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Get some help, Mr. Weiner

Anthony Weiner has just held an extraordinary news conference in which he admits that some of the “sexting” messages he sent out came after he resigned his congressional seat in 2011.

But everything’s OK, said the New York City mayoral candidate, because he and his wife, Huma Abedin, have repaired their marriage and she’s forgiven him.

Well, forgive this, Mr. Weiner: The people of NYC should take a dim view of these latest revelations into your (lack of) character.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/23/weiner-comments-on-new-sexually-charged-messages/?hpt=hp_t1

This is a preposterous turn in the life of a once-promising Democratic lawmaker who now wants to run the nation’s largest city. It’s NYC’s standing as the financial capital of the universe that makes this story important in places far away from the Big Apple.

Weiner got in trouble two years ago when it was revealed he had sent lewd text messages and tweets that showed parts of his anatomy that should remain, um, private. He quit Congress after first denying that his body part on display and then admitting it. Now we learn that even after leaving office, he kept doing it.

Now he wants to New York voters to elect him mayor and take the reins of arguably the most important city in the world?

Good grief.

Is there no limit to this man’s gall?

 

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Disappointed, but not surprised by congressman

Mac Thornberry is a longtime Republican member of Congress from the Texas Panhandle who has long touted his kinship with the land. He comes from a long line of Donley County ranchers.

He’s also benefited from government farm subsidies — and that makes his vote to strip food stamp money from the latest farm bill all the more maddening.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2013/07/3-texas-republicans-under-fire-for-collecting-farm-subsidies-then-voting-against-nutrition-programs/

Thornberry is among a handful of Texas congressmen, all Republicans, who have come under fire for their votes against the nutrition programs all the while taking money from the government for their own farming and ranching operations.

This is a disappointing development in Thornberry’s lengthy career in Congress.

He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 pledging to trim the size of government, which was a key tenet of the Contract With America on which the Republican slate of Senate and House candidates ran that year. Thornberry campaigned aggressively against a Democratic incumbent, Bill Sarpalius, for what he called wasteful spending policies — among other things. 

Now he’s been caught in a bit of a box. He toes the party line on cutting certain government programs, but he’s been revealed to be taking money at the time he’s denying it for others.

The term “hypocrite” keeps popping into my noggin.

 

 

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Boone has an energy plan

Boone Pickens is such a promoter.

He is especially enamored of natural gas, the rights to which he owns in abundance all across the United States, and that surely includes the Texas Panhandle, where he still lives part of the time.

http://www.pickensplan.com/boonecam/2013/07/22/high-gasoline-prices-and-the-need-for-natural-gas/

He says yet again that the recent spike in gasoline prices is caused by our nation’s habit of importing oil from overseas. He mentions specifically Venezuela and the Middle East. How does the nation bring down the price of gasoline? We need to invest in more natural gas development, the fossil fuel magnate says.

OK, he’s got a point. He trumpets the cleanliness of natural gas. Pickens says it’s plentiful. He’s indicated that natural gas reserves will outlast by a good bit the oil reserves that sit beneath the sand of, say, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

I’m willing to set aside Pickens’s vested interest in natural gas development. He stands to make a bundle — as if the gazillionaire needs more money — if we do more to develop gas reserves.

Pickens has been arguing for many years about the need to convert large-vehicle fleets — comprising long-haul trucks and buses — to natural gas. It does make sense.

People in very high places ought to take this fellow seriously. Boone Pickens does have some baggage. He’s been a controversial figure for many years. He’s made — and lost — many fortunes. But he knows the energy business better than most of us.

Yes, he’s got an enormous stake in natural gas development. That investment does not make his ideas on how to repair our nation’s energy policy any less worthwhile.

 

 

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Let’s debate, GOP contenders

Tom Pauken is pushing Greg Abbott hard for a debate — or a series of debates — leading up to next spring’s Texas Republican gubernatorial primary.

Abbott ought to take up the challenge.

http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2013/07/pauken-presses-for-debate-with-abbott/

The Texas attorney general has been deemed the prohibitive favorite to win the GOP nomination next spring and with that, the election in the fall against whomever the Democratic Party nominates.

Pauken, a Dallas lawyer and the former chairman of the state Republican Party, is having none of it.

He calls Abbott the “$25 million man,” alluding to the massive war chest the AG has accumulated. Pauken said he believes Abbott thinks of himself as having some kind of “divine right of succession” to the governorship being vacated at the end of next year by Rick Perry.

Actually, Pauken is right to press for debates. I like the idea of two serious candidates for governor arguing in public over policy differences. They can be entertaining to be sure. More than that, they can be educational and informative.

Some critics lampooned the 2012 GOP presidential primary for having too many debates. I wasn’t among them. My only concern about that series of joint appearances became the carnival atmosphere that accompanied so many of them. The candidates would prance out onto debate stages to roaring crowds, waving at audience members like game-show contestants. It detracted from the serious nature of what was at stake.

Abbott and Pauken seem like studious men to me. They both know the issues. They both have positions — I reckon — on all of them.

So let’s hear them articulate their view of where Texas ought to go in the post-Rick Perry era.

 

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Bad idea to boycott Florida

A California assemblyman has proposed a patently bad idea in response to a controversial trial verdict.

Democrat Chris Holden wants Californians to “boycott Florida” because a Sanford jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the case involving the February 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-florida-boycott-california-legislature-trayv-20130721,0,1560540.story

Can there be a more bizarre reaction to something so fundamental as a jury doing its job?

Holden says Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law deserves to be targeted by a boycott. That’s an interesting point, given – as the Los Angeles Times editorial board has noted – Zimmerman didn’t invoke the law in his defense.

I’m one of those who believes the jury might have gotten it wrong in acquitting Zimmerman. But to launch a boycott pitting states against each other in what the LA Times calls “an economic war between the states” is an overreaction in the extreme.

I also am one of those who tends to respect a jury’s decision – no matter if I think it’s the wrong one – and seeks reasonable remedies. Punishing business owners by invoking a blanket boycott – regardless of a business owner’s personal views on the “Stand Your Ground” law – is profoundly unreasonable.

Let’s keep debating the issues surrounding the Zimmerman trial, but let’s do so without hysterics.

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George P. gets a challenge from left and right

Well now, it looks as though George P. Bush — grandson of a former president and nephew of another one — isn’t going to be a free ride into the Texas land commissioner’s office after all.

He’s drawn two challengers. One of them is David Watts, from East Texas, a conservative Republican who’ll run against “P” in next spring’s primary. The other likely is going to be former El Paso Mayor John Cook, who’ll run as a Democrat.

“P” — which what many of us will call him, given that Uncle George W. is known around the world as “W” — comes into this race with lots of money. Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager/chief cook and bottle washer/de facto head coach Jerry Jones reportedly kicked in 25 grand to “P”s campaign.

I guess the young man has raised several million already for this race, which will be his introduction to electoral politics. He moved to Texas a few years ago to start a law practice and, I reckon, look over the landscape for a suitable place to start his public service career.

It’s been thought “P” would be able to trade on the Bush name, as it is remains golden in Texas while it has gone toxic in much of the rest of the country. His father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, likely would do well in Texas if he chooses to seek the presidency in 2016.

I’m glad, though, to see George P. having to face these challenges early in his political life. They will strengthen him if he wins.

If he loses, well, they still might give him the strength that quite often comes with humility.

 

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Stand Your Ground equals 2nd Amendment?

To borrow the often-quoted phrase from the late Ronald Reagan: There you go again, Sen. Cruz.

Ted Cruz, the junior Republican senator from Texas, said this weekend that President Obama’s call for review of states’ “Stand Your Ground” laws represents yet another assault on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, the one guaranteeing people’s right to “keep and bear arms.”

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/19/cruz-says-obama-going-after-guns-with-stand-your-ground-remark/

That’s not how I see it.

I believe Barack Obama is concerned that these laws, such as the one that became part of the discussion in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, need to be studied to ensure that they don’t result in the kind of tragedy that has torn at the nation’s soul. Zimmerman, of course, was acquitted of any criminal act after a lengthy trial in Florida. And the debate is continuing.

Cruz, though, along with many others on the right, have taken the argument a bit beyond what I consider to be reasonable. I haven’t heard anyone suggest we should disarm Americans; nor have I heard anyone say we need to water down the Constitution to prevent people from protecting themselves against threats.

I listened to the president’s remarks and I took away a reasonable plea to look carefully at state laws designed ostensibly to give citizens adequate protection against those who would do them harm.

Sometimes, however, even the best intentions can produce unnecessary tragedy.

 

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Still pulling for Tiger

Tiger Woods is two shots out of the lead at the British Open.

Admission time: I’m pulling for Tiger to win this event Sunday. It would be his 15th major championship, three shy of the great Jack Nicklaus’s record. I’m not yet sure I want him to beat Jack’s record. I’m still wrestling with it.

It might be different had Woods not acted like a dirt bag about four years ago when it was revealed he was a serial philanderer who couldn’t remain faithful to his gorgeous wife.

Still, I’ve struggled as he’s struggled to regain his top form. He finally got it back this year, returning to No. 1 in the world golf rankings. But he hasn’t won a major championship since 2008.

He’s in position now to win his 15th if he can make up those two strokes and get past the leader, Lee Westwood, who himself is no slouch on the links. Westwood will have the benefit of playing before a home crowd of fellow Brits. Will the pressure spur him on or will it make him choke?

As for Tiger, he at one time seemed immune to those kind of atmospherics. He just dialed in his game, turned it on and off he went.

But that was then. This is now.

Would I want to hang with Tiger? Not for a minute. He’s not my kind of guy. He is, however, fun to watch hit a golf ball. I’ll be pulling for him Sunday … along with many millions of others who would admit that they, too, watch golf often only when Tiger is on his way to pick up the winner’s trophy.

 

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Critical talks to begin

Secretary of State John Kerry is on the verge of achieving something of vital importance to the United States.

It is getting Israel and the Palestinian Authority talking again, looking for a permanent peace agreement between them.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/20/world/meast/mideast-palestinians-israel/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Israel already is making the first “goodwill gesture,” in releasing some Palestinian political prisoners. I’m hopeful now the Palestinians will return the gesture, or something akin to it to demonstrate that they, too, are interested in forging a lasting peace.

I’ve had the honor of visiting Israel, spending five weeks there in May and June 2009. I’ve seen how close the Israelis live to those who have made it their mission to eradicate Israel. The threat of violence — even war — is with them constantly. They persevere and go on with their lives in such a way that one doesn’t detect Israelis’ outward fear of extermination.

The two sides need to talk and talk some more.

The agreement to begin those negotiations makes me hope — to borrow a phrase from an earlier negotiation involving the United States and North Vietnam — that “peace is at hand.”

Stay with it, Mr. Secretary.

 

 

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Hastert Rule has to go

The San Antonio Express-News has editorialized wisely in calling for the end to the Hastert Rule.

The link to the editorial is here:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/article/Hastert-rule-undercuts-democracy-4660269.php

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner is going to invoke the rule before allowing the House to vote on immigration reform. The rule — named after former Speaker Dennis Hastert — requires a majority of Republican House members to favor a bill before it goes to a vote. Never mind that the bill already has a majority of support among the entire body, which includes Democrats. Most GOP members have to agreed to it, according to Boehner.

Suspend the rule, Mr. Speaker, and let the House vote on whether to reform the nation’s broken-down immigration system.

Look at it this way, Mr. Speaker: Your GOP colleagues in the Texas Senate suspended its own two-thirds rule to vote on a bill restricting abortion in Texas. If they can bend the rules here in the Lone Star State, you can do it on Capitol Hill.

 

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