Full disclosure: The new chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission is an old friend. Not my fault entirely: his fault as much as anyone else’s. I tend to like people who stay the same through thick and thin, instead of — forgive my quoting Lillian Hellman in this unlikely context — cutting their consciences to fit this year’s fashions.
Now that both primaries are over, a majority of the 81st Legislature has been elected. That’s right. A majority of legislators have no major party opposition in the general election.
Sounds like Obama is fed up with debates. And for good reason, after last night's encounter in Pennsylvania. Barack was on the defensive most of the night, pummeled by both the moderators and by Hillary Clinton. The front-runner faced intense grilling by ABC News moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous and the debate was approaching the 45-minute mark before any of the questions dealt with any issue of public policy.
The following is the speech I gave after taking the Oath of Office as Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission on Tuesday, April 15th:
Governor Perry, Commissioners Congleton and Lehman, Bishop Yanta, the elected officials here present, and my friends and family.Thanks so much for your presence.I am particularly pleased that my wife Ida and five of our seven children are here this afternoon.My remaining two daughters are in the D.C. area and could not join us this afternoon.Logan Alexander Pauken—son of Daniel and Monica Pauken—is here representing our nine grandchildren.(I am not sure we would have gotten through the event this afternoon had all nine of them—who are six years and under—been present.)
Many readers might be old enough to remember the days of black-and-white television and the public service announcement with the theme, "Don't make a good boy go bad; remove your keys from your car when it is parked." There were several of those ads in the 1960s or '70s that seemed to be telling us that leaving the keys in our car when it was parked was all it took to destroy a young man's character.