national news, political news

He’s a poster boy for various causes

suspect

Robert Lewis Dear’s picture has been plastered all over the media of late with good reason.

He’s about to become a poster boy for a number of key debate points in our modern political environment.

Dear is accused of killing three people and injuring several others in that Friday shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo. He’s going to court Monday to be arraigned.

Usually, someone accused of a high-profile crime gets to see his face related to one, maybe two, issues at once. Not so with this guy, Dear.

For instance.

  • He’s being discussed in the context of Planned Parenthood and women’s abortion rights. He told the cops “no more baby parts,” leaving authorities and the media to speculate that the shooting rampage was politically motivated. Is he a longtime anti-abortion activist?
  • Dear has been called a “domestic terrorist” who could become the face of non-Muslim, Anglo Americans who are just as prone to commit acts of terror as those evil foreigners seeking to sneak into the United States.
  • He carried a rifle into the Planned Parenthood building, which brings to mind the issue of gun control. Some will ask, “How did this guy obtain a gun so easily?” Ah, yes, the gun control debate will flare up once again.
  • And, finally, he might become the face of mental health treatment and the need to be on the lookout for those who are capable of committing such horrible crimes?

Wow! That’s four of them — four issues that, taken separately, all provide enough grist for friends to become foes in a heartbeat.

And to think that one man could be at the center of it all.

 

International news, national news, political news

Parker: How do you fight crazy?

k parker

I want to shake Kathleen Parker’s hand and tell her in person that I believe she is one of the country’s most thoughtful political commentators.

She writes for the Washington Post and she calls herself a conservative, although I have doubts that today’s modern conservatives — if you want to call ’em that — would welcome her into their fold.

She has written another brilliant essay, this time about the war against the Islamic State.

How do you fight crazy? she asks.

The path to defeating the Islamic State will take far more than “boots and bombs,” she says. It will require genius.

By that she means it will take a comprehensive combination of diplomacy, economic pressure and, yes, an application of military muscle.

It’s her belief, though, that bombs alone won’t do the job.

She writes: “What leverage does an army have against an enemy that welcomes death? We say: If you don’t stop murdering innocent people, we’re going to bomb you into oblivion. They say: Bring it on. No, wait, we’ll do it ourselves. Boom.”

That is the nature of the enemy with whom we are at war and Parker is right to assert that our strategy cannot exclude other avenues.

Parker writes: “This is a call not to look away but to be solemnly cautious, thoughtful and creative. Is the Islamic State’s mission to establish a caliphate, thus to hasten the End Times, a mental disorder? Is it treatable? Is their tactical savagery pathological? Is there a doctor in the White House?”

Any ideas out there?

 

International news, military news, national news, political news

‘Boots on the ground,’ means human beings

Hundreds of coalition forces servicemen and women met aboard Camp Leatherneck, Helmand province, for a September 11 memorial service. During the service, Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan, commanding general of Regional Command Southwest and II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) gave a speech reflecting on not only the lives lost 10-years before, but also on the heroes who have fought for the freedoms America stands for.

Is it me or is anyone else out there growing increasingly annoyed at a euphemism that’s getting a lot of use these days by the political class?

I refer to the term “boots on the ground.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich this morning used the term repeatedly in discussing the crisis in Syria and whether the United States should send troops into the fight.

Let’s put “boots on the ground,” said the GOP presidential candidate.

Boots on the ground!

I happen to like Gov. Kasich, but for crying out loud, we aren’t talking about footwear. We’re talking about the individuals whose feet slip into that gear and who would be put in harm’s way were we to order them into battle.

And yet politicians on both sides of the divide seemingly find it easier to talk about “boots on the ground” rather than what those boots symbolize. They symbolize young men and women with families, with real-world stories, with dreams and aspirations.

I am just weary of this game of verbal dodge ball that politicians keep playing.

If you’re going to support sending young Americans into battle, then call it what it is — and do not disguise it with rhetorical nonsense.

 

national news, political news

Sen. Cruz is eligible, period, Rep. Grayson

cruz

Alan Grayson is a Florida Democratic U.S. representative who repeatedly exhibits his ability to be the loudest blowhard on the block.

Grayson vows to file a lawsuit if the Republican Party selects Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz as its presidential nominee next summer. Why? Well, Grayson said Cruz isn’t constitutionally qualified to serve as president. Grayson, thus, has become the de facto head of a new  presidential birther movement.

News flash, Alan: Yes … he … is!

Cruz was born in Canada to a Cuban father and, here it is, an American mother. That, right there, made young Teddy a U.S. citizen from the very moment he came into this world. He is qualified to run for president. He would be qualified to serve as president.

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution stipulates that “no person except a natural born Citizen” is qualified to serve as president. Mrs. Cruz gave birth to her baby Teddy and that is all the qualification he needs to run for the presidency.

Meanwhile, Rep. Grayson needs to devote a lot more of his attention to the affairs of his Florida congressional district and stop looking for ways to garner cheap publicity.

 

medical news, national news, political news

Fiery rhetoric produces more tragedy

untitled

I believe it is fair to ask: Has the fiery rhetoric condemning Planned Parenthood resulted in the shooting deaths of three individuals at the hands of someone who has told police “no more baby parts”?

Three people died this week when a man opened fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.

Police arrested Robert Lewis Dear after a siege that lasted several hours. The motive was unclear immediately after Dear’s arrest. Then today he reportedly told police about the “baby parts” and how he wanted to prevent future harvesting of those organs from aborted fetuses.

Many of us have seen those videos taken at another Planned Parenthood clinic. It shows staffers discussing the harvesting of body parts. What has become known generally since then is that videos were edited heavily to portray gross indifference among the staffers.

And that — sad to say — triggered some of the rhetorical firestorm emanating from Congress and along the presidential campaign trail.

Many of the accusations leveled against Planned Parenthood were false. Federal law prohibits the selling of body parts “for profit.” Yet that’s what the accusers said Planned Parenthood was doing. There’s been no proof of profiteering, merely accusations.

Yet the rhetoric became stoked by politicians looking for sound bites, producing tremendous anger among many Americans. Sadly, much of that anger was based on false pretenses.

Now we have this. Someone has taken three lives and injured several other individuals.

I am acutely aware that the shooter will have defenders who say he is “righteous” in seeking to justice over the practice of abortion.

I have no intention of entering the abortion debate. I do intend to suggest that politicians seeking to express their own righteous indignation over medical procedures that in fact are legal need to consider the consequences of fomenting anger.

 

national news

These events never will become ‘normal’

suspect

I think I understand what President Obama said about the shooting rampage at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, about how they shouldn’t become “normal.”

Mr. President, we’ll know these things have become normal when the media stop covering them.

A gunman killed three people — including a brave Colorado Springs police officer — and injured several others. It’s not yet known precisely who — or what — was the target. Was it the Planned Parenthood clinic? Or was it something else?

We hope to find out … and soon.

The president also said “enough is enough” regarding gun violence. That, of course, is a given. It was enough long before this latest spasm of violence.

Robert Lewis Dear is now facing murder charges in connection with the shooting. It’s a testament to the hard work of the Colorado Springs Police Department that he was taken into custody.

Is this normal? Is this the kind of thing we should expect to occur?

Never. But we’ll know it’s all normal when no one pays attention.

I doubt very much that’s ever going to occur.

 

local news, Sports news

Man … it’s still cold out there!

phillips-2-master675

I posted this blog item once — on Dec. 8, 2009 — but I feel compelled to share it again today.

It’s an anecdotal story about a legendary football coach and his experiences in the Texas Panhandle.

Here it is:

***

Today’s weather reminds me of a story I’ve been telling for years. It involves the legendary football coach O.A. “Bum” Phillips and it’s gotten great laughs from those who have heard it.

I have not verified its complete accuracy. But it sounds sufficiently true. Thus, I believe it to be so — and so do others who have heard it. The story goes like this:
Many years ago, when Bum was coaching the Houston Oilers, he took his team to Buffalo to play the Bills. It was late in the season. Winters in Buffalo can be, well, bracing. The Oilers and Bills played that day in one of those classic winter weather events on the shore of Lake Erie: heavy snow, wind, sleet, rain, temperature well below zero.
The Oilers won the nationally televised game. As the teams were leaving the field, a TV sideline reporter and cameraman approached Bum and asked him, “Well, Coach, how did you like coaching in this cold weather?”
Bum responded: “Cold? This ain’t cold! Why, shoot, I used to coach in Amarillo, Texas!”
local news

Some of Amarillo’s ‘change’ has been good

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ama city council

Change came to Amarillo City Hall this past spring with the election of three new City Council members.

Some of the change wasn’t so great, such as the call from two new members immediately upon taking office for City Manager Jarrett Atkinson’s resignation and the firing of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation board.

Atkinson, realizing that he couldn’t work constructively with the new council, eventually did quit; the AEDC board is still there. Atkinson’s departure was a definite downer for the city, but the council has hired a capable man, Terry Childers, to serve as interim city manager.

One or two of the new guys got into public spats with Mayor Paul Harpole. That wasn’t good, either.

The council, though, has implemented a new procedure that I find quite appealing. It moved its regular Tuesday meetings to 5:30 p.m., rather than at 3 p.m.

The idea was to enable more residents to attend council meetings after work hours. The 3 p.m. meeting time was inconvenient for a lot of residents. They expressed their displeasure many times over the years.

The council did begin meeting occasionally later in the evening; it took its meetings into neighborhoods, giving council members a chance to hear residents’ concerns while sitting in their constituents’ own back yard.

I like the notion of meeting at 5:30 p.m. I also like the idea that more residents will be able to attend these sessions, to see and hear their elected representatives and to engage them personally during the “public comment” portion of the council meetings.

Perhaps with more people getting engaged in these proceedings we can stop hearing the constant carping — from the vocal minority of gadflies — about the bogus “secrecy” that allegedly shrouds so many of the council’s actions.

Now … let’s get busy.

 

environmental news

A harbinger of a harsh winter?

el nino

Dave Oliver, one of Amarillo’s TV meteorologists, predicted the other day that we are in for a long, cold and wet winter.

“Doppler Dave” predicted 44 inches of snow this winter, blaming it on the strength of the El Nino weather current in the Pacific Ocean.

Weather forecasters have called it the “Godzilla” of such events, contending that it’s stronger and more persistent than normal. It’s likely to pelt and pummel the Pacific Coast with much-needed rain, not to mention sending more moisture across the Rocky Mountains and onto the High Plains.

It’s always welcome. But … c’mon!

Whatever the case, I’ll just make this brief plea.

I hope they’re wrong.

Today was not a particularly fun day. We were housebound because the temperature didn’t get above about 25 degrees all day. The ice — and the light coating of snow — that blanketed the city overnight did not melt. Not one bit. There was no drip-drip-drip off the edge of the roof on the south side of the house, which usually occurs in the winter months around here — as the sun’s trajectory dictates.

We didn’t get a lot of snow. I keep hearing some slightly conflicting forecasts for Saturday and Sunday. I do hope, though, to get out of the house at least a little bit over the weekend.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my wife’s company and she tells me she enjoys mine, too.

However, we’re both prone to fits of cabin fever.

national news, Uncategorized

When is it not ‘domestic terrorism’?

2 Comments

plannedparenthood109

As I write this brief blog post, a shooter has just been arrested by police in Colorado Springs, Colo.

He had been holed up in a Planned Parenthood clinic where he reportedly fired at clients fleeing the clinic once he opened fire.

The question now is this: Are we witnessing an act of “domestic terrorism”?

How about another query: Suppose this was occurring at a shopping mall, or an automobile lube shop, or at a convenience store. Would that be domestic terrorism as well?

My guess is that all those scenarios would constitute an act of domestic terrorism.

That it is occurring at a Planned Parenthood clinic, though, gives this situation the feel of added scrutiny, given that Planned Parenthood has been in the news of late and has become the object of considerable criticism for many years over its role in providing abortions for women.

I am glad to hear that the cops have arrested this shooter, taken him into custody. He now will be charged with whatever crime is applicable. I had feared it wouldn’t end that way.

Let’s hope for the best, which means the police can get some answers from the individual responsible for this frightening event.

He needs to answer the question: Why do this at a Planned Parenthood clinic?

 

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience