I have a nominee for the Most Miserable Job on Planet Earth.

It might be White House press secretary. And this job’s misery crosses the political divide. Press flacks for Democratic and Republican presidents share a common bond: The media by and large detest them.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/jay-carney-white-house-91717.html?hp=l2

Jay Carney is the current White House press spokesman and he’s been getting a snootful from his the media types who fill the briefing room every day. Seems that Carney’s been questioning the motives behind some of the grilling. He’s been showing open disdain for youthful reporters – even though he looks like a kid himself.

U.S. history is full of beleaguered White House press secretaries. They’ve run afoul of the media when the going got tough in the White House. Carney is really no different in that regard.

What makes Carney’s current plight interesting to me is that the conservative media seem to think the so-called “mainstream media” have given President Obama a free ride during his time in office. Carney and his predecessor, Robert Gibbs, would argue that nothing of the sort has happened. Indeed, the media have been pretty tough on Obama as he has struggled to get Congress to enact legislation. Carney now is finding out just how tough the media can get when controversy erupts inside the West Wing.

At the risk of looking like a name-dropper, I’ll bring up the name of one gentleman who came from a little different mold than many other WH press flacks. The late George Christian served as press secretary for President Johnson from 1966 until 1969 and later opened a public relations firm in Austin. My understanding many years after his service in the White House is that the press genuinely liked and respected Christian, even as he tried to speak for a president bedeviled by a war in Vietnam that was going quite badly.

I developed a long-distance relationship with him starting in the late 1980s, not long after I moved to Texas. On occasion, I would call his Austin office to talk about Texas politics and trends. He always took the time to answer every question I posed. He was a true gentleman. I regret I never shook his hand, but I did consider him a valuable source whenever I needed some unvarnished information on anything happening within Texas government. The man knew his way around the state capitol building.

I cannot imagine George Christian getting into the kind of tussles that are plaguing Jay Carney. What’s more, if he were in the job today, I might look elsewhere to find the Most Miserable Job on Planet Earth.

No one at Amarillo City Hall has yet imposed any mandatory water-use restrictions on those of us who need to use it.

Maybe the time is coming sooner than many of us think.

The Texas Tribune is reporting a significant drop in the water levels of the Ogallala Aquifer that flows under our feet.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/22/ogallala-aquifer-texas-panhandle-suffers-big-drop/

The Tribune noted this: “The vast majority of Texas is enduring a drought, but the Panhandle has been especially hard hit, causing farmers to pump more water to make up for the lack of rain. That depletes the amount of water stored in the aquifer over the long term, which means future generations will find less water to pump to grow crops.”

Irrigated agriculture accounts for more than 90 percent of all water consumed in the Panhandle, so perhaps the target of these conservation measures ought to be someone other than city folks who like to keep their lawns green and their cars clean.

Amarillo has been investing heavily in purchasing water rights. The city figures it has enough water for the next, oh, century or two. But given that we don’t tend to think strategically beyond the next generation, the outlook seems satisfactory.

The findings suggest “thick” bands of water, such as between Plainview and Clovis, N.M., where farmers can keep irrigating. Other areas reveal thinner bands of water that might force irrigated farmland to become dry. The nature of the drought that has plagued the region in recent years, well, that may spell doom for many food producers.

I’m no water planner and I depend on a lot of folks with intimate knowledge of this issue to keep me informed.

Something tells me, though, that when the water level registers as significant a drop in the past year as it has under the Panhandle, someone ought to start drawing up mandatory measures to slow it down.

Here it comes again … the debate over whether the federal government should rush to the aid of stricken Americans without cutting costs in other areas to pay for it.

I cannot believe we’re having this argument.

Moore, Okla., has been torn to pieces by an F5 tornado. The cost in human lives and property is still being calculated from the storm that ripped through Moore on Monday. The suffering has been beyond anything I can imagine. The folks there need Americans’ help.

But now we’re hearing talk that some in Congress might not approve emergency expenditures until lawmakers can offset the cost of the aid with budget cuts. Astoundingly, I understand that Oklahoma’s two Republican U.S. senators, Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, might be among those who will insist on cuts before allocating the funds for their stricken constituents.

We’ve traveled this road quite a lot in recent times. Hurricane Sandy relief for New York and New Jersey residents was held up for months over this kind of debate. Aid to Joplin, Mo., residents also got delayed in 2011 after a tornado tore through that community.

Fiscal tightwads do make the point that the nation must watch its expenses. I get that. What I fail to grasp, though, is the lack of urgency to help those in dire need.

I’ve always thought Americans were wired to set aside politics when disaster strikes. The tragedy that leveled huge sections of Moore, Okla., in my view, qualifies as one of those events.

Gov. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., has made a vow all elected executives must make in the face of unspeakable tragedy.

Her state will rebuild the community smashed to pieces by Mother Nature’s immense wrath.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/05/21/oklahoma-tornadoes/2344923/

Somehow, I have to believe Fallin will make good on her pledge.

This is the kind of event that makes governors – not to mention presidents – earn their salary. In Fallin’s case, it’s $128,000 annually. She will deserve every penny if she does her job correctly, and I’m quite sure she will.

The massive twister that tore Moore, Okla., apart on Monday is being called one of Planet Earth’s epic tragedies. The death toll is 24 at the moment and it likely will climb once the debris starts getting cleared out. There well might be some miracles to occur, with survivors climbing out of the ruins. Let us hope that is the case.

But as these disasters keep mounting, I cannot help but be moved by the presence of mind these government chief execs show in times of extreme heartache. Most of the time these events are caused by forces beyond our control. Occasionally, human beings bring intense suffering.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie continues to serve as a champion for his constituents still recovering from the October 2012 superstorm called Sandy that ravaged his state. Texas Gov. Rick Perry stood tall when the fertilizer plant exploded in West. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick became the face and voice of his state as law enforcement authorities hunted down those responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15. I was proud as well of the strength that President Bush demonstrated while standing on the debris pile at Ground Zero the week of 9/11 when – with his arm draped around the New York City firefighter – told a crowd of first responders that “the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

These events transcend partisan politics and somehow make the political bickering between the parties seem even more petty than they at times can become.

Gov. Fallin didn’t run for office expecting this kind of tragedy. Indeed, no elected official anticipates ever having to rally his or her constituents when they endure the grief that has struck the good folks of Moore.

However, this is why they serve. Good luck, Gov. Fallin, as you navigate your way through this horrifying crisis.

You know …

I subscribe to the time-and-place theory of keeping one’s mouth shut. That is, I dislike intensely those who toss spit wads from the cheap seats whenever horrific tragedy strikes and they start laying blame for its cause.

Two cases come to mind.

One of them involves lefties who are saying that the Moore, Okla., tornado is the result of manmade global warming. The air is so full of carbon emissions that the storms emanating from weather systems have grown in intensity and, thus, we see events such as the one that devastated Moore on Monday.

Maybe, maybe not.

The other comes from the other side of the spectrum, specifically from a pulpit used by a well-known TV preacher who – and this one is just stunning – said on the 700 Club that the Moore twister occurred because the good folks there didn’t pray enough. Pat Robertson has just uttered only the latest in a string of ridiculous utterances involving perceived consequences brought to those who don’t, in his mind, pay enough attention to God.

Here’s a link to the idiocy that came out of Robertson’s mouth.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/video-pat-robertson-blames-tornado-victims-not-praying

There might be a time to assess responsibility for what has devastated many thousands of lives and destroyed people’s property. President Obama said today that the folks in Moore will have “grief to absorb” before they begin the mind-numbing task of rebuilding their community.

Why not just let these folks grieve, mourn, weep, comfort each other and begin the long journey back from their misery? There will be a time to ponder all the rest of it. Now is not that time.

U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul has made a not-too-bold prediction.

The Benghazi tragedy of Sept. 11, 2012 will bedevil former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s expected bid for the presidency in 2016, said the Texas Republican.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/hillary-clinton-michael-mccaul-benghazi-91660.html?hp=l6

Uhhh, let me think about that one for a minute.

Yep, I’m sure it will haunt HRC. Why? Because congressional Republicans such as McCaul will ensure that it does.

Clinton was secretary of state when the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya came under siege on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Four people died in the battle, including the American ambassador to Libya. Clinton has been pounded by GOP critics for all kinds of things real and/or imagined. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he would have fired Clinton had he been president at the time.

It’s turning out, though, that the Benghazi tragedy produced a massive misjudgment at many levels, but it doesn’t constitute the kind of Watergate-style treatment that it’s been getting. There doesn’t to appear to have a cover-up or any other criminal activity, as McCaul and other leading congressional Republicans are suggesting.

Clinton is considered to be the prohibitive favorite to be the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 2016. She’s expected to decide by sometime in 2014 whether to make the run.

So, I’m quite sure Chairman McCaul is right that Benghazi will haunt her – and he’ll do his level best to scare up the ghosts.

I’m getting soft in my old age.
There once was a time when I could watch video images of people suffering from Mother Nature’s wrath, or the wrath that humans have brought to others. No longer.
The Moore, Okla., tornado has brought tears to my eyes as I watch the people struggling now in its aftermath. President Obama has issued a disaster declaration to “expedite” federal relief that must speed toward Oklahoma and just watching him speak a few moments ago – offering a nation’s prayers and love to the stricken residents of Oklahoma – also made my eyes well up.
I couldn’t watch the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. I cannot watch the video of those coping with the West, Texas fertilizer plant blast. The Joplin, Mo., tornado of 2011 is too much for me to watch. As the years have passed since 9/11, I no longer am able to watch video of that horrifying event unfolding. The scenes of the Oklahoma City federal courthouse bombing in April 1995, with the children’s teeth chattering in the cold as they waited for parents to pick them up after the blast? Can’t watch that, either.
But we know we have to stand with our fellow Americans in this terrible time.
Moore will rebuild – eventually. They know how to do it, as they’ve done so in recent years while recovering from a May 1999 twister that blew the city apart.
A friend of mine wrote Monday that the scenes from Moore make the Texas Panhandle drought seem almost “pleasant.”
Today I am counting my blessings and sending them east toward Moore.

The news out of Oklahoma is grim.

A huge tornado has ripped through Moore, Okla., a town just south of Oklahoma City. News of the latest twister reminds me of a tour my wife and I took through that very town not long after the previous killer storm blew it apart.

We were visiting with the parents of a former colleague of mine. My former colleague is a native of Moore. His parents still lived there in 1999 when we visited them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Bridge_Creek_%E2%80%93_Moore_tornado

We went on a drive through the stricken neighborhoods. Fortunately, our hosts’ home wasn’t damaged by that storm. Incidentally, they’ve since moved out of there and are now living in McKinney, north of Dallas.

But the damage of that 1999 storm was incomprehensible. Entire blocks were leveled. Adjacent to them were neighborhoods that remained intact. The Almighty has this strange way of guiding these storms. Go figure.

We were told of how one high school had been evacuated and how the students were forced to attend class in a rival school while their own campus was repaired.

The city eventually repaired itself from that terrible event more than a dozen years ago.

Now this. By all accounts, today’s disaster seems as ghastly as that earlier one.

And all this just highlights the power over which we mere human beings have no control.

We’re left now just to lend a hand when and where we can and, of course, offer prayer to the very God that delivered this horror to Moore.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is so sure of himself these days that he believes those responsible for the Internal Revenue Service scandal should go to prison.

Never mind a couple of key facts. One is that we don’t even know yet at which level the IRS matter emanated, let alone who did it. Two, we don’t even have all the facts.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/bobby-jindal-irs-91577.html?hp=f2

Jindal is considered a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016, so he’s going to get his licks in while he can. Sure, there’s plenty to hit.

The IRS matter involves the behavior of the taxing agency regarding conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status under federal law. It’s been revealed that the agency got pretty tough with conservative groups seeking such status, kind of like what happened to liberal groups seeking the status during the Bush administration.

The current stink has brought about a couple of forced resignations, as well as a pledge from President Obama to work with Congress to fix the problem. That’s not good enough for some key GOP leaders, who want to see folks tried, convicted and imprisoned.

Jindal seems to want to get right to the imprisonment part, which is what suggested to a group of political activists recently.

I’m aware, along with the rest of the nation, that this story is an important one. I don’t like the notion of The Taxman dropping the hammer unfairly on a group based on that organization’s political leanings.

Can’t we just hold off on the jail talk until we get some more facts sorted out?

Who did it? Who ordered it? When did the authorities know and what did they do when they learned about it? Was there a cover-up?

I’m all ears regarding those key questions.

Well, there goes my interest in the Triple Crown of horse racing.

A beast named Oxbow won the Preakness today. The horse that won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, Orb, didn’t make it.

So, there goes any chance of my watching the Belmont Stakes.

You see, I’m kind of a fair-weather horse racing fan. I’ll watch only the Belmont Stakes on one condition: if the same horse wins the first two races of this Triple Crown.

It’s been a good while since a horse won the Triple Crown. Affirmed won it in 1978, just a year after Seattle Slew turned the trick. And it was the great Secretariat who made mincemeat out of the Belmont field in 1973. That, honestly, was the first time I ever got excited about a horse race.

Secretariat had set race records in the Derby and Preakness. He was the heavy favorite to win the Belmont and become the first Triple Crown winner since 1948. My wife and I lived in a small house in Portland, Ore., at the time. We settled down to watch the Belmont that year.

Secretariat not only won the race, the set some kind of record, winning it by 31 lengths. There’s that great shot of jockey Ron Turcotte looking back toward the field as the horse pounded down the stretch. Turcotte said later he looked back because he couldn’t hear the usual sounds one hears in a horse race, such as hooves and other horses’ grunts.

This year, though, the Belmont Stakes is just another horse race. I’m now waiting for next year.