Monthly Archives: October 2022

local news

Youngsters will do just fine

I want to take up the cudgel for the younger generation of Americans who are going to inherit the nation from us old folks.

So very often I hear from those who lament today’s young Americans. They aren’t this or that; they rely too much on this or that; they are selfish; they are unmotivated; they are self-centered.

Well, if that sounds familiar, it should.

It’s the same kind of thing our parents said about us — and to us, for that matter. Their parents said the same thing about them. On and on it has gone … forever. My parents, especially my dad, bitched out loud about “today’s youth,” telling me that those of my age weren’t worthy of taking over the country he would leave behind.

I don’t recall challenging him in real time as he griped at me. I can’t tell him today what I have learned about myself and my generation, as he is no longer with us.

What’s more, I have noted already on this blog about the wisdom uttered by an ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, who griped five centuries before Jesus’s birth about how young people didn’t show proper respect to their elders.

I am leery of doubting the great man’s view of his world. I just know that generations of human beings since the beginning of time have said those disparaging things about young’ns, only to be proven wrong as the “next generation” comes of age and manages to keep our society forging forward.

I remain quite confident that today’s young people will be able to take the baton from us old timers and will lead the United States to its next level of greatness … however it will define itself.

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local news

Back to beginning for Amarillo’s council?

Amarillo’s governing council has received a kick in the gut, thanks to a judge ruling that its issuance of $260 million in anticipation notes is “invalid” and “void.”

What is that all about?

Amarillo businessman Alex Fairly had filed a lawsuit seeking to block the issuance of the tax notes. A visiting judge hearing the case in a Potter County district courtroom agreed with him.

From my vantage point, the city has been the chance to do it right.

The city issued the tax notes after voters had rejected a $275 million bond issue the city had called to repair the Civic Center and to relocate City Hall to a new site. The city wasn’t about to be dissuaded, so it issued the notes that sought to circumvent the will of the voters.

I believe the judge’s decision in favor of Fairly’s suit should send a message that City Hall needs to honor.

It seems like a complicated outcome. The City Council says it disagrees with the judge’s ruling and it will consider whether to appeal it.

Judge rules that tax notes for Amarillo Civic Center are ‘invalid,’ ‘void’ | KAMR – MyHighPlains.com

Fairly issued a statement, according to MyHighPlains.com: “I’m thankful that a regular, ordinary, everyday guy can still raise his hand and say, ‘I don’t think this is right,’ and get a fair day in court and a voice,” he said. “I think we all have that voice. It’s too expensive, I know that. But I’m so thankful that the system is there and we were able to use it and that it worked.”

Fairly questioned whether the city decided to impose the tax notes with proper notification. I happen to side with those who believe the city’s decision so soon after a November 2020 bond issue election denial smacked of arrogance that just didn’t set well with a municipal electorate that is angry with government … at all levels!

The city issued a statement: The City received the court’s final judgment this afternoon. We respectfully disagree with the judgment in this case, and we’re reviewing the decision with our legal counsel to determine our next steps.

Well, here’s a thought. The city could craft a new bond issue proposal and take it back to the voters for yet another decision. Maybe it can persuade enough of them to back City Hall’s desire to improve the Civic Center and find a new site for its government office.

If not, well … then the city has some serious soul-searching to do.

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Sports news, State news

‘Sham?’ Uhh, yeah!

Brittney Griner is serving a nine-year prison sentence for committing a crime that in most civilized nations would be considered a misdemeanor.

Not in Russia. The Russians have locked her up and have denied an appeal to have her sentence reduced to suspension.

Griner is the former Baylor University basketball star, a native of the Dallas area and a star in the WNBA. She got caught with vape canisters and cannabis oil in her luggage while trying to leave the country via Moscow’s airport.

The White House calls the decision to uphold Griner’s prison sentence a “sham.” Do you think?

It just goes to show the world what kind of “justice” is practiced in Russia, where its leader — thug and goon Vladimir Putin — longs for a return to Marxist doctrine in the Kremlin.

The White House is demanding Griner’s release so she can join her family and resume her life. The decision to keep her locked up, though, bodes poorly — in the short term — for Griner’s release.

Sickening.

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local news, national news, political news

Politics delivers bruising blows

LAVEEN VILLAGE, Ariz. — I guess it was the late Sen. Lloyd Bentsen who I heard say that in Texas, “politics is a contact sport.”

Yes. It is. However, a brief visit to a real-deal battleground state such as Arizona has exposed my bride and me to what has become a “contact sport” that can draw a good bit of metaphorical blood.

Arizona is where Donald Trump sought to delegitimize his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race. It has carried over to the midterm election, where the ballot in Arizona is peppered with election deniers seeking to overturn the results of the election that President Biden won freely, fairly, legally and morally.

My favorite commercials happen to be those featuring Republican voters who say that GOP governor candidate Kari Lake is “too dangerous” to become the state’s next governor.

It’s been fun watching this campaign play out from our ringside seats. It’s a brief look, to be sure. We’ll get to watch the Texas campaign play out as Midterm Election Day approaches.

It’s coming on. Rapidly.

I am ready to cast my ballot and then get on with the rest of retirement living.

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local news

Old friends: priceless

2 Comments

LAVEEN VILLAGE, Ariz. — There is precisely one reason — or maybe two of them — for my wife and I to visit this suburb of Phoenix.

It would be to get caught up with an old and dear friend and to meet his wife, who instantly became a friend as well.

I’ve known Ed Loos for 55 years. We worked together as high school boys at McDonald’s Hamburgers in Portland, Ore. I left that job in August 1968 to be inducted into the U.S. Army. I came home two years later and lost touch with Ed.

Then I met the girl of my dreams the following January. We got married and we invited Ed to our wedding.

My memory is foggy, but I believe that was the last time we saw Ed. After that glorious day 51 years ago, he went about living his life and we embarked on our own life journey.

Now we have reconnected and I find myself filled with joy at being able to get caught up with all that has transpired in our respective lives. Man, it’s been a hell of a journey for both of us.

I long have believed that most of us have few actual “friends.” Ed Loos has filled that role for me for the past five-plus decades. His wife, Colleen, has eased nicely into that role as well for my bride and me.

Those long-ago days working, laughing and carrying on the way kids have done since the beginning of time came rushing into our memory banks.

I am not sure whether all this is worth sharing. I find myself yearning to break away from the stresses of public policy and the headaches associated with contemporary politics.

So, having done that with this visit with one of my dearest friends on Planet Earth, I simply feel the need to share it here.

Life is so very good.

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media news

Newspapers: Where are they?

NEEDLES, Calif. — My wife and have ventured through much of southern California and tonight I just thought of something I haven’t seen with my own eyes.

The sight of people reading newspapers.

Not at breakfast in a tiny diner in Keene, Calif. Not at any of the truck stops and travel centers we visited on our journey. Nowhere, man!

There was a time when we would travel to hither and yon and spot newspapers spread out on people’s tables at restaurants. I would spot a newspaper — sometimes crumpled up — on the floor of men’s restrooms. We would stop for gasoline along the way and would see news racks full of newspapers waiting to be purchased by those wishing to learn what was occurring in their community or their nation or around the world.

These days? Newspapers are MIA!

OK. It’s a sign of the times. Newspapers are becoming part of our history. I consider it a glorious part, too. They are fading faster than yesterday’s news.

It makes me sad.

However, they still have their place as a chronicler of a community’s life and its future. I am delighted to be a freelance writer for a company that owns a group of weekly community journals that do that for our communities in North Texas.

If only there were more of them out there.

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national news, political news

Hope slipping away?

Can it be that Democrats’ optimism about retaining control of at least one congressional chamber is slipping away? That’s what I am hearing as we enter the two-week home stretch prior to the 2022 midterm election.

I suppose it’s getting safer to say that Republicans are going to win a majority of the House seats, giving them the chance to lead the lower chamber. I am just going to shake my noggin at the prospect of a potential Kevin McCarthy speakership awaiting us. Ugghh!

What about the Senate? Some polling data suggest that seats that should be a cinch for Democrats are entering the too-close-to-call phase. Places like Pennsylvania, Georgia (for God’s sake!) and Nevada figure to be tossups. It’s the Georgia contest that causes me to froth at the mouth, with GOP dumbass Herschel Walker hanging tough against Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Then we have Pennsylvania, where Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman actually might lose to GOP foe Mehmet Oz, who doesn’t even live in the state he wants to represent in the Senate. What’s more, Oz is a borderline quack physician who earned his spurs as a TV pitchman.

I am going to hold out a glimmer of hope that the Senate can remain in Democratic hands. It’s important, the way I see it, for the country to advance some important legislation that cannot occur if Republicans seize control of the Senate. I want, for example, the Senate to codify the Roe v. Wade reproductive choice guarantee that the Supreme Court tossed aside after it stood as “settled law” for nearly 50 years.

Democrats got my blood pumping. Then they seemed to run out of steam. Republicans have regained the momentum, or so I am led to believe.

I don’t know. The midterm election will be a nail-biter. Given the quality of many of the MAGA-leaning Republicans on the ballot, the idea that it’s even close simply boggles my noodle.

My hope is being tested.

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national news, political news

Considering straight-ticket ballot

For as long as I’ve been voting, and that goes back to 1972, I have resisted the notion of voting for candidates of just one party.

I am rethinking that personal policy as the 2022 midterm election draws closer.

I want to be clear. I won’t punch the straight-ticket slot on my ballot. Hah! I can’t do it anyway, as we no longer have that option in Texas. However, the state of policy in the Republican Party makes it virtually impossible for me to support anyone who endorses the platform set forth by the GOP.

I refer to its hideous criminalization of abortion, its election denial based on The Big Lie fomented by the GOP’s titular head (the immediate past president of the U.S.A.), its refusal to consider legislative remedies to gun violence.

Democrats up and down the ballot are likely to get my vote in 2022. Not all of them, mind you. I might just pass over some of the statewide contests on the ballot; some of the races remain mysteries to me.

I went to a Princeton Independent School District candidate forum recently and heard from a spectator that one of the candidates is the “only suitable Republican” running for one of two seats on the PISD school board. I reminded the young man that the candidates run as non-partisans; they aren’t Democrats or Republicans. That candidate might get my vote, but it doesn’t count as a partisan decision.

The partisan ballot, though, is full of clear choices. My mind is pretty much made up as early voting is about to commence. Still — and this is important — I intend fully to vote on Election Day. I want to hold off on committing my ballot to any candidate early in case the candidate messes up and makes me regret my vote.

The contests for Congress, for key statewide offices appear likely to be one-sided for this voter … if you get my drift.

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business news, economic news, local news

California isn’t an epithet

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has picked up on the Republican mantra to suggest that Texas shouldn’t become “like California.”

His campaign ads suggest that Texas Democrat want to transform the Lone Star State into a version of California. That’s a bad thing, he suggests.

But … is it?

My bride and I have traveled through much of the southern portion of the Golden State and have gotten a bit of an up-close look at why the state boasts a world-class economy.

Now, last I heard California’s gross domestic product output would rank it No. 6 or 7 among the world economies if the state were an independent country. Texas’s worldwide ranking, as I understand it, would be No. 9 or 10; still not bad, but not in league with California.

As I looked around the Bakersfield area – which the locals call the “Armpit of California” – I am struck by the abundance of petrochemical plants, of cattle trucks tooling along the highways, of massive feedlots where cattle producers fatten up their livestock for market. Does that remind anyone of anywhere with which they might be familiar? Sure. It reminds me of the Texas Panhandle, where we lived for 23 years before relocating to Collin County in early 2019.

Oh, and I also see my share of pro-Republican and anti-Democratic bumper stickers, TV campaign ads and assorted signage along the highways.

To be sure, I am acutely aware that California ain’t nirvana. I hear tales of horrific regulatory hurdles that homeowners and business owners must endure. I also know that the state suffered through a net population loss since the most recent census as folks are leaving the state.

Before you pile on and suggest we should pack our bags and move here … don’t even think about it. We aren’t moving. We have forged a great life during our 38 years as adopted Texans.

I just want to suggest that emulating the nation’s most populous and most prosperous state isn’t the epithet that some Texas politicians suggest.

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military news

Pulling hard for Ukraine

I am beginning to think of myself as a spectator at a boxing match, rooting for one of the fighters to knock the other guy out … cold!

So it is with the fight between Ukraine and the Russian aggressors who launched an illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

It has been a remarkable thing to witness as Ukraine gave up territory to the Russian invaders, only to launch a “counter-offensive” and seized back much of the land taken by the aggressors.

The Ukrainians have shown courage and competence while facing down what is supposed to be a superior military power. It is turning out to be rout, only with the underdog Ukrainians emerging as potential victors in a fight for their country’s very survival.

The world full of spectators is watching this drama play out. I am one of those who wants the Ukrainians to deliver a knockout punch to the Russian invaders who — as the Ukrainians are revealing as they retake their territory — have acted as war criminals. The world is watching the Ukrainians discover mass graves containing the bodies of women, children and old men.

The Ukrainians are the good guys in this fight. I am going to keep cheering them on.

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