Miscellany...
Category: News Commentary...
Posted Monday, January 20, 2003 at 08:53 AM [GMT-6]

Super Bowl fantasy... Midland school bond "disgrace"... "Blood for oil"... Blanket commutations... Condolences to the family and friends of Monty Price...

Despite my best attempts to remain aloof and uncaring, I find myself drawn to the Super Bowl matchup. There's the natural east-vs-left coast rivalry. There's the Cinderella aspect of the Bucs rising above their being the "worst team ever," going 0-fer in their first years, but rising to the pinnacle of their profession. You can't overlook the Bad Boy Raiders who are pretty much indistinguishable from their fans, other than dressing better. And, of course, we know that this will be essentially a One Year Dynasty for the Raiders, as most of the team will begin drawing Social Security the day following the game.

But...I can't help thinking that this matchup comes about three years too late. I would PAY to watch this Super Bowl on TV in 1999 or 2000, if only for the commercials. I mean, it's the RAIDERS vs. the BUCCANEERS: who wouldn't love to see it sponsored by Napster?!

One of the letters to the editor in yesterday's Midland Reporter-Telegram (the letters of which can be rearranged to spell "A Deranged Term Report Mill") expressed the writer's regret that the proposed school bond contains a provision for $17,000 for maintenance required for purposes of safety. He thought that was a disgrace.

I happen to agree with him...sort of. It is a disgrace that our state school finance system is so flawed that a bond is the only way we can find the money to fund important work on behalf of our children. But to condemn (read: vote against) the school bond for that reason is not only illogical, it's - are you ready? - disgraceful.

Of course, the writer's solution was that tired old strawman: "why can't those *%$%& overpaid MISD administrators just give up a little of their salaries to take care of this pressing need?" Well, I submit to you that they are, as they pay taxes just like the rest of us. And I'll give a little more credence to that argument when I begin reading accounts of how the good citizens of Midland are showing up at City Hall to voluntarily donate portions of their salaries over and above their tax bills to fix the potholes in their neighborhood streets, or buy extra dumpsters, or pay for crews to pick up the trash that's proliferating along 191...and so on and so on.

Until then, why don't we just focus on the needs, and the way to meet the needs, and get on with it?

I don't have time to address this fully right now - real work beckons - but sometime in the future I'd like to discuss the increasingly pervasive mantra of "No blood for oil." Of all the reasons for going to war, I submit to you that oil may be one of the most credible - and, for that matter, possibly the least relevant to the situation in Iraq.

Illinois governor Ryan's blanket commutation of everyone on the state's death row raises a couple of interesting questions (besides "what in blazes was he thinking?"). To wit...

• Is it naive to think that just because we grant a public official the power to do something, he should never exercise that power in a way we didn't anticipate? Perhaps this is a signal to lawmakers to take a little more care in crafting laws. Although I understand George Will's statement that Ryan's actions are "undemocratic," I'm not sure that an objective view of the facts supports this, given that a presumably democratic process imbued the Governor with the power in the first place.
  
  
• Is there a better alternative to the "one person clemency rule"? How about a three person review panel composed of the three highest ranking elected members of a state's executive branch. In Texas, that would be the governor, lieutenant governor and one of the following: secretary of state, comptroller, commissioner of the general land office, attorney general. [I can assure you that with One Tough Grandma on such a panel in Texas, dollars and sense would prevail!]

And last, but certainly not least, our condolences and prayers go out to the family, friends and congregation of Monty Price, his wife and son, and family friend Miss Stovall. I didn't know any of them personally, but by all accounts they represented what I like to call "the salt of the earth," and our community will be lessened by their leaving even as Heaven gains. Vaya con Dios, amigos.