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He earned it.

The first presidential election of which I have any recollection was the 1960 Kennedy election. I was six going on seven years old. In those days I was living in Amarillo, Texas and my dad and I used to go watch minor league baseball. In Kennedy’s first year in office, the 1961 Amarillo Gold Sox were affiliated with the New York Yankees and played in Potter County Stadium. That 1961 team featured future Yankees pitcher...

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When you’re really rich, it doesn’t matter who’s president.

I was at a gathering on Saturday in Dallas in the brand new home of a couple that is somewhat close to me. When I describe the home, don’t draw any conclusions about me. Though they are close for reasons I won’t disclose, I am a visitor in their home no more often than two times a year. The home sits on about an acre in Highland Park, the wealthy enclave just north of Downtown...

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Leave the spreading of the wealth to us, Senator.

On the slim chance that John McCain wins this election – let me rephrase that – on the slim chance that John McCain doesn’t defeat himself in this election, he will need to invite Joe Wurzelbacher to sit with him on the platform at the inauguration. God knows Joe will have earned it. If John McCain wins, it will be Joe Wurzelbacher that drags him across the finish line. Joe Wurzelbacher is, of course, Joe...

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It’s time to be scared straight.

Let’s pick a middle class home in Tyler at random and eavesdrop on the conversation taking place inside between husband and wife. HIM: “Honey, we need to rein it in. We talk about it every year before the holiday season begins and we promise that we’re going to keep a lid on things at Christmas but then we each go out and see just one more thing and we reach for the plastic and boom....

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At least Howard Beale knew who to be mad at.

“I’m mad as hell, and I”m not going to take it anymore.” Peter Finch as Howard Beale “Network” 1976 If you’re not mad as hell, you’re not paying attention. And even those of you who are mad as hell, too many of you are mad at the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Let me illustrate. Wednesday afternoon I went to school to pick up my daughter. I was waiting on the school lawn with...

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Who will be critical of the critic?

It has been a tumultuous two weeks. Let’s review. As a result of poor lending practices in the home mortgage market and particularly egregious practices at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, non-performing loans have served to dry up lending capital. This lack of capital is putting the squeeze on individuals and businesses that need ready, affordable access to credit in order to buy cars, houses, inventory and to cover payrolls. In order to...

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Frankenstein was the monster’s creator, not the monster.

The beautiful thing about living in a free society is that you get exactly what you want. You want a government that hands out benefits by the truckload? There are politicians that will make that happen for you in return for simply marking a ballot. Do you want to drive a huge vehicle that requires a lot of fuel? No problem. Just buy the car. Want to avoid the muss and fuss of producing the...

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Events of a turbulent week hold up a mirror.

Wow! What a week. Since last we spoke, the earth has wobbled on its axis. First, there’s Hurricane Ike. Here at KTBB we prepared for the worst right here in Tyler but in fact, we suffered very little. Not so in Houston, Galveston and along the Texas Gulf Coast. Those areas got hammered. Galveston was the wealthiest city in the United States in 1900 when a devastating hurricane killed as many as 8,000. The city...

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Give the man credit. He’s earned it.

Yesterday (Thu., Sep 11, 2008) marked the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in which three important U.S. buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged and nearly 3,000 innocent people lost their lives. It’s actually to our credit as a nation that we were able to mark yesterday with as little note as we did. The fact is, the memory of the attacks of 9/11 has faded dramatically in the past seven...

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Call them back and make them do their jobs.

Did you call the president like I told you? I know some of you did because you called the station and asked again for the number. Get a pen and paper because I’m going to give the number out again. If you missed last week, I urged everyone to call the White House and urge the president to exercise his constitutional authority to call the Congress back to Washington from the August recess and put...

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Give ’em Hell, W! Call ’em back and let ’em sweat.

It’s August and if you think it’s hot and miserable here, you should go to Washington, D.C. If you’ve ever been in our nation’s capital in August you know. If you haven’t, take it from me it’s about the most miserable place in the country this time of year. Geographers can give you all of the reasons for Washington’s summer discomfort. I don’t really care about the particulars. Suffice to say that the heat and...

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Those working-at-the-car-wash blues.

At midnight Wednesday, base labor in America became worth 70 cents per hour more than it had been just one minute before. Just like that, an employee making $5.85 an hour began making $6.55 an hour, the new federal minimum wage. That’s an increase of twelve percent. Wow! Isn’t that great? If you have employees earning the minimum wage, they’re worth more today than they were when you went to work on Wednesday. A twelve...