Monthly Archives: January 2025

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Getting old is OK, however …

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Forgive me for reneging a little on a promise I made regarding this new nutrition and weight-management program I have just begun.

I said I wouldn’t bore you with nitty-gritty details I take at every step along the way. I want to share one item with you. So … bear with me.

The Veterans Administration has a program that teaches us how to control our meal intake and change our lifestyle. I have gotten far too heavy for my own liking. My dear bride’s passing from cancer nearly two years ago sent me into an eating frenzy I didn’t realize was occurring in the moment. But it was.

I am working my way out of that former life. I have just started that long journey. I have decided that my older age — I just turned 75 a little while ago — has robbed me of the discipline I was able to employ many years ago.

Once, in my mid-20s, I had gained a lot of weight. I decided to join my wife, who had just given birth to our first son, in a weight-loss program. It worked famously. I peeled off 52 pounds. If I may sound a bit conceited, I was proud of myself.

Those days are long gone. I have put even more weight on this aging body. I need professional help. I sought it out at the VA and the agency has responded by putting me on this program.

I am entering the program with an abundance of confidence, although I cannot yet declare whether it will bear the fruit I seek.

I can declare — therefore I will do so — that I need the help from the VA nutritionist with whom I am working. Just maybe she will keep me focused sufficiently to reach the finish line after completing my stated goal.

Uncategorized

Give it a rest, wackos!

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Right-wing wackos have been pissing me off for decades, but by golly they have stretched my tolerance past the breaking point this past week.

President Biden rewarded 19 deserving individuals the Presidential Medal of Freedom. They range from Bono, the U2 front man, to the late Sen./Attorney General/and probable president Robert F. Kennedy.

Among those honored were two people who have drawn the ire of the right-wing cabal, former U.S. Sen./Secretary of State/first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and progressive political activist George Soros. Why, the right-wingers just can’t tolerate the idea of these individual being honored with the nation’s highest civilian award.

What did they do to disqualify them? Clinton ran for president twice, in 2008 and in 2016. She was nominated by Democrats to run against Donald J. Trump; she lost the 2016 election. However, during her many decades in public life, Clinton became a champion for the underserved, for women’s rights, for children and for democratic principles.

And Soros? He came to this country from Hungary to build a better life for himself and his family. He has been a progressive political activist, giving tons of money to fellow progressives running for office and for causes they support.

The right-wingers don’t like either of them. That is just too … damn … bad!

Sure, they have made some mistakes. Who in the hell hasn’t?

They have earned the recognition that the president has bestowed on them. The right-wing kooks need to shut the hell up.

legal news

‘Yes’ on judicial election reform

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Nathan Hecht has called it a career, stepping down from his post as chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

He didn’t exactly leave completely on his own terms. State law forced him. to retire at age 75. So, he did.

I want to join others who have saluted his 35 years on the state’s highest civil appellate court and his lengthy legal career.

Hecht is a reformer. He sought to make the legal system more accessible to lower-income Texans. It’s a fascinating goal for a man thought to be a rock-ribbed conservative Republican jurist. Which brings me to a fundamental point I want to echo.

Judge Hecht also favors judicial election reform. He doesn’t like the way Texas chooses its judges. We elect them on partisan ballots. In this day, if you’re a Republican, you have a built-in advantage simply because you belong to the predominant political party. It used to be that Democrats held that kind of power.

Hecht doesn’t like the current system. He wants to see judges elected as non-partisans. As the Dallas Morning News noted in an editorial saluting Hecht’s tenure: “He also wisely used his high-profile and strong reputation in Austin to push the Legislature for a new system for selecting judges. Partisan elections, he said, put judges in the unfortunate position of becoming political. He famously told the Legislature in 2019: ‘A judicial selection system that continues to sow the political wind will reap the whirlwind.'”

And it has. I have seen too many good judges turned away — at the state and county levels — simply because they belong to the party out of power.

The current system too often turns jurists into potential political hacks.

I hope Judge Hecht continues to use his voice to seek needed change in Texas’s political system … by removing judges and judicial candidates from the partisan cesspool.

local news

New mayor pledges ‘transparency’

Stop me if you’ve heard this before … a new politician promises to bring transparency to a government he wants to lead, but then somehow falls short of delivering fully on the pledge.

Princeton’s new mayor, Eugene Escobar Jr., has said he wants to improve transparency at City Hall. OK, fine. The person he defeated in the December runoff, Mayor Brianna Chacon, made the same promise back when she first was elected to the office.

To my admittedly feeble eyes, Chacon fell a bit short of delivering the goods. I am going to cite the city’s hiring of Mike Mashburn as its city manager in early 2024. Chacon called it a “transparent” process … but it wasn’t.

I was covering the City Council meeting the night Mashburn got the nod. A lot of the run-up process caught me by surprise. Transparent? No.

Chacon had interviewed Mashburn, who was an assistant city manager in Farmers Branch. She was the primary interviewer. Chacon said she brought in some “key” department heads to talk to the young man.

Then, on the night of the council meeting, she introduced Mashburn to the council members. They were meeting him for the first time in executive — or closed — session. After visiting with the fellow for about an hour, they voted unanimously to hire him. Council then reconvened the open session and affirmed the decision with a unanimous vote.

I submit that Mashburn’s hiring was not a transparent process. It was shrouded in secrecy. If the new mayor is intent on improving transparency to city government, he can start with opening up the way the city hires its key management personnel.

The city manager is the only person the council hires. The manager is in charge of hiring everyone else. However, the mayor presides over the city government and he or she can set the transparency tone simply by insisting that these processes be conducted in full public view.

Princeton opened its new municipal complex touting its many windows as a symbol of transparency. Perhaps the new mayor can deliver on the symbolism.

Donald Trump

Trump’s angry because of this? What … ?

Donald Trump has expressed displeasure over the nation’s salute to one of his predecessors at the time of a presidential inauguration.

Small-mindedness has hit a new low.

President Biden ordered all flags to fly at half-staff for 30 days to honor the late President Jimmy Carter. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, while the flags will still be flying at half-staff. Trump thinks that disrespects his return to the presidency.

Give me a break … man!

Carter died near the end of the year just passed. President Joe Biden’s order was totally proper and in keeping with longstanding national tradition. Of course, Trump doesn’t respect any tradition that he deems diminishes his own role, which this one does not!

For the incoming president to bitch about flags flying in honor of a great statesman only sullies Trump’s already rotten reputation.

local news

It’s me vs. solicitors

My friends tell me I possess a fairly even-tempered disposition, that they like that as a rule I don’t get too rattled.

I am afraid that’s about to change as it regards door-to-door solicitors.

I have posted next to my front porch a “No Solicitation” sign. It’s been out there for years. And … for years solicitors have ignored it.

I young man rang my doorbell today, carrying some material for a home security system. I said “no” to him. He was on his way.

He chose to ignore the sign, I guess.

From this very moment on, I am going to tell solicitors of the sign. I want to point it out to them. I might also spew a few four-letter words at them for seemingly ignoring my plea to stay away.

I am declaring a state of war between me and the door-to-door cabal out there. I feel better now.

national news

Jan. 6 to come … and go

Pop quiz time: How many Americans do you think knew that Jan. 6 was a politically significant date prior to the onslaught that occurred on that date four years ago?

My guess? Damn few of us knew.

I mention that because on Monday, Congress is going to gather in the Capitol Building to certify the Electoral College result from the 2024 presidential election … just as it did four years ago when the traitorous mob stormed the Capitol seeking to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump four years ago. Trump rejected the result, calling the election “rigged” and “stolen.” He sent the mob to the Capitol, imploring the goons to “fight like hell.” They did. You know what happened.

Four years later, Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris. Will the VP summon a mob to attack our government? Nope. Won’t happen. She took her loss with grace, dignity and class.

Jan. 6 falls precisely two weeks before Inauguration Day. Every four years, Congress and the incumbent vice president gather to canvass the Electoral College votes and then certify the winner.

The irony, of course, will drip from the event that takes place next week. Harris was elected duly as vice president in 2020 and this year she will preside over Congress’s ritual certification of an election that produced her defeat by the individual who incited an insurrection four years ago. I have to wonder if she’s gritting her teeth at the idea.

But this post-election certification will go off without a hitch because the guy who lost the previous election — and denied President Biden the peaceful transition he deserved — will have won.

Many patriots, such as me, will accept the result … even if we dislike the outcome.

national news

Here we go: Round 2 of MAGA incompetence

Mike Johnson lost his first bid to re-up as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

It is beginning to look like yet another intraparty donnybrook as Republicans, who control the House by the tiniest margin in memory, struggle to find a leader who can control the legislative flow in the congressional chamber.

This appears to be shaping up as arguably another leadership debacle that has become all too familiar to those of us interested in good government. Which is to say that good government doesn’t exist in the nation’s capital.

The House has a one-vote Republican majority. The GOP already has lost one vote, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who said he cannot support Johnson’s re-election as speaker. No telling what will bring this particular MAGA goofball around.

Remember when it took Kevin McCarthy 15 votes to finally corral enough votes to keep the speaker’s gavel? It was the MAGA crowd that stopped McCarthy from taking charge. It also was a MAGA House member who called for his ouster … which took place quickly.

This is what we can expect to see moving forward. Oh … boy!

Sports news

Season over … try again next time

OK, I’ll be candid: My interest in the college football playoff ended with the end of the Oregon-Ohio State game last night.

The Buckeyes brought their “A” game to the Rose Bowl, while the Ducks played like, well, they didn’t belong there. The final score was 41-21, but it easily could have been a wider margin than that.

I realize the season isn’t really over. We football fans have two more sets of games to watch. Since I have lived in Texas for more than 40 years, I have to toss my love at the Texas Longhorns to win the college football title when all is done.

Texas awaits the Buckeyes on the semifinal game next week.

I’ll have to admit that my allegiance to Oregon stems only from the fact that I was born in Oregon, came of age there, wanted at one time to attend college in Eugene and have rooted for the Ducks since I was old enough to know what “rooting” for a team meant.

Events got in the way of my attending school at U of O.

The other element that puzzles me is this “transfer portal” business. Athletes come and go using this method of transferring to various schools. The Ducks appear to be among the masters of attracting blue-chippers to Eugene to play ball. They aren’t necessarily students, having finished their academic requirements already. But they do play good tackle football.

There seems to be little local connection with these individuals. So, why cheer for them just because they fit into a uniform associated with the University of Oregon?

Whatever. The season is over. I moved to Texas at the age of 34. I have lived here most of my life. So, I’ll save my cheering for the Longhorns when they suit up — in the Cotton Bowl, no less — to play the Buckeyes.

Hook ’em, Horns!

Donald Trump, national news

Trump gets a bouquet … yes, believe it!

Get ready for a shocker, ladies and gents, as I am about to offer a good word for the next president of the United States.

Donald J. Trump said this week he plans to attend the funeral of the late President Jimmy Carter.

OK, it’s not a huge deal. Trump should be there. He says he will go. What’s remarkable is that he said so quietly, in a statement. He made no big splash, no grand proclamation calling attention to himself.

I am going to presume he’ll join the other men who have held the presidency: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The incumbent president, Joe Biden, will deliver the keynote eulogy honoring his predecessor, with whom he forged a remarkable friendship dating back to when Biden first entered the U.S. Senate in 1973.

In what has to be the most moving element of the funeral will occur when the sons of two high-profile politicians deliver memorials on behalf of their fathers. Ted Mondale, son of former Vice President Walter Mondale, will read his late father’s eulogy he wrote years ago. Steve Ford, son of the late former President Gerald Ford, will do the same.

Walter Mondale and Gerald Ford expected Carter to precede them in death. He outlived them both, but they wrote the eulogies in case he did.

I won’t be fixated on Donald Trump’s presence among the attendees. I am, however, glad to see him take a moment to honor a good, decent and most honorable man as the nation and the world bid him a fond farewell.