Monthly Archives: January 2024

military news

Defense boss’s privacy need backfires badly

Lloyd Austin seems to have lost sight of an important fact of a grownup’s life … which is that everyone must answer to someone else.

Therefore, for the U.S. defense secretary to keep his whereabouts hidden from those to whom he reports was a serious mistake. There needs to be some action taken to prevent this kind of keep-away from ever recurring.

Austin was hospitalized for four days before the brass at the White House knew about it. He had gone into the hospital for a routine surgical procedure. He didn’t tell the fellow who hired him, President Biden, nor anyone on the president’s staff.

One of his deputies stood in for him while he was “away,” which in itself is no big deal; Cabinet officials have done more of that since the COVID pandemic ravaged the nation.

It is troubling, though, that the individual who runs the Pentagon, the nation’s military establishment, would treat his absence from public view in such a cavalier fashion. The weirdness of this episode is illustrated by the fact that Austin is a retired Army four-star general who no doubt never would tolerate such secrecy from his subordinates in the military.

Politico reports: White House and Pentagon aides insist that Austin’s job is not in jeopardy — at least not yet. But they are sticking to that line despite seeming to lack full information about what’s actually been going on at the Pentagon. The precise nature of Austin’s surgery, medical complications and even his current condition remain unclear or addressed only in vague terms. Senior Defense Department and White House officials still don’t know the details of the procedure.

What the hell? The White House still doesn’t know the “details of the procedure”? Hey, Secretary Austin isn’t some chump mid-level bureaucrat. He is sixth in line to the presidency. He runs an agency that spends about $800 billion a year to keep us safe from our enemies.

The White House needs to know at all times the defense secretary’s status. For that matter, I want — and I deserve — to know what is occurring when it involves the defense boss.

Must he be fired over this? Probably not … but damn, he needs to shed this misbegotten need for privacy.

Immediately!

environmental news, local news

City manager hire: Is it perfect?

If one is to accept the views expressed in an op-ed column published in the Dallas Morning News, then Princeton City Council could have hired the perfect individual to be the new city manager.

Whether manager-designate Mike Mashburn achieves perfection, of course, remains to be determined.

Why the early optimism?

Arun Agarwal writes in today’s DMN that “urban parks” form a shield of serenity in a bustling environment. The tagline at the end of his column describes Agarwal thusly: Arun Agarwal is president of the Dallas Park and Recreation Board and vice chair of the Texas Economic Development Corporation.

OK, he’s got some street cred on the subject. What about Mike Mashburn? He comes to Princeton after serving as an assistant city manager in Farmers Branch, where he emphasized park development in that community.

Meanwhile, Princeton voters have approved a city bond issue with funds dedicated to park expansion and improvement. It’s a match made in heaven, yes? Hmm. Could be.

Agarwal writes: Regardless of socio-economic status, age or ethnicity, urban parks provide a neutral ground where individuals can come together in an environment of belonging and shared identity. Picnic tables, playgrounds and sports fields become platforms for interaction, dialogue and the forging of meaningful communal relationships.

Agarwal cites a park study aimed at finding the benefits of park development. He writes: Furthermore, this study established that Dallas parks advance equity by helping to build intergenerational wealth, and that our parks generate real estate value through property value premiums and park-oriented development.

I met Mashburn on Friday after the council approved his hiring, and he mentioned he liked the “small-town feel” that Princeton provided. I reminded him that Princeton is still a small-ish town, but it stay that way for much longer, as it is in the midst of a growth explosion.

Which makes the benefit of “urban park” development more critical for the residents of this city.

What’s more, parks can improve our health, according to another study that Agarwal cites. A more recent study, presented last year, found that 78% of repeat visitors to Buffalo Bayou in Houston reported a decrease in physical ailments such as stress, asthma and general poor health since beginning to come to the park, and 90% said it contributes to improved quality of life and sense of well-being.

Parks promote community, equity and economic growth (dallasnews.com)

So, are we on the verge of a park-related improvement in our collective physical, emotional and spiritual health?

I look forward to seeing if our city manager can stir up the elixir.

Joe Biden, national news

Raucous SOTU on tap?

President Biden … you are about to receive some more unsolicited advice from little ol’ me, one of your many supporters who wants to see you re-elected in November.

House Speaker Mike Johnson invited you to speak to a joint congressional session about the State of the Union. I am delighted you accepted the March 7 speaking engagement.

Be prepared, sir, to be heckled, harangued and harassed by a handful of MAGA morons sitting on the Republican side of the House chamber. You have a marvelous message to deliver. The state of our Union is strong. I expect that declaration to come with force during your speech.

It won’t matter to the likes of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, Lauren (The Carpetbagger) Boebert, Sens. Ted (the Cruz Missile) Cruz or John (no, not that …) Kennedy.

They will hoot, holler and hiss as you extol the virtues of your term in office.

The challenge, Mr. President, will be in how you deal with it in the moment. One of your predecessors, President Obama, had a masterful sense of timing as he swatted away such idiocy arising from the GOP side of the chamber. Some advice? Why not call the man you call your “brother” and ask him for a tip on how to handle such juvenile behavior. Hey, no one needs to know you made the call.

Use your personal cell phone. Slip him a text message. He’ll call back, right?

Yes, this speech will be seen through a political lens. You know that, as you have sat through many other such SOTUs as senator and vice president.

As you declare the strength of our Union, though, it is imperative that you deal forthrightly with some of the issues that do plague this great nation. You know what I am talking about: the southern border crisis stands out; a solution to that difficult matter can come from you and the SOTU is an ideal forum to offer it. Wars in Israel and Ukraine also are deep concern for your fellow Americans. We need some glimmer of an “end game” strategy and again, the SOTU can provide the venue for it.

I am delighted with the state of our economy and you need  to remind Americans that the recession the “experts” predicted hasn’t come … and isn’t likely to come.

And, finally, you need to frame this upcoming campaign as a battle to retain our cherished democracy and resist the rants of those who want to turn the presidency into an autocracy.

I am with you, Mr. President.

As for the delinquents in the crowd who will toss decorum into the dumper as you stand before the nation, you’ll know how to handle them, too.

Joe Biden, national news

Biden is now engaged … fully

Joe Biden has decided to engage the individual who is believed to be his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.

As a chump bystander perched in North Texas, I merely want to say: Bring it, Mr. President!

President Biden marked the 1/6 assault on our federal government in a most fascinating way. He traveled to Valley Forge, Pa., where George Washington was encamped with his chilled revolutionary forces who were battling the British while trying to create a new democracy.

President Biden spoke on behalf of democratic principles and draw a straight line between those principles and the authoritarian theme sung by the presumed Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump. Biden said Trump poses a direct and existential threat to democracy.

I am one American patriot who wants us to continue on the democratic path forged by our founders and continued through the two centuries-plus since the American Revolution.

Biden told us in 2020 that he was campaigning for our nation’s soul. Sadly, much of that soul has been hijacked by Trump’s idiocy. Biden plans to seek to recover it, breathe new life into it and expose Trump — as if he needs the exposure — for the fraud he has shown us to be.

Go for it, Mr. President!

local news, media news

Social media can bring joy

Many of us grouse about social media and how these platforms annoy us endlessly with trivial nonsense.

Well, I am going to say something nice about one social medium and the pure joy it brought to little ol’ me.

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed recently when I noticed a message from the former wife of a longtime friend and former colleague of mine. We worked for a time together in Oregon City, Ore., back when my career was getting started.

This former wife happens to be close friends with another Facebook friend of mine; she stumbled onto a message I had written to our shared friend, so she reached out to me. She told me she and my old pal were divorced, but she gave me his phone number and his address in Oregon.

What did I do? I called him!

He took the call, saw my name on his caller ID … and we commenced some serious catching up over the many years that had passed since we last saw each other.

This friend and I did some outdoorsy things in the old days, even a little mountaineering.

I left Oregon in the spring of 1984 and set up my life and career in Texas with my wife and two sons. I lost touch with my friend.

Until now!

I told him of the journey my life has taken over the past 40 years. The good and the bad. He told me, too, of his life’s path … also sprinkling some of the negatives with the positive stuff.

But, hey, that’s life. The ups and downs all come along and we manage to maintain our balance and trudge on.

It was a purely joyful conversation I had with my old friend. I just regret it took us so long to reconnect.

I am going to bitch again about social media in the future, bemoaning its excesses, its intrusion into our lives and the nonsense it conveys around the world.

Just not today.

national news

Wanting a return of real Republicanism

Here comes a confession that might surprise some readers of this blog who presume I hold a partisan bias against Republicans.

I want the real Republicans who favor small government, low taxes and a strong defense policy to return to power.

They have been pushed aside by the MAGA cultists who adhere to the lunacy promoted by Donald Trump, the so-called “populist” who in reality would have nothing to do with the people he purports to “protect.”

We have the likes of Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Chris Christie, Chris Sununu, John Kasich being vilified as Republicans In Name Only. Why? Because they stand on the principle of fealty to the oath they take, not to a moron who vows to suspend the rule of law on Day One of a presidency were he allowed to return to the White House.

I am not a partisan. I want justice delivered to Trump. I want Republicans to snap out of their sleep-walking through the 2024 presidential primary campaign. They continue to give Trump a pass on some serious allegations that have been leveled at him.

Real Republicans are as aghast at what he faces as the rest of us.

local news

Where is transparency?

Princeton’s city council had a marvelous opportunity to demonstrate the transparency it promised when the city moved into its new municipal complex a couple of years ago.

I believe, though, the city has work to do to achieve what the mayor and the former city manager pledged.

Council is going to meet Friday to select a city manager to succeed Derek Borg, who resigned suddenly at the end of this past year. He was forced out by a council unhappy with the way he was guiding the municipal apparatus.

I had hoped the council would announce the process it would use to find the new manager. I urged the council to go big, to hire a national search firm to spread a wide net. It didn’t heed my advice … but I don’t care about that.

I do care, though, that the city kept its search process a secret. It advertised quietly through the Texas Municipal League. The decision on who to hire was made — also quietly — by the mayor and the interim city manager. The rest of the council reportedly will meet the individual they chose on Friday.

Borg and Mayor Brianna Chacon had said the new city complex, which features plenty of glass as a metaphor for openness and transparency, said the City Hall design would provide an example of how the city planned to govern.

Where, though, was the transparency in the search for the city manager?

It is my own belief that the city fell short in keeping that pledge as it hunted for a city manager. Let us hope this isn’t a harbinger of what lies ahead at Princeton City Hall.

Sports news

Pac-12 goes out swinging

Let’s talk a little college football … shall we?

The Pac-12 in reality is now down to just the Pac-2: Oregon State and Washington State. All the other schools have bolted to other conferences and will play tackle ball with their new colleagues beginning this summer.

However, the Pac-12 is going out on a high note, with one of the former Pacific Coast teams, the Washington Huskies, preparing to play next week for the national collegiate championship against the Michigan Wolverines.

The rest of the teams that played in bowl games have done fairly well. The Pac-12 stands at 3-3. My Oregon Ducks took care of business 45-6 against Liberty University in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day. On the flip side, the Oregon State Beavers got walloped by Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl, 40-9, which is no disgrace given Notre Dame’s legendary football tradition.

Where do we stand? Oregon is joining the Big 10, along with Washington, USC and UCLA, next season. The Ducks and Beavers still will play their annual rivalry game. Other Pac-12 schools are joining the Big 12, but it’s not clear where OSU and WSU will end up.

For now, my Pacific Northwest loyalty compels me to root for the Huskies to defeat the Wolverines and bring home the national championship trophy to the NW.

Besides, Oregon’s two losses this year were to the Huskies, so if the Ducks are going to live with those losses, then they should take solace in knowing that they lost only — by a total of seven points in both games combined — to the national champs.

national news

Cheney victimized by her own party

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As I continue to listen to former congresswoman Liz Cheney the more appalled I get as I ponder what the Republican Party has done to one of its most influential members.

Cheney is as conservative as any member of the House, where she served for three terms. Then she determined that Donald Trump violated the oath of office he took when he became president in January 2017.She has written a book chronicling the peril we face if Trump somehow manages to worm his way back into the White House.

Just like that, she became persona non grata within the GOP. The Wyoming chapter of her party kicked her to the curb. Then she lost in the 2022 GOP primary to a MAGA-loving cultist.

I am left, along with others to ask … why? Why did he party toss aside an elected official who voted with Trump 93% of the time and whose policies mirror to the letter standard doctrinaire Republicanism. Cheney is on their side on the issues that matter. Every … single … time!

Still, none of that matters to the cultists who are highly critical of this principled member of Congress who stands by the oath she took to “defend and protect” the Constitution and is demanding accountability from the POTUS who violated it.

All of this speaks grimly of what has become of a once-respected great American political party. It also speaks well of one Republican who still believes that loyalty to the nation matters more than loyalty to an individual who appears intent on destroying our system of government.

local news

Good riddance, 2023!

We did what we wanted to do: we torched 2023 calendars, let ’em burn to ashes.

You know that 2023 was the worst year in our family’s life. You know, too, the reason why the now-former year is loathed by my family and me. What you see in the picture attached to this post is a calendar turned to February, the month our family agony began in earnest.

What I haven’t discussed on this blog is the reason for the calendar-burning.

The idea came from a long-time friend and former colleague. He made the suggestion believing it would cleanse my emotional reservoir. Hell, even the prospect of burning the calendars has given me relief from the anguish that lingered for almost the entirety of 2023.

I know it’s only a symbolic act. No symbolism will cure us of the pain we endured with the passing of my dear bride, Kathy Anne, the mother of my sons. The cure — and I use the term with an abundance of caution — will come chiefly from time.

But lighting the calendars is a start of a new year that I plan to insist is far better than the year we just ushered onto the trash heap.

Happy new year everyone. May it bring you all great joy. I intend to reap all the joy possible that 2024 brings to my family and me.