national news

Death leaves lingering sadness

1 Comment

My sadness over Colin Powell’s death is bidding me a reluctant farewell.

It seems to want to linger for a while longer. It’s hard to get over the loss of this man I admired from the time he served as national security adviser to President Reagan. He only burnished his standing when he became Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman for President Bush 41 and then secretary of state during the Bush 43 administration. Powell blazed a trail in all three of those endeavors, becoming the first African-American ever to occupy the offices.

The retired Army general offered snippets of wisdom regularly. I took most of them to heart.

Now that he is gone, I am left wishing to hear more from him.

We hear it said about musicians who pass on that “their music lives forever.” I guess you can say the same thing about statesmen such as Gen. Powell, that their “words of wisdom” will endure through the ages.

So it must be.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

Patrick’s ‘bounty’ payoff affirms refusal to give money

2 Comments

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has affirmed for me why I generally do not give money to political candidates.

Campaign finance law allows them to spend it foolishly, as Patrick has just done by shelling out $25,000 to a Pennsylvania poll watcher who caught a single individual voting illegally in that state in 2020.

Patrick had promised to pay as much as $1 million to anyone who could prove “widespread voter fraud” in the 2020 election. He has sent just one check, though, totaling 25K to the poll watcher.

You see, there isn’t any “widespread vote fraud” to be found. Not in Texas. Not in Pennsylvania. Nowhere, man!

Which brings me back to my point. The money came from Patrick’s campaign stash. If I had given money to Patrick’s campaign, I would be damn angry that he is spending a dime of his campaign money for this kind of foolishness. It comes from the pockets of those who believe in a candidate.

It boggles my noggin to think that anyone who gave to this blowhard’s campaign would actually endorse his writing a check for a single case of someone voting illegally … in another state!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Character still matters

Do you remember a time when Republican politicians recited the mantra that “character matters”?

I do. It became vogue when Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton sought to become president in 1992. Republicans got wind of some alleged indiscretions involving the young governor. They whipped it all into a frenzied rally cry that sought to undermine the candidate’s presidential aspirations.

Well, character still matters. Except that Republicans have gone deaf and blind on what the rest of us have seen about a prominent GOP politician. That would be … umm, Donald J. Trump.

The former POTUS is an admitted sexual assailant; an admitted philanderer; he has denigrated prisoners of war, calling them “suckers” and “losers.”

Character, anyone? Yeah, it still matters now just as it did in the early 1990s when Republicans sought to make character an issue in another presidential campaign.

Except that these days the GOP is turning away while one of its own flouts the very institutions he once vowed to preserve and protect. His lack of character also revealed itself when he disparaged a great American, Colin Powell, only hours after the great man’s death.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

medical news

Dictatorship? Hardly!

2 Comments

When did requiring children to be vaccinated become a symptom of a dictatorial regime?

Oh, wait! It’s the tenor of this contentious time when everything becomes challenged … even for no good reason!

I am an old man in my early 70s. I recall vividly getting vaccinated every year before the start of school. I would sit in the school nurse’s office and get my shots for whatever was on the table at the time: measles, whooping cough, TB, you name it. Mom and Dad never bitched about my sisters and me needing to get shots.

We just did it, started school and went about doing whatever it was we were doing when we were kids.

Now, though, our children are threatened by a potentially fatal virus. It’s killing Americans each day. The COVID-19 virus is still a part of our lives and, sadly, part of many Americans’ deaths.

However, the push to get our children vaccinated, along with their elders, is running into resistance from those who are yapping and yammering about government “overreach,” about how the feds are dictating how we must conduct our affairs.

“It’s my choice to get vaccinated,” we hear from some of the dipsh**s out there. Yeah, it’s their choice, but only when it doesn’t threaten others’ lives. When they refuse to get vaccinated, they threaten everyone else around them.

CNN anchor John King spoke eloquently the other day about the unknown and unseen threats posed by those who refuse to take precautions to protect themselves against the killer virus. They expose themselves and potentially others to mortal threats. That ain’t right!

So, let’s all stop the carping and griping about a “government overreach” that is nothing of the sort.

The numbers don’t lie. Those who are vaccinated against the COVID virus are much more secure than those who refuse.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

County to honor late Judge Houdashell … yes!

As my dear old dad would say, “I’ll be dipped in sesame seeds.”

I just found out that the late Randall County (Texas) Judge Ernie Houdashell is going to be honored for his work as a devoted public servant for the county he loved with all his heart.

The county commissioners court has decided to put Ernie Houdashell’s name on the county annex building on Western Street in southern Amarillo. It will be called the “Ernie Houdashell Randall County Annex.”

To which I offer a heartfelt cheer and congratulations.

I had written a blog item just the other day lamenting the absence of Houdashell’s name on any structure nearly a year after he died of COVID-19 related complications. It turns out that county commissioners had been working on honoring the county judge’s memory for the past few months.

They are working at this time on completing the signage that will be displayed on the front of the annex.

The annex was a huge accomplishment for Judge Houdashell, who wanted to give county employees working in the annex more room than what they had in their old quarters on South Georgia Street. He wheeled and dealt to acquire an abandoned store on South Western, which the county then renovated and turned into a shiny new office complex which could handle the volume of work required at the annex; indeed, nearly 80 percent of the county’s work occurs at the annex, even though the county seat is in Canyon.

This news makes me happy. It is satisfying in the extreme to know that Ernie Houdashell’s dedication to Randall County will be honored in perpetuity in this fashion.

Well done, Randall County.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news, State news

So long, and thanks, Sen. Seliger

Call me not surprised in the least at this bit of political bombshell news.

Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger, an Amarillo Republican, has announced he won’t run for another term from Senate District 31.

I want to get this disclaimer out of the way off the top. Seliger is a friend of mine. I have known him since the week I reported for work in January 1995 at the Amarillo Globe-News. Seliger was mayor of the city and he and I got to know each other well while he served in public office and I worked as editorial page editor of the newspaper.

Our relationship morphed into a friendship when he left the mayor’s office. Then it returned to its former self when he was elected to the state Senate in 2004.

Texas is losing a titan from its legislative leadership. The Texas Panhandle is losing a stellar representative of its interests in Austin.  Seliger will serve until January 2023 when his current term expires.

I won’t pussyfoot around with what I believe to be Seliger’s motive in leaving public office. He has grown weary of being battered by the right-wing nut cases who occupy the GOP leadership. I refer particularly to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, with whom Seliger has clashed frequently since Patrick was first elected to lead the Senate in 2014.

Seliger has opposed some of Patrick’s key socially conservative notions. He once spoke ill of a key Patrick aide; the lieutenant governor punished Seliger by removing him key committee chairmanships.

Seliger has been the target of Empower Texans, a right-wing political action committee that pushes archconservative social issues, which Seliger — given his nature and his salt-of-the-Earth conservatism — has opposed.

Seliger’s statement about his pending retirement contained all the proper platitudes about pride in serving his West Texas district, about how he wants to spend more time with his family and his giving thanks to West Texans for entrusting him with their vote.

The Legislature, though, decided to “reward” Seliger by pulling key Panhandle counties out of District 31 and adding several more from the Permian Basin region, thus diluting Seliger’s base within the sprawling legislative district.

So, it’s no surprise to me that this good man has decided to call it a career.

Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger of Amarillo won’t seek reelection | The Texas Tribune

The Texas Panhandle has been blessed with solid conservative representation in the Texas Senate even pre-dating Seliger’s tenure in that office. What happens now remains anyone’s guess. My hunch is that it won’t be good, necessarily, for the region that sent Kel Seliger to Austin to represent its interests.

This is a big loss for the region I once called home. I’m betting that Kel Seliger is likely to sleep well from this day forward now that he has made this big announcement.

Thanks for your service to the Panhandle and the state, Sen. Seliger.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Stand tall, John King

CNN anchor John King has revealed a secret he kept hidden for 13 years.

The veteran broadcaster/journalist suffers from multiple sclerosis. He made the admission on the air this week and became an instant spokesman for those of us who are concerned about the disinformation that continues to be spread about the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said he wanted to let it be known publicly about his MS because his immune system is compromised. He thanked his CNN colleagues for seeking the COVID vaccines and is now pleading with Americans within earshot of his voice to do the same.

He said this morning that one does not know whether the stranger sitting on any side of you is vaccinated, or whether they have the virus that could kill them … or you! Thus, it becomes imperative to get vaccinated and to take all measures necessary to protect one’s self and others.

John King is my new hero. May he continue to spread his message far and wide.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Let the DOJ make the call

A non-surprising vote occurred tonight.

The U.S. House select committee examining the 1/6 insurrection on Capitol Hill voted unanimously to charge former Trump administration policy guru Steve Bannon with contempt of Congress.

The issue goes to the full House. Then it goes to the U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Columbia. And then it falls on the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to pursue a criminal prosecution of  Bannon.

Oh, how I hope DOJ follows through.

The unanimous vote by the House panel is quite satisfying, given that two Republicans — Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — serve with seven Democrats. So, it’s a bipartisan vote to charge Bannon with a criminal act.

The panel had summoned Bannon to testify. He refused, citing executive privilege. He and the former POTUS, though, weren’t meeting on 1/6 to discuss national public policy matters. They were meeting to ascertain how Donald Trump could overturn the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won … bigly.

It’s going to pass through the full House. It then will head to DOJ.

Steve Bannon needs to face the music.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news, political news

If only he could rise above the bitterness

There are times when one can wish that even the most venal and vile politicians among us can rise to some level of dignity and decorum.

The death of noted statesmen, such as Colin Powell, easily qualifies as a motive to rise above pettiness and petulance. Powell, the nation’s first black secretary of state, died Monday of COVID complications.

Four of the five living former presidents managed to offer heartfelt salutes and tributes to the former general, as did the current president, Joe Biden.

Then came this bit of bullsh** from the 45th president of the United States. Donald Trump issued a brief statement that reads:

“Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!”

There. Isn’t that just the kind of cheap shot, the trash, the rhetorical crap we have come to expect from Trump? Yes. It is.

To think that the King of RINO World would exhibit the chutzpah to call Colin Powell a Republican In Name Only speaks to the utter worthlessness of Donald Trump as a political public figure.

I would say “shame on Trump” … except that he has no shame.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Tributes pour in for Gen. Powell

Former President Barack Obama was one of many public figures — elected, appointed and otherwise — to speak highly today of the impact that retired Gen. Colin Powell had on their lives.

I read a statement from President Obama today after Powell’s death. One item in the statement stood out. It dealt with Gen. Powell’s endorsement of Obama’s presidential candidacy in 2008. Powell, a lifelong Republican, decided to endorse Obama because, I suppose in Powell’s view, that Obama was the best man for the job at the time.

Obama said this about Gen. Powell’s endorsement, which included a discussion about rumors at the time dealing with the presidential candidate’s faith: “The correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he’s a Christian,” General Powell said. “But the really right answer is, ‘What if he is?’ Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?”

What the former president didn’t include in that remembrance is that the U.S. Constitution specifically declares that there shall be “no religious test” for anyone who seeks public office in this country. That includes presidents.

Powell’s point, though, in endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for the presidency, is that there should be no constraint on any child, regardless of his or her faith, to seek the highest office in the land.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience