Monthly Archives: September 2015

State news

Kinky had it right about a wall

Kinbky Friedman - 1

I found a blog post I’d written in July 2010.

I said then that “I miss Kinky Friedman.” Why? Because despite his seemingly unserious bid to become Texas governor in 2006, the Texas humorist, musician and gadfly actually made sense.

Here’s the blog post: Kinky’s rant

He opposed the idea of building a wall along our southern border. He said that with the trouble brewing five years ago in the United States, Americans might want out — and a wall would make it more difficult for us to escape.

I mention Kinky today because the current crop of Republican presidential primary candidates is sounding quite ridiculous, particularly as they seek to outflank the GOP front runner, Donald Trump, on this immigration matter.

Trump says he’ll build a “beautiful wall.” Not to be outdone, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he’d consider building a wall between the United States and Canada.

Let’s get serious here. Or else, let’s draft Kinky Friedman to run for president.

national news

Ohio pols take great interest in Alaska’s business

Denali National Park

Technically, I suppose, Ohio Republican politicians have a smidgen of vested interest in the renaming of North America’s highest peak.

Mount McKinley has been renamed Denali. The former name honored the late president, William McKinley, who — as luck would have it — hailed from Ohio. The new name is a native Alaska name used by the residents of the nation’s 49th state.

President Obama’s formal renaming changes the name of the peak on a federal registry of geographic locations. Therefore, I guess, it becomes a federal issue. Ohio politicians say they’re insulted by the renaming of the peak and want to take action in Congress to reverse the order.

Good grief, folks. Get a grip.

Alaska’s congressional delegation is all for the name change. And they’re all Republicans, too.

They’re the ones who look at Denali when they’re home. Sure enough, their constituents, get to ogle the 20,320-foot peak all the time.

Alaskans generally are agreeing with the name change.

So, what’s the deal with these Ohioans sticking their noses into something that — as a practical matter — is none of their damn business.

Butt out!

International news

Should pols care about polls?

iran_nuclear_451650529

Politicians say all the time — sometimes boastfully — that they don’t care about public opinion polls.

My answer? They should care. Why? Because they represent the people being questioned by pollsters. Politicians aren’t supposed to operate in a vacuum. They’re supposed to understand what their constituents are thinking about critical issues of the day.

Let’s take the Iran nuclear deal … as an example.

A new poll shows Americans favor the deal worked out with other great powers that would prohibit Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. The University of Maryland survey says 55 percent of Americans favor the deal and want Congress to approve it.

Do politicians ignore the poll? Well, I guess one would have to examine the poll closely to see if it was done without bias and scientifically. Pollsters shouldn’t ask loaded questions aimed at generating desired responses.

All congressional Republicans appear to oppose the deal. Most Democrats appear to support it. Are they defying the poll results of constituents whose interests they represent?

According to The Hill: “The poll was conducted online, and the participants went through an in-depth process of listening to arguments from both sides. People were subjected to a detailed list of critiques of the agreement, followed by rebuttals to those arguments with reasons to get behind the deal.

“The most convincing criticisms focused on the lack of ‘anytime/anywhere’ inspections of Iranian facilities, the fact that limits on Iran’s nuclear development ‘will go away’ in 15 years and Iran’s ability to use the money that it receives under the deal to threaten regional security. A majority of Democrats said those arguments were either ‘somewhat’ or ‘very convincing.’

“’There is a lot of concern about key terms of the deal, especially the limits on inspections and the release of frozen funds to Iran,’ Steven Kull, director of the university’s Program for Public Consultation, said in a statement.”

It doesn’t appear, therefore, that this survey was designed to elicit the results it produced.

Do members of Congress accept and act on those poll results or do they proceed as if they know better than their bosses?

 

national news

Resign from your office, Kim Davis

same-sex-marriage

Consider this an open letter to Kim Davis, the rogue county clerk in Kentucky who thinks she’s above the law.

Madame Clerk, quit pretending you’re serving the people of Rowan County, Ky., your state and your nation.

You keep refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because, you say, God doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage.

But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that gay couples are entitled to be married, just like straight couples. It ruled recently that you cannot keep refusing to issue the licenses to gay residents of your state. You still refuse. Hey, does that mean you’re in contempt of court?

I get that you’re invoking your religious liberty.

But your freedom to pray as you wish isn’t being threatened here. What’s at issue is whether you’re going to remain faithful to the secular oath you took when you became Rowan County clerk.

It says you will uphold the laws of the state and the nation. It doesn’t provide any qualifiers; there’s nothing in the oath that allows you to say “but only if those laws do not conflict with my religious beliefs.”

You adhere to all the laws or none of them. If you can’t do your job, then quit.

To be honest, I would salute if you did exactly that.

Kim Davis defies the high court

 

State news

Shooting statement falls far short

cop vigil

President Obama isn’t tone deaf. He can’t be. He’s been elected twice to the highest office in the land and he did it with profound political savvy and insight.

Why, then, has he fallen woefully short in condemning the horrifying murder the other night of a Harris County sheriff’s deputy?

Darren Goforth was shot in the back as he pumped gas in his patrol car in Houston. He fell and the gunman then emptied his pistol into Goforth’s body.

A 30-year-old man, Shannon Miles, was apprehended a short time later and charged with capital murder.

That’s not the whole story.

Goforth was white. Miles is black. The president has been hair-trigger quick to condemn the shooting of young black men by white officers — as he should be. However, his statement on Goforth’s murder doesn’t measure up to the outrage he has expressed when police officers do the shooting.

The president needs to call for a federal investigation into whether the suspect — whose action was videotaped by surveillance cameras — was acting in response to the protests that have occurred in recent weeks by those condemning police activity. They’ve chanted “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em in bacon!”

The president did call Deputy Goforth’s wife to express his sympathy. He said in a statement that Goforth’s death is “unacceptable.” Gee, do ya think?

Come on, Mr. President. Re-dial your political radar. You need to use the bully pulpit of your high office to call attention to attacks on police officers who take an oath to protect and defend communities against the very people who would shoot them in the back.

 

International news

Who’s in charge of U.S. foreign policy?

cotton

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., thinks it’s OK to travel abroad and to meet with a foreign head of government for the purpose of undermining a key foreign policy initiative.

It’s not OK. At least it’s never been acceptable … apparently until now in some circles.

Cotton went to Israel and Is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to figure out a way to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the United States and five other great powers.

Cotton’s meeting with Netanyahu now has become the norm, it seems, for critics of President Obama. They forget what they said when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Syria to meet with dictator Bashar al-Assad. Vice President Dick Cheney reminded us then that only the president can conduct foreign policy.

Except that Pelosi coordinated her visit with Bush administration officials and had made sure she didn’t interfere with what President Bush’s goals were as they regarded U.S. policy toward Assad.

Cotton said: “Today’s meeting only reaffirms my opposition to this deal. I will stand with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel and work with my colleagues in Congress to stop this deal and to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself against Iran and its terrorist surrogates.”

We’ve only got one president of the United States at a time. And at this moment, it isn’t Tom Cotton.

 

national news

Now it’s a mountain name that brings criticism

Mount_McKinley,_with_US_Flag_at_Eielson_Visitor_Center_(5300913475)

You almost could have predicted this would happen.

President Obama decided to rename Mount McKinley, which had been named in honor of a Republican president, William McKinley. The tallest peak in North America now is called Denali, which is a native Alaskan term.

But here it comes: Ohio Republicans are angry at the mountain renaming. They think it’s a slight to a GOP president who, by the way, never set foot in Alaska, let alone climb the peak.

Ohio GOP up in arms

House Speaker John Boehner, who hails from Ohio, says the president shouldn’t have acted unilaterally. Other lawmakers from Ohio say they’ll try to block the name change legislatively.

Oh yes. Then there’s Donald Trump, the GOP front runner for the party’s presidential nomination, who says if elected president he’ll undo Obama’s decision.

Alaska’s Republicans, though, are in favor of the name change. The state’s senior U.S. senator, Lisa Murkowski, its House member, Don Young, and its junior senator, Dan Sullivan, vow to block any effort to reverse the decision.

Alaska has been calling the peak Denali since 1975. The president’s action changes it in the federal registry of geographic names.

Oh, but it’s now a slap in the face to a former president who happened to hail from Ohio and that it detracts from his legacy.

Good grief. Can we call a halt to this partisan bickering over an issue that makes not a bit of difference, except perhaps to the native Alaskans who can recite the grand peak’s new name with their own sense of pride?

What in the world is wrong with that?