James Pyle – Author

July 14, 2013

It is hard for folks living east of the Hudson River, or within the Beltway, to accept that Texans can teach them anything; but one aspect of Texas legislative style is worthy of emulation. The legislature down there meets biennially. (Once every two years.)

I once had the opportunity to meet with Preston Smith, then Texas Governor until he was forced to resign in a mess called the Sharpstown Bank Scandal. He was caught strong-arming the legislature to support a banking bill that benefitted him personally. Our meeting was arranged by a memorable character from Texas lore, Barefoot Sanders – then serving as LBJ’s legislative aide.

My purpose in recalling the meeting was not to comment on Smith’s ethics but to reflect on a remark he made about his legislature: “Thank the Lord they meet only every other year. Think how much damage they’d do if they met annually.” His personal ethics notwithstanding, the old boy had a grasp on how things get done – something our current leaders do not ‘get’.

Today’s bills are introduced in furious flow by grandstanding representatives (think: Chuck Schumer) for no purpose beyond self promotion. They result in a laundry list of unintended, unhelpful consequences: Repeal of Glass Steagall, No Child Left Behind, Dodd Frank, Affordable Health Care, etc. Many are layered with pork-barrel spending designed to bolster the representative’s status with his ill-informed and myopic electorate. Most result in poor laws with little hope for repeal.

Let’s initiate a movement to not only limit terms in the House and Senate, but to limit the number of days spent in Washington pontificating. It would be a start.

July 13, 2013

The media is abuzz over Janet Napolitano’s decision to resign.  Focus is on who should replace her.  I have a suggestion: “No one.”  Department of Homeland Security was formed as a knee-jerk reaction to 9-11 and has been unmanageable and  ineffective for its entire life.  After twelve years, many positions are still vacant.  Take a look at their organization chart. No corporation would tolerate having so many direct reports to the boss. Bigger is not better.  Instead of replacing Janet, they should break the thing into smaller units that could be held responsible for actions (or inactions). The current mess is merely a smoke screen to hide incompetence.

July 6, 2013

Anyone besides me tired of the obfuscation and bloviating emanating from Washington over border security?

Which border needs to be secured, anyway?  I haven’t heard of even one Mexican trying to blow up our buildings, airplanes or parades. Those bad people enter through JFK or BOS airports. How about some sensible profiling at those ports of entry?  (Is that a turban? Sorry, Mohammed, no can enter.)

The U.S. Mexican border is 1,970 miles long. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency estimates the cost of a fence to be $21 million per mile. That computes to $41.3 Billion to build a fence, likely using Mexican labor with tunnels and stiles for ease of crossing, locations marked only in Spanish.

Assuming a single individual could cover 5’ on either side of his/her body, it would take only 1,040,000 people spread out arm-to-arm to effectively block the border. Unemployment rates would plunge, the border would be safe and sales of water bags would soar. And— we’d save $41 billion to build a fence around Jamaica, NY. (For those of you west of the Hudson, that’s JFK)

Seriously, the only sane way to address this issue is to normalize trade and employment policies with Mexico and allow both countries to benefit from the economic opportunities on both sides. (Mexico enjoys the second largest quantity of proven oil reserves in the world. And, they now maintain nearly all airframes and engines for U.S. airlines.) It’s time to stop the ridiculous gaming of phony solutions for dystopian symptoms, and address the real problem.

Are you listening, Mssrs. Rubio and Reid?

June 30, 2013

While walking along the seaside today, a strange thought occurred:   Why are “increment” and “excrement” not antonyms of each other?

June 26, 2013

The emir of Qatar just named his son to replace him.  The New York Times commented on the report by saying the new emir might be more willing to adopt democracy than was his father.  The article went on to state that everyone in the country is currently guaranteed an annual income of at least $100,000, including infants.  In addition they offer free health care, free education up to the college lever and significant retirement benefits.  Oh, and gasoline is fifty cents  per gallon.  And these folks need to switch to a democracy??  Why?  To take their 8th grade reading level to 68th in the industrialized world and the quality of health care should fall below that of Bosnia?  What is wrong with those  who feel democracy is a one-size-fits-all solution? In the case of Qatar it seems like the benign dictator is doing a great job.  I wonder if they need any writers over there.

Looks like America’s arms makers have won again.  They will be the only beneficiaries of this latest mis-calculation on the part of our maladroit government to impose “democracy” on the Arab world.  After Newtown, have we learned nothing about these corporate vampires who will suck any blood anywhere in the world at any time?