Star-Telegram.com: J.R. Labbe

LABBE: Either/or is the wrong choice when it comes to the F-22

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:07 CST

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — The two members of the F-18 demonstration team standing on the tarmac in front of me could only shake their heads in disbelief.

What Maj. Paul "Max" Moga made the F-22 Raptor do in the skies over the mountains that skirt Las Vegas shouldn’t be possible — and they knew it.

The damned thing flew backward.

Of course, Moga doesn’t explain it that way. Called a tail slide, the maneuver involves positioning the jet’s nose at a 75-degree angle upward, then using the rudder pedals and the stick and throttle to keep it in place. As the plane runs out of forward airspeed, it slides backward — under control. In any other jet, more likely than not, it would be tumbling out of control.

"It’s an unnatural exercise in a fighter," Moga said during a phone interview Thursday from Langley, Va., his home base. "It’s a pure combination of flight control and the engine and is a great example of what this jet can do. It’s fairly routine."

Spoken like a seasoned pilot with more than 1,800 fighter hours and more than 250 combat hours flying the F-15C over Yugoslavia and Iraq.

The 36-year-old Minnesota native, who graduated from Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training at Texas’ Laughlin Air Force Base after advancing from the Air Force Academy in 1995, would not be drawn into a comparison of the F-15C and the F-22.

"The Eagle is unbelievably capable but is so generationally different in technology and capabilities from the Raptor," said Moga, who’s been performing with the F-22 Demo Team for two years. "It would be like comparing the Major League Baseball All-Stars to the Little League All-Stars. Both are the best — but there is no comparison."

Full disclosure: The fact that I traveled 1,200 miles on my own dime to see the F-22 proves that if it has wings, an engine and an American pilot at the controls, I want to see it fly.

Call it genetics. My father flew B-29s in World War II before serving as the chief of flight test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where I was born. After he was killed in a test flight, my mother remarried. My stepfather was director of manufacturing and facilities at General Dynamics, the predecessor of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

Despite what the public sees of the F-22’s raw power and maneuverability at air shows, it’s the unseen that makes this aircraft crucial to the nation’s defense, and the next presidential administration should see the wisdom in extending the program.

Behind the weapons-bay doors, which are flipped open for a matter of seconds as the plane makes a pass over airshow crowds, is a lethality that is crucial for the U.S. military. Tucked inside an aircraft roughly the same size as the F-15 are 4,000 pounds of additional fuel and a weapons system that would have to be externally mounted in older fighters.

The operational configuration is "clean" — nothing extraneous sticks up or hangs off the airframe — so the stealth capabilities are top-notch.

"What you see is just a fraction of what this jet can do. You should see what it can do in a battle space," Moga said.

"Once we pique people’s interest with the maneuvers and demonstration, they realize there might be more to this plane than a price tag and a veil of secrecy," he said. "It really is the way we as an Air Force will survive the next 20 years in a very challenging world environment."

But the price tag appears to be all that certain civilians working in the Pentagon are seeing, and it is making them shortsighted to the Air Force’s request for F-22s beyond the 183 approved thus far.

On Wednesday, John Young, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, signed off on $50 million as "bridge" funds to build four additional F-22s.

That will be enough to purchase key parts to keep the production line operating until the new administration under Barack Obama can review the defense budget and decide whether to include F-22 funding in the 2010 budget.

For the record, the Air Force has said it needs 381 of these awesome war birds.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary Gordon England remain unconvinced, saying the Pentagon should ramp up procurement for the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter rather than buying more F-22s.

Labbe: Shopping in Dubai? Don’t make eye contact.

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:20 CST

J.R. LABBE

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The candy-apple red Ferrari pulled up to the platoon of valet parkers standing at the ready as guests arrived at the newly opened Atlantis Hotel on the man-made Palm Island.

Attendants scurried to open the doors for the driver and passenger. Out stepped two young women — covered from head to manicured toes in jet-black abayahs.

This oasis on the Persian Gulf reveals one startling contrast after another.

The city itself is akin to Disney World on steroids. The Burj Al Arab Hotel, well-known to Americans as the site whence golfer Tiger Woods hits the ball from the helipad, touts the largest atrium in the world. Dubailand, the largest theme park at twice the size of Disney World, is under construction. The tallest man-made structure, the Burj Dubai, towers over the world’s biggest shopping center, the Dubai Mall, which was scheduled to open last week.

The mall, with more than 1,200 stores, includes an Olympic-sized skating rink, an aquarium boasting the world’s largest viewing window, a SEGA theme park and a 22-screen movie theater. It doesn’t include the world’s largest indoor ski slope; it’s at the Emirates Mall, down the road a piece.

The Emirates are re-creating the world itself, an artificial archipelago that replicates a scale model of the continents and other major land masses as well as replicas of lost cities from different parts of the ancient world.

For centuries, what was in the water at the edge of the desert was the source of prosperity for the tribes that today comprise the UAE. Long before the discovery of oil, pearls were the main source of income for a people who lived on lands too barren to farm. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, demand for the luminous orbs grew, particularly in India, and the coastal villages of Dubai and Abu Dhabi expanded in size as well as importance and influence.

Dubai’s roots as a trading center still flourish in the 21st century, although the pearls that once were culled from gulf waters have been replaced — by gold.

At any given time, more than 25 tons of gold are on display at the gold souq (also spelled souk), a maze of almost 300 jewelry shops in a half-a-square kilometer area. After walking past a dozen or so, you become almost numb to the opulence of so much 21-, 22- and 24-karat yellow, white and red gold studded with diamonds and other gems. About 90 percent of what is displayed is imported, from Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore and Bahrain.

That numb look can come in handy. Shop owners scrutinize every face for a hint that a potential customer is interested in a piece of finery in their windows. Let your eye linger for more than a second, or actually point out a particular bobble to a reluctant spouse, and the door opens, the promise of air conditioning and a cold drink is offered, and you are treated to a flood of words about the unexcelled quality and astoundingly good prices in this shop. A "No, thank you" and a turn to walk away is enough to elicit an immediate drop in price by hundreds of dirham.

Night life in one of the most liberal of Arab cities is noisy, smoky and alcohol-fueled. Young men clad in the traditional dishdashas, or thobe, line up elbow-to-bended-elbow with tourists and businessmen at the bars found in hotels and resort areas. The Islamic prohibition against consuming alcohol apparently is not a hard rule for some Muslims — just as it is not for some Baptists and Mormons in the West.

What wasn’t evident were incidents of public intoxication. Of course, the top story of late has been the pair of Brits who met at an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch, over- imbibed in the complementary champagne and then engaged in a public display of affection on the beach that went beyond what is tolerated under Islamic law even in this most progressive city. (Depending on whose version of the story one hears, what they did on the beach wouldn’t be tolerated in the States, either.)

They were found guilty of engaging in unmarried sex, public indecency and being drunk in a public place. On Oct. 16, they were sentenced to three months in prison, fined 1,000 dirham each (about $350) and will be deported at the end of their time as involuntary guests of the state.

Something tells me that it won’t be anywhere near the pleasant experience that being a guest at the Mina A’ Salam Hotel was.

LABBE: America survives crucial elections

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:18 CDT

J.R. LABBE

"This is the most critical election in U.S. history."

"Never before have the citizens of this nation been more divided."

Really?

Americans sure have short memories, unless it involves bombs and bullets.

Check your history books under 1860-64, 1932 and 1968-1972 for divided.

Or look back just four years. I originally wrote those opening lines Oct. 31, 2004.

Despite the hysterical rhetoric to the contrary, the republic will not crumble regardless of which man is elected president Tuesday — and let us all pray that it is over that night. Need I remind anyone of the root of America’s current divisiveness? That would be the 2000 presidential election, which wasn’t decided until December — by the Supreme Court.

Ours is an amazing and resilient country. Citizens can vigorously debate the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates, oftentimes in language that is ugly and with tactics that are distasteful. Then, as the last attack ads fade from the airwaves, a remarkable process takes place. People vote, without fear and without bullets and without bloodshed.

Americans cast ballots in privacy, after consulting whatever sources of information they trust. That may include a newspaper’s recommendations — or not.

The responses received by the Star-Telegram Editorial Board after this year’s presidential recommendation for Democrat Barack Obama ranged from poignant and celebratory to disappointed and hateful.

Some would have been amusing were they not such a sad commentary on those readers’ understanding of newspaper editorial pages. As sure as heartburn follows a day at the State Fair, people decried the opinion and "bias" found on them. The editorial page is the one place in the paper where opinion isn’t just expected, it’s required.

And yet these letters arrive every election cycle even though the board has been endorsing candidates for decades.

Those responses pale in comparison to the one received Wednesday by the editorial page editor at the Roanoke Times in Virginia. It revealed a stunning misunderstanding of the First Amendment.

"Just got a message from a woman disappointed in our endorsements because she thought the Constitution prohibited newspapers and television stations from making political endorsements," Dan Radmacher wrote to members of the National Conference of Editorial Writers on the organization’s e-mail list.

So editorial writer Gary Crooks of the Spokesman-Review in Washington state offered his take on the Third Amendment: "No Endorsement shall, in the time of Elections, be quartered in any newspaper, without the consent of the Subscriber."

The First Amendment begins with those beautiful words "Congress shall make no law . . ." then goes on to outline the five rights that are not to be trifled with by elected officials: freedom to worship — or not — without government interference; the right to speak freely, including to criticize the government; the right of newspapers to publish what they want without government interference, including editorials that support or oppose elected officials; the right to gather in groups, even to protest the government, if one chooses; and the right to petition the government for a "redress of grievances."

To paraphrase an editorial-writing peer at the Sacramento Bee, the First Amendment doesn’t protect our ability to offer guacamole recipes or Cowboys coverage, as important as those might be to readers. The First Amendment protects the right to express opinions that include offering preferences for candidates running for elected office.

Early American newspapers were very much instruments of political partisans. That’s how two-newspaper towns came to be. Owner/publishers with competing political viewpoints would verbally parry and thrust on their pages. As often as not, those viewpoints showed up on the front page.

A changing business model and an emerging professionalism in journalism contributed to modern newspapers, in which opinion is confined to specific pages or clearly labeled as such if found elsewhere in the paper.

An editorial board’s position on any issue, from street repairs to the quality of public education to which candidate would best serve North Texans in elected office, is an opinion. People may accept it or dismiss it as fits their understanding.

LABBE: United Arab Emirates — an underappreciated opportunity in the war on terror

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:50 CDT

J.R. LABBE

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Burj Dubai commands attention in a city that offers jaw-dropping architectural marvels at nearly every intersection. The world’s tallest tower reportedly is visible from 60 miles away, although the haze earlier this month that clouded the air above this booming emirate on the Arabian Gulf did not allow for verification of that sales pitch.

This vanity project of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, is just the title page of the full story about what’s happening in the new Middle East.

The leaders of the seven states in the UAE are positioning their nation to be the world’s next financial, commercial and tourism capital. Their economy may have been built on the back of oil, but the future will be fueled by manufacturing, financial services, information technology and tourism, the fastest growing sector of Dubai’s economy. U.S. companies with forward-looking leadership see the benefit of being part of that transformation.

They’d better, because the Russians, Chinese and Germans already are here.

The Fort Worth folk who criticized Mayor Mike Moncrief for his recent trip to the Middle East instead should be thanking him for entering into discussions with airline officials that might result in a nonstop flight from UAE to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Emirates Air offers nonstop service from Houston to Dubai, but North Texas doesn’t have similar service. If Moncrief’s visit to the UAE results in a deal with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, it will be worth every penny spent on his plane ticket. (For the record: Moncrief said Friday that he’s reimbursed the airport for the price of his flight above what an economy ticket would cost.)

While Moncrief was overseas, he also visited with the hundreds of Lockheed Martin employees who are training UAE military pilots on the F-16s their nation purchased.

"Our UAE partners are walking a very delicate balance with their neighbors," Moncrief said.

Look at a map. Iran is only 60 miles away from Dubai.

Depending on whom you ask, the UAE employs anywhere from a quarter to a third of the world’s construction cranes, many of them dedicated to projects that span the 80 or so miles of the 10-lane highway that links Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the nation’s capital. On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley ran an ad on the front page of The Wall Street Journal that said 1.5 million rubber tires on 385,000 construction vehicles will be needed to meet building demands in just Dubai next year.

About 80 percent of the population of the UAE is nonnative foreigners, doing the construction and manufacturing and hospitality-related jobs that the Emiraties won’t. Whether they wear the loose fitting, monochromatic shirts and pants of a Malaysian laborer or the $3,000 designer suit of a briefcase-carrying American project manager, they are all the hired help — help that doesn’t pay in-country income or sales taxes.

Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood Development Co. saw the potential for building relationships and amazing edifices in the sand and sea air of Abu Dhabi. Hillwood has partnered with locally owned CBD Properties and Pramerica Real Estate Investors, the property investment arm of Prudential Financial Services, to create a 262-acre mixed-use development on Al Reem Island that will be part of the capital city’s central business district.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi — the Dallas and Fort Worth of the Arab world — can rightly be described as the Middle East for beginners. Navigating from Point A to Point B is made easy by virtually everyone’s ability to speak English. The customs are a fascinating blend of Islamic tradition and Western culture. Street crime is nonexistent.

The leaders of this moderate nation are precisely the allies America needs to cultivate — on both sides of the Atlantic.

The United States took a giant step backward in 2006 when knee-jerk members of Congress derailed the Dubai Ports World contract to manage six U.S. seaports. President George W. Bush rightfully argued for the approval of the deal. DP World, a holding company for the Dubai government, is under direct control for the very same Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum whose vision led to the creation of the Burj Dubai.

Americans must understand and should appreciate this new Middle East if they are ever going to achieve the stated goal of winning the war on terrorism.

That victory won’t be achieved through bullets and bombast about fanatical Islamists. It will be achieved through contracts and cooperation with progressive Muslims who are rapidly capitalizing on their proximity to countries with more than half of the world’s population within a two-hour plane ride.

In dogs vs. police, dogs lose every time

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:52 CDT

J.R. LABBE

In a confrontation between a police officer executing a search warrant at the residence of a known criminal and a barking dog, I can tell you who is going to lose. Every time.

The dog.

Police officers don’t want to harm anyone or anything when they do their job. But they also don’t want to end up injured because they lost focus or were bitten by an aggressive animal.

Officers are trained to neutralize threats. And the harsh reality is that the tool used to do so when a tactical team is making a forced entry is a gun. The decision to use force — whether the threat is an armed assailant or an agitated and noisy dog that could serve as an unintended decoy for such an assailant — is instantaneous.

A Haltom City police officer made that decision Sept. 15 while executing a search warrant at a house where four days earlier a 20-year-old with nine previous criminal convictions had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a car, evading arrest and possession of a controlled substance.

Those previous convictions included assault with bodily injury. Why he was even out of prison this month is another question entirely, given that in April 2007 he received a six-year sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm, theft and burglary.

Officers had responded 65 times to the same address since March 2003, according to Haltom City police records. The officers on the search warrant detail no doubt knew the history at that house.

When 40-pound Willy the Jack Russell terrier — a breed known to be protective and aggressive despite its compact size — jumped from a chair and stood barking at the police, the decision to shoot was made. Janie, a pit bull terrier in the same house, high-tailed it to another room.

Janie lived. Willy did not.

It’s sad that the family lost a pet. But officers don’t have the luxury of negotiating with a dog when they enter these situations.

Folks who were not in the house on McQuade Street are engaged in second-guessing the officer’s actions. "Did they have to shoot the dog?" asked a Tuesday editorial in the Star-Telegram.

A different question should be asked first. What was the alternative? Wait to see if Willy was a biter as he sunk his teeth into an officer’s leg? Allow the barking dog to provide the distraction an armed suspect needed to get the advantage?

Let us not forget that taxpayers pick up the tab for an injured officer’s medical care and rehabilitation. They also foot the bill for workers’ compensation benefits that the officer receives. Then there’s the lost work time that a healing officer must take.

God forbid the result is more serious than a dog bite.

The first undercover drug bust I witnessed involved a forcible entry on a condominium from which the owner had been buying and selling illegal drugs. An undercover female officer, wearing a wire, was part of a reverse buy — the police were selling the drugs to the suspect.

Hours passed before the buyer, a confederate of the condo owner, arrived with the money. During the long wait, those of us on the outside listening in to the undercover officer’s every word heard a sliding door open, followed by the familiar sound of dog nails clicking on a tile floor.

"What kind of a dog is Blondie?" the officer asked at one point.

"A pit bull," replied the owner, who had bragged that he’d once beaten a man with a Louisville Slugger.

The narcotics sergeant got on the radio to the SWAT team waiting down the block in a van: "First man through the door shoots the dog."

Like Janie in the Haltom City incident, Blondie survived the tactical entry, which was executed with a flash-bang device and a battering ram. She ran. But few would have argued the wisdom of a different outcome had she charged the officers.

Sarah Palin and Jane Nelson have much in common

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:52 CDT

J.R. LABBE

Jane Nelson was her typical ebullient self in describing how a sales clerk at Tuesday Morning called her "Sarah Palin’s twin."

The comparison of the blonde Texas state senator to the brunette governor of Alaska had nothing to do with their physical likenesses, although they both sport seemingly ever-present smiles. Their personalities and personal stories are remarkably similar.

Five children. Endless energy and enthusiasm. Working moms who also found time to volunteer in their children’s schools. Political careers sparked by a desire to take the knowledge garnered by their real-world experiences and use it to help make life better for other families facing the same challenges and demands.

Palin’s story is well known to anyone who’s been awake since her ascension to the world stage during the Republican National Convention. But folks may have forgotten the details about the life and early political trajectory of the state senator from Denton County.

The former school teacher launched her political career in 1988, when she was elected to the State Board of Education.

"My kids were 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 when I first ran," Nelson said Thursday during a telephone interview. "I have extended family who helped, and my husband, Mike, is the reason I was able to do it. He’s a saint."

Beyond family, though, Nelson was inspired by the network of women in her community who stepped forward to lend a hand. Many hands, actually.

While some GOP supporters pooh-pooh Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s background as a "community organizer," Palin and Nelson both rightfully can carry that label. That’s what hockey moms and PTA volunteers do — organize people and resources to benefit the community.

"I was a big PTAer and community volunteer," Nelson said. "Women were just breaking into the political arena back in 1987. I had women friends who would say, hey, I’ll drive car pool or bring dinner over every Monday while you’re campaigning, or offering to do little things that they could to help while I was doing what I needed to do to get elected."

Nelson served two terms on the State Board of Education before raising her political sights to the state Senate. In 1992, she defeated Democratic incumbent Bob Glasgow in the District 22 Senate race.

Newspaper coverage at the time spoke of Nelson’s pride in her unofficial title: "Mommy the Senator." Yet the mother of five has heard the same kind of criticisms and questions that have been leveled at Palin ever since she accepted Sen. John McCain’s offer to join the GOP ticket as the vice presidential nominee.

"Even back then, I was surprised at the questions about whether a woman could juggle family and a career. People don’t ask that of men."

The answer, of course, is yes, women can and do manage it every day, in thousands of ways, from Wasilla, Alaska, to Watauga. As Nelson said, sometimes it’s by choice, sometimes not.

"There are countless widows out there and other people who through unfortunate circumstances end up working and taking care of five kids by themselves."

The side benefit of Nelson’s political career has been the lessons it has taught her children.

"My kids have seen that women can do this, too, and that their father can sew sequins on a ballet costume," she said. "Mike is such a manly man, but he took care of four daughters, got them to ballet, did what needed to be done. And our son witnessed that it’s OK for the dad to do things like make lunches and brush hair.

"My kids say that Mike invented Lunchables."

The most difficult juggling experience Nelson faced in her early political days did not involve her children, but her mother.

"My mother had Alzheimer’s, and I was her caretaker," she said, her usual bubbly voice subdued. "The support network that is there for mothers with children isn’t always there for daughters and sons of aging parents. It was the hardest time of my life.

"That experience gave me a huge appreciation for other families who are going through same thing, and it has become part of the motivation I have in Austin in my work on health and human service issues."

Charlie Wilson: Guns ammo and mules defeat the Red Army

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:52 CDT

J.R. LABBE

The most stunning element of Charlie Wilson’s now famous story of managing to fund the freedom fighters in Afghanistan back in the 1980s wasn’t the reckless behavior and alcohol-fueled womanizing — behavior that "Good Time Charlie" readily stipulates he engaged in but clarifies, "I was single at the time."

No, the most jaw-dropping element of the former U.S. representative’s story is the fact that none of his partners disclosed the siphoning of U.S. federal dollars to arm and equip the mujahedeen.

A post-Watergate Washington with no leaks.

Amazing.

In the course of six years, Wilson and the nine congressmen who served on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee with him were able to amass a mind-boggling amount of money to supply the Afghan rebels with necessities to harass the mighty Red Army to the point that Soviet leaders decided they had better things to do than occupy another country.

Courtesy of Uncle Sam, with an assist from the Saudis, clothing, medicine, weapons and ammo made its way to the mujahedeen.

Oh, and mules.

Wilson told a charming story Wednesday to a packed ballroom at TCU’s Brown-Lupton University Union about "stylishly transporting" the beasts of burden from Tennessee to the Hindu Kush via Boeing 747s.

"We bought every strong and healthy mule in the Tennessee mountains," the Trinity native told the audience at the 2008 Jim Wright Symposium. "We played hell at the auctions in Memphis."

It was a 1982 trip to the refugee camps that ignited Wilson’s passion to assist the Afghans in ridding their country of the Soviet Army. On his return to Washington, he convinced the committee to approve a twofold increase in the appropriation for Afghanistan.

But Wilson wasn’t just working his East Texas aw-shucks magic on Washington pols. He’d worked a deal with the Saudis to match whatever dollars he could get from U.S. coffers.

By 1983, Wilson had convinced the bipartisan committee to earmark $40 million in an emergency spending bill for weapons and ammunition. That became an $80 million money dump with the matching funds from the Saudis. And in 1985, $300 million that was in the Pentagon’s budget for a canceled Navy program was redirected to the CIA.

When all was said and done — after President Ronald Reagan in 1986 approved the sale of the Stinger missile system that could take down the Soviets’ dreaded MI-24 Hind helicopter gunships — Wilson’s appropriations for a covert, CIA-led war in Afghanistan totaled about $3 billion, he said.

Unfortunately for the obviously enthusiastic crowd at TCU — typical of Fort Worth, every speaker got a standing ovation just for showing up — Wilson’s fragile health didn’t allow for a Q&A session after his comments, according to one of the event participants. A year ago, the 75-year-old Wilson underwent a heart transplant.

One of the obvious questions could have been framed thusly: $3 billion in earmarks is an amount that would raise lots of eyebrows today, much less in the 1980s.

Why didn’t anyone beyond the circle of a handful of congressmen know about it?

The answer that Wilson has given in previous interviews: Another war that included covert American involvement was taking place at the time, and all media eyes were focused on Nicaragua in Central America.

Wilson demurs when confronted by critics who say the Democrats are attempting to take credit for winning the Cold War.

Without Reagan, the outcome in Afghanistan could have been very different.

In February of 1989, the Soviets began their retreat back across the border.

Texas may lose some of its traditional political clout in November

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:52 CDT

J.R. LABBE

Regardless of which party moves into the White House in January, Texas is in for some tough years ahead when it comes to bringing home the D.C. bacon.

The Lone Star State has experienced what TCU political science professor Jim Riddlesperger calls an extraordinary 80 years of influence in Washington.

Since the 1930s, Texas has offered up native sons and come-heres as presidents, vice presidents, speakers of the House, Senate majority leaders and the chairs of important appropriations committees.

They had power and influence, and they used it to benefit the folks back home with federal dollars and programs.

"And after this election, we’ll have none of them," Riddlesperger said during a recent legislative briefing hosted by the United Way of Tarrant County for representatives of local health and human service agencies. "We’re used to having strong arms in Washington, but the arms we will have after this election won’t be nearly as strong."

No wonder Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is talking about coming home after the November election to begin her run for the Texas Governor’s Mansion. Any clout she’s amassed in her 15 years as the state’s senior senator — enough to have her name frequently if inaccurately linked as a possible Republican vice presidential pick for Sen. John McCain — won’t mean near what it once did when other Texans with impressive titles could use their bully pulpits to help shepherd legislation through the grinder.

Even if the McCain/Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin combo manages to best the Democratic team of Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden at the top of the ticket — and that’s a big if — it’s unlikely that Republicans will gain enough seats in either house for a majority.

All but the most tone-deaf of GOP supporters hear the incessant drumbeat for "change" reverberating from every corner of the country. Even if most of the voters marching to the beat can’t tell you what they mean by change, it’s a safe bet that come January, there will be more D’s in Congress than R’s.

Influential Texans historically have bolstered the economy of their home state through military and defense spending. That could come to a screeching halt regardless of which party takes the top prize in this election.

Although positioned as the pro-military/national security candidate, McCain the fiscal hawk has been a vocal critic of many of the next generation of military hardware manufactured in full or in part in Texas.

Obama’s going to end the war in Iraq, "cut tens of billions of dollars" in wasteful defense spending, "cut investments in unproven missile defense systems," and "slow our development of future combat systems." Those phrases are in quotes because they came directly from an Obama campaign ad.

Yet even a presidential dove will need a secretary of veterans’ affairs, and that’s where a Texan once again may rise to the top of the list.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco, once rumored to be a vice presidential choice himself, would make an excellent choice. His long legislative history of advocating for better living and working conditions for soldiers and their families, and better benefits for veterans and military retirees, makes him an attractive candidate.

The only Texas city that’s guaranteed to gain from defense or military-related spending in the near term is El Paso, and that’s because Fort Bliss is being realigned from an air-defense artillery-training operation to the home of the 1st Armored Division, currently based in Germany.

The 2005 base realignment and closure (BRAC) commission’s recommendation that Bliss be transformed to a major mounted-maneuver training installation means El Paso will see a dramatic increase in the number of U.S. troops calling the far West Texas town home.

At least one Lone Star city will be happy no matter what happens on Nov. 4.

STAR-TELEGRAM: The paper and the business changes but the commitment remains the same

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:07 CDT

J.R. LABBE

The greatest compliment paid to any newspaper occurs when readers refer to it as "my paper."

That kind of identification and relationship can’t be bought. It is earned through years of consistently providing quality information that is useful and relevant.

It’s why the avalanche of letters, e-mails, Jeers and phone messages that bemoan and berate the recent changes at the Star-Telegram are, in an admittedly perverse way, heartening.

People care about what’s happening to their hometown paper.

When viewed from the outside, "the paper" is a monolithic institution. From the inside, it’s the newsroom, advertising, circulation, production, marketing, maintenance and customer service — and the scores of employees who make those departments work in harmony to bring people information when they want it and how they want it.

For more than a century, the Star-Telegram has stood as a guardian of the people’s right to know, a champion of the important community initiatives and a challenger to those who would attempt wrongdoing.

The company has written checks and provided news space and committed volunteers in support of too many nonprofit organizations and social causes to count.

The ability of this newspaper to remain the vital institution it has been in North Texas since Amon Carter founded it in 1906 is shaken, but definitely not crushed. The situation in Fort Worth isn’t unique; every U.S. media company, be it family-owned or a national conglomerate, is wrestling with the realities of the new media environment and a downturn in the economy that has traditional advertisers sitting on their wallets.

In fact, more people are accessing Star-Telegram content than ever before when you count the eyeballs reading the paper-paper and those seeing our ever-expanding and innovative online offerings.

While the industry works to find the right prescription for its future — which will have to include a way to make the online "product" generate a higher percentage of revenue — what won’t change is the Star-Telegram’s commitment to providing quality: in journalism, in service to readers, in advertising, in support of the community.

A free and vigorous press is crucial to a community’s well-being. The Star-Telegram has served as the means to coalesce Tarrant County residents around issues as diverse as saving parkland to improving healthcare delivery to adopting a plan to end chronic homelessness.

Consumers of information have myriad outlets for national and international news and opinion, but no one — NO ONE — cares about Fort Worth and its surroundings like we do. We will find a way to not only survive but thrive.

In the short term, we need our beloved readers to be patient as we endeavor to find the business model for the 21st century.

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone ended a tirade about the changes at the paper by saying, "Amon Carter is spinning in his grave." I’d take the voluntary separation package and spend the rest of my days as a volunteer for the local causes that inflame my passion — veterans, the homeless and adult learners.

Few industries today are conducting business the same way they did 10 years ago, much less 100 years ago. Technologies change, and the Star-Telegram is not immune to those seismic shifts.

But it is a misperception among cynics that the only thing that matters is selling newspapers and that we’ll do whatever we can, however deplorable, to that end. That’s not what motivates the journalists and photographers who daily strive to tell compelling stories through words and images.

If I sound defensive, maybe I am a tad. Being chewed raw by folks who think decisions to cut jobs are made callously or cavalierly disrespects a 100-year history of professionalism and credibility and commitment to this community.

The Star-Telegram has an established track record of bringing together the elected and the elite with the advocate and the intellectual to share ideas and tackle issues that stood in the way of our community’s progress. We’ve written stories and columns that shine a light on injustice and celebrate our collective successes.

That’s not just our history. It is the key to our future.