MINERAL WELLS — Sir Frances Bacon said, in “Advancement of Learning, “If a (wo)man will begin with certainties, (s)he shall end in doubts; but if (s)he will be content to begin with doubts,(s)he shall end in certainties.”

He also said, and wisely, “There is nothing makes a (wo)man suspect much, more than to know little.”

I have thought much about both of these quotes from the distant past, and have tried to apply them to a very “today” situation in Texas politics. I have also considered the possibility that I may be a bit paranoid, but I think that I know (or think) just enough to ease that adjectival expression down to “suspect,” admitting that I may not know as much as I probably should.

With all this in mind, I have been doing some research into the unusual circumstance of a multi-millionaire hairdresser, Farouq Shami, seeking the gubernatorial office of Texas, with the agreement of accepting only $l per year in salary!

My first suspicion was that this man had lost his mind, perhaps for having worked on too many female heads of hair while listening to their conversations.

The thing that has stirred my thoughts is the fact that, while being an American since 1965 when he immigrated to the USA as a scholarship-student, he is also Palestinian. In fact, he is a member of the Board of the American Task Force on Palestine. That brought some tickling to the back of my neck.

It is true that he says that he respects all religions and hopes that Texas voters will do the same, he testifies that he is multi-religious, with his first two listings being Quaker and Muslim. A reasonable combination? He also says that he was persuaded to run for governmental office by the success of the presiding president, with whom he communicates and has great admiration for. He did not mention the other members of his co-religion who have run for congressional and state office with success.

I have done a bit of research into that area of American politics and find that there are some names available to identify those elected congressmen, namely Keith Ellison, of Minnesota, and Buta Singh, whose state I could not access. There are probably more than I found.

I am not suggesting that any of these men will help bring down our government established on Christian values more than 200 years ago. I am suggesting that things could become very alarming if that is the purpose in their minds. At present, according to the Census Bureau and President Obama, the United States is home to one of the largest counts of Muslim Arabs in the world at this time, with the numbers approaching 500 million! That number can elect a bunch of people, if they get together.

Mr. Shami, in the past couple of years, has relocated his billion-dollar beauty products business, from California to Texas. He has established a giant orchard of 10,000 olive trees on a large ranch he owns in Uvalde, and he uses the oil he produces in his products.  According to records he brought thousands of jobs to Texas workers when he came. All of this sounds good for the Texas economy.

He is owner of dozens of patents for the products and beauty tools he sells. There is no doubt that he has been a very successful businessman. His work has produced revolutionary tools and local haircare preparations, he has emphasized that all of these items are part of his efforts to clean (green up) the atmosphere, to reduce electromagnetic fields and toward making his salons healthier for customers and stylists. His claims include a global sales market, dealing with more than 100 countries for his CHI line of beauty tools.

Then what is he doing in Texas politics? Wouldn’t you think that he would be satisfied to retire to a state or country without snowy winters such as we are having now? Is he thinking that he will get Texas workers at a premium low wage? Or is he just a part of a more sinister situation? I wish I knew. Maybe he has decided to make Texas women more beautiful than we are now and wow the world!

“But (life) is such a mystery, I cannot find it out; for when I think I’m best resolved, I then am in most doubt.” (Sir John Suckling, 1609-1642).