Monthly Archives: June 2014

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Cleaner air a new focus

President Obama has unveiled a strategy that he hopes will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent.

Power-generating plants will have to reduce the emissions by 2030 or else face stiff penalties.

Cleaner air is a good thing. Spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is bad, as it contributes to the climate change scientists say is well under way around the world.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/06/02/epa_seeks_to_cut_power_plant_carbon_by_30_percent_122825.html

Oh, but just wait. This measure is going to be met with all kinds of hostile reaction.

The coal industry is going to lead the charge, as the coal-fired plants are the chief culprits. Who are the winners? Let’s try the natural gas industry — which, by the way, is flourishing in West Texas. Natural gas fires these plants, too, but does so more cleanly and it is cheaper than coal.

So, do you think our state’s government leadership will climb aboard the Environmental Protection Agency bandwagon and endorse the president’s new initiative?

Do … not … hold … your …. breath.

As with everything these days, politics gets in the way of doing the right thing.

The White House is occupied by a Democrat. Texas state government is populated by Republicans. Therefore, if one party proposes something, it’s a bad thing in the eyes of those in the other party.

Let’s remember something, though, if we’re going to politicize this argument. The 1970 Clean Air Act was signed into law — along with the creation of the EPA — by a Republican president of some note, a fellow named Richard M. Nixon.

Utility companies that rely heavily on coal-fired electricity likely will threaten to raise rates on customers to pay for the improvements being mandated by the EPA. Our electric utility isn’t as reliant on coal as many others, given that we have plenty of natural gas to fuel our electrical needs.

“The purpose of this rule is to really close the loophole on carbon pollution, reduce emissions as we’ve done with lead, arsenic and mercury and improve the health of the American people and unleash a new economic opportunity,” said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The rule is worth enforcing. I happen to be all in favor of cleaner air, even if it might cost a little bit more to breathe it.

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Show us the money, governor

Give credit it is due to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

He lured a massive corporate operation from California to Plano, a Dallas suburb. Perry also danged about $40 million in front of Toyota to make the move halfway across the country.

That’s 40 million public dollars, yours and mine.

However, the governor is acting as if the public doesn’t deserve to know the details of the transaction.

http://www.texasobserver.org/rick-perry-seeks-keep-details-toyota-incentives-secret/

He’s keeping the financial incentives secret.

Wait a minute, governor. That’s our money, isn’t it? I know you’re a man of means, but you didn’t write a personal check to the Toyota honchos, did you?

The governor’s office has gotten Freedom of Information requests from the Texas Observer and the Houston Chronicle. The idea is that since it’s public dough, the governor owes it to, um, the public to explain the incentive package that went to Toyota in the public’s name.

Perry’s office has declined the request, saying that revealing the details would reveal to competing states Texas’s economic strategy and enable them to sweeten deals that might lure prospective companies away from here.

The Observer’s Forrest Wilder reports: “Perry’s attorneys argue that releasing any information before the deal is finalized ‘would seriously disadvantage Texas by allowing other states to directly approach this entity with competing incentives.’”

Still, the governor isn’t messing with his own money. It’s ours and the governor should tell us what he’s doing with our money.

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Questions arise about Bergdahl's release

Questions and concerns have surfaced about the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from his Taliban captors.

They are legitimate and serious questions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/hagel-discusses-details-of-us-operation-to-exchange-taliban-detainees-for-captive-soldier/2014/06/01/551c21f8-e95f-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html

My most pressing concern is this: How is the United States going to ensure that the five high-ranking Taliban officials released from Guantanamo Bay prison do not re-enter the fight against this country?

We gave up these individuals in exchange for Bergdahl’s release after five years in captivity. He reportedly was in failing health and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said his release was expedited to “save his life.”

The Taliban terrorists were turned over to Qatar officials and have been placed on a one-year “travel restriction.” How does that work? U.S. officials reportedly worked out a deal to have Qatari officials sit on these guys for a year. After that? Who knows?

Here is where I hope the CIA and every other U.S. intelligence agency capable of taking part is doing their job. By that I have to hope that we’re keeping eyes on these monsters 24/7, watching every move they make. Do we need to know the particulars? I have no need to acquire such highly classified information, but I do hope our intelligence professionals are up to the task of keeping these guys in their sights at all times.

As to the questions about whether the Obama administration broke the law by negotiating with terrorists and doing it in secret, we have to accept that sometimes we have to do unseemly-looking deeds to accomplish a worthy goal. The administration says it did keep congressional sources informed of what was going on.

As long as we can keep the released Taliban officials on a very short leash and prevent them from turning against our forces, then I’m willing to accept the strategy employed to have one of our own men released from captivity.

Our spooks, however, had better not mess this up.

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Ideology paints non-ideological campaigns

Glenn Hegar is the Republican nominee for Texas comptroller of public accounts.

He wants to be the state’s bean-counter in chief. Hegar also wants voters to know that he’s a strong conservative. Does he necessarily tout his financial credentials? Not exactly. He talked during the primary campaign about his pro-life position and his religious devotion.

Interesting, yes?

Ryan Sitton is the GOP nominee for railroad commissioner. He said the same thing about himself as Hegar. He mailed out campaign literature touting his strong conservative credentials, including his strong support of gun owners rights.

Also interesting.

What’s strikes me, though, about these two examples is that the principals are seeking offices that have nothing to do with abortion, or God, or guns ownership. Hegar wants to be the comptroller, whose main job as defined by the Texas Constitution, is to provide legislators and the governor with an accurate accounting of the state’s fiscal condition. The job Sitton seeks is focused even more narrowly. Railroad commissioners regulate the oil and natural gas industry. That’s it. Heck they don’t even set policy for railroads or rail cars, which used to be part of their job.

We’re hearing a lot of ideological talk among candidates, almost exclusively on the Republican side, who are running for nuts-and-bolts offices.

I understand why legislative or congressional candidates would want to establish their ideological credentials with voters. They seek to write laws. The other folks simply carry out the laws enacted by lawmakers and signed by either the governor or the president of the United States.

I am hoping that as the fall campaign commences we hear more from the candidates about how they intend to manage the offices they seek and less from them about irrelevant ideology.

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Street light turns annoying

The older I get the more pet peeves I acquire.

It’s part of life, I reckon.

But one peeve that has annoyed me since I was, well, much younger is a light that turns red for no apparent reason, forcing me to stop — again for no apparent reason.

I encountered such a light today in downtown Amarillo.

My wife and I were traveling northbound on Buchanan Street, right in front of the Amarillo Civic Center when — presto! — the light at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts turned red. We braked quickly to stop; didn’t want a traffic ticket, you know.

Why the annoyance?

The light sits in front of the Globe-News center parking lot, which shortly before 1 p.m. today was empty. No vehicles could be seen on it. Anywhere.

Thus, the question: Why doesn’t the city traffic department turn that light off when no one is using the Globe-News Center?

The technology is there. The city can switch the light across Buchanan to blinking yellow — or it can just turn the signal off completely.

Let me reiterate: There is zero need to stop traffic at that location when nothing is happening at the performing arts venue.

I’m good now … until the next peevish bur gets under my saddle.

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Benghazi = Birtherism

It’s beginning to sound, to me at least, that the Benghazi story is going to stay in the news through the 2016 election cycle.

After the election, it will disappear.

http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/06/01/fox-panel-laughs-at-laura-ingrahams-unrelenting/199529

Why then? It’s becoming clearer by the week that right wing think tanks, media outlets and politicians want to keep the issue roiling as long as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in the hunt for the presidency during the next two years.

If she decides to run, which most folks think is a given, it will continue to be a discussion topic right up to Election Day. Then we’ll have the result. She’ll either be elected or defeated by a Republican; I’m assuming, of course, that she’ll be the Democratic nominee for president.

After that, the issue goes away. Quietly. Suddenly. Just disappears.

It kinda/sorta reminds me of the birtherism issue that dogged Barack Obama through two election cycles. There were those on the right who questioned whether he was constitutionally qualified to serve as president, alleging he was born in Kenya, rather than Hawaii.

We all heard the yammering, yes? Forget that we’ve heard very little from the left on the issue regarding another possible presidential candidate, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who actually was born in Canada. Mama Cruz is an American, however, which makes him a U.S. citizen.

Hey, wait a minute. Wasn’t President Obama’s mother an American, too, which made him qualified to serve as president — even if he had been born in a foreign country?

Whatever. The birthers stopped their preposterous notion the moment he was re-elected in 2012.

I’m betting the same thing will happen with this Benghazi matter, no matter the outcome of the House select panel’s investigation into that horrible Sept. 11, 2012 fire fight that killed four Americans at the consulate in Libya.

These “scandals” do have a way of materializing — and vaporizing — at politically opportune times.

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Texas turning blue? Maybe, but not soon

Texas Democrats think they have a shot at winning a statewide office this election year.

The governor’s race is not Opportunity One for Democrats. It’s the next race down on the ballot, the one for lieutenant governor, that’s giving Democrats some reason for hope.

I’m not sure about that optimism. Could be merely wishful thinking.

http://thehill.com/homenews/207814-dangers-lurk-for-gop-contenders-who-seek-to-build-bigger-tent

Then again …

The Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, state Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, is giving Democrats some early-campaign ammunition. How about when he said that undocumented immigrants are “invading” Texas? And how about his assertion that they’re bringing “Third World diseases” into the state?

Here is where Democratic political operatives are beginning to see some opportunity.

It rests with Patrick’s hot-blooded rhetoric that infuriates the state’s growing Latino population, which votes Democratic overwhelmingly. One big problem, though, remains for Democrats: Those new Texas residents vote in far fewer numbers than those who tend to support Republican candidates. I refer, of course, to the WASPs who turn out in far greater numbers.

Enter a group called Battleground Texas, which wants to break the Republican vise grip on every elected office in the state. This outfit wants to exploit the fiery stump talk from Patrick and turn it into a motive for Latinos to vote in greater numbers.

State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte is the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. She’s a pharmacist and a mother of six. She’s also a Latina. Is she the one who can crash through the GOP barrier? Texas Democrats think she’s the one.

Still, it’s a tall order for Van de Putte to succeed. Patrick is tough, relentless and he appeals to the state’s quite conservative voting base, which continues to outperform the state’s progressive base when all the votes are counted.

The top of the state ballot — with Republican Greg Abbott running against Democrat Wendy Davis for governor — remains strongly in favor of the GOP.

Given that the Texas lieutenant governor has more actual power than the governor, the second spot on the ballot ought to garner more attention, which suggests that Texas Democrats are going to channel more of their horsepower and resources into a race where a victory has the greater impact.

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Rio's Olympic prep hits some bumps

Imagine that. Getting ready to welcome the entire world to your home might be the most daunting task imaginable.

So the folks in Rio de Janeiro are learning.

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/work-on-olympic-golf-course-could-be-halted-053114

They’re trying to build a golf course to play host to an Olympic golf tournament at the 2016 Games. It might not get done.

Don’t worry just yet.

I keep thinking of what my ancestral homeys encountered when they hosted the Athens Olympics in 2004. They, too, faced daunting challenges and fears among International Olympic Committee brass that they wouldn’t be able to finish their preparation.

Chief among those worries was the infighting and bickering among the men who had been charged with organizing the event. Enter the woman, Gianna Angelopoulous Daskalaki — who prepared the Greeks’ bid to host the Games — to save the day. She did and the Games turned out to be among the most spectacular in recent memory.

They got all the venues done — on time. Barely so, but they got it done.

I’m not yet worried about whether the Brazilians will finish the job.

They’ve got two whole years to get it done.

Time to get busy, Rio.

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Let the FBI join the VA probe

U.S. John Cornyn has it right: It’s time to deploy the Federal Bureau of Investigation in this still-metastasizing scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/shinseki-had-to-go-and-now-its-time-for-a-criminal-probe.html/

Cornyn, R-Texas, wants the FBI to begin looking into whether there are criminal charges to be brought against VA staffers complicit in the deaths of veterans waiting too long for health care from an agency charged with caring for them.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has quit. The president of the United States has declared his anger over the treatment of veterans. How about calling your pal, the attorney general, Mr. President, and telling him to order the FBI to look at this matter?

This scandal is huge … and yes, it deserves the “scandal” label while most of the other stuff doesn’t rise to that level of deserved outrage.

Dallas Morning News blogger/editorial writer Mike Hashimoto hits it out of the park with this assertion: “Yes, Shinseki had to go, and there’s a long list of VA administrators at three dozen or more hospitals who should join him. And it was beyond shameful that some of them profited from the scheme in the form of undeserved bonus payments. I’m no legal expert, but doesn’t it seem as if some law was broken here? And, if so, don’t we need a criminal investigation?”

In my mind, yes … absolutely.

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Ex-POW begins long journey home

U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is coming home.

After five years in captivity at the hands of Taliban terrorists, Bergdahl is coming home to Hailey, Idaho. He’ll get there in due course, probably soon.

However, based on what the world heard today, his journey back to what he used to know as “home” will require much patience and as much perseverance as the soldier and his family demonstrated in trying to get him released.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/only-american-pow-from-afghan-war-is-freed.html?_r=2

In a brief ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, with President Obama standing with them, Bowe’s parents — Bob and Jani Bergdahl — asked for the media to give them some privacy and distance.

Their son, it is believed, might have trouble relearning the English language, as he had been held captive by Taliban fighters who spoke only their own tribal dialect. Indeed, Bob Bergdahl today uttered a few sentences to his son in some dialect, hoping his son would hear him.

The release is part of an exchange with five Taliban guerrillas being held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. The Taliban prisoners are being turned over to officials in Qatar, who helped broker the deal. They’re supposed to be under some sort of travel restriction, along with other security measures being taken to keep them on a short leash. It remains to be seen, of course, whether those restrictions will hold up. The men going back to the Middle East are known to be highly dangerous murderers.

As for Sgt. Bergdahl, a grateful nation will welcome him home as the only American POW from the Afghan War that is now winding down.

He need not be smothered, though, with our collective affection. As his parents indicated today, the young man has been through hell that no one else even can imagine. He needs a lot of space.