Monthly Archives: April 2014

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Burwell a lock for HHS boss, but first …

Sylvia Mathews Burwell should be able to skate easily from her job as head of the Office of Management and Budget into her new post as health and human services secretary.

She’ll likely get there, but it will be far from an smooth ride from one high-powered government job to another.

You see, the U.S. Senate — which already has confirmed her to the OMB job — will have this other issue to continue litigating. It’s called the Affordable Care Act. Burwell is now the newest woman on the hot seat in that matter, given that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has resigned and is likely headed back to Kansas.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/sylvia-mathews-burwell-democrats-obamacare-affordable-care-act-105641.html?hp=l4

Sebelius came under intense fire for the handling of the ACA rollout and the collapse of the Healthcare.gov website when the enrollment opened up in January. It all happened on her watch at HHS and she deserved a lot of the pounding she received.

Now she’s on her way out, apparently with few expressions of regret from the White House at her departure.

Burwell is known to be a cool customer who will be able to handle Republican senators’ expected tough grilling during her confirmation hearing. She’ll need all the coolness she can muster, as GOP senators likely are going to beat the daylights out of her over how she intends to implement an established law that Republicans still hate with a passion.

So, as with everything political these days, what’s supposed to be an easy transition will resemble something quite different. Hold on tightly, Ms. Burwell.

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Ingraham joins ABC … so what?

Media Matters is a left-wing journalism watchdog group that takes great delight in exposing Fox News Channel’s big lie that it is the “fair and balanced” cable news network.

I agree — usually — with Media Matters’s take on Fox.

However, I think the group if off base in attacking ABC News for hiring conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham as its newest “contributor.”

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/04/13/meet-abc-news-newest-contributor-laura-ingraham/198871

Why go after Media Matters on this one?

Well, I am one who likes to see news/commentary outlets offer wide-ranging points of view. Do I agree with Ingraham’s world view? No. However, she isn’t the first conservative voice to be heard on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday news talk show. Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol is a regular on the show, as was syndicated conservative columnist George Will before he left ABC to join the Fox News Channel’s Sunday talk show as a contributor.

ABC, as does NBC’s “Meet the Press,” quite often invites conservatives and liberals to sit at the same round table to discuss issues of the day. They debate. They even argue.

What is so wrong with that?

CNN, arguably the pioneer news network, does much the same thing on any of its myriad political talk shows. Newt Gingrich and Van Jones — a rightie and a leftie, respectively — are regulars on CNN’s revamped “Crossfire” program.

I don’t see why ABC is getting so worked up over Ingraham. Yes, she’s provocative and she occasionally crosses — what I consider, at least — the line of good taste and decency in making her points.

You’ve heard the old term about the “marketplace of ideas.” It’s broad, wide, deep and varied. Let all voices be heard. We’ll be the judges of who’s right or wrong.

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In need of a blog intervention

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on impending retirement.

My name is John and I am a blogaholic.

There. It’s out there for all the world to see and read. How do I know this?

Well, I have just returned from a four-night vacation in one of the most beautiful regions of Texas and I was in and out (mostly out) of Internet service for the entire time. It drove me crazy. Nuts. I was getting fidgety, nervous, looking for things to occupy my time when we weren’t touring cool sites or just relaxing in a spring-fed pool.

My wife and I ventured to the Davis Mountains region. We stayed at a first-class state park in Balmorhea. We met many nice and helpful folks.

We parked our fifth wheel, set up camp and went about enjoying our time away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Except that I am a blogger. I do it for myself and for Panhandle PBS, the local Amarillo public television outlet based at Amarillo College.

I did get three blogs posted during those four nights on the road. It was, however, a challenge.

I figured out that I could write my text on a Word document and save it to my laptop, which now goes with me wherever my wife and I go. I couldn’t get any Internet connection inside the fifth wheel, but I could get it outdoors. So, I would write my text on the Word document, then try to connect to the ‘Net outside and get this stuff posted. It would work — some of the time.

But here’s where it gets sticky and where I can justify a possible need for an intervention: I spent a fairly fruitful, extremely rewarding and modestly successful career in daily print journalism. For nearly 37 years I cranked out copy like there was no tomorrow. I got pretty good at it.

Then, on Aug. 30, 2012, it all came to a crashing halt. The skills I had applied for more than three decades were deemed by the higher ups at the newspaper where I worked to be no longer relevant in today’s changing media environment. They called it a “company reorganization.” I’ll call it something else that is not suitable for this venue, as I shy away from four-letter-word profanity.

My point is that after a lengthy career of writing text and then getting it published immediately, I cannot shake the desire to do that very thing — even as my wife and I evolve into fully retired folks. We’re not quite there, but we’re well on the way.

But if I’m going to continue blogging on politics and other things under my own High Plains Blogger and provide public affairs TV commentary for PanhandlePBS.org, I’ve got to figure out how to cope with traveling into regions of the country that aren’t as well connected as others.

Do I need help? I’m all ears.

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No visa for Iranian U.N. envoy

Hamid Aboutalebi is Iran’s latest pariah in the eyes of the U.S. State Department.

He is the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations and the United States has denied him a visa to enter this country, which is headquarters for the U.N. The reason for his banishment? He was part of the gang of thugs that took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and began a 444-day hostage crisis 35 years ago.

Iran says it will appeal the ban.

Let the Iranians complain all they want.

The State Department is acting within its rights.

That crisis, which erupted in November 1979, still sticks in the craw of many Americans. Aboutalebi supposedly was one of the “students” who stormed the embassy and took 53 Americans captive. The crisis ended U.S.-Iranian diplomatic relations, although likely not forever.

The hostage-taking was part of the Islamic revolution that overthrew the shah of Iran earlier that year and reportedly was in response to this country’s long-standing support of the shah’s regime.

Civilized countries, though, do not allow for the takeover of another nation’s sovereign territory, which is what describes embassy compounds.

This visa denial, of course, does complicate the on-going negotiations between Iran and six industrialized nations that are seeking to persuade the Iranians to abandon its nuclear program – which many governments around the world believe is intended to develop an atomic bomb. Iran insists its nuke program is meant for “peaceful” means.

Sure thing, Tehran.

One diplomatic action need not relate to another.

The Iranians ought to propose someone else to represent their country at the United Nations. Surely they can find someone whose hands aren’t stained by that disgraceful deed at the U.S. Embassy in Iran.

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Soldiers made of stern stuff

This is the latest in an occasional series of blogs commenting on impending retirement.

FORT DAVIS, Texas — I think I’ve discovered the ultimate hypothetical question.

Could I do what these guys did?

“These guys” were soldiers stationed at a rugged outpost in the Davis Mountains of far West Texas. They served from 1854 until 1891. They were charged with protecting settlers emigrating westward into New Mexico. They lived in harsh, desperate conditions far from anything resembling “civilization.”

The garrison comprised Buffalo Soldiers of African-American descent. They were rugged and they had to make do with provisions that came mostly from San Antonio, which required several days of travel.

What remains of the post has been turned into a National Historic Place administered by the U.S. National Park Service. Its hospital has been restored and replicated where possible, as have the enlisted men’s barracks. What used to serve as the chapel now consists of just two walls against rock cliffs.

My wife and I spent a day there touring the place and trying to come to grips with how difficult it must be for men called to serve in what had have been considered a God forsaken place far from anything they’d ever know. It was, after all, in the middle of the 19th century.

One of the more interesting exhibits taught us how the men coped with disease. Dysentery was a common affliction. One man died after being kicked in the stomach by a horse. Toothaches could present a serious and potentially deadly problem.

The men were sturdy, stout and tough as nails.

Back to the question: Could I do this?

Well, given the hypothetical nature of the question, I cannot come close to answering it. I came along a century later and grew up enjoying the creature comforts of life. I never knew such hardship.

I’ll just settle, therefore, for saluting the men who served our country under conditions we only can imagine.

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Messing with the message

The Texas General Land Office has come up with a far superior anti-littering slogan than the one that’s been taken hostage by right-wing politicians in our fair state.

The sign, which my wife and I saw on a weekend trip to the Davis Mountains region of far West Texas, reads “Drive Clean Across Texas.”

Excellent message, don’t you think?

The previous message, which still appears on some signs, states “Don’t Mess With Texas.” Taken literally, it, too, offers a nice admonition to drivers who might be inclined to toss an empty longneck beer bottle or a potato chip bag out the window of a speeding motor vehicle.

It no longer means what it was created to mean back when Garry Mauro was land commissioner and when his office adopted the campaign to fight littering in the state. Instead, the slogan has been perverted to represent some kind of misplaced machismo.

Gov. Rick Perry and other right-wingers have used the message as a warning to the federal government, telling them nasty feds to “don’t mess with Texas” by making us obey all those meddlesome federal laws enacted from the halls of Capitol Hill.

Now the state has a new slogan to remind motorists to keep their trash inside their vehicles. “Drive Clean Across Texas” has a sort of Texas-style slang feel to it. Plus, taken literally, it means what it says, although I know a few English teachers who would argue that it would be better to encourage motorists to drive “cleanly” across Texas.

Whatever. The new message is less prone to be used as a cheap political gimmick.

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Boehner: glutton for punishment

Word now is that U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is going to seek the speakership once again … if the Republicans gain control of the Senate and strengthen their control of the House.

Is this guy a glutton for punishment or what?

Members: Boehner will stay on

I had heard from someone close to the speaker some months ago that he’d had it up to here with the tea party wing of his party. Boehner, who hails from the so-called “establishment wing” of the GOP, has been fighting with the insurgents within his GOP caucus. He’s expressed growing frustration with their intransigence that, according to those who know him, goes against the speaker’s instincts to compromise when the opportunity presents itself.

Now comes word that he’s all in for the next Congress particularly if Republicans win control of the Senate and perhaps strengthen their grip on the reins of power in the House.

But will any of that make life easier for Boehner, who’ll have to carry the water for the tea party that could be emboldened even more in their efforts to stymie legislation?

I’m thinking not.

Which is why I’m also thinking that he just might call it a career after he’s re-elected from his Ohio congressional district.

This little back story just turn into a major act.

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HRC fires another 'campaign' salvo

Hillary Rodham Clinton ventured to the city of my birth and delivered what sounds to me like yet another shot in her still-to-be-announced campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Speaking to the World Affairs Council of Oregon in Portland, Clinton said the current no-compromise political climate in Washington has hurt the United States.

Gee, do you think?

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/04/hillary_clinton_tells_portland.html#incart_river_default

She’s saying far more than the obvious, of course. “Don’t vote for people who proudly tell you they won’t compromise,” she said to the crowd that jammed the hall to hear her words.

Indeed, Americans have gotten an overdose of what happens when zealots place their hands on the controls of government … which is that government stops working. They don’t know how to operate the levers. They refuse to listen to other points of view. They cannot bend for fear of breaking. They believe their way is the right way and other guys’ view will doom the country to, well, a miserable future.

Clinton is married to a man who knew how to compromise when he served as the 42nd president of the United States. Bill Clinton famously enacted the strategy called “triangulation,” in which he played both extremes — left and right — against each other to come up with policies that tracked more or less down the middle.

Indeed, the nation’s greatest legislators of the past 100 years or so knew “compromise” isn’t a four-letter word. They worked well with legislators on the other side: Ted Kennedy, Bob Dole, Hubert Humphrey, Everett Dirksen, Sam Rayburn, Mark Hatfield, Lyndon Johnson, the list can go on for a long time, but you get my drift.

My strong sense as well is that Clinton well might have included the current president in the “no compromise” category of modern politicians. Barack Obama blames Republicans for refusing to bend; the GOP fires back with some credibility that the president is afflicted with the same malady.

OK, so Clinton has said she’s “thinking about” running for president in two years. Duh!

Let’s prepare for a lot more of these kinds of talks from the former secretary of state and U.S. senator.

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Blade Runner testimony tough to hear

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Sitting thousands of miles away and only knowing about a case from I see on TV, I’m in no position to judge whether Oscar Pistorius is guilty of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

But oh man, it is tough listening to him testify in his own defense.

Pistorius, for those who’ve just landed from Mars, is the South African double amputee sprinter who competed in the 2012 London Olympics. He didn’t medal, but he won over a lot of hearts by competing with speedy men with two healthy legs. He earned the nickname “Blade Runner” because he runs on medal prostheses shaped like blades.

Then came the incident in which is girlfriend, a gorgeous model, was shot to death in the apartment the two of them shared. Pistorius said he thought Steenkamp was an intruder and shot through a bathroom door thinking he was taking out a criminal. He opened the door, he said, and discovered Reeva lying there dead.

Prosecutors say the couple had a huge argument and Pistorius ended it by shooting Steenkamp to death in a fit of rage.

The courtroom testimony has been riveting at times. The most dramatic of it has come from Pistorius himself. He has sobbed loudly while telling the court he loved the girl he shot. South African trial law allows defendants to be kept off camera while they’re testifying. Pistorius has not been shown sobbing. However, the camera shows family members sitting there, wiping tears away and embracing each other. It also shows Steenkamp’s family and you wonder what is going through their minds.

Perhaps the most interesting analysis has come from ESPN, which has noted that the prosecutor — who has been relentless in his questioning of Pistorius — runs the risk of turning him into a sympathetic character.

The sound of his crying on the stand has gotten to this long-distance observer, yours truly.

Then again, I’m a softie.

This is tough to watch, but I can’t turn away.

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Staffer quits, boss stays on the job

I can’t let this one pass.

The married female staff member who was caught making out with a married Louisiana congressman has been “taken off the payroll” while the congressman is staying on the job, pulling down his hefty six-figure salary.

I’m asking myself: Where is the justice in this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/vance-mcallister-staffer-fired_n_5112098.html

Republican Rep. Vance McAllister was elected in 2013 partly by touting his strong faith, his family values, not to mention his love for his wife. He was elected to fill out an unexpired term and is up for re-election this year to a full two-year term.

McAllister has apologized to his constituents, his wife, (presumably) to God, to the whole country for being caught on a video published by the Ouchita Citizen newspaper.

If there’s a “victim” in this caper, it’s the staffer. Melissa Peacock is married to Heath Peacock. She’s now out of a job as McAllister’s district scheduler. Mr. Peacock says he is “freaking devastated.” He went on to say, “I loved my wife so much.”

I couldn’t help but notice he used the past tense of the word “love.” I am presuming that’s just his emotions getting the better of him. Then again …

I know, of course, that people in high public offices have done worse things and declined to step down. I’m not going to presume that McAllister should resign his seat over this. I’d bet real money, though, that this incident is going to become Issue No. 1 in his bid to keep his seat come election time.

Given that he made such a public display of his devotion to his wife while winning the seat in the first place, it’ll be interesting to see how he portrays himself as he seeks to keep his job.

The voters of his congressional district will get to determine whether he stays or goes. … as they should.