Democrats looking, sounding more like Republicans

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I’m listening to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders “debate” each other as I write this blog post.

My takeaway is this: These two individuals are sounding more and more like their Republican colleagues.

Now it sounds as if all five presidential candidates are holding their opponents with seemingly equal amounts of contempt.

It must be true that “familiarity breeds contempt” if you compare the tone and tenor of Clinton’s and Sanders’s remarks to the nicey-nicey tone of their initial debate appearances.

Who’s winning this latest tussle? That beats the heck out of me. I’ve already stated my view that Sanders’s one-note sermon has gotten old and, frankly, boring. Clinton’s own message — such as it is — relies on her mantra that she’s able to “get things done.”

The two Democrats, though, have sharpened their attacks on each in a way that ought to make the Republicans envious.

I will add only that the Republicans managed to turn their disagreements into late-night comics’ joke material. The remaining Democratic candidate at least are disagreeing with each other on policy statements.

But, man oh man. They have unsheathed the long knives.

I’ve been talking about how much I expect to have watching the Republicans cut each other up at their convention this summer in Cleveland. I’m beginning based on what I’ve heard tonight to think — based on what I’ve heard tonight — that the Democratic convention in Philadelphia might rival the GOP bloodbath in its own fun factor.

 

Reason prevails in Tennessee statehouse

Old fashionet American Constitution with USA  Flag.

Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam, has put his veto pen to good use.

He vetoed a bill that would have made the Bible the “state book” of Tennessee. Frankly, such a law looks like something that might one day find its way to the desk of the Texas governor.

His reasoning is interesting, to say the least. Haslam said giving the Bible such a designation “trivializes” the holy book.

I applaud the governor for making a reasonable decision.

“If we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, then we shouldn’t be recognizing it only as a book of historical and economic significance,” Haslam said.

Indeed.

Here’s another thought: Giving the Bible such a designation quite possibly would violate the U.S. Constitution First Amendment prohibition against government establishing a state religion.

The Bible is a sacred text. It belongs in the homes of families whose faith relies on the Bible’s teachings. It belongs in churches where clergy preach its holy word.

It does not belong as a government-designated “official book.”

Don’t those fine public servants who serve in the Tennessee legislature understand the oath they took, the one that says they would support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?

The Constitution they swore to uphold is a secular document. It prohibits governments at all levels from enacting the kind of law that came out of the legislature in Nashville.

And, yes, the Bible is a sacred text. Let’s not cheapen it by making a state’s “official book.” The Bible is a much more profound document than that.

 

Meet me in St. Louis …

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It took me a few minutes to digest this little bit of trivia.

Here goes …

The unluckiest and most disrespected professional sports fans in America might live in St. Louis, Mo. You might ask: Why is that?

Consider these tidbits.

The city once was home to the St. Louis (football) Cardinals, which then moved to the Phoenix area in 1987, where they’ve become the Arizona Cardinals.

Then the Los Angeles Rams decided to move to St. Louis in 1994. Beginning this season, though, the Rams are moving back to LA, leaving St. Louis — once again — without an NFL team. That’s a shame. I mean, come on! The St. Louis Rams won a Super Bowl!

Where do you think the Atlanta Hawks used to be play pro basketball in the National Basketball Association? Yep. You guessed it. St. Louis, man. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968.

Let’s go way back, shall we? The Browns used to play Major League Baseball in St. Louis. They moved to Baltimore in 1954 to become the Baltimore Orioles.

OK, so it’s not all gloomy for some St. Louis sports fans.

The St. Louis Cardinals have played big-league baseball since the beginning of time and the Cards’ fan base there is as loyal as any in the MLB.

The St. Louis Blues were among six franchises added to the National Hockey League in 1968 and they don’t appear to be headed anywhere.

I’m willing to bet real American money as well that if the NFL wants to put yet another team in St. Louis that the city leaders likely will jump at the opportunity.

If I were among them, though, I’d need some assurance that their fans’ hearts won’t be broken yet again.

And that, sports fans, is my contribution for the day to your glossary of useless information.

‘Unity’ appears headed for the cliff

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Donald J. Trump has a peculiar way of expressing his desire to bring the Republican Party together in a spirit of “unity.”

The GOP presidential frontrunner is emptying both barrels — rhetorically, of course — into Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus for allegedly stacking the nominating process against him … meaning Trump.

Trump is angry at the way U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas managed to corral all of Colorado’s Republican convention delegates this past week. He is steaming over losing the delegate count to Cruz while “winning” the Louisiana primary earlier.

Who’s to blame? Reince Priebus, said Trump. He’s working “against” the frontrunner. He calls the chairman’s alleged tactics “disgusting” and some other pejorative terms.

Priebus’s response is simple: The rules are the rules, Mr. Trump; get over it, work with them.

I’ve got to give Cruz credit, though, for outhustling Trump — the hustler in chief of this year’s GOP primary campaign — in obtaining committed delegates. Cruz’s team comprises political pros and veterans who know how to work the system established by the party. Trump’s team, until just recently, has been lacking in that kind of experience.

However, if Trump intends to “bring the party together” should he be nominated, he’s got to learn — as if he thinks he can learn anything — that you don’t accuse the guy who runs your political party of being a political crook.

You want unity? Trump might consider working more behind the scenes, quietly and with discretion, with the chairman. He also might consider tamping down the fiery rhetoric that keeps pouring out of his mouth.

That’s the tallest of orders. It would require the once-presumed GOP nominee to change the way he does business.

It won’t happen, which is OK with some of us out here.

I’m waiting anxiously for a fun-filled Republican convention in Cleveland.

 

Mayor stands for principle in commissioning of ship

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This story caught my eye initially because it involved a vessel named after the city of my birth.

Then I learned more about the real story. It’s about principle.

The USS Portland is going to commissioned late next year in Portland, Ore., rather than in Pascagoula, Miss., where it was scheduled to be commissioned.

Why the change? Portland’s lame-duck mayor, Charlie Hales, said he wouldn’t go to Pascagoula to take part in the commissioning because of a Mississippi law he and others say discriminates against gay and transgender people.

You go, Mr. Mayor!

Hales is standing on the principle of non-discrimination and for that he should be applauded.

The USS Portland is an amphibious transport ship that the U.S. Navy has just built. It’s a gleaming vessel of the San Antonio class.

It’s going to be christened in Pascagoula. Hales was going to attend the christening, but backed out because of the discriminatory law.

Portland has some world-class freshwater maritime facilities, as it straddles the Willamette River near where it empties into the mighty Columbia River. According to a report in the Portland Tribune, the commissioning will occur late next year at Terminal 2.

As the Tribune reported: “’The commissioning ceremony of a Navy ship is steeped in a time-honored tradition that places a ship in active service,’ says Mike Hewlett, chair of the Portland Council of he Navy League, an international organization of civilians that supports the maritime services, including the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marines, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine.”

That “tradition” should not be done in an environment where some Americans face a state-sanctioned discrimination.

Accordingly, Mayor Hales should be applauded for standing firm on his belief that such laws mustn’t be tolerated.

I don’t know Charlie Hales, who has made me proud of my hometown.

 

‘Affluenza teen’ gets jail time … finally!

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Ethan Couch is headed to jail.

He should have been there all along. He got a light sentence: probation. For what? Oh, for killing four people in a motor vehicle accident in Fort Worth while driving a pickup truck. He was roaring drunk, at least three times over the minimum legal limit.

But then came the astonishing defense that the judge apparently swallowed. Couch’s lawyer said the young man suffered from “affluenza,” having been raised in a wealthy family, by parents who failed to teach him right from wrong.

Then the kid went on probation, only to violate the terms of his sentence. He was caught drinking. He fled the country, ending up in Mexico — with the assistance of his mother.

It’s good that he was caught. Couch, who was 16 at the time of his crime, has just turned 19. Texas law doesn’t allow much of a jail sentence because the young man was a juvenile when he committed the original crime.

But at least he’s going to serve nearly two years in the slammer.

I’m glad to see that the young man will get what was due at the beginning.

Now, how about throwing the book at his mother — Tonya Couch — for aiding and abetting his escape from justice?

Communications director quits at TDA … here’s why

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They go by any number of terms.

Public information officer; spokesperson; communications director; press secretary; media representative.

A less-flattering term is flack.

Whatever they’re called, these individuals — particularly when they work for a government agency — fulfill an important task. It is to communicate accurately what’s being said to the public. After all, it’s the public’s business, given that these agencies spend the public’s money.

Are we clear … so far?

Lucy Nashed has just quit her job as communications director for the Texas Department of Agriculture. Here’s the kicker: She left without having another job.

Seems that her boss, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, kept sending out mixed signals to the public. He couldn’t keep his story straight, it appears, about a trip he took to take part in a rodeo.

Did he spend public money to rope and rassle cattle … or did he reimburse the public?

Here’s part of the Texas Tribune’s account of what happened:

The Houston Chronicle reported over the weekend that Miller took a state-paid trip to Mississippi to participate in the National Dixie Rodeo but later repaid the state with campaign and personal funds. He told the Chronicle that the intent of the trip was to meet with agriculture officials there, making it a legitimate state-covered business trip. Miller said after those meetings fell through, he repaid the state for the trip.

“More than a week before the Chronicle story, Nashed told the Tribune that the Mississippi trip — which was always designed to be a personal trip — was mistakenly booked by a staffer as a business trip. Once the staffer realized the trip was personal, Nashed said, Miller repaid the state for the trip. Nashed said Monday that was the information she was originally given.”

Miller has become something of a loose cannon since taking over as head of the state agriculture department. He’s a bit of a showman, bragging about his good ol’ boy appeal and his ability and willingness to toss aside policies just because he can.

Nashed had a tough job working for the Republican officeholder. Her task was to make sure his thoughts and statements were communicated accurately. However, she complained about a “tremendous lack of communication” within the TDA, a condition she acknowledged made it difficult for her to do her job.

The fact that Nashed quit without having a place to land speaks loudly and clearly as well.

There’s no misunderstanding — or miscommunication — there. She wanted out. Now!

Confederate flag debate swirls on and on and on …

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I’m pretty sure that for as long as the Confederate flag flies over official government property that the debate over its meaning will stay front and center on the national stage.

A Mississippi judge has ruled that the state flag — which includes the Confederate emblem — is “un-American.” The reason, said Judge Carlton Reeves, is simple: It represents an effort to break away from the United States of America.

I happen to agree with him. The judge, though, stopped short of ordering the Confederate symbol to be removed from the Mississippi state flag.

Reeves’ opinion came after he heard arguments from an African-American plaintiff who argued that the symbol violates his “dignity.” Carlos Moore, a lawyer, said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage protected citizens’ fundamental rights of dignity.

Reeves, who also is African-American, didn’t issue a definitive ruling on the flag, but said that the symbol of the Confederacy is inherently un-American.

An assistant state attorney general argued that the decision to remove the symbol ought to come from the state legislature, as it is a political issue. Perhaps it is.

I totally understand the anger that the symbol gins up in the minds of Americans. For me, the symbol suggests treason.

The Confederacy came into being by those who wanted to remove themselves from the United States of America. They wanted to create a separate nation. The Confederate States of America then went to war with the U.S. of A., seeking to defeat the United States on the battlefield and then form a sovereign nation that would sanction, among other things, the enslavement of human beings.

Can there be anything more un-American than that?

Stay tuned. This debate is going to fire itself up … all over again.

Gov. Kasich faces a bitter irony

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John Kasich must feel like the unluckiest politician in America.

He’s caught in perhaps the most bitter irony in recent political history.

The Ohio governor is running for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. He’s one of three men still standing in what began as a 17-candidate GOP primary free-for-all.

Given that we’ve been talking — a lot! — about public opinion polling in this presidential campaign, it’s good to mention this: Kasich stands alone among the three men still running as the only candidate who can defeat probable Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton. Donald Trump loses big to Clinton; so does Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Why, then, does Gov. Kasich still struggle as the longest shot of all the GOP candidates who will become the party’s presidential nominee this summer?

The Republican base has endorsed Trump and Cruz in all those primaries and caucuses. Kasich has won exactly one contest: in Ohio, the state he governs. Hey, man, he had to win that one, right?

I’ve heard pundit after pundit, voter after voter say the same thing: Gov. Kasich is the last grown-up in this race.

Trump and Cruz are despised by the Republican establishment for varying reasons. Trump lacks a governing philosophy; Cruz seems to have virtually no friends in the U.S. Senate, where he has served since January 2013.

It appears, though, that one of those two individuals is going to carry the GOP banner into the fall against Clinton. Those polls? They keep showing they’ll lose. Maybe by a lot.

Kasich continues to poll far better vs. Clinton than either of them.

He also continues to lag far behind in the Republican Party polls of primary voters.

Poor guy. I feel sorry for Gov. Kasich.

 

Ryan settles it: He’s will not accept it

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I’ve been waiting for this declaration.

Today, it finally came from U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who declared that he will not accept the Republican Party’s presidential nomination if it’s offered to him.

There. It’s a done deal.

Ryan’s declaration spells out a gloomy prospect for the Republican Party. It’s going to nominate — more than likely — one of two men who hold tremendous negative ratings among rank-and-file voters.

Donald J. Trump will go to the GOP convention with more delegates than anyone else. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will show up with the second-most delegate stash.

Neither of these fellows is going to defeat probable Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, although surely their partisans will argue differently.

Ryan might have been able to rescue his party from what could turn out to be an electoral landslide loss. He’d bobbed, weaved, dodged and danced all over the question about whether he’d be open to a draft at the convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Count me out,” he said today. The convention should nominate someone who “actually ran for the job,” he said.

Don’t misread my intention here.

I don’t think Paul Ryan should become the next president. I voted against the ticket on which he ran in 2012 as the VP nominee with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

It would have been a fascinating development in the extreme, though, to see whether the convention could turn to him as a sort of political savior.

It won’t happen.

Now the party is left with a sour choice.