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Seliger draws GOP challenger; good deal

Incumbents have hated for years my mantra that none of them deserves to be sent back to office without a challenge.

Former state Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, would get particularly agitated with me as I extolled the virtue of forcing incumbents to explain themselves, their votes, their policies — why they do what they do on our behalf.

My answer: Too bad, David. That’s why we have elections.

Well, another legislative incumbent, state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, has drawn a primary challenger. He is former Midland mayor Mike Canon, who told the Texas Tribune he intends to file his candidacy papers.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/12/07/former-midland-mayor-challenging-seliger-sd-31/

The Tribune’s Ross Ramsey notes that Canon’s candidacy could fuel a rivalry between the northern and southern ends of the massive Senate District 31, one of the largest geographically in the state. Given that the state’s population growth has occurred in regions east of here — and given that the law requires each Senate district to have roughly equal populations — that means West Texas districts’ borders keep getting expanded.

There’s long been a bit of tension between north and south in District 31. Before Seliger was elected in 2004, the district was represented by the late Teel Bivins, another stalwart Amarillo Republican; Bivins went on to be appointed ambassador to Sweden. Seliger defeated another ex-Midland mayor in that year’s primary. His most recent GOP challenge came in 2012 from a one-term school trustee from Odessa, whom Seliger trounced in the primary.

On one hand, it’s good for Seliger to be tested by someone within his own party. Primary challenges, indeed contested general elections, serve to keep incumbents on their game and enable them to explain to their constituents why they vote the way they do.

But there might some trouble brewing in this challenge. I don’t know Canon, but I’m going to make a broad presumption that he might be running to Seliger’s right, meaning he comes from the tea party wing of his party. This is the party wing that favors confrontation instead of compromise. Many tea party loyalists in Congress and in state legislators have been known to frown upon Republicans getting too chummy with those dreaded Democrats. Seliger over the years has told me of the friendships he’s developed with legislative Democrats; state Sen. Chuy Hinojosa comes to mind, as he and Seliger apparently are pretty good pals.

As Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst learned the hard way when he lost the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate to Ted Cruz, there’s danger in getting outflanked on the right. Dewhurst tried to tack to the right but it was too late. Cruz inflicted politically mortal wounds on Dewhurst.

Would a challenge from the right, were it to develop, push Seliger farther to at extreme end of the spectrum?

I’m hoping for Seliger’s sake — and for Senate District 31 voters — he stays the course.

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Santorum defames Mandela’s struggle

I’ll admit I didn’t see this one coming.

On the heels of Nelson Mandela’s death this week in South Africa, we hear from a two-bit American politician who equates the great Mandela’s struggle against injustice and tyranny with Republicans’ effort to rid the United States of the Affordable Care Act.

Yep, according to former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., the two battles stand as moral equals. That’s what he told Bill O’Reilly. Have a listen.

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2013/12/07/santorum-mandelas-fight-for-freedom-like-the-fight-against-obamacare/

I don’t know which offends more: Santorum’s equating the two fights or O’Reilly’s failure to call him out on his ridiculous comparison.

I’ll stick with the original offense, which would be Santorum’s asinine assertion.

Say whatever you wish about the ACA or about its chief benefactor, President Barack Obama, what is going on now in the United States bears no resemblance, none, to what Nelson Mandela endured as he led the movement to rid South Africa of its apartheid policy.

You remember apartheid, yes? It was the policy that required separate societies within South Africa, one for the white minority that governed the country and the other for black residents who comprised the overwhelming majority of the country’s population. The black residents, though, didn’t have the right to vote or to have any voice at all in the policies that suppressed them.

This was the battle Mandela fought and which cost him 27 years of imprisonment on Robben Island.

For a one-time U.S. senator who may run for president yet again to compare his party’s struggle against the Affordable Care Act with what Nelson Mandela endured is offensive beyond all measure.

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Biden or Clinton in ’16? Obama stays mum

President Obama faced a number of pointed questions this week in an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”

The most pointed query was one he wouldn’t dare answer. Who’d make the better president: Joe Biden or Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Obama begged off.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/192274-biden-or-clinton-not-a-chance-i-am-going-there-says-obama

You’d better get used to it, Mr. President. The media are going to try to get you to answer a question you say you won’t touch with mile-long pole.

The president surely anticipated the question from Matthews. He seemed ready.

They both would bring strength to the White House, Obama said. He said Vice President Biden has been at his side for every key decision. The president said Clinton has earned her place among the top secretaries of state in the nation’s history.

Yes, the president has some hurdles to clear before he starts planning his exit and deliberates over how — or whether — he should campaign for his successor.

I’m not expecting the national media to let up, though, in pursuing angles looking for clues on whom the president prefers: Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton.

The constant hectoring over that issue might drive the president even nuttier than his dealings with congressional Republicans.

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North Koreans prove again their PR insanity

Merrill Newman is on his way home after being held captive in North Korea.

In a bizarre tale — as if anything involving North Korea is ever not bizarre — Newman, an 85-year-old Korean War veteran, admitted to committing dastardly acts while fighting that war. The North Koreans, out of the goodness of their hearts, accepted his “apology” and let him go.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/07/world/asia/north-korea-american-newman/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

And what did this man do, according to the North Koreans? He committed “hostile acts” against them.

OK, let me see if I have this straight.

The North Koreans invaded South Korea in 1950, igniting a ferocious conflict that would last three years. United Nations forces, led by the United States, intervened on the South’s behalf. They fought bloody battles against the North Korean army, which later was aided by a massive force from the People’s Republic of China.

Is there anything non-hostile about any of this?

Newman had been recorded making some kind of apology for his actions while serving in the Korean War. He read the script. His reading of it sounded for all the world like one of those bogus “confessions” we heard during the Vietnam War by captured U.S. service personnel.

Well, now the North Koreans have “deported” Newman.

They can call it whatever they want. I prefer to call it a ridiculous public relations stunt gone bad.

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Economy gives GOP reason to cheer Obama policies

I can sense it, sort of.

The Labor Department said today the economy created 203,000 jobs in October. The jobless rate fell to 7 percent, the lowest level in five years. The jobs report provided the first “clean” look at the state of the economy, according to Politico.com, meaning a report that wasn’t shaded by the government shutdown and other external political factors.

And … the Federal Reserve Board just might start dialing back its stimulus efforts with the realization that the economy is finally — finally! — gaining some actual strength.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/november-2013-unemployment-numbers-100780.html

What am I sensing? The Republican leadership in Congress might be willing to give President Obama a little bit of credit for what appears to be a full-blown economic recovery.

I say “might be willing.” Whether it happens is anyone’s guess.

Perhaps the most encouraging element of this report, if you’re a Republican, is that the Fed might start drawing back on the bond-buying program it had instituted to help jump-start the economy. This government “intrusion” is anathema to congressional Republicans. It well might be that the Fed has seen enough improvement in the economy — which includes significant strength in the private sector — that it no longer has to pump billions of dollars to keep the economic engines running.

The stock market gets jittery at that kind of news. Still, the market took off like a rocket today when the jobs figures came out. It helped yours truly’s retirement account immensely, for which I am grateful.

The president cannot get a break these days, what with the Affordable Care Act rollout being the disaster it has become. That problem appears fixed, too.

Remember when the economy was Issue No. 1 in the GOP’s plan to defeat President Obama’s attempt at re-election? It didn’t work. Voter returned him to office for another four years.

Today’s jobs report seems to suggest that’s why virtually no one is talking smack about the economy these days.

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West Texas A&M has explaining to do

I’ll leave it to folks who are more in the know on West Texas A&M University athletics issues, people who are adept at parsing language or looking for things said or not said.

Jon Mark Beilue, writing for the Amarillo Globe-News, writes that he smells a rat in the sudden resignation/retirement of head WT men’s basketball coach Rick Cooper.

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2013-12-06

My pal Beilue has been around more WT locker rooms than most individuals. He knows the lay of the land at the Canyon campus.

But from my vantage point here in the peanut gallery, I have to concur that something’s just not right with the WT athletic program. This year has produced a couple of stunners.

First came the firing of head football coach Don Carthel, just two weeks before the start of what has turned out to be a successful season. The Buffaloes are still in the Division II playoff hunt for the national title. Carthel was canned for an NCAA ethics violation.

Now comes Cooper’s “retirement.” Beilue believes Cooper just walked away because he’d “had enough.”

Of what? Or of whom?

The common denominator in both coaches’ departure is WT athletic director Michael McBroom. Is he the reason for Cooper’s decision to quit barely a quarter of the way into this basketball season?

About four years ago, WT made a big deal out of its desire to create a first-class athletic environment. Its strategy was to become a magnet for blue-chip athletes who could come here to participate in revenue-producing sports — such as football and basketball. They would bring fans to the games, generating revenue for the school, enabling WT to build better facilities. It all sort of feeds on itself and that was WT President Pat O’Brien’s stated mission.

Then — poof! — the two most successful coaches in the school’s history are gone. That is no way to build the kind of athletic program a university envisions.

Something smells at West Texas A&M University. Are you paying attention, Texas A&M University System Board of Regents?

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Mandela’s example of grace could benefit U.S.

It didn’t take long for this example to come forth in the wake of Nelson Mandela’s death.

It came in the form of questions about how the great man’s spirit of grace and forgiveness could somehow be brought to bear on the poisonous political climate that afflicts Washington, D.C.

Think about this for a moment.

Mandela was sentenced to 27 years in prison. The South African government had charged him with treason because he fought to bring basic human rights to the majority of residents of his country. Black people did not enjoy the fruits of freedom in their country because the white minority imposed the rule of apartheid. Mandela said that was wrong and lead demonstrations against his government.

For that he was imprisoned until his release on Feb. 11, 1990. Did he condemn his captors? When he was released, did he launch reprisals against those who took away his freedom? No. He sought to reach out to them. Mandela said the end of apartheid meant he had won. He demonstrated grace and compassion. Nelson Mandela became a living symbol of forgiveness.

Is there a lesson for American politicians who cannot put aside their hard feelings? Do their differences now seem even more petty and petulant when compared to the deep schisms that afflicted politicians in South Africa?

I believe there exists a lesson that should not be lost on those who have crippled our government.

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Ice coats sidewalks needlessly

As the song goes, the weather outside is frightful.

So are the conditions of streets and sidewalks all over Amarillo that are covered in ice. Funny thing, though. The sky isn’t producing any moisture. The air is crackly dry. The water is coming from irrigation systems that the owners fail to turn off when the weather gets so, um, frightful.

I drove yesterday from extreme southwest Amarillo toward downtown and I lost count of the number of large spots of ice covering sidewalks. Water had spilled into the street at many locations, covering the asphalt with ice as well.

From where I come from, that constitutes a hazard to (a) pedestrians brave enough to be walking in weather like this and (b) motorists who might not see the ice sheets covering the street in front of them.

The temperature was about 11 degrees when I awoke this morning; the wind chill took it to 3 below zero.

The good news for my wife and me is that we live on a secluded residential street. Most of the residents on our little corner of heaven have irrigation systems. Make no mistake, many of them are still spewing water even though the outdoor temps freeze the water almost on contact. We have no compelling need to walk in front of our neighbors’ homes, where we might take a header while slipping on the ice.

The other areas with a lot of foot and motorized traffic, though, need some attention.

A final request: Turn off the irrigation systems.

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WT men’s basketball coach retires at ‘right time’?

I’ll admit right up front that I am not in the know about West Texas A&M University athletics.

I’ve not been a close student of the dynamics that run the program. I do, however, wonder — right along with a lot of other Texas Panhandle residents — about the timing of today’s stunning announcement that WT men’s basketball coach Rick Cooper is retiring seven games into a 30-game season.

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2013-12-05/wt-mens-basketball-coach-rick-cooper-resign-immediately

He says this is the “right time.” The right time? What in the world can possibly by “right” about leaving your team when its season is just getting started. He won his last game, against Pittsburg State. He had a whole rest of the season to play.

He retires? Now?

That, of course, assumes there isn’t some compelling health reason that forced him to retire.

Cooper was the most winning coach in WT men’s basketball history. He put together a solid program.

I don’t know Cooper. I’ve heard that he coaches with, um, intensity. I was visiting at lunch today with some of my fellow Rotary Club members about Cooper’s announcement. One of my pals talked about Cooper’s aggressive coaching style, and I mentioned the late Joe Kerbel, the fiery WT football coach who dropped dead at a young age. Kerbel routinely went ballistic on the sidelines of WT football games. Perhaps the men’s basketball coach wanted to avoid that fate.

I don’t know the particulars.

Nor do I know what prompts a coach to declare his retirement is coming at the “right time” barely a quarter of the way into a season — unless there is some unknown factor at play here.

I’m hoping for a more complete explanation.

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R.I.P., Nelson Mandela

One of the world’s greatest men has left us.

The life of Nelson Mandela, who died today at age 95, can be summed up, for me, in a single word: courage.

He endured 27 years in prison because he fought for equality for the majority of South Africa’s citizens, who were denied basic human rights under a policy called “apartheid.”

He emerged from prison in 1990 with his head held high. He became, in an instant, a towering world figure.

Mandela then ran for president of his country in 1994. For the first time in their history, millions of black South Africans were given the chance to vote. They stood in line for days to vote. They wept. They cheered. They performed their rights as citizens with immense pride. Mandela won, becoming the first black man to lead his country.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/05/17500450-nelson-mandela-dead-at-95

In the summer of 2004 I had the privilege of laying eyes on the great man. I attended the International Conference on AIDS in Bangkok, Thailand. Mandela was there to talk about tuberculosis, another communicable disease that he contracted while imprisoned. He came into a room full of journalists. I stood about 40 feet from him. He spoke for a few minutes and then left the room.

I didn’t speak to the great man, shake his hand, pat him on the back, nothing. Just being in the room with him — in its way — had some undefined effect on me. I am proud to have seen him.

Yes, he had his critics. He was too cozy with communist leaders, they said. Mandela’s response: They were the folks who stood behind him during his time in prison. He owed them for their loyalty.

He also said something else upon his release. He spoke of his lack of bitterness at his captors. A coward might lash out, casting aspersions on those who had deprived him of his freedom.

Mandela, courageous man that he was, instead spoke of the triumph he had scored. Apartheid had come to an end upon his release from prison. That, he said, was cause for joy.

He was a happy man. He also embodied courage beyond measure.

Well done, Mr. President.

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