Lynn Woolley columns -- 2009

[lwoolley]

Be Careful Whom You Offend
By Lynn Woolley
July 17, 2009

So-called Hispanic Leaders in Austin smell blood. A radio host used the “W-word” – wetbacks – to describe illegal aliens. Excuse me – undocumented immigrants. Got to be careful. Anyway, the Hispanic Leaders are offended and they want KLBJ-AM radio hosts Don Pryor and Todd Jeffries to pay a stiff price.

Here’s what came down. On Tuesday’s “Todd and Don Show” the topic was labels used to classify illegal aliens. Apparently, calling illegal aliens “illegal aliens” is not acceptable to the politically correct, and it is not PC to offend the politically correct. Jeffries pointed out that USA Today uses the term “illegal immigrants” but avoids the term “aliens” unless it’s a direct quote. This is a good thing, as there is no reason whatsoever to offend people who sneak into the country to take advantage of our jobs, schools and emergency rooms.

“OK, so that’s not PC,” said Pryor lamenting the fact that the National Council of La Raza prefers softer language such as “undocumented immigrants” or “undocumented workers.” But Pryor didn’t stop there: “Whatever happened to the good old word ‘wetback’? What was wrong with that?”

Jeffries shot back: “Inappropriate.”

Full disclosure here – I know Todd Jeffries. Todd Jeffries is a friend of mine. And Todd is a fine person and a superb journalist who tried to diffuse this situation. Why he is in trouble in the first place is a mystery. But when a group of people gets offended, it might offend them even more if someone who isn’t guilty doesn’t get punished as well. So Todd gets a two-week suspension without pay along with Don Pryor.

That’s even though he was on target about the W-word. “Inappropriate” is just about right. The word is not dirty or obscene; it is outdated language in these enlightened days. However, it does not rise to the level of the N-word. That particular label was created to hang on a race of people solely because of the color of their skin. The W-word only refers to people who have broken the law by entering the United States illegally.

One might even think that Don Pryor was offended by the fact that these gatecrashers (no offense meant) still get away with it.

But lots of people are offended by a lot of things, and nobody seems to care. Many Americans of all ethnicities who are legal citizens are offended by illegal immigration. Some are offended by the fact that women sneak across the border to have babies so they’ll have an “anchor” in this country. Some are offended by the concept of bilingual education, an education fad that has all but wrecked our public schools.

Still others – who yearn for Dr. King’s vision of an America where people are judged solely by the content of their character – are offended by such race-based groups as “La Raza” which even means “The Race.” And what about such anachronisms as Hispanic Chambers of Commerce? One of those shouting the loudest at the KLBJ hosts is Frank Fuentes – chairman of the “U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association.” The what?

In a city where important positions are routinely occupied by people with Spanish surnames, why do we need such organizations? Austin is hardly a city eaten up with racial bias. If the answer is that certain groups enjoy getting racial set-asides from affirmative action programs, then I’m offended.

But so what? Frank Ricci was offended when “a wise Latina woman” ruled that he shouldn’t get a promotion because the city of New Haven was afraid of being sued by blacks. It took the Supreme Court to reverse this oh-so-wise woman. Now, she will be a member of the High Court, and that offends a lot of people.

Don Imus offended the liberal group Media Matters for America and the Rev. Al Sharpton. He was fired. David Letterman offended the Palin family with an unfunny joke about a Palin daughter being raped at a baseball game and nothing happened. So whom you offend matters.

Mr. Jeffries did nothing wrong. Mr. Pryor has apologized and says he won’t do it again. That’s enough. Time to move on. But if a threatened boycott against KLBJ goes ahead, perhaps others might organize a similar boycott against the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association.

After all, we’re offended.

Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based talk show host streaming at www.BeLogical.com 8 a.m. – 11 a.m. Central Time.

[lwoolley]

C’mon People Now, Let’s Get Together
By Lynn Woolley
July 24, 2009

This might not be the best time for a racial flare-up in America. While a black, privileged Harvard professor is in a snit about the Cambridge Police Department – America is in trouble.

Enough already. Give it a rest. Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was breaking into his own house – but there was no way officer James Crowley could have known that. He put his own wellbeing on the line to approach someone who could have been an armed robber. Was Professor Gates thankful? Not quite. According to the police report, he became belligerent and screamed two now-famous lines: “This is what happens to a black man in America.” And – “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

Well! What happened to THIS black man in America is that he got an education, became a professor at an Ivy League school, runs in the same circle as the President of the United States and lives in a tony neighborhood to which the police came running to make sure that his house wasn’t being robbed.

Professor Gates was returning from China and he was obviously tired and frustrated that he could not get the door to his house opened – and “Ivy League Syndrome” kicked in when the officers arrived. How dare they suspect him, a man of stature in the community!

It might have all been over, but the President exacerbated the situation, throwing aside any thought that he might be the first post-racial president. Mr. Obama stated that he did not know the facts, then proceeded to state them quite lucidly. He had obviously been briefed, and he DID know the facts well enough to comment. But he spun the story in Gates’ favor and accused the police of acting stupidly.

So now we have a full-blown news cycle about a “racial” incident that really was nothing of the kind.

While this is going on, America is being crushed under the weight of terrible polices foisted upon the people by the same president who took a verbal shot at the Cambridge police. Mr. Obama’s initial budget will eat up 28 percent of the nation’s GDP. Add state and local budgets and government is a behemoth that will grab 40 percent of GDP.

Look at the national deficit: $1.8 trillion for 2009. And look what’s on the Obama agenda. Nationalized healthcare, the Cap & Trade energy tax, repealing of the Bush tax cuts --- and taxes, taxes, taxes.

California, where residents and businesses are taxed to death, is handing out IOU’s because there is no money, and yet Obama is taking the country down the same path.

Nancy Pelosi wants to soak the rich with a 5.1 percent surtax to redistribute the wealth through the healthcare plan. There’s also a proposal for an 8 percent tax on the payroll of small businesses that can’t provide health insurance for employees. The Texas Association of Business is warning that unfunded healthcare mandates might force a state income tax in Texas. Both healthcare and education may soon be considered “rights” in America. The government will then provide them no matter what they cost.

While all this is going on, the news cycle is all about a minor incident in Cambridge that blew up when the President made it into a federal case. C’mon people now, smile on your bother. Americans of all ethnicities – white, black, Hispanic, Asian – have to get together to demand that sanity be restored to our policy decisions. This is not the time to bicker.

Imagine if, instead of a failed stimulus, the government had handed a $787 billion TAX CUT to both individuals and businesses? People would be buying cars; companies would be hiring people. The recession would be nearer to an end. This is what’s important! Let the race-baiters do as they will. The rest of us have to band together to save the country.

Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based radio talk show host streaming live from www.BeLogical.com. The show airs live in Dallas at 9 a.m. on KVCE AM 1160.

[lwoolley]

As Goes Texas
By Lynn Woolley
July 30, 2009

Like Sarah Palin, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is quitting her job. But unlike Palin, Hutchison wants to be governor. She’ll step down some time in October or November and concentrate on the task of unseating incumbent Rick Perry. You can bet your ten-gallon hat that a lot of people will be watching that race – chief among them, the national Republican Party.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is certainly going to be fixated on this race. Why? Because the Party is rudderless right now, and doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. If Rick Perry sails to another term, the Party would see that as an indication that true conservatism is still viable. If Hutchison becomes governor, then the Party might think a more moderate approach is better.

This is all the more important in the wake of Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House and his signature programs – healthcare reform and his “Cap & Trade” energy bill, both of which would expand the government. Liberalism is “in” in Washington right now, and that puts the Republicans in a jam. Do they roll with the current tide and simply seek to apply some conservative principles to Obama’s Big Government programs? Or do they go back to their roots, standing up for lower taxes and smaller government?

This is not to say that Kay Bailey Hutchison is a proponent of big government. She fervently claims the mantle of conservatism, but she differentiates herself from Perry by rejecting harsh rhetoric that might narrow the base. Hutchison is a “big-tent” Republican who supports some funding for stem-cell research and the basic legality of abortion, although she often votes for restrictions. She criticizes Perry for seeking fifteen years as governor, while serving sixteen years in the Senate herself.

For his part, Perry has worked hard for the image of the “true conservative,” trying to win back some disgruntled constituents who are angry over his support of the Trans Texas Corridor and his executive order requiring young girls to receive the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. The Governor has talked a little tougher about illegal immigration and he’s even discussed secession – you know, breaking loose from the central planners in Washington of which Sen. Hutchison is one.

This type of battle – within the ranks of the Republican Party – is being fought all over the country. Just this week, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio told the Columbus Dispatch that the country has too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns. “It’s the southerners,” Voinovich said. “They get on TV and go ‘err, err.’ People hear them and say, ‘these people, they’re southerners. The Party’s being taken over by southerners.’”

Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana – one of those southerners -- responded by saying of Voinovich: “He’s a moderate. Really wishy-washy.”

Remember, both of these senators are Republicans from different parts of the country and with different constituencies. Vitter wants the GOP to return to its conservative values. Voinovich -- whose statements are reminiscent of the Nixonian “Southern Strategy” for winning votes in the south, often viewed as racist by Democrats – prefers a more moderate approach that many people ascribe to Ms. Hutchison.

That may be unfair. Hutchison is no raving moderate; she voted against Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the appeals court back in 1998, and she opposes her nomination to the Supreme Court. That places her to the right of South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham.

But she is not to the right of Rick Perry, and that’s what makes the Texas race a major test-case in a bellwether state with 34 electoral votes and rapidly changing demographics.
The bottom line: As goes Texas, so may go the future of the Republican Party.

Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based radio talk show host streaming live from www.BeLogical.com. The show airs live in Dallas at 9 a.m. on KVCE AM 1160.

[lwoolley]

As Goes Texas
By Lynn Woolley
July 30, 2009

Like Sarah Palin, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is quitting her job. But unlike Palin, Hutchison wants to be governor. She’ll step down some time in October or November and concentrate on the task of unseating incumbent Rick Perry. You can bet your ten-gallon hat that a lot of people will be watching that race – chief among them, the national Republican Party.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is certainly going to be fixated on this race. Why? Because the Party is rudderless right now, and doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. If Rick Perry sails to another term, the Party would see that as an indication that true conservatism is still viable. If Hutchison becomes governor, then the Party might think a more moderate approach is better.

This is all the more important in the wake of Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House and his signature programs – healthcare reform and his “Cap & Trade” energy bill, both of which would expand the government. Liberalism is “in” in Washington right now, and that puts the Republicans in a jam. Do they roll with the current tide and simply seek to apply some conservative principles to Obama’s Big Government programs? Or do they go back to their roots, standing up for lower taxes and smaller government?

This is not to say that Kay Bailey Hutchison is a proponent of big government. She fervently claims the mantle of conservatism, but she differentiates herself from Perry by rejecting harsh rhetoric that might narrow the base. Hutchison is a “big-tent” Republican who supports some funding for stem-cell research and the basic legality of abortion, although she often votes for restrictions. She criticizes Perry for seeking fifteen years as governor, while serving sixteen years in the Senate herself.

For his part, Perry has worked hard for the image of the “true conservative,” trying to win back some disgruntled constituents who are angry over his support of the Trans Texas Corridor and his executive order requiring young girls to receive the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. The Governor has talked a little tougher about illegal immigration and he’s even discussed secession – you know, breaking loose from the central planners in Washington of which Sen. Hutchison is one.

This type of battle – within the ranks of the Republican Party – is being fought all over the country. Just this week, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio told the Columbus Dispatch that the country has too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns. “It’s the southerners,” Voinovich said. “They get on TV and go ‘err, err.’ People hear them and say, ‘these people, they’re southerners. The Party’s being taken over by southerners.’”

Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana – one of those southerners -- responded by saying of Voinovich: “He’s a moderate. Really wishy-washy.”

Remember, both of these senators are Republicans from different parts of the country and with different constituencies. Vitter wants the GOP to return to its conservative values. Voinovich -- whose statements are reminiscent of the Nixonian “Southern Strategy” for winning votes in the south, often viewed as racist by Democrats – prefers a more moderate approach that many people ascribe to Ms. Hutchison.

That may be unfair. Hutchison is no raving moderate; she voted against Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the appeals court back in 1998, and she opposes her nomination to the Supreme Court. That places her to the right of South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham.

But she is not to the right of Rick Perry, and that’s what makes the Texas race a major test-case in a bellwether state with 34 electoral votes and rapidly changing demographics.
The bottom line: As goes Texas, so may go the future of the Republican Party.

Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based radio talk show host streaming live from www.BeLogical.com. The show airs live in Dallas at 9 a.m. on KVCE AM 1160.