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Retirement in name only

Let’s call Mike McGee’s departure as head of the Amarillo Animal Control operation what it is: a “retirement” in name only.

McGee didn’t “retire” the way most of us understand the term. He was shoved out, asked to leave, perhaps told to hit the road.

By my way of seeing things, he should have gotten the boot when allegations erupted over mistreatment of animals that were being euthanized at the shelter.

City Manager Jarrett Atkinson put McGee and his chief deputy, Shannon Barlow, on “administrative leave,” meaning they were getting paid while letting someone else do their job — and while a Randall County grand jury investigated whether to indict anyone for criminal wrongdoing.

Well, McGee is gone. His “retirement,” announced Thursday, is effective today. Interesting, eh?

The fact that the city implemented serious changes in the euthanasia methods for unwanted animals carries the implication that the former way was wrong, if not illegal. Who was responsible for that? The guy in charge … McGee. Let’s throw Barlow into that category as well.

And when the guy in charge is running a publicly funded operation in a way that cries out for change, that suggests he isn’t doing his job. Isn’t that correct? Thus, he and his top assistant both should have been canned.

Now he’s “retired.” McGee’s troubles might not be over. The grand jury is supposed to decide perhaps by June 11 whether to indict anyone for crimes involving the Animal Control Department. McGee and Barlow appear to be the individuals on the hot seat.

This story appears to be far from over.

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Next VA visit will be, um, interesting

They had to schedule my next visit to the Thomas Creek Veterans Medical Center in Amarillo amid all this turmoil.

They just had to do it.

I’ll be there Tuesday morning, just as the sun is coming up. It’s a routine visit, but it comes in the midst of all this national discussion/debate/quarreling/backbiting over the care veterans have been getting.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has quit as the scandal keeps roiling over the deaths of vets in Phoenix, Ariz. The system is a mess. Wait times are unacceptably long, so long in fact that it cost those Phoenix vets their lives … allegedly.

I’ll go in early Tuesday and will sit in a waiting room with other vets. Gosh, I wonder what they’ll be talking about. How it’s President Obama’s fault? How the system has been messed up for decades? How they’re happy with the care they’ve gotten? How they hope the Creek medical center here in Amarillo isn’t among those where patient care is being delayed beyond all reason?

You know, that last item — the status of the VA center here — has been on my mind.

I’m a fairly new VA enrollee, having just gotten into the system a year ago.

So far, I’ve been deliriously happy with the treatment I’ve gotten. It’s been prompt. My wait times for routine visits have been minimal. The staff has been respectful — and they have expressed thanks for my service to the country, inconsequential as it was.

I’ve also been blessed with excellent health. I have no serious medical issues. My visit Tuesday will be routine, or so I am presuming.

Thus, none of the issues plaguing the system apply to my own health needs.

It is my sincerest hope that it will remain that way after I leave the VA hospital.

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House cleaning begins at VA

Eric Shinseki had to go.

Of that there was zero doubt. The decorated retired four-star Army general served his country with honor on the battlefield, but his new assignment — as secretary of veterans affairs — became too bloody a political battle for him to continue on.

He quit today.

Let the overhaul commence in earnest.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/barack-obama-to-talk-eric-shinseki-veterans-affairs-va-scandal-live-kelly-ripa-michael-strahan-107245.html?hp=lh_b2

Shinseki has left a department in absolute chaos. The VA has been scandalized by reports of veterans dying while awaiting health care and by allegations that staffers drafted bogus wait times to cover up their mistakes. This happened on Shinseki’s watch as a Cabinet secretary.

He had to quit.

The next veterans affairs secretary will inherit an agency that will have commenced a thorough top-to-bottom review. There needs to be an accounting of what happened, who did it and there ought to be criminal charges brought if it’s proven that their negligence resulted directly in the deaths of any of those estimated 40 veterans.

Every official in Washington — from President Obama down through the chain of command — keep saying they honor the service our veterans perform for the country. The VA health care system has let many of them down. The system has let down an entire country that has talked the talk, but failed to deliver on all those expressions of gratitude.

I am saddened that Gen. Shinseki has taken the hit on this one. However, someone has to be accountable. He came to office vowing to take care of our veterans. His agency hasn’t kept its promise.

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Guns and booze

Jeff Swanson is going to require the baddest bouncer on Earth when he starts serving alcohol at the gun range he operates in Oklahoma.

Swanson operates the Wilshire Gun Range, which recently received permission from the Oklahoma City Council to serve alcohol on the premises.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bullets-booze-oklahoma-gun-range-awarded-liquor-license-n117976

Someone needs to explain this one to me.

He’ll be serving alcohol, but once someone buys the beverage, they’ll be disallowed from going onto the firing range itself.

Guns and alcohol don’t mix, Swanson said. True enough.

The council vote as 6-3. One of the “no” votes came from Larry McAtee, who said, “Alcohol is legal and guns are legal. I have a problem with mixing the two.”

Still, Swanson said anyone who orders a drink will have his or her driver’s license scanned, it will be flagged and the individual will be disallowed from going to where they’re firing weapons.

The proprietor had better hire people with the sharpest eyes and ears possible to enforce the rules at his gun range. This decision makes me nervous.

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Kerrey can fix VA

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of bringing in a decorated former Navy SEAL to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs out of a major scandal.

Bob Kerrey’s name has been floated as a possible replacement for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, whose days as head of the massive agency clearly are numbered.

Shinseki isn’t saying he’s going to quit. President Obama isn’t saying he’s going to fire the retired Army general and former Army chief of staff. The writing on the proverbial wall needs no translation: Shinseki cannot stay on.

The VA has been shown to be negligent — perhaps criminally so — in its treatment of veterans. There have been deaths because of too-lengthy wait times for health care, fabricated records and what’s been called a “systemic” breakdown all along the way.

Bob Kerrey is a former Democratic senator from Nebraska. He fought in Vietnam — as did Shinseki. The one-time naval officer received the Medal of Honor for valor and heroism and lost a leg on the battlefield.

Kerrey is a bona fide war hero with many friends still in the Senate. He would be confirmed almost unanimously.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is in dire need of an extreme makeover. No one near the top of the chain of command can do it. They’re all tainted now by what’s been revealed.

Some fresh ideas, new sharp vision and some kick-butt attitude are what’s needed at the troubled Cabinet agency.

Why not give Bob Kerrey a chance to repair the damage?

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Another retirement milestone reached

4 Comments

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

I love it when decisions make our paths a little clearer.

My wife and I made another key retirement decision the other day. It’s a tentative one, but we made it nonetheless.

I am reluctant to divulge the details of the decision, because circumstances might force us to change our plans. The decision involves when we plan to sell our home in Amarillo and move southeast, to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Why there? I believe I’ve mentioned our granddaughter, her two big brothers, our son and daughter-in-law, correct? Well, there you have it. They live there. We want to be nearby.

OK, why not spill the beans? I don’t want to go on record — just yet — on our intentions. Plans have a way of changing suddenly, depending on a lot of matters relating to health and finances — or a combination of both. We intend to inform certain family members of our plans upon request.

We’ve already decided when I’ll start drawing Social Security retirement. My wife already is drawing her Social Security income. I’m going to soon begin receiving a monthly pension from a newspaper company where I worked for nearly 11 years before coming to Amarillo. I’ve got these two part-time jobs, one of which I’ll be able to continue doing after we make our move.

The stars are lining up pretty well for us — at this time.

We’ve learned, though, never to take life for granted. Unforeseen things happen. Neither of us is clairvoyant, so we cannot know what the future — immediate or longer term — holds for us.

Suffice to say that if certain things remain stable, if we maintain our excellent health, if se are able to sell our home in a reasonable amount of time — and at a reasonable price — then we’re out of here.

Our baby granddaughter already is growing up too quickly.

Knowing, though, that another key decision is now — more or less — out of the way, we’re looking ever more happily toward the future.

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Thornberry to hit talk-show circuit?

I cannot help but wonder about the exposure U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry of little ol’ Clarendon, Texas is going to get now that he’s positioned to become the next chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

This is a major committee assignment. It involves funding for our troops, the men and women who defend us against bad guys. It involves deciding which weapons to finance and what levels of related financial support Americans will pay.

Thornberry is going to lead a critically important committee when the next Congress convenes — assuming, of course, he’s re-elected this fall. He’ll win re-election. Bet on it.

For almost all of Thornberry’s nearly two decades in Congress, he’s been a proverbial “back bencher.” He doesn’t make much news. He doesn’t hog the spotlight the way, say, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Peter King and Chuck Schumer do.

That might change now that Thornberry prepares to take the gavel from retiring Chairman Buck McKeon.

Those Sunday news talk show hosts are going to want to know the particulars of what the Armed Services Committee is planning for the next Congress. The military has been in the news, as President Obama has announced plans to end our combat role in Afghanistan. There’ll be plenty of discussion of redeploying our military assets. There’ll be talk about a probable reduced military footprint abroad.

These topics will be right in the wheelhouse of the Armed Services Committee chairman. That means you, Rep. Thornberry.

The veteran Republican lawmaker has been sitting on the back bench long enough. It’s time to step up, tell us what you think and where you intend to lead this critical congressional panel.

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Tribute to Maya Angelou

Confession time yet again.

I am not a lover of fine poetry. I cannot comment intelligently about a poem, or about the body of a poet’s work.

I do know a bad poem when I see it. It’s the good ones that often go beyond my meager understanding of some things.

When I heard about Maya Angelou’s death this week, I wasn’t saddened because we’d never get a fresh work of poetry from her.

Indeed, it’s interesting to me that I haven’t heard too many tributes about her poetic skills. And I guess that’s the fundamental point here. Maya Angelou was far more than someone who could craft poetry.

She was a trailblazer, a champion, a woman of immense courage.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/maya-angelou-a-woman-for-all-seasons.html/

She didn’t just write poems. She wrote autobiographical prose, such as “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” as Dallas Morning News blogger Jim Mitchell notes.

Mitchell writes of that work: “But its greatest contribution was that it was almost a modern slave narrative, reflecting experiences shared by many of her contemporaries — African-American women who came of age in the years of the Great Depression, before World War II and before Civil Rights became a movement. Her voice expressed the never-ending challenges of being black in America, mixing struggles for acceptance and respect with messages of communal and personal responsibility. She was part of a spectacular black literary era that included Lorraine Hansberry, Gwendolyn Brooks and James Baldwin among others who made possible Alice Walker, Rita Dove and Nikki Giovanni.”

She wrote the autobiography in 1969. She was an established literary giant by that time. She would go on to become a famed civil rights champion, sought out by presidents and other national and world leaders.

Maya Angelou’s work transcended the sometimes-esoteric world of poetry.

It’s that transcendence that gives me a measure of personal comfort in believing one didn’t have to know the nuts and bolts of great poetry to honor the memory of a great American.

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Shinseki has to go

It pains me to say this about a decorated, heroic veteran of the U.S. Army, but it’s time for him to leave the office he holds.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki’s watch is now scarred indelibly by a scathing inspector general’s report that chronicles horrible health care services being provided for veterans.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/will-shinseki-go-its-when-not-if-n117341

The IG report confirms that Veterans Administration health officials cooked up fabricated wait times for veterans, who were found to be waiting about 115 days for health care — far longer than VA standards. The result has been the deaths of veterans at the Phoenix, Ariz., veterans hospital.

All this happened under Gen. Shinseki’s watch. He’s supposed to manage a monstrous federal agency. He hasn’t done it. Veterans have suffered. This shoddy performance has angered Democratic and Republican members of Congress alike. The calls for his resignation are mounting.

It’s time for him to step aside.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is in a shambles and there is no way possible for Shinseki to clean up the wreckage.

Who should get the call?

I heard an interesting name mentioned Wednesday. Former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War. He lost a leg while fighting enemy soldiers as a Navy SEAL. Could someone with Sen. Kerrey’s credentials do the job? I believe he could.

President Obama has said two things about the mess at the VA: He stands by Shinseki and he vows to make changes if they’re deemed necessary. The IG report has been given credence by those who believe change is necessary at the top of the VA chain of command.

The president no longer can stand by his man.

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Texas tea party stands tall

I always thought “Texas tea” referred to oil.

It now has a political connotation, as in “Texas tea party.” Ladies and gents, the tea party has taken the Texas Republican Party hostage. It has swallowed it whole and has produced a slate of statewide candidates that’ll make the hair stand up on some of us Texas residents.

Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka is one who is very afraid of what the future might hold.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/tea-party-takes-charge

I concur with his assessment.

He seems to be conceding the November election already to one tea party candidate in particular: state Sen. Dan Patrick, the Republican/tea party candidate for lieutenant governor.

I’m not yet ready to go there.

Democratic nominee, fellow state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, well could turn out to be the most formidable Democratic candidate on the statewide ballot. She’s Patrick’s opponent this fall. I’m going to wait until all the ballots are counted before declaring him the all-but-certain lieutenant governor.

Of all the assertions Burka makes, the most interesting is this: “One thing I believe with absolute certainty: Dan Patrick as lieutenant governor will hasten the day Texas turns purple. His personal history is one of recklessness and carelessness. There are going to be train wrecks along the way. I have serious doubts about whether the tea party can govern or whether Patrick can get along with his peers without having a meltdown along the way.”

Meltdown? I keep thinking of the release late in the campaign of Patrick’s medical records, which included some time with a shrink who counseled him about his depression. It was a low blow at the end of a tough campaign to bring that stuff up … but is this part of Burka’s calculation about how the Texas Senate might be run under the leadership of a Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick?

Tea party candidates have bitten the dust all over the country. Not in Texas, though. They’re riding high.

One bit of cheer is worth passing on: At least Republicans had the good sense to toss aside Steve Stockman’s challenge to John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate primary.

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