Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Impeachment is near? He must be delusional

What in the name of all that is holy is U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., talking about?

Coburn said this week that the U.S. House of Representatives may be close to impeaching President Obama. The president’s policies, said Coburn, have moved him close to the legal requirements needed for impeachment.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/22/coburn-obama-a-friend-but-his-actions-nearing-grounds-for-impeachment/

As has been the case with some of the lunacy spouted by Republican members of Congress on this subject, Coburn offered no specific allegation — let alone evidence — of any “high crimes and misdemeanors” that the Obama administration has committed.

Perhaps just as strange as the impeachment talk has become is the source of the latest mutterings, from Tom Coburn, who calls himself a “personal friend” of the president. Indeed, I recall learning once that when Barack Obama entered the Senate in 2005, the grizzled veteran of the place — Sen. Coburn — took him under his wing and showed him the ropes.

Now this kind of talk?

Impeachment never — not ever — should become a political blood sport. And yet the open talk of this activity is emanating from the fruitcake wing of the Republican majority in the House of Reps. One GOP lawmaker, Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan, recently declared that a House vote to impeach the president of the United States would be a “dream come true.”

What utter crap.

Uncategorized

It’s about pressuring others to lie at WT

West Texas A&M University President Pat O’Brien has let it be known what brought about the sudden firing of the most successful football coach in the school’s history.

Former Buffaloes Coach Don Carthel “pressured” a couple of student-athletes to lie about when they reimbursed the coach for tickets to a big-league baseball game this past summer.

Here’s what O’Brien said on a Facebook post in the past few hours:

“The issue is not the purchase of the tickets but the lying associated with the purchase. Please refer to NCAA Article 10.1. The major issue is not that Don lied but he pressured two students to lie. We are not in the business of teaching students to lie.”

Carthel issued a statement this week in which he told how he took a couple of his players to see a Texas Rangers game in Arlington while visiting the area for a Lone Star Conference “Media Day” event. The athletes repaid Carthel for the tickets after attending the game, but the coach told the WT brass the kids repaid him beforehand. I guess he asked the kids to back his story up if the brass questioned them about Carthel’s version of events.

They did and the coach is gone.

End of story, right?

Probably not. There’s got to be more “there” there. Still waiting for a full accounting of cost Carthel his job. My hope now — for the sake of the team that’s about to start its 2013 season — that it all comes out in short order.

Uncategorized

So … this is a firing offense at WT?

I’ve read this statement three times already and I think I understand what happened to West Texas A&M University football coach Don Carthel.

He took two athletes to a Texas Rangers baseball game in Dallas, asked them to reimburse him for their tickets to the game after the event to avoid getting slapped by the NCAA, and then told WT Athletic Director Michael McBroom that he was reimbursed before the event. Thus, he fibbed to his boss about when he was repaid for the expense, but he did so in good faith, thinking that the AD would want him to be on the up-and-up.

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/2013-08-23/former-buffs-coach-carthels-official-statement-firing

And for that he got fired?

This is going to take a bit of time to process.

Carthel talks in his statement about his testy relationship with the WT athletic brass, including McBroom. I’m left to wonder now if the athletic director was looking for a reason to can the coach.

Technically, he might have found it with the fib about the reimbursement. I’m having trouble getting how that constitutes a “blatant” disregard for ethics rules and regulations.

I’ll need more time to think this one over.

Uncategorized

Keep the Army major, Nadal Hasan, alive

Nadal Hasan has been convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder. The crimes entitle him to a death penalty … which he says he desires.

My admonition to the military court that convicted him is to sentence him to life in prison. And by life I mean “life,” as in for as long as that animal draws breath.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/23/20154553-hasan-found-guilty-of-premeditated-murder-in-2009-fort-hood-rampage?lite=

Hasan, a psychiatrist and a major in the U.S. Army, represented himself in a trial. He has acknowledged killing 13 people Nov. 5, 2009 in that horrific massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. He didn’t mount a defense when it came time to do so. The jury that heard the evidence offered by prosecutors deliberated and then came back with the guilty verdict — as if they needed any time to actually ponder the evidence.

Now comes the punishment phase. Hasan killed those people as part of an Islamic jihad. He is a Muslim extremist who did not want to serve in Afghanistan. Well, he got his wish by committing that dastardly deed.

He also wants to be martyred. Dying at the hands of the U.S. government would, in his demented mind, earn him martyr status. But not just his in own so-called mind. He also would become a martyr to other extremists around the world who would rejoice at the thought of this individual being put to death by the “Great Satan.”

Deny him that martyr status. Toss him into the darkest hole possible and let him serve his time with other unspeakably violent criminals.

Uncategorized

Waiting for the other shoe to drop at WT

West Texas A&M University has dropped one of two shoes relating to the sudden firing Thursday of head football coach Don Carthel.

I guess that’s progress. Still, inquiring minds are waiting for the rest of the story.

WT dismissed Carthel on the eve of what football experts predict is going to be a highly successful season for the Buffaloes. Athletic Director Michael McBroom initially offered a lame “thank you” to Carthel for rebuilding the program. Then late Thursday came word of an NCAA infraction. I heard the word “blatant” used regarding the violation.

WT, according to McBroom, had no choice but to fire Carthel.

Carthel allegedly interfered with an NCAA investigation into some undisclosed infraction at West Texas A&M … at least that’s what I got out of McBroom’s partial “explanation.”

I understand fully the need to protect the integrity of whatever probe is ongoing here, Mr. Athletic Director, but you have a responsibility to the public that pays the freight for your program to offer a tad more detail as to what happened, who did it and when it occurred.

The timing of this firing is about as bad as it gets, with the Buffs finishing up their preseason preparation for the upcoming season. Assistant Coach Mike Nesbitt will take over as interim head coach. He’ll have his hands full keeping his players focused on game plans and the opponents they’ll face on the field.

Idle curiosity among those who are interested in the future of WT can inflict a lot of damage in the form of rumors and innuendo. WT’s brass should consider that when pondering if and/or when to drop the other shoe.

Uncategorized

Antoinette Tuff: America’s newest hero

Do you want to know what a hero looks like?

She looks like Antoinette Tuff, a Decatur, Ga., elementary school bookkeeper who talked a gunman out of doing tragic damage in the school where she works.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/21/us/georgia-school-gunshots/?hpt=hp_bn1

The stunning 9-1-1 call contains a riveting conversation between Tuff and the gunman who eventually surrendered to police. He did fire a shot, but no one was injured.

Pardon my repeating myself, but we use the word “hero” a bit too loosely these days. The term doesn’t belong to athletes or politicians. It belongs to those who put themselves into harm’s way to prevent injury — or worse — from happening to others.

They are police officers, firefighters, military personnel and now, a remarkably brave and calm school bookkeeper.

“Let me tell you something, babe,” Tuff said to the police dispatcher after the crisis had passed. “I’ve never been so scared in all the days of my life. Oh, Jesus.”

That’s quite all right, Ms. Tuff. Heroes are allowed to afraid.

Uncategorized

WT needs to come clean … quickly

Well, that was a shock. West Texas A&M University has fired head football coach Don Carthel, who rebuilt a program that was in the crapper.

As of this moment, I’m unaware of the reason for firing Carthel, the winningest coach in WT history. Athletic Director Michael McBroom has issued some kind of milquetoast statement thanking Carthel for building a program and returning it to national notoriety.

But Carthel, a native of Friona, is gone. An assistant coach will take over on an interim basis when the season starts in just a few days.

The timing of this dismissal is amazing. So is the absence of any stated reason.

WT, being a public university, operates under the state’s personnel exemption, meaning that the school can keep the reason a secret if it so chooses.

My recommendation is for WT to spill the beans immediately. The public needs to know what happened at WT for Carthel to fall out of favor. Absent any truth-telling from the WT brass, the rumor is bound to take off like a skyrocket — and there’s no telling how many reputations may be damaged unjustly.

Talk to us, WT.

Uncategorized

D-FW signage needs major upgrade

Good news has arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, according to the Dallas Morning News’s Rodger Jones.

The airport is getting better street signage.

Let me be among those to a offer major shout-out to anyone involved in improving the signage at the mammoth air complex that, even in the best of circumstances, is difficult to navigate.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/good-news-for-my-fellow-confused-dfw-airport-bound-drivers-better-signage-is-coming.html/

Earlier this year, I experienced a borderline nightmare trying to get into the place from somewhere — anywhere — on the ground.

It went something like this:

My wife and I drove to Allen to welcome our new granddaughter’s arrival into this world. Emma Nicole Kanelis was born March 6 at a hospital in Plano. I had to leave after three days to return to work; my wife was staying a few extra days to help with caring for our little angel while our son and daughter-in-law got used to having a newborn in the house.

My son offered to drive me to the airport. “Do you know how to get there?” I asked. “No problem,” he said with supreme confidence.

With that we headed west toward D-FW. Then the trouble began.

We couldn’t find our way to the terminal. We kept circling, looking for exits. Signs were guiding us up this and that overpass. We had hoped we’d see something — an off-ramp or a sign — that made sense of the confusion.

The place was under construction but the detour signs didn’t take us anywhere.

I think we made three, maybe four, passes on the highway before we stumbled our way onto a lane of traffic that took us — finally — to where I could get out of the car and hustle into the terminal.

I caught my plane back to Amarillo — for which I was grateful.

Jones’s blog, which is attached to this post, spells out nicely the confusion he apparently has experienced as well.

I cannot remember the precise highway we took from Allen to D-FW, nor can I recall the myriad loops we took trying to find our way into the terminal.

It’s good to know, though, that the state highway department is promising less-stressful travel to D-FW.

Uncategorized

Dewhurst throws weight around

If you’re a police officer and someone calls you and then declares he’s the lieutenant governor of the state, then you’re going to give that person a little extra attention.

Such was the case recently when Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst placed a call to the Allen Police Department on behalf of a member of his family who had gotten into a little scrape with the law.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/08/bad-call-lt-gov-dewhurst.html/

The family member was a step-sister’s daughter-in-law who had been accused of shoplighting from a local Kroger grocery store.

Really bad call, Gov. Dewhurst.

There’s an intimidation factor that needs to considered here. When you’re a police sergeant and the lieutenant governor calls and then introduces himself as the state’s second-highest-ranking elected official, you’re going to be rendered a bit skittish. You won’t necessarily act with all the cool and detached professionalism we should expect from law enforcement officers.

Dewhurst demanded to speak to the sergeant’s supervisor and then sought the cellphone number of the Collin County judge. The call, by the way, was made at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Dewhurst’s opponents in next year’s lieutenant governor’s race — Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston — all have pounced on Dewhurst for this apparent abuse of authority.

Dallas Morning News blogger Ralph De La Cruz said it well. The call showed bad judgment “because a high-profile politician should never make that call. For one, it’s recorded. But more importantly, any self-respecting pol knows: you call a supporter or agency appointee, and have THEM call Allen PD.”

Uncategorized

Calling all bean counters

Roll this one around for a moment: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Doesn’t sound like too sexy of a political office, correct? It can be. Several Republicans and perhaps one Democrat seem to think it’s an office worth seeking.

And why not? It can be a stepping stone to bigger things.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/22/crowded-race-comptroller-taking-shape/

Comptroller Susan Combs, a Republican (as if that’s a big surprise), decided not to seek another term as comptroller. Her absence from the 2014 GOP primary ballot has brought out a small and perhaps gathering crowd of potential successors.

The Texas Tribune reports that when Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn walked away in 2006 to run for governor, no such crowd of candidates emerged in her wake.

Combs’s departure is different.

Look at it this way, the office of comptroller — who, in effect, is the state’s bean counter in chief — has been a launching pad recently for a couple of notable Texas politicians. The late — and legendary — Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, served as comptroller before becoming state attorney general and then lieutenant governor; Texas A&M University Chancellor John Sharp served as comptroller before launching two unsuccessful bids to become lieutenant governor.

Strayhorn thought it would lead to a higher office for her as well, but by my reckoning she didn’t wear her political notoriety as gracefully as some others who preceded her in that office.

The comptroller’s main job is to ensure the state meets its budget requirements. The comptroller issues fiscal projections that enable the Legislature to budget state money for the next two years. It can be a hum-drum job, but it also can serve as a platform for budget policy ideas.

The race for comptroller might not get the blood pumping furiously. It’ll be worth waiting to see who emerges next year from the political battlefield and how that individual handles a really big job.