Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Emma previews joy of retirement

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

If I had known grandkids would be this much fun, I would have had them first.

You’ve seen that popular bumper sticker, I’m sure. Well, I mean no disrespect to the two sons we brought into the world many decades ago, but our little Emma Nicole is the living embodiment of that bumper-sticker cliché.

We’ve had a glorious evening entertaining this little pumpkin. She turns 16 months tomorrow. She’s walking, jabbering, teasing, laughing, mugging and is making us laugh hysterically at every little thing she says and does.

I am noting this only as a prelude to the retirement life my wife and I are anticipating in the not-too-distant future. It’s going to include some serious exposure to this little darling.

Emma lives in Allen — just north of Dallas — with her parents and two big brothers. We don’t get to see here much, at least not yet. It’s a six-hour drive each way, after all.

Emma surprised us with a visit this weekend. Well, actually it wasn’t a surprise to my wife and me. It was to her uncle, our older son, who didn’t know his brother, sister-in-law and niece were arriving for the Fourth of July weekend until they parked in front of our house. Our son was visiting us with his girlfriend and her daughters when Emma’s parents arrived.

We’ll be traveling soon to Allen with our fifth wheel to see our granddaughter once more. And this, too, is another element of retirement to which my wife and I are looking forward. It’ll be another one of those three-night excursions. We’ll drive to a state part, park our vehicle, hook it up and visit the family. It’ll include more quality time with Emma, for sure.

As we’ve played with Emma this evening, the thought occurred to me: At 16 months of age, does she realize yet that we are her grandparents? Or are we just two adults with whom she enjoys playing? She cannot communicate in a fool-proof way just yet what she’s thinking or feeling.

Still, I prefer to give her — and I suppose us and our daughter-in-law’s parents — the benefit of the doubt that she recognizes her grandparents when she sees them.

We’ll move closer to our cherished little Emma eventually.

For now I’ll settle for the joyous preview we’re getting to a whole new life awaiting us.

Uncategorized

HRC donates speaking fees

Political pundits have pounced all over Hillary Rodham Clinton’s money “troubles.”

Now we hear that the former secretary of state and U.S. senator has donated her sizable speaking fees to the Clinton Foundation set up to do good work around the world.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/211366-clinton-speaking-fees-have-been-donated

This will end the argument, right? Guess again.

Clinton’s budding presidential campaign — she’s going to run for the office in 2016, it now seems clear — has been hit by a couple of serious gaffes. She declared in a TV interview that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House in 2001, then turned around and bought themselves a pretty nice house in New York, where she was elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. Then she noted that she and Bill Clinton were “really well off” the way a lot of rich people were well off. Try explaining that to a voter who’s struggling to feed his or her family.

The chatterers have been all over her for those two missteps.

So now it comes out that for the past year she’s donated her six-figure speaking fees to the foundation.

This is all a quite clumsy rollout for a presidential campaign that no doubt will be a formidable machine once it gets cranked up.

OK, so let’s get past the money gossip and get down to brass tacks: How, Mme. Secretary, are you going to protect the United States of America against our enemies around the world?

Uncategorized

Women become life of The (Democratic) Party

Sam Rayburn, Big John Connally, Lyndon Johnson, John Nance Garner …

These guys used to symbolize the Texas Democratic Party. They were manly men, gruff, sometimes mean, usually profane and oh, so very effective at the art of politics.

Well, the party they once represented has given way to something quite different. Its key personalities this election year are two women: State Sens. Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, the party nominees for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively.

http://www.panhandlepbs.org/blogs/state-news/2014/06/30/texas-democrats-rally-around-davis-van-de-putte/

Their party is rallying around them. Mr. Sam, Big John, LBJ and Cactus Jack all are gone.

As the Texas Tribune reports in the attached link, the state Democratic Party is hitching itself to the fortunes of these two pols.

Davis’s odds of being elected governor seem longer than Van de Putte’s chances of winning the No. 2 spot. But neither woman is shying away from a good fight against their respective opponents, Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick — who, I hasten to add, will give as good as they get from their Democratic foes.

The Texas Democratic Party has been wandering in the political wilderness since 1994, the last time anyone from that party held a statewide office in Texas. The last Democrat standing was former Comptroller John Sharp, who’s now the chancellor of the Texas A&M University system.

Will this be the year Democrats break through on the coattails of one of these women? It’s not likely, but the talk around the country is that Democrats at least might be able to make at least one of these races competitive.

I’ve noted before that single-party domination of the state’s political machinery — be it Democrat or Republican — breeds arrogance and indifference to the needs of those who don’t adhere to that party’s doctrine.

Will state Sens. Davis and Van de Putte make an actual contest out of their campaigns for the state’s top two elected offices?

One can hope.

Uncategorized

Welcome 'home,' Sen. Roberts

This one cracks me up.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., might have trouble in the upcoming Kansas Republican primary because of a residency question.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/211334-roberts-facing-new-residency-questions

It got a little worse for Roberts when he said something careless about whether he’s really a Kansas resident.

He was asked about the residency controversy by a radio host. Roberts answered: “Every time I get an opponent – I mean, every time I get a chance, I’m home. I don’t measure my, what, my record with regards as a senator as how many times I sleep wherever it is,” he said.

Questions have arisen about whether Roberts actually lives in Kansas. It’s been reported that he only rents an apartment in his “home state,” and that the apartment is a gift from campaign donors.

The issue has dogged the veteran Republican lawmaker for years.

Radiologist Milton Wolf is challenging Roberts in the GOP primary. He jumped all over the gaffe when he said that Roberts hasn’t lived in Kansas for a long time. He’s out of touch with his constituents, he’s part of the D.C. establishment … etc.

Didn’t Dorothy tell Toto when they landed in Oz that “We’re not in Kansas anymore”?

Which is it, Sen. Roberts? Kansas or Oz?

Uncategorized

Give it up, Mr. McDaniel; you lost

What in the world is Chris McDaniel trying to prove?

The defeated candidate for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi is turning out to be the world champion sore loser.

He lost the Republican runoff to six-term U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. Yes, every political “expert” in Mississippi and around the country thought McDaniel would win. He didn’t.

Why? Because thousands of African-American Democrats crossed over to vote for Cochran and deny McDaniel the GOP nomination.

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/todd–mcdaniel-has-to-say-enough-is-enough-295691331679

McDaniel is crying “foul!” because Cochran employed a fairly uncommon strategy to collect more votes than his opponent.

He should give up the fight, call it quits, offer his support to his fellow Republican and go back to whatever he was doing before he became an almost-Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate.

McDaniel, though, isn’t likely to take this advice. He fancies himself as one of the nation’s many tea party golden boys and, by golly, he thinks he’s going to browbeat the Mississippi judicial system into ruling that Cochran’s vote total was illegitimate.

Sorry, Chris. You lost. Get over it.

Uncategorized

Remembering a great American

1 Comment

This blog post is adapted from a column published July 5, 1998 in the Amarillo Globe-News.

“You know your grandmother died on the Fourth of July just to make sure we would remember her.”

So said my wife on July 4, 1978, the date of my grandmother’s death. She was right. I do remember that date. All of us in our family remember it.

And oh, do I remember this remarkable woman. My grandmother was an immigrant, but was as much of an American as any native-born U.S. citizen I’ve ever known. Her life, as well as that of her beloved husband, is a testament to the American Dream, the one in which people attain freedom and relative prosperity in a land they embraced as their own.

My grandmother’s life provides a cautionary tale to those who think we have too many “foreigners” living here, who forget this land was built by people just like my grandmother. Her life, while it didn’t produce great material wealth for her or her family, did produce a family whose members have fought for their country, who have lived honorably and prospered in the face of hardship, heartache and tragedy.

A slice of my grandmother’s story is worth sharing on the Fourth of July.

Her name was Diamondoula Panisoy Filipu. We called her “Yiayia,” which is Greek for “grandmother.” This endearment did not come just from the 10 grandchildren who knew her. Neighbor kids — and their parents — called her Yiayia. So did the grocery clerks down the street. Same for the mail carrier and the milkman.

Yiayia was proud of her Greek heritage and she touted it whenever possible. She was equally proud of being an American. She stood in line to vote at every election. I’ll repeat: Every election.

Yiayia was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, the kind we refer to in Texas as a “yellow dog Democrat.” She truly would vote for a yellow dog than vote for a Republican.

She prayed for Franklin Delano Roosevelt every Sunday in church. She displayed pictures of John F. Kennedy on a kitchen credenza. She voted in 1972 for George McGovern even though she could barely pronounce his name. I took her to vote that Election Day and asked, “Who did you vote for, Yiayia?” She looked at me sideways and said, “Nee-xohn,” laughed and then assured that of course she voted for the Democrat.

Returning to the “old country” never was an option for Yiayia. The old country was Turkey. She was an ethnic Greek whom the Turks expelled from the island of Marmara after World War I. The Greeks did the same to Turks living in Greece. Yiayia set foot in Greece one time: a brief stop in Athens en route from Istanbul to New York. She had no desire to return. Yiayia was “home” in the United States of America.

My “Papou,” George, died on Jan, 22, 1950 after visiting his month-old second-born grandson — me — at my parents’ home in Portland, Ore. He suffered a heart attack after pushing his car out of a snowdrift. Yiayia mourned him the rest of her life.

She kept on being proud of her standing as an American. She never took for granted the wonderful life she and Papou carved out for themselves and their family in this country.

Nor did she take for granted the political system that gave her a voice in the very government she adored. Yiayia and Papou were socialists at heart. They loved big, benevolent government. When given the chance to vote, she exercised that right with a gusto few of us know today.

Yiayia believed she may been more of an American those who were born here. She chose to come here, she would say. Native-born Americans were citizens by accident of birth; they made no sacrifice. They didn’t struggle with finding their way across a vast country with no knowledge of the language spoken there.

My uncle recalled this story about Yiayia’s journey to her new home in America: “When she got off the ship in New York, she had no idea how to get to Portland other than she had to take a train. She asked someone how to get to the train station. He told her where it was and asked her where she was going. She told him ‘Portland.’ He said it was only about an eight-hour ride.

“Five days later, she arrived in the other Portland, the one in Oregon.”

Intrepid? They should put Yiayia’s picture next to the word in the dictionary.

My wife may be right about Yiayia’s death. It is as if she planned it that way. It is easy to write about someone as unforgettable as her nearly four decades after her death. It also is easy to remember that she stood for so much of what we celebrate today.

Yiayia embodied unbridled love of God, family and her country.

I remember her as a great American.

Uncategorized

And … what about the Randall County 'courthouse?'

Having wondered already about the fate of a rickety downtown Amarillo (former) office building, it’s now time to inquire about another old building.

This one’s in Canyon. It sits in the middle of The Square. It’s the Randall County “courthouse” building.

I cannot in good conscience call it a real courthouse, because it isn’t functioning as one.

The county asked voters a few years ago whether they wanted to spend public money to fix up the exterior of the 1909 structure. To my surprise, voters said “yes” to that request. So the county did as it was instructed and spent taxpayer funds to finish off the restoration of the old structure, complete with a replica of the clock tower on top.

The inside? Well, it’s as crappy as it has been for more than two decades.

The county has moved all its government functions out of the building.

County commissioners meet across the street in what once was the county jail.

The bulk of the county government operation is at the Randall County Justice Center at the northern edge of town. The district attorney’s office, district clerk’s office, all the district judges, the court at law judges all are housed there.

What, then, will happen to the old “courthouse” building? County Judge Ernie Houdashell has told me many times about deals he’s trying to strike with local entities who might be interested in acquiring the building. City Hall? The Canyon Economic Development Corporation? The Chamber of Commerce? Someone should want to move into a gleaming office building with an exterior that is lovely.

The inside of the place needs work. Lots of work.

Uncategorized

Where's the bubbly over this jobs report?

Another Labor Department jobs report came out today.

Good news, yes? You bet.

The labor market added 288,000 jobs in June; unemployment dropped to 6.1 percent; economists say the economy has gotten its mojo back.

Break out the bubbly stuff. Toast the recovery. We’re back. Aren’t we?

http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/03/investing/june-jobs-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Let’s not forget that as I write this brief post, the Dow Jones Industrial market has surpassed 17,000; the S&P is at a record high as well. Investors are happy. Why aren’t the rest of us?

The gloom-and-doomers have done a great job of bad-mouthing the economy. I know it was bad around here oh, about six years ago.

Some of who were working full time saw our salaries cut. Mine got whacked by 10 percent; the company I worked for quit contributing to our retirement plan, which amounted to another 5 percent pay cut. My colleagues and I felt everyone’s pain.

The Obama administration sought to jump start the economy. The other side was predicting fiscal calamity. It didn’t happen. Quite the contrary, the reverse has occurred.

Are they going to give credit where — I believe — it is due?

Do not hold your breath.

I’ll give credit right here where I think it belongs. The president stepped up and acted boldly.

We’re now seeing the dividend.

Uncategorized

Third time a charm for Mitt?

The political chattering class is clattering these days about a possible Mitt Romney run for the presidency — again.

The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.

History might be on Mitt’s side.

I think I’ll refer, incidentally, to the 2012 Republican presidential nominee by his first name from now on, given the media’s insistence on referring to the presumed Democratic frontrunner as Hillary.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/07/the-case-for-mitt-romney-in-2016-108532.html?hp=l7#.U7Vc31JOWt8

Mitt captured nearly 61 million votes in 2012, the highest total ever for a losing presidential candidate. He cut into President Obama’s electoral vote count from four years earlier. He had a serious chance to win the White House two years ago, but then stumbled badly when he was overheard talking about that dreaded “47 percent” of the population who’ll vote for Democrats no matter what, as they depend on government to do everything for them.

Some other stuff got in the way, too, such as Hurricane Sandy — which provided Barack Obama a chance to do some highly visible presidential things, such as go to New Jersey and put his arm around Gov. Chris Christie while promising all kinds of federal assistance.

History may foretell another Mitt candidacy.

Richard Nixon lost narrowly to John Kennedy in 1960; two years later he got thumped in the race for California governor and declared the media wouldn’t have “Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.” He came back to win the White House in 1968, got re-elected in a landslide in ’72 and, then, well, resigned because of that scandal called Watergate.

Ronald Reagan became president on his third try. He threw his hat into the ring at the 1968 GOP convention. He then challenged President Ford in 1976 and nearly took the nomination away from him. He came back in 1980 to be nominated and then went on to defeat President Carter in a blowout.

Republicans seem willing to give their show horses second and third chances.

Mitt’s capable of running a stellar campaign. He’s got the pedigree, the money and now the experience. He lost the GOP nomination in 2008, won it against a field of Republican weirdos — e.g., Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain, to name just two of them — in ’12.

The 2016 field might not be so tough to conquer if he were to try one more time. Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie? They all have soft spots in their armor.

Bring on Hillary vs. Mitt in 2016!

Uncategorized

Civil Rights Act turns 50

The Civil Rights Act became law 50 years ago this week.

Every American should be grateful it did and every American should wonder whether it could be enacted today. The Politico story attached here suggests it couldn’t. I tend to agree.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/why-the-civil-rights-act-couldnt-pass-today-108496.html

Look at the picture included on the link above and you’ll notice something we little of these days. You see Democratic and Republican lawmakers standing next to the president as he signs the landmark bill into law. These days? It’s politicians of one party or the other standing in front of the cameras.

Indeed, President Johnson knew as he signed the bill that he was committing an act that would change the political landscape — possibly forever.

LBJ was a rangy Texan who became president in a moment of extreme national heartache. He then vowed to carry forward the slain president’s agenda, which included passage of civil rights legislation.

He succeeded. President Johnson was well aware the cost politically that would fall on his Democratic Party, which had been based solidly in the South, where many Democratic senators and House members opposed the Civil Rights Act. That didn’t matter to LBJ. He knew he had to push Congress to enact a bill that guaranteed every American, regardless of race, the full rights of citizenship.

LBJ reportedly said as he signed the bill that it would “cost us the South.” It did. His Dixiecrat friends in the Senate warned him it would as he lobbied them to enact the bill.

It mattered only to LBJ that the country grant full civil rights to every American.

And think also that the president himself was from a state that once seceded from the Union to fight a civil war against the government over whether states had the inherent right to allow slavery to exist.

The Civil Rights Act changed the political landscape all right. It had to happen.