Monthly Archives: April 2015

religious news

Right-wing media find a 'war on Easter'

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The right-wing mainstream media cannot get enough of these trumped-up “wars.”

Fox News annually declares there to be a secular “war on Christmas.” The only people waging war on Christmas are the retailers who keep pushing out the notion that it’s all right to camp out overnight waiting for the stores to open on Black Friday. Get in ahead of the rush … but please don’t punch out the shopper who cuts in ahead of you to get the toy you had targeted.

Now it’s a “war on Easter.”

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/29/foxs-week-long-war-on-easter/193352

Please. Stop.

There is no war on Christians’ holiest holiday. It’s a figment of the right-wing mainstream media marketing geniuses who look for ways to boost their ratings, allowing their on-air personalities to brag about how they’re kicking the stuffing out of the rest of the “mainstream media.”

Churches are still informing congregants about what Scripture says about Easter, about how Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified. Believers all over the world celebrate this holiday with all due reverence. My family and I do.

“War on Easter”? It ain’t happening.

Let’s knock it off, shall we?

 

national news, political news

Yep, Sen. Menendez ought to quit

The curious world of politics at times deprives politicians of the presumption of innocence granted to “ordinary citizens.”

Such is the case with U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who’s been indicted on a host of corruption charges.

He ought to quit the Senate and pursue his defense as a private citizen.

A federal grand jury indicted Menendez on felony counts relating to his close relationship with an eye doctor, Soloman Melgen, who flew Menendez to the Dominican Republic on his private jet — trips that Menendez failed to disclose to congressional ethics officials.

There’s a lot of other allegations involving favors exchanged between the men. The amazing detail of the indictment suggests there’s considerable fire under all that smoke.

Is the senator guilty? I have no clue.

This much is clear: His service in the U.S. Senate will be clouded forever by this indictment. How in the world can this man conduct the public’s business when he is defending himself against a federal indictment?

Why does this matter to anyone outside of his home state? Well, he’s a federal official himself and he votes on laws that affect all Americans, even those of us out here in Flyover Country.

As the New York Time editorialized in calling for his resignation: “Mr. Menendez is evidently not in a hurry to get to the stage of contrition, having warned on Wednesday that he’s ‘not going anywhere.’ He would be doing a disservice to New Jersey by clinging to power as a disgraced politician. His colleagues in the Senate should demand that he step aside.”

Politics can be a dirty business. It doesn’t allow for the normal presumptions of innocence granted to non-politicians. That’s the way it is.

 

legal news, national news

Death Row to freedom … how does one cope?

Of all the stories I read each day, the one type of story that stretches my comprehension deals with Death Row inmates who suddenly find themselves free to pick up the pieces of their lives.

I never can quite grasp how these individuals cope with such profound circumstances.

Anthony Ray Hinton sat on Alabama’s Death Row for nearly 30 years. He’s now a free man. He gets to go to the grocery store, watch the movie of his choice, visit with friends and family members … you know, do the things you and I get to do.

http://news.yahoo.com/alabama-death-row-inmate-freed-nearly-30-years-174433714.html

The court had convicted him of a 1985 murder, sentenced him to death and then let him sit there for three decades. The U.S. Supreme Court, though, ruled that Hinton didn’t receive a competent defense, to which he is entitled under the U.S. Constitution. “He was a poor person who was convicted because he didn’t have the money to prove his innocence at trial. He was unable to get the legal help he needed for years. He was convicted based on bad science,” according to Bryan Stevenson, head of Equal Justice Initiative, based in Alabama.

Now the court has determined it doesn’t have enough evidence to kill him, so Hinton has been set free.

Good for him. I will pray for him as he seeks to acclimate himself to a life he hasn’t known for 30 years.

How he accomplishes that is the great mystery.

***

This story also brings to the forefront the great debate about capital punishment.

Anthony Hinton sat in an Alabama prison cell for more than half of the life he’s lived already. What if the state had executed him for a crime it couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt? In Hinton’s case, he reportedly had an alibi and couldn’t have been present when two men were shot to death.

It is fair to ask whether Hinton symbolizes other individuals whose guilt remain in question.

The ultimate punishment for crimes requires utterly incontrovertible proof that the person awaiting execution is guilty of the crime. Innocent people have been put to death; of that there can be no doubt.

A single wrongly executed individual is one too many.

Anthony Hinton has been spared.

Now the hard part commences. This man has to figure out how to live like a human being.

Godspeed, Anthony Ray Hinton.

 

International news

Iran nuke deal: good or bad for the world?

I’m going to withhold final judgment on the Iran nuclear deal for a little while as I try to wrap my arms around what President Obama calls “historic” and what his critics — to no one’s surprise — call an “appeasement.”

I remain hopeful that the framework, as I understand it, is going to cut off “pathways” for Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, as the president said today.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/237747-obama-hails-historic-iran-nuke-deal

If I had one misgiving about the impending deal it is the end of the economic sanctions. The European Union is going to end the sanctions on Iran almost immediately, while the United States will lift them in accordance with verification that Iran is remaining faithful to the terms of the agreement.

The U.S. portion of the sanctions removal sounds reasonable and verifiable, to my understanding of what was hammered out over the course of several months.

There are lots of nuts and bolts to this deal. The Iranians are going to stop enriching uranium at some locations, will transfer capabilities from one nuclear plant to another and juggle all kinds of contingencies in accordance with what the bargaining nations agreed on.

The result, though, must ensure that Iran does not build a nuclear weapon.

The Israelis, of course, oppose the deal. They’ve said all along that no deal is better than virtually anything that was discussed publicly with regard to the negotiation.

Congressional Republicans are blasting the framework. One GOP lawmaker used the “appeasement” language, conjuring up memories of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s declaration that Europe had found “peace in our time” in negotiating with Adolf Hitler just before all hell broke loose in September 1939.

Let’s not go there.

Instead, the principals have until June to hammer the details out. Congress will get to weigh in.

Iran’s nuclear program appears headed in another direction — away from its construction of a nuclear bomb.

I’m left to wonder initially: What can be so wrong with that?

 

national news, political news, religious news

Boycotts hurt more than they help

Let me be clear.

I detest boycotts in response to bad public policy. The Indiana legislature enacted a bad bill, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which Gov. Mike Pence signed into law.

The reaction across the country has been to boycott Indiana. Business leaders are encouraging Americans to stay away, don’t do business in the Hoosier State.

What precisely do boycotts accomplish? To my mind, they inflict significant collateral damage on business owners who well might oppose the public policy that’s been enacted in their name.

RFRA is intended to protect business owners from being sued for refusing service to individuals based on “religious beliefs.” The law has been interpreted as giving license to discriminate against gay people.

Thus, the calls for boycotts have been launched.

I detest this tactic as a political response.

To my way of thinking, a more reasonable response is to send letters to the offending politicians. Leave the business owners out of this fight. They’ve been used as pawns by politicians. They shouldn’t be used as pawns by those who the politicians have offended.

If there was the textbook definition of “political football,” the business owners victimized by angry boycotts fit the bill.

 

International news

How did Lubitz get a commercial license?

I’ve posed the question already, but a report today prompts me to ask it again … in stronger terms.

How on God’s Earth did Andreas Lubitz ever obtain a commercial pilot’s license and what in the name of all that is holy was he doing on the Germanwings plane that he crashed into the French Alps?

http://news.yahoo.com/second-black-box-found-french-alps-plane-crash-134958557.html

Lubitz, the co-pilot who locked the captain out of the flight deck before crashing the plane and killing all 150 passengers and crew members, had reportedly researched cockpit security and suicide before committing this horrifying airborne atrocity.

The world already has learned that he had been diagnosed with “suicidal tendencies” some years ago. Then someone cleared him to fly apparently after determining he no longer exhibited those tendencies.

How does a medical pro make such a determination?

They’ve located the second black box in the wreckage of the aircraft. More details will come forth about the horrifying final moments of the flight.

Meanwhile, the families and other loved ones of those who died will continue to live in intense anguish as the world keeps asking questions about how Andreas Lubitz was allowed at the controls of a commercial jetliner.

 

International news

Forget the 'water's edge' stuff about foreign policy

It’s safe to suggest that the time-honored belief that partisanship ended at “the water’s edge” has now been inundated.

House Speaker John Boehner went to Israel this week and declared that the “world is on fire” and that the United States is doing too little to put it out. He offered a blistering critique of U.S. foreign policy while standing in the capital city of one our nation’s staunchest allies.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/boehner-israel-jerusalem-isil-netanyahu-iran-116600.html?hfp=t1_r

It’s a new day. Or perhaps it’s a continuation of an old way of thinking.

I don’t know which it is.

I do know that wherever he is, the late U.S. Sen. Arthur Vandenberg is spinning in his grave.

It was Vandenberg, R-Mich., who criticized politicians for venturing overseas to criticize U.S. policymakers, coining the “water’s edge” definition of bipartisanship.

I’ve always thought it was wise to speak with a single voice, especially when politicians venture abroad to discuss foreign policy matters. Yes, I know that this affinity to blast presidents of the “other party” goes both ways and that Democratic pols have dissed Republican presidents as well as the other way around.

The speaker of the House, though, speaks with forked tongue when he warns of the world going up in flames and then promises to keep speaking out against the president of the United States — even as the world burns.

“I wouldn’t have believed that I would be involved in as much foreign policy as I am today,” Boehner said in Jerusalem. “And it certainly isn’t by choice. It’s just that the world is on fire. And I don’t think enough Americans or enough people in the administration understand how serious the problems that we’re facing in the world are.”

Is the speaker unaware that he well might be fanning those flames when he says such things?

 

national news

Menendez indictment seems oddly 'normal'

My proverbial trick knee is throbbing again.

It’s sending me a grim message that the federal indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey on corruption charges signals a hunt for others who are might be involved in the same kind of cozy relationships alleged in the 68-page indictment against the Democratic lawmaker.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/robert-menendez-indicted-116581.html?hp=r1_3

You hear about these kinds of things occasionally involving senators and House members. They do favors for pals, develop relationships that raise a lot of questions — not to mention eyebrows.

Is Menendez alone in this? That trick knee of mine tells me “No. Not by a long shot.”

Menendez is the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He’s stepping down from his leadership positions in the Senate until this matter gets resolved.

Also indicted is Dr. Solomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist and longtime friend of Menendez. The indictment goes into great deal about the emails exchanged over several years between the men, suggesting alleged criminal activity, deal-making and favors.

It’s pretty salacious stuff.

I’m wondering this morning if all this will lead investigators down a lot of other paths, toward the doorsteps of other members of Congress.

 

State news

Miller bringing some sizzle to Texas ag department

Sid Miller is becoming rapidly the most talked-about Texas agriculture commissioner since, oh, perhaps Jim Hightower.

That’s really saying something.

Hightower used to make reporters laugh out loud with his jokes and quips when he led the TDA in the late 1980s. Miller is making some waves of his own now, but many observers aren’t laughing.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/01/sid-miiller-backed-then-nixed-ag-agency-remodel/

Miller is having to explain why he gripes about deep budget cuts while at one time supporting expensive renovations to his department’s offices in Austin. He requested the flashy improvements shortly after being elected in November, then pulled back on the request. According to the Texas Tribune: “According to agency spokesman Bryan Black, Miller halted the renovations after realizing the extent of the department’s financial woes. ‘After learning of the serious budget challenges facing the Texas Department of Agriculture, Commissioner Miller put a stop to renovations at the agency,’ Black said in an emailed statement. ‘Commissioner Miller is committed to being fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars.’”

The Tribune reports further: “Among the requested items for Miller’s own office were 6-inch ‘hand scraped flooring,’ crown molding, indirect lighting, wooden blinds and custom ceiling tile. Items that don’t mention specific locations at the department’s Austin headquarters include a request for ‘office redesign/remodel, install shower’ and another order to remove carpet and replace it with tiles that resembled the ‘thin set terrazzo w/state or agency seal’ in the elevator lobby of the eighth floor of the Stephen F. Austin building.”

No one should expect our state officials to vow to work in squalid conditions … but holy mackerel!

Meanwhile, Commissioner Miller said deep budget cuts in previous legislative sessions have made it hard for the TDA to perform some of its core services, such as ensuring grocery store scanners work properly. Yet the commissioner wanted initially to gussy up his offices?

Let’s take a deep breath at the Texas Department of Agriculture.

local news

Candidates go on the air

Panhandle PBS general manager Chris Hays sent this email out to media representatives, so I want to share it here.

I’m excited to inform you about a special edition of “Live Here,” as individuals running for office in the upcoming City of Amarillo elections join us for a Candidates Forum. The special airs tomorrow at 7. 

The 16 mayoral and city council candidates will participate in this exclusive forum with members of Amarillo media-television, radio, print and online-asking the questions. 

Viewers have the opportunity to see the candidates respond, listen to their answers and decide for themselves which ones deserve to represent them. Share your thoughts on each candidate’s answers on Twitter using the hashtag #LiveHerePBS. 

Here’s Panhandle PBS blogger John Kanelis’ preview of the forum. 

That’s public television truly serving the public. Be an informed voter before you head for the booth (and you will head to the booth, right?). Tune in Thursday, April 2 at 7 p.m. for this special edition of Live Here…”City Elections 2015: A Candidate’s Forum.”

OK, I just left in the part about the blog I had written about that Panhandle PBS posted earlier.

But the crux of this post is to drive home an important point that I’ve sought to make on High Plains Blogger as well as the blog I write for Panhandle PBS. It is that the local elections matter more than elections at any level.

Sixteen residents of Amarillo have offered themselves as candidates for Amarillo City Council and for mayor of our fine city. Their commitment to doing something positive for the city is demonstrated merely in their declaring their intention to run for public office. The offices of council member and mayor are essentially volunteer positions; we pay these folks $10 per weekly meeting, plus whatever expenses they might incur doing business on behalf of the city.

Why not, then, demonstrate our own commitment to the city simply by listening to what they have to say at the televised candidate forum and then voting on the candidates of our choice when the time comes?

Once more, for the record, I’ll simply point out that the message of turning out for local elections should resonate far beyond Amarillo’s corporate border. Wherever you live, in whatever city, you need to pay attention to what your fellow neighbors have to say when they seek public office.

Do not let your next-door neighbor, or the folks across town, decide this election for you.

Citizenship works better when more people — not fewer of them — get involved in the government process.

It starts with voting.