Monthly Archives: February 2014

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UIL biennial shuffle will never end

The Texas University Interscholastic League has finished its biennial shuffling of high schools’ extracurricular activities league.

I guess the big news in Amarillo is that Amarillo High and Tascosa High have been put back into the same district. This time it’s a newly configured Class 6A district. They’ll be cutting the travel time that caused apoplexy among THS parents and boosters the past two years. Good deal, I reckon.

Since I didn’t have kids enrolled in either school, I didn’t exactly have a dog in that fight. Some folks were upset that their kids had to travel so far to play some sports or take part in cheerleading or marching band activities. That’s all done — for the next years at least.

Some of the smaller high schools in the Panhandle weren’t so fortunate. They’re having to travel greater distances, but since they’re out there in the country anyway, those AHS and THS parents and boosters won’t get so exercised over their plight. We’ll leave it to those local parents to raise a ruckus with the UIL.

I’m one of those who wishes the UIL would leave these alignments alone for longer periods of time. The two-year flirtation with separating two rival schools — AHS and THS — and placing them in separate enrollment classes and districts didn’t set well with football purists in Amarillo.

I get that. What I don’t get is why the UIL has to mess with this alignment so frequently. Don’t the folks at the UIL headquarters have any feeling for the headaches these constant changes cause among local school district athletic directors, superintendents, principals, coaches, students — and oh yes, those testy parents?

What’s the answer? I’d start with lengthening the realignment schedule to once every four years. Build in a little bit of stability to extracurricular programs. Save some hassles, headaches and heartburn along the way.

And leave the kids alone.

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Obama says O’Reilly ‘unfair’? Shocking!

Imagine my surprise when I saw the story in which President Obama said Bill O’Reilly was unfair in his interview just prior to the Super Bowl.

Just kidding. No surprise there.

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/02/03/22560607-obama-says-fox-newss-oreilly-absolutely-unfair-in-extended-interview?lite

O’Reilly is the noted Fox News Channel blowhard who fancies himself a serious broadcast journalist. He is no such thing. He is a commentator, a guy with lots of opinions on lots of issues — and someone who is totally unafraid to express them, even while he is interviewing a Very Important Person, such as the president of the United States of America.

My takeaway from the pre-Super Bowl interview is that O’Reilly is love with the sound of his own voice and doesn’t care to hear what others have to say. He has demonstrated that countless times in the many years he has been on TV.

Obama noted also that Fox has been “unfair” in its coverage of his administration, which of course should come as no surprise either.

Yes, I know the pendulum swings widely in that regard. Liberal-leaning MSNBC has been none too kind to Republican officeholders and would-be officeholders. The folks at that network are shills for the left, just as O’Reilly and his Fox brethren are shills for the right.

And that brings me back to my favorite TV “news” slogan, which is how Fox proclaims itself to be the “fair and balanced” network.

A news network that keeps saying such things about itself usually is neither.

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Abbott-Davis race gets ugly early

Oh my.

Is this what we can expect for the next, oh, 10 months in the campaign for Texas governor?

The two major parties already have their presumptive nominees: Republicans will nominate Attorney General Greg Abbott while Democrats will nominate state Sen. Wendy Davis. This will occur in March during the party primaries. Then we’ll get to watch these two bright individuals hammer at each other over things that likely will have little to do with public policy.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/02/03/democratic-spies-overhear-abbott-davis-controversy/

The latest is this: An audio recording has surfaced that suggest Abbott urged his supporters to keep stirring the pot over a controversy involving Davis’s rather fuzzy personal history. You know the story by now, right? Davis said she was a single mother, divorcing her first husband when she was 19. Turns out her divorce wasn’t finalized until she was 21. Then came other details about who got custody of her children and some other things. These details were revealed in a Dallas Morning News article written by veteran political reporter Wayne Slater.

The recording says this, according to the Texas Tribune: “We’re going to heat up this campaign, and it’s going to turn red hot as we keep Texas red.” That reportedly is Abbott speaking in January at a fundraising event in Wimberley.

The problem with the recording is that Abbott had clammed up when the controversy broke, maintaining a statesmanlike silence in public.

So, the question is this: Which Abbott are we going to see as the campaign unfolds further? The circumspect AG or a GOP gutfighter?

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No shortage of geese

I witnessed something today over the course of several hours that I don’t think I’d seen before. It involved lots of wildlife.

One of my part-time jobs allows me to circle a parking lot at the Toyota dealership where I work. I spend about half my day outdoors offering help to customers who might need it.

Well, beginning shortly after noon today, I heard the sound of Canada geese overhead. I looked up and saw this large flight of geese moving westward over the ranchland just west of the dealership. It contained a couple hundred geese.

Then came another formation of geese. Right behind the first one, this second flight also moved off to the west.

Then a third flight came. And a fourth. And on and on it went, for most of the afternoon.

Geese, thousands of them, heading west.

I have a rough idea where some of them originated. I am guessing they took off from McDonald Lake, a playa that sits at the corner of 45th Avenue and Coulter Street in Amarillo — not far from our home. But surely the lake couldn’t have been starting point for all the birds I saw today.

My goodness, there had to have been 10,000 birds migrating for most of the afternoon. What the heck, I have no clue how many birds I saw today. Ten grand sounds about right.

I have no clue where they were going, or why they all took flight when they did.

I’ve drawn one quite obvious conclusion based on what I saw today. The world has no shortage of Canada geese.

I’ll be back at work tomorrow and will be looking for signs of more these creatures. Here’s hoping they take flight. They make quite a sight on a cold, cloudy day.

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Loudmouth O’Reilly makes news

One of the many things I dislike about contemporary broadcast “journalism” is when the so-called journalist becomes the newsmaker.

Such was the case prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday when Fox News loudmouth Bill O’Reilly interviewed Barack Obama — and tried to steal the thunder from the president of the United States.

As he has done before when the men have met, O’Reilly interrupted the president repeatedly. He cut him off. He wouldn’t allow him to answer questions, many of which were excellent and pointed.

I don’t mind one bit journalists digging hard for answers to questions that linger out here in Viewer Land. I do mind, though, when journalists seek — by virtue of their outsized personality and ego — to become part of the story.

That ain’t their job.

Their job is to ask questions, to collect answers and to allow consumers of the news and analysis to decide for ourselves what we believe to be correct or incorrect. This consumer, me, cares not one bit what the interviewer thinks about anything. Just ask the questions and get the heck out of the way.

Once again, O’Reilly demonstrated that news and entertainment have melded into some new form that — in my view — is hard to watch.

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Rudy blasts Democrats for ‘piling on’ Christie, really?

Rudy Giuliani needs to get out more.

The former mayor of New York City and one-time Republican candidate for president of the United States has blasted Democrats for piling on Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over the bridge lane-closing controversy that is threatening to blow up into a bona fide scandal.

Giuliani slams Dem ‘pile-on’ against Christie

Really, Mr. Mayor?

Is it a surprise that members of the “other” party would go after a leading politician who’s been caught up in a controversy? Gosh. That’s never happened before.

Oh wait. Yes it has. It has happened when Republican politicians began pouncing all over Democrats, starting with Bill Clinton and the Whitewater investigation, which turned into something resulting in the impeachment of a Democratic president. It is happening now with Republicans continuing to roil the waters over the Benghazi, Libya consulate attack in September 2012. It’s also happening with GOP lawmakers making hay over the IRS controversy and the agency’s vetting of conservative political action groups’ efforts to obtain tax-exempt status.

So now Democrats are going after a Republican governor.

Big deal, Mr. Mayor.

From my perch out here in the middle of the country, that’s how politics is played.

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Hope for thrilling game goes ‘poof’ on first snap

Well, I watched most of the Super Bowl, managed to skip the halftime show because I don’t particularly like Bruno Mars or the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I had hoped for a thriller, thinking in advance the Seattle Seahawks’ defense would win the day over the high-powered Denver Broncos’ offense. I guess I was half right.

Seattle’s defense was all that it was billed as being: tough, relentless, opportunistic, aggressive … what am I missing here?

I didn’t expect the Seahawks’ offense to be so strong.

Maybe the omen was delivered on the game’s first play from scrimmage, when the Denver center snapped the ball over Peyton Manning’s head, resulting in a safety for Seattle, and setting a record for the quickest score in Super Bowl history.

So, you might be wondering: What does a shellacking like this do to Peyton Manning’s place as one of the greatest pro quarterbacks in history? Not a single thing, as the announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (no slouch himself as a QB) pointed out.

Manning will go down as a Top Five quarterback when his career is over.

Agreed. Dan Marino’s failure to win a Super Bowl didn’t diminish his standing as an all-timer. Besides, Manning’s already won one of those Lombardi trophies, back when he played for the Indy Colts.

The Super Bowl has produced a number of thrillers over the years. This one didn’t make the grade.

Too bad. Hey, maybe next year?

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WT students design a miraculous hand

This has to be one of the more amazing stories I’ve read in some time.

Four West Texas A&M University students have designed a prosthetic hand that will help young patients with limb disorders.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/texas/article/College-students-design-pioneering-prosthetic-hand-5198270.php

They used fishing line, a bungee chord and a three-dimension printer to design the prosthesis. Alex Parra, an engineering school graduate who worked on the project called it a “humbling experience.”

No kidding, Alex.

“It helped us realize we are blessed by having everything that we have,” he said.

Let projects like this one, and others that young people are doing every single day, serve as proof that our world will be doing just fine when the next generation takes over.

The WT students worked with a 10-year-old girl, Aly Hunt, who has congenital defect in her left hand. The original design was developed in South Africa. They worked with a prosthetist at Scottish Rite Hospital, who helped them complete the project.

Aly is able to do many physical activities with the prosthesis, such as playing golf, tennis and the violin.

The prosthetic hand also allows for some dexterity, enabling it pick up items with movable fingers.

Every generation since the beginning of time has feared the future of the world when they’re no longer on the scene. It’s amazing, then, that we’re still around to keep lamenting the future.

Well, I am fearing the future a lot less after learning of this amazing accomplishment. Well done, WT students.

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Drug overdose brings down another shining star

My worst fears have come to pass … allegedly.

Word came out this morning that the Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had been found dead in his apartment. I hate admitting this, but my very first thought — once my head cleared after seeing the news — was that he overdosed on something.

I returned this afternoon from running some errands with my wife and just learned that police and EMTs found him with a needle sticking out of his arm.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/02/showbiz/philip-seymour-hoffman-obit/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

My initial mourning over the loss of this amazing talent has now given way to disgust.

What a waste!

It’s hard for me to process news like this at times. Hoffman joins a long list of celebrated public figures — mainly athletes and entertainers (although one could argue they are the same thing) — who’ve taken one hit too many.

I won’t even begin to list the names of those who have wasted themselves into oblivion. We all know who they are.

Hoffman’s death at the age of 46 just underscores the perversion that popular culture too often seems to breed.

All these individuals who have so much going for them cannot handle the fame that they chose to seek.

Yes, I mourn for the people who loved this man. That’s where it ends.

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Pipeline won’t affect climate … so let’s build it

My environmentalist sensibilities have been taxed by this debate over whether to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the middle of the United States.

My inclination is to oppose such a thing because, the theory goes, it would emit too many carbon-based pollutants and harm the planet’s climate.

Then comes this government report that says the pipeline’s effect on the climate is negligible.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/02/02/obama_running_out_of_reasons_to_reject_keystone_xl_121434.html

Oh, what to do?

I believe President Obama should rethink his opposition to it and allow its construction.

The report comes from the U.S. State Department, which heretofore had been on the right wing’s hit list of nasty federal agencies. Now State has declared the Keystone project poses no serious environmental threat, which pleases proponents of the pipeline. They contend the project will create jobs and will strengthen U.S. energy policy.

The pipeline would carry oil pulled from western Canada tar sands to Nebraska, where it would then be sent through existing pipelines to the Gulf Coast, where it would be refined. Much of it would be exported abroad. Some of it would be used here at home.

Its job creation potential is huge, which of course is what the president wants. It also brings those vast tar sands reserves into play, relieving North America of the need to import oil from faraway nations, such as those in the volatile and explosive Middle East.

Is it a win-win deal? Not just yet. But it’s getting closer to becoming one, based on the State Department’s assessment of minimal environmental impact.