Monthly Archives: January 2014

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Loop 335 facing stressful time in Amarillo

Driving south on Soncy Road this morning, my attention turned to that big retail-residential complex going up just west of Hillside Christian Church.

It took forever to lay the foundation for it, but now the framing has begun. It’ll be a huge boon to the west end of the city — and figures to remake what once had been called a “loop” around Amarillo, Loop 335.

We’ve all seen that the loop doesn’t serve that purpose so much now. It’s now just one more busy street that’s going to get a lot busier once the new complex is completed.

I then thought about something I read recently about how the Texas Department of Transportation is going to start work soon on the southern end of Loop 335, turning it into a “controlled access” thoroughfare from Bell to points east. That will mean TxDOT will make access onto the loop more restrictive, I reckon by getting rid of the cross street access onto the street. The state will erect on- and off-ramps to create something of a highway that skirts the southern edge of a city that’s growing.

One of the mysteries that continues to nag me is how Loop 335 became such a mishmash. My understand all along is that it was built to serve motor vehicle traffic the way Loop 289 does in Lubbock. Loop 289 is a controlled access highway as it circles the Hub City. If you need to get to the other side of the city, take the loop and zip around until you find the exit you want.

Loop 335 doesn’t have that characteristic. It’s just a really busy street, especially from Interstate 40 south to 45th Avenue. Travel farther south toward Hillside Road and you see even more development sprouting up.

To what end is TxDOT’s plan for the southern loop? I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Meantime, Soncy Road continues to evolve into something to be determined later.

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Yes, even babies can get a TSA pat-down

We are living in a strange new world, brought to us to by some terrorists who on Sept. 11, 2001 attacked the United States of America by using commercial jetliners as deadly weapons.

Everyone who boards an airplane is subject to potentially intense scrutiny by security agents working for the federal government.

Isn’t that right, Alec Baldwin?

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/alec-baldwin-5-month-old-daughter-selected-tsa-pat-article-1.1593109

Baldwin was returning from a vacation with his wife and five-month-old daughter, Carmen, when Transportation Security Administration agents decided to pat down — gulp! — the baby.

The sometimes-tempestuous actor tweeted about the incident, signing off with the hashtag #travelingUSisadisgrace.

I won’t get into Baldwin’s previous run-ins with flight crews and airport security officials, but I feel an odd obligation to defend the TSA in this latest incident.

I’m not sure how I would react if I was traveling, say, with my 11-month-old granddaughter and some TSA agent pulled Emma out of a line and started patting her down. I might express more-than-mild surprise, I suppose.

However, from a distance as it relates to little Carmen getting frisked, I have the luxury of being able to reflect just a bit.

Consider a couple of things here:

The bad guys who killed all those people on 9/11 told the world that virtually any act of evil is possible when flying on an jetliner. We also know that terrorists would use any means necessary — any means at all — to harm others. That means they would be fully capable of arming infants with explosive devices.

What’s more, it is totally plausible that someone seeking to sneak contraband into a country — say, drugs or weapons — might consider stuffing it into a baby’s diaper. Is it possible? The question you have to wonder, though, is its probability. Why take the chance to assume that such a thing cannot happen?

I’ve been aggravated myself by overzealous TSA agents in the years since 9/11. My wife and I have traveled some overseas and we’ve been subjected to intense scrutiny by security agents. You haven’t lived, for example, until you’ve been interrogated by an Israeli airport security guard at David Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.

One consideration in this Baby Baldwin pat-down caper has to be how the TSA agent handled it. Was he or she discreet? Was the agent courteous and did the agent explain fully why? My wife and I were leaving Venizelos International Airport in Athens in November 2001 — two months after 9/11 — and had every luggage item searched meticulously by an agent, who took the time to apologize profusely for the intrusion.

Should it be routine to frisk every baby who flies on these commercial jetliners? No. I do get, though, the need to take extra precaution, even if it involves an act that seems ludicrous.

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Good news and bad news about governor’s race

The campaign for Texas governor has a good-news, bad-news feel about it.

First, the bad news: The campaign has hit the low road early on.

Now, the good news: The end of this campaign is still a long ways off, meaning that it will arrive with the general election, not the primaries that are just a little more than a month away.

I refer to the parties’ presumptive nominees: Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis.

As the Texas Tribune’s Ross Ramsey points out, it’s becoming a war of words already, and the words have little to do so far with policy differences.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/27/contest-governor-war-about-words/

Abbott and his team are taking Davis to task for some fuzziness in her personal story. Davis and her team are responding with cries of “sexism!” in Abbott’s criticism and some ill-chosen words about whether Abbott has ever “walked in my shoes.”

Davis’s personal story involves divorce and her struggles as a single mother. It turns out she hasn’t been quite as forthcoming about the details of her marriages and her economic struggles.

Meanwhile, the senator said something about Abbott having never “walked” in her shoes. Well, it turns out Abbott doesn’t walk at all, given that he has been crippled since his 20s when a tree fell on him as he was jogging in Houston.

Both sides are trading barbs and jabs and are calling each other all sorts of unkind names.

We’re still awaiting some serious talk about how they would govern Texas.

The primaries are all but decided already. Abbott and Davis will be the nominees. It’s time to start talking about education, about state spending priorities, about job growth, water management, energy development, the environment … you know, the kinds of policy matters that should concern Texans.

We’re waiting for the name-calling to cease.

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Congressman is gone; don’t end investigation

Trey Radel has bid adieu to the House of Representatives, which means — more than likely — the end of an ethics investigation into the act that got him into trouble.

The probe should go forward.

Radel resignation likely ends ethics investigation

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, has called for the continuation of the investigation by the House ethics committee.

To what end? How about sending a message to lawmakers who mess up that the threat of an investigation isn’t just for political purposes, to pressure them to leave office.

Radel pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cocaine possession when he tried to buy the drug from an undercover narcotics cop in Washington, D.C. He went into rehab, came out and then today announced his resignation from Congress, after serving for less than a full term.

He’s not the first lawmaker to leave under a cloud. Democratic Reps. David Wu of Oregon, Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois and Republican Rep. Nathan Deal of Georgia all left Congress while under investigation. Once they blew the joint, the probes ended. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., also was being investigated. He quit the Senate and the Senate ethics panel released its report a month later.

CREW thinks there’s more behind Radel’s resignation and wants questions answered. The group wants to know, for example, who introduced Radel to his drug dealer? Did Radel share his cocaine with anyone?

Ethics investigations shouldn’t be about politics. They should seek answers to why lawmakers flout the law, the rules of ethical conduct and should make strong recommendations that the entire Congress should adopt.

Sadly, this often isn’t the case. Trey Radel is but the latest example of an ethics probe that gets derailed because committee members seemingly don’t want to bother with examining the conduct of someone who’s no longer serving.

It should matter to them. They, too, serve the public — and the public deserves a Congress that behaves ethically.

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Battle of the Bases looms in 2014

It’s looking like President Obama is going to toss aside any pretense of bipartisanship when he stands before the Congress on Tuesday night for his State of the Union speech.

Let’s call it the next shot in the Battle of the Political Bases.

Obama’s big speech: Banging base drum

The president is going to call for wage equality, which will please his liberal base and displease the conservative base.

The liberals comprise the bedrock of the Democratic Party — to which Obama belongs. The conservatives make up the foundation of the Republican Party — to which most House members belong.

I was rather hoping the president would seek more of a middle-road approach to governing. Silly me. I guess he’s grown weary of the continuing battles he keeps waging with intransigent GOP lawmakers who keep insisting he give more, more, and more still.

He’s ceded ground on tax policy. That hasn’t been enough. Spending policies have resulted in dramatic reductions in the budget deficit. That, too, is insufficient. Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay’s terrorist holding camp. It remains open, which should please the other guys — but apparently it hasn’t.

So now he’s going to the mat on wage inequality. The plan apparently is for him to reveal it all in his State of the Union address.

Do not look for a hint of bipartisan agreement on that one, folks.

The bipartisan political warfare will go on.

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Stockman reveals his whereabouts

Steve Stockman was touring the Middle East and Europe instead of casting votes for his congressional constituents, the U.S. Senate candidate said today.

There. That settles it. Yes? Not exactly.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/steve-stockman-trip-102638.html?hp=l7

Stockman is a Republican firebrand who’s challenging Sen. John Cornyn in this year’s GOP primary. Why wasn’t he voting on measures? Because he doesn’t have “a zillion dollars” like Cornyn. He said has to campaign for the office.

But … why was he in Egypt, Israel, Russia and the United Kingdom? Are there voters in those countries he needs to court?

He needs to get back to the business of studying issues and then voting on them when they come before the House. That’s what his constituents are paying him to do.

As for campaigning for another office, he can fly home to Texas on weekends — which many lawmakers do routinely — and hit the campaign trail.

Come to Amarillo, Mr. Stockman, and tell us why Republicans should toss out the state’s senior senator for yet another new guy.

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Congressman needed to go

Trey Radel deserves a pat on the back today for doing the right thing.

The Florida Republican congressman is going to announce his resignation from the House of Representatives after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor cocaine possession charge.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/01/27/trey_radel_to_resign_house_seat_121366.html

If only other allegedly high-minded public servants would be so noble.

Radel had to go. The state’s Republican establishment had deserted him. Others were lining up to run for his safely Republican seat, including the guy he succeeded in the House, former Rep. Connie Mack.

Why is this an important resignation? Because some Americans — me included — want our elected representatives to represent the best in us. Radel got caught possessing cocaine, a serious drug that has been known to kill those who use it. He sits in a body that makes laws to punish people severely for using this illegal substance. Therefore, Trey Radel no longer could in good conscience continue to serve in that body.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that we should elect saints to public office. Those who take an oath to honor and defend the Constitution, though, should have clean hands.

Radel’s hands got very dirty.

Other members of Congress haven’t been so noble. They’ve hung on to their seats while they fight criminal charges. Others manage to embarrass their constituents, not to mention their families with their roguish, boorish and occasionally illegal behavior.

I’ll give Rep. Radel praise for doing what he had to do by stepping away from the public arena.

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Cancel Olympics? You must be joking

U.S. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul says he’s open to canceling the Winter Olympics in Russia because of security concerns.

Someone needs to throw some cold water on that Texan’s face. Snap out of it, Mr. Chairman.

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/russia/196442-house-homeland-security-chairman-terrorist-threat-on-olympics

Yes, there’s a threat to the Olympics. Ever since 9/11, there’s been security concern at every international event as large as the Olympics, winter or summer. It goes with the territory, in my view.

Canceling the games because terror organizations are making threats? What’s new about that?

The Salt Lake City Olympics of 2002 went off without a hitch, even though it had been beset by financial worries and incompetence. Two years later, the Athens Olympics were considered threatened. The Greeks mobilized their entire military establishment and, with the help of U.S. and other intelligence services, pulled off a stunning event. The 2006 Olympics in Japan came and went. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing were spectacular, even with the pollution that threatened athletes’ health. The Canadians’ biggest worry in 2010 was whether there would be enough snow in Vancouver; there was and those games were staged beautifully. The London Olympics of 2012 had similar security concerns, but the Brits did what they had to do to protect the athletes and the thousands of spectators who watched the events.

The Russians are pulling out all the stops to ensure the Sochi Olympics will be carried off. The Russians have deployed 100,000 troops into what’s being called a “ring of steel” around the Olympic village. If any military force knows how to clamp down on security, it would seem to be the Russians.

Past and present Olympians are urging organizers to ensure the games proceed. Yes, the threats are real. However, they were real in advance of prior Olympics — and they became a reality as far back as 1972, when Palestinian terrorists killed those Israeli athletes in Munich.

I am not dismissing the threat. I do not believe they pose a sufficient threat to cancel an entire Olympic Games. Doing so would give terrorists precisely what they want.

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Waiting for Stockman to come clean

I’m waiting anxiously for U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman’s revelation as to where he’s been hiding out the past few weeks.

The goofy Texas congressman is running for the Senate against incumbent Republican John Cornyn. He made his announcement with a bit of a splash. Then when the ripple disappeared, so did he.

The tea party favorite really doesn’t — or shouldn’t — have a chance in Hades of winning the Republican primary this coming March. But with Texas politics being as volatile as it is — especially on the GOP side — nothing would totally surprise me.

Stockman has been MIA for some time. He has canceled campaign appearances amid some questions about whether he has the endorsements he claims.

Late this past week, he tweeted something about an announcement as to where he’s been. I’m hoping he’ll tell an anxious public where he’s going, such as whether he’s going to keep running for the Senate.

A part of me wishes he’s been hiking along some mysterious trail, a la former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who had his staff lie about his whereabouts, only to have it revealed he was cavorting in Argentina with a woman other than his then-wife Jenni.

But we’ll see come Monday where Steve Stockman’s been hiding.

Welcome back to the spotlight, congressman.

I hope.

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Is Bill Clinton going to run as well in 2016?

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., may be considering a run for the presidency in 2016, which is partly why he appeared today on “Meet the Press.”

As a potential GOP candidate, therefore, the conversation turned to — who else? — Hillary Rodham Clinton, a possible (if not probable) Democratic candidate for president.

Paul then dropped this little nugget: If the former secretary of state runs, the impeachment of her husband, the former president, could become an issue.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rand-paul-women-have-already-won

Interesting, yes?

It’s also a bit of a stretch for those of us who want to judge the former first lady, U.S. senator and chief diplomat on her own merits. Paul sees it differently, which is no surprise. He and those in his party are going to seek every possible advantage they can find — even if they make things up — against the Hillary Juggernaut that could await them in 2016.

Paul said Democrats’ assertion that they are the party that cares about women doesn’t hold true, given President Clinton’s dalliance with a young female intern that led to his impeachment and Senate trial.

“Meet the Press” host David Gregory asked: “Is it something that Hillary Clinton should be judged on if she were a candidate in 2016?” Paul’s response: “Yeah – no, I’m not saying that. This is with regard to the Clintons, and sometimes it’s hard to separate one from the other. But I would say that, with regard to his place in history, that it certainly is a discussion.”

OK, he said “no” after he said “yeah,” meaning that it is an issue.

I would beg to differ. Hillary Clinton has made her mark on U.S. history, first as a U.S. senator from New York who distinguished herself in the eight years she served in that body. Then came her unsuccessful run for the presidency in 2008 in which she gave eventual nominee Barack Obama all he could handle. Then she got the call to become secretary of state in the Obama administration, and she distinguished herself in that service.

She’s a player and a big hitter all on her own.

Whatever her husband did to warrant impeachment should have no little if any bearing on a possible second run for the presidency. She’ll have her own record to defend.

However, as NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd noted, her task will be to run as “Hillary” not as a “Clinton.” I’m guessing Hillary is going figure it out.