My 30-year high school reunion notice arrived by email a few weeks ago, setting off a wave of nostalgia. Not just about high school and the “good old days”, but about our country. And I can’t help but wonder how we got here.
One of my most vivid memories of my teenage years was the trip to Washington, D.C. the summer before my senior year with a choir. Over one hundred of us, dressed in red, white & blue. It was 1976 and we celebrated the Bicentennial in style. We knew every patriotic song and sang them everywhere we could, including on stage with the President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, and on national television at halftime of a college football all-star game.
Today my own son is entering his junior year in high school and I wonder if he and his buddies would even recognize songs like “This is My Country” or “This Land is Your Land.” They certainly would never consider participating in a choir that was singing such corny stuff. They don’t seem to view the country the same way we did in the seventies.
Some tell me that’s because they have come of age during the era of George W. Bush, when it appears our government, and therefore our nation, deserves no respect. I don’t buy that. Now I’m no fan of George W. Bush, I have voted against him five times. Twice for President, twice for Governor, and in the first vote I ever cast in 1978 I voted against him for Congress.
But how could they possibly be more jaded about our political leaders than we were in high school. We were too young to be personally affected by Vietnam, but we grew up watching Water Cronkite tell us the daily “body count.” Then came Watergate. Richard Nixon became the only president ever to resign his office about four weeks before the start of our sophomore year. But two years later we’re singing patriotic songs on the steps of the Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial and Mount Vernon.
Maybe it is our fault. I am sure that we have not set the example of patriotism that our parents did. Our parents were formed by World War II, maybe the same way we were formed by Vietnam. There is a glaring difference. They saw the war of their childhood for what it was, the battle between good and evil. We didn’t see the war of our childhood in the same light. It became the battle between our government and our citizens, or at least between the government and the nation’s youth. The protesters were eight to twenty years older than us, but we watched them closely. We were too young to be participants, but we were greatly affected.
So what did we pass on to our children, who according to the website the reunion committee has posted, range in age from 29 to 10? Clearly not patriotism. Oh, they’ll root for the US in the Olympics or the World Cup, but not with the passion we cheered the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980. And sing the songs? Not a chance. They know most of the words to the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America”, but they are not going to be singing them anywhere. I am disappointed in that, saddened. But I am really concerned about what our grandchildren may wind up thinking of their country.
If our children have grown up jaded and non-patriotic because of their parent’s remembrances of Vietnam, what will the next generation be like? What will the children of kids raised watching the war in Iraq be taught about our country? It won’t be patriotism I’m pretty sure. Will it be distrust? Or worse, indifference? I have earned my living most of my adult life in the political arena. I have known many politicians, both good and bad. I believe in our system of government and I am convinced it is the greatest ever tired, but I am worried.
A friend of mind who has a Ph.D. in history told me about a theory that most generations are more like their grandparents than their parents. They are more likely to hold the beliefs and participate in the activities of their grandparent’s generation. But they have to be taught about the good things of the country, and I am concerned about who is going to teach them that. I’m not talking about their formal education. Their teachers and their textbooks are only a part of their education. And in terms of patriotism, I would argue, only a small part. It will be what their parents think and say about the country that has an impact on them. And I am concerned about what my son and his friends will think and say.
I’m going home for the reunion. Home to the place George H.W. Bush called the barometer of the country, Lubbock, Texas. We’ll have a great time. We’ll tell old stories. We’ll show pictures of kids and grandkids. We’ll give each other a hard time about getting fat, bald & gray. Mostly we’ll hug and laugh. Some of us will even talk about that choir trip to D.C.
But we won’t sing any patriotic songs. And I wonder if anyone ever will again.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
DPS Wasting Your Money
Sometimes they just go out of their way to piss-off the Curmudgeon. This time it is the Texas Department of Public Safety. No, the Curmudgeon didn’t get another speeding ticket, and no, he doesn’t believe the DPS is doing this on their own.
On May 23, 2005 the Texas House of Representatives took up the controversial issue of private school vouchers (an issue with which the Curmudgeon has some familiarity). This was done against the wishes of most members, especially the Republicans. They did not want to vote on it because a vote for vouchers hurts them back home where lots of people live in the Republican suburbs because they like the schools, and a vote against them hurts them with the party establishment and some big time money people. Mostly one big time money person.
Private school vouchers have a constituency of one. Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio has spent millions of dollars trying to convince the Legislature to support vouchers. He has bused people in for hearings, hired lobbyists and, of course, repeatedly tried to buy elections. His success record has not been very good largely because the public realizes vouchers are bad public policy and they have repeatedly made that clear their elected officials. Every supporter of vouchers has a connection to Dr. Leininger. He has contributed to their campaign, helped fund their organization or paid for them to be at the Capitol. As I said it is a constituency of one.
The 2005 battle over vouchers was hard-fought, bitter, divisive and acrimonious to say the least. All well and good, the Curmudgeon likes a brawl as well as the next guy. People on both sides of the issue lost elections because of it (Carter Casteel voucher opponent and Kent Grusendorf voucher supporter being the most prominent). Again, all’s fair in love and war.
The story in the Capitol on that evening in May was that Dr. Leininger was in the back hall of the House meeting individually with Republicans. That would be a clear violation of House rules. The good folks over at The Texas Observer (bless their pointy heads ) decided to explore those rumors. The easiest way, they determined, was to look at the tapes from the security cameras located in the back hall to determine if in fact Dr. Leininger was back there. So they filed an open records request. http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2585
It is what has happened from there that pisses the Curmudgeon off. The DPS denied the open records request citing, are you ready, Homeland Security and protecting the Capitol from terrorists. Why? Because if the tapes were to be released then a terrorist could figure out where the security cameras are located.
Or they could just walk back there and look. The back hall is open to the public except when the House is actually in Session. You can walk back there right now and look around. You can even take pictures. The Curmudgeon has personally escorted a known felon through the back hall. (Disclaimer: It has been several years and I am a little foggy about whether he was a felon at the time or if the felonious activity occurred afterwards. Family, don’t you love ‘em.)
Attorney General Greg Abbott told the DPS they were wrong in denying the open records request and told them to release the tapes. District Judge Stephen Yelenosky told the DPS they were wrong to deny the open records request and ordered them to release the tapes. But the DPS has not done so and are currently appealing to the Third Court of Appeals in October. (If any of you know any of the judges on the Third Court of Appeals be sure they don’t see this blog. I’d hate to be accused of trying to influence them.)
What is the DPS trying to hide? Must be more than just Dr. Leininger being in the back hall. That is a violation of House rules, but there is no penalty for it. The worst thing that could happen is that some bad stories might be written about the Speaker abusing his power. Like that would be a first. No there must be something more on those tapes that the powers that be don’t want to be seen.
Now what really is pissing the Curmudgeon off is how much money the DPS has spent to avoid releasing those tapes. They have spent $166,000, so far. The appeal to the Third Court will certainly run the bill up and when they lose there they will likely appeal to the Supreme Court (The Texas Observer will almost certainly appeal should they lose), driving the cost still higher.
The Curmudgeon doesn’t know what they are trying to hide, though he has his suspicions, but it is not worth $166,000 and counting.
On May 23, 2005 the Texas House of Representatives took up the controversial issue of private school vouchers (an issue with which the Curmudgeon has some familiarity). This was done against the wishes of most members, especially the Republicans. They did not want to vote on it because a vote for vouchers hurts them back home where lots of people live in the Republican suburbs because they like the schools, and a vote against them hurts them with the party establishment and some big time money people. Mostly one big time money person.
Private school vouchers have a constituency of one. Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio has spent millions of dollars trying to convince the Legislature to support vouchers. He has bused people in for hearings, hired lobbyists and, of course, repeatedly tried to buy elections. His success record has not been very good largely because the public realizes vouchers are bad public policy and they have repeatedly made that clear their elected officials. Every supporter of vouchers has a connection to Dr. Leininger. He has contributed to their campaign, helped fund their organization or paid for them to be at the Capitol. As I said it is a constituency of one.
The 2005 battle over vouchers was hard-fought, bitter, divisive and acrimonious to say the least. All well and good, the Curmudgeon likes a brawl as well as the next guy. People on both sides of the issue lost elections because of it (Carter Casteel voucher opponent and Kent Grusendorf voucher supporter being the most prominent). Again, all’s fair in love and war.
The story in the Capitol on that evening in May was that Dr. Leininger was in the back hall of the House meeting individually with Republicans. That would be a clear violation of House rules. The good folks over at The Texas Observer (bless their pointy heads ) decided to explore those rumors. The easiest way, they determined, was to look at the tapes from the security cameras located in the back hall to determine if in fact Dr. Leininger was back there. So they filed an open records request. http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2585
It is what has happened from there that pisses the Curmudgeon off. The DPS denied the open records request citing, are you ready, Homeland Security and protecting the Capitol from terrorists. Why? Because if the tapes were to be released then a terrorist could figure out where the security cameras are located.
Or they could just walk back there and look. The back hall is open to the public except when the House is actually in Session. You can walk back there right now and look around. You can even take pictures. The Curmudgeon has personally escorted a known felon through the back hall. (Disclaimer: It has been several years and I am a little foggy about whether he was a felon at the time or if the felonious activity occurred afterwards. Family, don’t you love ‘em.)
Attorney General Greg Abbott told the DPS they were wrong in denying the open records request and told them to release the tapes. District Judge Stephen Yelenosky told the DPS they were wrong to deny the open records request and ordered them to release the tapes. But the DPS has not done so and are currently appealing to the Third Court of Appeals in October. (If any of you know any of the judges on the Third Court of Appeals be sure they don’t see this blog. I’d hate to be accused of trying to influence them.)
What is the DPS trying to hide? Must be more than just Dr. Leininger being in the back hall. That is a violation of House rules, but there is no penalty for it. The worst thing that could happen is that some bad stories might be written about the Speaker abusing his power. Like that would be a first. No there must be something more on those tapes that the powers that be don’t want to be seen.
Now what really is pissing the Curmudgeon off is how much money the DPS has spent to avoid releasing those tapes. They have spent $166,000, so far. The appeal to the Third Court will certainly run the bill up and when they lose there they will likely appeal to the Supreme Court (The Texas Observer will almost certainly appeal should they lose), driving the cost still higher.
The Curmudgeon doesn’t know what they are trying to hide, though he has his suspicions, but it is not worth $166,000 and counting.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Hunt Oil Co. Wins the War
Curmudgeon Chronicle for 9/18/07
As you know it doesn't take much to set the Curmudgeon off. He can be easily pissed off by fairly small matters. He is naturally skeptical and suspicious of the intentions of virtually everyone. But dammit this time they have really gone too far.
If curmudgeons cared about what other people thought (and we don’t) enough to feel that they needed to organize (and we don’t) and have a spokesman (still nope) the choice would be obvious. I’m pretty sure if you Google curmudgeon it shows his picture, if not it should. Close your eyes and picture what a curmudgeon should look like. You pictured Alan Greenspan didn’t you? (Well, you should have.) The former Chairman of the Federal Reserve has a face that only a curmudgeon’s mother could love.
Mr. Greenspan has a new book out this week “Age of Turbulence.” He has in there his predictions about the possibility of a recession and other tidbits of economic advice. Mr. Greenspan is a self-described “libertarian Republican” (think Joe Don and Ron Paul). Whatever, he ain’t no liberal.
So what does he think about the War on Iraq? "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
What? Surely not. This war is about WMD’s, Spreading Democracy and Freedom, Fightin’ them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here, 9/11, the Pottery Barn. This is about lots of important stuff, but only some crazyass, black helicopter seeing, conspiracy theorist would believe it was about oil. Right?
Then there was this little tidbit in the news. The agreement between the Iraqis about how to share their oil revenues, the only source of revenues they have left, has collapsed. One of the apparent reasons is that Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas has signed a production sharing agreement with the government of Kurdistan. The Kurds have apparently given up trying to work with the crazier factions of the Iraqi government and working out a deal that would help everyone. They just want to produce oil, and revenue.
Similarly the Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas seems to have given up on working with the crazier factions of the US government and working out a deal that would help everyone. They just want to produce oil, and revenue. But is difficult to call Hunt Oil a rogue company. Ray L. Hunt, the CEO of Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas has long been a friend of the Bushes and a major political contributor. Moreover, he is a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and one would think in a pretty good position to know what is going on in Iraq.
So Mr. Hunt is betting that an agreement with the Kurds is going to be better in terms of producing oil than an agreement with an Iraqi government would be. Why would an insider make such a bet? Obviously he does not believe that an Iraqi government will be in any position to make such an agreement for many years to come. The Kurds can make such an agreement even over the objections of the central Iraqi government, because the central Iraqi government has no ability to stop them. The US government has no interest in stopping them.
So what is it that pisses off the Curmudgeon today? Is it that we are killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and dislocating millions of others? Is it the nearly 3800 American soldiers who have now died and the 26,000 who have been maimed? Is it the $12 billion a month we continue to flush? All in the name of oil?
Nope. Today what pisses the Curmudgeon off is that Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas is a privately owned company and I can’t buy any stock in it. If the war is, as Mr. Greenspan says, about oil, we now know who won the war. Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas, a privately held company.
As you know it doesn't take much to set the Curmudgeon off. He can be easily pissed off by fairly small matters. He is naturally skeptical and suspicious of the intentions of virtually everyone. But dammit this time they have really gone too far.
If curmudgeons cared about what other people thought (and we don’t) enough to feel that they needed to organize (and we don’t) and have a spokesman (still nope) the choice would be obvious. I’m pretty sure if you Google curmudgeon it shows his picture, if not it should. Close your eyes and picture what a curmudgeon should look like. You pictured Alan Greenspan didn’t you? (Well, you should have.) The former Chairman of the Federal Reserve has a face that only a curmudgeon’s mother could love.
Mr. Greenspan has a new book out this week “Age of Turbulence.” He has in there his predictions about the possibility of a recession and other tidbits of economic advice. Mr. Greenspan is a self-described “libertarian Republican” (think Joe Don and Ron Paul). Whatever, he ain’t no liberal.
So what does he think about the War on Iraq? "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
What? Surely not. This war is about WMD’s, Spreading Democracy and Freedom, Fightin’ them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here, 9/11, the Pottery Barn. This is about lots of important stuff, but only some crazyass, black helicopter seeing, conspiracy theorist would believe it was about oil. Right?
Then there was this little tidbit in the news. The agreement between the Iraqis about how to share their oil revenues, the only source of revenues they have left, has collapsed. One of the apparent reasons is that Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas has signed a production sharing agreement with the government of Kurdistan. The Kurds have apparently given up trying to work with the crazier factions of the Iraqi government and working out a deal that would help everyone. They just want to produce oil, and revenue.
Similarly the Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas seems to have given up on working with the crazier factions of the US government and working out a deal that would help everyone. They just want to produce oil, and revenue. But is difficult to call Hunt Oil a rogue company. Ray L. Hunt, the CEO of Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas has long been a friend of the Bushes and a major political contributor. Moreover, he is a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and one would think in a pretty good position to know what is going on in Iraq.
So Mr. Hunt is betting that an agreement with the Kurds is going to be better in terms of producing oil than an agreement with an Iraqi government would be. Why would an insider make such a bet? Obviously he does not believe that an Iraqi government will be in any position to make such an agreement for many years to come. The Kurds can make such an agreement even over the objections of the central Iraqi government, because the central Iraqi government has no ability to stop them. The US government has no interest in stopping them.
So what is it that pisses off the Curmudgeon today? Is it that we are killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and dislocating millions of others? Is it the nearly 3800 American soldiers who have now died and the 26,000 who have been maimed? Is it the $12 billion a month we continue to flush? All in the name of oil?
Nope. Today what pisses the Curmudgeon off is that Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas is a privately owned company and I can’t buy any stock in it. If the war is, as Mr. Greenspan says, about oil, we now know who won the war. Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas, Texas, a privately held company.
The Surge
CURMUDGEON CHRONICLE 9/11/07
In 1980 Ronald Reagan famously asked the question “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Today, six years after the attack on the US, much the same question should be asked.
Are we better off? Are we safer? What has changed?
Well, let’s talk first about the things that have changed. We have lost some of our liberties. Wiretapping our phones with little or no cause is now sometimes OK. People can, and are, being held in prison with no charges and no trials. Airline travel is much more difficult and time consuming.
And, oh yeah, we are in a war against global terrorism. For some yet to be determined reason our leaders chose to fight the major battles in the global war on terrorism in a country that was not, until our invasion, participating in global terrorism. The rightfully discredited former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld once asked if we were creating more terrorist than we were killing. The answer is clearly yes. There was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before our ill conceived invasion of that country. Al-Qaeda was a fairly small ragtag bunch headed by a rich Saudi operating out of Afghanistan with the protection of the Taliban that had taken over that country. We rightfully attacked them and drove the Taliban out. At least out of the capitol. We set up a puppet government in Afghanistan that had full control of several parts of the city of Kabul, but never anything else.
Then we got distracted. It was like our leaders had ADD or something. The job was about half done and we decided it would be more interesting to do something else. “Let’s invade Iraq. How hard can it be?” We forgot to get the lead terrorist. Remember him, Osama bin Laden? If you have forgotten he released a second recent video today to remind you. He does this periodically just to thumb his nose at us. We also forgot to get the leader of the Taliban. Do you even remember his name? Don’t worry if you have forgotten it, you will be hearing it again soon enough. The Taliban is making a dramatic comeback while we’re not looking.
And where is the lead terrorist today? Well, it appears that he is hanging out in yet another country that is about to become unstable. He is in the mountains of Pakistan. The president (we can’t call him the dictator because he is ostensibly an ally) Pervez Musharraf is facing a crisis as two former Prime Ministers are trying to re-enter the country to challenge him. We have not gone after Bin Laden in Pakistan because we did not want to violate the sovereignty of an independent nation. Yeah, that is so like us!
Now it looks like the lead terrorist will be sitting in a country as it collapses into disarray and a possible civil war. Not to worry, what’s the worst that could actually happen? Well, I guess the worst that could happen is he could buy or steal weapons of mass destruction. Remember WMD’s? Well Pakistan really and truly has them. They are a nuclear power.
What can we do about the situation in Pakistan? Not a damned thing. See we’re busy with “The Surge.” So good luck to Musharraf and anyone within range of their nuclear missiles.
Now to the war that we created. Yesterday General Petraeus informed us that “The Surge” is working. It is working so well that he is prepared to begin to withdraw troops from Iraq. It has been such a success that he thinks that by July ’08 he will be able to withdraw so many troops that we will only have the number of troops left over there that we had before “The Surge.” What? How can that possibly be classified a success? Even in Washingtonspeak or militaryspeak that has got to make one stop and wonder. We had 130,000 troops on the ground in Iraq. Not enough according to the President, we needed “The Surge.” So 30,000 more troops were added to the battle. That has been so successful that in another ten months we should have everything stabilized enough to be back where we were six months ago. What?
Read this part slowly so it sinks in. According to Gen. Petraeus “The Surge” is working in reducing violence. And therefore he is going to be willing to draw down the troops to 130,000 by July ’08. That is how many we had there in March ’07. That ain’t success, that is the status quo. Well, the status quo minus a few hundred more American lives, untold thousands of Iraqi deaths and $12 billion a month down the drain.
To hell with it. Let’s get back to the important stuff. Didn’t you think Brittney looked fat at the MTV awards?
In 1980 Ronald Reagan famously asked the question “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Today, six years after the attack on the US, much the same question should be asked.
Are we better off? Are we safer? What has changed?
Well, let’s talk first about the things that have changed. We have lost some of our liberties. Wiretapping our phones with little or no cause is now sometimes OK. People can, and are, being held in prison with no charges and no trials. Airline travel is much more difficult and time consuming.
And, oh yeah, we are in a war against global terrorism. For some yet to be determined reason our leaders chose to fight the major battles in the global war on terrorism in a country that was not, until our invasion, participating in global terrorism. The rightfully discredited former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld once asked if we were creating more terrorist than we were killing. The answer is clearly yes. There was no Al-Qaeda in Iraq before our ill conceived invasion of that country. Al-Qaeda was a fairly small ragtag bunch headed by a rich Saudi operating out of Afghanistan with the protection of the Taliban that had taken over that country. We rightfully attacked them and drove the Taliban out. At least out of the capitol. We set up a puppet government in Afghanistan that had full control of several parts of the city of Kabul, but never anything else.
Then we got distracted. It was like our leaders had ADD or something. The job was about half done and we decided it would be more interesting to do something else. “Let’s invade Iraq. How hard can it be?” We forgot to get the lead terrorist. Remember him, Osama bin Laden? If you have forgotten he released a second recent video today to remind you. He does this periodically just to thumb his nose at us. We also forgot to get the leader of the Taliban. Do you even remember his name? Don’t worry if you have forgotten it, you will be hearing it again soon enough. The Taliban is making a dramatic comeback while we’re not looking.
And where is the lead terrorist today? Well, it appears that he is hanging out in yet another country that is about to become unstable. He is in the mountains of Pakistan. The president (we can’t call him the dictator because he is ostensibly an ally) Pervez Musharraf is facing a crisis as two former Prime Ministers are trying to re-enter the country to challenge him. We have not gone after Bin Laden in Pakistan because we did not want to violate the sovereignty of an independent nation. Yeah, that is so like us!
Now it looks like the lead terrorist will be sitting in a country as it collapses into disarray and a possible civil war. Not to worry, what’s the worst that could actually happen? Well, I guess the worst that could happen is he could buy or steal weapons of mass destruction. Remember WMD’s? Well Pakistan really and truly has them. They are a nuclear power.
What can we do about the situation in Pakistan? Not a damned thing. See we’re busy with “The Surge.” So good luck to Musharraf and anyone within range of their nuclear missiles.
Now to the war that we created. Yesterday General Petraeus informed us that “The Surge” is working. It is working so well that he is prepared to begin to withdraw troops from Iraq. It has been such a success that he thinks that by July ’08 he will be able to withdraw so many troops that we will only have the number of troops left over there that we had before “The Surge.” What? How can that possibly be classified a success? Even in Washingtonspeak or militaryspeak that has got to make one stop and wonder. We had 130,000 troops on the ground in Iraq. Not enough according to the President, we needed “The Surge.” So 30,000 more troops were added to the battle. That has been so successful that in another ten months we should have everything stabilized enough to be back where we were six months ago. What?
Read this part slowly so it sinks in. According to Gen. Petraeus “The Surge” is working in reducing violence. And therefore he is going to be willing to draw down the troops to 130,000 by July ’08. That is how many we had there in March ’07. That ain’t success, that is the status quo. Well, the status quo minus a few hundred more American lives, untold thousands of Iraqi deaths and $12 billion a month down the drain.
To hell with it. Let’s get back to the important stuff. Didn’t you think Brittney looked fat at the MTV awards?
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