Cancer Strikes Specter Again

Anyone who reads this blog even semi-regularly knows that I don't have any love for Republicans. As a party, I believe they have done serious damage to this country. But that doesn't mean I was happy to hear this news.

As far as Republicans go, Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) was a moderate, and one of the few Republicans with half a brain. At times, he was able to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats for the good of the country. That can't be said of too many Republicans.

In 1993, Senator Specter fought back from an operation for a brain tumor. Then in 2005, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease (cancer of the lymph system). Again he fought, and went through six months of chemotherapy. The disease went into remission and he was cancer free for three years.

On Tuesday, Specter announced that the Hodgkin's had returned. The 78 year-old senator is now facing 12 more weeks of chemotherapy. But this is no whiner. He is a brave man who will face this head-on. With some luck, maybe he can beat it again.

All politics aside, I am pulling for Senator Arlen Specter. I hope he beats the odds one more time.

State Abuse Scandal Is Brewing

It looks like Texas has another scandal brewing -- this time in our state schools and centers for the mentally disabled. The Justice Department has announced that it will investigate charges of abuse at the largest state school -- the Denton State School. An investigation of the Lubbock State School in 2006 revealed widespread abuse, and there is little doubt that the new investigation will find the same.

The 13 state facilities service about 5,000 clients and have around 12,000 employees. According to figures relesed by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, over 800 employees have been fired for abuse in the last four years (239 in 2007, 200 in 2006, 203 in 2005, 180 in 2004).

These are incredibly high numbers. It means nearly 7% of the employees have been fired in the last four years. Last year, 450 incidents of abuse were verified. The bulk were instances of neglect at 51%, while 31% involved physical abuse, and 16% involved verbal or emotional abuse. Less than 1% involved sexual abuse.

Governor Perry pointed to the large number of people fired as proof that something is being done. He is wrong! The fact that over 200 people are being fired every year just means the abuse is continuing unabated. We can't believe the problem is being addressed sufficiently until the number of firings starts dropping.

Our state leaders have done nothing except mouth platitudes about better training is needed. That's easy to say, but very hard to do under current conditions. The conditions must change before increased training can be effective.

The fact is that these are very difficult and frustrating jobs, and the employees get little recognition and abysmally low pay. Nearly all state employees are underpaid, but the employees in this field are among the lowest-paid state employees. This results in a large turnover and an unstable work force. Training can barely keep up with turnover.

There is a solution, but our state leaders must be willing to do what is necessary. The only solution is for leaders to bite the bullet and raise the pay significantly for the rank-and-file workers at these facilities. And I'm not talking about a paltry $40 or $50 a month for workers while management gets huge raises (which is what usually happens).

I'm talking about a large raise for line workers -- a raise that will attract good employees and keep them for a long time, thus eliminating the huge job turnover. This way, they can be properly trained and put those skills to use on the dorms.

Our Republican leadership must stop pumping big money into the pockets of rich corporations, and put that money into hiring and keeping good employees. Until they do, we are just spinning our wheels and the abuse will continue.

Doesn't Constitution Apply To The Panhandle ?

I really thought this issue had been settled over a year ago by the federal courts. Didn't the courts rule that monuments of the ten commandments were unconstitutional when placed on government property (both in Alabama and again in Houston)? Didn't they rule that it amounted to the government sanctioning one religion above all others, and therefore violated the "freedom of religion" concept guaranteed by the Constitution?

Well, evidently the religious fundamentalists don't think the Constitution applies to the Texas Panhandle! Yesterday, a religious group asked the Potter County commissioners to approve the placement of a 3-ton granite monument containing the 10 commandments. They would then make the monument even more christian-specific by including religious quotes by American historical figures.

They made the same proposal last week to the commissioners in Randall County. So far, neither county has approved the monument. The group wants to put the monuments on government property -- in front of the county courthouse. Both counties balked because they said they were afraid of lawsuits. That's sad.

They should turn down the proposal because it is clearly unconstitutional -- not because they are afraid of lawsuits. They sound like they would be willing to violate the Constitution if it wouldn't cause any trouble! Well, let me clarify the situation for these officials who might be willing to ignore our constitutional guarantees.

YES -- this would definitely result in a lawsuit! And it would cost the county a ton of money to defend a case they are sure to lose. The federal courts have already settled this matter. It would simply be stupid to throw away taxpayer money trying to fight settled law.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in religious freedom. Each person has the right to worship (or not worship) as they please. Even though I don't agree with the fundamentalists' religious views, I wholeheartedly defend their right to practice their beliefs.

But these people seem to have a warped view of religious freedom. They think it gives them the right to force their own religious views on everyone else in the community. While I defend their right to practice their religion, I will fight their attempts to force that religion on others. In a free country, no one should have religion forced upon them.

That is not just their courthouse -- it is also mine (and thousands of others). There are many religious beliefs in Potter and Randall counties. Are you also willing to put up monuments celebrating Islam, Hinduism, Wiccanism, atheism, etc.? Of course not. They don't want to be fair. They want to force everyone to believe as they do. That's both unconstitutional and un-American.

The Potter County commissioners have asked for a legal opinion, and have put the matter on their agenda for two weeks from now. I hope they get some decent legal advice, because this matter could cause a lot of trouble.

Justice Dept. Asked To Investigate Arpaio

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been an embarrassment to Arizona and the entire Southwest for several years now. He has ignored established legal procedures in an attempt to gain publicity and notoriety. He is famous for housing inmates in tents in the Arizona heat, making them wear pink clothing and feeding them a "loaf" made up of the day's menu all mixed together.

Finally, it looks like someone is trying to rein him in. The Mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon, has asked the United States Justice Department to investigate the sheriff. He wants to know if the sheriff has violated any civil rights laws in his very public crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Gordon is joined in this belief by the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League. They say the sheriff's patrols have "evoked a police state atmosphere" resulting in "detainment on the basis of a racial profile and dehumanization of innocent people".

To be blunt, he is using racial profiling against Hispanics, so he can make himself look good by catching some undocumented immigrants. Arpaio claims he does not use racial profiling, but I don't know what else you could call it. His high-profile patrols only target Hispanic neighborhoods. How many innocent Hispanic citizens does he harass to get the few "illegals" he arrests?

I hope the Justice Department does investigate Arpaio's methods. Sheriffs have a lot of power in our system, but even they must obey the laws and rules. It is against the law to racially profile.

Hispanic citizens should have the same rights as other American citizens. They should not be profiled and hassled (even if subsequently released) just because they are Hispanic.

Obama Looking Better To Pennsylvanians

According to CNN's delegate count, Obama has a lead of 143 delegates, and there aren't many states left to choose their delegates. The Pennsylvania primary is looming on the horizon -- only eight days away. It is critical that Clinton win there with a large margin, or her campaign is effectively over.

But with each passing day, things are looking better for Obama in Pennsylvania. There are several reasons for that. One is money. Obama has been much better in raising money since January, and has much more to spend in Pennsylvania. Currently, he is outspending Clinton there by about three to one. That has to be having at least a small effect on the campaign. A few days ago, the gap had closed to about 6 points in the polls.

A second phenomenon that probably favors Obama is the influx of new voters. Since January, Pennsylvania has registered over 210,000 new voters and 70% of them registered as Democrats. If it follows the trend set in other states (and it looks like it will), then most of those new voters are either young or black. Both are groups that heavily favor Obama.

A third factor is mistakes made in the last couple of weeks by the Clinton campaign. Lies, or "mis-statements", by both Hillary and Bill Clinton about several subjects are causing many voters to take a second look at Clinton, and some are beginning to have doubts about her honesty.

A fourth thing that could hurt the Clinton campaign is the perception that Clinton may not be as opposed to Free Trade Agreements as she says she is. It has already been shown that she actually worked to help her husband pass NAFTA (although she claimed she was opposed to it). Now it has come out that both her husband and her chief campaign strategist support the Columbian Free Trade Agreement. It is too early to tell if this is going to hurt, but if blue-collar workers get turned off by this, it could be devastating to the campaign.

The fifth factor is a bit of a surprise to me. The most loyal demographic group that Clinton has had in this campaign is white women. Now it looks like some of them may be defecting to Obama. The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows that Clinton's support in this group has dropped by 6%. A Lifetime Network poll showed that 26% of white women like Clinton less now than they did in January. Clinton simply cannot afford to lose any support in this group.

The final factor involves the delegate math. There are some who believe the race is really over, since it is highly unlikely that Clinton can overtake Obama in pledged delegates. This group wants Democrats to stop the bleeding and turn their efforts to defeating John McCain.

A month ago, it looked like Clinton had a big win in Pennsylvania all sewed up. But the above six factors have combined to put that in doubt. Senator Arlen Spector, who may know Pennsylvania politics as well as anyone (and who doesn't have a dog in this fight), said the other day that he believes Obama will win Pennsylvania.

At this point, I don't know who will win Pennsylvania. But it has turned into a very interesting contest. We may have to stay up late on the 22nd to find out who wins that state.

Child/Spousal Abuse Must Not Be Tolerated

I had not planned to comment on the action being taken against the polygamist cult in West Texas. To me, the whole matter seemed pretty cut and dried, and it was being dealt with properly by the local, state and federal authorities. But recently, a couple of points of view have been put forward that I simply cannot agree with.

The first is that the government is picking on this group because they don't like them. I don't buy that argument. This group has been in West Texas for over four years now, and I doubt they are any more disliked now than when they first arrived. If that was the reason they were moved against, it would have happened years ago.

The truth is the sheriff's office received information from a victim that alleged child abuse was happening, and happening on a large scale. What were they supposed to do -- ignore a plea for help and a serious violation of the law? I know what I expect when law enforcement gets that kind of call. I expect an immediate investigation, and action to stop the abuse.

The other view being put forward by some is that this cult had their religious rights violated. That is ridiculous. You cannot use religion to cover for child abuse. In fact, let's stop beating around the bush and call this what it actually is -- CHILD RAPE!

Child rape is illegal in Texas. Claiming you are married, or that God told you to do it doesn't make it any more legal. These are nothing more than pathetic excuses for perverted criminal behavior.

The local, state and federal officials have acted properly in removing the children from the abusive environment. The next step is for charges to be filed -- not only for child rape, but also for any proven spousal abuse. Physical abuse of a spouse is another charge that cannot be excused by religion.

The people guilty of either child or spousal abuse do not want me on their jury. As far as I'm concerned, they can pray to whatever god they want to from a cell in the Texas prison system.

Potter County Dem. Sheriff Candidate

Potter County is going to have a new sheriff after the November election. The current sheriff has been indicted for a felony and a class A misdemeanor, and could not overcome opposition in the Republican primary.

Potter County is a pretty Republican county, but there is a Democrat running to become the new sheriff. His name is Robert Taylor (pictured above). Being fairly new to Amarillo (my job sent me up here about a year-and-a-half ago), I didn't know anything about Taylor until recently. But I work in a branch of law enforcement, so it's very important to me that we have a competent man in the sheriff's office.

At the Democratic county convention on March 29th, I was able to meet Taylor and have a good conversation with him. I must admit I was impressed. I found him to be intelligent, articulate and very knowledgeable about law enforcement. In addition, he was a nice guy who was very easy to talk with.

After meeting Robert Taylor, I'm not just supporting him because he's a Democrat. I really think he'd make a great sheriff that everyone in Potter County could be proud of. Let me tell you a little bit about him.

Robert Taylor has been a resident of Potter County for 43 years, and graduated from Palo Duro High School. He has been married to the same lady for the last 31 years, and they have four children - a son and three daughters. He is a Vietnam-era veteran of the United States Army, and has a law enforcement degree from Amarillo College.

He also has the right experience for the sheriff's job:

Amarillo Police Department 1978 - 1985

Potter County Sheriff Department 1990 - 2003

Amarillo International Airport Police Department 2004 - 2005

Amarillo College Police Department 2005 - Present

PatrolmanField Training Officer FTO

Corporal

Shift Sergeant overseeing patrol functioms

Cross Trained in the Detective Division

Corrections Deputy working in County Jail

Patrol Deputy

Jail Sergeant/Shift Supervisor

Patrol Sergeant

Crime scene Investiagtor/AFIS Operator/Fingerprint classification

Evidence Officer tracking evidence and forfieted narcotics, guns, alcohol and misc items.

Radio Dispatcher at both APD and Potter County Sheriff Departmen.

Maintained fleet management over mileage and fuel consumption

Uniform Crime Report officer at Sheriff’s Department

Taylor has experience both at the jail and on patrol. He knows what must be done to solve the problems at the county jail. He also told me he wants to expand patrols in the county.

In our conversation, I pointed out that Potter County is a Republican county and asked him if he had a chance to be elected. He tells me he has a lot of Republican friends and associates, and he believes many of them will cross party lines to vote for him. Frankly, after the strong Democratic turnout in the primaries, it wouldn't take a whole lot of crossover votes to put him in office.

We have a real chance to put a Democrat in the sheriff's office this year - a man who would return dignity, honesty and competence to the office. But as with any elected office, it takes money to get the word out about a great candidate. I'll be sending a donation to Taylor soon, and I urge you to do the same. Even a small donation would be appreciated. Donations can be sent to:

Taylor Campaign

P.O. Box 31121

Amarillo, Texas 79120

Change is needed in Potter County. Electing Robert Taylor would be a great way to start.

A Child Without A Chance

Most children grow up with people that love them and try to teach them the right things - to be honest, decent and treat your fellow humans right. Even the few that get involved with the juvenile justice system have people who are trying to help them to take the right path, and most eventually do grow into decent law-abiding folks. But every now and then you find a child who really didn't have a chance from the time they were born.

This story is a good example of that. This story takes place in Commerce City (Colorado), but believe me, it could and does happen in cities all over this country.

Police were called to a disturbance in a video store in Commerce City. It turned out to be an argument between the father (pictured above) and the mother of a four-year-old child. The horrifying part is what the argument was about.

The parents are "gangbangers", and are members of different criminal street gangs. The mother and father were arguing over which gang the four-year-old would join when he got a little older. That's right -- he's only four and his own parents are planning to encourage him to join a criminal street gang!

Does this child have a chance to avoid a life of crime and trouble? Is there any chance he will avoid the juvenile justice system (and probably the adult justice system also)?

With this kind of upbringing, the odds are very high that he will not finish school, will be in and out of jail, and may well die a young and violent death. Sadly, these parents will probably realize their foolishness someday, but it will likely be far too late for this child.

Sometimes a child doesn't have a chance from birth.

White House Specifically Approved Torture

Most of us suspected this all along, but now it has been verified by a senior intelligence official with the CIA, who talked with the Associated Press. The Bush administration not only knew of the torture techniques that were used by the CIA interrogators, but signed off on the specific techniques before their use.

The CIA held a series of meetings with officials from the White House in the years immediately following 9-11. At these meetings, the specific torture techniques to be used were explained in detail to the White House officials including Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, John Ashcroft, Colin Powell, George Tenet and others.

Bush was not at the meetings. The CIA official said Cheney and the others were careful "to insulate President Bush". But can there really be any doubt that this was done with the full knowledge and consent of the president?

The meetings were asked for by the CIA who wanted to be sure they wouldn't be left swinging in the wind if the torture became public knowledge, as it did. The official said, "No one at the agency wanted to operate under a notion of winks and nods and assumptions that everyone understood what was being talked about. People wanted to be assured that everything that was conducted was understood and approved by the folks in the chain of command."

Cheney and the others knew they were going beyond the bounds of decency and legality when they specifically approved the use of torture in interrogations, so they asked the Justice Department to cover them. Justice issued two opinions. The first defined torture as only extreme acts causing pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure. In other words, as long as you haven't killed anyone you haven't really used torture.

The second said it was OK to use harsh techniques on detainees as long as the interrogator didn't specifically intend to torture them. That one had to have set a new high in government double-talk. It's legal to torture as long as you didn't intend to torture. The guy who came up with that one should be tortured -- unintentionally of course.

The Bush administration ordered the CIA to use techniques of torture, and actually signed off on the specific techniques to be used -- including waterboarding. They can't claim ignorance because the CIA explained in detail each of the torture techniques, so everyone would be absolutely sure of what they were ordering interrogators to do.

Oddly enough, the one person many of us thought would be the first to bend the law to allow these illegalities, was the only one to raise doubts about what they were doing -- John Ashcroft. Ashcroft said, "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

He was right. History will judge this administration as the criminals they really are.

2007 Is Record Year For Cyber-Viruses

Here's a bit of bad news for those of us who love to "surf" the internet. It seems that the number of computer viruses (viruses, trojans, worms, etc.) that have been detected now is over one million, according to the security firm Symantec.

In the latest edition of their Internet Security Threat Report, Symantec reports that 1,122,311 different computer viruses or other malware have been detected, and the problem is growing exponentially. Nearly two thirds of these programs (711,912) were created in 2007.

These programs are no longer just created by some teenage computer geek with a twisted sense of humor or a grudge against the world. Most of them are created now by cyber-criminals who are out to steal whatever they can -- they're just doing it with a computer instead of a gun now.

The vast majority of these insidious programs are still aimed at PCs running Microsoft Windows. If this rate of growth continues (and there's no reason to believe it won't), there will easily be over 2 million of the programs by the end of 2008.

Those are some pretty scary statistics.

More Trouble For Clinton ?

If Hillary Clinton is to do well in Pennsylvania, she must do very well among union and blue-collar workers. Blacks and college-educated professionals are voting heavily for Obama in every state, and Pennsylvania is no different. That means Clinton must carry women and non-college-educated workers by a large margin.

But it looks like she's got some problems she must overcome to do that. First was her support of NAFTA. NAFTA is not liked by union and blue-collar workers because they view it as a job-killer. She claims that she was always opposed to that Free Trade Agreement, but it is now undeniable that she campaigned for NAFTA while her husband was president.

Just as she's trying to put NAFTA to rest, up pops another Free Trade Agreement -- this time with Columbia. It was learned that her senior advisor, Mark Penn, was working with the Columbian government to get the agreement approved by Congress. She demoted Penn and assured workers that she opposes the Columbian agreement.

But that's not the end of the Columbian Free Trade Agreement story. We now learn that her husband is also a supporter of this agreement, and has supported it since 2000. In fact, he was paid over $800,000 to make some speeches in favor of the agreement.

With her (former) chief strategist and her husband both being big supporters of the agreement (probably the two most important people in her campaign), one is left to wonder -- how can we really be sure she will stand firm against these kind of agreements once she gets in the White House?

This is a serious problem for the Clinton campaign. It strikes at the heart of a demographic group that she cannot afford to lose if she expects to make a big showing in Pennsylvania. If working-class voters begin to doubt her opposition to Free Trade Agreements, her campaign will be in even deeper trouble than it already is.

The last couple of weeks haven't been good for Clinton.

Van Os Blasts Big Oil

Yesterday, I noticed that gas prices up here in the Panhandle have now climbed to $3.35 a gallon, and it doesn't look like they'll be going down anytime soon. In fact, with summer coming on the prices are expected to rise quite a bit more. Many people are predicting $4.00 a gallon gas prices very soon and I'm starting to believe them.

Many people, like myself, must drive as part of my job. I really can't do my job correctly without driving, and the job dictates how much driving is necessary -- not the price of gas. Every time the gas prices rise it costs me more to do my job, but my salary doesn't rise when the gas prices do. That means a rise in gas prices is the same to me as a cut in my pay.

As you can imagine, this does not make me a happy camper. But there's a ton of other people in the same situation, and many, such as truckers, in an even worse situation.

Even if your job doesn't require you to drive, the rise in gas prices affects you in several ways. Not only does it cost you more to fill up your tank, but it affects where you can afford to drive on vacation, how many times you can drive to see your family, the the amount you pay for nearly everything -- including necessities.

I'd love to throw a rant, but I just received a new statement about this from the inimitable David Van Os. As usual, he says it much better than I could. This is what he has to say:

Poor Big Oil - it is suffering such an economic squeeze that it has absolutely no choice but to pass its suffering on to the public through ever-rising prices for gasoline, diesel and other fuels.

Take poor little Exxon-Mobil for example. The squeeze is hurting it so badly that its quarterly profits have only been able to reach $11,000,000,000.00 (11 billion dollars) and change.

Let's try to visualize 11 billion dollars by letting each dollar represent one minute. Rounded off, 11 billion minutes divided by 60 (minutes per hour) would equal 183,333,333 hours; which divided by 24 (hours per day) would equal 7,638,889 days; which divided by 365 (days per year) would equal 20,928 years. Thus if one dollar represents one minute, it takes nearly 21 thousand years worth of minutes to reach Exxon-Mobil's approximately $11 billion profit for the 4th quarter of 2007.

Putting it into perspective - according to modern archeology, 21 thousand years ago among the human race there was probably no hint of cities, towns, organized farming, or the written word.

You and I are not the only ones who perceive something fraudulent about the Big Oil Robber Barons telling us that economic pressures force them to raise prices at the pump higher, higher, and higher; while at the same time they are making profits that the human mind can barely imagine, higher and higher with each passing month.

Some of the people who most directly experience the disastrous impact of rising fuel prices that cannot be justified by "market" explanations, i.e. independent truck drivers, are fighting back. As eloquently described by the writer-blogger Barbara Ehrenreich in her recent article, "Truckers Protest, the Resistance Begins" [click here for article], truckers have begun to defy and resist the robber baron oil economy in various collective actions, and more is on the way. They are certainly fighting back more than any of the politicians are.

Their resistance is no less inspiring and patriotic than that of the American patriots who resisted the British King George III in 1776 and that of the Texan patriots who resisted the Dictator Santa Anna in 1836. I salute them and I hope it spreads.

David Van Os

Obama Closing Gap In Pennsylvania

A month ago, Barack Obama was behind in Pennsylvania by double-digits, and it looked like Clinton might get a huge win there. In fact, as recently as April 2 Obama was still behind by about 9 points. But a new poll shows him now closing the gap.

A new Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday shows Clinton now only has a 6 point lead in the state (50% to 44%). Last weeks poll had Clinton leading by 50% to 41%. While Clinton's numbers have remained the same, it's looking like the late deciders are breaking for Obama.

Obama supporters would consider a small percentage win by Clinton to be a victory, because that would give them a virtual tie in delegates allocated. Clinton can't afford that -- she has to start making up some ground in the overall delegate count, and she is counting on Pennsylvania to help her do that.

Obama is outspending Clinton in Pennsylvania, and I'm sure that has helped him to close the gap some. But Clinton has just had a bad week with the "Tusla" and "hospital" mis-statements staying in the headlines for the last few days. That is probably also helping Obama.

A couple of weeks ago, Governor Rendell (a Clinton supporter) was confidently telling the media that Clinton would win in Pennsylvania by double-digits. Now he is talking about how hard it is to win Pennsylvania by more than a single digit. That makes me think the Clinton pollsters are seeing the same gains by Obama.

There's still a couple of weeks to go before the primary voting, but it looks like Pennsylvania might be a lot closer than expected.

Oil Company Pollutes Panhandle

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, ConocoPhillips' refinery in Borger (Texas) has violated pollution discharge limits over 2,000 times between 1999 and 2006. The two pollutants involved were selenium and toxic wastewater.

The limits they repeatedly violated were imposed by the Clean Water Act. The company says it is now in compliance with that law.

After meeting with the EPA and the Justice Department, ConocoPhillips has agreed to pay $1.2 million in fines. The company has also agreed to monitor surrounding waters (including the Canadian River) for selenium, and to check the tissue of fish for selenium. They will also complete a $600,000 environmental project to control pollution during storms.

I hope the EPA is going to be double-checking these things. After the huge number of past violations, I don't think I trust the company to police itself. The Panhandle doesn't have an over-abundance of water, and we don't need any company polluting what we do have.