What constitutes an "international airport?"

The sign greeting air travelers in the hub city of the South Plains proudly proclaims its name: Lubbock Preston Smith INTERNATIONAL Airport.

Ok, so the all caps version of "international" was my added emphasis.

But, it was that word that sparked an interesting discussion around this little corner of heaven recently.

Just what DOES an airport have to do or have to qualify as an "international" airport?

LPSIA, as I fondly abbreviate it, has NO international flights. But, it is not alone. Other similarly lacking airports claim the name, apparently as a reflection of their future plans and ambitions. (i.e. Gary/Chicago International Airport in Indiana)

Still other airports that one would think had international flights, do not: London's Heathrow, Detroit's Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and (my favorite) George Bush Intercontinental.

Another presidential namesake, Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, claims the status as a result of part-time customs/immigration staff on site.

I guess, all of this goes to show that an airport can pretty much name itself whatever it wants--even after some obscure Texas governor. Truth in advertising rules need not apply!

Happy Birthday, Florida!

Yes, ye socks, it was 165 years ago today that the great State of Florida was admitted to the Union.

Actually, two states joined the U.S. back in 1845.

Hmm . . . . what was that other state . . . .

Oh, that's right: Texas.

But, they weren't given their star on Old Glory until December 29th.

Yep, the Sunshine State has more than nine months' seniority on ya!

Guess that makes us senior citizens down here, in more than just the traditional sense?!?

Whatever. Any excuse for cake and ice cream will be indulged in the dryer!

One day of blog silence

For the victims at Fort Hood, Texas.

Treaty talks

Somehow, discussion over this morning's coffee turned to the simmering assertion of Texans that they have the right to reclaim their independence by the treaty their short-lived republic signed with the United States.

Far be it from yours truly to remind them of the federal government's history of honoring treaties--much less the decisiveness of the union's military victory back in the 1860s.

But, it is interesting to ponder just how crowded westbound I-10 would become if they ever really asserted that independence.

Anyway, the question was posed about whether or not our own great state of Florida might have similar recourse.

Turns out we might.

Florida was to become a U.S. territory as one of the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty back in 1819. The U.S. Senate quickly ratified the agreement, but the Spanish government dragged its heels for a couple of years. By the time they got around to ratifying, they were embroiled in a nasty war with Mexican patriots. The latter, of course, not only wanted their independence but also disputed the treaty terms--at least those pertaining to the border of Texas.

So, did the lack of timeliness on the part of the Spanish render the treaty obsolete?

You decide.

That empty chair at front row left . . .

. . . I think that's the one they were reserving for yours truly?

Well, probably not.

If I'd been able to make it, and tradition held, I'd probably have ended up in the back row with all the other tall people!

Ah, well . . .

By the phone calls I've gotten over the past few days, it sounds like the class of '89 managed to have a pretty good time even in my absence.

Now, what do we need to do to organize a 25th at Disney World? Anyone? Anyone?

There in spirit

Well, ye socks, somewhere in a small West Texas town, my high school classmates are gathering to kick-off our 20-year reunion.

Unfortunately, geography and other considerations have kept me in this little corner of heaven.

But, I hope they have a good time and take lots of pictures. I need to do some updating of ye olde photo album . . .

That's how I roll . . . er . . . rolled.

Still rehashing old memories from high school in these days leading up to the big reunion.

It got me thinking of my wheels.

Turns out I was WAY ahead of the curve on the whole fuel efficiency thing when I was tooling around West Texas in a little "rice burner." That's right, my 6'3" frame once crammed itself into a '79 Honda Civic Hatchback.

It looked an awful lot like the one pictured here, except mine had an "awesome" orange pin stripe racing down each side . . . those stripes being the raciest thing about the car.

To be honest, I pretty much drove that little car into the ground. I got the odometer to turn over for the third time while delivering for Pinocchio's Pizza in Lubbock.

Sadly, the little work horse had to be put out to pasture right about the time we all graduated, and I "traded-up" to an Oldsmobile Delta 88 . . . aka The Land Yacht. But, that's a whole other story . . .

Friday Night Football

I don't suppose you can talk about your high school experiences in Texas without at least mentioning football.

Even if you weren't on the team, the weekly games were a central fixture.

At the very least, it was cheap entertainment for a small town that didn't have a whole lot of alternatives. (Wolfforth, Texas, population 1,701, salute!)

All the games have a way of blurring together after this many years, til all you're left with are the broadest strokes on the canvass.

I halfway remember the time the stadium lights went out in the middle of a game. Does that count?

Really, I think I spent most of my time sauntering between the bleachers and the concession stand. (Who can resist a bag of Fritos and chilli?!)

Of course, the real highlight of the evening was beating a path into the "big city" of Lubbock so we could watch the recap of all the area high school games on the big screen tv at Mr. Gatti's.

Years later, when I was in college, I found out one of my fraternity brothers had worked at Gatti's in high school and that the employees there used to dread it when the Frenship folks would show up on Fridays, and insinuated that they may have tampered with our food orders.

I hope he was just trying to get my goat. But, either way, I guess most of us survived. I wonder how many may stop by the old place to swap clearer recollections of those Friday evenings this weekend . . . if it's even open anymore . . . hmmm.

My run-in with a ghost

Reminiscing about high school shenanigans, I cannot gloss over my supernatural encounter during a Spanish Club field trip to San Antonio.

Our intrepid leader, Mrs. Emma Blackburn, booked us rooms in the historic Menger Hotel downtown, within a stone's throw of the Alamo and the River Walk.

At check-in, the lady at the counter warned us that the hotel was supposedly haunted.

According to the tale, a chamber maid had been murdered in one of the upstairs rooms and her sad specter was doomed to roam the halls looking for the long-gone perpetrator.

Needless to say, this is the sort of thing that inspires mischief, and a group of us was determined to find that ghost.

So, after curfew, we organized a posse of sorts and began roaming around the labyrinth of hallways. Inevitably, our group broke-up and went in different directions, and I eventually found myself negotiating one of those hallways all by myself.

As I turned a corner, a woman in a flowing robe appeared at the other end of the corridor. She was walking--more like staggering--straight for me, with her arms extended.

Bravery went out the window at this point, and I did a quick about-face. Bounding down a stairwell in search of the rest of the posse, I lost my footing and took quite a tumble. I'm still not sure how exactly I was able to make it back to my room.

The next morning, my ankle was the size of a grapefruit. And, poor Mrs. Blackburn had to take me to a doctor to have it checked out and get me a pair of crutches.

I never did find out for sure if that woman I saw was in fact a ghost, though I was assured by my peeved Spanish teacher that it was probably just another hotel guest looking for an ice machine or something.

I guess I'll never know for sure. But, my ankle's never been right since . . .

20 years later . . . I'm still standing

Great, now I'm going to have that Elton John song stuck in my head.

Anyway, during this week leading up to my high school reunion, I thought I might post a few thoughts and remembrances of that bygone era.

I didn't transfer to Frenship High School in Wolfforth, Texas, until my sophomore year. And, I remember my first day of class there quite well.

It was Chemistry. The teacher was Marcia Talkmitt. And, I walked into a classroom full of people who didn't know me from Adam, yet seemed to have known each other since they day they were born.

It was an awkward situation to say the least. But, such is the life of a military kid. And, I suppose everyone's teenage years are full of awkwardness.

The thing that makes this particular day stand out in my mind was the fact that Mrs. Talkmitt's delivery of sitting stools for her lab had not yet arrived. So, after she had gone thru the usual checklist of first day stuff, she suggested we all just sit on the floor until the end of the period.

Well, I wasn't having any of that. I'd just gotten a brand new pair of pants, and I wasn't going to sit on any chem lab floor. So, instead, I just leaned up against one of the lab tables for what felt like an eternity, appearing very standoffish, I'm sure.

Isn't it funny the little things like this that pop into your head when you reminisce about the "good old days?"

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons (but, primarily geography), yours truly will not be able to make the trip back to West Texas to swap stories with my former classmates.

But, at least I'm still standing. And, I have the clean pants to prove it!

RIP Mrs. Waldrep

Some sad news out of West Texas today. I heard from a classmate that my high school accounting teacher passed away.

Mrs. Waldrep was one of my favorite teachers at Frenship High School. We always had fun in her class, and actually learned a lot, too. She will be missed.

Here's the complete obit from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal for ye socks who may remember her:

Sandra Young Waldrep
Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, May 31, 2009

Sandra passed away Friday, May 29, 2009 at Lubbock Heart Hospital.

Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers will host a gathering of friends and family to remember her life of 59 years, Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home. Funeral Services will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at Lake Ridge Chapel, 6025 82nd Street.

Sandra was born May 17, 1950 to S. J. and Opal Young in Plainview. She graduated from Plainview High School and Texas Tech University. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Sandra taught business courses at Frenship High School for 27 years. She married Tom Waldrep on August 10, 1985 in Plainview. Sandra was an avid golfer and a member of Hillcrest Country Club.

Survivors include her husband; daughter, Leigh Montgomery and spouse Rik of Frisco; three grandchildren, Rily, Ryder, and Ryan Montgomery; father, S. J. Young of Lubbock; sister, Ann Nelson and spouse Mike of Lubbock.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Opal Young, March 15, 2006.

Memorial tributes may be sent to Lubbock Meals on Wheels 2304 34th St. Lubbock, TX 79411 or South Plains Food Bank 4612 Locust Ave., Lubbock, TX 79404.

We welcome you to visit www.memorialdesigners.net to offer her family words of encouragement and to view a life tribute of Sandra.

Hack! Wheeze! Cough! Sputter!

Yep, I'm definitely coming down with something.

Dry, scratchy throat. Watery eyes. Can't speak an entire sentence before my voice gets swallowed up by a hacking cough.

I'm hoping I can stay awake to watch the UT-OSU game tonight, but that bottle of Nyquil I spotted in the medicine cabinet is looking awfully enticing . . .

It ain't over yet, Tech fans.

As the Gators romped over The Citadel today, there was very little left for yours truly to watch in terms of college football than the big match-up between my alma mater and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Unfortunately, things got ugly in Norman tonight. Real ugly. And, real fast.

They whooped us. There's no other way to say it. 65-21. Ouch!

But, hope is still alive, despite the ruination of a perfect season.

Tech's loss leaves a three-way tie in the Big 12 South, and the Sooners still have to face their in-state rival Oklahoma State next weekend. Should they lose there, Tech will still be going to the Big 12 Championship game to face Missouri.

And, if they can beat Mizzou . . . the sky's the limit. I mean, they'd be the 12-1 champs of the conference that has dominated the sports page headlines all season . . . even in this little corner of heaven where the SEC usually reigns supreme.

So, be not faint of heart, my fellow Red Raiders. Keep them guns up, and get ready for some more great football games over the next few weeks.

Oh, and Go Cowboys!

Visions of a National Championship Dance in my Head

Christmas came early around here yesterday.

First, the Gators whooped the Dawgs at the largest outdoor cocktail party in the world.

Then, just past my bed time, Texas Tech used the last 1:29 remaining on the clock to score a winning touchdown over the #1 (over-rated) Longhorns in Lubbock.

Now, if Florida and the Red Raiders can win out the rest of their seasons . . . my two favorite college football teams could end up playing in the national championship game down in Miami in January!

Talk about your divided loyalties . . .

Don't put the cart before the horse, though. Alabama still looms large as the likely opponent for the Gators in the SEC title game. And, Tech, well, you know the Big 12 . . .

Still, it could happen . . .

I don't like Ike

No, I'm not referring to the former president. I actually like him.

And, I'm not referring to the "misunderstood" former "better half" of Tina Turner. Although, his rather nasty disposition and brutality may be a near equal of the Ike that's on everyone's mind today.

Of course, I am referring to the nasty hurricane that is threatening so many of my friends out in the Lone Star State.

If you won't take the advice of those of us in this little corner of heaven who have survived so many storms in recent years, then remember the lessons of "What's Love Got to Do With It?"

Ike can pack a punch.

So, let him eat your dust.

You'll be much better off.

Scott McClellan: The proof is in the pudding

I hope none of ye socks will waste your money on the book by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan when it is released on Monday, and not just because it's a bunch of hogwash. But, also because I just don't believe in rewarding bad behavior.

Those of you from the great and sovereign Lone Star State probably saw this coming as long as I have, because we're more familiar with Scotty-boy's family background than most folks in this country.

His mother, Carol Keeton Strayhorn, is a political opportunist of such magnitude that she could only get away with it in a state as big as Texas. We all remember her as the liberal Mayor of Austin who backed Walter Mondale for president in 1984; figured out how dumb that was and became a RINO; then sought to unseat the incumbent Republican governor in 2006. Fortunately, she's basically harmless, as she was unsuccessful in all three of those endeavours. Unfortunately, her boy inherited her lack of integrity.

His paternal background, however, offered an even more obvious clue about Scotty's lack of a moral compass. His father, Oliver Barr McClellan, worked as an attorney in the Lyndon Johnson administration, only to later become the author of tripe that has become fodder for countless conspiracy nuts: Blood, Money, and Power: How LBJ killed JFK. That's right, his daddy backstabbed the president he worked for, too.

Like father, like son, I guess.

Fortunately, in Papa McClellan's case, people quickly clued-in to his lack of character and forced him to surrender his license to practice law.

I don't know what lays in store for Scotty-boy, but hope it is slightly less than the proverbial 15 minutes of fame followed by the perpetual irrelevance he so richly deserves. To paraphrase the motto of the great Commonwealth of Virginia: SIC SEMPER PRODITOR!

Until then, I will leave you with a few quotes:

It appears to be more about trying to justify personal views and opinions than it does

about looking at the results that we are achieving on behalf of the American people.

-- Scott McClellan, on former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's book.

Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise them sooner?!?

-- Scott McClellan, on former anti-terror chief Richard Clarke's book.

Texans: March forth this March fourth!

Yesterday's endorsement in the Dallas Morning News says it better than I could:

Editorial: We recommend Mike Huckabee
06:44 AM CST on Monday, March 3, 2008

Whatever Texas Republican primary voters do Tuesday, John McCain is all but guaranteed to be the party's presidential nominee. It is mathematically impossible for Mike Huckabee, the last remaining major GOP contender, to capture the nomination. The former Arkansas governor even turned up on Saturday Night Live recently to poke fun at himself for not going away.

Let's be clear: Mr. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, remains our choice for the GOP nomination. But Mr. McCain has racked up by far the most delegates and leads among Texas Republicans by a wide margin in recent opinion polls. Though he can't clinch the nomination Tuesday, victory is undeniably close.

Aside from his long experience and personal courage, he has a solid record of fiscal responsibility and has been on the right side of campaign finance reform and environmental issues. And he was correct and principled to lead the fight for comprehensive immigration reform last summer. Still, his age – 71 – and his choleric temperament gave us pause, particularly when contrasted to Mr. Huckabee's sunny-side-up brand of conservatism.

Win or lose in November, the GOP is destined to spend the next few years redefining itself. For many reasons, Reaganism, which made the GOP the dominant political party of the last generation, no longer resonates as it once did with the American public. The world has changed since Ronald Reagan's election nearly 30 years ago, and the great man's political heirs will have to adjust the GOP's strategy and tactics to new realities.

To that end, Mr. Huckabee, 52, should be a top leader in tomorrow's Republican Party. His good-natured approach to politics – "I'm a conservative; I'm just not mad about it," as he likes to say – is quite appealing after years of scorched-earth tactics from both parties. He's a pragmatist more concerned with effective government than with bowing to ideological litmus tests. For example, he has proven himself willing to violate anti-tax dogma to undertake investment in infrastructure for the sake of long-term prosperity.

Mr. Huckabee also is good on the environment, contending that the future of the conservative movement depends on embracing conservation and stewardship of the natural world. And he's a compassionate conservative especially in tune with middle-class anxieties in a globalizing economy.

Though his social and religious conservatism puts him on the wrong side of abortion, gay rights and other key issues, that same deep-faith commitment inspires his dedication to helping the poor and to racial healing. He truly is representative of the next wave of evangelical chieftains and, if nothing else, will emerge from this primary season the leader of one of the most influential factions in the GOP coalition.

We look forward to having him around to help shape and lead the Republican Party beyond November. That's why we encourage Texas Republicans to mark their ballots for Mr. Huckabee in the GOP primary: to demonstrate to the party's elite that Mr. Huckabee and his vision have a solid constituency.

True, a Huckabee vote today won't do much to determine the 2008 GOP presidential candidate. But it's a good investment in the Republican Party's future.

Happy Texas Independence Day!

That's right. For ye socks who are not privileged enough to know your Texas history as well as those of us who were indoctrinated during our formative years, it was on this day way back in 1836 that the Lone Star State declared its independence from Mexico.

So, if you need some special license to eat some spicy food and drink a Margarita, now you have it.

Hopefully, later this week, we will be able to celebrate Texas INDEPENDENTS Day. (Notice the subtle spelling change, did you?) On Tuesday, our beloved friends and relatives out there will have the opportunity once again to demonstrate their independence by bucking the talking heads in the national media.

They can send a big message to the rest of the country (and keep John McCain's feet to the fire) by voting for Mike Huckabee!

Let's hope they do so, and in large numbers befitting the size of their great state.

Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo! Remember San Jacinto!

Something for my Texas friends

Mike Huckabee needs your votes on March 4th!

The New York Times loses MORE credibility

I am so angry with NYT editor Bill Keller today, I could just spit nails.

Not because his paper ran an article yesterday about a rumored affair between Senator John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

No, what makes me angry is that Keller and his editorial board SAT ON THIS STORY for months. In fact, Keller actually met with McCain to discuss the details last year.

But, he didn't bother putting it into print in his yellow rag until McCain had won enough GOP presidential primaries and caucuses to make him the party's presumptive nominee.

I think he did it INTENTIONALLY.

He didn't want GOP voters to catch a whiff of a potential scandal until after every Democrat's favorite Republican was far enough ahead in the delegate count.

In so doing, he and his editorial board have failed the public trust.

By denying the public access to this type of information, which could very well sway a voter's opinion, Keller and his cronies at the New York Times are tinkering with our democracy.

That's the real story here, not some supposed extra-marital affair being pimped by a disgruntled former aide. (The Washington Post at least identified the source for the rumor: John Weaver, who left--or, was asked to leave--the McCain campaign last year.) My question is, if the allegation makes McCain a flawed candidate, why did the Times endorse him? I would suggest it is because that is exactly what they want atop the GOP ticket this fall, because it will make it easier for their beloved Democrats to achieve a victory at the polls.

So much for the lofty pretensions of the most self-satisfied organ of the Fourth Estate.

The Times outrageously claims to publish "all the news that's fit to print." It seems it may only be defined as "fit" if it keeps the American public in the dark long enough to suit their patently partisan agenda.

For ye socks living in states that haven't held their primaries yet (are you hearing me TEXAS?!), I encourage you to send a message by voting for Mike Huckabee.

And, if you have a subscription to the Times, cancel it!