http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=14185

Paul Burka has it exactly right. Rick Perry’s latest pronouncement about church/state separation will doom any future bid he might launch for the presidency.

The Republican Texas governor calls the notion of such separation as the work of the devil. He sounds so much like those on the far right who keep positing a goofy notion about what the Constitution says about the separation of church and state.

A former colleague of mine is fond of saying that the U.S. Constitution does not contain the words “church and state separation.” He’s right about that very narrow point. But the Constitution does say in its very first amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” And virtually every legal scholar – including some of those “strict constructionists” – since has affirmed that the First Amendment means that the state and the church must be separate. I’m no legal scholar, but I do understand fully what the framers meant when they wrote that amendment.

Were they the spawns of Satan? No, they sought to create a secular nation that governs a people who are free to worship – or not worship – as they please.

Back to the polls.

They’re beginning to show a trend, which is that President Obama is looking more like a lock for re-election. I harken back again to the RealClearPolitics poll average. Today, Obama ticked up to 4 percent over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Let’s look ahead to next week, to the first of three presidential joint appearances. Romney’s must score a “There you go again” moment against Obama if he expects a shot at capturing this election. Don’t look for the president to expose himself to such a thing the way Jimmy Carter did against Ronald Reagan back in 1980.

If the president fends off Romney and scores some hits of his own – and he’ll have plenty of ammo to fire at the challenger – then we might see the beginning of the end of Romney’s White House quest.

Oh, and what about Ohio? Remember how the late Tim Russert declared “Florida, Florida, Florida” when handicapping how the 2000 race would go down? I think the Buckeye State is this election’s Florida, meaning that it all turns right there. Republicans need it to win; Democrats can win without it. Polls are showing Obama with a lead of as much as 10 points in the Buckeye State, give or take a point or two.

Here’s what I think might occur Election Night. If the TV networks call Ohio early for the president, we might be looking at a blowout. Ohio will be among the first states to close its polling places, giving the networks time to consider whether it’s too close to call or whether they can declare it for either candidate. If it’s a nail-biter, look for a long night of suspense.

But if it goes early for Obama – given his apparent lead in the polls and even more commanding lead in the Electoral College – then it’s lights out in a hurry.

But hey, it’s six weeks away. How many political lifetimes is that?

I had to chuckle when I read the story about Republican officials questioning the polls that show President Obama with a widening lead over GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

They say the polls are “skewed” in favor of the Democratic incumbent.

Why did I chuckle? Because if the polls had shown Romney leading, it would be Democrats howling about skewed results.

But RealClearPolitics.com is a website I check daily to track the status of the campaign. RCP does something few political sites do: It averages out all the major polls. As of this morning, the RCP poll average had Obama with a nearly 4 percent lead over Romney, which might be just outside the margin of error for all the polls taken into consideration. And those error margins vary widely as well, with some polls declaring a 2 percent margin and others citing as much as a 5 percent margin of error. A 5-point margin of error could produce as much as a 10-point swing, meaning that a 50-50 race could end up 55-45 percent for either candidate.

The RCP average of all those major polls has been trending in the president’s favor for several weeks, owing mostly to the string of Romney verbal mistakes and, I should add, obvious signs of improvement in the nation’s economy.

Let’s also stipulate that the RCP average does include several traditionally Republican-leaning pollsters. The Rasmussen poll – which is the in-house polling firm used by the right-leaning Fox News Channel – generally tilts significantly in Romney’s favor. Rasmussen’s results tend to tighten the overall average. Without Rasmussen, the president would enjoy an even larger lead.

So, here’s the question of the day: Why the silly Republican complaints about the polls?

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/251031-jewish-dems-warn-netanyahu-to-butt-out-of-us-election

Jewish Democrats are sounding a bit riled up at the prospect of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu getting involved in our country’s presidential election.

I can’t blame them. Bibi is pals with Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee. They go back a long way together, to when they were up and comers back east; Netanyahu spent many of his formative years in the U.S. and ran in the same circles as Romney back in the day.

Now Bibi’s pal is running for president against Democratic incumbent Barack Obama, with whom Netanyahu has a less-than-cuddly relationship – or so it’s been reported.

Never mind, of course, that President Obama has declared this nation’s unequivocal support of Israel, or that he has declared that Iran – Israel’s arch-enemy – must not not obtain nuclear weapons, or that our military alliance with Israel is as strong as it’s ever been. Romney is chastising the president for declining to meet with Netanyahu while the Israelis PM is here to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting in the Big Apple.

Netanyahu’s apparent desire to see Romney elected seems to have rattled some Democrats, who are suggesting that Netanyahu needs to keep his opinions to himself. Netanyahu knows enough about the American political system to understand that he has no role to play, any more than this country should dictate whom the Israelis want to see govern them.

My guess is that he’ll be circumspect from now until Election Day. He’d better, especially if the president’s lead in all the major polls holds up and he is re-elected. Netanyahu does not want to antagonize the leader of his nation’s major world ally and benefactor.

It might be that Amarillo city commissioners’ decision to ban cellphone use while driving is going to start a trend across the state.

Who’da thunk it? Amarillo isn’t known as a municipal trendsetter. That title usually goes to bigger cities with more progressive reputations than little ol’ Amarillo, this outpost on the Caprock. But there might be other cities that follow suit. Could it be Lubbock just down the road, as my pal Enrique Rangel reported today?

State Sen. Kel Seliger, a former Amarillo mayor, calls the city’s decision to enact the ordinance a matter of “local control,” which he and other legislative Republicans say they favor. But history shows that their passion for local control has its limits, such as whether to allow cities complete autonomy on the issue of red-light cameras.

But the issue of local control is an important matter here. Amarillo city commissioner have acted because they perceive a problem on city streets with motorists operating handheld cellphones while driving their motor vehicles.

Good for them. And good for any city that decides to follow Amarillo’s lead.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/250837-thompson-blames-romney-for-his-poor-poll-numbers-in-wisconsin

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson can be excused for over-generalization.

He blames Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s poor performance on the campaign trail for dragging down the rest of the GOP slate in the State of the Cheeseheads. He also says it’s inevitable that when the top of the ticket is faltering that it has an impact on the down-ballot races.

It’s too bad Lloyd Bentsen isn’t around to refute that contention.

The late, great Texas U.S. senator had the high honor of running for vice president in 1988 on a ticket led by another guy from Massachusetts, then-Gov. Michael Dukakis. Bentsen also was running for re-election to the Senate that year against Republican hopeful Beau Boulter, a congressman from Amarillo.

Bentsen faced the same “drag” in Texas that Thompson is facing up yonder in Wisconsin. The Dukakis-Bentsen ticket didn’t fare too well in that election, losing big to George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle. The Republicans carried Texas handily en route to their Electoral College landslide.

Bentsen, though, fared much better against Boulter, thumping the Senate challenger by an even bigger margin than the one run up by Bush-Quayle in the Lone Star State.

Thus, maybe it isn’t all Mitt’s fault. Besides, doesn’t Romney have a guy from Wisconsin running with him at the top of the ticket? Thompson’s sliding poll numbers might have as much to do with his own candidacy … you know?

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-issues/gaminggambling/john-montford-tt-interview/

A friend of mine just returned from a vacation in the Bahamas and brought back an interesting view of what he saw there.

He and his wife saw lots of casino gambling activity in the island nation … right next to some dirt-poor poverty. His takeaway? He doesn’t think casino gambling is much of an economic tool.

I mention this today because of a Texas Tribune interview with former Democratic state Sen. John Montford, who believes casino gambling ought to come to Texas. Funny. I always thought a lot of the ex-Lubbock lawmaker-turned Texas Tech chancellor-turned AT&T executive. I still do. But I also think casino gambling is a bummer of an idea for Texas.

My friend’s observation of what he saw in the Bahamas illustrates a point I’ve tried to make many times.

My family and I spent a number of years at the other end of Texas, in Beaumont, which is about an hour’s drive from Lake Charles, La., where riverboat gambling has been active for years. We haven’t been back there in quite a long time, but I remember distinctly the sight of the gambling boats moored on the Calcasieu River, just blocks from decimated neighborhoods. What I saw was little economic ripple from the riverboats. Downtown “Lake Chuck” didn’t have much to commend it to visitors.

And we ought to have the same concerns in Texas. Gambling – and I refuse to call it “gaming” – preys on people’s weakness. That’s why I dislike the lottery. I’m just not sure that casino gambling is going to be the panacea that some of its proponents – such as John Montford – say it is.

It’ll make money for casino owners … but who else?

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2012-09-19/ordinance-could-be-difficult-enforce

I totally understand law enforcement’s reluctance over Amarillo’s recently approved ordinance banning the use of handheld cellphones while driving motor vehicles in the city.

The cops say it will be a difficult law to enforce. Motorists have perfected pretty sneaky ways of dialing up their pals while driving their car. Still, the city did what it had to do. Only a handful of states have even a partial ban on cellphone use while driving; fewer still have enacted total bans.

Thus, the city enacted a local ordinance because city commissioners determined that the activity poses a hazard to motorists and pedestrians (and that includes children).

But the word is out and is spreading quickly throughout the city. Commissioners have acted and motorists need to be aware of the law when it takes effect in the next couple of months. Moreover, it wouldn’t hurt for residents to alert out-of-town friends and kin about the new rule so they can avoid getting busted when they enter the city.

Then again, the city needs to ensure that it posts adequate signage along every major highway entering Amarillo to alert motorists that they are entering a “Handheld Cellphone-Free Zone.”

Mitt Romney has been bitten by that 21st-century monster called “instant telecommunication.”

You know how it works. People in public life say things intended for only a privileged few, but someone in a room has a “smart phone” with a camera and an audio recorder. He or she captures the statements of the public person, and then leaks it to the media, who then blast it all over the planet. The intent is to embarrass the public person. And boy howdy, it worked in the latest case of Romney speaking from the heart.

He told a roomful of rich campaign donors that 47 percent of the electorate will vote for President Obama no matter what he (Romney) says. They consider themselves “victims,” the GOP presidential candidate said. They believe they are “entitled” to government services and, in effect, don’t feel the need to “take responsibility” for their plight.

Thus, Romney has lumped tens of millions of Americans under a single canopy, ignoring the circumstances that might have caused many of them to seek government assistance in the first place. Bad call, Mitt, especially when you declare to the donors that you don’t really care about the 47 percent of voters who you’ve lost.

Lesson to Mitt? Every single utterance is subjected to this kind of surveillance. Romney’s response that his words were spoken “inelegantly” doesn’t cut it.

In this age of instant communication, Gov. Romney, you’d better be on your elegant best behavior at all times. Then again, these moments of candor do reveal the true makeup of what’s in a candidate’s heart.

Courage has presented itself at Amarillo City Hall.
It came this week in the form of a 4-1 vote by the City Commission to enact a ban on handheld cellphones while operating a motor vehicle. There would be no citywide referendum to determine the pulse of the people. On this issue, the majority of commissioners decided to act unilaterally to ban an activity that is becoming much more pervasive on our city streets.
Is the ordinance a good idea? As I’ve noted already, I’ve waged war with my conscience on this one for years. But I’ve finally concluded that the city had to act.
But whether it’s a good call or a bad one, I have to applaud commissioners for taking action, and for forgoing the referendum.
We elect these individuals to make difficult decisions, even though we don’t pay them anything to do so. They get a measly $10 per meeting, giving new meaning to the term “public servant.” They actually are servants of the people.
But in this context, servants actually have a leadership role to perform. Commissioners have done so with this decision.
The city’s action contrasts with the ill-fated proposal to ban smoking indoors. Previous commissions couldn’t pull the trigger on that one, so they passed the buck to voters – who twice have voted the smoking-ban idea down. The vote, though, did relieve commissioners of the task of making a tough decision, which also is in the public interest.
There will be a grace period. Police will need time to figure out how they intend to enforce the ban on handheld cellphone use while driving. Meanwhile, motorists had better accept the idea that operating one of those gizmos while driving a car through traffic – often at high speeds – is an act of utter stupidity.
What’s more, it puts the rest of us in danger. Thus, government has fulfilled one of its key jobs, protecting the public.