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Let's stop the hijacking theory on Flight 370

Let’s clear the air right now.

Malaysian Air Flight 370 was not hijacked and flown to some remote location where no man has been. I keep hearing that thesis kicked around on cable news shows from so-called “experts.”

Allow me this brief primer on why I think the hijacking theory is bogus.

Hijackers take planes for one reason: to gain publicity for whatever cause they want to promote. It could be merely for themselves. But, hey, that’s a cause too.

The Boeing 777 disappeared 10 days ago. If someone had hijacked the bird and its 239 passengers and crew, we would know it by now. Heck, we would have known about it the moment it landed. That’s how hijackers do it.

The second reason the hijacking theory is bogus is that even though the satellite technology so far has failed to find any sign of the plane, you need to land these birds on land. To do that you are necessarily going to fly through radar grids that will detect them. Some control tower on Planet Earth would know where the plane has landed and that information would be made public the moment it touched down.

This mystery is deep, baffling, maddening and it is terribly tragic for the families awaiting news of their loved ones aboard Flight 370.

The hijacking theory, though, needs to be dismissed as the joke it has become.

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How should one feel about a hater's death?

News that Fred Phelps is near death in a care facility leaves me terribly conflicted.

Phelps is the founder of the Westboro Baptist “Church.” I put the word “Church” in quotation marks because what he preaches doesn’t comport with my view of Christianity.

He preaches hate for gay people. He’s led his Westboro congregation on demonstrations at military funerals protesting this country’s policy toward gay Americans. You know, that the country seeks to afford gay citizens the same rights as everyone else.

Phelps’s “church” doesn’t see it that way.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/0316/Fred-Phelps-founder-of-rabid-Westboro-Baptist-Church-said-near-death

He’s brought his hate brigade to the Texas Panhandle on occasion to protest at these service. There have been counter-protests — usually led by motorcycle clubs riding vehicles with very loud engines — to demonstrate on behalf of the young warriors who are being honored at these services.

Now he’s on his way out. His soul is headed somewhere. I’m guessing he hopes he’s going to heaven. I have not particular insight on where the souls of men such as this go.

My conflict is difficult at this moment as I ponder the end of Phelps’s life on Earth.

I detest with every fiber of my being what he did, what he asked his congregants to do, what they agreed to do and all that he and they stood for.

Speaking only for myself, I do not consider the Westboro “Church” as following the same biblical principles that I’ve followed my entire life. They follow some radicalized version of the Bible, not unlike the Islamic terrorists who have perverted their own holy book to achieve some evil ends.

Phelps’s world view and how he interprets Scripture as it regards homosexuality is anathema to decent people of all stripes.

Should I be happy that he’s dead? I don’t know. Someone once said that he doesn’t wish death on others but he reads some obituaries with more pleasure than others. I guess that’s how I’ll feel when Phelps finally checks out.

No one will know what goes through his mind and soul when that moment arrives. I hope he seeks forgiveness from whatever god he worships. And I reckon if my own God is prepared to forgive him, then who is anyone to deny forgiveness for Fred Phelps?

I’ll bid my so long now, Mr. Phelps. Have a nice trip to the Great Beyond … wherever it is.

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Sanctions welcome, although likely futile

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President Obama today imposed tightening sanctions on Russians who are involved directly with impeding Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Will they work? Not likely. Are they welcome? Certainly.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/russia-sanctions-ukraine-obama-executive-order-104728.html?hp=t1

Obama invoked his executive authority to punish those who are involved in the Russian arms industry or those who provide “material support” to forces involved in the occupation of Crimea, a region in Ukraine that over the weekend voted overwhelmingly to integrate into Russia.

The sanctions do set a new standard for punishing Russia in the post-Cold War era. They are “by far the most extensive sanctions imposed against Russia since the end of the Cold War,” an official said, according to Politico.com.

Is this all the world can do in response to what has become a virtual Russian invasion of a sovereign nation? Probably yes, short of a military strike against Russia. No one in their right mind is calling for a “military option” in response to this crisis — although former Vice President Dick Cheney keeps suggesting that those options do exist “without putting boots on the ground.” What hogwash.

All that’s really left for the world is to isolate Russia, which President Obama insists is going to inflict pain on the one-time Evil Empire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t likely to reverse course just because of these sanctions. He’s already invested too much of his own reputation in this incursion to back out now.

The hope on this side of the dispute, though, should be that the United States follow through with what it already has announced and then ratchets it up even more if Russia intensifies its interference in the affairs of what used to be an independent nation.

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Theories abound over Flight 370 fate

Everyone seems to have a theory about what happened to Malaysian Air Flight 370.

With those theories, the emotions of those most intimately involved — the family members and other loved ones of the 239 people aboard the jetliner — are pulled and pushed in every direction imaginable.

My heart breaks for those who are waiting for some sign, any sign, of the fate of those on board the Boeing 777.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/malaysia-plane-up-to-speed/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Was the plane hijacked?

Did someone on board sabotage the aircraft?

Did the plane lose cabin pressure and fly on for hours before crashing?

Did the Triple Seven crash into the ocean, into the jungle, the Himalayas … where?

Is it sitting on a remote airfield in the middle of nowhere?

All these theories are being kicked around on various print and broadcast media.

No matter how this story turns out, there will be some serious questions to ask the authorities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Flight 370 originated en route to Beijing, China.

I don’t know, nor will I dare predict, how it will end. It well might be that the plane crashed somewhere and it’s just taking the world an inordinately long time to detect the wreckage. It well might be a cut-and-dried mechanical failure of some sort.

You can rest assured, though, that everyone who proclaims some expertise on airline safety will venture ideas, theories and recommended solutions.

This story is going to remain on our conscience for a very long time after searchers find the airplane — intact or in pieces.

Meantime, let’s pray for strength for the loved ones who must endure this torture.

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Dewhurst about to take a huge fall … maybe

If the Texas Monthly blogger and editor Paul Burka is right, Texas is about to witness one of the more stunning political collapses in recent memory.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is in a runoff for his job with state Sen. Dan Patrick. The two Republicans finished at the top of a four-man primary field earlier this month. The runoff is set for May 27.

Burka thinks Dewhurst is toast.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/lost-causes

If it comes to pass and Patrick wins the runoff, Dewhurst’s fall from the pinnacle will be felt and heard all across the state.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

Dewhurst burst onto the state political scene when he was elected land commissioner in 1998. He parlayed that victory into a successful campaign for lieutenant governor in 2002. He then was going to bide his time while awaiting the retirement of one of our state’s U.S. senators. That opportunity came in 2012 when Kay Bailey Hutchison stepped aside.

Dewhurst then had his head handed to him by a young upstart named Ted Cruz, who took him to a runoff in the 2012 Republican primary and then defeated Dewhurst in the runoff. Cruz managed to outflank Dewhurst on the right and won the hearts and minds of the conservative wing of the GOP, which was enough to carry him to victory in the 2012 fall election.

Now, Dewhurst is in trouble again.

He has governed as a moderate. I guess, though, he took a vow never to be “Cruzed” again, so he’s staked out some tough positions on immigration, on public education funding, on the Affordable Care Act — and has looked totally uncomfortable trying to sell himself as a new incarnation.

The Dewhurst I’ve known and covered for years has been extremely detail-oriented and has managed to outwork just about everyone in state government. That was his big selling point.

Patrick then came along, finishing first in the primary and apparently is poised to win the GOP nomination.

I’m not sure how Dewhurst is going to pull this runoff out. The other two GOP primary candidates, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, haven’t endorsed anyone yet. Maybe their endorsement of Dewhurst could pull a few thousand votes into the incumbent’s column. Neither Patterson or Staples seem all that enamored of Patrick, who’s the fiery one of the bunch.

The mighty do fall hard in Texas. It’s looking as though the next big hitter just might be about to hit the deck.

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Constables … who needs 'em?

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One of my better friends in town is an Amarillo police captain who used to be a Randall County constable.

He did one job full time. The police department post occupied his professional life. The constable gig was something else again. Jeff Lester ran for constable, didn’t lift a finger on that job while seeking to have it abolished. He then lost his constable job in 2012 after his precinct was gerrymandered in a way that forced him to run for re-election against a couple of guys who wanted to make the job more, um, relevant.

Lester was on to something with his effort to get rid of what I’ve long thought was a superfluous, unnecessary and wasteful elected post.

My hope remains that the Texas Legislature somehow in the near future will find the courage to allow counties such as many of them in this part of the state to get rid of the office.

Constables are a vestige of some old-fashioned custom years ago that allowed these individuals to act as bailiffs in justice of the peace courts. They also are empowered to perform other law enforcement functions. They can write tickets for traffic violations. They also serve warrants and court papers to those involved in litigation.

Voters must elect these people, which in Texas is no big shakes, given that we elect everyone to every office under the sun.

But I’ve never quite understood why in a state — that in recent years has taken some pride in proclaiming to be the model of “government efficiency” — that we continue to have this elected law enforcement office at all. Nor have I understood why the duties I mentioned earlier cannot be done by other law enforcement agencies, such as, oh, municipal police departments and sheriff’s departments.

It’s maddening in the extreme.

I get that some larger urban counties use constables with some effectiveness. Let them keep doing so.

Here? It’s a different animal, as I’ve noticed over the years.

We’ve elected some constables who’ve suited up, strapped on the pistol and patrolled the streets of their constable precincts. We’ve had others who haven’t done a damn thing, yet still get paid for holding an office. Yet, the counties are virtually powerless to do anything about them.

Once in a while, you hear about constables being elected who aren’t even certified by Texas law enforcement regulators. Back in Jefferson County, we had a guy elected constable who wasn’t yet licensed to perform the duties to which he was elected; the state gave him the time he needed to get certified; he didn’t, and then the state essentially kicked him out of office.

Texas does not need constables. When will our Legislature find the guts it needs to get rid of the office?

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If Brown wins in N.H., Dems in for a miserable night

One of the interesting things to watch in this year’s mid-term elections in November will be the returns in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire is in the Eastern Time Zone and we’ll know right away whether a U.S. Senate seat flips from Democratic to Republican. If it turns from Blue to Red, I’m quite sure that the Democratic Party is going to be in for a very long, miserable, painful evening of watching election returns.

Why is the New Hampshire race so critical?

For starters, the incumbent is a Democrat seeking her second term, Jean Shaheen, a popular former governor. Additionally, her main Republican challenger is a carpetbagger, a former senator from across the state line in Massachusetts, Scott Brown.

Brown also is a big hitter with some serious star power, owing to his first term in the Senate representing the Bay State. He was elected to the seat held for a zillion years by the late Ted Kennedy, who died in 2009. Brown lost his seat when he ran for re-election in 2012.

He then set his sights up yonder, in New Hampshire. He has formed an exploratory committee, which usually is a formality preceding a declaration of his candidacy. He’ll declare his candidacy soon.

Shaheen’s popularity is being undermined by the unpopularity of the man in the White House, Democratic President Barack Obama. The president’s low poll numbers will provide Brown the best opportunity to exploit Shaheen’s incumbency.

Whether it will be enough for him to win is anyone’s guess at the moment.

If he does win, and the news networks project Brown winning in New Hampshire early in the evening, then I’m thinking the Senate will be destined to turn from Democratic to Republican control when the night is over. The GOP needs to pick up six Senate seats to win control of the place. A Brown victory will serve as a precursor to a long night, indeed, for Democrats.

However, a Shaheen victory might spell a different kind of evening for Democrats and Republicans.

My guess right now is that a Shaheen win could reduce Republican gains to something just short of outright control of the Senate.

Even so, Democrats all across the country at this moment should be afraid … very afraid.

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'Potty water' on tap next?

Eternal gratitude is what I am feeling at the moment that Amarillo isn’t in Wichita Falls’s straits regarding the availability of potable water.

However, as I read the story attached to this blog post, I am wondering if the day will arrive when Amarillo must do what Wichita Falls is about to attempt: treat sewage into drinkable water.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/03/14/5650516/dry-wichita-falls-to-try-drinking.html?rh=1

The thought is repugnant at so many levels. Wichita Falls, though, finds itself with few options but to recycle effluent into potable water.

The city of 104,000 residents has conserved water to keep from entering this next phase. Those conservation efforts, while they have helped tremendously, still aren’t enough. The city plans now to recapture 5 million gallons of wastewater it now is discharging each day into the Red River. It will treat it and reuse it.

The city will treat the wastewater and blend it with reservoir water. Big Spring is doing something similar, producing a blend of water that contains a 20-percent wastewater content. Wichita Falls will do a 50-50 blend of wastewater and reservoir water.

How has Wichita Falls’s population reacted to this idea? Not so great at first, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which reported: “Residents of the city … about 100 miles northwest of Fort Worth, were initially hesitant about drinking ‘potty water or toilet water,’ but they’ve realized it is one of the few alternatives left until the drought breaks, said city spokesman Barry Levy.

Until the drought breaks.

Therein lies some hope for all of us caught in this miserable weather cycle. There remains the promise that eventually — hopefully while we’re still alive to see it — the weather patterns will return to something approaching historically normal patterns. That means heavy downpours in the spring and early summer that should refill surface water reservoirs, replenish our aquifer and remove the incentive to use groundwater to irrigate our property.

I normally would be all for full disclosure of what my government is doing on our behalf. I’m not so sure that I would want to know if I’m drinking water that’s been flushed down my toilet.

As many wise men and women have said over many centuries: You gotta do what you gotta do.

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March winds are blowing

On this 15th day of March, I’m happy to report that my wife and I made it home from a nearly harrowing 45-minute drive from Hereford, Texas to our humble home in Amarillo.

Doesn’t this day signify the Ides of March, or some such thing? And didn’t Brutus stick a shiv into Julius Caesar on this day in 44 B.C.?

Whatever, the harrowing drive was interesting only in that we drove into the teeth of yet another vicious wind storm. Our cell phones were buzzing and beeping storm warning alerts to us; sustained winds of 35 mph, with gusts to 60 mph. So were the phones of our dear friends, with whom we had just spent a lovely evening of dinner and laughs in Hereford. One of our friends called us en route to make sure we were all right. “Yes, we’re OK,” I told her as I gripped the steering wheel tightly to avoid being blown off the highway. “Call me when you get home,” she instructed. “OK, I will.” And I did.

We’ve lived through many of these March-wind experiences during our 19-plus years of living on the High Plains of Texas.

I don’t recall precisely the last time, however, we’ve had two monstrous wind events so close together. We had another one just about six days ago. Now this one. Climate change … perhaps?

Beats me.

It’s all part of living in this region of the world, not unlike getting used to the incessant drizzle in my native Oregon or the stifling humidity and bugs in Beaumont, where we lived for nearly 11 years before moving to Amarillo.

Remind me, though, not to drive in this wind again. Ever.

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Where's the fairness?

Good journalism — be it print or broadcast — relies on relatively few basic tenets.

Accuracy is one. Thoroughness is another. So is fairness.

And fairness requires that you seek out both sides of a dispute, such as one that recently erupted in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Chairman Darrell Issa, a Republican, shut down a hearing as the ranking Democrat, Elijah Cummings, sought to pose a question of Lois Lerner, an Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a controversy that some folks want to turn into a full-blown scandal.

The IRS has been criticized for its vetting of conservative political action groups seeking tax-exempt status. What the right-wingers don’t acknowledge, of course, is that the IRS does the same thing to liberal groups.

Back to journalism’s fairness tenet.

The Rev. Al Sharpton — a liberal MSBNC talk show host — interviewed Cummings the other day to get his side of the story. One liberal would “interview” another liberal.

Meanwhile, Issa was making the rounds on the Fox News Channel to give his version of events. Conservatives were “interviewing” a conservative.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=848447285170595&set=a.290068127675183.91261.280920811923248&type=1&theater

My strong preference would be for Cummings to talk to the Fox guys and Issa to talk to the MSNBC guys. Let the liberal news/commentary network get the other side’s version of a controversy and have the conservative network get the liberal’s version of events.

That’s one way to define — if I can borrow a phrase — a “fair and balanced” approach to journalism.

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