tens of thousands of feet above Earth’s surface.

I’m OK with allowing emails and Internet surfing. But the FAA has just reached the outer limit of what I believe is acceptable aboard a commercial airplane.

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