The LAST Post of 2007

Because soon I'll be watching football and drinking beer....

As opposed to the other posts on Lose an Eye, I've given a small amount of thought how to usher out 2007 and ring in 2008.

I could do a nifty little year in review but, on a blog at least, that kind of smacks a little bit too much of "self-congratulatory back slapping" for my taste. Kind of like listing your' "best posts" over on the side-bar of your blog. Blah.

I could just post a snappy picture and holiday greetings and watch silently as 2007 slowly fades over the horizon in the rearview but, well, its been done by a LOT of blogs and, you know, they've all taken most of the good pictures. (ditto for the holiday themed music videos)

I briefly tinkered with taking a thinly veiled shot at my political opposites but (for one) I was beaten to it and (secondly) my political opposites probably don't read this blog and wouldn't realize it was a shot anyway.

So, what to do? How to properly cap off 2007 in a style suitable for Lose an Eye with the quality that readers have come to expect?




I present to you the Lose an Eye 2008 "Wish List"....

1. May Mrs. White never go away. - Yes, we have poked fun at her blind love and devotion to Houston's current mayor, and yes, her editorials are nothing more than contradictions wrapped in logical fallacies surrounded by dodgy conlusions. I "get" all of that, and I see why thinking people are often frustrated with her. Today's editorial is a prime example:

patrons of strip clubs will be tapped for a $5 admission fee — what some have dubbed a "pole" tax. Most of the money is to pay for services for victims of sexual violence. It is fitting that an industry known for its objectification of women's bodies be a source of funds to support rape prevention and victim support.

Club owners say they don't like the link between their businesses and the crime of sexual assault. That's an understandable complaint, but the logic is tortured. The law doesn't imply that those who patronize "adult" entertainment venues are rapists. Rather the law recognizes that a small percentage of the revenues of an industry that trades in women's sexuality ought to be returned to the community to deal with sex crimes largely perpetrated against women.

I ask you: Where else can you find an arugment of that type that bumps into the logic wall of so many fallacies at once?

For the sake of the funny bone of EVERY Houstonian, I hope Mrs. White continues dishing drivel without pause(or thought for that matter). Face it, if J. Howard Gibbons ever got hit on the head and suddenly became self-aware the Houston Chronicle would be a lot more boring overnight.


2. That the blog revolution, doesn't fail. - Say what you want about the failures of the Chron, one of her bigger successes is the emergence of so many quality content blogs focusing on many issues that don't fit in the dead tree edition. One wonders what Matt Stiles did before he found Google docs, and what Dwight was doing before selectively linking to blogs and other stories? Are there certain people who shouldn't blog? You bet. But there are plenty of Chron bloggers whose content demands you pay attention especially during an election year.

So far the Chron has done a good job providing readers with a good mix of content. Here's hoping this only improves in 2008.


3. May the 2008 political elections be everything we think they will be.

And by that, I mean entertaining. And no, despite on-line assertions by others to the contrary, I really don't care WHICH party gets the overall "win". I just hope that we don't get bland elections. Let's have some "fun" in our politics this year. The Rosenthal kerfluffle is a good start, I'm sure there will be more to come. So far in 2007 we've had sex scandals and rumors and resignations and defiance. All we need is for William Jefferson Clinton to be caught in the ladies room in a Louisiana truck stop with three cocktail waitresses with "Go Hillary" bumper stickers stuck on their butts. We've got to get this out of the way now because in 2010 all we've got to look forward to is Bill White vs. Kay Bailey for Gov. (Zzzzzzzz.) Heck, "issues" don't matter unless your candidate of choice is in the middle of a scandal. THAT'S when you hear that the hope is the race will be run on the "issues". Americans want sizzle, send the steak back and char that sum-bitch so it sounds like a standing ovation at the flea circus. This is Government we're talking about, it's not like its life or death right?

Vive la scandal in 2008!

4. A little less public policy designed to appeal to our maternal instncts please.

How about public policy designed to, novel concept alert: benefit the public? And by benefit I don't mean to give them what you think they need, but give the people what they want. In other words, lets stop legislating morality and start legislating with common sense. I realize that there are people out there who think that my being able to purchase a fifth of Tito's Handmade Vodka on the Sabbath will surely bring the fires of God down upon their homes, but these same people probably would have thought that ending prohibition was going to accomplish the same thing. It's a documented fact that fire did not suddenly sweep in and devour the country when it became legal to purchase liquor again. So, everyone take a deep breath. The following items are not going to bring a sudden end to the country either:

Legalized casino gambling, an elimination of "blue" laws, holistic sex education, the teaching of evolution, people choosing to not believe in evolution, men paying for lap dances, women paying for lap dances, homosexual marriage, heterosexual marriage, women getting abortions, women deciding to put the child up for adoption, reasonable attempts to keep abortion rare but legal, happy holidays, choosing to say something more specific, a Bible as a tribute to a deceased individual, a Torah as a tribute to a deceased individual, NO scriptural text as a tribute to a deceased individual, booty-shaking cheerleaders, re-examining the "war on drugs", putting criminals in prison, letting some non-violent offenders out, people speaking Spanish, people speaking English, ballots in several languages, teaching the basics, diversity, those who are not all that diverse, securing the border, showing compassion for those who are here already, a Democratic President, a Republican President, and (for God's sake) can we just agree once and for all that Football is NOT that important in the general scheme of things?

Let's build some infrastructure and provide for the common defense. THEN look at the money we have left and decide what is the best way to allocate it out. And no more debt spending. And no, budgets aren't moral documents. They're financial documents. Don't buy into that tripe.


5. Last, but not least: Happy New Year!!!

Here's to a full and successful year of blogging all things Houston, Texas with the occasional stray post poking fun at foreigners thrown in for good measure.


Salud!!

Lunch a go-go

Saturday was the official "Stocking up for New Year's Football Marathon" day. After a two hour shop-a-thon over at the HEB on Fry Road, a trip by Walgreens to fill some prescriptions my wife and I decided that a run to the Downtown Spec's was a necessity in order to restock with Tito's Handmade Vodka and Champagne in order to ensure a properly sotted send-off to the crackup that was 2007.

About 12:30 and we were hungry. Also, the thought of heading through the tasting gauntlet that is SPEC's downtown on an empty stomach didn't sound that appealing. We needed food, and we needed it now.

So began an hour-long search for Beaver's running without a map, a clue, or my cell phone (which has Internet connectivity) we failed miserably looking up and down Washington, based solely on the memory of a Houston Chron article that mentioned it was somewhere in that vincinity. Alas, Beaver's on on Decatur. So we aborted the search and headed downtown.

I'd like to blame our futility on hunger, or some other medical condition that makes one's head swim that doesn't include driving while intoxicated or some mind-altering substance. But I can't. The fact is we didn't think to pack the TomTom, and we didn't plan our trip accordingly.

Which led us to driving down Main Street at 1PM, hungry, and suddenly realizing that Taco's a Go-Go was the sustenance that our empty bellies were craving.

Pictured above are the picadillo and barbacoa tacos. Although I think they got the toppings on each backwards. When I first went the barbacoa taco was adorned with only cilantro, and the picadillo had the lettuce, tomato, onion etc. I took the picture, and then made the swap.

Because the saltiness of the ground beef in the picadillo NEEDS the vegetables as an offset, and the cilantro and barbacoa are an indulgence not to be missed. It was just a little taco surgery after all, an out-patient procedure, and no tacos were harmed during the procedure.

Then I devoured them, and they were good. My wife was in a breakfast mood and I was going to take a picture of her order as well, but by the time I got done playing Dr. Taco her's were gone. She assures me that she did taste them, and they were good. Maybe not as good as Juan in a million in Austin, but a darn good local option when driving to the Hill Country isn't feasible.

To top it all off, a quick perusal of Sig's Lagoon followed lunch, and the tacos allowed us to sample freely at SPEC's during our trip through Houston's shrine to all things booze.

All in all it was a good Saturday. A Saturday that cost less than $15 to feed two people five tacos and two iced teas.

Not too bad.

You mean people get PAID for this?

A little bit of blog-related navel gazing.

Blogging for dollars...

(from Candice Choi of the AP via the Chron)

Zach Brooks pocketed $1,000 this month blogging about the cheap lunches he discovers around midtown Manhattan ($10 or less, preferably greasy, and if he’s lucky, served from a truck).

The site, Midtownlunch.com, is just a year and a half old and gets only about 2,000 readers daily, but it’s already earning him enough each month for a weekend trip to the Caribbean — or in his case, more fat-filled culinary escapades in the city.

In the vast and varied world of blogging, Brooks is far from alone.

It’s no longer unusual for blogs with just a couple thousand daily readers to earn nearly as many dollars a month. Helping fill the pockets of such bloggers are programs like Google’s AdSense and many others that let individuals — not just major publications — tap into the rapidly growing pot of advertising dollars with a click of the mouse.

In 2006, advertisers spent $16.9 billion online, up steadily each year from $6 billion in 2002, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau. In the first half of 2007, online advertising reached nearly $10 billion, a nearly 27 percent increase over the first half of 2006.

Little technical skill is needed to publish a well-read blog, meaning just about anyone with something worthwhile to say can find an audience, said Kim Malone Scott, director of online sales and operations for Google’s AdSense. That’s attracted greater readership and advertising dollars, she said.

So I'm guessing the moral of this story is as follows: Click on my sponsors, please.

Or, you can keep on reading and I'll keep opining except that you'll be free from all of the guilt associated with your role in turning me into the 'next' big blogging star. It's OK, I'm sure I'll thank you later for your insistence that I stay safely removed from rampant commercialism.

Oh, wait...there's fine print:

That doesn’t mean bloggers are suddenly flush with money. For every blogger earning a decent side income like Brooks, countless others will never earn a cent. But with the right mix of compelling content and exposure, a blog can draw a dedicated following, making advertising a low-hanging fruit. “This is really a continuation of how the Web in general has enabled smaller businesses and individuals to compete, if not at a level playing field

Which means that I'd have to "market the blog" in order to earn money. That involves work, and this blog is certainly NOT about work. Work is boring, and typically tedious.

If you're reading this blog and dreaming of BEING at work then I'm probably not doing my job. More posts on food and Texas wine maybe?

But geez, now that I know I could get paid for this...maybe its time I cleaned up the place a little.....


nah.

Republican navel-gazing.

Nothing like a good sex scandal to stir the fires of self-reflection in the "family values" party eh?

(from Alan Bernstein of the Chron)

The leadership of the Harris County Republican Party is meeting in a private, emergency session tonight to discuss the political fallout over personal e-mails sent by Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal to his executive secretary.

"We will discuss how to proceed as a party," county GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill said.

The meeting included Republican Party parliamentarian Mike Riddle and his wife, state Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball.

Wednesday is the deadline for candidates to sign up to run in the March 4 Republican primary, and Woodfill acknowledged that one path for the party could be to encourage others to challenge Rosenthal in that contest.

(snip)

Some members of the county GOP advisory committee hoped to discuss tonight whether to encourage Rosenthal to resign or declare that he will not seek re-election after his current term expires at the end of 2008.

Rosenthal's political consultant, Allen Blakemore, said he has talked frequently in the past few days with party leaders about his opinion that no other highly qualified candidate is positioned to run.

The county GOP chairman talked about the e-mails before the meeting.

"It's not good. They are horrible," Woodfill said. "The district attorney has made a mistake."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Lose an Eye Political Guffaw Award (heretofore to be known as the "Guffie") for political understatement of the year goes to Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill.

A mistake.

Writing personal e-mails to a woman (not his wife) on taxpayer-funded time thus opening up a whole can of worms regarding legality, ethics, and the party in question hanging on to the office of District Attorney is "a mistake".

I guess if you refer to doing something so dunderheaded that it pretty much signals the end of your political career, and that puts your party in the untenable position of trying to make a last minute decision that's probably not going to play well with a large portion of the community not matter WHAT you decide "a mistake" then, OK. I guess, according to Mr. Woddfill that the Republicans have made a lot of "mistakes" in the recent past. Wide stances in stalls, getting tied up with Abramhoff and the entire ARMPAC mess, the Congressional page scandals? All "mistakes".

So the navel gazing begins, and continues much as does the piling on. Both the shallow and the thoughtful.

At the end of the day however Rosenthal, and the Republican Party has done precious little to keep their Holy House (by their reckoning) in order. So the Democrats have the same right to "pile on" as many on the Right did (with lame jokes as well BTW) during the whole Clinton "I did not have sex with that woman" mess. It's free crack night in the Republican bashing ferret hut, and the Democratic wolves are salivating.

Eat well kids.


As for me? I'm of the same mind on this issue as I was with the whole Clinton affair. I could care less about Rosenthal's sexual escapades, provided it was between consenting adults. His marital infidelities will have to be worked out in his house.

What I AM concerned about is how much of this went on during taxpayer-funded time, and whether or not there were laws broken relating to private use of public property etc. Until we know that, all of this is just schedenfreude of the highest order, a public turning in the wind of (to borrow from Slampo) a very sanctimonious figure who is getting his very public comeuppance for all to see.

As far as it relates to the Harris County DA's race?

I disagree with the Professor's assertion that the race is now back to all square. To say that ignores the very real role in the crime lab mess that Rosenthal played when he was convicting all of those people based primarily on faulty test results from the lab. I said back then that Bradford was probably the only candidate with worse crime lab stains than Rosenthal, but I also said that the general public isn't very well versed on the subtleties of the issue, and that the negative campaigning would be epic.

Now you can add to Rosenthal's negatives this little escapade, which means that Bradford has to be viewed as having a slight advantage which will be chipped away at by going even more negative by the Rosenthal campaign. IF, that is, he isn't talked into pulling out of the race. (A possibility that I would rate at around 30/70% right now).

Either way, if you're a Republican supporter, this has to make you feel a little blue (pun intended) about the prospects of a continued Republican stranglehold on elected office. That your' "leadership" is dealing with this behind "closed doors" also shows the ineptitude of Woodfill et al. They honestly THINK that the voters cannot make up their own minds regarding what the right thing is to do.

It's that kind of "leadership" that has caused several moderates and others to bolt from the Party of late.


UPDATE: Just as I finished this post: The Chron tells us that Rosenthal is determined to stay in DESPITE the "executive council" telling him he should stay out....

(more from Alan Bernstein)

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is refusing the Republican Party leadership's request Sunday night to remove his name from the 2008 ballot.

After a four-hour emergency meeting, the 15-member GOP advisory committee voted unanimously to ask Rosenthal to step aside in the wake of the controversy that's followed the mistaken release of his personal e-mails, including dozens sent to his executive secretary.

Despite their request, Rosenthal was adamant about pursuing re-election.

"I'm going to run for district attorney and I'm going to win," he said, leaving the headquarters as party leaders continued to talk behind closed doors.

And so we go.

The winter of Metro's content.

It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of Metro. As a matter of fact I think it could possibly be the worst administered government agency in Houston. Rad Sallee provides a primer of the NEXT Metro mess that's fixing to roll out across the City, coupled with some hefty rate hikes.

Joy.

Making changes is a New Year's tradition, and in January the Metropolitan Transit Authority will make two big ones — increasing the cost of a ride and how to pay for it.

The long-expected switch to a simpler fare structure and a universal fare card — called the Q Card, for short — is coming at a difficult time for the agency.

The rollout, spread over the next three months, will share Metro's attention with a rail route controversy, federal funding setbacks, an increase in complaints from the public, falling ridership on local bus routes and contract negotiations with mechanics and drivers amid talk of low morale.

Last year, Metro staff warned the agency board that ridership might dip 11 percent in response to the changes. Jeffrey Linton, the agency's director of revenue, said he expects a dropoff closer to 4 percent to 6 percent, with a recovery within three months.

Base fares on local routes, which have stayed the same for 13 years, will remain at $1, but numerous discounts and special deals will end, increasing what many riders pay. The average ride now costs 43 cents and will rise by 11 cents, Metro figures. In November, Metro averaged 283,000 boardings a day on its buses and trains.

On Park & Ride buses — many of whose riders use steeply discounted 30-day or 365-day passes that will be discontinued — the average is expected to rise about 40 cents. The base fares, $1.50 to $3.50 depending on distance, will not change.

Metro's "dirty secret" is that the most successful program they run is NOT the METROrail system as they frequently advertise. It's the park and ride bus system that funnels large amounts of the City's workforce from the suburbs to employment centers during rush hours. That they are taking steps to make paying for this more difficult highlights not only the ineptitude of Metro's leadership, but how blind toward the realities of local transit they have become.

In the private sector, there is something known as a "core competency". The standard business model is to focus on core competencies while seeking new ways to expand market share. Metro, in its wisdom, has decided that its core competency isn't "cool" enough to make them feel good about themselves, so they've sought to drive more people from that system to an expensive, flashy system whose fare compliance is tiny, at best.

From Rad:

The card reader is outside the train, and unless someone is there to enforce payment, there's no guarantee a rider will tap it.

Got that? It's now going to be even EASIER to skirt paying the fare on the ever expanding light rail system, leading up to a system that will be even LESS dependent on rider income going forward and MORE dependent on tax revenues. Revenues that will have to be increased if the system is to remain solvent.

The sad thing is Houston needs public transportation to be able to handle the transportation needs of an ever growing population. We need to the transportation to be quick, affordable, and to be an enhancement to existing modes of transit that people already take advantage of.

Instead we get a system designed to be punitive toward 98% of the population while increasingly relying on them for income to float a system that can't pay for itself.

And they're happy about this.


Happy New Year.

"My Houston"

Yet another bad idea is ripped out of taxpayer pockets by "Houston's 'official' marketing company."

(from Mike Snyder of the Chron)

After trotting out and discarding a series of slogans over the years, Houston's official marketing agency is taking a new approach as it prepares to launch a $3 million campaign to enhance the city's national image.

Instead of a snappy catchphrase, advertisements soon to appear in national publications will feature earnest testimonials from well-known current or former Houstonians such as singer Beyoncé Knowles, soccer star Brian Ching, heart surgeon Denton Cooley and former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara.

Starting in February, the campaign will feature ads in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Continental Airlines' inflight magazine, Texas Monthly magazine and other publications, said Lindsey Brown, marketing director for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Broadcast ads also are in the works, she said.

The celebrities featured in the "My Houston" ad campaign, however, aren't being asked to recite slogans. The bureau has stopped using its most recent slogan, "Space City: A Space of Infinite Possibilities," Brown said.

"We feel that Houston is the word that's important right now — Houston is the word that needs to be at the top of the mind rather than a slogan," Brown said.

Uh-huh...great idea. To market the City of Houston lets use "testimonials" from a pop diva who no longer lives here, an athlete who only lives here during the season because his team moved here, and a former President who only lives here part time, spending the rest of the year in Maine. Which illustrates the problems that the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau has when marketing Houston to the outside world.

They think that the Bushes, Beyonce, and Ching are what Houston is all about. They couldn't be more wrong if they tried to forge a brand image from Idaho.

That's why the "official" marketing plans have ALWAYS failed, and why small, quirky slogans such as Houston: It's worth it resonate with the public.

Houston today is less about Shelby Hodge crashing funerals and more about Ken Hoffman eating in his car while driving to Humble to wrestle. It is what it is, a working class town with a now-vanilla upper class who spend more time reading their own (admittedly wild) histories than they do accomplishing anything worthwhile. But the GHCVB has star envy, a not unusual syndrome amongst movers and wanna-be shakers unfortunately. They WANT Houston to be about Beyonce and Brian Ching and former Presidents and heart surgeons, because those are the people they want to attend cocktail parties with.

Except that the rank & file most often finds themselves stuck in line at SPEC's trying to buy a fifth of imagination while stuck between the car mechanic and the oilfield services worker while they try to ignore that Houston, in fact, is standing right there in line with them.

It's worth it.

Christmas Eve noshing

I present to you, the overstuffed Roast Beef sandwich from Katz Deli, 616 Westheimer in Houston.

You can order this either "klassic sized" (pictured) or "New York" sized (MUCH bigger). Since we were eating lunch (and about to head over to Central Market for some Christmas Eve shopping) I stuck with the smaller version. Small, of course, being a relative term. I also slurped down a cup of Katz' excellent chicken and matzo ball soup (not pictured) which is only slightly less desirable than their cheesecake milkshake.

It's good to know that out there, somewhere, in the City of Houston there's always a place where you can stop in and order a sandwich as big as your head. I don't know about you but that makes me happy.

Is there "better" food in Houston? Sure. But, since the closing of Guggenheim's in the Galleria area, my favorite Jewish-style deli in Houston has been Katz'. I know that Kenny & Ziggy's has a fierce following, and that some are turned off by the sheer "New York-ness" of deli's as a whole, but I'm partial to Katz for a variety of reasons. The first is that they are slightly cheaper, the second is that they use those awful stainless steel dishes, the third reason is because of the aforementioned cheesecake shake, which is quite possible the closest you can ever get in Houston to having a food-induced heart attack and live to tell the tale.

The sandwich itself was good. The Rye bread was crusty around the edges and the lettuce and tomato were fresh, but not gourmet. The Roast Beef itself was well cooked and well spiced, and the pickle served on the side was a traditional dill pickle. Just make sure that you ask for extra pickles and cole slaw when you order. There's no extra charge for it and the cole slaw is very good.

Oh, and do yourself a favor and, if you order a salad, get the Honey Mustard dressing. Delicious.

After dining we were full and ready to brave the madness (and fun) that is Central Market the day before a Holiday. Our score there was a couple of heirloom tomatoes, some mozzerella and CM sausage which is going to be our dinner two nights this week.


Once I digest that sandwich and get hungry again.

We know what the D in DA stands for now...

Dumb...

(from Brian Rogers of the Chron)

Attorneys for Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal today are expected to ask a federal judge to seal dozens of e-mails released as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit and which reveal a close personal relationship with his secretary.

The e-mails, sent from Rosenthal's county e-mail address, highlight some of the inner workings of the DA's office, exposing details about past criminal cases and civil lawsuits.

And they include personal, affectionate notes to Kerry Stevens, Rosenthal's executive secretary with whom he said he had an affair in the 1980s.

"The very next time I see you, I want to kiss you behind your right ear," Rosenthal writes to Stevens in a note dated Aug. 10, 2007.

The e-mails are exhibits in a civil rights lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff's Office, alleging misconduct by sheriff's deputies in 2001. Rosenthal was deposed in the case, which alleges sheriff's deputies violated the civil rights of two brothers who filmed police executing a search warrant on a neighbor's house.

In court documents, Sheriff Tommy Thomas called the suit frivolous and said the deputies acted within the scope of their job.

Rosenthal, who is married, on Wednesday called the disclosure of the personal e-mails "bare knuckle politics" engineered by Lloyd Kelley, the lawyer for the brothers.

Kelley is a friend of former HPD Chief C.O. Bradford, who is Rosenthal's opponent in his bid next year for re-election.

Bradford and Kelley were law partners in the 1990s, Kelley said.

Bradford could not be reached for comment.

First: Is this politics? Well, yeah. Of course its politics. I warned you when former HPD Chief Bradford filed that this was going to be a dirty, ugly campaign. This is just the first of many punches that will be thrown (fairly or not) by two candidates who are relatively short on positives themselves. You're going to feel dirty casting your vote no matter who you vote for, that is, if you're anything more than a blind partisan. Then, you'll probably be ok.

Second: What kind of mental giant sends out touchy-feelies of a personal nature on the County e-mail system? Hey Chuck, ever heard of Gmail? I assume that the County has an internet connection right?


This is dirty. The entire situation is dirty, and the campaign tactics that are attempting to air this out are dirty.

Welcome to the Harris County District Attorney's race for 2008. Let the fun begin.

The lottery times they are a-changin.

It's no secret I'm not a fan of lotteries. I'm even less of a fan of 'scratch-offs' which are increasingly gaining in popularity.

Why? Because the State makes a TON of money on them....

(from Nelson D. Schwartz of the NY Times via the Chron)

With the popularity of traditional lotteries waning across America, many states are turning to higher-priced instant games to lure new players and raise revenue. Scratch-off tickets, for example, now account for more than 75 percent of lottery sales in Texas, which became the first state to introduce a $50 scratch-off game earlier this year.

But critics in Texas and elsewhere say that games promising this kind of instant gratification are more likely to contribute to the kind of problem gambling usually associated with fast-paced casino betting, and they are now trying to limit them. They say the games take particular advantage of the most vulnerable members of society, including the poor and members of minority groups.

"Scratch-off tickets are to the lottery what crack is to cocaine," said Texas state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.

In Massachusetts, a third of the calls to the state's 24-hour gambling addiction hot line come from lottery players, the majority of whom play instant games, according to Margot Cahoon, a spokeswoman for the state's Council on Compulsive Gambling.

(snip)

Just who plays the lottery — and how much — has always been a contentious issue. As lotteries have expanded their offerings, most states have emphasized statistics showing overall participation in any type of game, which typically matches the demographics of the population.

Academic experts on the lottery, however, say this kind of analysis is misleading because it does not make a distinction between those who play once or twice a year and daily or weekly bettors.

"Surveys usually stop with the question: 'Have you played in the last month?'" said Philip J. Cook, a professor of public policy at Duke University. "They don't plumb the questions about depth of play, which the lotteries have chosen to obfuscate because they see themselves as vulnerable on this issue politically."

The introduction of the $50 ticket in Texas — and evidence that blacks and Hispanics individually spend much more than whites on the lottery — has spurred criticism from legislators in heavily minority neighborhoods, like the one in Houston where Hardy lives.

"I didn't think I'd be this concerned, but it's harming people," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat who represents a majority black district in Houston. "When I go to get a pack of cigarettes or a soda, I'm in line behind people playing the lottery. They're not buying one ticket or five tickets; they're buying $50 or $75 worth. And this is in my district, which is limited-income."

Lest we forget (and many have) it was a Democratic administration that pushed for, and (to be fair) got voted in, the legalized shell game that is Lotto Texas.

Not that the Republicans have been any better when it comes to funding schools, but let's not typecast the former Democratic age in Texas as the "good ol' days" of public education funding. Doing that not only stifles the debate, but it short-changes the funding mess that our schools are in, the attitude in Austin that gave birth to the situation, and just how deep of a hole we have dug ourselves in terms of education funding and other services.

The bottom line has always been that lotteries are a tax on the poor and those who are bad at math. The ability fo calculate odds would make any serious gambler run away screaming. It's not that I'm against gambling, its that I'm against gambling where I don't have a chance. In horses, dog racing, and certain other casino games (not slot machines) there is around a 1 in 20 chance of "beating the house" provided you understand what you are doing. When I sit down at a poker table I'm not casting my fate to the rub of a coin. I'm playing a game of skill that has strategy, logic, and yes, some luck involved. I can reduce the amount of time that I'm relying on pure luck by playing smart. The same goes for betting horses, and certain other gambling. In the Lottery there's no way I can improve my odds, mitigate my risk, or reduce the percentage (100% in this case) that luck plays a role.

If you add to that the fact that casino gambling is nor more addictive to certain personalities than is the lottery, the only reason you have for the State outlawing casino gambling is to protect what is a sure money-maker for themselves. A money machine that's not delivering as promised, and that's ruining lives because some folks just don't know any better.

Let's fix this charade by eliminating the Texas Lottery and replacing it with legalized casino gambling etc. At least the odds would be better.

Try and try again

That's the U.S. Mint's motto...

(from Jeannine Aversa of the AP via the Chron)

The U.S. Mint, the maker of the nation's coins, on Thursday is unveiling the stately images of the next four presidents whose faces will appear on the front of the shiny gold-colored dollar coins next year. James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren will be the new additions to the presidential dollar coin series that started with George Washington in February.

As a rule, I'm in favor of "dollar coins". I think they make more sense than paper money, but the public isn't catching on:

The Mint hopes the presidential series will breathe new life into dollar coins, which have suffered from little use in the past. The Susan B. Anthony and the Sacagawea dollar coins flopped — failing to get into cash registers and peoples' pockets.

The article goes on to say that the "new" dollar coin plan has been modeled after the 50 State quarter plan, which has been very popular with both collectors and the general public.


The "real" problem, of course, is that vending machines and other conveniences don't accept the dollar coins, and there's little reason for the manufactuers to "change over" considering the public hasnt' voiced a strong desire to rid themselves of the Geroge Washington.

Will it work?

My guess is no because old habits with the public die hard.


Maybe they should market it as more environmentally friendly? (It's working for everything else)

Chron DC blog launches

A hearty welcome and hello to the Chron's "newest" online blog: Texas on the Potomac, a blog that's slated to be updated (hopefully) often by the Chron D.C. bureau, with a focus on the Texas Congressional delegation.

Richard Dunham provides a little structure:

We will regularly post news and analysis items. In addition, every weekday, we will feature a column on a different subject. Monday's will focus on the doings of the Texas delegation. Tuesday will feature "The List," which will list the best, worst, first, biggest and other Texas topics. Wednesday, we will look back at Texas political figures of the past and ask, "Where are they now?" Our Thursday topic will be money in Texas politics. And Friday is "Vox Populi" day, in which we examine the latest trends in public opinion, featuring issues of interest to Texas voters and recent Lone Star poll results.

And, the usual disclaimer:

Texas on the Potomac has no political axe to grind. Our goal is to create a nonpartisan zone where Texans of all political persuasions can come for news, information and an occasional chuckle.

Here's wishing them success, particuarly on the former, because the "rundown" of blog content seems promising. To the second point, it's hard for a blog, even a journo-blog to toe the line between news and opinion without dribbling a little as they chuckle at those who share different political views than they. Hey, it happens. This doesn't mean that said journo-bloggers are bad people, only that they are human. (well, except for Julie Mason, we here at LaE are under the impression she may be an alien in human form). That's why this blogger wears his opinion proudly out in the open, kind of like a headlamp that a miner would wear. After all, I'm too lazy to self edit, hiring an editor is not going to happen unless I suddenly stumble upon instant wealth and while its possible that I could hi-jack one of the Chron editors and no one would be able to tell the difference, that would mean that I'd have to keep them tied up in the garage with the dogs. And hey, my dogs are VERY picky about the company they keep. So, until then, I'll just keep self editing and throwing mud against a wall to see what sticks.

Fortunately for you the Chron's new blog has loftier ideals to aspire to.

Here's wishing them luck achieving them.

File this under "user error"

On top of other programs associated with the medical system...

(from Lynn Cook of the Chron)

Every Jan. 1, health insurance deductibles get reset, often at higher levels than the previous year. Precious dollars extracted from paychecks to fund flexible spending accounts — designed to reimburse out-of-pocket medical costs on a tax-free basis — vanish at the start of the new year under use-it-or-lose-it plans.

So begins the December rush for a physical tune-up.

"Some people have told me, 'Whatever I need, let's do it now because I'm not going to see you next year,' " said Dr. Eric Powitzky, an ear, nose and throat doctor at The Center for ENT.

His year-end rush of non-emergency procedures ranges from ordering CT scans on sinuses that keep getting infected to sleep apnea tests to surgeries correcting deviated septums and removing tonsils.

Clamoring for year-end medical care has become an annual ritual along with New Year's reductions in insurance coverage.

The working insured — many of whom are trying to take care of elective procedures, schedule tests for nagging problems or at least get a new pair of glasses — are left jockeying for last-minute appointments.

And it seems that most of this problem is our own doing:

The working insured — many of whom are trying to take care of elective procedures, schedule tests for nagging problems or at least get a new pair of glasses — are left jockeying for last-minute appointments.

It means that many doctors may have to work more rather than less around the holidays. Powitzky, who says winter already is a high-traffic time for his specialty, is among them.

"It's absolutely crazy because of all the usual acute illnesses you see and the critical people who need surgeons, but you also get this artificial layer of patients who want something done just because of timing," he said.

"January comes and it's instantly back to normal," Powitzky said, calling from his cell phone at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital just before heading into surgery.

For patients with truly pressing needs that coincide with the holiday health blitz, the waiting room traffic jam can be devastating, especially in specialties where doctor shortages already are acute, such as neurosurgery.

Those patients may have to shell out another $1,000 or more to cover a newly set deductible if they can't get squeezed into a physician's appointment book in December.

Cheryl Kennedy, the practice administrator for The Center for ENT, said Powitzky seldom does more than five surgical procedures in a day but this month he's lined up as many as nine a day as patients practically beg for a spot on the operating table.

Three other ear-nose-throat specialists in the practice, who normally focus on office visits, are using their lunch breaks and staying after normal business hours to operate on thyroids and sinus cavities and put tubes in children's ears to alleviate painful infections.

"We try to work in as many people as we can and we have doctors who are going to do whatever they can to try to help the sick. But, with some of the more elective stuff, if you didn't come in by the early fall and start the process it can be tough," Kennedy said.

Let's be clear here: For the most part this rush is caused by elective procedures that could be scheduled at any time during the year. Nevermind that it would have the SAME impact on the deductable if done earlier (the "used up" deductable is an illusion of timing) but it could also be done more efficiently during "off peak" medical times. In other words: This is a prime example of the patients making a mess out of the system and then holding up said system as "failed", as many are claiming about the American Health Care system.

Are there instances where the system breaks down? You bet. Because insurance companies have made the mistake of commoditizing people's lives. And if a life becomes a business decision, then the bottom line will win out every time. That's not how it should be. Neither is the answer sub-letting control of the sytem to an inefficient Government that's going to play politics with our health care needs as they do every other issue they touch.

The point is, until ALL parties, the insurance companies, the Government, the hospitals, the doctors and the patients (that would be you and I) take a hard look at the roles of responsibility within the system there are going to be more horror stories than good stories come out of the American Health Care.

Michael Moore can dish out all of the propaganda he wants, its not going to change that fact.

"New" is a relative term?

Seems so, where Gov't policy is concerned...

(from James Pinkerton of the Chron)

Starting today, every employer in America must use a new employment verification form that immigration officials say will help reduce document fraud.

Yeah! About time! Finally some new teeth in the immigration policy!

Read on:

To comply with a 1996 law, the new I-9 form drops five documents from the list that employers could use to verify employees' identities and work eligibility.

And immigration experts predict this is only a first step in the government's plan to further reduce the number of documents used to verify employment, part of a heightened effort to root out document fraud in the workplace.

But for now, the new I-9 form is not expected to present significant problems when it becomes mandatory today, according to government officials, immigration experts in Houston and the nation's largest employer.

''We're anticipating a smooth transition from the old form to the new one," said Chris Bentley, a spokesman with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington. ''It's one we've publicized to the employer community, one they know is coming, and it's as simple as downloading the new form and using that as of the 26th."

Bentley said the decade-long delay in implementing the form was due to the transition from the old Immigration and Naturalization Service to the USCIS, part of the federal reorganization that created the Department of Homeland Security.

Government efficiency in action. Merry Christmas to all and just wait until we get our hands on your health care.

New U.S. Census director from Houston

Congratulations go out to Rice University Sociologist Steve Murdock upon his appointment as the new head of the U.S. Census bureau in advance of the 2010 Census.

(from Peggy O'Hare of the Chron)

Rice University sociologist Steve Murdock, best known locally for his studies of Texas population trends, has been appointed the new U.S. Census Bureau director as the agency prepares for its 2010 national count.

Murdock, 59 — who is also the state demographer of Texas — will take leave from Rice and likely will report to Washington, D.C., by the first week of January.

He will lead the agency's efforts to prepare for what is expected to be the largest and most diverse population count in U.S. history.

Because he will serve at the pleasure of the president, it is not certain Murdock will remain in Washington after the 2008 fall elections.

As the article states, its not clear whether or not Dr. Murdock will be retained by the next President, but there was very little controversy surrounding his appointment and (from what I can gather) he's fairly well respected by both parties so he could be the official in charge of the Next U.S. Census.

Oddly enough, a search of the Chron website reveals only five total hits of those five, only three actually mention Dr. Murdock as a quoted source. For comparison sake, a search for Bob Stein returns 23 hits, Stephen Klineberg returns 17 and Richard Murray returns 44.*


So, here you have a prominent, some would say "world class" authority on demographics and sociology, and his expertise is largely ignored by the local newspaper of record.


*Note: The search was NOT inclusive of the archives, but only a search of recent stories. I figured with all of the stories on immigration of late Dr. Murdock would be sought out by the Chron early and often. Guess I was wrong.

Punishment with football in mind.

As I'm sitting at home watching Dallas play against Carolina (no "Mittens" signing as of yet BTW) on the NFL network, my eye was drawn toward the AP story on Chron.com addressing the four Iraan students who beat to death two deer and their resulting punishment.

The article with no by-line lays it out as follows:

Four members of the Iraan High School football team accused in the beating deaths of two deer trapped on a baseball field will spend 88 days of the spring semester in an off-campus disciplinary program.

After the punishment was laid out the article gets to the meat of the matter I guess:

The school district's superintendent says the boys will be allowed to play football in the fall, when they are expected to return to normal student status.

Apparently, two of the four are first stringers on the Iraan football team. One is an all-district quarterback and the second is the first sting tailback. Presumably, kicking them off the team would result in the imminent possibility that Iraan would lose their competative advantage in 2008 and well, you know, we just can't have that.

The story doesn't elaborate what, if any, additional steps the players will be forced to take before being allowed to rejoin the football team other than to say "it will be up to the coaches". If I know anything about football coaches in West Texas, there probably won't be any additional requirements asked of four kids who displayed a propensity to harm animals in the same manner that, ironically, sent Michael Vick to jail for a couple of years.

After all, its just kids being kids you know?

I would offer up that a true punishment that would make them see the true consequences of their actions would be to suspend them from participating in the first 5 games of the 2008 football season. This would still give the team time to bounce back in district play and make the playoffs, but would deprive them of the very thing that provides them with the hero worship that leads to this type of behavior.

I'm just as big of a football fan as the next guy, maybe even a bigger football fan. If I were an Iraan supporter I'd sure want to know that my communities values place civilized behavior on par with winning games.

There's a big difference between hunting for deer, and eating what you shoot, and beating an animal to death for no other reason than that it's there.

The Blog without a Santa Claus

Not that I'm a Scrooge, Winter Wizard or anything along those lines. It's just that, in my family, all of the "kids" are adults and there's been no reason to have a Santa Claus or put on the show etc.

Things have changed now. We've got my nephews getting just on the cusp of that age where all things magical are imminently possible. Where the notion of a man and his wife toiling away at the North Pole with a community of helpers isn't preposterous enough to be dismissed out of hand. It's a shame to me that some groups are urging parents to dispell the notion of Santa Claus, to kill a child's sense of the magical before it has a chance to fully develop. From imagination springs creativity, and from creativity springs the energy and minds to develop all of the things that "they" are saying we need to move forward in life.

Are we "lying" to children when we tell them that Santa is real? Maybe, but then you also have to say that we're lying to them when we let them put a tooth under the pillow and we're lying to them when we tell them that they won't be judged for their appearance and we're lying to them when we tell them that we, as parents will accept whatever decision in life they choose. Because, really, we all want our kids to grow up with similar (if not the same) beliefs that we do. If you're conservative you want them to grow up to feel the same way about issues as do you, you want them to believe in personal responsibility and small government, if you're progressive you want your children to grow up with respect for Government and a belief that it is there to serve the citizenry. These are core values that we want to pass on to our kids.

They are all lies. Because the truth is never as "good" or as "bad" as we present it to be. America has not fallen apart during the Bush Presidency, the Constitution hasn't been burned in effigy, the military isn't coming down and arresting innocent citizens in mass numbers for expressing discontent with leadership, blogs and newspapers aren't being shut down and the proprietors and reports shot on sight. On the other side a Democratic regime won't spell the end of the American way of life, nor will it mean that your children will be forced to have sex with homosexuals in the name of diversity, or that Christians will be rounded up and shot. But we HAVE to feel that way because it makes the other side look worse, and makes us feel "right". And we all have to be "right" or our self worth is threatened.

So we lie to the children today to convince them that our side is right and "they" are wrong. This ignores the fact that there could be no right or wrong on many issues, just different opinions regarding how to deal with certain issues. Just as a move toward a more centrally administered health care system won't destroy health care in America, neither will a move to a market solution and health safety accounts. Both ideas will certainly "change" the system as we currently view it, but it won't destroy it. But if its viewed that way then no one can be "right" and the other side most certainly can't be "wrong". This type of debate would, of course, bring and end to talk radio, much of the mainstream media and, of course, most of the more partisan elements of the blogosphere.

Yes, this year I will choose to join the rest of my family join in propegating the "lie" that there is a Santa Claus, and that he's really a pretty good guy. We'll make him milk and cookies and then put the boys to bed and maybe even will walk around their window late at night with a red lamp. We'll do this because its a GOOD thing for children to believe in magic and fantasy and to not be hindered in thier creativity. I'll also do this because I'm more worried about telling them the lie that people with different ideas are "evil and mean" than I am letting them have a little escapsim come Chirstmas time.

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Haunakka, Good Eid Al Adha, Happy Kwanzaa, and a joyous Winter Solstice to you all.

This Holiday season let's have a little more of this:


And less of this:



Now, go eat too much.

Tis the season

To file a lawsuit...

(from Paggy Fikac of the Chron)

Toll road critics cast too wide a net in seeking information from the Texas Department of Transportation in a lawsuit, a state judge ruled Thursday.

Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, led by Terri Hall, of San Antonio, contends the Keep Texas Moving toll road campaign violates a state prohibition on state officers or employees using their authority for political purposes. The group also contends the agency has illegally lobbied elected officials.

The transportation agency has said it is acting legally and that Hall doesn't have standing to bring the lawsuit. It objected to a large part of the group's document request made by TURF in an effort to prove its case — as too broad and too vague.

State District Judge Orlinda Naranjo, of Travis County, agreed with the assessment by Assistant Attorney General Kristina W. Silcocks, representing the transportation agency.

But over state objections, Naranjo extended the time that TURF has to gather information after the group's lawyer, Charles Riley, said he wants to try again with a narrower request for agency documents.

A hearing on the heart of the case now isn't expected before early March, rather than late January.

In its original information-seeking effort, TURF asked the state agency for documents including "any effort by TxDOT to advocate in favor of toll road policy and/or any effort by TxDOT to seek, promote or encourage the passage or defeat of any legislative measure related to tolling."

The group also sought all documents "concerning any trips, meetings, meals and/or conferences where TxDOT promoted and/or discussed tolling policy," and all documents concerning an agency report to Congress saying that states should have the option to buy back parts of interstates and toll them. "That is so broad," Naranjo said of one request, adding of another, "That could be the kitchen sink."

So, a citizen's group decides that they don't want their tax dollars going to advertise a toll road plan with which they don't agree, a very politically driven plan at that. They make a request for any and all information regarding information relating to how TxDOT spent money in an effort to create positive publicity for said item they oppose, potentially violating State Law, and the judge throws the request out as "too vague"?

Now my question: Shouldn't all of this information be freely avaliable to the public via public information requests?

Just askin'

"Prop G&H" lawsuit dismissed again.

White 1, Hotze 1...

(from Matt Stiles of the Chron)

For the second time this year, a state district judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging two city ballot measures approved by voters last year.

The suit, brought by local businessman and activist Bruce Hotze, sought to invalidate Propositions G and H, which voters approved in 2006.

Hotze claimed the propositions, which loosened restrictions on how much revenue the city can raise from taxes and other sources, were not lawfully drafted.

The two measures allowed Mayor Bill White to exceed a Hotze-backed revenue cap as long as the spending was devoted to "public safety."

One of the propositions also exempted airport and water/sewer revenues from that cap.

District Judge John Delaney dismissed the case on a threshold question.

The city claimed that Hotze's suit was not timely filed, and that he did not have "standing," a legal term referring to people who have the right to sue because they were somehow injured by another party's actions.

The city had argued that Hotze was not affected by the ballot measures more than the average voter, and therefore could not sue.

In what little bluster, name-calling and bemoaning of this decision that there is sure to be, a oft-overlooked truth about democracy was illustrated here:

It sucks being in the minority.

Because, unless you can prove biased damages, you just have to suck it up and move on. This case isn't over yet, there will be an appeal. And there's still the matter as to whether or not Proposition 2 will have to be implemented anyway (the case was initially decided in favor of Hotze's group and is under appeal) so Prop's G&H could be rendered worthless if Mayor White convinces the court that he only has to enact the less restrictive Proposition One.

At the heart of all of this are accounting matters, and what the City has to include under "revenue caps" that restrict the amount of money they can take in. White wants to exclude certain agencies that garner their income from user fees, organizations like the airport and convention facilities. Bruce Hotze wants ALL government income restricted. The limits (by the way) are tied to marginal "growth" as related to Inflation and property growth. In other words: The belief is that Houston shouldn't try to grow their revenue stream in a manner consistent with "for profit" firms, but should seek to take in a constant percentage of revenue from the populace each year. That's the nutshell version for those of you who might have switched the channel during the briefing on this issue.

On the taxation and water fee issue I agree with Hotze. The tax rates should be set up with revenue needs in mind. Those revenues should be sufficient on a year to year basis to fund existing City services. If the City seeks to expand or offer a new service, then an election should be held to see if there is the public will to do so.

Naysayers will say that the City has an obligation to bring in as many funds as possible to cover issues that may arise. They contend that there should be no limits on taxation, since every dollar paid to the City is returned in the form of services to the public.

I realize fully that both sides of this issue are "perfect world" scenerios. Because we don't live in a perfect world I agree with Mayor White's contention that certain agencies should be allowed to generate as much revenue as they can. It's the duty of the airport to provide as much revenue for the City as possible, to run efficiently and bring a good return on investment. Same thing for convention centers and other public agencies that do not offer needs. Again, in a perfect world these incomes would not be needlessly frittered away by politicians who have more personal ambition than civic duty. In a perfect world.


Because of this reality I tend to like the idea behind both Proposition G & H. I'm ok with Prop H because a majority voted in an exemption to Prop 2. Like it or not, that's democracy at work. The rest of this situation is an example of the American processs working as it should. Whether or not you agree with the aims of Hotze and his group, you might want to look with disdain upon those who would seek to criticize his ability to take these items to court and fulfill the judicial process to its extent.

Remember: The same people that are criticizing Hotze for his cause were vocal supporters of Kay Staley's fight to remove the Bible from display at City Hall.

And the same people who argued that Staley should go away are now championing Hotze in his lawsuit.


At least both sides are consistent eh?



FWIW: I think the appeal of this will fail and Mayor White will get a rather large, albeit quiet, victory from this. I'm also not sure that Houstonians will be ill-served by the propositions in their current form. Prop 2 however I think will, and should, stand limiting property tax and water/sewer income, which will also prove a boon to Houstonians.

Hickory smoked bacon=West Texas?

First things first: Any burger with bacon on it has a good chance of getting my seal of approval.

That being said, the West Texas Burger at Jax Grill was average if you discount the bacon. But Ohhhh that bacon!

I'm not sure what's "West Texas" about this burger since I don't remember seeing anything like it when I lived out in Midland back during the 80's. Maybe if it came with a dust storm or a mesquite tree sticking out of it? A jackalope?

I'm assuming that they are inferring that the meat patty is cooked over mesquite. If that's the case then they need to check their wood from their vendor, because none of that mesquite flavor found its way into mine. Again, the bacon here was the saving grace. But it tasted of hickory, NOT mesquite. Another West Texas quandry. It also hurt that the only condiments offered were mayo and ketchup. I'm a mustard on my burger kind of guy. Next time I'll be sure to ask.


All in all it was a good, albeit not great, lunch when paired with fries and iced tea. (Jax doesn't serve "sweet tea" a gross oversight). The french fries tasted like they had come frozen from Sysco, but to their credit were crunchy and not overseasoned with seasoned salt. They were filling but not great.

The final bill came to around $8.50 not including tip. Since the restaurant is counter service and there's no wait staff to speak of tipping (to my mind) is optional. If they're paying waiters I didn't see them, nor did I see a busboy. I left a tip, but not near the size I would have if I had a waiter.


Now, if someone could just clue me in on the "West Texas" of this burger.

Houston City Term Limits under fire.

Carol Alvarado and Ada Edwards had their last City Council meeting yesterday, and they both gave goodbye speeches, and then blistered the term limits system that forced them to resign...

(from Carolyn Feibel of the Chron)

The Houston City Council's 14-year experience with term limits came under attack Wednesday, as departing council members criticized the law as bad public policy and a disservice to residents.

Council members and the mayor can serve three two-year terms, for a total of six years. County commissioners, state senators and representatives, and school board members are not subject to limits.

"I think communities get shortchanged," said Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, who bid farewell to her colleagues Wednesday after six years representing District I on the city's east side.

"We lose talented people," said Alvarado, who plans to file today to run for state representative in District 145, the seat vacated by Democrat Rick Noriega in his bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator.

Term-limited District D Councilwoman Ada Edwards said she would run again, if she could.

Mayor Bill White has hired Edwards to work as his deputy chief of staff for neighborhood issues. She'll begin in January, earning $80,000 annually. Council members are paid $52,855 a year.

None of the arguments that Alvarado or Edwards are making here really have much resonance with me. They also don't stand up to deeper scrutiny. Houston isn't "losing" anyone with term limits. Alvarado is most probably going to win the HD 145 seat and Ada Edwards will be settling into a neighborhood relations job for which she is uniquely qualified, and she's getting a raise. Crying a river is harder to swallow when the tears are crocodile tears.

Term limits work except in a system where there's very low public participation. If you have very little public buy-in then you have a situation where the talent pool dries up. In Houston there are plenty of talented people who would do a fine job running the City if they were so inclined, but they're not. This creates a political reality where name recognition and the number of times running makes a difference. You don't really have to have the tools to govern well, you just have to be well known.

John Taylor, one of the professors makes another salient point:

Six years is not enough time for a council member to learn the ropes and begin to make serious reforms, said Jon R. Taylor, a political science professor at the University of St. Thomas.

"We see members make some serious policy gaffes," Taylor said. "We already have a mechanism to limit a mayor or council member's term — it's called an election."

Ah elections, that Holy Grail of democratic action, where the public can rise up out of squalor as a wronged mistriss and kick the wealthy baron out in the rain. It's like a Dickinson novel with 8% turnout. Therein lies the problem: public apathy. It's not that the voters are dumb, its not that the voters don't know who to vote for, its that they don't care. Often because the choices they are presented with are less than stellar. Often because life, and all of its messiness, gets in the way.

The main argument for term limits is that they prevent political fifedoms and keep the wheels of democracy freshly oiled. This ignores the fact that fifedoms still exist except that the puppeteer is typically now behind the scenes. The Kingmakers are tucked safely out of the public eye. They just plug in a new puppet to stop, smile at the camera, and regurgitate old information with newer, fresher, voice inflections. You can also argue that a constant flood of new ideas results in governing by "hot item" projects at the expense of the basics.

Hmmm..SafeClear, Muni WiFi, Discovery Green, mandated alarms at convenience stores at an owners expense, fining copper companies for copper theives crimes, mini-bike bans, "Si se puede", "the homeless have a right to exist", "Not in downtown they don't", $60,000 for foil grease bags, Houston Ambassadors in Bermuda shorts riding Segways, and four cylinder engines for all new Taxis....

What Houston needs is some good ol' fashioned brick and morter politicking. Road repair, police on the streets, firemen fighting fires, flood control, all of the things that are more likely to fly under the radar of a City Council member who only has six years to "prove themselves" so that they can get that cushy job working for a company who receives many local contracts or move on to higher public office with a host of "pet projects" to roll out in campaign ads.

The Government we deserve indeed.

Williams Barbecue damaged by Fire.

It's terrible to see things like this happen to good, quality family establishments, that it happened around Christmas is even worse...

(from Alexis Grant of the Chron)

A day after his Acres Homes barbecue joint was gutted by fire, Willie B. Williams said Wednesday he probably won't rebuild the restaurant that's become known for its ribs over the past 20 years. But he's still on the fence about the restaurant's future, he conceded.

If that decision were up to his customers, it would be a no-brainer.

"He's got to rebuild," said Herman Johnson, a loyal diner whose sister lives across the street from the restaurant. His niece, 35-year-old Mona Wheeler, added, "They knew us by name and everything."

Williams Smokehouse caught fire before dawn Tuesday morning, when Williams and his wife, Hattie, were asleep in their home a few blocks away. Flames consumed the back side of the building, burning the restaurant's storage house to the ground and gutting much of the dining room.

"It's just like one of your children," said Williams, 69. "So it really hurts to see it in that situation."

It hurt, too, for neighbors who drove past the restaurant Wednesday. Some slowed to get a look at the damage to the place where they'd eaten what some considered the best barbecue in the city.

"These people have been around here a long time," said Tim Wong, a 45-year-old city employee who didn't know the building had been destroyed until he drove by it on his way to lunch Wednesday. "Willie Williams is kind of an institution on this side of town. No one else makes barbecue like his smoked flavor."

I've eaten at Williams' a handful of times, I've always gotten the ribs, and I've never been dissapointed. It's too bad that he's considering not rebuilding, because the joint (and, it qualifies as a joint) is one of the Houston institutions that the locals know about but that don't make the tourism documents.

Oh, and the original headline to the article was tacky and tasteless:

"Fire may toast Acres Homes barbecue joint"

Ugh. Nice job Chron.


Despite that, here's hoping the insurance settlement is large enough that they can rebuild if they so choose.

CD-07: A potential race in my backyard (for a change)

I haven't had a chance yet to really look at what Michael Skelly brings to the table, but if he runs the right race he could provide Culberson with a decent challenge.

(from Alan Bernstein of the Chron)

Wind-energy executive Michael Skelly on Tuesday unveiled his Democratic candidacy against U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, indicating he will pour a significant chunk of his own money into the race for the conservative 7th District.

Skelly, a West University Place resident, is chief development officer for Horizon Wind, which investor Michael Zilkha of Houston and his father, Selim, bought about seven years ago for $6 million. This year, a Portuguese utility company bought the firm for about $2.2 billion from the Goldman Sachs investment house, which had acquired it from the Zilkhas.

Skelly, brought to the United States as a child after being born to Irish parents in England, would not discuss how much money he will put into his campaign. Candidates can spend an unlimited amount on their own behalf, and in past Houston-area campaigns, some have laid out more than $3 million to get elected.

Funding aside, Skelly, 46, said the district deserves to be represented by a newcomer with business experience in the crucial realm of energy instead of what he called a career politician interested in fighting partisan battles.

I'll give him this, he's got the rhetoric down, he has a decent resume, and could either shock the State or be headed to a flaming wreckage of a defeat. So far the jury is out because he's done little to highlight his placement on the issues other than to trot out the boilerplate of "green energy" and "bring the troops home". Break glass, read from candidate cue card. That's ok for an opening presser, but time will tell how he's going to balance a dislike for oil and running for office in Houston's energy corridor.

It's terribly early in the race, but I'm noticing a trend among the local Democratic candidates to fail to address, repeated attempts for information regarding stances on certain issues of import to local citizens. As I said, its early, and I can understand a candidate not wanting to unveil everything at once, but pretty soon we're going to have to see what the legislative priorities of the "progressive" slate of candidates contains.

That will make all the difference.


Still, with Culberson taking some hits of late and Republican enthusiasm at low tide this could at least turn out to be an interesting race. I'd be surprised if Skelly can do any damage, but we'll see.

A Texas Democratic Majority?

Depends on how you read the tea leaves I guess....

(from Jaime Stengle of the AP via the Chron)

Democrat Dan Barrett beat Republican Mark M. Shelton on Tuesday in a runoff to represent a conservative Fort Worth-area district in the state House of Representatives.

With all precincts reporting, the Texas Secretary of State's office reported in unofficial returns that Barrett got about 52 percent, or 5,365 votes, and Shelton got about 48 percent, with 4,913 votes.

Barrett will serve through 2008 to finish the term of state Rep. Anna Mowery, 76, a Republican who retired in August after serving 19 years.

"They want change from the Speaker all the way down," Barrett said. "That was the message from our campaign."

Some had viewed the District 97 runoff as a preview of tough 2008 election battles that will determine the Texas House of Representatives' makeup and maybe the fate of Republican Speaker Tom Craddick.

Mowery strongly supported Craddick, whom some Republicans tried to oust earlier this year after decrying what they called his unyielding leadership style. Shelton had said he supported Craddick.

Barrett, an attorney, had previously run for the office while Shelton, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, was a first-time candidate. The two advanced to the runoff after the November election in which five other Republicans also ran.

In 2006, Barrett garnered 41 percent of the vote in his loss to Mowery.

Barrett said that he felt from the beginning that there were many independent voters in the district.

There's sure to be a lot of back-slapping and exuberent punidtry coming from the InterLeft and the Party of the Donkey over this one. There will be a lot of pooh-poohing and behind-the-scenes hand-wringing coming from the Bloggers O' the Right and the Elephants as well. One of Kuff's guest bloggers has already claimed that this election amounts to a "rejection" of the Republican Party and all of their leadership. The caucasian P Diddie provides some more "Craddick is dead, long live whoever" boosterism which I imagine will be the mantra repeated throughout the InterLeft. The Bloggers O' the Right will ignore this election, focusing instead on heady issues such as the border fence, people reading, and Fred Thompson via Chuck Norris. To be fair, you can't blame them for their unwillingness to look at the returns, because they aren't pretty.

So, what does all this mean? Are the Republicans "dead"? Is progressive thought sweeping Texas in a manner never before seen? Are conservatives about to go the way of the Mondale liberal?

Ah...No.

What is happening is that Texas is turning purple. And Dan Barrett is the prototypical purple Democrat that the Democrats are going to need to win these conservative districts. Look at his "issues".

No to vouchers
No to the Trans-Texas Corridor
No to higher energy rates
Yes to S-CHIP

The issues that Dan Barrett ran on were the 60/40 issues that successful Democrats in Texas have been hammering home for a couple of years now. These are issues where there is a decided rift between the Texas leadership and the voting public. Rifts that have caused Texas Republicans to bleed support like a seive. It's also fractured the party along ideological lines, there's Dan Patrick and those who share his thinking, and a more corporatist strain of Republican both vying for a shrinking pool of votes.

The thing is, that shrinking pool of votes is still fairly conservative, they still don't want the Government dictating to them how they live their lives, and they still are having trouble identifying with progressives who have spent the past 10 years classifying them as unintelligent and slow. In short, what we are seeing here is a correction taking place due to the ineptitude of the Republican leadership more than it is a change of ideals among the populace. Texas still isn't California or Massachusetts and as such has an economy that is still robust and (for the most part) humming along.

I'm always wary of believing the claims that a political faction is "dead" or that an election is pre-determined because of the assurances of some (very partisan) predictions. I'm also wary of leaping to Statewide conclusions based on one race of (very) limited demographics. That being said there is definitely an undertow of discontent that's running against the State Republican Leadership and candidates that have demonstrated loyalty to their cause. The question remains as to whether the Republicans will sort this out in the primary, or if they will go to battle based on two failed legislative sessions and some curious claims and decisions by an unpopular Governor who is, by all accounts, out the door?

Add to that the question of the Hispanic vote (more on that in another post), the African-American vote and the level of anti-suburbanite rhetoric that could come from the Democrats and you have all of the ingredients necessary for some real fun come election time.

Swimming in....

Yeah, that. Just what you're thinking of...

(from Carolyn Feibel of the Chron)

You may want to put down your coffee for this one. Houston's most underreported environmental problem? Toilet bacteria in the bayous.

Fecal pathogens are thriving in the regional waterways. Buffalo and White Oak bayous have bacterial counts that rank among the highest in Texas.

The causes are many. Treatment plant overflows, leaking sewage pipes, suburban sprawl and fertilizer runoff are contributing to excessive bacteria in places where people fish, boat, even swim.

These facts, while unappetizing, are important to publicize if Houstonians want to improve their environmental image, as well as their lived reality, according to a new report due today from the nonprofit Center for Houston's Future.

As is sometimes the case with stories of these types, there's the "activists" side of the story, and another side:

Fecal bacteria are the most common contaminants for waterways in Harris, Galveston, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Brazoria counties, according to the report.

But toxic pollutants also are a problem, with dioxin found in catfish and crabs in many waterways, including Greens Bayou, Halls Bayou, San Jacinto Bay and Upper Galveston Bay. The full report can be found at www.centerforhoustonsfuture .org.

Whitworth said the city of Houston has done better recently upgrading sewage treatment plants, spending $1 billion since the 1980s. But in the suburbs and parts of Houston, sewage infrastructure is scattered among hundreds of municipal utility districts, known as MUDs.

"With the very small plants, they can't afford to have someone there 24 hours a day," Whitworth said. "If a plant malfunctions, it could be several days before someone comes by to correct the malfunction.

"And, if we have a lot of rainfall, then the plant is overwhelmed, so the solids, which are the bacteria, just get washed out."

Bacteria from the excrement of birds, pets and wild animals also gets washed into the bayous and lakes, explained Tom Weber, a manager of water programs for the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality.

Normally, this bacteria would filter into the soil, but paving for streets and parking lots means the waste is swept into storm drains.

The article goes on to say that fertilizer run-off and some other factors are contributing to this problem.

So far the answer is to roll out Mrs. White's catapult and throw money at the problem, but the underlying current here is that small MUD districts and the suburban, highly fertilized lawns that it spawns are bad. High rise living with Government controlled green space good. The articles not saying that, but I'm willing to be if you asked the Environmental groups in town how to solve the problem, they would tell you that getting rid of the city's many suburbs would be a good start.

What's funny to me is that Houston is attempting to take what are basically nature's flood control mechanism, the bayou, and are trying to utilize it for a purpose of which it was never intended. The bayous are glorified drainage ditches. They're not "recreational centers" they're not "just like San Antonio's RiverWalk" and they're not the local swimming hole. Their purpose is to remove flood run off to the Gulf of Mexico as rapidly as possible. If you're swimming or fishing in them then hey, caveat emptor. Because everything that's going to run off is going to run into that system and into the Gulf as designed.

Is there a benefit to cleaning up the bayou system and ensuring that fecal bacteria and other pollutants are kept to a minimum? You bet. Just as there's a compelling reason to ensure that we are breathing clean air and taking steps to curb pollution.

Does cleaning up the bayous mean radically changing the way we live, moving into the City center and abandoning our suburban existence? Of course not. Unless you believe that these things will really do what you're saying they will, ignoring the historical examples of tight population clusters that brought us a host of communicable diseases and squalid conditions in overpopulated urban areas.

What concerns me the most is allowing the pollution abatement efforts to run off the rails of common sense in the same manner as the global warming debate. Stories like these are innocuous enough until some Huey Long wannabe grabs ahold of the issue and decided to make it his/her own personal cause. I'm sorry, but Houston has a terrible track record recently when it comes to addressing its problems in an effective manner. We can't let the same thinking that's given us the DangerTrain, Development specific ordinances, foil grease bags, bogus taxi cab regulations and SAFEClear take over this issue as well.

Otherwise we're going to end up with a program that does nothing to decrase the pollution, but fines homeowners everytime their MUD plant emits even the slightest bit of solid matter during a rainstorm.

Upgrading the choo-choo train

I'm all for this:

(from Alan Turner of the Chron)

The little Hermann Park train that chugged and tooted its way into children's hearts for half a century will come to the end of the line Jan. 1 as workers make final preparations for the March opening of an expanded multi-purpose miniature railroad.

The new rail line comes with a host of new bells and whistles — wider carriages capable of seating two adults, cars equipped to accommodate handicapped riders and three mini-stations to service museums and link to Metro's light rail system.

"Its primary role will be entertainment. That's still the number one reason for people getting on," said Doreen Stoller, executive director of Hermann Park Conservancy, which will operate the concession. But in its new incarnation, she said, the train can take riders to the museum district, and, through light rail connections, the Texas Medical Center and other destinations.

About 500,000 people ride the train annually, Stoller said.

However, if Metro tries to add those 500,000 people to their ridership numbers I sincerely hope that someone stridently objects.



I'm not saying that Metro would do something like that. I'm just sayin'.

Still MORE on the billboard deal....

This story is like the Friday the 13th movie franchise....It just won't die...

(from Carolyn Feibel of the Chron)

The battle of the billboards, slated to erupt Wednesday at City Council, probably will be pushed off until early next year.

A growing outcry from beautification groups led to a parley on Friday between billboard opponents and Mayor Bill White. The administration will ask for the delay until Jan. 9, according to agenda director Marty Stein.

The city wanted a quick legal settlement with Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. that would speed up the dismantling of smaller billboards, while allowing the company to move some larger ones to new spots. The city's 23 scenic districts would be off limits.

Critics pounced on the deal, saying the "relocation provision" for qualifying larger billboards is an unfair giveaway to the billboard industry, and a step backward. As part of the agreement, Clear Channel could "relocate" the permit for a billboard, but build a new billboard from scratch on the new site. New billboard construction has been forbidden in Houston since 1980.

City officials say the Clear Channel deal, and a related ordinance for other owners, will result in a net decrease in the total number of billboards on city streets.

Under the deal, the company would voluntarily remove 881 billboards, a two-thirds reduction in the category of small- and medium-size billboards. Some of those billboards were not slated to come down until 2013, and others might never have come down, since they are located on federal highways and are beyond the city's legal reach.

(snip)

"A relocation means they can take an old billboard down in a marginal location or a strange location, and relocate it anywhere, at will, except scenic districts," said shopping center developer Ed Wulfe, a member of beautification group Scenic Houston.

Wulfe said he was concerned about wooden billboards being rebuilt in new spots as steel structures with longer life expectancies.

Max Watson, an executive member of Scenic Houston, said he worried about billboards being relocated to the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, where residents have no political representation to fight them. Houston must not return to the pre-1980 nightmarish days of billboard anarchy, he said.

"That's all City Council dealt with, was people showing up and screaming about a billboard showing up on their block," Watson said. "Houston was characterized as a billboard capital of the world. It was nasty."

It's nice to see that Max Watson shares some of the same issues that I've raised regarding the relocation of billboards out to the ETJ, where no one can hear you scream. I'm all for fewer billboards in town. But I'm all for fewer billboards in every part of the City, not just in the parts developers other than Ed Wulfe have targeted as potential revenue streams.

Because, don't kid yourself, this is STILL Houston, and the whole brewhaha is REALLY about people wanting to build condos with sparkling, albeit hazy, views of downtown vistas uncluttered by the partially revealed breasts of the flavor-of-the-month "it" girl appearing for a limited time down at the nearest topless bar. (And just think, now you have to pay $5 more to see her shimmy)

And what, pray tell, could possibly be more Houston than that? (the topless dancer I mean, NOT the uncluttered view)

Adventures in editing.

Either Chron writer Alan Bernstein was watching the Rocket's game while writing this article on the filing for County Judge by Democratic candidate David Minceberg or his editor was...

The leadership that sets tax rates and awards contracts for road construction and many other services is Commissioners Court, which includes Democrats El Franco Lee and Sylvia Garcia. They are outnumbered by Republicans Steve Radack and Jerry Eversole and Emmett.

The court unanimously approved a 1-cent decrease in the county property tax rate in October, saving the average homeowner about $12 a year.

Ethics has again become an issue in county government because the district attorney's office is looking into whether Eversole violated the ban on spending campaign donations for personal benefit. Bacarisse recently promised to unveil ideas for ethics reforms.

Ouch!

Meeting the "green" quota

It's getting harder and harder every day for our friends at the Chron...

(from Henry C. Jackson of the AP via the Chron)

Because of rising demand for ethanol, American farmers are growing more corn than at any time since the Depression. And sea life in the Gulf of Mexico is paying the price.

The nation's corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to a growing "dead zone" — a 7,900-square-mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate.

The dead zone was discovered in 1985 and has grown fairly steadily since then, forcing fishermen to venture farther and farther out to sea to find their catch. For decades, fertilizer has been considered the prime cause of the lifeless spot.

With demand for corn booming, some researchers fear the dead zone will expand rapidly, with devastating consequences.

"We might be coming close to a tipping point," said Matt Rota, director of the water resources program for the New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration Network, an environmental group. "The ecosystem might change or collapse as opposed to being just impacted."

Environmentalists had hoped to cut nitrogen runoff by encouraging farmers to apply less fertilizer and establish buffers along waterways. But the demand for the corn-based fuel additive ethanol has driven up the price for the crop, which is selling for about $4 per bushel, up from a little more than $2 in 2002.

OK Lose an Eye veterans...Here's the question of the day...

Is this a pro-"green" Gulf of Mexico story or another story telling us how stupid is the Government's obsession with ethanol story?

Or both?


Someone start funneling the Chron better 'green' material stat.

HISD bond issue still under fire.

This is interesting...

(from Ericka Mellon of the Chron)

A group of students and parents have filed a federal lawsuit against the Houston school district, alleging persistent discrimination against poor and minority children and asking a judge to stop the sale of bonds for new school construction.

The parents, joined by several black politicians and ministers who opposed the school district's November bond election, announced this morning that they filed the lawsuit late Friday.

"As a parent, I believe Dr. King once said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,'" said Ann Tillis, one of the parents who filed the lawsuit. "And so today I come to serve notice to HISD that no longer will my child, or any child in HISD, be treated with such educational injustice."

Houston Independent School District officials said the lawsuit is "without merit."

So I guess the answer to the question: "How is the Black community going to react to losing political sway to the Hispanic community?" has been answered eh? They're going to file suit.

And we've pretty much ran the "oh poor me" gauntlet here have we not?

1. Lose election
2. Invoke emotional figure
3. Claim racism


Or perhaps, just because you don't get everything exactly as you want it, you just lost an election by people who want to ensure their kids get some as well?


You know....for kids.





Stay tuned.

Culberson fires a shot.

Is this a direct hit on Metro's development mobility plan?

(from Rep. John Culberson via the Chron)

The solution to our traffic problems involves a combination of freeways, toll roads and mass transit. It can be seen partly in the record-setting reconstruction of the Katy Freeway with its signature toll lanes and express commuter bus service. This model freeway is being completely rebuilt in half the time originally planned. Despite the collapse of federal and state dollars for new highway construction, it is fully funded. When it is finished within the next eight months, it will cut your travel time in half.

The only piece missing from the new Katy Freeway is high speed commuter rail. I encouraged the Metropolitan Transit Authority to include a commuter rail line and Metro had plenty of chances to reserve space for it, but they couldn't make up their minds and we couldn't delay construction waiting for them.

For all of the glowing publicity the Main Street Line in downtown Houston receives, it doesn't make our morning commutes any easier because it isn't taking cars off our freeways.

For mass transit to ease congestion, it must be designed as an integrated system. The Metro Solutions plan that voters approved in 2003 was presented as an integrated transit system with a 50 percent increase in bus service, and 64 miles of light rail, but it included only 8 miles of commuter rail. I would be hard pressed to find a single commuter from the suburbs who thinks that 8 miles of commuter rail is sufficient for an area with a population approaching 5 million people.

Prediction: Because he has an (R) behind his name, certain members of the blogosphere and Houston's political left are going to dismiss this out of hand. "Culberson can't be trusted" they'll say or some other gibberish designed to dampen the message for no reason other than the wrong party is forwarding it.

Has Culberson acted obstructionist? You bet, he's been so anti-light rail in the past that you could almost assume that he had a negative experience in a train as a child. Culberson has fought Metro every step of the way on their rail plan, offering up nothing in the way of a compromise solution until now.

It almost seems as if, since he has lost the majority of the voters, Culberson is trying to seem conciliatory after the fact. Too bad that his embracing of this plan (a plan similar to the one that a lot of people have favored since the beginning, including myself) has come a day late and a dollar short.

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Rep. Culberson would have pushed for commuter rail linking to an express light rail system that ran between job center to job center supported by multimodal transit centers and circulator bus routes, backed up by a strong park and ride system instead of just fighting rail for rail's sake in an effort to pander to the base?

The mistake that Culberson made was that he believed the far-right of the Republican Party and their contention that none of the support for the urban, mass-transit oriented lifestyle was legitimate. After all, if you run under the notion that those who think differently than you are somehow intellectually dishonest, spewing talking points and just lemming it off of cliffs because they are too stupid to think independently, then you lose the ability to see logical compromise.

Sadly, its easier today to marginalize those who hold different beliefs than you than it is to try and hold open and honest debate. It's a weakness in the political discourse that's been fostered by the main stream media, perfected and refined by the blogosphere of the left and right, and institutionalized by politicians.


Sigh, welcome to Houston.

We hate billboards, yes we do

We hate billboards, how 'bout you????

Sunday was "no billboards in the City Center day...

(from Eleanor Tinsley via the Chron)

I am compelled to step forward to oppose the threatened weakening of the core principle of the billboard laws which we worked so hard to achieve.

This is the principle that new billboards must never again be built in our city. A proposed agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor grants relocation rights with respect to 466 permits for old billboards, with the result that new billboards will pop up all around Houston. And city officials have stated their intention to discuss widening this concept to many more existing billboards.

This unfortunate development provides the opportunity for us to step back and reaffirm our core principle. I urge city officials to abandon the proposed agreement so that the prohibition against new billboard construction will continue, whether that construction results from the issuance of new permits or the relocation of existing permits.

Houstonians must be warned concerning how invasive and damaging the construction of even 466 new billboards could be. Thousands of qualifying billboard relocations abound throughout all districts of the city. A few examples include: up and down Broadway, Airport, Scott, Long Point, Greenbriar, Holcombe, Kirby, Main Street, Washington, Bissonnet and so on. Especially attractive locations will be those in areas now free of billboards, those areas built since the cessation of billboard construction in 1980 and those where community effort has cleaned up clutter and blight.

And Mayor White responds:

Following three years of negotiations, we reached an agreement with a company controlling over 90 percent of the small- and medium-sized billboards in the city to take down two-thirds of them, 881 billboards, within six months. Under existing law, today at most less than 200 of these billboards should come down, and that may require additional costly and lengthy legal proceedings.

The billboard company, Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc., also has agreed to take down some billboards that the city of Houston, under federal law, has no right to remove. We have given the highest priority to removing billboards from within neighborhoods and Scenic Districts. Scenic Districts are those areas that have been designated by Houston City Council action as being the highest priority for billboard controls.

Under the agreement that was reached with Clear Channel, only 466 remaining small- and medium-sized billboards would remain. In order to provide an incentive for the removal of billboards that the city would have no right to ban, the city would allow Clear Channel to relocate these small- and medium-sized billboards at its own expense, in certain limited areas, for a limited period of time.

The public should understand that a federal law, which we cannot control and with which we disagree, limits the ability of local government to regulate existing billboards along freeways and major thoroughfares paid for with significant amounts of federal funding. To force removal of these billboards, and perhaps many which have "noncommercial" messages, the city must offer an incentive.

I still think the end game of this "fight" will be to beatify the City Core while dumping the excess blight into the neighborhoods of those who can't afford to organize and defend themselves.

After all, that's what's being done with the homeless, and now billboards. I wonder what's next?

More fun with similar (yet seemingly unrelated) stories

Alternatively titled: A heck of a bad day for Republicans.

1. Power to choose loses power...

(from Tom Fowler of the Chron)

A state-sponsored Web site that's been widely used by consumers to navigate Texas' complex retail electric markets has lost a bit of its bite following the cancellation of a contract with a vendor.

Until Dec. 1 the Power To Choose Web site, www. powertochoose.com, had been hosted and operated by Massachusetts-based Nexus Energy Software. The firm designed the features that let consumers search for electric plans available in their zip code by price, length of contract and whether the plan used renewable power sources.

But the state canceled the contract with Nexus when officials learned the company had deals with some retailers where Nexus was paid to sign up new customers through links on the Web site, said Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman.

I've never been a big fan or utility deregulation. Some of this is due to the fact that its not "real" deregulation of an open market, and also because I feel the economy has lost something with the elimination of the safe investment that was "Grandma's Utility Company" a safe haven where retirees could park their savings and get a nice, steady return.

That being said, a working deregulation requires that you have free entry, and accurate information. Since the "supply" of energy and the transmission of such is still under a virtual monopoly, the entire deregulation idea is based on false pretenses. Basically all we have is a propped up trading floor for a commodity that's sold at a fixed price. The State has added a group of middlemen who fight to see who can survive on the smallest profit margins.


2. Farmer's Insurance requesting 25% rate hike for coastal counties...

(From Purva Patel of the Chron)

New and renewing customers of Farmers Insurance Cos. in some parts of Harris County face hikes of as high as 25 percent in their homeowners premiums beginning Feb. 16.

In Galveston County, premiums are scheduled to jump up to 16 percent.

The Texas Department of Insurance, which indicated in July it would likely fight the company on higher homeowner rates submitted at the time, said it is reviewing these new rates filed this week.

The increases are needed because of rising reinsurance costs caused by hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, a company spokeswoman said. Reinsurance is coverage that insurance companies buy to help them pay claims during catastrophes.

"We're also seeing higher labor and material costs resulting in 7 percent higher claims costs, and we have to keep up with inflation costs," Farmers spokeswoman Michelle Levy said.

Levy noted that parts of western Harris County will see an increase of 3.1 percent or decreases of 5 percent. But in eastern Harris County — southeast of U.S. 59 and Interstate 10 — customers will see hikes of between 19.9 percent and 25 percent.

Is it me? Or do Farmer's numbers not add up as a hedge against rising costs and increasing claims (from 2005 BTW)? Someone at Farmers has decided that the budgets for 2007 did not provide sufficient returns and wishes to see a wee bit more results out of the Gulf Coast region.

Texas, having never taken steps to control the insurance industry, is sadly impotent when it comes to representing the citizens.


3. Consumer Inflation reaches two-year high...

(from the AP via the Chron)

Consumer inflation surged by the largest amount in more than two years in November, led by gasoline prices. The cost of clothing, airline tickets and prescription drugs also jumped.

The Labor Department said its closely watched Consumer Price Index rose 0.8 percent last month, the biggest one-month increase since a 1.2 percent surge in September 2005, when the country was hit by rising energy costs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Taken individually, each of these stories is pretty sour news on a Friday for the poor and middle class in Texas. As costs for required items continue to rise, income remains stagnant and gasoline continues to rise, disposable income decreases and the certainty of a recession (if you believe that we are not already in a recession) is more and more likely.


Now...If you're a Republican candidate waking up and wondering whether or not today is a good day to approach the voters.....maybe you should just stay in bed.

So long, farewell Dr. Frank

When Dr. Neil Frank goes away, a little bit of the dew-point sheds a tear...

(From David Barron of the Chron)

Neil Frank has spent 20 years attempting to divine the fluctuations of Houston's singular weather patterns, and for 17 of those years, he's been trying to retire.

However, 2008 is the year he's making it stick.

Frank, KHOU's (Channel 11) chief meteorologist since 1987 and the former director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Thursday he will retire from the station next year.

Always considered the "best" of Houston's weather guessers, Dr. Neil fell off recently with his constant warnings that tropical storms and hurricanes that were CLEARLY not heading toward the Houston area "could make a last minute turn". That and his righteous indignation over the dewpoint turned off many viewers and directly led to the rise of Frank Billingsly as the weather guesser of choice when the skies turned to crap.

In spite of all that however, when you had an outdoor event planned for the next day and you wanted to know what the chances were it was getting rained out, Dr. Neil was your man. His guesses were right most of the time.


Enjoy your retirement Dr. Neil, and stay someplace warm.

The Mitchell Report: A call for sanity.

The World is not coming to an end. Baseball will not have to shut its doors and disband. Players are not going to sponteneously combust, and fans are not going to stop going to games.

In advance of the Mitchell report, the talking heads are freaking out.

(From Brian McTaggart of the Chron)

Former Astros pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are reportedly named in the Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball that is set to be released later today.

ESPN.com reported today that former New York Yankees trainer Brian McNamee has given former senate major leader George Mitchell, hired by Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig 20 months ago to investigate drug use in the sport, information on supplying Clemens and Pettitte with steroids.

Randy Hendricks, the agent for Clemens and Pettitte, didn't immediately return a message from the Chronicle seeking comment, but spoke to the Associated Press.

"After we read the report, we will have something to say," Hendricks said.

Astros owner Drayton McLane said he wouldn't comment until he had examined the report.

"I can assure you I have not, nor any of the other 29 owners have seen the report," McLane said. "I think it's inappropriate until we see the report and understand it."

Richard Justice, the writer of wrongs:

They're stained forever, their accomplishments diminished. Neither likely is going to the Hall of Fame unless they've got great explanations for why their names are in the Mitchell report. Other big names are coming later today, including apparently another prominent former Astros.

I hope it was worth it for Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. I hope they're okay walking through the rest of their lives known as cheats. This isn't complicated. If you felt one way about Barry Bonds, you ought to feel the same way about Clemens and Pettitte. It makes no difference.

What does all of this mean in real terms? Not much. If there's a suspension, it'll only be a brief one. Both have pocketed millions, and they're not going to give it back.

It's about how they did what they did. It's about letting people know that ethics meant nothing. Hey, others were doing it, so I had to do it. That's not good enough, boys.

Jerome "the King with no clothes" Solomon:

Even the idea of the Mitchell Report is scary.

Already, the names are starting to trickle out.

Our favorites. Our heroes. Guys we cheered, saluted and rewarded with riches via $50 tickets, $8 beers and useless mini bats at the Astrodome, Enron Field and Minute Maid Park.

Roger Clemens? Andy Pettite?

Yes, it hurts.

We all knew. We all knew. But, still it hurts.

Worse yet, for Major League Baseball, it hurts so much that it will be a long time – if ever – before we believe in the sport again.

The stain on the sport might never be washed away – folded on the down side and tucked in a closet, but never washed away.

Don’t you feel as if they are all guilty?

Steve "the fans suck" Campbell:

Will what Clemens says in response make a difference? If Clemens disputes the accusation, will you take his word at face value or just roll your eyes dismissively? There has been speculation for years that Clemens couldn't have adhered to his rigorous conditioning regimen and performed at such a high level for so long by natural means.

Now that his name is in the report, how does that affect the way you look at Clemens? Does it diminish the Hall-of-Fame resume, or does it reinforce the notion that just about everybody was doing it anyway?

And that's just the knee-jerk reaction from the Chron. I can't access a TV to see the meltdown on ESPN.

To the fan of baseball I humbly submit the following public service announcement:


Relax. What is going on here is the inevitable result of the outing of performance enhancing drugs and an extension of the United State's Government's "War on Drugs". The doom-sayers and chicken littles of the reporting world are forgetting one thing: It's the fans that drive the sports world, not them. They just report on it to the fans who, in turn, spend Billions of dollars each year watching Millionaires play children's games.

The game of baseball is not going to fade away. Your children will not be sucked into the dank, dark world of performance enhancers because of the names on the list, and there are no plans to hang your favorite players in effigy. All of that talk is just the media being sensational. The anger that's being riled up is a false righteousness generated by a professional critics society that we call sportswriters. Those who cannot do, criticize. That pretty much sums up the athletic ability of 90% of those in the sportswriting profession. They cannot "do" the things they report on, so they spend their time looking for scandals on which to bloviate in order to protect the "purity" of the game. Never mind that the purity they seek to champion was probably never there in the first place.

Sure, maybe in some ancient time before some ancient athlete figured out that he got a "pep" in his step from chewing on a certain leaf there were no performance enhancers in sport. Maybe Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron and the other holders of the records most hallowed actually did it on hot dogs and beer. Maybe. But, if the science was there, do we really know that they wouldn't have reached out to grab any and all advancements avaialble? Babe Ruth was hardly a bastion of honor and integrity. And its widely known that Hank Aaron played in an era where methamphetamines were widely taken to provide an "energy boost" to get a player through the marathon of the schedule that is the Major League Baseball season. We choose to believe they weren't taking these substances because it violates the images that we've allowed ourselves to construct.

Do we KNOW whether or not Aaron or Ruth weren't using "aritificial assistance"? No, we don't. All we have to go on are their staunch denials which we choose to believe. The same staunch denials that we choose not to believe from the stars of today, despite the fact that the evidence against them is, in many cases, just as based on heresay and rumor (absent a positive test) as it was for the players in the past.

"But, everyone's taking steroids." - According to player testimony almost everyone was taking "greenies" back in the day.

"But, the pressure to succeed is so much greater now" - When he was trying to break Babe Ruth's single season record, the stress on Roger Maris caused him to lose his hair. Later on Hank Aaron received death threats because he was a black man trying to break a white man's record. THAT's pressure.


The point to be made here is that we're not witnessing the end of the World. And don't think for a minute that this list is all inclusive. I'm willing to bet that at least 75% of the players who used performance enhancers are not listed in the Mitchell report. The 25% that are named are the ones who were either not clever or lucky enough to keep their sources hidden. In other words the rabbit hole goes far deeper than even George Mitchell can tell.

The immediate reaction to this will be horror, and then shock, and then outrage. All of these emotions will be played out on ESPN and across the various sports news mediums everywhere. After that, hopefully, thing will settle down, and a serious debate over the role of performance enhancers in sport can be embraced. It would also be wise to do this before Dick Pound and WADA convince societies Least Common Denominators that additional funding is needed to "root out drug cheats before they tear apart the integrity of sport".

Except there IS no inherent integrity in sport. The idea is to WIN.


Second place is the first loser.

UH to hire Kevin Sumlin

Dave Maggard is hiring the right guy.

I understand that there is concern that Sumlin will bolt for the first "big College" job that comes his way and Houston is just setting itself up for failure in the future. I understand that there was a strong emotional attachment to Pardee. I understand that Haywood was "highly recommended" by Mack Brown and Vince Young. I know all of this, and I still say Sumlin was the right man for the job.

Will Sumlin bolt for a B(C)S job? Yes, he probably will. Such is the life of all of the Non-B(C)S Colleges in the modern football environment. Utah had Urban Meyer, and he left for Florida. Boise State had Colorado coach Dan Hawkins before current coach Chris Peterson took the reins. Eventually Peterson will move on to greener pastures. To combat this Boise State is grooming Brent Pease to take control of the program. What separaetes Sumlin from Briles is that he will bring in a competent group of assistants, including (probably) one that can take the reins after he moves on. One thing Cougar fans need to keep in mind: IF Sumlin moves on then that means he was a winner at UH. This is a good thing.

Aside from that the guy can recruit, he comes from a program that has success year after year, and gets rid of the gimmickry and high-school atmosphere that has overwhelmed the UH football program since Briles was hired.


You really wanted Pardee you say?

I'm guessing if you wanted ol' Jack back it was not because of Pardee, but because he promised to bring Klingler in as the OC. I don't know if its the water or exposure to cougar dander, but there's a strong affinity to bring back the past that pervades UH fans to the point of distraction. While the successful programs are looking forward, UH fan is too busy reminiscing about the skinny logo, a 1/4 full Astrodome and aTm and Miami figuring out the Run n' Shoot. (something that the diehards ignore)

I enjoyed the R&S days as much as the next guy but those days, that era, are gone. Trying to revive past glories by returning to past almost-successes makes very little sense in football. Football as moved forward from the days when UH was putting up gaudy numbers against an all Freshman walk-on SMU team. My favorite Cougar of all-time was Wilson Whitley, I also liked Andre Ware (as a College Football player, not as a talk radio host). Those are great memories that I will always cherish.

I'm ready for UH football to move forward from them however. I want to see tight ends in the offense and I want to see a defense that can get a stop on third down.

If Sumlin being hired means that he's on the sideline for four to five years providing this. Great.

Then UH can reload again.


It's what ALL of the top-teir non-B(C)S programs are learning to do.


OTHER EYES:

PubliusTX: Twists and turns in UH Coaching search.
Greg's Opinion: One, Two.
Greg was strongly in the Pro Pardee camp

Green economic solutions that work.

This is a good thing...

(from Tom Fowler of the Chron)

A power plant designed to release virtually no greenhouse gases, first planned for Fort Bend County, instead will be built in Freeport and will create gas for use in Dow Chemical's plants there, participants announced today.

The power plant, which will run on the refining byproduct petroleum coke and capture almost all its carbon dioxide emissions, also will create up to 180 million cubic feet per day of synthetic gas for Dow to use in making products at its massive Brazoria County complex.

The plant will emit about 8 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, but project developer Hunton Energy said it will capture and sell the CO2 for use in enhanced oil recovery. Rocky Sembritzky, president of Hunton, said the company is negotiating with three companies to purchase the CO2, which will be shipped via pipeline to oil fields.

(snip)

Hunton Energy "appears to be closer than any other developer in the country to being able to capture such a huge amount of CO2," said Scott Anderson, senior policy adviser for Environmental Defense, in a prepared statement. "The 8 million tons per year the company plans to capture is more CO2 than comes from fossil fuel combustion in the entire state of Vermont."

Hopefully people are listening, because these are the types of projects that make sense and that we should see more of.

There was some irony here however:

Jim Marston, a Texas-based director of Environmental Defense who was part of a successful effort to get TXU Energy to cut back its plans for new coal power plants, praised the project and the participation of Dow and Valero Energy, the refining giant that will provide the new plant's petroleum coke.

It should be noted that the deal that's being praised is using much of the same gassification and recapture technologies that the TXU "clean coal" plants were designed to incorporate. Not exactly the same, but pretty close. It's amazing what our pre-conceived notions and knee-jerk reactions from people with no insight on the matter will cause us to accept, or refuse.

Lisa, just let it go.

Three columns on Joe Horn. That's the current tally of missives penned by Chron Metro columnist Lisa Falkenberg over an eight day span.

First she lectured us that Joe Horn wasn't a hero.

There seems to be some confusion here. Joe Horn is not a hero.

The Pasadena homeowner certainly had a chance to be a hero, but he gave up that opportunity as soon as he allowed fear, adrenaline, suburban angst, Old West entitlement or all of the aforementioned to overwhelm his ability to think rationally and consider the consequences of his actions.

Fair enough, Lisa Falkenberg doesn't like Joe Horn, she doesn't approve of his actions, she's entitled to her opinion and that's that right?

Wrong.

Because you don't share her opinion, she had to go to the experts to convince herself she was right.

But are these people's fears justified? How bad is the crime in Houston? And what is it about Texans that leads many of us to believe Horn's actions were justified? I posed the question to some sociologists, attorneys and a criminologist.

Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, suggested it was part of our culture to see things in terms of good and evil and feel a compulsion to take the law into our own hands.

"With all our sophistication, we're still a part of the Old West," Klineberg said.

Our laws, including the recently passed "castle doctrine," seem to underscore that fact. Texas is among a minority of states that allow their citizens to use deadly force to protect not just life but property under certain circumstances.

As far as crime goes, Klineberg notes that, according to his Houston Area Survey, crime has eclipsed traffic and the economy as the issue people see as the region's biggest problem.

But is it really? Bob Walsh, professor of criminal justice at the University of Houston, says that despite the media hype and politicians' focus on crime in campaign speeches, perception is not always reality.

As my colleagues Matt Stiles and Mike Glenn reported in October, the rate of all violent crimes — murders, rapes, aggravated assaults and robberies — decreased 20 percent from 1990 to 2006. The drop in the nonviolent crime rate, such as burglaries, thefts and stolen vehicles, is even more dramatic: about 42 percent.

That said, I suppose I could keep trying to roll my Sisyphean rock up the hill and keep insisting that it's a bad thing to kill other people when we don't have to.

But maybe I'd be better off leaving you with the comments of Patrick McCann, president of the Harris County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

"At the risk of being quoted, I'm not going to weep for those two," he said of the burglars. "I guess what this comes down to, was this good judgment? No. Was it legal? Probably. Is it something that anyone is going to indict him for? Probably not.

"We are in Texas. Things are different here."

Yes Lisa, we know, it's always about you. Just like it was in the red light sequencing case, the story in your eyes is not the story, but your eternal quest to stand alone as a martyr of reason in a backwater town, in a red State populated by the marginally educated. We get that, we understand it, and we thank you for reminding us in every column.

So, one might think, that's it, she's done.

Wrong.

She's back, and this time she's bringing logical fallacies along with her...

To many of us, Horn's preoccupation with stopping the crime and recovering the stolen property — "a bag of loot," as Horn described it — seemed irrational and vengeful rather than heroic. We agreed with the dispatcher, who repeatedly pleaded with the 61-year-old computer consultant to keep himself and his shotgun safe inside his own house while police headed to the scene.

(snip)

Over the past week, I've researched the Texas Penal Code and discovered some provisions that were surprising even to this fifth-generation Texan.

(snip)

If Horn doesn't get indicted, don't blame the grand jury. And don't blame Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. Blame the section of Chapter 9 of the Penal Code that deals with protection of property.

Under the section, which has been in place at least since 1973, a person is justified in using deadly force to protect a neighbor's property from burglary if the person "reasonably believes" deadly force is immediately necessary to stop the burglars from escaping with the stolen property. It's also justified if the shooter "reasonably believes" that "the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means."

(snip)

Even if they don't indict him, it doesn't mean Horn's actions were morally right. He chose to kill; he didn't have to. His own life and property were not in danger until he confronted the burglars.

There's a difference between what we can do and what we should do. Without careful judgment and discretion, the law can be a dangerous thing.

The same law that may protect Horn from indictment could also protect someone who, in the dark of night, discovers a group of teenage girls wrapping his front yard trees with toilet paper.

To a rational person, this is a harmless prank. Under Texas law, in a world without discretion, the girls are engaging in criminal mischief and the homeowner would be justified in mowing them down with a shotgun.

That last example is laughable. It goes beyond laughable to ludicrous. Not only is it not in any way related to the case, its a slippery slope, a sweeping generalization and a straw man all in one. It's only purpose is to try and water down the argument of the Horn supporters by bringing in an unlikely event. It's a terrible way of making an argument, has nothing to do with the facts of the case and isn't doing anything to prove Falkenberg's point.

LaE has noted before that Ms. Falkenbergs opinion isn't relevent here, it's too bad that she seems to be intent on ramming it down our throats. Because of the hyperactive antics of Quannell X and the curious obsession of Lisa Falkenberg the Joe Horn story has lated five news cycles longer than it should have.

We have a justice system, and a set of laws, in Texas that are designed to deal with this case based on the facts, Texas doesn't need the Chron's newly minted opinion-writer to decide these matters, it's done just fine for years without the advice of Houston's self-obsessed red-head and the only person whose writing actually made people yearn for the return of Rick Casey.

The sad thing is, I think a majority would agree that a revisit to the laws in question might be in order to prevent this from happening again. They would that is, if they weren't being brow-beaten and put-down in every column for their supposed lack of "sophistication". I've noticed a growing number of comments, stories and blog postings that admit to some level of concern that the law is written as it is. My own personal beliefs is that the option of deadly force should be restricted to avoid a certain amount of lawlessness. The differenceis that most of these people aren't going to beat down Joe Horn's supporters under a wave of moral superiority or intellectual snobbery. Falkenberg has now spent three columns doing just that.

Just let it go.

OTHER EYES:

Lone Star Times: Joe Horn: Chronicle continues hatchet job.

Society's Least Common Denominator strikes again....

FULL DISCLOSURE: I work for an oil company. I admit my bias when it comes to people saying that "big oil is bad for the country". I've had people spit in my face because I work for an oil company, and have lost "friends" because of this fact. I make no apologies for what I do, nor how my company does business. I choose to keep my employer's name off the blog because this is MY opinion only.


I realize that its an election year, and that the populace really shouldn't expect anything different, but is there really anyone out there who feels that increasing the tax burden on oil companies is going to lower the price of gas?

(from Siobahn Hughes of the Dow Jones Newswires via CNN)

Senate negotiators on Wednesday pushed ahead with plans to repeal some tax breaks for the largest oil companies, offering details of a new $21.8 billion energy-bill tax package that could be voted on in the chamber on Thursday in spite of a threatened White House veto.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the panel, reiterated plans to repeal a tax deduction granted to big companies such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) under a 2004 law, but dropped plans to freeze the deduction at 6% for smaller companies. The deduction for income earned from domestic production is scheduled to jump to 9% in 2010.

The package is largely similar to what was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives last week, when the chamber passed a far-reaching bill that would affect almost every industry. The tax money would be used to finance investments in alternative energy, part of a plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The Senate, like House lawmakers, still envisions extending through the end of 2016 a 30% tax credit for investments in solar-energy equipment, and extending until the end of 2014 a tax credit for residential investments in solar equipment.

Let's recap. (it helps to hum "God Bless America" while reading this portion of the post, you'll know when to stop)

The goal is (ostensibly) to "reduce America's reliance on imported oil" by decreasing America's demand. We, as a Country are going to make the "tough choices" that are necessary to "wean ourselves from the addiction of foriegn oil". We are going to stand together and lead the way in carbon reduction. We are doing this not for political gain, but to secure our future and our children's childrens future. And we are going to do this by......

wait for it...


Increasing taxes on the exploration and production ofdomesticoil and by giving those monies to an industries in which our donors and friends have almost total control.

That's right. domestically. The deductions are for domestic production of oil.

And Congress wants to get rid of those. Making it more profitable for "big five" to import the oil that they process in their plants. Making it less profitable for Gulf development and production, and thus increasing the cost of oil overall due to less supply and higher transportation costs. These increases will be passed on to the consumer, while educators who are donating record amounts to Democratic candidates and Al Gore's carbon credit industry reap the benefits. Benefits that, to be fair, were reaped by Big Oil largely in part to their backing of the Republicans for all of their years in power. The point however is not who paid for what influence from what party, but why is this favoratism considered "good" for America while the prior system is being vilified as bad? Shouldn't political favoritism of any type be bad? Isn't the job to "represent the people" as we're so often told? Of course not. FWIW: Representing the people would mean tax credits that can be claimed by all who choose to take advantage of them by purchasing green technologies or striving to invent a green product, not just a select few who are deemed worthy. (or wealthy enough to buy influence.)

So when you're wondering how you're going to pay for gas that's climbed to $5 per gallon and why you're wondering why your royalty payments* (if you own them) have suddenly decreased while Saudi profits soar, remember who did this to you. And then remember that around 30% of America voted them into office to represent you.

Again: Tax incentives for entrepreneurs and citizens pushing renewables good. Payments to "researchers" to tell us that eating meat is causing global warming (c'mon, who do you THINK funded this study?) very, very bad. Giving money away to any group because of similar political ideologies or campaign donations, ugly.






*The oft-overlooked fact in regards to on-shore domestic production is that there are several retirees that rely on those payments to supplement a Social Security system that doesn't cover all of the costs. America is one of the ONLY countries where the mineral wealth is privately owned. So, unlike in Venenzuela, Mexico or Saudi Arabia, when you damage domestic production you are really damaging the American citizen most of all. Primarily the elderly and farmers and ranchers whose payments subsidize their losses and allow them to stay in the farming and ranching business.

Good sports/Bad sports (writer)

First, The good...

Admit it, you were a Reggie Bush fan...

(from Lance Zeurlein blogging for the Chron)

My name is Lance Z. and I wanted Reggie Bush for the Texans.

(in unison) Hi, Lance

It started during the 2005 football season when I watched Bush go for all those sweet touchdowns against guys from schools like Fresno State. Man, was he awesome! He left those guys in the dust just like Desmond Howard, Rocket Ismail, Eric Metcalf and Trung Canidate used to!

The Texans were finishing up a 2-14 season and had the first pick of the draft and I just knew that with Bush having the same skills that the aforementioned players had that he would give David Carr the weapon he needed to succeed in this league.

Reggie Bush was can't miss. Now he's a guy who has to carry the football but isn't really very good at it. Aaron Stecker looks much more comfortable toting the rock for the Saints than Bush does and David Carr will be out of football soon considering that he's a 3rd string QB for the Panthers behind Vinny Oldstaverde and something called a Matt Moore.

And I'm guilty as charged. I also said (off blog) that if you're not going to draft Reggie, then you could have at LEAST drafted Vince Young. Well, ol' VY isn't doing so swell either. (he's 6-6 as a starter with twice as many interceptions as touchdowns).

So the "winner" in all of this was Kubiak and Co. who (in this one, isolated case) drafted the right guy. That STILL doesn't excuse their lack of improvment on the O-line or the D-backfield, but in Mario they got the call right.

Analysis (and mea culpas) like this is why Lance Z is one of the better sports 'guys' in town.



The Bad...

What do you think of the Tejada trade?

(from Jose de Jesus Ortiz)

Miguel Tejada is proof that Ed Wade is willing to gamble. Matt Albers and Troy Patton are surely talented, but it's nice to see the Astros are willing to make a blockbuster trade like this. Yes, Patton was sad at the news. He grew up an Astros fan here in the area, but he was pleased when I told him today that the Orioles were in the American League East.

"Are they in with the Yankees and the Red Sox?" he asked me. "That should be an awesome division to pitch in."

No, trades like this are proof that the Astros are getting a wee bit desperate to shake up a bad team, and are having increasing amounts of trouble doing it with a farm system that's as dry as an Al Gore stand-up routine.

On a team that's sorely lacking in pitching, you give up two of your top pitching prospects to sign a formerly great player whose "chemical assistance" is in doubt and whose numbers have been declining since he was caught taking a teammate's "B vitamins" and failed a drug test.

Persistent Ortiz critic John Royal of the Houston Press notes the same problems in the trade that I do although he does (rightly) note that at least Wade is doing something which is something more than Tim (huh?) Papura did for the few seasons he was in charge of the 'Stros.


At the end of the day the Tejada trade might not mean much. After all, no player in the history of baseball has been able to hit a 10-run homerun. That's what it could take with the sorry state of the 'Stros pitching staff.


Such is the state of the Houston sports media.

Houston Jeopardy! 12/12/2007

Answer: The Chron's "who do you agree with on immigration" image.


Please phrase your responses in the form of a question.
(Accusations of media bias that contain curse words will be deleted)



Other eyes: (a prediction)

About:Chron - Was the "immigration image" a sign of bias?
(It's coming, just you wait)

The Cougar Follies

Is it me? Or is the University of Houston coaching search starting to feel like a comedy act?

(from Micheal Murphy of the Chron)

For University of Houston athletic director Dave Maggard, the search goes on for a football coach to replace Art Briles. But a person with knowledge of the situation said that it has been narrowed to two candidates — former NFL and Cougars coach Jack Pardee and Notre Dame offensive coordinator Michael Haywood.

Pardee said Tuesday he had not been offered the job, and Haywood could not be reached for comment. Maggard would not comment on the situation, saying only that "there is still a lot of work to do."

Maggard has been seeking a replacement for Briles, who resigned Nov. 28 to go to Baylor. The list of candidates has been pared down from five — Haywood, Pardee, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin, Tulsa assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and current interim coach Chris Thurmond.

Maggard said his search would be thorough, which includes interviewing not only potential coaches, but also projected staff members suggested by the respective candidates.

Haywood, 43, is a native Houstonian who has worked at Minnesota, Army, Ohio University, Ball State, LSU and Texas before starting at Notre Dame, his alma mater, in 2005.

Pardee, 71, coached the Cougars from 1987-89, compiling a 22-11-1 record before taking over the coaching duties of the Houston Oilers. At UH, Pardee took over a team that finished 1-10 in 1986 and, using his explosive run-and-shoot attack, put together back-to-back, nine-win seasons and turned the Cougars into the nation's 14th-ranked team.

So, after an "extensive search" the finalists are a 71 year-old re-tread whose best days are probably behind him and whose signature moment in Houston football is 41-38 and running around the sidelines with an unplugged headset, and the OC for a 3-9 Notre Dame team that basically had no offense to speak of last season.

How far the mighty have fallen.

It's no secret that I was not, am not, an Art Briles fan. Yes, he experienced some limited success with UH but a look behind the numbers demonstrates that he never beat a team outside of C-USA that had a .500 or winning record, he never won a bowl game, and his defenses and special teams got progressively worse as his tenure went on. Add to that the fact that UH didn't have REAL success (the C-USA championship) until Maggard forced Briles to fire his High School buddies and bring in REAL coaches (including LaE fave strength coach Larry Jackson) and you have a situation where all of the coaching "buzz" wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

Yes, he was popular with the Houston crazies, especially those who feel that UH should be mentioned in the same breath as UT-Austin and aTm. Yes, his "folksy charm" served to ingratiate the local media and yes, he did go to four bowl games in five years (losing all of them). None of that was enough for me to overcome the sloppy play and general lack of discipline that I saw in his teams. I quit attending games reguarly the year before the Courgars won the conference championship. At the time some of my Cougar acquaintences suggested that I wouldn't be happy unless they won. I kept assuring them it wasn't about winning, it was about good football. I can see better football on TV every Saturday or at a sports bar than I could watching UH play their version of the Environmental offense (green: no playbook) and watching the defense flail around like blind chickens.

I don't see anything in either of these two "finalists" that excite me any at all.



Full disclosure: My choice would have been OU Co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin. He's from a system that has a proven track-record of winning, can recruit, and is young enough to have fresh ideas. And by all accounts, he's a disciplenarian.

Just say No

To billboard advertising...

(from Dale Lezon of the Chron)

On the heels of an agreement with the one of area's largest outdoor advertising firms to reduce the number of billboards in Houston, city leaders are hoping other companies will pull down some of their signs, too.

Under a proposed ordinance, billboard owners could remove some signs in exchange for relocating other ones, city officials said.

The exchange would be based on the size of the signs. For example, owners would be allowed to remove three 100-square-foot signs, then relocate a 300-square-foot sign, city officials said. The billboards could not be relocated to scenic districts.

The City Council is expected to consider the plan this morning.

The measure is similar to an agreement city officials struck with Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. this week.

That agreement requires Clear Channel to remove two-thirds, or 881, of its 1,347 small and medium-sized billboards from private property.

The devil in this deal is going to be in the details. You see, what this arrangement does not do is reduce the number of billboards. It just relocates them out of the City Center and pushes them out toward the suburbs and outlying areas. This is going to be sold as "billboard reduction" but its really "billboard relocation".

Relocation into poorer neighborhoods, ensuring that those neighborhoods deemed "pretty" are relatively clutter free. Because, you see, the poor don't make campaign donations or join protest groups. They're too busy working two to three jobs to afford their rising property taxes, mortgage payments, home insurance rates, health insurance premiums and the rising cost of milk.

Now they get to live in uglier neighborhoods as well. Ahhh Houston.


Other eyes:

Mrs. White: Good compromise
yet another public display of affection between Mrs. White and her man.

Off the Kuff: Fewer Billboards
Kuff ALMOST sees the problems here that I do, almost

News as soapbox

For a long time in the newspaper business, there was news which contained a mixture of hard fact and detail, and opinion which was where journalists with no other qualifications relating to the issues take a look at news stories and presented their opinion from an expert perspective.

It's the opinion section which has inspired the bulk of blogs that you see littering the Internet. Including this one. One reason people like opinion is because its more fun. Opinion brings colorful colloquialisms to life such as "Mrs. White" or Editorial LiveJournalists. In short, opinion invites snark, news invites glossed over eyes. Today's readers are illustrating a voracious appetite for opinion.

The problem arises when there is a blurring of the line between news and opinion. When the line is crossed it can either be behind the scenes or right out in plain sight.

Let's recap:

Same story, two places, one clearly listed as "news" and the other clearly listed as "opinion".

Screen shot: "news"



Screen shot: "opinion"





Both stories end with this conclusion:
(from Lisa Falkenberg of the Chron)

Saavedra said the district must be objective, and that the best-performing schools aren't automatically entitled to the best buildings.

"That's not the wise way of making decisions for facilities," Saavedra said.

He may be right, but it's also unwise to have newly renovated schools where ceilings leak, doors don't lock and science labs don't include electrical outlets.

That's a lesson that needs to be remembered, not only at a school named for a medical legend, but also at the 158 schools that will be built or renovated over the next few years.

You tell me.


(BlogHouston has been all over this story, I'm just piling on...you know...for fun!)

"Priorities"

Your elected officials have them...

(From Gary Scharrer of the Chron)

Texas lawmakers are jumping into the brawl between the NFL and major cable companies over the broadcasting of some pro football games despite uncertainty that they even have any business taking sides.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Monday urged the House Committee on Regulated Industries to force binding arbitration on Time Warner and Comcast if the two major cable companies won't negotiate to keep certain games on expanded basic cable.

Comcast, which serves the Houston market, has placed the NFL network on a sports and entertainment tier that costs $7.95 a month. The two companies want to put the NFL on a premier sports tier in other markets as well and charge customers more each month for the package.

Because the NFL attracts more viewers than any other TV programming, Goodell told lawmakers that cable companies would be better off if they put the NFL network on expanded basic cable. The NFL wants cable companies to pay about 70 cents per viewer per month and have it on basic cable, which has a larger audience.

But the big cable companies want to charge up to $8 a month for a premium package, he said.

"We think that's obscene. We don't think that's right," Goodell told the committee, emphasizing that NFL officials prefer a negotiated outcome instead of a legislative solution.

A legislative solution is not an option, said Howard Symons, representing the Texas Cable Association. Because the issue affects consumers in every state, Symons told lawmakers, the NFL ought to take its case to the Federal Communications Commission.

Because access to semi-competative NFL games are more important than immigration, education, flood control, mobility concerns et al.

The Proletariat must have their entertainment dammit!!!!!

First World country, third world food supply

You're probably eating too much salt and didn't even know it.

(from Todd Ackerman of the Chron)

Houstonian Diane Fries did what any conscientious patient would do when her doctor told her she had high blood pressure: she got rid of her salt shaker and stopped eating foods obviously high in sodium.

But the change had little effect. The problem, Fries eventually learned, is the salt in processed food and restaurant cuisine, the unsuspected ingredient in everything from salad dressings to breads to cheeses. When she began paying attention to it, her blood pressure went down.

"There's so much hidden salt in food people aren't aware of," said Fries, a lifelong Texan who describes herself as having grown up on fried foods and salt. "You just don't think of it normally."

Health officials are trying to change that. The American Medical Association has launched a public-awareness campaign about the hidden salt in people's diets and the Food and Drug Administration is mulling regulating what one consumer advocacy group dubbed "the deadly white powder."

The goal is to cut sodium intake by half over the next decade, which health officials say could save as many as 150,000 lives annually. One official says the death toll from America's excessive salt consumption is the equivalent of "a jumbo jet with more than 400 passengers crashing every day of the year, year after year."

It's still amazing to me that America, with all of her wealth, has turned over the quality of her food supply to food manufacturers in third world countries.

Back to my mantra: Pay a little more, buy fresh ingredients, cook and season them yourself. Avoid processed food.

I know it's not easy but its the best chance you have.

OTHER EYES:

HouSTONED: Salty sourcing from the Chron.
BlogHouston: Spivak: Chron Reporter Borrows without attribution.
She Eats: Whose mami? Umami.
Lone Star Times: Press catches Chron writer in plaiarism

In private conversation...

You want proof that the current wave of immigrants are "melting" into American Culture?

They're suing to keep the right to speak Spanish.

(from James Pinkerton of the Chron)

WHEN the captain heard three crew members on his container ship chatting in Spanish during breaks, he became enraged. He then brandished a knife to enforce his standing orders: Speak only English on board.

The incident, settled for $31,000 after a discrimination suit was filed in a Houston federal court, is an extreme example of cases fueling a growing debate over English-only policies in the workplace, experts say.

''It's a lightning-rod issue, a lot of people get upset," said Rudy Sustaita, a veteran attorney with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed suit against the Houston ship management firm that hired the captain.

And a similar suit earlier this year has sparked a showdown on Capital Hill, where Senate Republicans approved legislation to block the EEOC's efforts to dismantle English-only rules imposed by private companies.

The agency insists the few cases it brings challenge the most ''egregious" policies, where English is mandatory even though there is no legitimate business need to do so.

The English-only issue has been pulled into the divisive debate over immigration, and promises to be a pivotal issue in the 2008 elections.

(snip)

Activists say requiring English in the workplace often is a contentious issue in Houston, where more than 90 languages can be heard among the large populations of immigrants who have settled here from around the world.

''It's fairly common in places of employment where the majority of the workers speak English," said Laura Boston, an organizer for the nonprofit Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center. ''Employers will tell their employees they're not allowed to speak their own language."

Boston said requiring English is used as an ''annoyance tactic" with workers, and is ''just part of the abuse you sometimes get from some employers."

The EEOC says companies can require workers to speak English to communicate with customers, co-workers or supervisors who only speak English. English also may be required in the workplace to promote safety, aid in cooperative work assignments or allow supervisors to evaluate an employee whose duties include speaking with customers.

It's amazing to me that other countries are working hard to ensure their children understand and know English, while Americans are seemingly trying to run away from speaking the same.

Knowing two (or even three) languages is going to be almost essential in the business world going forward, so policies that restrict language to English only are short-sighted as well.

Maybe we could all take a look at each other and try just a "little" bit harder to understand our fellow man than try and force our preferred language down someone else's throat?

Just a thought.

Houston Jeopardy! 12/09/2007

Answer: "For a limited time only"


Please, phrase your responses in the form of a question.

Other Eyes:

BlogHouston: Original Otto's barbeque up for sale, land to be redeveloped.
Off the Kuff: RIP, Otto's barbeque.
Swamplot: They're Otto here...

And I'm a...(insert group here)

The Chron "letters" page provides us with some of the best free entertainment in Houston. (well, that and the comments to some stories.

Let's look at today's slate:

(from the Chron's letters page, all bolding and emphasis mine)

I am writing in response to the Page One article pub-lished Dec. 7, "Does film Compass steer kids in wrong direction? / Catholic group urges ban in fear kids will read the book, which is by an atheist author." I heartily disagree with the actions taken by particular schools banning the book. I am a practicing Catholic, yet I do not find anything wrong in reading The Golden Compass. Why? I think the best way to fully under-stand what one believes in is to experience different pers-pectives so that one might become a more acute and well-rounded thinker.

The only way to form convictions is to explore. Letting a Christian child read a book with atheist undertones might provoke him to ask questions, but he'll be that much more knowledgeable about his family's religion and that of author Philip Pullman.

BIANCA LEGGIO
Houston

The "I'm a Christian meme" carries on in the comments:

lizardsalinas wrote:
I think banning a book is dumb and you know what, get this I am a Christian!!! A very liberal one at that!!! If I want to see a movie, I will if I do not want to I won't. That simple, people need to think for themselves instead of being sheeple. If you don't want to see it fine then don't makeing an issue out of it is stupid. I am not going because I can not stand Nicole Kidman or Daniel Craig as actors and I am not a fan of fantasy (I love the horror films!) never got into Lord of the rings But I did see the harry potter with Gary Oldman cuz I think he is hot! But I digress, no one is going to tell me what to watch, what to think, or what to do. Thats why we have free will!

I guess what these writers mean to tell us is that they have "the answers" because they don't see censorship and "they are Christians". Wow, would have never imagined that.

And my favorite argument of all:

Trying to influence people into boycotting a movie because of the author's religion...stinks of discrimination to me. Shall we ban novels (hello...it's fiction, people) because an author is Muslim, or Catholic, or African-American or female? Shame, shame!!

The people who support this action are stupid and ignorant. This kind of attitude is pervasive and does not belong in this country! Where is Darwin? We need to get these people out of the gene pool!!!

We are tolerant of all ideals unless they do not meet our definition of tolerance.

Then we want to hunt them down and execute them. Humanely of course.


The dumbing down of America marches on proudly (and with zero sense of self-awareness.)

I iz a High Skool Grajooit.

Oh no!!! Standards again!!...

(from Matthew Tresaugue of the Chron)

For the first time, Texas is making elaborate plans to reduce the embarrassingly high number of freshmen who arrive at the state's colleges and universities needing remedial work.

A 104-page proposal, which is scheduled to come before the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board next month, outlines what students should learn before enrolling at one of the state's public universities. Those who do not meet the standards will be directed to community colleges, where they can get extra help at a lower cost to themselves and the state.

As it stands, more than half the entering freshmen at Texas colleges and universities need remedial classes, which don't count toward a degree. Educators are optimistic the collaborative effort ultimately will ensure more students earn bachelor's degrees, and in less time.

"This would be the Texas equivalent of putting a man on the moon," said Raymund Paredes, the state's higher education commissioner.

The dismaying lack of preparation prompted the state Legislature to order the new standards during a special session in 2006. Since then, teams of high school teachers, university professors and education experts have worked to draft the sweeping proposal, which defines necessary skills to do college-level work in English, math, science and the social sciences.

Still, the plan has exposed fissures over how much high school graduates should be expected to know, based on comments submitted to the coordinating board.

(snip)

One high school teacher said the proposed standards are so high that graduates should get a Ph.D. with their diplomas. A university professor said, however, that students should master the proposed set of skills by the eighth grade.

Some educators explained the divide as one of expectations. For years, the nation's high schools pushed most students toward graduation, not college. Though state law requires students to take certain classes to graduate, the requirements don't necessarily prepare them for higher education.

And what exactly are some of these "PhD level standards" that we're expecting our graduates to know?

Under the proposed standards, students would be expected to understand such subjects as quadratic equations, the laws of thermodynamics and the effects of an author's choice of style and words.

While those might seem out of reach, it should be remembered that, not too long ago, we were teaching those very subjects to a substantial portion of children during their senior year in High School. It's not exactly "PhD" material to expect High School graduates to understand that all energy is constant in the universe. Now, should they have a mastery of this concept by the time they are 18? No. That's what College education is for, but they should understand this concept and be able to do some basic application work with it.

Of course, to do this Texas is going to need to hire teacher's who understand the laws of thermodynamics and can teach basic applications of them in the classroom.


Oh, yeah that.

The times they are a changin'

For Houston developers they are anyway...

(From Mike Snyder of the Chron)

Houston's real estate developers, who have long enjoyed a unique role as the city's unfettered engines of growth, suddenly find themselves on the defensive as they scramble to confront a flurry of policy initiatives affecting their industry.

In the past year, the City Council has strengthened rules for protecting historic buildings, required developers to set aside land for parks and tried to give neighborhood leaders more influence over the shape of new development surrounding them.

Various officials and committees, meanwhile, are working on new rules for development in transit corridors, policies to encourage and guide urban mixed-use developments and requirements for traffic impact studies of certain high-density projects.

Collectively these efforts are a bit of a shock to an industry accustomed to limited local regulation in the nation's only major city without zoning.

There are two ways that you can read this, and how you read it probably depends on where you stand on the whole issue of so-called "urban planning" and "zoning".

The first translation of these "rules" is that the City is simply trying to do its best to ensure that the charm and history of Houston neighborhoods are preserved. Preservationists and the well-heeled that live inside the Loop (that's Loop 610, for those readers who may not be from Houston) would tell you that regulations of this type are necessary in order to maintain the character (read: property values) and charm (read: keeping out the undesirables) of their neighborhoods while ensuring that the "correct" ameneties are within an arms' reach.

The second translation posits the theory that the Government is overstepping its bounds, seeking to choke off profitable development to ensure that new development is strategically placed to ensure the viability of a transit system that's inherently broken before its built. These people will tell you that this has less to do with "urban planning" and more to do with "social engineering". That the 'right people' own property along these corridors and that new transit is "cool" whether it works or not kind of goes unsaid as an understood.


In a sense, both translations have within them a certain amount of accuracy. The preservationists are correct in stating that the current administration is bending over backwards to protect the history and character of Houston neighborhoods. Certain Houston neighborhoods that is. Preferably ones that have a high potential for future campaign donations. The anti-mayor types in Houston typically get all lathered up at this point telling you that his unusual support of the Southampton Civic Association is somehow "corrupt" or a sign that Mayor White is the Anti-Christ. He's certainly neither, but is definitely a very savvy politician. One who understands that his future political plans are going to require money, a lot of money if the tea leaves are being correctly translated.

The anti-transit coalition gets it (partially) correct as well. All you need to know about the desire to have development enrich a certain group is provided when you come to the realization that the group who is building the trains, is also seeking to profit off of development around them. Where most of us come from that's a severe conflict of interest. One that seems to be resulting in transit plans being based on the profitability potential of future development rather than meeting the transit needs of the populace. Especially the poor, and those most in need of transit.

The question that now arises is "what's next"?

I'm guessing that the wave of regulation hasn't yet reached its full cresting point, despite the fact that the largest regulators are still trying to cloak themselves as free market reformers. The "next" big thing will be a move toward form based codes which will further polarize the development in Houston among the haves and the have-nots. The end game to all of this is a not-so-hidden attempt to transform Houston into some wapred, humid version of Paris, France where the City core is strong, vibrant and full of young, upwardly mobile professionals with few children and voracious material appetites. The poor and many offspringed will be shuttled out to the far-reaches of the city, where amenities and transit options are few and far-between. Not only will this serve to "contain" the undesirables, it also serves to ensure the glossy toys are the sole domain of the well-heeled and urbane. A pretty city with pretty toys and an even prettier creative class who are the envy of those who have the terrible mis-fortune of growing up middle to lower class.

Just don't say that out-loud. You might lose the votes of the poor and middle class who still (for some odd reason) believe that the Billions of dollars of "mass transit" development are being created with their needs in mind.


Other eyes:

Off the Kuff: Developing new rules.

Why the Right-wing is wrong on the Mortgage issue.

Michelle Malkin weighed in on the Mortgage "bailout" today. Her solution? Suck it up.

David Benzion of Lone Star Times wonders who represents him in this mess and the prevailing wind from the Right is that nothing should be done and the crises should just be allowed to play it self out. If a lot of people lose their homes?

Well too bad for them. The "smart" people in society shouldn't have to pay for it right?


That would hold water if those same "smart people" (read: more intelligent than you or I) had been out there banging the drum of impending doom because of these "stupid business deals". They weren't. They were out there touting the economy these deals fostered as proof President Bush was doing a good job. What you are seeing now is nothing more than Monday morning criticism on a game that was played on Sunday evening.

The biggest argument that you hear against any bailout is that "people should have been smart enough to know." OK, but lets assume for a moment that a young couple buying their first house aren't the pillars of real-estate knowledge that Malkin and the rest of the Right Wing talking heads hold themselves to be. Let's just assume that the rest of the world isn't a card-carrying member of Real Estate Mensa.

Where are they going to go for advice?

To their financial advisors who were advising people to purchase subprime loans. The same advisors that people were encouraged to consult with by the Real Estate Mensa. You also had Realtors(TM) pushing people toward homes that were more than they can afford, and mortgage companies underwriting loans that never should have gotten out of the "dream" stage.

But they did. These loans were funded, paid for (for the most part) and are now being defaulted on at record rates. In some cases the fault lies with the homeowner. They had opportunities to refinance, to get their credit in line, but blew it off and never changed their habits. In other cases it lies with the lendors. Who assured the buyers that the "increases" would be "modest" and no problem at all. It's a two way street, a winding trail of greed and dishonesty that's coming home to roost during the last days of a failed Presidential administration. One that saw the warning signs, but refused to enact standards to prevent sub-prime loans from blossoming as they did.

Now that things are falling apart, The President is proposing a modest bailout plan one designed to take the sting out of the recent spate of foreclosures, and to try and forestall the recession in which America is currently ensnared. (and, FWIW, in severe denial over)

A bailout is the correct thing to do here because the entire system was out of balance. Because you just didn't have greedy homeowners sucking up money, you also had greedy investors (who stand to lose some) funding loans that in no way passed the smell test. The bailout is such that homeowners can keep their homes, and investors can continue to gain a return on their investment, although the promised rate of return will not be near as high.

Is it a perfect plan? Hardly. Because there has to be mechanisms put into place to prevent this mess from happening in the future. Not Government control, but the same Government oversight that's present in most other large financing plans. There should also be a real movement to try and get basic personal finance taught in High Schools, and not have the classes be subsidized and textbooks written by lenders either. I'm talking about good old-fashioned "pay as you go" education.

And what about the folks that did the "right thing"? Those people that kept their house and didn't get a second mortgage, or the people like the Lone Star Times crowd who are just "smarter" than all of us, what do they get out of the deal?

For one thing they get to reap the benefits of home values that are going to continue to drop, they get increased oppotunity in an economy that will probably not fall as far or as fast as it might have without aid, and they get the warm and fuzzy feeling that they desire when they can sit around with their friends and bemoan how "stupid" everyone is (present company excluded of course) while laughing over their subprime investments not totally collapsing.


In a perfect world this mess would be allowed to "play itself out" and while some might lose their homes they'd soon be sucked up by a group of people who are looking to purchase a new home and have been waiting in the wings. The world (and the current American economy) isn't perfect however and the rush of foreclosures is leading to a housing glut that is threatening to severely damage new home starts and existing home sales to the point that even those who were part of the Real estate Mensa are going to get singed.

And in the end, THAT's what's in it for them, and why "sucking it up" isn't really an option.

Texas Wine Fridays

Things you might want to do this weekend:

The Tasting Room in Uptown Park Shopping center is hosting another Farmer's Market this Sunday.

Sunday, December 9, 2007 - Holiday Farmers' Market and Wine Tasting



Come find great gift ideas and eat spectacular foods!



Find out what wines will go great with your holiday dinner - our wine tasting will pair wines with samplings of holiday foods!



$5 per person or FREE if you donate a new, unwrapped toy to Toys for Tots!



Sunday, December 9, 2007

1 - 4 p.m.

TTR Uptown Park and TTR Gourmet

1101-18 Uptown Park Blvd.

713.993.9800

Haak Vinyards and Winery in Santa Fe is hosting their Holiday Shopping Day II on Sunday as well.

Sunday December 9th 2 to 5 pm

Need a break from the holidays crowds?

Come to the winery for some laid-back shopping while the Benchmark Quarter Barbershop Quartet will be entertaining us all.

There will be an activity for the kids, fantastic gift baskets and who knows . . . .maybe a surprise visitor!!!

Don't forget about the award winning Haak wine while enjoying the ambience here at the winery.

FOOD: Cooking demonstrations by our own David Reiss at 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm in our wine cellar.
COST: Free to attend

The weather this weekend is expected to be WARM, so get outside and DO something.

Salud!

Politics and half-truths

Capitol Annex (a self-described "Progressive political blog"is reporting that John Cornyn voted against tax relief for the middle class in yesterday's Senate tax bill vote that I blogged about here.

Here's a little from that post:

Today, U.S. Senator John Cornyn voted against legislation that would have provided tax relief for nearly two million middle class families in Texas.

The legislation would have prevented about $1.5 million Texans from paying the Alternative Minimum Tax. The legislation Cornyn voted against included tax credits for college tuition, tax relief for members of the armed forces, and tax deductions for school teachers buying supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets.

He also presents a political statement from Cornyn's presumed Democratic opponent Rick Noriega:

“Once again, this demonstrates that John Cornyn is out of touch with regular Texans and Texas values,” said State Representative Rick Noriega, who on Monday officially filed as a candidate for Senator Cornyn’s seat.

And he posted reaction from the Democratic policy committee:

Cornyn Voted Against Providing AMT Relief to Over 1.5 Million TX Families. The bill Cornyn blocked today would extend for one year relief for families that would be impacted by the alternative minimum tax. This relief would benefit 23 million American families, including 1,532,300 in Texas. [Citizens for Tax Justice, 11/15/07]

Cornyn Voted Against Extending Tuition Tax Credit That Benefits Over 249,000 TX Students and Families. The bill Cornyn blocked today would extend for one year a federal higher education tuition tax credit that allows lower- and middle-class families paying for college to deduct up to $4,000. In 2003, 3.6 million Americans benefited from this tax cut, including 249,008 in Texas. [Democratic Policy Committee, 9/26/06]

That's pretty damning stuff.

Except that its not really 100% true.

This link: To the United States Senate roll call vote tabulator shows what Cornyn voted "for" and "against".

First, what he voted against.

On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to H.R. 3996 )

For those of you not paying attention, H.R. 3996 was the House bill that was authored by Charlie Rangel (D-New York) which contained tax increases for certain investments designed to "offset" the revenues that would be lost to the AMT.

After voting against cloture of this bill (which would have stopped the debate and allowed an up or down vote to proceed) Cornyn offered the Sen Bill 2234 as an amendment to H.R. 3996.

There were other amendments added which stripped the provision of the new taxes to offset the revenue.

After debate continued, a compromise was reached, and a new vote held, Cornyn voted FOR the bill and it passed. 88-5

FWIW the 5 "No" votes were Democrat:

NAYs ---5
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feingold (D-WI)
Whitehouse (D-RI)

There are a LOT of reason's that you could take issue with John Cornyn on when it comes to his voting record. You could even take umbrage with his failure to substitute the revenue lost from the roll back of the AMT. Or that what he voted for was considered by some to be "fiscally irresponsible"

I'm fine with that. All of those arguments are valid and legitimate, and accurate criticism of what transpired. You could even be angry (as a Democrat) that Cornyn didn't support YOUR party's bill. That's a valid criticism. But saying that a "no" vote that extended debate was a vote "against tax cuts for the middle-class" is not entirely honest. And before anyone says "well, he's obstructing". Yes, he is. Just like the Democrats obstructed when the Republicans were in charge. It's a valid political tool for both letters of the alphabet.

As I've stated before, I'm not voting for Cornyn. I'll either vote for Noriega, a third party candidate, or skip the race. But dishonest criticism is dishonest criticism and shouldn't have any soapbox in the political arena.


ADDED: This post was pretty critical of Capitol Annex. I would be remiss if I didn't point out that The Blog received an award from the Texas Progressive Alliance for his excellent reporting of the last days of the most recent Texas House session.

Some see the glass as half empty

Joel loses out Nationally to Jennifer Love Hewitt.

(from Tara Dooley of the Chron)

Readers of People magazine in Texas will find a big picture of Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria, on the cover of the Dec. 17 issue that lands at the nearest grocery store checkout line today.

The rest of the country gets a photo of Jennifer Love Hewitt creating a stir about whether she looks chubby on the beach. Osteen's photo will have a smaller spot on the national cover.

I choose to view the glass as half-full on this one:

At least we didn't have a big picture of Joel and his wife in bikinis on the cover of the magazine.



It's just a matter of perspective.



Oh, and in case you're wondering: There's NO WAY in God's creation that Jennifer Love-Hewitt is anything close to resembling fat. Heck, she's not even "chubby" in those pictures. The people suggesting she is are probably eating cheetos while they lounge around on their sofa's wondering where to waddle up to the trough for their next meal.

Tough Choices

State contemplating smoke free lottery sales zones.

(from the AP via the Chron)

The Texas Lottery Commission is considering a ban on selling tickets in stores that allow smoking after a recent attorney general's opinion suggested the practice could leave the state vulnerable to civil rights lawsuits.

Anti-smoking and civil rights advocates urged the commission at a meeting Wednesday to re-evaluate how it licenses vendors and to not allow smoking where tickets are sold.

They are concerned that secondhand smoke prevents people with disabilities or illnesses related to smoke from buying tickets at some locations.

The issue has been smoldering since 2006 when Billy Williams, 77, of Lewisville, complained to lottery officials that he suffered an asthma attack after buying a lottery ticket at a store in Whitney that allowed smoking.

So, for store owners the choice is going to be between the following revenue streams:

Those who choose to gamble away their money on odds that are longer than the odds for being struck by lightning.


or...

People who throw away their money on products they probably have a pretty good idea to be hazardous to their health.



I'm calling this a toss up, but I'm betting there's more money to be had from smokers than there is for the lottery. Just a guess.

Write tax bill, insert foot

Normally the eye of this blog is not trained on the Federal Government. This is probably because, typically, our Federal elected officials are nothing more than trained monkey's putting on a show. Occasionally however, the Least Common Denominator of society does something that's worthy of mention.

This is one of those times...

(from Jim Abrams of the AP via the Chron)

The Senate voted Thursday to block a looming tax increase averaging $2,000 for millions of taxpayers after Senate Republicans succeeded in thwarting a Democratic plan to also raise taxes on investors.

The Senate bill, passed 88-5, provides a one-year fix for the alternative minimum tax but without matching the cost of the tax relief with new tax revenues. Without the fix, an estimated 25 million people would be subject to the higher AMT tax, up from 4 million in 2006.

The Senate vote puts it at odds with the House, where Democratic leaders, under a principle of not adding to the national debt, demanded that the AMT fix be paid for. Last month, the House passed legislation matching the AMT fix and other tax cuts with about $80 billion in new tax revenues.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said it was not his first choice to pass an unpaid-for bill but "this is our best choice." He said 12 million people in the $100,000 to $200,000 income level alone would be hit by the AMT without the fix, and "we need to stop that from happening."

Let me offer up a thimble of amateur political analysis here:

Because of Republican ineptitude, the Democrats all but have the majority of both chambers of Congress and the White House pretty much locked up. ALL they have to do is push the 60/40 issues like stem cell research, the S-Chip bill and others. Once their in power then they can run wild and do whatever they want to run the Country in a manner of their choosing. All Republicans will be able to do is stomp their feet and moan. UNLESS DEMOCRATS GET CRAZY AND RAISE THE TAXES OF MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA BEFORE THE ELECTION. If that happens then there is a realistic chance, that the Democrats can lose the White House.


So why then are they so intent on sending the message that Government revenue is more important than the finances of their constituents?

Because, as I stated earlier, we are dealing with politicians here, the least common denominator of society.


On another note: What the tax code needs is sweeping reform, the reason everyone is struggling to deal with it is because nobody in Washington is smart enough to resolve the problem.


OTHER EYES:

Capitol Annex: Cornyn votes against tax-relief for the middle class. (see above)

The good and the bad in the Energy Bill

In what many view to be a symbolic gesture, A house controlled by the Democratic Party passed an energy bill today, a bill that has a few good things in it, some bad things, and some things that just aren't practical.

The good:

Increasing Milage standards for automobiles. - It's true that a lot of my Republican friends feel that the market is going to do this anyway due to high oil prices. But in this case I think that raising the standards makes a lot of sense. I would also like to see some requirement regarding what percentage of vehicles should be certified "clean" from an emmissions standpoint, because your freedom of choice to drive something ends where the public air quality begins. Detroit and Japan can manufacture cars that run cleaner and more efficiently, sometimes they just need to be nudged a little to do it.


Tax incentives for renewable energy. - A very good idea that I've long been a supporter of. The best way to encourage alternative energy development is to make it economically beneficial to do so. When you hear people gripe that "Big Oil is going to dominate the alternative market as well" then what you are REALLY hearing is NOT some great concern for the environment, but instead an ingrained bias against existing industry. I'll argue that 70% of the environmental movement ISN't about "cleaning the air" but about "punishing those who do things I don't like". You saw a LOT of this when Exxon announced they found a way to improve hybrid-car batteries. Suddenly it wasn't about "the environment" but about ending the program because Exxon might benefit. Passing legislation based on these principles ultimately leads to....


The bad.


Increased taxes on Oil companies. - Never mind that the argument you reduce foreign oil consumption by punishing domestic companies is ridiculous at face value. Ignore for a minute the fact that, if America stops importing, that the Chinese and Russians will MORE than make up for what our Country gives up. Forget for a second that the Middle Eastern oil powers will be loyal to their biggest customers out of need. Ignore all of that, and look at how damaging tax increases are going to be to the poor. Because don't think for a minute that energy companies are going to take a rise in the cost of goods sold on the chin. They have an obligation to their shareholders to NOT do that. These tax increases would do two things if passed....

1. They'd result in the almost immediate rise of heating oil, electricity and gasoline. Because exploration and production projections would decrease overnight.

2. They'd INCREASE America's reliance on foreign crude. Exploration would slow down dramatically, as would production. There'd be less domestic product, especially offshore, which would increase the amount of crudestock America would have to import from....the Middle East.

Those two things alone aren't devastating, but when you couple them with the number of blue collar jobs that would be eliminated you have yourself a nice, tidy economic problem that could ripple into other areas.


This leaves us with....the ugly.


Reliance on ethanol. - Eric Berger said it best...

If you're looking for the big energy story of this past year, it would seem to be the onslaught of studies showing that ethanol is a poor solution to our energy needs.

As we learn more about ethanol, we learn that its not going to be the magic bullet many think it should be. As a matter of fact, its starting to look like overreliance on ethanol could do severe damage to both the environment AND the food supply. Is that reality any better than the scare tactics they give us on oil? Only if you ignore that Big Oil has done a MUCH BETTER job being a good corporate citizen of late, minus a couple of high profile incidents.


This bill will never pass in its current form. The House is where all of the wackier pols with tight demographic bases get to cast votes that have little basis in the realities of modern America. Most (not all) of Congress could vote to blow up their home state and they would still be re-elected by 60%, that's just the sad fact. In the Senate however things are a little more diverse. A Senator has to win a majority of an entire state in a country that is deeply fractured over the "best" way to resolve our long-term energy needs.

Hopefully as they get to look at this they can keep (and expand on) the good, get rid of the bad, and take the idea of the ugly out back behind the capitol and shoot it.

Shake, shake, shake

Shake your booty...

In this case the booty is in contention:

(from the AP via the Chron)

A coalition of strip clubs has filed a lawsuit seeking to block a state law that would add a $5 surcharge for every strip club visitor.

The new fee, which was approved this year by the Texas Legislature, is set to take effect on Jan. 1. It's expected to raise about $40 million to be dispersed for sexual assault prevention programs and health care for the uninsured.

The Texas Entertainment Association and Karpod, Inc., the operator of an Amarillo club, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Travis County against Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs.

The lawsuit argues that the fee would amount to an unconstitutional tax on nude dancing, a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. It also says the measure unfairly targets strip clubs, while not including modeling studios and adult video arcades. Strip club owners have said that the fee unfairly links their customers to rape.

"Exotic nude dancing is protected speech under the First Amendment," the lawsuit says. "It (the fee) singles out income derived from protected speech for a burden the state places on no other income."

This is the problem that I have with any proposed "sin tax" targeting commerce that's both legal, AND objectional to a portion of society.

Fees of this type are nothing more than revenue and vote grabs by politicians who understand there is no way they could survive politically if they attempted to outlaw said activity. It's very akin to funding the state budget on the backs of smokers. Except that, in this case, there is a sexual element at play.


And, in Texas at least, we all know that NO ONE, outside of married couples, is having sex right?

The curious case of Joe Horn.

Let's go to the facts of the case first.

1. On November 14, 2007 Joe Horn shot two men who were robbing his neighbors home.

2. He called 911, and seven minutes later there was no response from Pasadena police.

3. He then told the 911 operator he was going outside to "kill them", he went outside, you you can plainly hear that he did, in fact, shoot them.


The "facts" surrounding the rest of the events have largely been clouded with opinion, depending mainly on your political outlook.

- It is true that the two robbers (now, desceased robbers) were illegal immigrants from Columbia who both had prior arrests on their records for drug related charges.

- It is true that the "Castle law" could not apply in this case.

- It is true that there is part of the Texas Criminal Code provides Mr. Horn legal justification for his actions.


The only question we have now is whether or not the theives "moved on him".

- It doesn't matter whether or not Lisa Falkenberg thinks Joe Horn is a hero.

Nobody cares. Well, SOME people care because she's been getting a ton of comments on her post, but her opinion is not germaine to the facts of the case, nor should it have any weight in determining the "right vs. wrong" in this situation. If Ms. Falkenberg doesn't consider Joe Horn a "hero" then that's her opinion.There are plenty of people who disagree with her. Their opinions aren't relevent as to the facts of the case either.


- It also doesn't matter what Lisa Falkenberg's opinion of "rednecks" is.

I know that she doesn't like them, that (from her writing) she'd rather be tarred, feathered, and made to read the collective poetry of Paris Hilton in Gaelic while being suspended over the specacled bear enclosure at the Houston zoo after her feet were dipped in honey than to actually *shudder* be forced to be in the same city as many from Pasadena (the same State is repulsive enough). But, at the end of the day I'm betting the bikers and other groups supporting Horn feel the same about Ms. Flakenberg. It's a funny thing about assuming your way is superior, the other side (that you constantly deride) assumes the same thing about you. Making you no better than they and vice versa.


What doesn't surprise me is that the Chron would be taking the lead on siding with Quannell X and his band of para-military ralliers, and Lone Star Times is taking the side of the biker/Confederate Flag-waving crowd. It doesn't surprise me because they're both two sides of the same narrow-minded coin.

None of which does anything to address the sorry situation that is unfolding now in Pasadena. Instead of "reporting" the news the Chronicle and Lone Star Times are "re-inventing" the news. What was once a question of technicality (i.e. did the robbers move toward Mr. Horn?) has become wrapped up in a bundle of cultural mish-mash, feaux-racist rhetoric and worthless name-calling.

And the Chron, which constantly reminds us that blogger's don't have the "elegance, wit and insight" contained in the daily newspapers is continuing to allow itself to devolve into nothing more than an opinion blog that happens to print a daily hard copy for distribution.


I guess "intelligence, wit and insight" have gone up in price along with the rest of the Chron's operating expenses, and its decreased presence in the analysis of it's opinion-makers has, curiously, matched the decrease in circulation numbers.

What's good for the Metro goose

Shouldn't be good for the FTA gander according to Metro President Frank Wilson.

(from Mike Snyder of the Chron)

An unexpected demand for additional justification for two planned Houston light rail lines raises doubts about Metro's relationship with a federal agency it is counting on for funding, Metro President Frank Wilson said Tuesday.

A letter from Sherry Little, deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, withdraws that agency's approval of preliminary engineering studies and other elements of rail lines planned for the North and Southeast corridors.

The letter, which Wilson said arrived Friday, said Metro must do additional environmental studies, including public hearings, before it can acquire land and start construction. It said Metro's October decision to build light rail in all five of its transit corridors, rather than bus rapid transit that could be converted to rail in four of them, requires the extra information and review.

Wilson said Metro already had provided almost all of the requested information and can quickly generate the rest. He said, however, that the letter's content and tone suggest that the healthy working relationship the two agencies have enjoyed may be deteriorating.

"There is a very hard edge to this letter," Wilson said. "They're acting as if light rail transit is a whole different planet" from bus rapid transit, when "the only real difference is the vehicle."

AND the cost, and the buid up of surrounding infrastructure to combat stray current, and the necessity to build guide wires to provide the charge. Let us not forget that the cost of LRT is substantially higher than that of BRT. That was the whole reason BRT was discussed right? Because the projected ridership on the lines was insufficient to justify the cost of LRT?

So, when the FTA sees this (major) change and balks, Frank Wilson starts waxing poetic about "relationships" and "hard edges" instead of admitting that maybe, possibly Metro overreached on its proposal.

The decision to run LRT down all proposed corridors was a huge shock to even the most staunch Metro supporters and was viewed (at the time) as a questionable tactic.

It seems that those misgivings were founded in reality and Metro's "confidence" that their changes would be blanketly accepted was more of a pipe dream than a premonition.

This will all be spun in the coming months of course. Mrs. White is probably furiously writing up a screed chastising the FTA for demanding that Metro, you know, stick to its proposal and the blogs in support of Metro will be blaming certain politicians ad nauseum. That all of this could have been avoided had Metro stuck with its original plans will be the elephant in the living room in all of this. That the elephant will continue to be ignored goes without saying.


OTHER EYES:

BlogHouston: FTA withdraws plan approval after Metro BRT/LRT switch.

Just because the newspaper of record in Houston frequently rhapsodizes over METRO press releases and pretty graphs from transit organizations that merely advocate for community involvement (*wink*) doesn't mean the people in D.C. who actually approve the funding for these boondoggles are similarly pliant. That seems to have piqued Mr. Wilson!

Mr. Crap: Frank's Lament.

If you look out Wilson's window and squint really hard, you can see the red light of the Downtown Transit Center's southbound Q Card reader.

Almost every time I'm there, it's either damaged or showing a date several weeks ago.

Have they fixed it yet?

Off the Kuff: FTA tells Metro to resubmit paperwork for funding.

What happens if the FTA decides Metro's new travel forecasts are inaccurate or insufficient? Do they go back to BRT again, or do they try to figure out some alternative means of funding the desired light rail? I don't know, and I bet they hope it's nothing more than a theoretical concern. We'll see.

and...

More on the FTA's demands to Metro.

Culberson, of course, has a long history of obstruction with METRO and its attempts to get FTA funding for the 2012 plan. I don't know if he had anything to do with this, but it's not exactly wandering into conspiracy-theory territory to imagine the possibility that he might have.

(Note: This fulfills my 1.2 of my earlier prophesy)

the blogs in support of Metro will be blaming certain politicians ad nauseum.

and finally...

FTA says Metro screwed up.

Clearly, there was a failure to communicate in here. It's entirely plausible that METRO could have downplayed what they were told, or that they somehow didn't think some of this would apply to them. Christof's comment from before, that some members of the engineering staff were expecting this, now cuts against what Wilson said in yesterday's article - if the engineers knew what to expect, he should have as well.

And so the wheel turns.

Re-examining "the line"

I'm on record as saying protests shouldn't occur at private residences. I just think there's too much chance for innocents to get caught up in the wash.

Yesterday's Pasadena rally by Quannell X and crew illustrates my point...

(from Rosanna Ruiz of the Chron)

Residents in the same Pasadena neighborhood where Joe Horn fatally shot two burglary suspects are pursing a court injunction to prevent protests such as the one over the weekend, a council member said.

Pasadena City Councilman J.J. Isbell, whose district includes Village Grove East, said about 50 residents who belong to the neighborhood homeowner's association were in favor of the proposed legal remedy to halt future protests.

On Sunday, a group led by activist Quanell X were confronted by supporters of Horn, who on Nov. 14 shot two men after he told police they robbed his neighbor's home.

Quanell X has called for Horn, who is white, to be charged with murder for shooting the two black Latinos, Miguel Antonio DeJesus, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30.

Isbell, who attended the association's closed meeting Tuesday night, said he and other city leaders were concerned about the safety of their residents.

He said the subdivision's streets were blocked on Sunday and would have been impassable to emergency vehicles.

There's video of a resident on Channel 13 talking about how his seven year old daughter was crying and terrified because of the ruckus.

And who wouldn't be terrified? You've got perpetually pursed lipped Quannell running around with a bullhorn and a group of Conferate flag waving bikers tatted up and itching for a brawl.

It's like free crack night at the ferret hut.

I mean, c'mon. Keep out of the neigborhoods Quannell.

But he won't. He won't because he gets news coverage for being there, for messing up the lives of innocent people and making a general mess of things. Because he doesn't give a darn about "justice" or "equality" or any of that. All he cares about is keeping an ever-shrinking portion of a community under the mistaken belief that he cares about them and has their best interest at heart.

I think its time for the media and citizens to ask themselves the following question: If a protest occurs and no one is there to see it, will Quannell's suits still be as ill-fitting?

City determined to re-animate wi-fi corpse

If it were a patient we'd already know the time and cause of death. But this is muni wi-fi, a bad idea that sticks around like a hair in a biscuit.

(from Alexis Grant of the Chron)

The city of Houston's wireless network deal with EarthLink is not officially in the gutter, but city officials already are making plans to take over at least one of the components of the project.

They are planning to use part of the $5 million penalty fee that EarthLink paid in September to finance a "digital inclusion" program intended to help students and the elderly in low-income neighborhoods access the Internet.

"One of the goals of the WiFi plan was to bridge the digital divide, and because of the city's good contract, we have substantial money to invest in that," Mayor Bill White said Tuesday.

EarthLink paid the $5 million penalty for missing a deadline to begin building the project earlier this year.

Under plans being drawn up by the city, $3.5 million of that penalty fee would go toward creating free, WiFi hotspots in 10 neighborhoods and helping residents there acquire equipment and training to use the Internet, said Richard Lewis, the city's director of information technology.

Those neighborhoods have not been chosen, he said, but the first should see access nodes by March. He said he hoped corporations will come forward with money or equipment to supplement city funds.

The remaining $1.5 million will go toward other city wireless projects, including public safety, Lewis said.

It's time to scrap this plan and redistribute the funds toward either police staffing or infrastructure improvement (including flood control). As Kuff would say, those goal posts are changing position again. Wi-fi has gone from a gee-whiz way for the City to "upgrade" internal communication with a focus on public safety and disaster response that contains a side benefit of providing internet access to most to a patchwork hodge-podge of programs that are set to "bridge the digital divide" by giving nodes to 10 neighborhoods, subsidizing computers and training, and accomplishing nothing except to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy.


The fact that those computers are likely to be either immersed in the next big rain event due to sub-standard drainage or lifted due to theft is one of those "trivial matters" that politicians tell us not to think about.


OTHER EYES:

Off the Kuff: Houston Wi-fi, the next stage.

BlogHouston: Mayor White undeterred in bridge-building efforts.

When "green" hits rock bottom.

First you had Environmental groups groups that replaced sensible Conservation groups as the bell cows of Environmental policy. Because of these environmental groups America got sucked into "green policy". Politics for the sake of appearing green. This gave us an extension of daylight savings time to "save energy", a march down the rabbit hole of ethanol to the exclusion of other, more workable, energy sources, The top ten reasons to NOT eat turkey *snicker*, and Heather Mills telling us that eating steak is bad for the environment.

It CAN'T possibly get any worse than that right?

Wrong.

Divorce is bad for the environment...

(from Julie Eilperin of the AP via the Chron)

Divorce isn't just a family matter. It exacts a serious toll on the environment by boosting the energy and water consumption of those who used to live together, according to a study authored by two Michigan State University researchers.

The analysis found that co-habiting couples and families around the globe use resources more efficiently than households that have split up. The researchers calculated that in 2005, divorced American households used between 42 and 61 percent more resources per person than before they separated, spending 46 percent more per person on electricity and 56 percent more on water.

Their paper, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, also found that if the divorced couples had stayed together in 2005, the United States would have saved 73 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water in that year alone.

Married households use energy and water more efficiently than divorced ones because they share these resources — including lighting and heating — among more people, Liu said. Moreover, the divorced households they surveyed between 1998 and 2002 used up more space, occupying between 33 and 95 percent more rooms per person than in married households.

"Hopefully this will inform people about the environmental impact of divorce," said one of the paper's co-authors, Jianguo Liu, in an interview Monday. "For a long time we've blamed industries for environmental problems. One thing we've ignored is the household."

I'm sure the next environmentally unfriendly group will be single people, people with iron lungs, or respirators in their homes.

My favorite comment from a Chron reader:

Born2AskWhy wrote:
My husband is a raging alcoholic and beats me. He abuses the children. He stays out all night gambling and womanizing, and we're freezing at home because the electricity was turned off. I think I need a divorce.

But wait..... what about the environment? Ok, never mind.

Classic.

Therein lies the problem of thinking that human activity, and ONLY human activity is the cause of global warming instead of a mixuture of natural cycles and pollution.

You see, if you want to curb pollution, that's doable. It would also go a long way to alleviating the global warming problem, would result in healthier air and cleaner cities. All worthwhile goals.

But if you believe (as many do) that humans are "the cause" of global warming, then eventually you HAVE to go down a path that posits the theory that the only way to "end" global warming is to rid the world of humanity. It's the only "cure". Which illustrates the main flaw in the environmentalists argument, and why following thier lead is a dangerous (and stupid) path for our elected officials. Yes, I'm talking to YOU Al Gore.


Let's get the conservationists back into the debate and start moving the Environmentalists to the fringe where they belong. Before we do something stupid and irreversable.


OTHER EYES: Lair: Burn one less candle for Hanukkah.....seriously.

And so begins the 2008 political season

Yesterday was the first day candidates could file for office, and many took advantage of that opportunity to fire off some early shots....

(from R.G. Ratcliffe and Janet Elliot of the Chron)

Houston state Rep. Rick Noriega formally filed as a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Monday, assailing incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn as a politician who has pandered to extremists on immigration, misled voters on Iraq and turned his back on average Texans.

(snip)

Among many other filings: A television judge filed to run for Congress in a district that runs from Harris County to Austin. An appeals court judge filed for the Texas Supreme Court. And a primary battle shaped up for Harris County judge.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and former district clerk Charles Bacarisse formally signed up to run in the Republican primary for Emmett's top county government slot. Businessman David Mincberg, the former chairman of the county Democratic Party, will run for the office in the November general election.

Bacarisse has been busily running around and sending out press releases in an attempt to out-flank appointed County Judge Emmett to the right, while Mincberg is sitting in the wings chuckling watching the blood spill. Whomever comes out of the Republican primary will be damaged, and will have a stiff fight on their hands. It's too early to make a prediction in ANY race, but I'm not going to be averse to leaning Mincberg in this one if neither candidate in the Republican race can distinguish himself.

Noriega is a different story. Neither he nor Cornyn are likely to face any credible challengers in the primary. (Cornyn for sure, Noriega probably not) If that's the case then this race is going to boil down to Noriega's ability to raise funds, and compete with the Millions of dollars that Cornyn has to flood the media with ads designed to appeal to the disinterested voter. It's very easy in the blogosphere to over-apply your political tuning fork to the mainstream public. That's a big mistake.

The "average" voter, at this time, probably has very little idea who Rick Noriega is, what he is running for, or that he was a Lt. Col. in the National Guard who spent time in Afghanistan. The average political blogger might know this, but the bulk of the voters do not. This article probably didn't help as much as people think either, even in the Houston area.

Let me explain: For argument's sake I'm going to use round numbers.

The Chronicle's daily circulation amount is roughly 500K. The population of the Houston Metro area is roughly 4 Million. Of those 500K its possible that 100K only read the paper on Sunday, and some of them just browse certain sections and only read headlines. Let's say that 300K take the time to actually READ this article in its entirety. (that's probably generous) What that mean's is that 7.5% of the population in Houston now know that Rick Noriega is running for Senate. Of that 7.5% maybe only 1/2 of those will vote. That's around 150K in votes that might be split 50/50 depending on the neighborhood, but let's use that for simplicity's sake.

The numbers above illustrate how 75,000 potential votes for Rick Noriega were touched by the article in question. Based on a voter count of approximately 4.5 Million for the 2006 Senate race, you have touched 1.6% of possible voters with this write-up. That percentage will probably be lower because the election will be held during a Presidential election which drives out votes, and also because I think I've been VERY generous on some of my readership assumptions.

The point is that a campaign cannot be conducted on a shoestring budget. Millions of dollars are going to be needed for TV buys, mailers and a host of other campaign propaganda in order to get Rick's message out to the voters. An issues page on his website would be a good start, since currently we know very little about where Rick stands on important issues, except that he thinks Cornyn is "Bush's lap dog". So far he's been slow to provide answers to his position on issues such as taxation, fiscal policy, the oil industry etc. He's going to have to speak up about those if he wants to have a chance in this race. Whether or not he can do so will depend on the ability Rick and his supporters to convince the National Democratic Party that Rick has a chance. If they can do this he might get sufficient funding to make it a horse race.

Can Rick Noriega beat Cornyn? Yes. Cornyn is not a particuarly strong candidate this time around. He's aloof, a corporatist, and doesn't do well in the all important area of voter relations. He's every inch the type of politician that's out of favor this year with the masses. Add to that a tidal wave of anti-Republican feelings held by an increasing amount of voters and you have the potential to see Texas turn purple.

Run the campaign in a Chris Bell manner however, and you won't be able to outdraw a corpse.

Houston is # 21!!!

In "walkability"????

(Signs you know this survey is silly)

(From Sarah Karush of the AP via the Chron)

Young professionals like Jones and Oxfeld, both 24, are driving a national trend toward more walkable communities, says the author of a report to be released today by the Brookings Institution.

The report ranks the Washington region first among the country's major metropolitan areas in the number of "walkable places" per capita, thanks to changes in just the past 15 years.

Christopher B. Leinberger, a real estate developer and visiting fellow at Brookings, set out to quantify the walkability trend by counting the number of "regional-serving walkable urban places" in each of the 30 biggest metropolitan areas in the country. "Regional-serving" means the place is not just a bedroom community, but has jobs, retail or cultural institutions that bring in people who don't live there.

Leinberger, who also teaches urban planning at the University of Michigan, counted 157 such "walkable places" — including the Houston area's Sugar Land Town Square, one of many built-from-scratch "lifestyle centers" to make the list.

Ah Houston, they ADORE the suburbs when they help them in their rankings, and then shed them like they would a mistress when their friends walk around the corner any other time.

Oh yeah...and there's this:

Leinberger attributes Washington's success with walkability to several factors, including a large population of 20- and 30-somethings and recent strong economic growth. But the chief factor, he said, is the success of the Metro. The 31-year-old rail system has transformed the region, shaping development and making the walkable urban model more viable.

Leinberger calls rail transit a key factor in the success of walkable places. Roughly two-thirds of the 157 places he counted are served by rail, he said.

Expect to see this study "propped up" by the "Pro-Metro" faction as some proof of concept of Metro Rail. They'll ignore the obvious differences between Houston and the rest of the cities of course, and they'll ignore the deficiencies of the MetroRail system (at grade, poor connectivity to other modes of transit, etc.) but they will wave the flag of this survey because it does two things:

1. It seems "reasonable" to those who are Light Rail proponents. It mentions the correct "type" of citizen that Houston leaders want to attract.

2. It is favorable toward mixed use development. Which is a grand concept that involves herding the upper-middle class into multi-unit dwellings. Just keep them in the "right" neighborhoods and no one gets hurt.

I'm sure there will be more on this in the near future.



Question: How "walkable" is Houston in August?

Well, that explains it.

You Are 4% Republican

If you have anything in common with the Republican party, it's by sheer chance. You're a staunch liberal, and nothing is going to change that!

How Republican Are You?

You Are 4% Democrat

If you have anything in common with the Democrat party, it's by sheer chance. You're a staunch conservative, and nothing is going to change that!

How Democrat Are You?

Loaded questions all. But fun.


This one actually does a better job because the questions aren't so out there:

Your Vote Score: 45% Republican, 55% Democrat

You are truly an independent voter, and you don't fit well with either party. Maybe you should choose one issue to vote on - or look into third parties!

Should You Vote Republican or Democrat?

The 45% of the time that I'm with the Repubs is mainly on economic issues, the 55% of the time with the Dems is on social issues. (for the most part, there are exceptions)

Houston Jeopardy 12/02/2007

Answer: Whiter than the Republican Party.




Please phrase your responses in the form of a question.

Trendspotting: Light rail and traffic

BlogHouston spotted today's Rad Sallee column stating that MetroRail hurts traffic.

(from Rad via the Chron)

MetroRail on Main, which can override traffic signals, giving motorists a red light when the trains pass, makes it harder to time the crosstown lights.

After the train preempts a signal and passes by, "it typically takes about three cycles for the signal to get back in sync with the rest of the system," Weatherford said.

Public Works wants to reduce this to one cycle, but it isn't working as planned. "We will need to work with Metro to work out the bugs," he said.

Kevin Whited notes the obvious:

Laying rail down/across busy streets hurts vehicular mobility.

I know what -- METRO should build even more rail down busy streets!

Genius.

This isn't the First Chron mention of the "Mess on Main St."

The Red Haired wonder weighed in on Sunday:

(from Lisa Falkenberg of the Chron)

Main Street was a lost cause. I gave up after about five lights, when the train and an idling Greyhound threatened to kill my mood.

Too bad this type of reporting wasn't done BEFORE the decision was made to build MORE at-grade rail down busy roadways thus increasing the mess of traffic that 99.5% of Houstonians are going to have to put up with.


ADDENDUM: This was my favorite blurb in li'l red's article:

Seeing as how I bear some responsibility for the signal switch, I figured I better see for myself if I was right to press for it.

Lisa Falkenburg: Taking pre-existing campaign promises by a Houston Mayor and claiming them as her own since 2007.

At least her new columnist position hasn't gone to her head eh?

"Undefeated in Regulation"

That's like celebrating a third place "win"....

(from Eddie Pells of the AP via the Chron)

LSU has a ticket to the title game. Everyone else has a pretty good gripe. The latest chapter in this crazy, unpredictable college football season was written Sunday when LSU won the sport's version of the lottery, being picked to play Ohio State for the championship and leaving about a half-dozen other candidates with plenty to complain about.

A LOT to complain about, and the defenders have a LOT to defend. Except that you CAN'T defend this mess because its, well, a mess.

Doesn't stop some from trying however.

Jerome Solomon: Let the whining begin...

That, college football fans, is the issue with this year's race for the BCS Championship Game. At some point, every team in the country — except for Hawaii — crashed. (With their schedule, the Warriors were running in a different race.)

It was there for the taking, and nobody took it.

This isn't Talladega Nights. The rules don't allow you to get up from a crash, jump out of the car and have a footrace to the finish line.

That's what Oklahoma, USC, Georgia and Virginia Tech want to do. Sorry boys, but that's not how it is done in college football.

(snip)

College football shouldn't have a full-scale playoff like all the other sports because college football is better than the other major sports.

Leave it to a Chron sports columnist (maybe the weakest slate of columnists of any major regional daily) to refute a good argument for a playoff by throwing out opinion instead of fact. You can also pretty much guarantee that there will be facts overlooked in making the argument for as well.

Let's run with his "everyone crashed but LSU" theory shall we?

I guess that ignores that LSU LOST to 8-5 Arkansas AT HOME with the title in their grasp? Or that they LOST to a 7-5 Kentucky team that had a LOSING record in their conference?

The point is that ALL of these teams were flawed. And making an argument for LSU over any of the other teams is akin to arguing that FOR the old system before the B(C)S. Remember that? The old days when voters and region and emotion ruled the day. When you had bowl matchups with Conference ties that prevented the Championship from being settled on the field?

Welcome to 1998. When Michigan won a share of the National Championship with a win over #8 Washington St. while #2 Nebraska beat the tar out of #3 Tennessee and the polls were split.

We still are at the same point, where sportswriters and coaches* polls get to determine the Mythical National Champion, thus giving power to two professions who already have an overinflated sense of worth.

Which is why Mr. Solomon doth protest too loudly.

And it's why the fans are howling.


Let's settle this on the field, as it SHOULD be in sport.

Mr. Solomon can be thankful for what he gets.






*As I'm sure everyone knows the "coaches" polls are, for the most part, completed by the Sports Information Directors for each respective University. That's no big secret and is just another reason the system is broken beyond repair.

Viva La Revolution!!!

Oh! Wait...nevermind...

(from John Otis of the Chron South American Bureau)

President Hugo Chavez suffered a stunning defeat when voters rejected sweeping constitutional changes that would have given him new powers to turn Venezuela into a socialist state, according to official results announced early today.

With more than 90 percent of the ballots counted, the "no" vote beat the "yes" vote by about 51 percent to 49 percent, according to the National Electoral Council. Tibisay Lucena, who heads the council, said the trend in the voting was irreversible.

"Today we begin a new path, a democratic path," opposition leader Manuel Rosales told a news conference.

Shortly after the announcement, jubilant supporters of the "no" vote set off fireworks and honked horns in the streets of Caracas.

"It was a microscopic difference but the 'no' won," a somber Chavez admitted in a pre-dawn speech. "We recognize the decision of the people."

So the people of Venenzuela have spoken. And probably for the better. IF they want democracy that is. Because, make no mistake about it, the constitutional "reforms" proposed by Chavez were about control, not Democracy. His rhetoric backed that up:

Chavez mounted a furious, 11th-hour effort, portraying the balloting as a plebiscite on him. He branded his opponents as traitors and warned that a loss could derail his revolution.

Hmmm...Where have we heard words like those before?

(from Randy Carroll of the London Observer via the Guardian)

Neither man would appreciate the comparison, but there is one striking similarity between George Bush and Hugo Chavez. Both are radical Presidents who see the world as a struggle between good and evil, with no middle way.

Interesting comparison is it not? Although I think the same could be said for a LOT of politicians in America today, so don't read this as simple Bush bashing, because that is not the intent. The intent is to show the dangers of believing that your' side is somehow "right" both morally and politically and the dangers of believing that your political opinion is "fact" to the point that other ideologies are viewed as "dishonest in their motivation or the symptom of some sickness instead of as holding a legitimate place in a society built on the foundation of ideas.

That's the thing about ideas you know. They aren't always "right" but they are typically useful in advancing the debate if they are handled correctly.

The Venenzuelan people handled this idea correctly, I wonder if America would have done the same?