Category Archives: Uncategorized

Atkinson needs to get back into the game

November 7, 2016 kanelis2012

I am pulling for Jarrett Atkinson.

The former Amarillo city manager is now in the running to become the chief administrator down yonder in Lubbock, Texas.

He was run out of a job he was doing well here. There’s no way to sugarcoat what happened to him in Amarillo. Voters elected three new City Council members in reaction to some sense of municipal “anger.” I’m still puzzled by the source of that alleged anger and angst.

Was he the perfect city manager? Did everything he touched turn to gold? No, but if you look at the big picture, you see a city that was on the move in the correct direction. Amarillo enjoyed steady growth, maintained a low tax rate, kept its debt obligation to a bare minimum. The city manager deserves a huge chunk of credit.

Atkinson quit his job not long after the new council took office.

Now he might be on the cusp of getting back into municipal government game.

Lubbock needs some help managing a priceless resource. I refer to water, something about which Atkinson is an acknowledged expert. On his watch at Amarillo City Hall, Amarillo was able to acquire vast water rights, setting the city on course to remain viable for the next century or two.

I didn’t like what happened to Atkinson here. I don’t have any inside information on how the Lubbock City Council will go with this key appointment.

I just want to put it on the record that I hope for the best for Jarret Atkinson … and for the city that might be about to hire him to do a difficult and demanding job.

Uncategorized

No, Mr. Mayor … mountains are no obstacle

November 5, 2016 kanelis2012

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

ROYAL GORGE, Colo. — A fellow I once knew, Malcolm Clark — who at the time I knew him was mayor of Port Arthur, Texas — once took a vacation to Wyoming and Montana.

When he returned, we visited briefly and I asked him: “How did you like all that splendor?”

“It was OK,” he said, “but all those damn mountains kept getting in the way of the sunrises and sunsets.”

If you’ve been to the Texas Gulf Coast, then you know how flat it is. Thus, Mayor Clark was used to seeing the sun settle all way to the horizon.

I thought of Hizzoner when my wife and I arrived at Royal Gorge, about 45 miles southwest of Colorado Springs. The mountains in the distance loom large and majestic. They make a spectacular sight.

Did I think of them as an annoyance? Not for a second.

Our travels have taken us to some amazing places already as we’ve loaded up our fifth wheel, fueled up our pickup we’ve named Big Jake and headed out to explore this wonderful continent of ours.

Royal Gorge is just one more stop on our retirement journey.

The place truly is breathtaking: a bridge spans the chasm more than 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River.

I could get mighty used to looking at those peaks.

Sure, the sunrises and sunsets on the Texas High Plains are equally breathtaking. I’ve noted before that whoever called Montana the Big Sky Country never laid eyes on the Texas Panhandle.

But … more travels await us. More mountain peaks will entice us.

They’ll never annoy either of us the way they seemed to annoy Malcolm Clark.

local news, Uncategorized

Hey … what day is it?

October 7, 2016 kanelis2012

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

I once knew this guy, the late Neil McKay, who was fond of poking fun at people.

“Aww,” Neil would say, “he doesn’t even know what day it is.” He meant the jab in a sort of kind-hearted way.

If he were around today, he could say that very thing about me.

It would be true … almost!

Back in the day, when I was working full time for a living, I had to know what day it is. It was imperative. I lived on deadlines and getting my work done by a certain time and a certain day — or else. Journalism makes those demands on those who practice the craft.

Now? I’m hard-pressed on occasion to keep ’em straight.

I’m aware that today is Friday. In fact, I rolled out of bed this morning knowing it. But the days do arrive when I cannot quite grasp the day of the week.

I end up looking at my watch — yes, I still wear one of those things on my wrist — to make sure I know the day.

The notion of retirement is freeing me of the time-sensitive obligations that tie down most of you working stiffs. Even though I’m there yet and have not arrived at the “fully retired” stage of life, I find myself grasping at times for information that I had locked in my noggin.

The day of the week? Gosh, I don’t know. Let me check.

My major concern these days — other than planning the next RV outing with my wife or awaiting the next visit with our granddaughter — seems to be ensuring that I am able to see the sun rise the next morning.

Four years and two months into this new, semi-retired phase of life, I’m happy to say … so far, so good.

Sports news, Uncategorized

Even chumps have the right to speak out

August 29, 2016 kanelis2012

Colin Kaepernick is a bozo. A chump.

He’s become a poster boy of sorts for all kinds of issues stemming from his decision to remain seated during the playing of the National Anthem before a pro football exhibition game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers.

Kaepernick, a quarterback for the 49ers, said he can’t stand in support of a flag that represents a country that oppresses “people of color.” Kaepernick is half black and half white.

Hmm. OK. I wasn’t aware of Kaepernick’s social conscience. I don’t recall him ever speaking out before. But I guess one has to start somewhere. Thus, Kaepernick chose to make this profound political statement in this highly visible fashion.

I just want to make one comparison with Kaepernick’s demonstration. He reminds me of the flag burners, the goofballs who think burning Old Glory in public to protest this or that cause is going to win them support.

It won’t. It hardly ever does.

However, it’s protected “speech.” The U.S. Constitution allows Americans to make such statements against government policy. Kaepernick chose to mount his grievance with a lousy demonstration of defiance.

He’s not going to win many converts to his cause any more than the flag burners manage to make friends and allies when they do the things they do to protest government policy.

The Constitution, though, gives even chumps like Colin Kaepernick the right to speak out as he has done.

I honor and cherish that right, even if I detest the way some of us exercise it.

media news, national news, political news, Uncategorized

Mean streak is showing itself

August 14, 2016 kanelis2012

Nicholas Kristof and I have one thing in common.

We both hail from Oregon. He’s a self-proclaimed farm boy who was reared in the rainy western region of the state; I grew up in the big city of Portland.

He writes opinion pieces for the New York Times. I write for myself.

OK, we have one more thing in common: Neither of us wants Donald J. Trump to be elected president of the United States.

Kristof wrote a column today in which he states that Trump is appealing to the nation’s collective mean streak. It’s there, buried deep beneath the decency of the vast, overwhelming majority of Americans.

Here’s Kristof’s column. Take a few minutes to read it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/opinion/sunday/donald-trump-is-making-america-meaner.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Kristof’s column includes this passage, which I want to bring to your attention.

“I wrote a column recently exploring whether Trump is a racist, and a result was anti-Semitic vitriol from Trump followers, one of whom suggested I should be sent to the ovens for writing ‘a typical Jewish hit piece.’ In fact, I’m Armenian and Christian, not Jewish, but the responses underscored that the Trump campaign is enveloped by a cloud of racial, ethnic and religious animosity — much of it poorly informed.”

It is frightening, indeed, to believe that some folks who are backing a major-party presidential nominee would say such a thing to a member of the media — or to any human being, for that matter.

This, though, is part of the political environment with which we must deal as Election Day draws near.

This has become a sad, sorry campaign for the most powerful public office on Planet Earth.

Uncategorized

Pence has it right, Trump is wrong on name-calling

July 29, 2016 kanelis2012

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence might need to consult with his running mate, Donald J. Trump, if he hopes to gain some relevance in the campaign for the White House.

Pence, who’s running as VP with Trump on the Republican ticket, said that “name-calling has no place” in politics.

No kidding. He actually said that. Gov. Pence is correct.

Now, about that consultation.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/mike-pence-no-name-calling-226431

Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, has won his party’s nomination by deploying a series of epithets and innuendo against his opponents. He’s sprayed more than his share of names while attacking his foes. Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb come to mind. Now it’s Crooked Hillary.

Will the vice-presidential nominee be able to talk some sense into the man at the top of the GOP ticket?

I don’t know about you, but I am not holding my breath for Trump to discover a shred of decency.

national news, political news, Uncategorized

David Duke enters Senate contest

July 22, 2016 kanelis2012

David Duke occupies a unique place in contemporary political culture.

He’s a fringe candidate for public office who somehow seems to garner publicity he doesn’t deserve.

So … here goes.

The former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard is going to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Louisiana. He’s been on people’s political radar for a long time, dating back to when he served in the Louisiana state legislature. I remember covering his unsuccessful campaign for governor back in the early 1990s.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/07/22/former-kkk-leader-david-duke-citing-trump-announces-senate-bid/

But here’s the kicker: He has emerged as a strong backer of Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, who he says is speaking to the very issues that Duke has raised for years.

Duke is a champion of what he calls “European rights,” which is code for white people’s rights … as if white folks have been denied any rights since the founding of the republic.

As for his Klan affiliation, well, I have no compelling need to revisit the Klan’s bloody and disgraceful history. You know what it means.

Let’s remember too that Trump was remarkably slow to disavow Duke’s “endorsement” of his candidacy earlier this year. Trump said something about not knowing anything about white supremacist groups and didn’t even know who David Duke is — which likely makes him the only human being in America who is ignorant of Duke’s history.

To this very day, Trump has yet to issue anything close to a condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan, or its membership — be they current or former.

Will the ex-Klansman make it to the U.S. Senate? Well, he’s one of several candidates running for the seat that’s being vacated by Republican David Vitter.

My guess is that Duke won’t make the cut.

But he’ll continue to have people talking about him.

local news, Uncategorized

Council is pulling a shroud over transparency

July 8, 2016 kanelis2012

Am I understanding this correctly?

The Amarillo City Council — that bastion of transparency and public accountability — is trying to keep secret the process it uses to select its fifth member. Council members are disagreeing over how to proceed.

If memory serves, city voters elected three new fellows to the council in large part because they promised to be more answerable to the public. They were tired of what they alleged was a good ol’ boy star-chamber system of doing business.

Things were going to change, dadgummit!

Well, here we are, more than a year after that election. Councilman Brian Eades is quitting the council effective Aug. 1. The council will have to pick his successor.

I’ve said before that the council makes one hiring decision: the city manager. It now gets to make another one by selecting someone to join its ranks.

This transparency pledge that the new council members made along the campaign trail isn’t that hard to keep.

The council has selected five finalists from a longer list of applicants for Dr. Eades’ seat. We all thought the council was going to interview the finalists in public, asking them a set of questions.

I think that’s a fine idea.

It’s an equally fine idea for the council to deliberate in public about who they like. As I’ve noted before, the Texas Open Meeting Law doesn’t require governing bodies to meet in secret to discuss “personal matters”; it only empowers them to do so. I also could argue that selecting a council member doesn’t fall within the realm of “personnel.”

Who doesn’t favor a more transparent government?

The Amarillo City Council took office this past summer with a new majority of members committing to shining the light on the way it does its job on behalf of the public.

Well, do they — or don’t they — still believe in what they promised?

business news, national news, political news, Uncategorized

So much for principle, yes, Mr. Speaker?

July 3, 2016 kanelis2012

I guess you could have predicted this switcheroo.

Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich has performed a 180-degree flip on free trade. He now agrees with the Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald J. Trump.

Free trade is a bad thing, Trump says. It steals jobs from American workers and ships them out to places like China and Mexico, he says.

Gingrich, though, was one of the architects of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened the door wide to free trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Then the party’s presumed nominee came calling with a possible vice-presidential selection in mind.

Now it’s the former speaker who says he agrees with Trump on trade.

This kind of switch isn’t new, of course. Politicians do it all the time.

My favorite switch involved one of my favorite Republicans, a man I admire very much. George H.W. Bush once was considered a tried-and-true pro-choice Republican on abortion. Then the party’s nominee tapped him on the shoulder in 1980 and said, in effect, “If you want to run on our ticket, you have to become a pro-life guy on abortion.”

Bush did and he joined Ronald Reagan on the GOP’s winning 1980 ticket.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/newt-gingrich-trump-trade-vice-president-225035

Trump has accused U.S. political and business leaders of “stupidity” in allowing free trade to pilfer U.S. jobs. Does that include Gingrich?

I guess not.

It’s interesting nevertheless because Gingrich always has struck me as a politician dedicated to core principles and to partisan orthodoxy. Free trade is part of the Republican mantra, while Trump’s view of GOP trade policy has angered many within the party’s establishment mainstream.

Go figure.

Let’s be sure to check in with Gingrich if Trump picks someone else to run with him.

national news, political news, Uncategorized

This can’t be ‘fun’ for Reince Priebus

June 27, 2016 kanelis2012

Reince Priebus very well might have the toughest, most demanding white-collar job in the United States.

He is the chairman of the Republican National Committee and he is facing the daunting task of electing someone who systematically is destroying the party’s brand.

I come to this conclusion after reading a lengthy article in The New York Times Magazine, which came to my house tucked inside my Sunday New York Times.

Here’s the article. It’s long, but it’s worth your time:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/magazine/will-trump-swallow-the-gop-whole.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine&action=click&contentCollection=magazine&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

Donald J. Trump is about to be nominated by the Republicans as their next presidential candidate. How did he get to this point?

Priebus doesn’t answer the question directly, except to say repeatedly during the article that Trump has brought an entirely different dynamic to this year’s presidential contest. It’s almost immeasurable. Trump’s rise has thrust the GOP into an enormous identity crisis.

About the time Trump shows signs of wising up and “maturing” as a candidate, writes Mark Liebovich, he flies off the rails. His insults have prompted various pithy reactions from former GOP rivals. Bobby Jindal called him a “madman who must be stopped”; Marco Rubio labeled Trump a “con man,” a “fraud” and a “lunatic”; Lindsey Graham called Trump a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot”; Rick Perry called him a “barking carnival act” and a “cancer on conservatism.”

This kinds of labels have this way of sticking to politicians’ backsides..

And to think that the chairman of the Republican Party must find a way — somehow! — to rally support for the party’s presidential nominee.

Whatever he earns as party chairman, Reince Priebus is going to have to work for it.

High Plains Blogger