Monthly Archives: August 2014

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No booze at gun shows

Texas is known as a place that loves gun ownership.

It shouldn’t be known as a place that allows gun buyers to get sauced up on booze before purchasing a firearm at a gun show.

Yet that’s an idea the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is considering.

Say it ain’t so, TABC.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/editorials/article/EDITORIAL-Alcohol-at-gun-shows-is-simply-a-bad-5682196.php

The newspaper where I used to work has it exactly right. Say “no” to this nutty idea.

It comes from a Dallas-Fort Worth gun club that wants the TABC to end its ban on alcohol at gun shows. The request is for the club to sell alcoholic beverages to those attending gun shows.

There’s something just inherently wrong with this idea. I cannot quite put my finger on the precise reason why it’s so wrong. It must have something to do with the idea of allowing someone who perhaps has had too much to drink to purchase a firearm, then buy ammunition, then load the ammo into the firearm and then, well …

You get the idea, yes?

I have no problem with gun ownership. I own a couple of firearms myself. They’re hidden. I rarely ever touch them. I honor and support the constitutional right to “keep and bear arms.”

I do not, however, believe the Constitution prohibits reasonable rules that guard against foolish or tragic behavior involving firearms.

That’s why the TABC should nix the gun club’s request to allow the uncomfortable mixing of alcohol and gun shows.

The idea should give all Texans the creeps.

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Obama vacations … so what?

Here we go again.

The media are trying to assess the meaning of President Obama’s vacation.

This is a farce.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-s-vacations-and-golf-outings–by-the-numbers-211532262.html

The worst part of it from my standpoint comes from the critics who lampoon the president for daring to take a vacation while the world is exploding all over creation.

Give me a bleeping break.

As the link attached here notes, presidents always have taken vacations. They need time away from the Oval Office. It compares the number and length of vacations taken by Obama and his immediate predecessor, George W. Bush.

Bush comes out on top in both categories. Yes, he had his liberal critics who dinged him for vacationing while he was prosecuting a war in Iraq. The president didn’t help himself much with that (in)famous quote inviting reporters to “now watch my drive” while commenting on a crisis as he was playing a round of golf.

But hey, all is forgiven.

For my money, I’d prefer the president — whoever he is — take time away. Get refreshed. Clear your head. Hug the wife and kids. Exchange in a little banter with friends.

And oh yes. Receive those daily national security and domestic policy briefings — which every president always gets, even while he is on “vacation.”

So let’s stop this petty second-guessing. Let the president of the United States enjoy some time with his family.

Remember, too, he ain’t off the clock. Not ever.

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AMA going to seed

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At the risk of sounding like a negative Nelly, I’m going to weigh in on yet another problem that needs fixing.

I’ve griped in recent days about the shabby appearance of Amarillo’ highway interchanges, and about TxDOT’s unfriendly motor vehicle access to the “Welcome to Texas” sign.

Next up? Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

I just picked up one of my sons at AMA tonight and noticed something I hadn’t seen before: seedy grounds around the short-term parking lot.

What gives with the airport?

Weeds are popping up all over the place. The entrance where you pick up your parking ticket looks as if it hasn’t been weeded in weeks. The greenery around the parking structure needs manicuring — badly.

Weeds, weeds, weeds everywhere.

Has the city run out of landscape custodial money for AMA?

I mention this only because airports often are the only thing people remember about the cities they visit.

I’m just wondering if the city has dropped the ball on the airport grounds maintenance.

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How about vehicle-friendly access to welcome sign?

Memo to the Texas Department of Transportation:

Hey, TxDOT, you’ve got some work to do to make at least one entry into our state friendlier to motorists.

I now will explain.

My wife and I were returning to Texas this afternoon from a lengthy vacation out of state. In the back seat of our car sat our great-niece, who’s spending a few days with us before returning home. I thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if we could take her picture at the ‘Welcome to Texas: Drive Friendly’ sign on U.S. 87 at Texline?” I mentioned it to my wife.

Sure thing, she said.

So we pulled off the highway to take the picture.

Then our little Toyota Prius bottomed out as the car left the highway and slammed belly-first onto the gravel shoulder.

“Holy s***!” I exclaimed.

Now the good news. The car suffered zero damage.

The bad news? Well, only this: We weren’t the only motorists pulling off the highway this afternoon to take their picture at the “Drive Friendly” sign. A young family also sought the memorialize its entry into the Lone Star State. I hope their vehicle didn’t belly-flop onto the gravel, too.

TxDOT asks motorists to “drive friendly.” My advice to the good folks at the state’s highway department would be for them to construct some friendlier access to these signs — in case someone wants to take their picture as they enter our great state.

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Depression takes center stage

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When an iconic artist and performer takes his own life at a time when he ought to be on top of the world, well, then you start examining the demons that drove him to that tragic end.

Robin Williams’s apparent suicide Monday has brought depression to the public fore.

As it should.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=881808

Williams was one of the world’s most dynamic entertainers. His talent was seemingly without limits. His comic genius sprang from a mind with an incalculable amount of material rolling around in it, which he unleashed with hysterical fury almost without warning.

He made people laugh to the point of crying.

Williams had his demons. They involved alcoholism and drug abuse. They cost him at least one marriage, maybe more.

Internationally acclaimed entertainers, superstars and assorted celebrities have left us from all manner of illness: AIDS, Alzheimer’s, various forms of cancer.

Yes, depression is a killer, too.

Robin Williams’s tragic end will bring this disease to our national attention.

Let’s have this discussion as we mourn our national loss.

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Beware of motorcyclists?

Texas and Wyoming have at least one thing in common.

Both states want to protect motorcyclists.

Texas has its “Share the Road” road signs with the profile of a motorcycle. We’ve discovered Wyoming’s more dramatic message. It flashes on electronic signs straddling interstate highways: “Motorcycles are everywhere; look twice, drive safely.”

All right, already. I get it.

The Wyoming signs are even more ubiquitous than the “Share the Road” signs in Texas.

Look, I understand the need to look out for motorcyclists. I appreciate the hazards of riding those crotch rockets in traffic. Hey, some of my best friends own and ride motorcycles. Why, at least two of my cousins ride them, apparently quite well and safely.

However, not all motorcyclists are as conscientious as those I know who ride them. Some of them are quite careless — even reckless.

Perhaps there ought to be some signage posted that warns cyclists to (a) avoid weaving in and out of traffic, (b) obey speed limits and (c) suit up with body armor to protect themselves against catastrophic injury.

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Pedal to the metal … woo hoo!

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RESUME SPEED, Wyo. — OK, so this isn’t a real place.

It’s a term I use to describe remote locations anywhere in the United States of America.

But today it more or less symbolizes a trend across much of the western United States — and it is a trend to which I am getting used.

Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho are just four western states that allow motorists to drive 80 mph on interstate highways. Part of the rest of the story is that I’m getting accustomed to it.

My wife and I have been flying low across some of these highways in recent days. Allow me to add that we’re doing this in a little bitty car, a Toyota Prius.

Before you chuckle, I’m going to add that the Prius — in the words of ol’ Dizzy Dean — can “pick ’em up and lay ’em down.” It moves … quickly.

We’ve enjoyed our time on the road, partly because we can get to our destinations more quickly than we could when speed limits were a “mere” 70 mph, let alone prior to 1995 when they were posted at 55 mph.

It’s taken me some time to get used to these speeds. But I’m there.

Part of my justification for driving so quickly is that the Prius is among the most fuel-efficient vehicles in existence. We’re averaging close to 50 miles per gallon on our journey, which is a lot better than virtually every other family car on the road today.

Back in the 1970s, when gasoline prices spiked after the infamous oil embargoes, Congress slowed everyone down to 55 partly to conserve fuel. Since then automakers have done a lot better job of manufacturing fuel-efficient vehicles. My wife and I own one of them.

So that gives us carte blanche to give the all-clear “flaps up” signal when we hit the road.

By golly, it’s rather fun getting places lickety-split.

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Is HRC running for president? Ummm, yes

Gosh, I think I’m ready to bet the farm that Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to run for president in 2016.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/hillary-clinton-takes-president-barack-obama-109887.html?hp=t1

The former secretary of state, first lady and U.S. senator is now putting some serious distance between herself and President Barack Obama.

Why? It seems clear she is reading the president’s poll numbers and doesn’t want to be associated any more than need be to his foreign policy doctrine.

That’s enough — all by itself — to persuade me she’s in, or that she’ll declare her candidacy in due course.

I realize this isn’t a huge flash. Just about every political pundit this side of Arkansas has been predicting she would run. I always had this reservation about it, which stems from the harsh treatment she’s gotten from her foes and the hideous treatment she and her husband, the 42nd president, received when Bill Clinton was serving in the White House.

The sweeping interview attached to this blog post, however, sends an entirely different message.

She wants the big prize and is piecing together the building blocks of a doctrine on which she’ll run.

I will have to dismiss one notion contained in the Politico story, which is that Hillary Clinton “doesn’t have a polling operation.”

Uhhh, yes she does.

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Same-sex marriage is legal

Same-sex marriage is more constitutional than states’ bans against it.

Court after court has ruled as such. The blog post attached to this item wonders why Texas’s attorney general can’t bring himself to recognize the inevitable trend that’s going to make it legal in Texas.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/modern-world

Greg Abbott is likely to become the state’s next governor. As attorney general, he is obligated to defend what the federal judiciary is saying is indefensible: the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The courts are tossing out states’ bans — including the one in Texas — because the bans violate the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment equal protection under the law clause.

The state likely won’t win its appeal on that basis. It will try, though, to persuade federal judges that Texas’s ban is constitutional.

I still struggle a bit with the notion of same-sex marriage. I agree that devoted same-sex couples are entitled to all legal rights as straight couples. Marriage? That particular terminology still bothers me.

The more I hear about courts striking down these bans, the more I am convinced nonetheless that same-sex marriage is more constitutional than the state laws that prevent it.

Paul Burka, the Texas Monthly blogger, wonders why Texas can’t join the 21st century. If the courts keep ruling as they have done, that day might be forced on Texas — and not a moment too soon.

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Good luck, Montana Democrats

Montana’s Democratic Party has a tough choice to make.

Who will the party kingmakers select to replace U.S. Sen. John Walsh, who quit his election campaign over the scandal involving his plagiarizing his master’s thesis at the Army War College?

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/john-walsh-replacement-pick-aug-16-109867.html?hp=l16

They’ll make the pick on Aug. 16 and then, more than likely, send the new nominee to his or her defeat this November.

I was thinking about a situation that occurred in my home state of Oregon back in 1974.

U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, the Republican, was set to face a rematch against the man he defeated six years earlier, former Democratic Sen. Wayne Morse. Then ol’ Wayne up and died after winning the primary that spring.

The Oregon Democratic Party then turned to a veteran state senator, Betty Roberts, to run against Packwood.

This, of course, was well before Packwood got into all that trouble relating to his womanizing habits. Back in the old days, Packwood was known as a rapid-fire pol well-versed on policy. He was engaging, smart, glib and quite moderate on many social issues — such as abortion rights.

Morse likely would have lost his rematch with Packwood. So, it fell to Roberts — well-known around the Portland area but virtually unknown everywhere else — to defeat the young incumbent.

She fell about 10 percentage points short that year.

Whoever the Montana Democrats pick this year will have an even steeper hill to climb. Montana tilts Republican. This looks like a Republican year. Walsh was appointed to replace Max Baucus, who took a job as U.S. ambassador to China.

It’s good Walsh has exited the race. He squandered voters’ trust with the plagiarism.

My bet now is that whoever Montana’s Democrats choose will fall far short of where Betty Roberts finished in her last-minute effort so many years ago.