(Image courtesy of The iPinionsjournal.com)
Looking forward to Joe Biden’s speech, and to the events of tomorrow night. Happy Days may really be here again.
More of the same is pretty much what Biden spewed. And he can't make Obama into a person with accomplishment or ready to be President.
Erma Hall’s oil well pumps and churns near Caldwell in Burleson County.
It’s run by Mineral Technologies out of Midland, but the land it sits on belongs to Hall, who is 99 years old.
She lives on a street that bears her last name in the town of Normagee, about 40 miles from her oil well.
The oil-rich land has been in Hall’s family for some time. In fact, her mother’s name, Amelia Whitfield Washington, is on the lease agreement.
It’s up to folks like Lee Perry to make sure heirs like Hall get their oil royalty payments.
But Hall hasn’t received any money at all.
“Well, the oil company at the time said they didn’t know how to find the relatives of Amelia Whitfield Washington, which is … that’s her mother,” Perry said. “Oil companies, all they have to say is, ‘we don’t know who to pay it to,’ and that’s it.”
“It’s like stealing. Oh gracious, any way you put it, it is theft,” Hall’s oldest daughter, Hilda Hall Harrell, said.
But that’s where the story gets complicated. In a way, the problem is that Erma Hall came from a big family.
Even Mineral Technologies agrees Hall is a rightful heir, but she’s not the only one.
“The current heirs may total more than 40 different individuals of which Ms. Hall allegedly may own as little as 3/84 of the estate’s interest or less. There is, however, disagreement among the heirs that has made it necessary for MTI to turn over the proceeds to the court while the heirs resolve their differences,” the company’s president told 11 News in an e-mail.
Since the lawsuit, the company has put $75,000 in the court registry, and it contributes more money every month.
The money will stay there until all the heirs are found.
“There are some other heirs – nephews and nieces – find those and try to get this thing resolved. But that was in December. Here we are in August, and it still hasn’t been done. She still hasn’t gotten one red cent,” Perry said of Hall.
Among the nearly 6 million Texans who lacked health insurance last year was a sick, 3-year-old Pasadena girl whose father asked for a pay cut so his family could qualify for the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Josh Hebert's employer never responded to that request, said his wife, Kyla Hebert. The Heberts finally qualified by putting Katie, who suffers from brain lesions, and her older brother into day care, an expense that the program allows them to deduct from their income.
"We would much rather have them at home," Kyla Hebert said, adding that Katie missed a number of therapy appointments that her parents couldn't afford until they finally got her enrolled in CHIP.
Brazoria County voters will be asked in November to approve a $75 million bond package to transform the county's crumbling old fairgrounds into a modern facility that can be used for indoor sports, horse shows, concerts, banquets and other events.
Included will be a 5,000-seat arena suitable for anything from indoor football to equestrian events. The facility would seat 7,000 for concerts.
A new 120,000-square-foot exposition center, three livestock barns big enough to hold a total of 300 horses, a 35,000-square-foot banquet hall and other renovations to the grounds on the southeast edge of Angleton are part of the package.
An alternate bond proposal, for $50 million, will also be on the November ballot. The cheaper package does not include the 5,000-seat arena.
Residents may save on gas
The $75 million proposal could raise the county's tax rate by 2.6 cents per $100 valuation, but backers say it would be well worth it.
The average homeowner would pay less in increased taxes in a year than the cost of gasoline to travel just once to a facility in another county, said W.B. "Jack" Taylor, a member of a committee appointed by county commissioners court to investigate the proposal.
Southwest Airlines, which had resisted the kinds of capacity cuts being made by other carriers, will eliminate nearly 200 flights early next year as it struggles with high fuel costs and a weakening economy.
Southwest will cut six flights from Houston to six different markets beginning in January, spokesman Chris Mainz said. But there still will be multiple daily flights on those routes -- which weren't immediately available -- and some of the adjustment is seasonal, he said.
The move raised doubts about the company's publicly stated goal of growing modestly in 2009 despite the airline industry's troubles.
Reports indicate that U.S. companies are selling record amounts of refined oil products to other countries.
Experts say U.S. refineries export about five percent of the gas produced and nine percent of all the oil products refined.
“The last time us refineries exported as much gasoline outside our borders was WWII when we were helping to refuel allied nations devastated by the war,” said oil expert Dan Pickering.
If we kept that gas and diesel at home you would likely pay less, experts say.
So if we need all this extra oil, why are we selling 500,000 barrels a day of gasoline to foreign countries?
(snip)
Experts say that refiners are caught in the middle by having to pay producers like Exxon Mobile record prices.
Experts say that sales are down because Americans are driving billions of fewer miles. They say that big refiners that are hurting are looking for the best price.
Meanwhile in Mexico, gasoline is $1 cheaper a gallon because, like many countries, it subsidizes gas.
That has prompted some Texans to fill up south of the border.
“The quality is the same. The gas, they bring it from El Paso. It’s the same. I haven’t seen any difference in the function of the car,” said one driver.
Experts say there would be an oversupply of gasoline if the gas sold abroad were sold here instead.
“I guess a real critic would say ‘that’s not very patriotic’,” said Pickering.
Experts say there would be an oversupply of gasoline if the gas sold abroad were sold here instead.
“I guess a real critic would say ‘that’s not very patriotic’,” said Pickering.
“The free market is not necessarily patriotic,” he added.
In a week of hot tickets, the hottest will be a seat in the skyboxes the night Barack Obama accepts his party's nomination for president.
For the high-rollers and the political elite, the scramble is on for the glass suites that ring Invesco Field at Mile High. Call it skybox envy, an opportunity for corporate interests to fete Washington decision-makers in a grand outdoor setting.
Mojitos anyone?
"It's a bigger than the Super Bowl," said Texas lobbyist Ben Barnes, a convention veteran who'll be in one of the boxes on Thursday's final, historic night.
Frugal grocery store habits developed during the first half of 2008 may have a long-term impact on national shopping behavior, according to research results from the retail analytics firm Precima Inc.
Eighty two percent of U.S. consumers in a nationwide survey said they intend to keep cooking at home instead of eating out even after the economy improves and they have more money to spend.
The Precima survey completed in June asked 2,048 consumers to identify shopping practices they’ll continue and those they’ll drop when the economy improves.
About 80 percent of those surveyed said they’ll continue to cook at home instead of buying take-out meals; 84 percent said they’ll keep looking for specials in store flyers; 80 percent said they plan to use coupons as much as possible and 78 percent said they’re determined to make fewer trips to the store in order to save on gasoline.
Additionally, 54 percent intend to continue buying generic or store brands and 44 percent plan continuing to switch from favored brands to value brands.
Houston has taken an aggressive stance in its decade-old battle to shutter topless bars and adult bookstores that operate too close to schools and day care centers, repeatedly arresting patrons and employees on charges of operating without a license or trafficking in illegal drugs or prostitution.
But nearly five months after winning the right to keep sexually oriented businesses at least 1,500 feet from residential neighborhoods, the city's officials have yet to close a single establishment.
The businesses have continued operating through a series of loopholes, claiming to be legitimate bookstores or "bikini bars" that do not need to be licensed.
(snip)
"I'm the first to tell you that I don't think the city should be shutting down businesses, but the area where those businesses are located is a high crime spot," said Bart Jones, president of the Briargrove Property Owners Inc. neighborhood association.
A community pool in that neighborhood sits a stone's throw from two adult businesses, one of them a topless bar. There are three such establishments operating within 1,500 feet of a school and two churches, Jones and Zummo said.
"It's not good because it's so close to kids," Jones said. "I get a lot of calls from homeowners closest to (the businesses), and they will always say that we've got to stop this, we can't have it."
ZZ Top, the band that made helped make La Grange and its “best little whorehouse” famous, is now pitching its own hometown.
The trio, who grew up in Houston and calls themselves the “little ole band from Texas,” was recruited by the Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau to promote the virtues of visiting the city.
With their 1983 hit song Sharp Dressed Man playing in the background, the three classic rockers extol “H-town’s” restaurants, universities and golf courses in the 60-second video, which was unveiled Thursday at the bureau’s annual meeting.
As ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons put it: “It always seems to come back to music and Mexican food.”
The video is part of the bureau’s “My Houston” campaign, which features print and broadcast ads featuring other local celebrities talking about their favorite Bayou City haunts. The list includes Grey's Anatomy star Chandra Wilson and Dan Workman, president of the recording studio SugarHill Studios, where Chantilly Lace and other hits were recorded.
After intense lobbying by the bureau and other civic leaders, the CityPass program added Houston to its network of cities.
The pass, which is purchased for a flat fee, provides admission to six attractions, including Space Center Houston, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Houston Zoo.
"It's a major coup for the city. It's validation and recognition that Houston is a great tourist destination," Ortale said.
In May, bureau officials said they hoped to sell 30,000 passes a year, aiming them at Latin American tourists who visit to shop and go to appointments at the Texas Medical Center as well as to regional visitors and even locals looking to save money.
Brown said reaction has been stronger than expected. In June, the first full month of sales, Houston sold 2,594 CityPasses, putting it ahead of CityPass sales in Hollywood, Calif., Philadelphia and Boston, she said.
Occupancy at area hotels is slipping, as the nation's economic troubles have resulted in weaker demand for business travel around the country and in Houston.
Areawide, occupancy is expected to dip about 1 percentage point by the year's end to 66.5 percent, hotel consultant John Keeling said at a meeting Thursday of the Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Houston.
"It's reflective of what's going on in the rest of the country," said Keeling, senior vice president of PKF Consulting in Houston. "Because we're better diversified, we're affected by it."
Last year, PKF predicted Houston-area hotel occupancy would reach 70 percent in 2008. But that was before the extent of the economic downturn was known.
Even though convention demand won't be as strong in 2009, Keeling said, business travel is expected to pick up, driven by energy, transportation and health care industries.
Houston's ability to compete for conventions would improve if downtown had more big hotels, industry experts say.
Of all the major downtowns in Texas, Houston's has the smallest inventory of rooms.
The Texas Medical Center, Keeling said, is also in need of more hotels. But with few developable sites, most of the construction is on the outskirts.
Mayor Bill White has asked Harris County to join the city in a Dynamo stadium deal, hinting that a $10 million contribution by the county may be the final step needed to finalize a deal with the soccer franchise.
"I'd say the most important issue is how might the county participate," White said.
County Judge Ed Emmett confirmed that Commissioners Court support could be crucial: "I think there's a $10 million shortfall somewhere in their negotiations, and they're looking for a way to do that."
Democrat David Mincberg makes liberal use of Mayor Bill White's name and picture in the first television ad of his county judge campaign, touting his work in the popular leader's administration and comparing their business experience and management styles.
However, he did not seek permission from White, who generally stays out of local races and has been working to cultivate a good relationship with Republican County Judge Ed Emmett.
White since has made it clear to Mincberg's campaign that he prefers people to ask permission before using him in a campaign ad, said Michael Moore, the mayor's chief of staff.
"He does not want that (ad) to be interpreted as an endorsement," Moore said Wednesday. "The mayor works well with Judge Emmett and has worked well with David Mincberg."
vs. 
Saying the University of Houston-Downtown needs its own identity, school leaders on Tuesday began the process of changing the school's name.
"UH-Downtown has undergone a dramatic transformation ... but we're still referred to as a branch campus," President Max Castillo said. "We are not."
UH-Downtown, located in the shadow of a freeway overpass on the northern edge of downtown, was founded in 1974. It is part of the University of Houston System but is a stand-alone university, as is the University of Houston-Clear Lake and the University of Houston-Victoria.
A new plan to reform the nation’s surface transportation programs may make it easier for Houston to get federal funding for projects like the planned expansion of the city’s light rail system, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters said in Houston Tuesday.
“If plans to expand the light rail system are as good as local sponsors say, they will be easier to fund under our proposal than under the current broken federal system,” Peters said following a visit to the project.
Peters said a new Metropolitan Mobility Program for Houston and other major urban areas is central to the reform plan.
The proposed plan would give mayors and local officials a direct payment of federal funds and unprecedented flexibility to invest the federal dollars in their most pressing transportation needs and would eliminate controversial “earmarks” by which powerful politicians get funds for projects regardless of their merit, she said.
Let's take a minute to imagine our proper, professional Mayor Bill White, who prays over his ham sandwich at lunch and speaks in slow, premeditated sentences, in such a fix.
Let me say that I don't actually wish for the mayor to be engaging in tantalizing texting sessions with his chief of staff, recounting sexual liaisons, late-night hotel trysts and other declarations of longing that make former Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's e-mailed sweet-nothings to his secretary look like, indeed, nothing.
But a columnist can fantasize.
Let's face it, White is lacking in the drama department. His brand of controversy, if you can call it that, is a floodway ordinance. When he talks dirty, he's talking about air quality.
Much of the polite discourse on Houston's City Council is no doubt a thin veneer of false civility, but heck if anyone can crack it.
Even when White gets frustrated, his idea of public acting out is a barb of sarcasm buried so deeply beneath his dry, Mister Mayor monotone that you'd miss it if it didn't sting you directly.
Commentary: Our civil servants are all that
This ever-growing Fort Bend County city has no Minute Maid Park or Jones Hall or George R. Brown Convention Center.
But, with voter approval, those well-known Houston landmarks could have smaller counterparts on 52 acres next to the Brazos River.
Sugar Land City Council is considering a measure to create an entertainment district that would include among other things, a concert hall, minor league baseball stadium and a hotel-convention center.
If council approves the item at its regular meeting today, the measure would be put on the November ballot.
The proposed district is similar to what is being done in other Texas cities, particularly in the Dallas area.
College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking.
The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.
"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, a former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."
Other schools in the group include Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.
But even before the presidents begin the public phase of their efforts, they are already facing sharp criticism.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. The group accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem.
Both sides agree alcohol abuse by college students is a huge problem.
Whining Pessimism: FAIL
August 18th, 2008 by jeff
I’m always surprised at the pessimistic attitudes of some Houstonians in the face of anything that might improve this city’s quality of life. I noticed today on OfftheKuff.com that Charles commented on a story from the Chron about the success of Discovery Green, Houston’s new downtown park.
I hadn’t really read any of the naysaying, but I knew what it would be. Let’s see, no one will show up, homeless people will overrun it, it will be ugly just like everything else in Houston, parking will be horrible, it will cost taxpayers millions…shall I go on?
(snip)
But, I’m sure the very next attempt to improve the city with something new, cool and interesting will be met with public howling over what a waste of time and money it will be. I hope, eventually, the majority of us will realize that it’s easy to bitch and moan, but it accomplishes nothing.
The U.S. transportation secretary will announce "good news" regarding expanding transit in Houston Tuesday, a spokeswoman said. Metro has asked the agency to pay for half of two planned light rail lines.
The announcement by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will be at 10 a.m. near the University of Houston-Downtown on North Main.
"We wouldn't be coming there to announce bad news," said the spokeswoman, declining to elaborate.
BentaHellenbach wrote:
And suddenly all the suburbanites who've turned up their noses at Metro riders for years are screaming for a light rail. Wait your turn.
The Texas Progressive Alliance is worried that a new Texas Ethics Commission proposal to the Legislature for the possible regulation of political blogs will hamper their free speech.
(snip)
Vince Leibowitz, Chair of the Texas Progressive Alliance, issued the following statement concerning the Texas Ethics Commission's recently distributed recommendation concerning blogs:
"Regulating Texas blogs would be regulation with out representation. Regulation that doesn't protect the rights of citizens is not good government.
For a state agency that twice ruled it was appropriate for a trustee of the Texas Employee Retirement System to disclose a monetary gift from swiftboater Bob Perry as simply a "check," to suggest that blogs should be subject to regulation is absurd.
Blogs are a form of political communication that should, by and large, remain unregulated. Independent citizen journalists and bloggers perform a valuable function in the political arena by prompting and promoting political discourse--on both sides of the aisle.
Recommendation No. 7: Political Advertising Disclosure Statement on Blogs Clarification of Section 251.001(16) of the Election Code, which defines “political advertising” in pertinent part as a communication supporting or opposing a candidate for nomination or election to a public office, that appears in a pamphlet, circular, flier, billboard or other sign, bumper sticker, or similar form of written communication or on an Internet website.
Certain types of political advertising are required to include a disclosure statement and certain types of political advertising are excluded from that requirement.3 The issue that often arises is whether blogs constitute political advertising and if so, they are required to include a disclosure statement.
In July 2006, the commission adopted a rule stating that the definition of political
advertising does not include communications made by e-mail and consequently those communications are not required to include a disclosure statement. The rule was
principally based on the legislative intent of the 78th Regular Legislative Session in H.B. 1606.4 In its Task Force Recommendations for statutory changes to the 80th legislature, the commission presented the “e-mail” issue and notified the legislature of the commission rule. The 80th legislature did not amend the statute, which validated the commission’s determination that the legislature did not intend e-mails to be included in the definition of political advertising.
POSSIBLE OPTIONS
1. Amend the definition of political advertising to expressly exclude blogs. If the legislature wants to include blogs in the definition of political advertising, the legislature may want to consider the Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules for addressing the issue. (Exhibits B and C). Under the FEC standard, most blogs are not regulated. Generally, the types of blogs that are not regulated under the FEC
rules are those from:
(1) uncompensated individual Internet activities, (2) entities covered by the press exemption, including qualified online publications, and (3) certain corporate and labor organizations. Generally, the types of blogs that are regulated under the FEC rules are those: (1) from political committees, (2) that are placed on another person’s website for a fee, and (3) from certain corporations.
2. Amend the definition of political advertising to expressly state that the definition of political advertising does not include blogs.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's position on space exploration continued to evolve Sunday as the Illinois Democrat endorsed a congressional plan to add $2 billion to NASA's budget and agreed to back at least one more space shuttle mission.
In a policy paper released Sunday by his campaign, the presumptive Democratic nominee said his goal was to "minimize the gap" between the end of the shuttle program and the beginning of future manned missions. He also said he was hoping "to ensure retention of" thousands of NASA workers in Texas and Florida whose jobs are threatened by a possible five-year gap before the beginning of the Constellation initiative to send astronauts to the moon and Mars.
(snip)
Obama has not always been a strong supporter of additional money for NASA. Indeed, in December 2007, his campaign Web site declared that he would finance an early childhood education initiative by reducing funding for the Constellation program. And Obama told the Houston Chronicle's editorial board in February that he was not convinced that human exploration was worth the cost.
After Democrats from Florida and Texas complained, Obama pivoted and found other ways to fund his education initiative.
The sparks from the highway looked like fireworks, but Jolanda Jones' teenage son saw what caused them: a car vaulting off the elevated stretch of Westpark Tollway before crashing about 100 feet below.
Jones followed the billowing smoke to where the car rested against a fence in the Hillcroft Transit Center.
Flames engulfed its front end.
"I think, 'Oh my God, someone's dead,' " Jones said.
The Houston City Council member and two other Good Samaritans happened to see the crash just before 1 a.m. Sunday. Together, they pulled the driver from the mangled, fiery wreckage.
For fashion-savvy shoppers, the economy's downturn has a silver lining: great deals are everywhere.
The options could be even more affordable during the tax holidays Friday through Sunday, when stores won't charge sales tax on most clothing and shoes priced under $100. Many retailers have slashed prices up to 75 percent.
(snip)
Corrigan also says jewel tones — especially purple and emerald green — will light up the fall and work well into next year. At Neiman Marcus' recent Last Call sale, we spotted a Searle purple shift dress for $174, down from $498, and a purple silk Etro jacket, originally $1,885, for $475.
(snip)
Fashion consultant Roz Pactor found a great buy in a black, military-inspired leather jacket by 2812, the clothing line by actress Sienna Miller and her sister, Savannah Miller. It was $241, down from $690, at the Neiman Marcus sale. She says it will work well over the staple of dresses and trousers currently in her wardrobe.
"I've always had the most success at that sale," she said. "I use it to supplement my wardrobe with affordable designer pieces." Pactor also picked up a pair of green-ostrich Prada flat sandals for $191 (originally $425) since green is one of fall's top hues.
Although bus safety remains in the spotlight following last week's deadly charter bus crash in Sherman, some lawmakers said they may look at easing a law requiring safety belts in new school buses next year.
"It was probably a mistake to require seat belts on school buses," said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "It's extremely expensive, and there is no evidence it would significantly save lives or reduce injuries."
He said the Legislature may revise the law because some lawmakers now may feel they were "stampeded" into passing it.
Backers of the law defend it as a lifesaver that can give parents peace of mind.
"I will fight tooth and nail to make my colleagues ... understand how important this is," said Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville
As the temperatures rose in his mother's locked truck on Thursday, authorities said the little boy managed to free himself from his car seat and climb to the front of the vehicle, where he put a key in the ignition.
But the 3-year-old died before he could escape the sweltering heat that soon overtook him in the truck's cabin, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority's light rail plans now include an "elevated structure" over Buffalo Bayou west of downtown, where trains will switch from westbound to eastbound tracks.
The structure, essentially a bridge that stops on the opposite bank, will lie between baluster-lined bridges on Capitol and Rusk and beneath the downtown "spaghetti bowl," already crisscrossed by several freeways and ramps.
Although technically part of the planned Southeast line, the structure would be shared by light rail vehicles on the East End line. Plans call for the two to merge east of downtown, where Harrisburg becomes Texas Avenue at Dowling. Together, their light rail cars would cross downtown westbound on Capitol and eastbound on Rusk.
(snip)
Mark Cover, a board member of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, said the organization has not taken an official position on the plan, but added that it generally would want a "good-looking" and "architecturally sensitive" structure.
"We really support linkages to the various parts of the city into downtown and, to that extent, we are practical about it," Cover said.
The partnership led the effort to build the Sabine-to-Bagby Promenade, funded by various public and private sources, which would run under the Metro structure.
"We would certainly hope to have an opportunity to comment on it when the time comes," Cover said.
Business experience was a big theme throughout yesterday's debate between Republican County Judge Ed Emmett and Democratic challenger David Mincberg.
Mincberg wants voters to view him as the corporate guru with the management savvy to lead a county with more residents than 24 states.
But when Mincberg questioned Emmett about the size of the small consulting firm he ran before becoming county judge, the Republican pointed out his opponent has been sued hundreds of times for failing to pay county taxes, failing to pay vendors and allowing children to be injured in the apartments he owns.
Mincberg said he is proud of his record of buying older apartment projects and turning them into "good, safe, affordable housing." He said he did not know what Emmett was referring to when it came to lawsuits involving his business practices.
I was at the debate yesterday and both this post and the report Liz wrote are pretty slanted. It was also brought up that Emmett has been sued hundreds of times too. And Liz's tone in the story and the post here make it pretty clear she just doesn't like David Mincberg on some personal level. That's fine. But if it interferes with her journalistic integrity, she should remove herself from the story.
Asked how he would speed construction of the Grand Parkway so it can be completed as quickly as the Katy Freeway was rebuilt, Mincberg accused the county of awarding contracts for road-building projects to favored campaign contributors without accepting bids.
Mincberg said the county should follow the state's lead when it comes to competitive bidding.
"Unlike the way the I-10 piece was put together, the county's process is not only likely to not go faster, it's likely to go slower," he said.
However, state law bars counties and other governmental entities from accepting bids for professional services contracts with architects, engineers and land surveyors, a fact Emmett quickly pointed out.
"Patrick, Hendee set to purchase Austin-American Statesman"
OK, we are TOTALLY making that up, BUT…
We couldn’t resist sending an electric jolt through the hearts of politicos and MSM reporters statewide who monitor LoneStarTimes.com via our RSS feed;
It would be very, very cool;
The Austin American-Statesman is, in fact, up for sale.
During his radio show on Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Patrick admitted he was interested in the prospect of buying the paper and will be looking into it.
Chris Bell will love this.
As he runs for the state Senate seat vacated by Republican Kyle Janek, Democrat Bell hopes some of the Republicans in the race (in such a special election, multiple candidates from each party can run) slice each other to shreds and allow him to grab the majority of votes on Nov. 4.
Now the scythes, indeed, have been unsheathed by surrogates for GOP candidates Austen Furse and Joan Huffman. Below are some pretty intense e-mail blasts from Furse supporter Dr. Steven Hotze and Huffman supporter state Rep. Dennis Bonnen of Angleton:
3) It is important to follow the money. Approximately 60% of Joan Huffman's contributions are tied DIRECTLY to gambling, liquor, and nightclubs. This does not include the $500,000 loan Joan Huffman and her husband Keith Lawyer made to her campaign. Since Joan is a homemaker, it is reasonable to assume that $500,000 comes from the profits her husband Keith Lawyer makes from his nightclubs
It also seems reasonable to assume that the $160,000 from outside gambling, liquor and nightclub interests, and the $500,000 in personal loans financed by liquor and nightclub profits, may cause Joan Huffman to look favorably upon legislation promoting gambling, liquor and nightclub interests in the Texas Senate, if not promote them outright. It does not seem that the gambling and night club interests would finance the Huffman campaign if they thought that she would oppose them.
Finally, I have spoken with former Judge Huffman regarding gambling.
Former Judge Huffman is unequivocally opposed to gambling and the
expansion of gambling and will not vote to expand gambling under any
circumstance as our state senator.
Straight party seeking Straight Male: Qualified political and judicial candidates for embattled (former) majority party to run for office in Harris, Brazoria and Fort Bend Counties. Qualified candidate must be honest, culturally sensitive and morally upstanding. Former lobbyists need not apply.
Contact: Jared Woodfill of the Harris County Republican party for information
Wanted: Qualified, well-known and charismatic candidate for Texas Statewide office possessing good campaign skills and a grasp of important issues. Ability to raise funds a must.
Contact: Boyd Richie with SERIOUS Inquiries ONLY!!! (Yes, that means YOU Gene Kelly)
Russian tanks rolled into the crossroads city of Gori today then thrust deep into Georgian territory, violating the truce designed to end the six-day war that has uprooted 100,000 people and scarred the Georgian landscape.
Georgian officials said Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians. An AP reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles leaving the city, roaring south.
Troops waved at journalists and one soldier jokingly shouted to a photographer: "Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi!"
Despite the huge time difference between the U.S. and China, the Beijing games are drawing a larger-than-expected audience.
Experts are offering lots of highbrow explanations — the spectacle, the pageantry and the intense competition — for the high ratings.
But we know the real reason viewers are glued to their sets.
Call it the "Oblique Olympics."
Admit it: There's something irresistible about men and women with well-defined abdominals and very little clothing. NBC must surely think so. On recent nights, the network has showcased athletes with abs of steel and indented obliques (that angular sliver of muscle along each side of a well-toned abdomen.)
Continental Airlines has struggled with oil prices all year, first on their way up and now on the downside.
The Houston-based carrier, which ramped up its market hedges as it was battered by record fuel costs, appears locked into paying premiums rather than discounts now that energy prices have tumbled.
"Continental was the last mover. Others responded more quickly," said Harlan Platt, a finance professor at Northeastern University who follows the airline industry and who expressed skepticism when Continental announced the hedges as oil prices were rising this spring.
A hedge is basically an insurance policy against price fluctuations. When an airline purchases a type called a collar, it sets both a maximum and minimum price it can pay.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Continental capped about 33 percent of its expected fuel cost in the third quarter at the average equivalent of $140.81 per barrel of oil.
But that hedge, or collar, also carried an average floor of $121.90 per barrel of oil, and another 29 percent of Continental's third-quarter fuel costs were hedged with a floor equivalent to $3.26 per gallon of heating oil.
Oil futures settled Tuesday at $113.01 and heating oil settled at $3.08, both easily under the floor prices. That means Continental, at least in the short term, could be paying higher prices than the spot market for more than half its fuel.
Fueled by an underdog’s mentality, a burglar’s guts and the grace under pressure that is a minimum requirement for performing on the Olympic stage, the men of USA Gymnastics won a bronze medal Tuesday afternoon (Monday night CDT) in the men’s team competition.
Councilwoman Jolanda Jones is accused of interfering with police officers conducting an arrest last week outside a Third Ward gas station, according to a Houston Police Department report obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
Jones denied that characterization Friday, saying that officers rebuffed her when she tried to question them after the arrest of a 25-year-old man. Police said later he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for marijuana possession.
Jones is a criminal defense attorney who joined the City Council in January.
While many view the contentious border fence as a government fiasco, an animal rights group sees a rare opportunity.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans Tuesday to announce an unusual marketing pitch to the U.S. government: Rent us space on the fence for billboards warning illegal border crossers there is more to fear than the Border Patrol.
The billboards, in English and Spanish, would offer the following caution: ''If the Border Patrol Doesn't Get You, the Chicken and Burgers Will — Go Vegan."
''We think that Mexicans and other immigrants should be warned if they cross into the U.S. they are putting their health at risk by leaving behind a healthier, staple diet of corn tortillas, beans, rice, fruits and vegetables," said Lindsay Rajt, assistant manager of PETA's vegan campaigns.
California Democrat Nancy Pelosi may be trying to save the planet — but the rank and file in her party increasingly are just trying to save their political hides when it comes to gas prices as Republicans apply more and more rhetorical muscle.
But what looks like intraparty tension on the surface is part of an intentional strategy in which Pelosi takes the heat on energy policy, while behind the scenes she’s encouraging vulnerable Democrats to express their independence if it helps them politically, according to Democratic aides on and off Capitol Hill.
Pelosi’s gambit rests on one big assumption: that Democrats will own Washington after the election and will be able to craft a sweeping energy policy that is heavy on conservation and fuel alternatives while allowing for some new oil drilling. Democrats see no need to make major concessions on energy policy with a party poised to lose seats in both chambers in just three months — even if recess-averse Republicans continue to pound away on the issue.
In Los Angeles, the health and economic implications of widespread obesity truly are cause for alarm. In low-income South L.A., 30 percent of adults are obese.
That's nearly one-third of the area's population at risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses; it's also the patient pool least likely to have insurance for hugely expensive ailments that can linger for decades.
To attack this problem, the Los Angeles City Council last week came up with an apparently radical plan. It voted to ban construction — for one year — of any fast-food restaurants within a 32-square-mile South L.A. neighborhood.
If the council had plucked out one neighborhood in order to engineer its eating habits, this idea would be disastrous. It would declare that free market and personal choice work fine for everyone else in Los Angeles, save one unfortunate neighborhood.
The neighbors themselves would be outraged: What other limiting decisions might the city take on their behalf, leaving personal discretion for everyone else?
It turns out, though, that the moratorium supports several ambitious planning efforts that South Los Angeles residents have already launched. In that context, the moratorium could really make a difference.
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Rick Noriega unveiled an immigration reform plan Wednesday that is very similar to a measure that died last year largely because of opposition from Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.
Noriega touted his plan as a "bold" measure to fix a "broken" immigration system, but it was almost identical to bipartisan legislation that had been backed by President Bush and Texas business leaders in June 2007.
"Without question we know as a matter of fact that Mr. Cornyn was an obstructionist on the last debate on comprehensive immigration reform," Noriega said. "He hasn't done anything in six years to help reform immigration."
Cornyn's campaign described the Noriega plan as "obviously written by inside-the-beltway liberals."
Metro bus rider Pablo Camarillo's daily commute to work is so long that he often sees both sunrise and sunset — when he manages to stay awake.
To arrive on time, the auto parts warehouse worker sets off on an odyssey that starts at 5:40 a.m. with him boarding the 88 Hobby Airport bus at the corner of Sabo and Fuqua streets. He gets off on Broadway and Morley to transfer to the 73 Belfort Crosstown, which takes him to the Texas Medical Center. There, he gets on the 14 Hiram Clarke bus that takes him to his job on the southwest end of town. If things go well, all this happens by 8 a.m.
His evening commute starts at 6 p.m.
"I wish I had a car," said Camarillo, 30, who spends four hours of his day on a maze of Metro buses. "I have to get some sleep on the bus."
While some residents inside the Loop continue to hotly debate massive light rail projects that could potentially bring relief to tens of thousands of mass transit riders, there are others who live just outside the Loop who spend hours commuting and have no relief in sight.
Radio station KPFT and the Center for the Healing of Racism will host a dialogue called “Toward A More Perfect Union” on Tuesday, August 19 from 7-9 pm at Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church.
The community conversation is the first in a series of scheduled discussions on race and other issues that create divisions.
The program will be in the Fondren Hall at St. Paul’s, located at 5501 Main Street at Binz/Bissonnet, across from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Parking is free of charge in two lots across Fannin Street from the Sanctuary. The church is within a block of both Museum District MetroRail stops.
-To create for all people a safe environment in which to explore the issues of racism and its social, motional and spiritual repercussions.
- To recognize racism in its various manifestations, including the most blatant forms of bigotry to its most subtle, unaware and sometimes passive forms.
- To examine attitudes, assumptions, feelings and beliefs about people of color and their cultures and to identify methods by which society has conditioned both whites and people of color with misinformation.
- To assist European Americans to discover how racism has affected their lives, to become sensitized to the experiences of people of color, to unlearn racist patterns, and to empower themselves to interrupt racist remarks and attitudes.
- To provide an accepting and supportive atmosphere for people of color to heal the hurts they have suffered as a result of the oppression of racism.
- To make available educational opportunities for people of all ages to obtain accurate information about the history and rich heritage of people of color.
- To build coalitions and associations with other groups and individuals who share a commitment to racial justice.
A flight attendant who says she lost her faith and suffered a hemorrhoidal flare-up after being assaulted by Victoria Osteen will head to court today seeking a jury to hear her lawsuit against the wife of superstar evangelist Joel Osteen.
Sharon Brown accuses Victoria Osteen, co-pastor of Lakewood Church, of throwing her against an airplane bathroom door and elbowing her in the chest during a confrontation on a Continental Airlines flight to Vail, Colo., on Dec. 19, 2005.
Osteen's attorney and a spokesman for Lakewood Church adamantly deny the allegations.
Texas Child Protective Services moved Tuesday to return eight polygamist sect children to foster care, the first such action since the Texas Supreme Court ordered these children and more than 400 others returned to their parents in May.
The six girls and two boys, ages 5 to 17, are in four Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints households that either refuse to condemn underage marriages in writing or are actively involved with the practice, according to CPS affidavits filed in San Angelo.
Asked if the eight children are in danger, Charles Childress, a CPS attorney from Austin who filed the agency's motions, would only say: "That's what the judge is being asked to decide."
With a major financial advantage and a lead in the polls over his Democratic challenger, Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is running as if his opponent is the national Democratic Party, not state Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston.
Since late last year, Cornyn has avoided directly engaging Noriega as much as possible. Any negative critiques of Noriega and his politics come from Cornyn's campaign manager and campaign spokesman.
"Cornyn sees himself as in two election fights — the one in Texas being the least important," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. "The one up in Washington for advancement within the Senate, I think, he has clearly in mind, as well."
Favored for re-election, Cornyn can look forward to moving up in the Senate Republican leadership next year and perhaps take over as the head of the GOP senators' fundraising arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cornyn last week donated $250,000 of his re-election money to the committee.
Alas, what was whispered in those phone calls was a different c word: “chaos.” You had already been through three campaign managers and two chief fund-raisers. You were spending money hand over fist, but your fund-raising efforts had gone belly-up. Then I spent primary day with you, traveling to various Houston polling places, and saw a campaign stalled at the fork between viability and Radnofsky Land. Here we were in your hometown, your political base, and nobody knew where you were going or how to get there. Your driver got lost more than once. We almost ran out of gas. Your advance team sent you to shake voters’ hands over lunch at an empty soul-food kitchen.
The first time came as we drove between polling places, when I asked how you had selected these particular spots to greet voters. When Melissa started to answer, you interrupted and asked her to cede the floor to Rowland Garza, your deputy campaign manager and field director.
(snip)
The second time you shushed her was when we were driving to lunch. After the aborted meet and greet at the soul-food kitchen, you decided on a nearby Luby’s. We drove right past it as Melissa pointed out the window at the road we needed to take, and you said you knew how to get there. Five miles later, we turned back around.
When the city of Lake Jackson started fueling garbage trucks and other city vehicles with compressed natural gas eight years ago, it was to lessen air pollution, not save money.
But now the vehicles are filling up on fuel that costs the equivalent of $1.29 a gallon, an unplanned bonanza in a time of high fuel prices.
"When you see our garbage trucks start up, you never see a big plume of black smoke," said City Manager Bill Yenne. "We have the best-smelling garbage trucks around."
At the time, cities all over Harris and surrounding counties were being urged to adopt programs to relieve pollution because the area did not meet federal pollution guidelines.
Compressed natural gas has worked well for Lake Jackson, but not for Houston and some other areas.
Working through the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Lake Jackson got several state and federal grants to help build a natural gas refueling facility and to buy vehicles that use the fuel. The grants offset some of the costs.
Vehicles that run on natural gas create much less pollution than those that run on gasoline or diesel.
"It cost us at first," Yenne said, "but our city council voted to spend the money."
The conversion is starting to pay for itself only now, said Craig Nesbitt, Lake Jackson's public works director.
The city had to spend $250,000 for a facility to compress gas and fill the vehicles. A recent upgrade to the system cost another $200,000.
The lights on the rigs pierce the black West Texas night, illuminating mesquite shrubs and jack rabbits scampering across the flat landscape. The glow sends a reassuring message: Good times have returned to the oil patch.
Pump jacks nod vigorously alongside the highway. Fat royalty checks arrive monthly in the mailboxes of ranchers and other landowners. Teachers and retail clerks abandon their jobs for better-paying work in the oil fields as long-idle wells surge to life.
Yet, the people of Kermit and other Permian Basin towns have learned that petroleum-based prosperity is too fragile to squander in wild exuberance. They're paying off debts and investing in public institutions that will endure beyond the boom-and-bust cycles of the oil business.
A storm that appeared as a blip on the Gulf Coast radar late last week could reach hurricane strength before it bears down, possibly on the southeast Texas coast, by Tuesday morning.
Tropical Storm Edouard may intensify into a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall, meteorologists said.
The fast-building storm leaves residents and emergency officials little time to prepare for the high winds and heavy rainfall.
"Since it's come up so quickly and so close to the coast, it's not going to be like (Hurricane) Dolly where we were watching it for a week," said Chris McKinney, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "People need to take it seriously and allow the possibility that it could be a low-end hurricane."
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday called for a $1,000 "emergency" rebate to consumers to offset soaring energy costs amid fresh signs of a struggling economy with the nation's unemployment rate climbing to a four-year high.
Obama told a town-hall meeting the rebate would be financed with a windfall profits tax on the oil industry.
"This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next four months," Obama said in the crucial swing state of Florida.
Obama had earlier said the rebates should be part of a larger tax relief package. But now he says the slumping economy demands they be put in place immediately.
For the first time in 15 years, teen pregnancies are on the rise. Experts aren’t sure why.
Some say it’s because pregnancy is considered cool.
This month, OK Magazine featured a story about 17-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears and her new baby.
On the cover, the teen celebrity declared: “Being a mom is the best feeling in the world.”
Others blame a lack of sex education.
“I don’t think it’s good for anybody to have unprotected sex, to have sex really, but not everybody is going to listen,” Calderon said.
Planned Parenthood said Texas leads all states in unintended pregnancies. Sixty-three out of 1,000 girls become pregnant in Texas between the ages of 15 to 19.
The national average is 43 out of every 1,000, which is a higher rate than many other countries.
“They deserve that information, and we know by looking at other countries and looking at that information, young people with the tools can prevent unintended pregnancies,” Planned Parenthood’s Meryl Cohen said.
And clearly, many teens can’t handle the demands of motherhood.
Exxon Mobil Corp. jumped into the political fray Thursday as its $11.7 billion record quarterly earnings — and $8 billion in share buybacks — raised hackles in Washington.
"They tell us they want to do more domestic production," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "They tell us they need to drill offshore. They tell us that they can find oil on the mainland. And what do they do with their profits? They buy back stock, simply to increase their share price."
Ken Cohen, the company's vice president of public affairs, repeatedly told reporters the company would increase domestic production if Congress would lift its ban on drilling in areas that have been off-limits for more than 25 years.
"We want to do more," Cohen said. "Congress needs to give us access."
Democrats argue that producers already hold 68 million acres of federal lands on which they are not producing oil or gas.
Irving-based Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company, was the fourth major oil giant to release quarterly results. Hours earlier, Royal Dutch Shell, based in the Netherlands, announced a 33 percent increase in profit. Houston-based ConocoPhillips last week announced a 13 percent increase in net income during a quarter in which oil prices rose from about $100 to $140 a barrel. London-based BP announced a 28 percent profit increase on Tuesday.
Exxon Mobil will spend as much as $30 billion on capital and exploration projects annually between 2008 and 2012, up 43% from its 2007 budget, according to the Toronto Star.
That $210 billion investment dwarfs the spending of the U.S. government on renewable and clean energy projects, and would outspend – by far – even the ambitious and revolutionary energy policies proposed by Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
In addition to making hefty profits, Exxon also had a hefty tax bill. Worldwide, the company paid $10.5 billion in income taxes in the second quarter, $9.5 billion in sales taxes, and over $12 billion in what it called "other taxes."
Several bills have been introduced in Congress to enact a "windfall" profits tax on these earnings, or at the very least eliminate manufacturing tax exemption oil companies now enjoy. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama wants to tax oil companies at a special rate every time crude goes over $80 a barrel.
Most plans would either use this newfound tax money to fund investments in renewable energy, or give it to low income Americans struggling with high energy prices.
