Monthly Archives: June 2014

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Now it's Rangel on the hot seat

The U.S. political world has been chattering and clamoring over the tea party’s rise within the Republican Party, and the notable victim it claimed a week ago, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia.

But this Tuesday, it appears quite possible a leading Democrat will fall to one of two challengers.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-charles-rangel-20140621-story.html

New York U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel has represented the Harlem district of New York City since The Flood. He’s a decorated Korean War veteran and a one-time chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Then he got into some serious ethical troubles. The House censured him and stripped him of his chairmanship.

He stayed on.

Now Rangel is facing a stout challenge from Adriano Espaillat and Michael Walrond in New York’s upcoming Democratic primary on Tuesday. A fourth candidate also is on the ballot, but she’s been invisible.

The odds are looking as though Rangel will go down to defeat. Espaillat appears to be the favorite.

New York doesn’t have a runoff rule that requires the winner to get 50 percent of the vote to declare outright victory. In New York, all the winner needs is more votes than whoever finishes second.

Rangel represents that old-time back-slapping pol who everyone knows in the district. The problem for him appears that everyone now seems to know him too well.

He’s worn out, tired, used up — or so it seems to many observers.

Rangel also has that recent history of ethical misconduct involving whether he took money from special interests.

If Rangel does go down Tuesday, then there might be far more at play here than just one party eating its own. There indeed might be a tidal wave about the sweep through Congress.

Let’s all hold on for a turbulent election year.

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A/C in prison units possible

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I’m still trying to reach a decision on whether Texas prison units should be air conditioned.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is being sued by the Texas Civil Rights Project and others on behalf of elderly and ailing inmates who contend the legendary Texas heat is too much for the inmates.

None of TDCJ’s prison units have air conditioning. They have fans that blow ambient around. TDCJ calls it good. Until now, it had been good enough for state’s prison inmates.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/summer-coming

One issue that makes me lean in favor of providing A/C units in prison is a statement I heard shortly after I came to Amarillo to take up my job as editorial page editor of the newspaper.

I took a guided tour in 1995 of the William P. Clements Unit northeast of the city, a maximum-security lockdown. The then-deputy warden, Rick Hudson, took me on the tour. I saw the entire place, from in-take, to the mess hall, to the recreational areas, the now-defunct saddle shop, the isolation cells, visitation areas. You name it, I saw it.

Hudson told me that day that corrections officers have to break up fights almost daily. The violence inside the walls escalates dramatically during the summer, when the temperature routinely hits 90 and often goes past 100 degrees.

Tempers that already are short to begin and they flare at the slightest provocation and often explode into serious violence. Why? Well, think of how you might react if you were locked up behind concrete, steel, razor wire and were being watched constantly by men armed to the teeth with weaponry. Then add the oppressive heat to that situation and you have a formula for some serious violence.

Do we want to expose our corrections officers to this kind of emotional powder keg? I think not.

Don’t misunderstand. I am not proposing we coddle these guys. I am suggesting that air conditioning might be in the TDCJ future.

The federal court system has taken over the state prison system at least once already in a ruling meant to relieve overcrowding. It well could do so again if the state loses this battle over air conditioning.

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Treason? Come on, Mr. Vice President

Of all the things former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter wrote in their much-discussed essay in the Wall Street Journal, the most outrageous was this:

President Obama is deliberately seeking to take America “down a notch” before leaves office.

The essay is here. Read it for yourself.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/dick-cheney-and-liz-cheney-the-collapsing-obama-doctrine-1403046522

It amazes me in the first place that the former VP would continue to undermine an administration’s efforts to stem a serious international crisis. Cheney’s carping is outrageous and disgraceful.

To suggest, though, that the president of the United States seeks to deliberately weaken the nation that elected him twice to its highest office is go so far beyond the pale that it defies even my huge reservoir of dislike for the policies that Cheney put forward while he was in office.

The Cheneys — father and daughter — have shown us a shameful exhibition of disloyalty.

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Hoping for a smooth handoff

Political traditions often consist of unwritten rules of decorum and courtesy.

One of them involves the transition from one elected official to another in a particular office. Let’s take, just for kicks, the Potter County judge’s office.

Will courtesy be the rule of the day when Nancy Tanner takes over at the end of the year from her former boss, Arthur Ware?

Tanner — who served as Ware’s administrative assistant during his tenure as judge — won the Republican Party primary in March in the race to succeed Ware, who didn’t seek re-election after serving as county judge for 20-plus years. Tanner’s road to victory got a little bumpy right off the start.

She declared her intention to seek the office before Ware announced this would be his final term. She didn’t officially declare her candidacy, just let it be known she was thinking about it.

Ware then fired Tanner from her job. You’re out! he told her. Pack your stuff up and hit the road. Ware then announced he would retire from public office at the end of the year and endorsed former Amarillo Mayor Debra McCartt in the GOP primary.

Ware never has explained precisely why he fired Tanner.

Tanner won the primary outright. No Democrats are on the ballot, so pending the outcome of November election — which Tanner will win — she’ll become county judge-elect.

One of the more interesting facets of the campaign is that Tanner ran on her experience as Ware’s top hand. During a Panhandle PBS-sponsored candidate forum, Tanner declared that “only two people on Earth” know the details of the job of county judge: Arthur Ware and Nancy Tanner.

So, I cannot help but wonder if Tanner and Ware will be able to set their acrimony aside long enough for Ware to show Tanner all the ropes, the hidden tasks and responsibilities and perhaps share a secret or two with her that even she doesn’t know.

I hope for a smooth transition and seamless handoff. Hey, if presidents of the United States can be beaten senseless by challengers and then leave nice notes in the Oval Office desk drawer for them when they depart …

Surely a county judge in Texas can show some grace as he leaves the public arena.

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Border crisis expands

Linda Chavez asks in a New York Post column why the Obama administration doesn’t “do more” to stem the flow of children from Central America into southern border states such as Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

http://nypost.com/2014/06/20/behind-the-horrible-border-crisis/

I kind of expect that from Chavez, a noted conservative thinker and pundit.

I’ve been wracking my brain the past few days with this question: Why doesn’t Mexico do more to stop the flow of these unaccompanied children all the way through that country and into the United States of America?

Chavez and others have noted that the kids have to travel about 1,300 miles through Mexico to reach the southern border of the United States. How is it that those children are given free passage through a fairly large country to end up in the Land of Opportunity?

If President Obama has a bone to pick, it ought to be with the Mexican government.

Chavez lays out a grim scenario: “According to recent reports, these kids walk right up to border agents as soon as they see them and turn themselves in. They’ve been instructed to do so, sometimes by the criminal ‘coyotes’ who extort hundreds, even thousands, of dollars from the kids’ parents to get them across the border.

“These human traffickers are telling parents their children will be granted a legal right to stay in the U.S. once on our soil. This is absolutely false — but that word is slow in getting to gullible would-be border crossers.”

She wants the U.S. government to blanket Guatemala and Honduras TV airwaves to public service announcements urging parents to stop selling their children to traffickers. That’s fine.

However, geopolitical neighborliness compels one country to do all it can do to protect its orders with another nation.

Critics keep harping on the openness of the U.S. side of our border with Mexico. They forget — or ignore — the fact that we’ve deported record numbers of illegal immigrants in recent years. The problem just has been compounded many times by the flood of these children from beyond Mexico’s southern border.

Whose fault is that? Ours? I don’t think so.

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Pay us a visit, Mme. Secretary

Just thinking out loud here.

Watching the reporting on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book tour brings to mind a 2008 campaign stop her husband, the former president of the United States, made here on her behalf — in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle, of all places.

Bill Clinton came to campaign for his wife as she fought Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

He packed the Grand Plaza Ballroom at the Amarillo Civic Center. Indeed, it overflowed. A lot of Republicans attended the event just to get a glimpse of the 42nd president and to determine for themselves if he is as charismatic as everyone says he is.

President Clinton didn’t disappoint anyone, Republican or Democrat. Clinton would win the Democratic primary that year, but eventually lose the nomination fight to Obama.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/06/20/hillary-clinton-book-tour-comes-austin/

I’d bet real U.S. money that Hillary Clinton would get a smashing reception here if she chose to come to Amarillo to hype her new book, “Hard Choices.”

She’s a possible, if not probable, candidate for president in 2016. There would be interest in that campaign as well.

The Texas Tribune reported on her book-tour stop in Austin, which everyone knew she’d make. Austin is one of the last Democratic bastions left in Texas. It’s a no-brainer for her go there and visit with friendly audiences.

Why not pay a visit to us here, on the High Plains of Texas, where no one would expect her to go?

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More to come on Animal Shelter?

My gut’s been rumbling a bit the past few days.

I’m wondering if there’s another shoe about to drop at Amarillo City Hall regarding changes in the way it runs the Animal Control Shelter, you know, the one that’s been in the news of late.

The top two hands at Animal Control — Mike McGee and Shannon Barlow — have “retired” from public service. A Randall County grand jury heard evidence of alleged animal abuse at the shelter but then declined to indict anyone for criminal wrongdoing — a decision that caught many of us by surprise.

Is this the end of the story?

Something tells me “no.”

A lengthy newspaper article published this past Sunday told of how the city was a tad slow reacting to reports of abuse involving the euthanizing of animals at the shelter. Shelter staff had failed to weigh the animals prior to administering the lethal drugs, which is required by state law. Thus, they didn’t know how much of the drug to administer and it reportedly produced suffering by the animals as they died.

Still, the grand jury reported no “abuse” of the animals occurred? Someone will have to explain that one to me.

The city has a new interim director. Assistant City Manager Vicki Covey — who was charged with overseeing the animal control operations from her office — has been taken off that task. The city manager, Jarrett Atkinson, has been hit with yet another troubling case of lack of oversight on his watch.

I’ve spoken with a couple of former city council members about this matter. One of them thinks McGee and Barlow should have been canned on the spot when the allegations came to light; he disagreed with their being placed on “administrative leave.” The other ex-council member thinks the story has been overplayed in the media; I disagree quite vehemently with that assessment.

The care of animals means a lot to people, for better or worse. It’s part of many humans’ DNA to carry a soft spot in their hearts for defenseless animals who’ve been tossed aside by their caretakers.

If nothing else, the city ought to embark on a concentrated, proactive and aggressive campaign to educate pet owners about the need to neuter their animals. I know full well the message will be lost on many folks, but given the embarrassment caused by this scandal it’s worth the time, the effort — and the expense.

As for whether any more heads should roll at City Hall, well, I wouldn’t bet against it.

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Immigration takes center stage

Kevin McCarthy’s election as the new majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives puts the Republican majority in the House in a quandary.

It’s because of the congressional district McCarthy represents.

McCarthy comes from the Bakersfield, Calif., area. It’s a bit like the Texas Panhandle in this sense: They pump oil there, cultivate a lot of farmland, the wind blows a lot and its residents are fairly conservative. One more thing: the region has a large and growing Hispanic population.

And that is why Majority Leader McCarthy is facing a bit of a test as he tries to manage one key issue: immigration reform.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/inside-the-house-gop-leadership-shake-up-108103.html?hp=l7

The tea party wing of the lawmakers he leads in the House don’t favor the kind of comprehensive reform that many Democrats and Republicans want. It’s the kind of reform that former leader Eric Cantor has supported — and which might have cost him his House seat in that stunning GOP primary upset in Virginia earlier this month.

McCarthy, though, doesn’t work for the tea party wing of his party in the House. He works for the folks back home. His congressional district is about 36 percent Hispanic. My hunch is that many of them have relatives who are non-citizens living in the United States. They want their immigrant kin to be able to enjoy the fruits of citizenship.

They vote and, thus, could apply pressure to Leader McCarthy as he seeks to manage the unwieldy wing of his fractious Republican congressional caucus.

So, the new leader well might be asking himself: For whom do I work?

He knows the answer, and it isn’t the Republican Party zealots in Washington, D.C.

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Alzheimer's brings the long goodbye

The Summer Solstice — the longest day of the year — has arrived in the northern half of Planet Earth.

The longest day also has another meaning for those with intimate knowledge of a deadly disease that destroys the human brain and turns its victims into shells of who they once were.

It’s called Alzheimer’s disease, named for Alois Alzheimer who first diagnosed the disease in the early 20th century. The longest day is meant to characterize how time no longer is relevant to Alzheimer’s patients. Days turn into nights, and vice versa. It all runs together for these people — and often for those who care for them.

The Summer Solstice is going to bring in a lot of public ceremonies around the country today as we celebrate National Alzheimer’s Month. It’s a symbolic time to commemorate this disease.

I have some knowledge of how it ravages families.

My mother died in 1984. She was diagnosed officially in the spring of 1980, but the blunt reality is that she showed symptoms long before the neurologist delivered the grim news to us.

The doctor was blunt. There’s no cure. There’s no way to identify the disease, he said, other than to eliminate every other pathological reason. It’s terminal, he said. Your mother will die from it eventually, he added.

We tried our best to care for her. Dad did his best as well, until he met his own untimely death in September 1980.

A month is hardly enough time to commemorate this disease. It should be on-going. It afflicts many millions of Americans that number is growing as the median age of this country increases. Do we have all-star concerts with rock stars, film icons, mega-rich philanthropists calling national attention to this disease? No.

It’s not a “sexy” disease the way, say, AIDS became more than three decades ago.

Alzheimer’s disease afflicts old people — mostly. Mom wasn’t old by any stretch of the imagination when the first symptoms presented themselves. I cannot recall precisely when we noticed changes in behavior or when she made statements that didn’t quite compute.

When the end came, she was just 61, which by my way of thinking is getting younger all the time.

It’s not pretty. In fact, it’s heartbreaking in the extreme to watch your loved one slip farther away.

So, enjoy the Summer Solstice, this first day of summer.

While doing so, give some thought to those you may have lost to Alzheimer’s disease or perhaps say a prayer for someone who’s caring for a loved one gripped by this tragic ailment.

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Welcome … the Washington Indians

An earlier post on this blog took note of the controversy surrounding the Washington Redskins’ name and whether it ought to be changed.

I have concluded that it should. I said so in the post, which then was distributed via Twitter and Facebook. One of my Facebook friends — and he’s an actual friend, not just a social media acquaintance — took serious exception to my notion that the Redskins name is offensive to Native Americans.

We went back and forth. My friend says we’ve fallen victim to political correctness run amok. Indeed, the Redskins name stood virtually unchallenged for many decades until the nation heightened its civil rights awareness. I keep returning to my point about the term “Redskins” and whether it originated as a term of endearment. I doubt it strongly.

Then a member of my family entered the fray. One of my sons noted that “Redskins” is a “descriptive term” coined by white people. It is meant as an epithet. His example: “Look at them Redskins. Let’s go take their land and stuff.” I died laughing.

His larger point is a valid one, which is that the term offends some people. Why not, then, simply change it?

He came up with this notion, which I’ll pass along here. Call ’em the Washington Indians, he said.

Interesting. We already have the Cleveland Indians in baseball. We also have several other duplicate team nicknames: The San Francisco and New York Giants, the Arizona and St. Louis Cardinals, the New York and Texas Rangers, the Winnipeg and New York Jets. There might be more … but you get the drift.

Besides, he said, you wouldn’t even have to mess with the Washington team logo.

Has anyone griped about the Cleveland Indians, a non-descript term that doesn’t offend anyone?

Problem solved.