media news, Uncategorized

When Brokaw says it's bad … it's bad

Overstatement isn’t my thing, so I say this with great care.

Tom Brokaw has become sort of today’s version of E.F. Hutton. Whenever he speaks of things relating to broadcast journalism, people tend to listen intently.

He’s been fairly quiet about the Brian Williams matter … you know, the NBC anchor who’s been suspended from his job without pay for embellishing his wartime experience in Iraq.

Brokaw, whom Williams replaced as anchor of NBC Nightly News, has weighed in. For my money, it doesn’t look good at all for Williams’s future.

Brokaw has acknowledged “this is a really, really serious case, obviously.”

Do you think?

Brokaw and Williams aren’t the best of friends. Brokaw said the two men have had a “cordial” relationship, which is more or less a diplomatic way of saying they smile when they see each other but in reality can’t stand to be around the other guy. We’ve all relationships like that, haven’t we?

It’s been reported of late that Williams might have hated succeeding Brokaw on the anchor desk because of the very high standard of excellence Brokaw set during his lengthy tenure. It reminds me a bit of the tension that existed between Walter Cronkite and his successor at CBS, Dan Rather, when Cronkite retired from the anchor job and was succeeded by Rather — who never quite measured up to Uncle Walter’s iconic stature.

Brokaw made his remarks recently in a talk at the University of Chicago. Check it out on this You Tube link. It’s at the 54-minute mark. Quite interesting, indeed.

 

 

 

legal news, Sports news

Aaron Hernandez: new face of 'stupid'

Check out this video. It’s a little more than 3 1/2 minutes long.

It shows then-high school senior Aaron Hernandez talking about his dreams and aspirations as he prepared to enroll at the University of Florida. He was excited. He acknowledged he was a good student, because his mom wouldn’t let him drive if he got a C grade or lower in any subject.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/teen-aaron-hernandez-had-hopes-dreams/ar-AAb3r0a

I don’t know whether to laugh derisively, cry, vomit or simply shrug.

Aaron Hernandez is a galaxy away from that interview tonight. He’s spending the first night of the rest of his life in prison. A Fall River, Mass., jury convicted the young man of murder and then sentenced him immediately to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Hernandez played some pretty good football at Florida. He then played a bit for the New England Patriots, where he was slated to become the next Big Thing. He was a stellar tight end. He was destined to make lots of money and achieve plenty of fame.

Well, the money is gone. The fame will stick, although not the way he envisioned when you watch him in the video interview.

Aaron Hernandez is now the latest new face of “stupid.” Another celebrity athlete likely will take his place in due course. Today, though, that dubious “honor” belongs to a young man who once saw a bright future laid out before him.

Now he’ll be spending every day of his life about a mile from Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play football. He’ll listen to the cheers.

If he has a shred of remorse for what he did to his “friend,” Odin Lloyd, he’ll kick himself forever.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/12696042/aaron-hernandez-prosecutors-score-enormous-triumph-murder-conviction

 

local news

Community grows … while shrinking

Amarillo’s population is just a hair less than 200,000 individuals.

It’s not the biggest city in Texas, let alone America. But it’s not an insignificant burg. It’s no one-horse town. It’s got plenty of stop lights, strip malls (even a few strip joints), plenty of eateries and drinkeries. It has an opera, a symphony, an indoor football team, a hockey team and a minor-league baseball team. Its downtown has a 31-story skyscraper. Amarillo has produced its share of celebrities and assorted characters.

OK, now that we’ve established all of that, I have this query.

Why is it that one cannot seem to be more than two — maybe three — degrees separated from every other person in this city?

The city’s been on a steady growth path for decades, but it seems to be getting smaller.

Almost without fail each week, I run into someone who knows someone I know. Or I’ll encounter someone who’s kin to someone I know. I don’t think it’s necessarily that I have an inordinate array of acquaintances throughout the city, although my former job as a print journalist did put me in touch with a lot of individuals over the course of two decades.

It’s just that I meet people I’ve never seen before. We talk for a minute or two and then I find out they’re acquainted with someone I know.

It happened again today in a strange manner.

I was at work today at the auto dealership where I hold down a part-time job. I met a new colleague. I introduced myself to her, she to me. We later ended up in the break room. We chatted a few more minutes. I asked her about her previous jobs. She told me she’d worked in sales at this company and that one.

“How long have you worked here?” she asked. I told her nearly two years. I then mentioned to her that I had a career that ended a couple of years ago. “I was a journalist,” I said. “Oh, really?” she responded. “Maybe you know my boyfriend.”

I asked, “What’s his name?” She told me.

I damn near fell over. “Yes, I know your boyfriend. Very well.” I laughed out loud. So did she. I told her that I worked closely with her boyfriend for a number of years and after that little exchange I felt as though I’d known this delightful young woman far longer than less than an hour.

Life is full of mysteries. They’re too numerous to mention.

I am inclined after today to add one more to the infinite list of unknowable things

Such as: How is it that a city this size can produce such familiarity, even among people who only moments earlier were total strangers?

 

national news, political news

E-mail controversy isn't yet a 'scandal'

Hillary Clinton’s e-mail dustup just won’t go away.

Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., had sent the former secretary of state a letter asking about her use of a personal e-mail account. Clinton didn’t respond.

Fox News Channel’s “crawl” across the TV screen, quite naturally, referred to it as a “scandal.”

Hold on. We’re not there. We may never get there.

This is what happens, though, when a candidate declares his or her intention to run for high office. In this case, it’s the highest office in the most powerful country on Earth.

Thus, the e-mail matter is going to keep boiling and roiling.

Is it a “scandal,” which the right-wing mainstream media want to describe it? No. It’s a controversy that needs some more fleshing out.

Clinton admits to using a personal e-mail account to do public business while running the State Department. That was a dumb call. She should have used the government account, which was hers to use. But she wasn’t the first high-ranking Cabinet official to rely on personal e-mail accounts.

Has anyone thought to subpoena former secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condi Rice? Oh, I forgot. They aren’t running for president … nor are they Democrats.

Let’s cool our jets here. Controversy? Yes. Scandal? Not even close.

 

local news

Perception meets reality, Mr. Mayor

Amarillo Mayor Paul Harpole is a good man who I believe is motivated by the best intentions.

However, for him to dismiss concerns about whether a new town-hall policy somehow isn’t driven by politics leaves me wondering whether he truly understands how some people can perceive what looks so patently obvious.

The mayor is facing a re-election fight next month. So, on the eve of that balloting, he announces a series of town hall meeting with constituents. He wants to hear their concerns. He wants to act on them, if possible. He is all ears. He’s an open book. He’s receptive to people’s gripes. He wants to let people talk for as long as they want, without the restrictions they face during regular City Council meetings.

Roy McDowell, who’s running against the mayor, isn’t buying it fully. He thinks Harpole is doing this as some sort of political stunt.

Is that how he and some others around the city perceive it? If they do, does that become some form of reality in their mind? Yes and yes.

Which brings me back to my initial point. Is the mayor tone deaf?

Harpole says he’s got meetings scheduled through the rest of the year and that whether he continues with them will depend on how responsive residents are to his outreach.

The mayor and City Manager Jarrett Atkinson conducted the first town hall meeting this week. They answered questions about city issues ranging from downtown improvement plans to street repair. I applaud them both for making themselves available to residents.

However, as the great Boston Red Sox slugger the late Ted Williams used to say about hitting a baseball, “Timing is everything.”

So it is with politics.

 

local news

Taking the path of least resistance

This clearly is a minority view in this part of Texas, but I’ll offer it anyway.

The Amarillo Independent School District is taking the easy route in selecting its next superintendent. Why? It’s looking only at internal candidates, individuals already employed by the school district. The neighboring Canyon ISD, though, also is searching for a superintendent. CISD’s strategy is more comprehensive; it is looking nationally.

Of the two, CISD is challenging its board of trustees to work harder to look for the right man or woman to lead the school district.

AISD Superintendent Rod Schroder is retiring this summer, as is CISD Superintendent Mike Wartes. Both of them served their respective school districts well before climbing to the top spots.

But why is AISD choosing to look only in-house? I guess the school board believes it has a sufficient pool of potential candidates already on the payroll. I also presume the school board likes the direction the district is taking. It doesn’t particularly welcome new perspective, new outlook, a fresh set of administrative principles.

That’s their call.

I believe it is fair to ask whether a national search could introduce some new ideas to the district. Moreover, why not encourage such an influx of new thoughts and direction?

The best candidate to succeed Schroder well might already be on board at AISD. Why not, then, subject that candidate to a rigorous competition, making that individual work even harder to win the endorsement of the trustees who’ll make the hiring decision?

CISD is taking that route. Good for the Canyon trustees.

As for AISD, choose well.

State news

Open-carry still causes concern

4 Comments

Concealed-handgun carry legislation was thought to be of concern when the 1995 Texas Legislature approved it.

It has proved effective in at least one regard: Thinking that motorists might be carrying a gun with them has made other motorists a lot more circumspect if they get cut off on the street.

Now the 2015 Legislature is considering an open-carry bill. This one give me pause.

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/14/open-carry-bill-poised-clear-texas-house/

Why is that? I’m concerned about what some have indicated might become a problem — which is that someone carrying a handgun openly could become a target in the event shooting starts somewhere.

Interesting, yes? I share that concern.

The bill got stalled today in the Texas House of Representatives on a procedural glitch. It’s likely to come up in a day or two and the House is likely to approve it.

I’d bet real American cash that Gov. Greg Abbott would sign it if gets to his desk.

That doesn’t alleviate my concern about open-carry legislation becoming a state law.

I continue to wonder whether carrying guns openly on one’s holster created a safer society back in the old days when it was customary. Will the presence of guns being carried in the open today make us safer than the belief that someone is packing a pistol under his jacket or in her purse?

I still have my doubts.

 

local news, State news

Red-light cams under the gun in Senate

1 Comment

Did I dream this or is it for real?

Wasn’t there a time when Republicans sang the virtues of local control and said that local government knew better than state or federal officials how to deal issues of local concern?

Apparently, most members of the Texas Senate Transportation Committee think the state knows best as it regards red-light cameras.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/texas-senate-committee-votes-to-approve-ban-on-redlight-cameras.html/

I believe the committee is mistaken.

The panel voted to ban cities and towns from deploying the devices to stop people from running red lights. Amarillo is one of those cities.

The author of the bill is state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Canton. “The public has expressed great opposition to the growing practice of unmanned, automatic-controlled traffic cameras,” Hall said.

Great opposition? Have there been massive protests? Have motorists marched on city halls across the state to demand removal of these devices?

Come on. Let’s get real.

Amarillo and a handful of other Texas cities have seen a need to crack down on a practice that puts the public in peril. So why not let cities deal with these issues the best way they can?

The full Texas Senate is going to get this bill. It’s full of Republicans who, I once thought, believed local control was the best control.

I think the words of my favorite Amarillo City Council member, Ellen Robertson Green, sums up the issue succinctly. She once told a protester at City Hall the best way to avoid being hassled by the camera is to “just don’t run the red light.”

Is that so difficult?

 

medical news

ACA is working, if uninsured rate is an indicator

One way to measure the success of the Affordable Care Act comes from a new survey by the Gallup organization.

The number of uninsured Americans has declined to 11.9 percent.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/182348/uninsured-rate-dips-first-quarter.aspx

That’s down from 18 percent in the first quarter of 2013, when the ACA took full effect.

I’ll be the first — OK, maybe not the first — to concede that the ACA rollout went badly, with all the hiccups and meltdowns associated with healthcare.gov.

But the whole premise of the Affordable Care Act was to provide health insurance to Americans who didn’t have it and who — without insurance — faced the prospect of losing all their possessions if they were stricken with a catastrophic illness. Indeed, the very definition of “catastrophic” should be enough to frighten every uninsured American.

The decline in the uninsured was felt most dramatically among lower-income Americans, according to the Gallup survey. Those individuals, too, were among President Obama’s target demographic.

So, let’s take a deep breath before we start piling on the ACA, attaching ridiculous pejorative descriptions to it.

The results keep coming in: The Affordable Care Act is doing its job.

 

political news, religious news

What does Bachmann know about End Times?

Michelle Bachmann must know something none of the rest of us ever imagined knowing.

The former Republican congresswoman from Minnesota seems to know that the End Times are here. They’re about to arrive. The world is about to end.

Who’s responsible for this? You get one chance at this one: Yep, it’s Barack Obama.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bachmann-end-times-are-here-thanks-Obama

I’m no religious scholar, but here’s my understanding of what my Bible says about the End Times.

Put quite simply, the End Times will come without anyone knowing it’s coming. It’s just going to happen. We won’t know the end has arrived until, well, it arrives.

She told a conservative radio host that the president is lying about Islam and about the war we are fighting against Islamic extremists. Then she added that the End Times are coming as a result of the president’s deception. Bachmann said she is excited about the possibility, she said. “The good news that I want to transition to is that, remember the prophets said in the Old Testament, they longed to look into the days that we live in, they long to be a part of these days. That’s why these are not fearful times, these are the most exciting days in history.”

My interpretation of Scripture suggests the End Times is a metaphor for each of our lives. If we believe in Jesus, then we’ll go to heaven to be with him when the end arrives. And I don’t believe you can predict when that moment arrives.

Then again, some politicians — such as Michelle Bachmann — seem to think they know everything.

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