Buck Owens, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and the prospect of divorce
From The Dallas Morning News
enate hearings over the Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch have concluded, and they have not changed our conviction that President Donald Trump’s pick for the high court should be confirmed.
Senate tradition demands respect for the president’s nominations, so long as they are not unfit for the job and are within the ideological mainstream. Gorsuch is a brilliant legal writer and thinker. And while he is extremely conservative, his judicial philosophy falls well within today’s ideological and political norms.
Gorsuch’s nomination is one of the most level-headed and responsible decisions Trump has made since taking office. He deserves an up-or-down vote when the matter comes to the Senate floor, probably early next month.
Democrats are not convinced, however. They have promised to filibuster the nomination, triggering a time-tested tactic used by a minority party in the Senate to require at least 60 yes votes, rather than the typical 51, to end debate and proceed to a vote on an important decision.
Republican leaders have called such opposition as unreasonable. We certainly think it’s ill-advised. But we strongly disagree with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that it would justify his invoking the so-called nuclear option, upending Senate rules to lower that debate-ending threshold to a simple majority.
We thought it was a bad idea, and so did McConnell, when his Democratic predecessor used the same approach to make Cabinet nominees and lower-court judgeships immune from the filibuster, after years of Republican obstructionism.
To double down on that bad precedent and extend it to one of the most important decisions the Senate makes ought to be anathema to McConnell. Embracing the nuclear option would stain the reputations of McConnell and other senators who support the move. And it would diminish the institution they lead. Fortunately, Republicans have other, saner options. McConnell — and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn — can work to persuade eight Democrats to join them, arguing that all presidents’ latitude in naming replacements to the Supreme Court should be respected. They could try to scare Democrats, noting that if Trump loses on this nominee, who’s to say his next pick will suit them more?
They might remind the Democrats of the political risks of being seen as obstructionists.
McConnell made things harder for Republicans with his astounding behavior last spring in rejecting sight unseen President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Democrats have every right to still be seething.
Trump didn’t make it easy either. Gorsuch is plenty qualified, but his extreme conservatism is hardly something to smooth Democrats’ ruffled feathers, not when Obama named such a moderate when he was in Trump’s shoes. But that doesn’t mean the Republicans can’t win if they try. And if they lose? Then their only responsible course would be to inform the president he’s going to have to make another choice.
The Senate’s long tradition of giving the minority party some leverage to fend off the majority is critical to maintain, no matter who is in power.
What do Buck Owens and the Fulton County Stadium have to do with the deterioration of a marriage? Their absence could spell dark days for a couple I know.
My buddy Josh and his new bride, Nikki, had been living out in West Rome until a couple weeks ago when they moved to North Carolina.
While doing most of the packing, Nikki asked Josh which wall decorations he’d like to keep and which he’d like donate to Goodwill. Here’s where the fateful moment took place. Josh specifically said not to give away his Johnny Cash hanging and a framed poster of one of his favorite bands, the Hackensaw Boys. He admits that he assumed she would know the importance of a couple other treasures gracing the walls of the house.
Come to find out, Nikki took him at his word and got rid of most of the other wall decor including a framed print of a Buck Owens show poster and a large framed photo of the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Here’s why this was disastrous. As many readers will know, Buck Owens was a famous country singer, songwriter and bandleader whose career stretched from the ’40s up till the late ’80s. He was a co-host of “Hee Haw,” is in the Country Music Hall of Fame and is an idol of the great Dwight Yoakam, which all adds up to him being a certified hero to my buddy Josh.
Anyhow, Josh had gotten this Buck Owens poster many years ago from a place in Knoxville, Tennessee, called YeeHaw Industries — which had been famous for making show flyers and posters for many big names in the music industry, including Hank Williams, Elvis, Ray Charles … and Buck Owens. This poster had a painting of Buck on it wearing a cowboy hat. It was for one of his very last shows at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas.
Needless to say, the piece was priceless to Josh.
On top of all that, bounce to Josh as my friend Brandy would say (unbeknownst to Josh), his wife had also donated to Goodwill a fully framed aerial photograph of the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium that was taken in August 1996. The stadium was demolished in ’97. The photo also shows what was then the Olympic stadium. Josh is one of the biggest Atlanta Braves fans I know. So the photo was very special to him and was No. 25 of only 200 prints of its kind made by the photographer, Don Banks.
Y’all, Josh called me when he got up to North Carolina and began unpacking and realized that his treasures had been given to Goodwill.
He was heartbroken. Being a country fan, and a Braves fan as well, I was heartbroken with him. We discussed his divorce options and I said I would move to North Carolina to be his constant companion if he would divorce that heartless Jezebel who could so callously part with priceless treasures such as those.
But Josh was far more level-headed than I was. He said that in Nikki’s defense, he had never told her specifically to keep those two items (as if you’d have to tell someone not to throw away the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo’s David) and she HAD kept other beloved items that he did not specifically name.
But Nikki is not one bit remorseful. To this day she maintains she did nothing wrong.
The Monday after Josh realized what happened, he went first thing to the Goodwill in Boone, North Carolina, (where Nikki had treacherously discarded the two treasures) and explained to the manager and staff what had happened. They laughed at him and said that if it wasn’t on the shelves then it had already been sold.
Josh was disappointed. He tried to find similar pieces online but to no avail.
I’ll give him credit for having a positive outlook about the whole thing.
His attitude is that he’s hopeful that a true fan of country music will give Buck Owens a new home and that a real Braves fan will understand the significance of the stadium photo. The moral of the story is don’t get married. The second moral of the story is to frequent your local Goodwill or thrift stores. You never know what treasures might have been donated. SEVERO AVILA Jim Powell of Young Harris