The last post of 2008

Or...."The last day, for at least a month, that you won't be getting the date wrong" post.


By 11 AM I'll be driving home from work to catch the Houston Cougar bowl game on Television. After that I'll be involved in a mish-mash of family time, firework watching, eating, dog-panic attack control and heavy drinking. Tomorrow morning I'll be drinking Bloody Mary's and watching flowers roll down the street in Pasadena. Then I'll veg in front of the TV and watch football all day.

Friday I'll hop out of bed and attempt to convince myself that 2009 will somehow be a different animal than 2008 has been. We'll all do it. We make up our list of 'resolutions' only to see them go by the wayside on the first news that The State Fair of Texas is bringing their show on the road and, well...you just HAVE to have Chicken Fried Bacon ONE time before you pass on to the hereafter. In short: Resolutions suck. New Year's resolutions even moreso. Who needs a marketing ploy dreamed up by Gym owners in order to see a post-holiday bump in memberships? With the way the economy's going I wouldn't be all that surprised to hear New Year's Resolution making has been downsized by 33%, a la the workforce at AT&T.

So, when you wake up tomorrow in a alcohol-induced fog contemplating the meaning of the phrase "my hair hurts" take a look at the seven pink dwarves in the corner trying to organize your sock drawer and tell them to back off. You like having to fish through that mess every morning, squinting at two dark blobs in the half-light, finally settling on a pair that might, sorta match only to discover, to your horror, in a meeting with your boss that one is blue with gray stripes and the secondis black paisley with the embroidery of a topless hula dancer on one side. It's OK, you didn't really want that big promotion, not in this economy. The bigger they are the harder they fall right? Let the 20 something recent College grad have that high exposure position with the big pay and the hefty car allowance. You'll be pecking away at your hum-drum job long after he's left for the next executive retreat. Sucker.

Yup, New Year's Day is upon us and America is swaddled in the warm, soft, chenille bathrobe of HOPE. Because in the famous words of one, over-eager, Obama supporter: "I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car, I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage, you know, if I help him, he's gonna help me." I don't know about you, but that brings a smile to this ol' blogger's hard, unsensitive heart. If that doesn't do it for you, here's a recipe for a little drink called Red Hope:

Ingredients
1/2 cl Apricot Brandy
2 cl Gin
1 cl Creme de Bananes
10 cl Lemon Juice
1 dash Strawberry Syrup

Red Hope Directions
Blend, pour into a collins glass half-filled with crushed ice, and serve.

If that doesn't warm your hard heart, I suggest straight Bourbon shots, or Tequila, but only in the case of an emergency.

Happy New Year LaE readers, be safe, don't drive drunk, and don't forget to give to your favorite charity next year to the best of your ability. Hope aside, they're going to need it more than ever.

2008 Texas Bowl - St. Arnold Style.

Thanks St. Arnolds for both the tickets and the pre-game beer.


The 2008 Texas Bowl promised to be a high-scoring affair. It was, for Rice University who blew away the overmatched Western Michigan Broncos in front of an announced crowd of 58,880. (Mostly Rice fans).

Rice was just too good tonight, too experienced and was the more talented team. Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit is building a very good team up in Kalamazoo, he has a talented Quarterback in Tim Hiller (Jr) and a quality wide receiver in Juan Nunez (Jr) both of whom will be coming back next year. Neither were a match for Rice's outstanding duo of Chase Clement and Jarett Dillard, who leave Rice as the most proficient QB/WR tandem ever. Chase Clement was a one man wrecking crew, throwing for 307 yards and 3 TD's, catching a touchdown pass (from Dillard), and leading all rushers with 88 yards and a touchdown. Rice went up 38-0 on the 58th (and last) touchdown pass from Clement to Dillard and it was all Gatorade baths from there. Western Michigan got two late, meaningless touchdowns, but by that time Rice had called off the hounds and was in the process of emptying the benches.


As I said before, Thank you to St. Arnolds brewery for the tickets and tailgating that was provided via an impromptu Twitter contest. As with anything put on by St. Arnolds, the beer was outstanding and the customer interactioin was first class. St. Arnolds owner Brock Wagner, a Rice Grad, is one of the classiest and underapreciated business owners in Houston. Hopefully with the move to the new location on the horizon the City will embrace St. Arnolds more so than it already is. Good, local brewing companies make a City "World Class" after all.

On top of all that, Sammy the Owl is a St. Arnolds fan:


The MOB had the line of the night asking Western Michigan if Rice could put bags over their heads and pretend they were Irish:


And while their halftime show was watered down for the bowl game, we can all take solace in the fact that Rice Football has won 10 games for the first time in 59 years, that they've won a bowl for the first time in almost 55 years and through it all....

Todd Graham is still a douchebag.


Go Owls!

City to file lawsuit aimed at shutting down waste treatment plant

Happy New Year CES.

[Bradley Olson and Matthew Tresaugue, Chron.com]

Houston made an unusual move Tuesday to close an industrial business in an attempt to improve the living conditions of nearby residents.

Fed up after hundreds of complaints about sickening odors and two recent explosions, City Council authorized plans to sue CES Environmental Services Inc., which operates a waste treatment plant in southeast Houston, under public nuisance laws. The city has previously used the legal tactic to shutter seedy hotels and strip clubs and force refineries to reduce air pollution.

The lawsuit, expected to be filed next week, follows months of talks to get the treatment plant to be a better neighbor. But those negotiations failed to change the way the company operated the facility, city officials said.

(snip)

Greg Bowman, vice president of finance and administration for CES, disputed the city's assertions, saying that the company has spent more than $2 million to address the neighbors' concerns, including the addition of the pollution-control equipment in October.

"We have a right to be here," Bowman said. "It's an easier political play to say CES is a rogue operator and bad for Houston, but that's an unfair and untrue characterization."

(snip)

Documents show that Houston previously fined CES for multiple violations of ordinances and permits, including discharging pollutants into sanitary sewers and diluting samples taken by the city to evaluate industrial waste.

The city's Department of Public Works and Engineering threatened to cut the company's water connection if they did not pay fines associated with the violations, but because the fines were paid, City Attorney Arturo Michel said, the city could not move forward punitively.

Some things missing from this article that will be interesting to discover at trial: One, was the plant in place first or the residences? No offense to the neighborhoods nearby, and certainly no one should have to live with debris in their yard, but if you move in to a house located next to a waste treatement plant, what did you expect to happen? If the plant moved in on top of the neighborhoods then you have to ask the correct questions of the City of Houston regarding permitting and who was the dolt that allowed said plant to be built in that location. Two, has the plant been acting in "good faith" to correct the issues? Assuming there's no malfeasance, will the court view the plants "anti-pollution" expenditures sufficient for them to keep operating? Are they acting in good faith on this?

Unfortunately this article raises more questions than it answers. Questions, by the way, that could be key to the ultimate resolution. A resolution that, if carried out to the end, could have the employees of the CES plant staring down the barrell of Government-driven unemployment at the cusp of a new year.

Happy New Year eh?

LaE end of year bloggy stuff.

1.) Blogs 1, MSM 0:

We're 54th! Literacy Study puts Houston in the Top, uh, 55 [Kyrie O'Connor, MeMo]

Good News: Houston advances to 54th place from 55th in "Literate Cities" rankings; Boosters cite jump as more evidence of "World Class" Stature. [Slampo's place]

On the one hand you have a cranky editor with a chip on her shoulder about the falling stature of MSM, on the other hand you have witty commentary on a study of dubious value. I'll take the latter thank you. (As will most others of late it seems)

2.) Things that need to go away in 2009.

- Bloggers self-selecting their own personal favorite "top five" posts of the year.
- MSM blogs cracking on hobby bloggers for the latter's lack of resources.
- Bloggers anxiously awaiting the day when the MSM "goes away". (I, for one, dread that day. The goal should be that watchdog blogging makes MSM better not extinct.)
- The Blogger "New Year's Resolution" that you are going to "grow your blog". Here's an idea: Write solid posts with honest takes on relevent issues and readers will come.
- Unlinked references. If you're going to mention someone, link to them. Even IF you don't agree with them.
- Online "gotcha" moments from the self-unaware. (hint: read, digest, comment)
- Commentors being referred to as "bloggers". No, bloggers blog, commentors comment and trolls mis-spell pretty much everything or type in all caps.
- "Literally" or "Seriously" as a comedic stinger. They're neither especially clever nor very funny. Seriously. (See!)
- Mining for comedic gold through intentional mis-spelling. If the pinnacle of your comedic genious is limited to "Rethuglicans" or "Demoncrats" you need to get out more. (If you think "Repukelicants" or "Dhimminicrats" is clever do us all a favor and buy a book on remedial humor)
- Sheeple. No explenation needed.
- Chris Bell, perennial candidate. (OK, I'm kind of lying. The blogger part of me would LOVE to see another Bell candidacy, but the citizen in me hopes he takes the hint and retires.)

3.) Things I'd like to see in 2009

- Good, solid investigative reporting by Houston media and the blogoshpere.
- A meaningful, lasting reboot of the Republican Party.
- A substantial, honest re-tooling of the Democratic Party.
- A Two-Party system in Texas
- A Mayor for Houston that "gets it".
- A $1 Million grant (never hurts to ask)
- A real, honest, Metropolitan columnist at the Chron.
- While we're at it, flying cars. (because that's about as likely to happen as the Chron hiring a competent Metro columnist.
- A public transportation debate in Houston that doesn't focus on MetroRail vs. No MetroRail.
- A commitment to modernize Texas infrastructure.
- An answer to e-mails from the Chron Reader's Rep.
- Transparency and honesty from local Gov't.

4.) People most in need of a humor infusion.

- Darren10 at LST.

C'mon man, Obviously I'm joking. Lighten up.

5.) The LaE "good deed" for the end of the year.

BigJolly is a staunch Conservative.

You're welcome.


So remember, keep reading, commenting and, most importantly, keep those accolades coming. One day YOU TOO may end up on the side bar of this seedy little blog in the middle of the low-rent district of the blogosphere. All I promise you in 2009 is more of the same boring, predictable, thinly veiled misogyny written by some idiot who is an absolutely unbelievable asshole. Of course, you get what you pay for.

Houston Asides (12/30/08)

The "get ready to write the wrong date on your checks" edition...

Next Legislature: Tuition, accountability, cafateria food. [Ericka Mellon, Chron.com] - With all of the major issues facing Texas education it's even money that a Special Sessiion is called by the Governor to address them.

Texas Women's shelters expect influx tied to Holiday stress. [Dane Schiller, Chron.com] - You can donate here. Post-holiday is when they really need it.

Pet food bank keeps animal rescues afloat. [Bill Murphy, Chron.com] - What they need can be found here. Surely you pet owners have some old leashes, crates, beds and food you can donate right?

Late whistle-blowers' son urges City to finish repairs. [Mike Snyder, Chron.com] - They should, but I'm betting it ends up in court. (again)

Fed's sue to take Nature Preserve for Border Fence. [Christopher Sherman, AP via Chron.com]

Proposed, 25-story luxury condo bites the dust. [Nancy Sarnoff, Chron.com] - Another in an increasingly long list of 'stalled' new-urban projects.

Rebuilding bikes, rebuilding lives in the Third Ward. [Lisa Gray, Chron.com]

Rolling to the rescue. [tAFKAMW, Chron.com] - An increasingly rare, good editorial by the newly revamped Chron Ed. Board.

Texas Occasional Use Tax. [BigJolly, LST] - Don't forget to pay the tax man!

Dam good food [K, She Eats] - Another good review for a restaurant that's really starting to accumulate praise. It's on my "to do" list.

If we increase solar energy by 100-fold, problem solved? [Eric Berger, Chron.com] - An interesting look into the limitations of renewables using current technology.

The Egg & I. [Katherine Schilcutt, Eating our Words] - I once posted about The Egg & I. It's not a bad place to dine.

Barack the Magic Negro. [Lou Minatti] - Calling it out for what it is.

The Swamplot 2008 Winners! - Ride along for Houston's best Real Estate Tour.

Is Craddick out as Speaker of the House?

Early reports are not promising for him...

[Gary Scharrar, Chron.com]

In a one-two punch against embattled Speaker Tom Craddick on Monday, yet another Republican — the seventh — entered the race for his job, and Democrats released the names of 64 House members who pledged to withhold their votes from the fiercely partisan leader.
The events do not guarantee Craddick's ouster in the 150-member chamber since his opponents have not coalesced around a single challenger. And Craddick's aides disputed the accuracy of the Democrats' announcement of the rock-hard "anyone but Craddick" voters.

Still, it was clear that each side has dug in for a battle to win one of the state government's most powerful jobs. The House speaker, who is selected by a majority of representatives voting, plays a key role in shaping legislation on everything from taxes to school funding to health care for children and in deciding whether House members will vote on the bills. The speaker also appoints all committee leaders.

For his part, Craddick has disputed the Democrats "list"....

[Laylin Copelin, Austin American-Statesman]

A spokeswoman for Speaker Tom Craddick is questioning the accuracy of a list of 64 House Democrats pledged to opposed his re-election.

This morning, the House Democratic Caucus released a list of members who signed a pledge not to support Craddick “under any circumstances.” The signatures were collected at a caucus meeting the day after the Nov. 4 election.

“It’s an inaccurate list,” said Alexis DeLee, Craddick’s communications director. “We continue to have the largest and most solid support of the House.”

No offense to Alexis DeLee, but her denials remind on of "Baghdad Bob" proudly proclaiming that the Americans aren't near the Iraqi capitol whil tank dust plumed in the background.

If all of this seems very "inside baseball" to you, it is. these are the post-election political maneuverings that drive wonky-Austin-inner-workings bloggers mad. Some blogs live for this stuff. As such, they do a better job covering the minutia than do I.

Kuff is a good place to check in frequently for a good aggregation of the Democratic mood regarding the goings on, not only does he occasionally offer his opinion but each blog post is a de-facto link blog to different Democratic (and MSM) perspectives on the issue.

Tom Burka of Texas Monthly is another go-to source for the dirt on the dirt that's getting politicians dirty in Austin. A side-benefit to his blog is that all manner of staffers, lobbyists, and (yes) politicians post there anonymously. As Evan reminds us a good parlour game can be had guessing the occupation of the commentors.

On the Republican side things get a little dodgy. There are just not a lot of Right-leaning blogs out there that cover Austin with the zeal that it takes to keep abreast of this story. If you know of one, provide a link in the comments and I'll update here.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report. Harvey consistently provides solid, competent, meaningful coverage of the Texas Lege often serving as a go to resource for members of major daily news organizations.

Political infighting is way outside the scope of this blog. I have neither the time nor the resources to blog consistently on such matters. I will say this: At this time I'd place the odds of Craddick retaining he speakership at somewhere around 35%. There's a lot of opposition lining up against him. Now they just need to pick a candidate to organize behind.

COH Red Light Camera study (finally) out.

H/T to Kevin for bringing this to my attention.


And it's a doozy. Here's the obligatory link to the complete study(.PDF) courtesy of the Chron.

And here's Bradley Olson's write-up...

Red-light cameras installed at some of Houston's most dangerous intersections did not reduce the number of crashes there, according to a long-awaited study the city commissioned on the matter.

In fact, wrecks at intersections with at least one red-light camera more than doubled, the data shows. The analysis examined accident data at intersections that had at least one camera which monitored traffic in one direction of the intersection. Most intersections have cameras facing in only one of the four or more directions at a traffic stop.

Interestingly, the greatest increase in accidents came from the points of the intersection where a camera is not installed. Where there is a camera, the number of collisions remained relatively flat or showed only a slight increase.

First off, if you read the entire survey (as I did) take some aspirin before hand. As a blogger now for around 5 years I've read my share of surveys and polls. This one has some of the most convoluted prose I've ever encountered. It's also significantly flawed.

To Whit: (from the survey)

The large number of approaches (50 monitored and 150 non-monitored) is a sufficiently large sample size allowing for statistically significant conclusions.

Having a non-monitored sample size three times larger than a monitored sample size creates a sampling error in and of itself. Not only are there likely to be more accidents at the 150 non-monitored sites, but there's at least three times the probability that an accident will be recorded.

Another error is traffic frequency. For example: The "group two" data showed accidents at 'non-monitored' intersections (72) roughly doubling the accidents at "monitored" crossings (47). For this survey the 'non-monitored' crossings were advertised as the three approaches that did NOT have a camera on the same intersection as the approach that contained an RLC. Unless there's an accounting of the car traffic on these approaches then this data is not very helpful. For instance, if Hwy 249 is busier than FM 1960 at the Intersection then the potential events are increased. This wasn't addressed in this study at all.

Second:

The comparison of data between monitored and non-monitored approaches supports the conclusion that red light cameras are mitigating a general, more severe increase in collisions.

Not really, for the reasons outlined above. A sample set of equal size using approaches with similar traffic volume would solve the data short-comings in this study.

Third:

monitored approaches experienced a significant increase only with
regards to swipe-impacts.

The key word here is "significant" in the eyes of the study authors. One interesting data point that's not discussed is that the rate of side collisions (the major crashes RLC's were designed to prevent) actually increased from 9.38 {my assumption is this is average per year, the study doesn't really say} to 9.69. The study ignores this increase by treating it as a statistical anomaly instead of addressing it in the findings.

Fourth:

There are several possible reasons why we have not observed the
expected changes in incidence of crashes. These include: Red light cameras are not effective. We do not believe this is true, but there may be some locations where the cameras are more effective than at other locations.

Amazingly the bolded text appears in the conclusions section of the survey despite the fact that there is insufficient data present to make that conclusion. Last week, there was a lawsuit filed requesting the City release an earlier version of this study that had been rejected by Mayor White and sent back to the authors for a "re-write" of confusing text. Based on my reading of this final edition the prose must not have been convoluted enough. This added text regarding 'belief' sans data suggests that perhaps these changes were made to 'explain away' the failure of red-light cameras to decrease collisions.

One things for sure, these surveyors sure know a little bit about job security:

Building on this preliminary study, which has only investigated a year’s worth of post-camera implementation data, is not an option, but rather a necessity for understanding the effect of red light cameras and improving safety on the streets of Houston.

Also absent from the report (and the Chron story) is any mention that Bob Stein's wife is a member of Mayor White's staff, or that Mr. Stein has worked with Mayor White in the past, specifically on the controversial SafeClear program of which he was the primary architect.

The bottom line is that this is a poorly written survey. How poorly written? Ron Trevino of KHOU read the same report and reported an entirely different result.

Based on my reading, the Olson/Chron report is more accurate than the KHOU/Trevino report, but both are limited in their usefulness by the poorly written/poorly designed survey that was released to the public.

Two suggestions:

1. Release the original "draft" report and let us see what was changed. If the revisions were just to increase "readability" then there wasn't anything gained. IF the revisions were to allow for the insertion of the conjecture outlined above then there's a real story.

2. Commission a full traffic study using balanced samples authored by an unbiased third party with no connections to the administration. Have that report released to the public and the City at the same time to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

I'm sure the blogging will be fast and furious on this (both for and against). I'll try to update "other eyes" here.


FINALLY: Someone explain this to me please.

On this level of analysis, comparing collision rates of individual approaches before and after camera implementation, the effect of the program appears to be bimodal.

Huh?

Other Eyes:

BlogHouston

The Tribune (Atascocita, Lake Houston, Humble, Kingwood)

KTRK 13

Cornyn: Tax cuts are the answer.

H/T: Lone Star Times.

John Cornyn recently penned an editorial that ran in the Dallas Morning News* critical of the Obama stimulus plan (shocker) and offering up his formula for hauling the American Economy out of the culvert in which it currently seems stuck. I'll not bore you with the first 4/5's of the essay becuase you know the drill: Democrats evil, wasteful, debt spending untenable etc., etc.**

It was Cornyn's "solution" to the problem that caught my eye:

Given the current economic conditions, we should lower the tax burden for Americans and put money back into their pockets.

We should also consider ways to help U.S. businesses expand and grow, including reducing the corporate tax rate, full expensing and bonus depreciation, and accelerated tax relief for America's manufacturers. These options will not only boost the economy in the short term, but will also improve America's competitive position in the long run.

BigJolly of LST, a hardcore Cornyn supporter, was very impressed with Cornyn's vision for reviving the American economy and getting the wheels of commerce flowing again. That's to be expected however, because Tax cuts are akin to Manna from Conservative Heaven. We know that the conservative-wing of the Republican Party is going to sop this up like a medium rare Filet Mignon at Taste of Texas. Ideologically this is just about as pure as you can get.

A bigger question (for me) would be: "Will this solution work?" (A bigger question for Republicans could be Will this appeal to the critical middle? But I'll let them address that one.)

Curiously enough I found part of my answer at The Next Right, another Conservative blog with an eye on "fixing" the Republican mess. My partial answer was found in the comments to this post which, ironically echoed Cornyn's solution to the problem here:

Republicans begin to tap into Americans' common sense belief in belt-tightening as the appropriate response to lean economic times. Families have had to make sacrifices -- it's time for government to do the same and not saddle our kids with a trillion more in debt on top of bailout after bailout after bailout. Or, taking on more debt than we could afford is what got us into this mess. Now they're saying that taking on more will get us out? Give me a break.

We then introduce a $250 billion package of targeted tax cuts and small business incentives.

Here's the comment:

I own a small business. Tax cuts would have zero impact on me, becasue I'm no longer making any profits. And in this climate, there is no tax incentive you could offer me that would cause me to create new jobs, becasue I don't see demand for my products picking up until the economy picks up.

So, I don't see how tax cuts stimulate the economy.

Therin lies the problem with basing the majority of your economic reform on business tax cuts. If most businesses view tax as a cost, then a reduction in costs will not lead to higher production and increased output. Most companies will offset the decrease in costs by either decreasing debt load or increasing shareholder return. Expansion in the business sector only comes when demand outstrips supply. In order to see an uptick in the demand curve there has to be something creating excess spending capacity among the consumer base.

Cornyn brushes up against this with a vague promise to "lower taxes for all Americans" but the detail in his plan focuses on specific cuts to business taxes suggesting that cuts in personal tax rates are 'pot-sweetener' designed to mute the charges of "pro-business" and "upward income redistribution" that are sure to come.

At least, in his solution, Patrick Ruffini has a part two:

In an ideal world, we get a moderate Republican who favors some new spending to stake out some sort of compromise position that has two thirds of stimulus spending going to the knowledge or green economy -- building up the GOP's broader New Economy cred -- and limiting the amount of money that can be spent on the stimulus overall and its biggest dollar drain, physical infrastructure (which was already lavishly funded by the pork-laden 2005 transportation bill).

The only quibble I have is with his contention that infrastructure is lavishly funded. Infrastructure means more than just roads, trains, busses and airplanes.

The key for Republicans is to come out of this not looking like the Party of Big Business. The key for Democrats is that the Republicans keep saying "NO" to any stimulus package and public opinion turns against the pachyderms as the recession lingers on.

Three things that I would like to see as a stimulus are as follows:

1. Infrastructure
2. Conservation
3. Middle Class Income Tax cuts.

A realization by someone that there are a few things the Government does well would be nice. NO ONE is more able to handle the infrastrucutre upgrades than is the US Government, conservation issues (including the refurbishment of the National Parks System) are another area where the Federal Government is needed, and meaningful tax cuts for the middle class (defined as those making between $40K and $250K per year) would provide the excess cash needed to spur demand.

After demand is re-established and expansion becomes an option I can see a case where corporate and small business tax-cuts would be beneficial. Until then, I don't see any advantage over Cornyn's plan than Obama's yet-to-be-revealed pork-filled nightmare.



*What? Did the Chronicle not receive this editorial? Or did they just decide not to run it?

**Cornyn's "conservative" criticism of the tax & spend Democrats would carry more credibility had he held the same positions when casting votes for pork-laden programs supported by President Bush.

Houston Asides (12/29/08)

The "slave to the grind" edition...

Fares that will make Globetrotters smile. [Bill Montgomery, Houston Departures] - $500 to Italy? Wow. Hopefully prices are still there next year.

Border agents mostly Latino. [James Pinkerton, Chron.com] - A "kinder, gentler" Border Patrol?

Ike's displaced families still looking for homes. [AP via Chron.com] - If this had happened after Katrina the news would be all over it. As it is, hurricanes have already "been done" by the media.

You better believe this year's 8-8 tops last year's record. [Richard Justice, Chron.com] - Why? Because beating the Bears is better than beating the Jag's second string in the last game? What about the rest of the season? 8-8 is 8-8 period.

Richmond Mayor's 60 years on job may be record. [Richard Stewart, Chron.com]

This is not a tournament team. [CoogCrewDustin, Chron.commons] - Not if they can't beat a pathetic Iowa State team (at home btw) they're not. Have the Coogs topped out under Penders?

Whooping Crane count in Texas up to record 270. [AP via Chron.com] - Whoop!

Houston Woman who exposed repair fraud dies in her home. [Mike Snyder, Chron.com] - A sad ending to a twisted tale. These are the people we want running our health care?

The Houston Way paves the way in Galleria area land taking. [Kevin Whited, BlogHouston] - I love the "Houston Way" as a descriptor for the sordid, backroom dealings of local government.

Video: The first months of James McGuff's life. [Mike McGuff] - They're so cute at that age.

Rather seeks trial to promote his view of revisionist history, but world still can't look to CBS news for the Truth. [Beldar] - Brutal, inside baseball on Rather's quest to polish the turd of his legacy.

Rail, bikes, IAH, Texas, Infrastructure and more. [Tory Gattis, Houston Strategies] - A pot-purri of local transportation issues.

2008 Local Football Review. [Tom Kirkendall, Houston's Clear Thinkers] - Texans analysis, without the bi-polar disorder or blatant cheerleading found at the Chron.

Today's Chronicle Article [Murray Newman, Life at the Harris County Justice Center] - Actually the Dec. 26th Chron article. My bad at linking to this late.

UAW Country Club and Golf Resort. [Lou Minatti] - Old Union proverb: What's bad for thee is good for me.

Good News: Houston jumps to 54th place from 55th in 'Literate Cities' rankings; Boosters cite jump as more evidence of "World Class" stature. [Slampo] - Read it.

A study Houston doesn't want to lead.

Houston tops in homicides by black youths.

[Allan Turner, Chron.com]

As violent crime nationally slows in growth or declines, the United States is facing a dramatic — but hardly noticed — increase in murders by and of young African-American men, a Northeastern University study released today reports.

Between 2002 and 2007, the number of black male juveniles murdered nationally increased by 31 percent and the number of black perpetrators by 43 percent. The increases were even greater, the report said, when guns were used as weapons.

Focusing on the period between 2000-01 and 2006-07, the study found Houston at the top of a list of 28 U.S. cities, with a 139 percent increase in the number of young African-Americans suspected in killings.

In 2006-07, 129 young black men were murdered in the city, up from 42 in 2000-01.

(snip)

Houston community activist Quanell X called the study a "blanket indictment of the city and government officials in the city and a greater indictment of ministers and political leaders of the African-American community."

He called for a citywide black leadership summit to find ways to end the violence.

"Until African-American leaders, both spiritual and political, male and female, can get into that room and check their egos at the door and say, 'To hell with party politics,' and walk out of that room with a plan all of us can have a part in," the killings will continue, he said.

Shape Community Center's Deloyd Parker questioned the way the study was conducted. "When they say 'offender,' does that mean someone who's charged with a crime or been convicted?" he said. "Sometimes even being convicted doesn't mean you're actually guilty."

(snip)

"The whole foundation of the study is in question," Parker charged. " ... He's going to have to do a little better homework for me to even mess with this."

I can empathize with Mr. Parker's leeriness towards the study, without seeing the background data (and assuming Mr. Turner's charactarization of the study is accurate) I can see where there is a lot in this that's open to error and sampling bias.

However, I also understand that, given the discrepency in the number of assumed "white" murders and "black" murders, the murder rate among young black men is way, way to high. Even if the marginal rate of blacks is over-estimated by 50%, you're still dealing with an 80% increase in murders by young black men. At the low end, that's way to high and something that shouldn't be written off as just "bad survey data". Even if true it's something that community leaders should be "mess with".

The default 'bad guy' in Houston will be played by Louisiana residents displaced by Katrina who have permanently relocated to Houston. That's a very easy, superficial way of addressing the issue. The deeper problem is the glorification of the 'street thug' lifestyle in Hollywood, popular music and video games. The romancing of 'thug life' is something that Black community leaders needs to address repeatedly and strongly. Less being an indictment of the government (wrong again Quannell) this survey is an indictment of gang culture.

Blaming Government is a call for censorship and restriction of free speech rights. Basically you're asking the government to outlaw certain aspects of a culture that you find offensive. History has shown that this is rarely the way to solve a problem.

Make no mistake about it, this is not just a 'black problem'. It's a cultural problem that relies on long-held stereotypes of all people. Stereotypes that work against young black men excelling in school, against them being hired into good paying jobs, against them succeeding in mainstream society. The result of all of this is an elevated murder rate that needs to be changed.

Another misnomer that needs to be shot down is that this behavior is indicative of all black youths. Negative scripts based on skin color are incomplete ways through which to view humanity. This is a problem affecting a portion of the black community, not all young black men. Failure to realize this is akin to cutting off an arm to treat a cut. What's needed is some antibiotic and stiches, not an entire amputation.


All that being said: I truly hope that the presence of an intelligent, highly educated Black man in the Presidency will go a long way to changing the ideal role-model that many of these youths have access to in the media. Whatever your political views of Obama, his election was a wonderful moment for Blacks everywhere. I hope that local Black leaders understand that and take full advantage.

Living with dignity

We're all familiar with the old adage: "It's hell being poor." Most of us; bloggers, readers, newsmakers, don't have an intimate knowledge of what "poor" entails nor do we have an intimate understanding of the plight of the working poor.

Oh sure, its easy for a blogger to say "this is good for the poor" flippantly without thinking about what we're taking away from them: the freedom of choice, the dignity of self-worth etc. Too often the default response to the poor from the politically active is either one of pity (calls for more handouts and "income balancing") or scorn (let them lift themselves up by their bootstraps like I had to).

That's why today's Chronicle story by Carolyn Feibel is so illuminating:

When Susan Miller first moved into the Canal Street Apartments, she hid inside her room, read books and "fretted."

After illnesses and job losses, Miller had moved into an SRO — a single room occupancy building. She feared the stereotypes and the stigma. Would it be a flophouse filled with troubled addicts? Would there be crime? At the very least, it wouldn't be pretty.

She was wrong.

"You think an SRO, they're not going to care about the building," Miller recalls thinking. "It's going to be beaten up and trashed. ... You think you can't live in a place where you spend $375 a month; you think you'll live in squalor." She pauses. "This is far from squalor. This is a wonderful place to live, it really is."

The Canal Street Apartments have gardens of birch and bamboo, light-drenched common rooms where residents play chess and read, and spotless floors of lime, peach and blue.

"It's kept up better than some apartments I've lived in," Miller says. "It works. It really works."

The building's nonprofit developer, New Hope Housing, has upended the low expectations implied by the term "low-income housing."

"We really hold fast to the theory that a crisp, clean, external environment facilitates internal change," says executive director Joy Horak-Brown. "We're about stabilizing lives."

You may have passed right by the 133-unit building while heading into the original Ninfa's on Navigation. The modern building's design imitates more upscale condo developments with its breezy walkways, trickling fountains, and front entrance with 24-hour staffing and security.

Inside, the efficiency-style apartments provide low-income housing to single adults: minimum-wage workers, formerly homeless people leaving the streets, or adults escaping troubled relationships or pasts. Many residents are disabled or impoverished, with no family or place to turn.

It's true that (sometimes) it's hell being poor. But it doesn't have to be. Working with Non-profits such as New Hope to provide quality, low-income housing to those in need, supporting companies who are willing to hire residents of SRO's and working to ensure Gov't provides quality transportation to the residents are just a few of the things that citizens can do to help make it not be so.

Or we can just continue choosing the 'false choice' offered by our political leaders. Either Government taxation of those making slightly more than us for wealth distribution or ignorance and scorn suggesting that the poor are just "lazy" and need to take advantage of the American opportunity.

In case you're wondering, you can see how to give time, money or in-kind donations to New Hope here. The week after Christmas is typically the time when charities struggle for volunteers the most. Usher 2008 out by working with a charity. It might just make for a better 2009.

Rapid Eye Movement (12/28/08)

Now is the time to propose a gas tax. [Thomas Friedman, NYT] - As is his wont, Friedman follows a good idea with a terrible one that will drench the poor and middle class.

Return of the Great Society? [George Will, RCP] - For the health of the Nation, we had better hope not.

The case for individual liberty. [Mark Steyn, OC Register] - Be careful the economy you wish for Obama, you just might get it.

Politics is no longer local, its viral [Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Times] - Uh..no..its not really. At least for 70-80% of Americans who don't pay any attention to political blogs that is. Proof of case (for Vargas) is that Obama spent $8 Million on "Internet Advertising". Compared to how much on TV advertising? Yeah. Politicians can't ignore the Internet, but its not "central"...yet.

Obama, Warren, on the wrong side of history. [Frank Rich, NYT]

Caroline Kennedy is "just like me"? [Jennifer Rubin, Commentary] - Or, her with a politically powerful family and BILLIONS of dollars.

Confrontation with Gaza was inevitable. [Richard Beeston, Times UK]

The Year in Review [Dave Barry, Washington Post]

College Degree shouldn't be a job requirement. [Charles Murray, Washington Post] - Agreed.

Groups send wish lists for economic bill. [John Fritze, USA Today] - Oink, Oink.

Texas going green?

Could be...

[Matthew Tresaugue, Chron.com]

Global warming might be critical to the future of the planet, but inside the Texas Capitol, it's never been much of a match for taxes and tuition.

The upcoming legislative session, however, could be different, with lawmakers from both parties already talking about renewable energy, energy efficiency and so-called "green jobs" as priorities.

"The climate has changed, atmospherically and politically," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, executive director of the Texas office for Public Citizen, a consumer and environmental advocacy group.

For some time now, Texas lawmakers have been cool to global warming, spurning several measures that dealt directly with the issue. That's because the state is America's power plant and gas pump and thus leads the nation, by far, in emissions of heat-trapping gases that contribute to climate change.

But with a new president who pledged to cap carbon dioxide emissions and invest in renewable energy projects, lawmakers and lobbyists expect Washington to move aggressively to combat climate change.

Chances are Texas lawmakers will continue a wait-and-see approach on rules regulating emissions, focusing instead on financial carrots in part because of concerns over the slumping economy.

What is emerging is an environmental agenda that could provide incentives for large-scale solar-energy projects, set goals for reducing utilities' energy consumption and promote efficiency through new building codes.

The do-nothing wing of the Republican Party missed a political opportunity by failing to embrace the concept of Conservation as opposed to "environmentalism" which has been off the mainstream reservation for quite some time. Now, almost too late, the Republicans have lost almost any moral authority on conservation issues due to their failing to address problems such as smog, pollution etc.

Republican activists will counter that there were some out there fighting for conservation, hunters and other groups for example. But the problem is that the Republican leadership hasn't heeded the call of the voters, and hasn't acted on environmental issues at all.

It's no longer enough for Texas leaders to say that they oppose conservation issues "for the economy". Steps have to be taken to clean the air etc. What Texas needs to avoid is allowing a "cap n' trade" system designed to enrich a select few destroy an economy that supports millions.

If "Cap n' Trade" is implemented on a Global scale then Al Gore will have used Environmentalists to pull off the greatest con in Human history. And he'll laugh all the way to the bank. Not that a clean environment isn't a good idea, but that "Cap n' Trade" will do anything to 'save' the climate.

"Green" has devolved into nothing more than a marketing tool. A very, very successful marketing tool.

Houston Asides (12/28/08)

The "no year in review here" edition...

Newspaper delivery driver questioned in shooting. [Chron.com]

The driver then pulled out a 9mm pistol and started shooting, hitting a nearby woman in the jaw

Irony would be newspapers using the poor gun skills of one of their employees as the latest example of the need for gun control.

Ways to save: Animals and Taxes. [Rescue Volunteer, Rescued...From under a bridge] - Don't forget to donate to help the animals this year either.

$1 Billion in Fees and Fines not collected by State Agencies. [AP via Chron.com] - One of the big offenders? The Texas Ethics Commission. heh.

Small power retailers fear new regulations. [Janet Elliott, Chron.com] - Increasing cash reserves makes sense. As much sense as you can make in a faulty deregulated market.

Financial firm banking on Houston.[Greg Barr, Houston Business Journal] - Somewhere Dan Patrick is fuming over this.

Is High-Speed rail in Houston's future? [Off the Kuff] - I'd ride a train to Dallas. If that had a bar car that is.

Going Corporate. [Evan, Perry vs. World] - More blogger ethics discussion.

A few Prague photos posted. [Kevin Whited, PubliusTX] - Prague is on the "to visit" list, but Italy is the next Europe destination.

Have a Pimpalicious Holiday Season. [Slampo's Place]

Art in Houston: Chron offers "guidance about what is good for Houston." [Anne Linehan, BlogHouston.net]

Talks of a new voting commission in Harris County

It's an idea that's been hinted at in whispers for a while now. An idea that's starting to get some traction in main stream circles.

[Liz Austin Peterson, Chron.com]

The departure of Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has opened the door for some discussion of whether his successor should inherit the job of maintaining Harris County's voter rolls, a duty assigned to that office in the days of Jim Crow poll taxes.

State law allows Commissioners Court to assign that responsibility to the county clerk, who already conducts elections and counts the votes, as long as the county clerk and the tax assessor-collector sign off on the plan. The court also can create an independent elections administration office to handle all election-related duties.

Seventy-three of Texas' 254 counties have established separate elections offices, including every large, urban county but Harris and Travis. Nineteen other counties have assigned the voter registration role to the county clerk.

I'm expecting this to break down along party lines. Republican commissioners don't seem to have any desire to change the status quo. Democrats on the other hand, who have felt that Bettencourt was running a large voter-suppression scheme for years, want the office moved to a 'non-partisan' commission. Ironically, the "voting" commission members would not be elected, they'd be appointed by partisan elected officials. The bar for removal of election administrators would be very high (4/5 super-majority) making it harder than ever to address voting irregularities.

The other option is moving voter registration duties to the office of County Clerk. As an accountant, I'm horrified by the prospect of having one office taking control of the voting process from registration to vote counting. That violates the 'separation of duties' process control that's central to accurate auditing.

In short, neither option is ideal, and there's little evidence to suggest that registration would be improved under either scenario. Basically Harris County voters are being sold 'change for change sake' in a year where 'change' is more of a political buzz-word than something pursued with improvement in mind.

Renewing the Pocket Park squabble.

Remember this?...

In an unusual use of its eminent domain authority, the city has condemned the property to develop a small "pocket park" on the edge of a large, upscale redevelopment project.

Well, here comes round two...

[Carolyn Feibel and Bradley Olson, Chron.com]

When finished, the .09-acre patch of land near the Galleria will be the city's smallest park. Too small even for a basketball court, Post Oak Lane Park might be big enough for a game of horseshoes, a few benches and greenery.

Using its power of eminent domain, the city of Houston seized the land for the park from brothers James and Jock Collins last year. Officials claimed there was a "public necessity" for the park in the Uptown area, despite the fact that a much larger one — the 4.7-acre Grady Park — is just two blocks away.

What will the new "pocket park" be used for? That's hard to say. The city has yet to draw up any plans for the land at the corner of Post Oak Lane and San Felipe. In fact, city parks director Joe Turner testified in a sworn deposition last month that his department did not come up with the idea for the park and that he opposed using condemnation powers for its creation.

What the park will provide is a landscaped gateway to an upscale development planned next door, called BLVD Place.

Mayor Bill White and council members insist they condemned the land last year as a matter of good faith to taxpayers. The city needed some of the land to widen San Felipe and will turn the rest into the park.

But documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle show the move also helped BLVD Place developer Ed Wulfe, a major donor to White, seal the deal on a $12.5 million land sale related to his ambitious mixed-use development.

A legal battle that ensued after the city began condemnation proceedings now has landed squarely at the mayor's door. White is resisting a deposition request in the case.

Councilman Peter Brown also is fighting a deposition regarding a possible conflict of interest in his vote for the condemnation. Brown's wife is an investor in BLVD Place.

The entire article in the Houston Chronicle is an enlightening read regarding the depth and breadth of the relationships that exist in Houston between elected leaders and developers. Ed Wulfe is also highly placed on the Uptown District Board of Directors. All that being said, at the end of the article, there appears to be a "smoking gun" admission that something was amiss...

Wulfe had been trying to sell 1.48 acres to the Hanover Company to build a residential tower on BLVD Place, according to a copy of the contract obtained by the Chronicle.

The tower site abutted the Collinses' land, and one condition that Hanover had for the $12.5 million purchase was that either Wulfe "and/or a governmental entity or agency" had to acquire title to that little parcel.

The deal closed in May.

(snip)

City Council made its final vote to seize the land on March 28, 2007. A week later, Wulfe sent a two-sentence e-mail to Hanover executives, saying the following in bold lettering:

"For your information. The city has officially taken action."

When this story first broke, the Collins brothers were vilified by Mayor White's supporters as being "greedy" for not accepting a $1.4 Million installment payment for the property, preferring instead a lump-sum settlement. Considering the Collin's were older, this didn't seem to me, at the time, to be an unreasonable request. Three months after Wulfe broke off negotiations with the brothers the City voted to condemn the property.

Here's what we know:

- A piece of property owned by two brothers was desired by Wulfe & Co. developers to create a landscaped entryway to a massive development.

- Wulfe was a major donor to Mayor Bill White, and Houston City Council members Peter Brown and Pam Holm.

- Both Brown and Holm had direct financial ties to BLVD Place and Wulfe.

- Neither Brown nor Holm abstained from voting due to these ties.

- Pam Holm was a key force behind condemnation of the property to turn it into a "pocket park".

- According to statements by the City Parks dept. there still is no concrete plan to use this land as a "park".

- BLVD Place, and any plans they might have for the portion of the land that is going to be turned over to them, has been suspended.


Those facts, taken alone, are pretty damning. When you start factoring in Wulfe's political clout, the fact that Peter Brown is a vocal advocate for development's of that type, and that the City's Parks Director testified against seizing the parcel, you end up with a pretty convincing case that the City seized private property for the sole purpose of enriching a well-connected developer.

It's a charge that the City denies.

The question now is: Will a court deny it as well?

Other eyes:

Red Ink: Houston

Houston Asides (12/27/08)

The "Post-Holiday, I have a cold, and feel terrible" edition....

Huge post-Christmas discounts, still pull smaller crowds. [David Kaplan and Jenalia Moreno, Chron.com] - The data supports lower sales pre-Christmas, but the evidence that made up the headline was anecdotal at best.

Half Full? Even bars are feeling effects of recession. [David Kaplan, Chron.com] - Another charge that the 'recession is upon us' with the primary evidence being of an anecdotal nature. If the Houston economy tanks, are we witnessing a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Mexican outlaw's fans honor them on MySpace. [Dane Schiller, Chron.com] - Absolutely crazy.

Heights man has sweeping sense of pride in Neighborhood. [Rosanna Ruiz, Chron.com] - Mr. Branch is a wonderful citizen and deserves his kudos. The Metro employees who are paid to administer the bus-stops deserve a trip to the unemployment line.

Rove, Republicans and the Stimulus Package. [Desperado, Something Different] - Ignore the illogical appeals to authority and non-sequiter arguments he's making and realize this: Most people feel this way and will cast Republicans (again) as the 'Party of NO'. Banging the drum for "corporate tax cuts" is NOT a winning strategy, especially when our roads, bridges and other infrastructure are crumbling.

Michael Conner, embroiled GOP computer consultant, dies in plane crash. [Eljefebob, Gimme some truth] - The same people who called the Clinton death conspirator's "flat earth conspiratists" are now actively engaging in "flat-earth conspiracy" to try and "get at" Bush after failing to defeat him for eight years. Beautiful.

College Grads help Houston as public servants. [Bradley Olson, Chron.com] - Train up a child in the way they should go, then...pull them into the local political machine.

Over-reaching

This seems a classic case.

[Matt Stiles, Chron.com]

Two longtime critics of the city's red-light camera program filed an open-records lawsuit against the city Friday, claiming officials refused to release a study on whether the devices reduce accidents.

Houston lawyers Paul Kubosh and Randall Kallinen, who have fought the program in courts before, are asking a state district judge to compel the city to release what they say was an August 2008 draft of the report by Rice University professor Bob Stein.

They say the public should see the previous version of the report, as well as the final version to be released next week, so the conclusions can be trusted. The city has said that earlier copies were in draft form, and, therefore, not subject to disclosure.

"A city cannot label a document 'draft,' and thereby make it not available to the public," said Joe Larsen, a media law attorney and open-records advocate who represents Kubosh and Kallinen. "Otherwise, any governmental body would be in a position of taking out a rubber stamp, putting a stamp on any document, and excluding the public from taking a look and forming their own conclusions."

Kubosh and Kallinen announced the suit, which uses a Texas Supreme Court decision against the city of Garland, in a Friday news conference.

(snip)

Both Kallinen and Kubosh said they would drop their objection to the camera if both versions of the study showed a safety increase, provided that the researchers factored in both broadside collisions and rear-end collisions. The pair suggested in their news conference that city officials could have massaged the data.

Kubosh reacted strongly when challenged on whether there was evidence of such manipulation.

"If they give us the report, then we'll shut up," he said. "We're here because the city wouldn't give up the information. They hold on to it like it's their information and not the public's."

The bold text illustrates a serious charge to make with no proof to back it up. It also places the City in the unusual position of having to defend data that's not released yet. All this does is call into question are report before it's released for public consumption.

That being said, I would like to see the draft report to see what changes WERE made "in the interest of public information". Not because the data was 'massaged' but because of the old Samuel Johnson adage: "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics". How you present a set of statistics is key:

The mayor's office later asked Stein to make some changes for clarity so the public and reporters could more easily understand the conclusions.

"We haven't changed the substance of the report at all," he said. "The data is what the data is."

Stein, who also has studied the mayor's mandatory freeway towing program known as Safe Clear, said only narrative portions of the report were changed for clarity and explanation. He also said the conclusions were discussed publicly at a campus symposium last fall. Stein's wife, Marty, is White's agenda director.

I'd be very interested to see what those "clarifications" are. Again, you can get the same statistics to say a lot of things, depending on how you present them. Hopefully the City will release the "raw data" along with the report summary to let interested observers reach their own conclusions.

Of course, none of this will eliminate the privacy and due process concerns from the red-light camera debate and there's no way to tell if other, non-intrusive, (or revenue producing) measures such as lengthening yellow-light times would produce similar results because they haven't been considered, piloted or tested. What we're left with is a report that may (or may not) show a reduction in collisions at intersections where red-light cameras exist. It's a study that's worth-while if viewed in the false-choice vacuum where red-light cameras are the ONLY solution. Much as in the MetroRail debate, the public isn't being provided with additional options for discussion. That's too bad, and hardly "world class".


ASIDE: Kudos to Matt Stiles for highlighting Bob Stein's wife's employment by Mayor White. It's a conflict of interest issue that deserves full-vetting. That's not to say that the results are automatically biased because of the relationship, as a matter of fact, the more open both parties are in regards to the relationship the less questions there are likely to be.

Other eyes:

Lawsuit filed over Red Light Camera Study. [Off the Kuff]

Merry Christmas!

Hoping that everyone has a wonderful Christmas Holiday tomorrow and plenty of good food, fun and family is sent your way.

My family is spending the Christmas Holiday down at MD Anderson with my l'il Sister eating Hospital Food, some homemade Pumpkin Pie that I've just completed and exchanging a few gifts.

Here's one of my favorite Christmas songs for you to enjoy.

Houston Asides (12/24/08)

"As the house smells like pumpkin pie" Edition...

State Law requiring election of non-partisan election administrators would help Harris County [tAFKAMW, Chron.com] - The very idea of "non-partisan" elections is a farce. See "Houston City Elections" as a case study.

Hutchinson, Cornyn continue to cast party-line votes more than 90 percent of the time. [Vince Leibowitz, Capitol Annex] - New meme: Democrats voting with Democrats: Good. Republicans voting with Republicans: Hyper-Partisan and bad. (Hint: How many times did Obama cast party-line votes?)

Ike Victims struggle to rebuild under more expensive codes. [Purva Patel, Chron.com] - The unspoken downside of "smart growth" regulations and onerous building codes.

Donor to Innocence Project in Texas goes broke in Madoff scam. [AP via Chron.com]

Landry's seeks tender offers for debt. [Greg Barr, Houston Business Journal]

Bush pardons Texan rancher who hired illegal immigrants [Gary Scharrar, Chron.com]

Commissioners give Dynamo a $10 Million Christmas Dish

Heckuva thing to find under the tree.

[Liz Austin Peterson. Chron.com]

Harris County Commissioners El Franco Lee and Sylvia Garcia have tentatively agreed to contribute $10 million in public money to the Dynamo stadium project, provided the team and the city agree to certain conditions, city and county officials said Tuesday.

The proposal the commissioners sent the city late Monday states the money would have to be used to build the public amenities and infrastructure serving the stadium, rather than the physical structure itself, Garcia said. That might include the water and sewer lines for the stadium, or the parking lots and tree-lined plazas surrounding it.

Other conditions include guaranteeing that Texas Southern University will be allowed to play home games at the stadium and agreeing that 15 percent of the seats will never be sold for more than than the average price of a movie ticket.

"We want to make sure that that's included in the agreement so we won't see a situation where the stadium is built and they focus on suites or club suites and their prices double or triple in the first few years," Garcia said.

So, Oliver Luck gets his downtown corner office and everyone is happy this Christmas season. Charges of xenophobia can be put to be until....the New Year.


Keep in mind the gleaming promises of "economic development" for the area that stadium promoters promised. Anything less than a total revitalization of the area is lower performing than what they said would come to pass.

So far it hasn't worked out well for Minute Maid and Toyota, but maybe it will be different this time.

Vasquez sworn in as HC Tax Assessor-Collector

And we're off...

[Liz Austin Peterson, Chron.com]

Harris County Commissioners Court today appointed Republican businessman Leo Vasquez to fill the vacancy left by resigning tax assessor-collector Paul Bettencourt.

Vasquez, 42, is chief financial officer for Cadeco Industries, a Houston-based coffee processor and distributor. He also is a member of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Board and served for six years as a commissioner for the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation.

Bettencourt's surprise resignation earlier this month came just weeks after he was re-elected to a third four-year term. Vasquez will serve the first two years of that term. A special election will be held for the remainder of the term in 2010, and Vasquez said he intends to seek the office again.

So far there's been no update to Diane Trautman's website suggesting she's running against Vasquez. It's early however, so I'm sure this will change soon.

Neat past-time for the next campaign: Watching political activists twist themselves into knots casting the "other" side as some type of "-ist". Whether that be "racist" of "misogynist" or something.

Euless Trinity Linebacker Cheap Shots Referee

Saw this on KHOU last night...




You stay classy Euless Trinity.



The player was disciplined for the hit, with further sanctions possible. I would suggest a combination of anger management and conflict resolution courses.

Fortunately the referee is OK.

Houston Asides (12/23/08)

On the "tenth" day of Christmas....

Personal Info that 16,000 Katrina victims gave to FEMA online. [AP via Chron.com] - Is there a sunset commission for FEMA?

Other States fueling Texas Growth. [Mike Snyder, Chron.com] - I can believe that. There are almost as many Philly Sub shops in town now as taco trucks.

Houston Store among 23 to sell new Air Jordans. [Lynn Cook, Chron.com] - The perfect Gift for the person who wants overpriced shoes made by cheap labor in Vietnam, and whose ownership will increase the likelihood that someone, somewhere will be willing to shank them for nothing more than their kicks. Merry Christmas!

Houston Surgeons can repair organs throuh bellybutton. [Renee C. Lee, Chron.com] - Random sci-fi sounding story of the day.

The Coup Before Christmas. [Desperado, Something Different] - There's something pathetic about Bush bashing now that Obama's won and "change" is on the way is there not? You won, let it go.

Texas' Private Schools feeling budget pinch. [Jennifer Radcliffe, Chron.com] - Free Market theory: The good schools will survive. Modern Republican Theory: VOUCHERS NOW! Democratic theory: tAFKAMW's catapult needs to throw more money at public schools because of this!

UH Spin-off fetches $20 Million in sale. [Monica Perin, Houston Business Journal] - Congrats to the newly minted Millionaires. Can I have a grant?

Texas Restaurant owners expect growth in 2009. [Houston Business Journal] - Based on WHAT glittering forecasts exactly?

Where's the Beef Banks? [Brent Clanton]

The Five Days of Christmas: Flat Earth, History of an Infamous Idea [Eric Berger, Chron.com] -The Sci-Guy Christmas book giveaway is always fun. (and Mr. Berger typically picks accessible, interesting reads)

Texas HHSC gets it right.

Updating this story...

Is this story.

[Janet Elliott, Chron.com]

Texas is automatically extending health coverage for three months to about 34,000 children in the Houston and Beaumont areas after learning that many of their applications had been lost in the wake of Hurricane Ike.

The children were in danger of falling off the Medicaid rolls on Dec. 31 because they missed deadlines to re-enroll in the program, which provides coverage for six months. They were sent renewal packets in the weeks before the Sept. 13 hurricane.

Children's Medicaid is a state- and federally-funded program that serves families living at or below federal poverty levels. A family of three cannot earn more than $17,600 annually in order to participate.

Health and Human Services Commission workers noticed the drop in enrollments in Southeast Texas during a preliminary analysis of January enrollment trends. Last week, they contacted more than 100 families, and most said they had received their applications and returned them by mail.

Bringing true this suggestion:

There should really be an "Ike extension" for filing."

Congratulations to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for getting it right. Sometimes the most simple solution is the best.

All aboard the bailout train!

You just couldn't help but see this coming sooner or later...

[LingLing Wei and Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall St. Journal via Chron.com]

With a record amount of commercial real-estate debt coming due, some of the country's biggest property developers have become the latest to go hat-in-hand to the government for assistance.

They're warning policymakers that thousands of office complexes, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial buildings are headed into defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The reason: according to research firm Foresight Analytics LCC, $530 billion of commercial mortgages will be coming due for refinancing in the next three years — with about $160 billion maturing in the next year. Credit, meanwhile, is practically nonexistent and cash flows from commercial property are siphoning off.

Unlike home loans, which borrowers repay after a set period of time, commercial mortgages usually are underwritten for five, seven or 10 years with big payments due at the end. At that point, they typically need to be refinanced. A borrower's inability to refinance could force it to give up the property to the lender.

A recent letter sent to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and signed by a dozen real-estate trade groups, painted a bleak scenario: "Right now, we believe there is insufficient systemic capacity to refinance expiring, performing commercial real-estate loans," said the letter. "For many borrowers, 1/8 credit 3/8 simply is not available," the letter noted.

To head off some of the impending pain, the industry is asking to be included in a new $200 billion loan program initially created by the government to salvage the market for car loans, student loans and credit-card debt. This money is intended to go directly to help investors finance purchases of securities backed by these assets. If commercial real estate is included, banks might have an incentive to make more loans to developers since they'd be able to repackage and sell them more easily to investors with the assurance of government backing.

I can't help but think back to the Enron debacle and the (now infamous) words of Jeff Skilling: "Give me as much of that juice as you can!"

Of course, we know now that the "juice" to which he was referring were the off-balance sheet corporations which caused so much trouble. Be careful what you wish for and all of that.

Which brings us full circle to where we are today. A fresh round of financial woe with the main players lining up and asking the Government to "give them as much of that (bailout) juice as they can!" Pretty please, with sugar on top.

The problem with this theory is that Government, by its very nature, doesn't "give" anything away. It barters money for power and control. It can't help it, it's the nature of the beast to be that way. What developers are really asking for is for the Government to subsidize their developments that are in line with the urban dogma of the party in power. While (as a Democrat) this might currently seem like a good thing(After all, what better way to ensure dense urban development and smart growth than to have it mandated by the Government?) the reality, long-term, could be that local control over development is lost.

Imagine a future Houston where development isn't based on local residential needs, but is doled out in pork payments to various voting blocs to accomplish a political gain? Does anyone really think that a bureaucrat from Washington D.C. is going to make better development decisions than are currently being made by local government? (through the permitting process) And what happens when the current fads change? When new interests are present in Congress (say Republican interests) that are pushing development goals that supporters of the Party currently in power doesn't agree?

What happens is wailing and gnashing of teeth, and a heap of regret that we ever allowed ourselves to get in this mess in the first place.

So far bailout madness has infected the financial services industry, automobile makers and now developers. The next logical industries to fall are steel, newspapers and then, airlines. If those industries are successful then who knows how high the bailout ceiling will be? Either way its not hard to imagine a day where you're told what car to drive, when and where you can fly, how big of a house you can have, where you can have it and how to spend the majority of your money by an edict from a bureau in D.C. that has plotted your financial future on line-chart.

No deviations now, remember what happened the last time you thought out of the box?



That's right, the Government had to come bail you out.

More on Metro

Bus on-time statistics and ridership. [Rosanna Ruiz, Chron.com].

Setting the bar low rarely is a good thing, but it's probably wise to make sure you can clear it.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County revealed last week that its on-time performance goal for the current fiscal year is 61 percent.

For October and November, Metro's on-time performance was three percentage points shy of that basement-level goal.

The explanation? Blame technology.

Metro buses are equipped with on-board counters that also track arrival at each destination point. One late bus snowballs into an entire route of late buses, officials said.

Metro leaders say that other agencies use smoke, mirrors and other techniques to come up with on-time performance figures.

(snip)

But 100 percent on-time performance may be a bar set too high, said David F. Feeley, Metro's vice president of operations.

"We're trying to have actual, factual information," he said after last week's meeting. "Unfortunately, with the technology we have, we've given too technical an answer for a simple question."

If you want to see why Metro fails, take a look at the bolded statement. Companies that have a track record of success, refuse to believe that 100% compliance to difficult goals is out of reach. Go by almost any industrial work site and I guarantee you'll see a banner that hase some variant of "zero can be done" hanging over the entrance. What Metro needs is an operations officer who believs that "zero late stops can be done" instead of someone like David Feeley who believes that being average is ok.

Park and Ride buses also are running late, but not quite at the same level of tardiness as local buses.

For the 2009 fiscal year, those buses so far have achieved an on-time performance of 77 percent, three points above its goal. It would seem that there are fewer impediments for those buses given that they travel only a mostly uninterrupted route along HOV lanes.

There also appeared to be fewer riders.

Ridership went down in November for all of Metro's primary modes of transportation: rail, Park and Ride and local bus service.

The slide in Metro's ridership comes at a time when commuters now rely upon public transportation at record levels, according to a recent report from the American Public Transportation Association

It's no mystery to observers why Metro's ridership has hit the skids during a time that other public transit is experiencing record ridership numbers....Falling fuel prices and Metro's undefensible price increase on their most utilized products have driven riders away from the transit agency in droves. At $1.50/gallon gas, driving to work from the suburbs is just as affordable as a Park N' Ride bus, with less hassle and less aggrevation.

All of this to make up for 5% of the operating budget. Nice.

We've failed to get bike racks on trains. [Peter Wang, BikeTrain.blogspot.com]

For over a year, BikeHouston and Citizens Transportation have worked to get bike racks installed on the coming METRO light rail trains, which would've made bikes + light rail an unbeatable intermodal combo.

Despite letters from Judge Ed Emmett, all four Republican and Democratic Harris County Commissioners, and other public officials, METRO is going to place orders for the new trains on Christmas Eve 2008... without any in-cabin racks for bicycle. Our contact at the FTA, the funding agency for the trains, is extremely concerned, but FTA cannot compel METRO to order trains with bike racks.

I'm amazed that, as a biker, I didn't have any clue this movement was on-going. Bike racks on trains make sense, but absent that you would at least think that Metro would take steps to increase the amount of bike racks at their planned multi-modal transit centers and train platforms right?

Unfortunately it seems that this bike movement was a "my way or the highway" affair with no room for compromise. Much like all of Houston's transit discussions ironically.

Houston Asides (12/22/08)

On the ninth day of Christmas....

Economy cuts Houston's immigrants' trips home.[James Pinkerton, Chron.com] - Let's play guess the Right-wing response!

Dems shun race for Governor. [R.G. Ratcliffe, Chron.com] - So far it sure seems that way. Hey, Chris Bell's available.

Looking at the positives from Texans loss to the Raiders. [Stephanie Stradley, Chron.commons]

2008 Local Football Weekend in Review. [Tom Kirkendall, Houston's Clear Thinkers]

I still believe in the Texans and Kubiak [Richard Justice, Chron.com]

This Texans' loss is on Kubiak. [Jerome Solomon, Chron.com]

Texans put on ugly showing in loss to Raiders

And again the best Houstons analysis is penned by people not on the paid staff of the local Newspaper of record. That's sad really.

Chris Bell to run for two offices at the same time? [Evan Smith, Rick Perry vs. World] - The sad thing is...with Bell it's almost a believable story.

Who moved my Train? [Christof Spieler, Intermodality.com] - Blind Metro boosterism does more to damage one's credibility as a transportation expert than anything else.

Lack of foresight led to latest political emergency. [Clay Robison, Chron.com] - The Chron's lefty columnist/Austin bureau chief Robison seems to be doing less and less these days.

Lost at sea: and elements of strong storytelling. [Jim Newkirk, About:Chron] - Speaking of doing less and less....

Stupid is as Stupid does

Dog Breed bans gaining support again...

[David Seleh Rauf, SA Express news via Chron.com]

A Dallas lawmaker has asked the state attorney general to issue an opinion on whether local officials have the authority to pass laws banning or regulating certain canine breeds — such as pit bulls and Rottweilers — in a move that could set the tone for a showdown in the Legislature.

In a letter to Attorney General Greg Abbott, Republican state Rep. Tony Goolsby requested an opinion to clarify a state law that cities and counties have interpreted as preventing them from targeting breeds. He wrote that confusion caused by “varying interpretations” of the law has stopped local governments wanting to pursue such measures. Most of the confusion concerns whether the law would apply to a dog that has not been deemed “dangerous.”

“I really think this matter should be handled locally, but it seems like these municipalities are afraid to put some tough strength in the law,” said Goolsby, who requested the opinion on behalf of a friend who was attacked by a pit bull years ago. “These dogs are going to continue to maim and kill.”

The attorney general generally renders a legal opinion within 180 days of a request. Goolsby did not ask for an expedited opinion in his Nov. 21 letter, because the Legislature could make a ruling obsolete with the passage of a new law in the coming months.

A bill giving municipalities and counties the power to target breeds has not yet been filed for the upcoming session, though similar measures have failed in the past. But Goolsby, who lost his re-election bid in November to Democrat Carol Kent, said if he were in office when the session convened next month, a bill “sure would be filed.”

Put simply: Breed bans don't work. They're stupid, blundering catch-all policies that punish the good dog owners as well as the bad. They're the lazy way of dealing with the problem of uneducated Dog ownership. Cities like Breed-specific bans because its a no-hassle, clean-hands way of dealing with deeper social problems. Ironically, some of the same people that decry high-kill percentages at municipal animal control shelters also like breed-bans because they reduce the 'kill rate' at shelters due to their (ostensibly) being less 'unadoptable dogs'* in the population that are herded to euthenasia.

You also run the risk of breed misidentification which causes non-listed dogs to be confiscated by well-intentioned, but ignorant animal-control officers who know very little about the animals they are supposedly policing. In the last year I've seen two or three local stories where a "pit bull" has been blamed for an attack on someone, only to see the Dog on TV and realize that it's actually a lab-mix or something else that's been misidentified as a "pit bull" by people who just don't know any better.

What's sad about this is that all of these so-called "agressive breeds" actually rank relatively low in aggression rankings. In fact, you're far more likely to be bit by that "cute" toy breed than you are that "scary" AMSTAF or other large breed.

Breed bans should be a last resort. Punishing a group of dogs for the shortcomings of the owner is only acceptable when speaking about Bully breeds and other large dogs. Can you imagine the outcry from socialites if chihuahuas were banned because one bit someone on the finger? You won't hear about this despite the fact that chihuahuas are one of the most aggresive breeds out there. Most of the animal attacks could be prevented by stricter penalties for "leash laws" and stiff fines against dog owners who let their dogs run free. There should also be laws against chaining an animal to a tree or other immovable object, which breeds aggression due to boredom. Finally, a training requirement should be added on to the licencing of all breeds. Yes, this is punitive to the poor I understand, but if you own a Dog there should be a requirement that they have at least a minimum amount of training. I have no problem with requiring more training for larger dogs. I've spent hundreds of dollars on my dogs training them to respond to both verbal commands and sign language. Look at dog training requirements as truancy laws. They ensure a healthy, well-adjusted population.




*The concept of an 'unadoptable dog' has been repeatedly shown to be a falsehood brought on by laziness and animal control workers who don't know what they are doing. All but one of Michael Vick's fighting dogs have been adopted out to healthy homes, and one of them is now a therapy dog for cancer patients. Yes, there are some dogs who suffer from mental problems that prevent them from being safely adopted, but those are typically on a case by case basis and the term should not be applied to any one breed as it is, all too frequently, in Houston.

A nice tradition that's begging for a lawsuit

The over/under on a lawsuit over this is two years...

[Brian Rogers, Chron.com]

Lying on a dusty shelf in the Harris County District Attorney's Office is an inscribed Bible that's been passed from each elected district attorney to his successor for more than five decades.

Some district attorneys have signed it with words of wisdom. Others have scribbled references to verses. Some used it every day. It's a tradition that few people, even those in the office, know about.

Interim District Attorney Ken Magidson said he plans to sign it and leave a message when he hands the keys to District Attorney-elect Pat Lykos on Jan. 1.

"The office can be an isolating place," said Magidson, who has held the post since being appointed last March. He said it was comforting to see that others had walked in the same shoes and left behind words of wisdom along with Bible verses.

It's a quaint tradition that's in no ways harmful to anyone that I guarentee you will come under fire by some 'activist' looking to get their name in the paper and cause a media firestorm.

In a City with no sense of past, with no concret blueprint for the present and with no grasp of what it wants to be in the future, having small traditions like this in place (yes, I know its County Gov't, but close enough) only enriches the cultural fabric.

It goes without saying that the office of the DA should contain a variety of Religious texts, to be studies and referred to when the need arises. But passing down a Bible from outgoing DA to ingoing DA is not harmful to anyone. It's just another tradition that's going to be ridiculed by those people who say that Houston doesn't have enough of them.

Galveston as a gambling Mecca?

Strand merchants sure would like to see that...

[Harvey Rice, Chron.com]

Casino gambling is increasingly seen by some as a way to revive this island city, which is reeling from Hurricane Ike and 3,000 layoffs by its largest employer.

The Strand Merchants Association believes gambling would bring in tourists with more money who would patronize the downtown historical area shops, many still struggling to reopen after being inundated with as much as 10 feet of storm water Sept. 13.

The increased tourism could help replace the patrons who won't be coming back because they were laid off by the University of Texas Medical Branch last month, casino gambling supporters say.

They point to Biloxi, Miss., where casino gambling contributed $22.5 million to city coffers in fiscal year 2008.

Opponents fear casinos would resurrect an era when Galveston was infamous for its gambling, bordellos and corrupt public officials.

Casino gambling was endorsed by a majority in an informal poll taken by the Galveston County Daily News, whose publisher, Dolph Tillotson, is a vocal advocate of taking a hard look at gambling as a possible economic boon.

It only makes sense, when you think about it absent the "fear and loathing" paranoia that is. Opponents who fear a return of bordellos and "corrupt" public officials need to realize that the success of your gambling operations is only as good as the Gaming Commission that you create to police it.

Besides, given the recent spate of ethics violations among Texas Politicians, is corruption really of primary concern here?

Elected officials will never (openly) admit it, but the strong vein of Protestant values that still run through large parts of Texas hold the State back from making real progress in regulating a number of so-called "vice industries". Alcohol regulation in Texas is a joke. The TABC is beholden to distributors and is a mish-mash of poorly thought out regulations whose sole goal is to prevent any alcohol from being sold sans a cut paid to the middlemen. That I can't go to St. Arnolds, Shiner, Southern Star, Rahr or other Texas Breweries and purchase a case of beer is nonsensical. That small wineries such as Haak have to pay a cut to a distribution company to have their wines sold in Houston-area Spec's is ridiculous. Ridiculous, but oh-so-very Texan.

The facts are this: People who come and gamble spend money. Not all of them granted. There will be the bus tour gamblers who ride to the casino, gamble, then load on the bus and head home. But Vegas and other successful cities are able to develop an infrastructure surrounding the casinos that offer shopping, entertainment and a host of other activities that make them a destination. With the Grand 1894 Opera House, The San Luis Resort, The Strand, Schlitterbahn, and Moody Gardens all well-established, Galveston is poised to do the same.

Rapid eye Movement

Obama Report to reveal camp's relations with Blagojevich. [Brett J. Blackledge & Phillip Elliott, AP via Chron.com] - Internal investigations are typically conducted with damage control in mind. In this case however, the report will be lauded as "the truth" without question by supporters. It will be derided by opponents as utterly worthless. The only "change" we've gotten so far is a different parenthetical letter behind the name of the accused.

Is Caroline Kennedy like Sarah Palin? [AP via Newsday.com] - No. She's has even less experience than Palin but is a liberal and is a Kennedy. Therefore any complaints about her will be held up as misogyny in order to de-legitimize it.

Unions pose difficult test for Obama. [Mark Trumbull, Christian Science Monitor] - How he deals with them will speak volumes as to the long-term viability of the U.S. Automobile industry.

Economists missed the brewing crisis. [Drake Bennett, Boston.com]

The Senator from People Magazine? [Paul, Powerline blog]

Bleeding Heart Tightwads [Nicholas Kristoff, NYT]

A Trap in Obama's Spending Plan. [Louis Uchitelle, NYT]

Who We (Still) Are [Peggy Noonan, WSJ]

Welcome to the Blagosphere. [Thomas Frank, WSJ]

An Odd Lede

Is it me? Or does the Artist Formerly Known as Mrs. White discard past arguments quite frequently of late in order to argue anew for different Municipal Expenditures?

Today's editorial pushing for Market Square Municipal Park reconstruction is an example of this...(Emphasis mine)

Houston can't quite get the hang of downtown parks, though other cities have featured this bit of urban design for millennia. There's a valiant new effort, though, to lift Market Square Park up to its potential. If it works, credit should go to the planners for asking what humans really want in an oasis.

Chronicle columnist Lisa Gray has recounted how two downtown improvement groups joined to re-envision Market Square. The coalition hired Project for Public Spaces, a New York nonprofit devoted to undoing the urban planning mistakes of the past 50 years. That's when investment in cities shriveled, suburbanization grew, and planners began banishing different urban activities — shopping, playing, cultural events — to separate zones.

Market Square's most recent iteration (it's had a few) was carefully designed. But though the park is laden with art, its sunken benches and cagelike core felt pointless, even menacing.

I meant to link to the Original Lisa Gray story in November, and comment on it but I was in London when it ran so....

That being said I thought then that renovating that tired old park was a good idea. I still think its a good idea, especially the aspects that involve dog runs, and opening up the feel of the area, which is tired and cramped and not conducive to large crowds.

Getting that out of the way....

At what point did the conventional wisdom change from "Houston is excelling at downtown green space"(August's editorial slant) to "Houston can't quite get the hang of downtown parks"(today's meme)? Did I miss something? By all accounts, Discovery Green has stared off with a bang. Granted, its impossible to tell how Houston's "unique" blend of rampant corporate and rich folk's sponsorship will age, or whether or not the resources will be dedicated to the park in the future to maintain its cleanliness, but in today's sponsorship friendly climate, and considering the newness of the park, Discovery Green is off to a fine start.

The second funny claim is that "other" urban cities have been handling downtown green-spaces for "millennia". Really? Because I was under the impression that the concept of "Downtown" was only around 150 years old. (having its roots in New York City)

Cities dating back to "millennia" ago (millennia supposedly meaning the plural of millennium or, over 2000 years) were hardly modern urban centers with vibrant "downtowns" more than they were concentrations of citizens with a series of markets, trading centers and palaces. In fact, the earliest "downtown" parks were probably closer to palace gardens for the use of Royalty and had no similarities to today's "downtown green space" that planners envision.

If you want to make the argument that Market Square Park needs a retrofit, that's fine. But make the argument based on the condition of Market Square Park avoiding the temptation to ignore other park successes and bring in dodgy historical comparisons to make Houston look worse than other Urban cities.

Tina Benkiser gets a promotion?

I guess "not losing terribly" is enough to "do it" for Republicans in this environment?

[R.G. Ratcliffe, Chron.com (quoting Quorum Report extensively)}

We've been trying to keep up with this from afar, but apparently Texas Republican Chairman Tina Benkiser of Houston is serious about becoming a national party leader.

The Republican National Committee has a co-chairman arrangement instead of a chairman and vice chairman. But in reality the structure is the same. And the RNC has a rule, if the main chair is a man, the co-chair has to be a woman or vice-versa.

If Benkiser wins in her efforts to become RNC co-chair, she will have to resign as state chair. The State Republican Executive Committee would select a new chair.

Now THAT would make for some interesting Texas Political Theater.

Galleria Water Wall saved

$8.5 Million dollar City purchase needs Council Approval.

[Bradley Olsen, Chron.com]

It may have cost $8.5 million, but the city now can safely say that the Water Wall near the Galleria is safe from being razed and potentially turned into another high-rise or shopping center.

Within the past year, that was far from a certainty. Officials with the Uptown Development Authority and the city had been negotiating to buy the 3-acre plot that houses the 64-foot wall and the surrounding park before it was put on the market last year.

Eventually, the land was acquired along with the Williams Tower by a subsidiary of Hines Interests, one of the Houston-based companies that originally helped develop it. Hines has agreed to sell the wall and park to the city. The deal still requires approval from City Council.

"I'm sure the number of Houstonians and tourists is over a million who have visited the water wall, had dates and picnics and many weddings," Mayor Bill White said. "This is now a landmark of the city and if we waited to make an offer until the land was sold and bulldozers came in, the taxpayers would have to pay an exorbitant amount to preserve it."

The $6 million in public funds that will be spent on the park will come from the Uptown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, or TIRZ. The TIRZ uses city tax revenue above a certain level to invest in redeveloping the area. White noted that the funds were not from general revenue that could be spent on public safety or other

Back during the debate over the Tolerance Bridge (my position: Good Idea: BAD Name) there was a point made that TIRZ spending in general was a bad idea that did nothing but divert needed revenue from City coffers that should be used for police funding, infrastructure etc. I'm sympathetic to that argument but the fact remains that TIRZ spending was designed just for projects such as this.

I'm glad to see steps being taken to save this important Houston landmark that's been featured in books, magazines and even movies. While I view some historical preservation issues with a jaundiced eye (some "historical" sites not really being historical after all), I see this monument/fountain as something that is a central piece of Houston design.

I'm glad Houston is taking steps to save it.

Vasquez leads the pack.

Color me surprised on this one...

[Liz Austin Peterson, Chron.com]

Harris County Commissioners Court appears poised to select Republican businessman Leo Vasquez to serve as tax assessor-collector, capping a frenzied two-week search prompted by Paul Bettencourt's surprise resignation.

Calling the Yale and Columbia-educated Vasquez "very respected and very intelligent," Commissioner Steve Radack said Friday he planned to nominate the coffee company executive at Tuesday's meeting.

Neither Radack nor County Judge Ed Emmett officially would confirm his selection because court members are barred from polling one another outside of meetings. But Emmett said Vasquez definitely is on his short list.

"I would call him a very, very great choice," Emmett said.

Vasquez is chief financial officer for Maximus Coffee Group and Cadeco Industries, a Houston-based coffee processor and distributor. Prior to his 2005 appointment to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Board, he served as a commissioner for the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation for six years.

Imagine that, a financial executive for the position. I really figured the position would be filled by someone like Theresa Chang, someone that was political and who local Republicans feel was a "rising star". I'm glad it wasn't. The tax assessor-collector should have accounting management experience. Defenders of Diane Trautman have turned on the way, way back machine to 1998 as a means of rebutting this argument. Since Paul Bettencourt had no applicable experience (he was an engineer and the vice-chair of the Republican Party at the time) and was a pick made for political gain, the way to right this is to pick a Democrat with no applicable experience for....political gain.

I've long been critical of Paul Bettencourt as a political figure, but I've (correctly) praised him for his modernization of the T-AC office since he took over. All that said he over-politicized the voter registration process and spent way too much time (in my opinion) speaking on issues that were not relevant to the office. I still feel his resignation was a bad thing, especially under the circumstances under which he executed it.

However, since I wasn't blogging in 1998, there's no way to prove where I stood on Bettencourt then. I probably didn't have any opinion because I was living in Montgomery County at the time. I can point out that I was a supporter of the recent Democratic candidate for Houston Comptroller who was a CPA. Had I been blogging I would have been just as critical of a Bettencourt appointment as I will be any appointment that seems to be made primarily on the basis of political expediency.

It'd be nice if Vasquez would announce that he's just "holding the position" and not running for the office, a la Ken Magidson at the Harris County D.A.'s office. Let the respective parties' nominate the candidate that they feel is going to represent their interests the best, and then let the voters decide the next time this comes up for election. Sadly, I don't think that's going to happen with Vasquez.

Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill said selecting Vasquez would show the commissioners are "serious about growing the party in the Hispanic community."

He described Vasquez as a brilliant, confident and thoughtful consensus-builder with all the credentials needed to run the office efficiently. Combining his finance background with his experience on Republican voter registration drives makes him an ideal candidate, Woodfill said.

"That guy's got what it takes to run that office or a lot of offices across the state of Texas," he said. "I think Harris County would be blessed to have somebody like him."

It's going to take more for Republicans to "win back the Hispanic vote" than appointing a CFO with a Hispanic surname to a mid-ballot post. The focus of this appointment should be to improve on the modernization and fix the voter-registration problems that appeared in the last election. This will probably be categorized as "thinly veiled xenophobia" by certain posters, but I'm not sure Vasquez is the person to make the changes that are going to be needed to avoid further lawsuits.

That being said, I'm not sure any of the "other" candidates for the job were either.

Partisans will never agree on the relative merits of the pick, bloggers will continue to cast aspersions and call names. It's what theywe do.*

One thing that almost everyone can agree on however, is that the Bettencourt resignation has cast everyone in a bad light.




*correction suggested by Kevin Whited who correctly pointed out that *I* am also a "blogger".

Houston Asides (12/19/08)

Recycled Sewage was last Hurrah. [Rick Casey, Chron.com] - Basically another shallow recap of information already known. Digging deep its not. On the bright side: Hopes Chris Bell stays true to his word and doesn't run again. (as do most of us I think)

Are Santa's reindeer female? A&M researchers want to know. [Betsy Blaney, AP via Chron.com] - Maybe the Sheep are requesting some time off? (I know, I know, but sometimes these jokes just write themselves, sorry Ags, but you asked for that one)

36,000 children may lose health coverage at end of year. [Janet Elliot, Chron.com] - There should really be an "Ike extension" for filing.

Players, coaches have fond memories of football in Dome. [Jenny Dial, Chron.com] - Two iconic High School football venues are now gone with the coming destruction of Texas Stadium. Odds are, if you've been in Texas for any period of time, you've seen High School games played in at least one.

On the Agenda for Commissioner's Court. [Off the Kuff] - Paul Bettencourt, the gift that keeps on giving to Harris County tax payers.

Sylvester Turner, your ethics are showing. [Rorschach, Red Ink: Texas] - It will be interesting (and telling) to see how the State blogosphere handles this.

Video: Why TV people aren't worried about video by Newspapers. [Mike McGuff] - "To the hizzeeee". Funniest thing since "and boom. goes the dynamite"

Blog on Blog: Off the Kuff's Charles Kuffner. [Dusti Rhodes, Houston Press' Hair Balls] - Blogs interviewing bloggers. Today's sign that the apocalypse is upon us? Discuss.

Doing Urban Corridors the right way, the Houston way [Tory Gattis, Houston Strategies] - An interesting proposal for future Houston development. Too bad the comments got off track.

Texas Toast [Lou Minatti] - How long can strip mall development continue? I think a College level economic theory course could be based on that question.

From the stink of diddie to the stench of shroud. [Slampo's Place] - Always an entertaining read from Houston's best blogger.

Give for the Holidays

Economic chill slows donations to Houston's charities

[Allan Turner, Chron.com]

With Christmas fast approaching, the chill wind of economic hard times is blowing through Houston's charitable organizations, where seasonal donations of toys and cash are significantly below last year's levels.

At Star of Hope, which provides gifts to its adult and child clients, at least 600 presents are needed. Cash donations remain $400,000 short of the $11 million goal.

At the Salvation Army, which tries to raise $2.5 million between Thanksgiving and Christmas to carry it through slow periods in the following year, kettle campaign donations are down 15 percent and mail campaign donations are down 20 percent from last year.

Donations have been slower than usual, too, at Search Homeless Services, although precise figures on the shortfall were not available Thursday.

Think about this: During the last election cycle Texans gave over One Million dollars to Joan Huffman and Chris Bell for the SD-17 election and run-off.

Surely more can be given to charity during a time when people need it most?

Americans gave $750 Million to the Obama campaign in 2007-2008 to fuel his run for the Presidency.

Surely there's enough money left in the budget to send some money to local charities?


Here's a link to the online donation pages (where available) to the charities mentioned in the article.

Star of Hope

Salvation Army

Search Homeless Houston

And some other charities that I support...

Houston Humane Society

Special Pals

Houston Food Bank

Houston Area Red Cross

You can also Give blood (or platelets) to help people suffering with cancer or those who need blood donations.




The point is there are hundreds of charitable organizations out there that need your help. At Star of Hope they're $400,000 short. If 8,000 people in the Houston area donate $50 a piece then that short-fall will be eradicated.

You can make that 7,999 because I'm heading over there today. I'm going to make a donation in the name of my Dad, kind of an extra Christmas gift to him.

Got anyone on your Christmas list that would appreciate a donation in their name?

Late arrivals

Some comments in today's Rosanna Ruiz story about late Metro bus service amazed me....

Metro buses continue to run late and have failed to achieve the agency's modest goal of 61 percent on-time performance, a feat that does not evoke confidence in the transit agency, board chairman David Wolff complained Thursday.

Metro buses have run on schedule 59 percent of the time for the first two months of this fiscal year. The agency reported a 55 percent on-time percentage in 2008.

"I get letters from people saying, 'I wait and wait. I'm going to quit taking the bus because I can't depend on it,' " Wolff said during the board's monthly meeting. "An important part of running a transit service is dependability. An important part of dependability is punctuality."

David F. Feeley, the agency's senior vice president of operations, said the 61 percent goal is nothing to boast about, but he blamed the shortfall on the way Metro measures its travel times.

"I don't think that number accurately reflects the actual performance," Feeley said about Metro's arrival and departure times in October and November.

According to Metro staff, the agency calculates its on-time performance through on-board devices that count passengers and time of arrival at each stop. The agency collects data for each stop, not simply at the start and end of each route. If one bus along a route, for instance, experiences a delay because of a parked train, subsequent stops also will be behind and recorded as late arrivals.

Buses are considered late if they are more than five minutes behind schedule. Delays of 20 minutes or more are considered "anomalous" and are excluded from the final tally.

Let's think about this for a minute. A five minute delay is not a big deal. Yes, its frustrating and can be uncomfortable in certain weather but in all likelihood its not going to keep you from reaching your final destination. A 20 minute or longer delay however is a potential disruptive event. Metro is removing those from its calculations.

Do I have that right?

The picture is really worse than it appears at first glance. What this data is suggesting is that 40% of Metro's busses are late arrivals to more than 40% of their stops. That means that almost 25% of all stops (1 in 4) are late. That's a terrible on-time rate for anyone.

Amazingly, Metro CEO Frank Wilson is onto something when he suggests that the answer is to lengthen the schedules to allow for more on-time arrivals. In project management this is a concept we call "slack time". In traffic management you have to allow slack time in the route so that you don't get unduly punished by a traffic accident, a stalled car, a train. This is a simple concept that all Houston area commuters deal with on a daily basis.

After yesterday's press-release journalism regarding Metro police officers its nice to see an investigation of a huge problem that Metro is experiencing. The blurb at the end about the Bellaire resident being late to a public hearing to complain about a rate increase due to a late bus was telling.

It was also informative. Metro is trying to convince Houston area mass-transit users to pay more for less service than commuters receive in other municipalities. The next step in the equation would be to ask Why?

Why are Metro's rates increasing when bus routes are being cut?
Why are more funds being diverted to policing the tram line when park n' ride service is Metro's most popular (and profitable) service?
Why is Metro planning to increase the amount of at-grade rail service when all evidence points to it as being an unsustainable loss-leader?

Given the Chron's long history of at-grade rail boosterism at the expense of watchdog reporting I'm not expecting these questions to be asked. At the very least however would it be too much for local leaders and opinion-makers to press Metro to fix the schedules and routing to where they are based in reality?

That'd be a good first step.

Let's play Guess the Insurance Rates

Scientist's guess raised insurance rates [Eric Berger, Chron.com]

Just weeks after monster storms Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, a risk management firm flew a handful of the world's top hurricane scientists to Bermuda and its famous pink sandy beaches.

There, the scientists were asked to predict Atlantic hurricane activity for 2006 to 2010.

They estimated hurricane activity would be significantly higher than the long-term, historical average, calling for 40 percent more landfalls of major U.S. hurricanes than normal during the period.

Shortly thereafter, the firm, Risk Management Solutions, or RMS, increased its "modeled insurance losses," which help establish rates for insurers and re-insurers, by 40 percent.

Outside insurance circles, this expert elicitation process isn't well known. But it has at least indirectly affected homeowner insurance rates for many coastal customers.

Insurance regulation in Texas is so bad that things like this are allowed to fly without so much as a peep from Gov't regulators. The Texas Insurance Commission is a paper tiger with no real muscle behind it to regulate rates and ensure that silly stuff like "predictive guesses" are kept out of the price models. If you're "predicting" based on fact? That's one thing. It's reasonable using ZIP code analysis to create a model that quantifies the relevent auto collision risk that a group of drivers (say Houston area car owners) are likely to face. That's based on statistical analysis and some pretty strong trending data.

Hurricane projections however, are historically overstated. Almost every year we're subjected to another Eric Berger news story (or blog post) announcing the current year's downward revision. The article here points out that we had one in October for THIS year.

However, in the spirit of guesses that affect insurance rates, I'd like to offer this (unscientific) "guess" of future Hurricane activity through 2010 for my abode:

It is the opinion of the Byzantio Weather Observance Society that ZERO hurricanes will directly damage the abode of Cory Crow during the periods of 2006 through 2010.*

Of course, I reserve the right to revise this statement, but I hope the insurance companies take it into consideration when they set my rates.





*Feel free to ape this statement and send it to your insurance company if you like, however, you might want to change the particulars.

Shelton's daughter sues driver she hit while drunk.

Just when you think you've seen it all...

[Brian Rodgers, Chron.com]

Convicted last year of intoxication manslaughter for the death of her boyfriend, the 21-year-old daughter of a state district judge is suing the truck driver she ran into during a drunken driving crash.

Elizabeth Shelton, the daughter of juvenile judge Pat Shelton, is accusing truck driver Lance Bennett of negligence in the Oct. 23, 2007, wreck that killed her boyfriend Matthew McNiece.

Shelton had a blood alcohol concentration more than three times the legal limit, two tests showed. She was sentenced to eight years' probation and had to serve four months in jail.

Shelton, her family and the family of the boyfriend who was killed are suing for $20,000 for the destruction of the Lexus SUV she was driving and an undetermined amount for mental anguish, pain and suffering.

Bennett was driving the box truck that Shelton rear-ended on the Southwest Freeway near Kirby around 2 a.m.

Bennett's attorney, John Havins, said the lawsuit, filed in October, was the last chance to make a claim before the statute of limitations ran out.

He noted that Shelton named 16 defendants, including insurance companies and banks. "They're just throwing everything against the wall to see if anything sticks," Havins said.

It's bad enough that Daddy's little girl only got 4 months for a conviction of Intoxicated Manslaughter is 5.2 years for a normal citizen. It's bad enough that her blood alcohol was three times the legal limit. It's bad enough that, obviously, her judge Dad hasn't taught her about taking responsibility for her stupid actions. Nope, now this truck driver and 15 others are going to have to incur expenses defending themselves from a petulant child who doesn't have the mental, or emotional, maturity to look in the mirror and admit that she goofed by getting blitzed and then sitting behind the wheel of a car.


Hopefully her father uses better judgement when sitting on the bench.

Metro Police discouraging left turns.

Need proof that the Houston Transit plan has become a zero-sum debate?

Look no further than the public reactions to this Rosanna Ruiz Chronicle piece on Metro Police parking at downtown intersections....

The Metro Police Department is taking a stand against auto-train accidents by taking a seat.

The transit agency has parked officers at six downtown intersections every day for the past month, aimed at preventing motorists from making illegal turns into the path of oncoming light rail trains.

There have been 57 accidents on the rail line this year — five fewer than in the first year of operation — many of them the result of illegal turns, the transit agency has said.

The officers are monitoring the intersections as part of a pilot program that began Nov. 17, said Police Chief Tom Lambert of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. Last month, the city of Houston and Metro made adjustments to traffic signals at the same intersections to allow rail cars to proceed a few moments ahead of motorists.

"Some may say we're being very aggressive with having officers at every intersection," Lambert said. "But we have a responsibility to public safety to make sure we reduce accidents."

Typically I view Chron.comments as something to be mocked, or a little humorous "pick me up" when I'm feeling down. The comments to this story were illuminating however....

creech wrote: If you wouldn't build the rail at grade, this would not be a problem!

johngalt wrote: If Houston's drivers were not, on average, incredible morons, jabbering on their cell phones while making blatantly illegal turns in front of a 100 ton train (bigger even than your Excursion!), then it probably wouldn't be necessary to keep cops at every intersection. The trains are on rails - it's not like they can sneak up on you.

See what I mean? A zero sum game where either you feel Houston drivers (other Houston drivers of course, the lecturers never see fit to include their poor driving habits in with those of others in our fair City) are terrible or you feel that the at-grade design of the rail was flawed. There's no room for compromise.

The reality is, both arguments contain some measure of truth. There's very little question that the MetroRail design being at-grade and reducing existing traffic capacity was flawed. The idea with any public transit option should be an expansion of transit opportunities. MetroRail has not succeeded in this goal and has actually resulted in a reduction of traffic capacity on heavily travelled roads in addition to reduced bus capacity due to Metro's faulty program of "cutting" or re-routing bus service in order to feed riders onto the tram.

There's also an argument to be made that some Houston drivers are not attentive, ignore traffic signs, and haven't adapted well to the train. Part of this is due to cell-phone chatter while driving, and part of it is just a result of plain inattentiveness. While widely viewed as a car City, it constantly amazes me how few people in Houston understand basic driving concepts. (signal for a lane change anyone?) And yes, at times, I include myself in that equation. While I've never turned in front of the train (or attempted to make a left turn where its clearly marked you cannot) I've made my share of boneheaded driving blunders. My favorite of late seems to be trying to get through a light during rush hour and getting stuck in the middle of the lane because I misjudged (or didn't pay attention to) the cars in front of me. Another big error is not paying attention when SEC Guy is calling in to the Sean and John show @ 4:15 every Thursday. My bad.

The bad news in all of this? There's plenty more at-grade light rail in the pipeline that Metro is determined to build come hell or high-water. What that means for Houstonians is that even more vital arteries are going to be clogged, turning left on Richmond is going to be a nightmare, and collisions between tram and automobile are going to increase over time. There was a chance, at one time, of possibly working to get a public transit system that made sense, but that window has closed and Houston is looking at a public works disaster in the making.

Before they threw away their credibility on transit issues the Houston Chronicle had a real chance to engage the community in open, honest debate about what the best transit options were for a growing, vibrant Houston. Granted, its possible that the best solution to the problem would have been less than "world class" in the eyes of the elites, that doesn't mean that it wouldn't have worked however. Because of their bias toward Metro's foolish design however the City of Houston was deprived of the watchdog role that good-neutral journalism provides. Instead we're inundated with a constant stream of "press release" journalism pieces that might as well have been edited by Metro's $70K per annum blogger (who, coincidentally, used to be employed by the Chron.

Houston Asides (12/17/08)

The "afternoon delight" edition....

Texas Sunset Panel Urges Sparing Construction Commission. [Janet Elliot, Chron.com] - Self-quoting blogger meltdown in 5...4...3...2....

Texas Transportation price tab put at $313 Billion throuhg 2030. [Peggy Fikac, Chron.com] - Remember, "TxDOT didn't produce these numbers" says TxDOT commissioner Dierdre Delisi (in desperation to save her phony baloney job) {She's correct by the way, TxDOT didn't produce the numbers they just paid for them. And we all know how reliable numbers paid for turn out to be.}

Gumbo the bulldog is not getting into the Christmas spirit. [hbbb7535, mom.chron.com] - Any excuse to run a bulldog picture.

Texas Dem chief lashes out after Bell's loss. [Alan Bernstein, Chron.com] - Anger. Never a good way to respond to losing an election.

Who is your early favorite in the race to replace Kay Bailey. [Richard Dunham, Chron.com] - Odd poll, Noriega's not in the race and no mention of Shapiro or Van de Putte. Way to keep your finger on the local pulse DC bureau.

Speaker summit turns into a meeting of two. [Gary Scharrar, Chron.com] - It just tells you how seriously the candidates are taking the Speaker's race that no one bothered to show.

The Texans are growing up fast: yes, indeed ESPN. [Richard Justice, Chron.com] - Two weeks ago the same guy was openly questioning the team's heart. Go figure. That being said, 7-9 is probably enough for Smith and Kubiak to save their jobs. Now if they can replicate this success against the truly class teams in the league we'll be onto something. The Titan's win was nice, but it was only one game against a winning team. Objective observers would point out that the same, end-of-season-when-nothing-was-on-the-line run happened last year. Look where that got the Texans....

RIP: Pete Mayes

Texas Blues Legend Pete Mayes dies. [Andrew Dansby, Chron.com]


"Blues ain't nothing but a good man feelin' bad."


Condolences to him and his family.

Bill White: the pundits line up.

By now you probably know (if you've been reading LaE that is...ha!*) that Bill White has officially announced his intent to run for Kay Bailey Hutchinson's Senate seat should she resign, eventually, to run for Governor. As expected, this has the Houston political chattering class all a-twitter....

Washington holds a new allure for White [Rick Casey, Chron.com]

It's not that Mayor Bill doesn't think he could beat Kay in a race for the Texas governorship.

It's that he'd rather go to Washington to be with Caroline.

That, at least, is the spin you'll be hearing as an explanation for what appears to be a change of course.

Bill White for US Senate. [Stace Medellin, Dos Centavos] (complete with photo of the blogger and White together no less!)

Mayor Bill White has made it official and announced online that he will be running for U.S. Senate. For my non-Houston readers, friends, and relatives, check out his bio here.

And it looks like he's taking my advice that he should head down to South Texas.

More on Bill White's Senate Announcement. [Charles Kuffner, Off the Kuf]

What's the plan for the runoff? If it were me, I'd prefer to take my chances in a head-to-head matchup against KBH for Governor (with the happy possibility that either she doesn't run after all or gets beaten by Rick Perry in the primary), with a shot at the special election winner in 2012 in reserve; my 2010 gubernatorial campaign will have given me statewide name ID by then, and I'd feel confident about my chances in a primary. But that's just me, I guess.

Casey (sarcastically) touched on what I think is the onus for White's decision. Mr. White will never admit it, but I'd give you 3-1 that his internal polling suggested that between he and Hutchinson, it wouldn't be close. Bill White could expect to play well in Houston, but outside of that I think he'd run into problems. Especially when you consider the negative baggage that any decent oppo research firm could pull up. On balance, compared to Mayor Brown, White has been a decent Governor, decent, but not spectacular. The fact is many of the problems facing Houston when he took over the office (infrastructure, flood control, decline in public works, high crime, underfunded pension) are still nagging or are in worse shape today. He's done a good job "putting out fires" which might be the best praise one could offer. After the debacle of the Lee P. Brown administration there were a lot of fires to put out.

If I had to make a guess right now, I'd say that this race will be contested in 2010. Then AGAIN in 2012 for a full term. In that respect I agree with Charles Kuffner that White could be better served running for Governor. Even if he lost to Kay (a strong possibility) he would get the benefit of name ID during the election that could be rolled foward to a 2012 run against Micheal Williams or David Dewhurst, whichever Republican won the seat.

I'm sure there will be a lot more to come from this. His high approval rating aside (or perhaps DUE to his high approval rating) White is a polarizing figure among local(D) and (R) political wonks. Local Pachyderms would like nothing more than to see the guy that's been whupping them for a few years now get what they consider to be his comeuppance against a strong (R) candidate.




*those references are jokes, just in case someone was taking them seriously. Politics is killing humor in this Country.

Cantango

Dance a little sidestep...

[Lynn Cook, Chron.com]

A market condition called contango, in which oil futures contracts going forward are higher than ones for the immediate future, has traders scrambling for crude storage as they attempt to lock in future profits.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery closed at $43.60 a barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A trader who enters a contract to buy then can lock in a profit by buying contracts to sell at a higher price a few months down the road.

Crude for June delivery closed at $53.10 per barrel on Tuesday, for example, and the condition continues indefinitely at this point. Crude closed at $58 for January 2010 delivery and at $64 for January 2011.

I've stated on this blog several times previously that I believe the "fair" price for oil is somewhere in the $60-$65 range. If you ignore the panic earlier in the year and the pessimists trading right now I think the long-term trend proves that out.

You won't have Chris Bell to kick around any more.

Huffman wins district 17 run-off...

[Alan Bernstein, Chron.com]

Republican Joan Huffman defeated Democrat Chris Bell in Tuesday's runoff election for a Houston-area seat in the Texas Senate, setting a new high for the number of women in the 31-member legislative chamber.

With votes from all precincts counted, Huffman, a former judge and prosecutor, had 56 percent against the former congressman and Houston councilman, according to results that will be made final and official in a few days.

It's certain that there will be a number of theories thrown around why Chris Bell lost. Probably none of them will cotton to the fact that the guy's just not a likable candidate. Add to that the perception that he was desperately searching for a race he could win, and you have an uphill battle on your hands.

I've met Chris Bell once or twice. He's a nice, bright, capable guy. He also has a condescending tone to his voice when speaking on issues. I'm not saying he's condescending, just that he sounds that way. One almost gets the feeling he's talking over the voters' heads from time to time. That makes it difficult to get elected. I'd be interested to see his favorable/unfavorable numbers with the general electorate, and I'm including mainstream voters (read: voters who aren't politically active) that identify Democrat. I'm willing to bet they don't paint a rosy picture.

Huffman is a different story. She's not that good of a communicator, but against Bell she didn't have to be. While I'm sure exit polls weren't conducted, it'd be interesting to see whether or not the 100 foot scandal was a positive or a negative in voters minds.

One thing is for sure sour grapes probably aren't the answer.

The "good news" for Democrats is that this seat will be constested again in 2010. They have time to find a strong candidate to run for the seat that possibly doesn't have the public perception baggage that Bell carried with him. Democrats are still trending positive, even in Texas, now so its very possible this seat could "flip" in 2010.

Until then, congratulations to the Huffman campaign, and good luck to Sen. elect Huffman as she prepares to take office. Condolances to Bell supporters, hopefully Mr. Bell can find gainful employment (probably as a loggyist) working to forward causes in which he believes.


And that just about wraps it up for 2008.

Bill White for Senate

We'll know today at around 4:30 PM....

[Carolyn Feibel, Chron.com]

Houston Mayor Bill White will announce his political intentions through the Internet today about 4:30 p.m., City Hall sources said.

At that time, a press release containing the address of his new political campaign website will be released, and the media can watch an online video, where White, presumably, will announce his intentions to seek the U.S. Senate seat if Kay Bailey Hutchison steps down.

The announcement will end a season of frenzied speculation about the next step for White, an attorney and former deputy energy secretary who many Democrats had grown to see as the state's best chance for re-taking the governor's mansion.

Note: Bill White for Texas is up and running at around 4:00 PM.

The video is running as well. He's announcing for the Senate.


Not patting myself on the back, this one was easy....billwhiteforhouston vs. billwhitefortexas but I think this qualifies as a ONE EYED SCOOP!

Houston asides (12/16/08)

The "baby it's cold outside" edition...

Study: Business sufferes when web is slow. [Houston Business Journal] - A good article for a "well duh" story.

Houston's Canada Connection. [Houston Business Journal] - The Blackberry from Canada? Well, that explains it then.

US Law cancels test to jam prison cell phones. [Janet Elliot, Chron.com] - Newspapers are happy about this because they keep the ability to run even more shocking headlines.

Miracle Man? [Hamous, Lone Star Times] - Sweet! A Chris Bell/Orlando Sanchez reference....funny.

Houston priorities: Clinton Climate Initiative over Flooding [Anne Linehan, Chron.com] - Houston can't fix drainage, but they can retrofit buildings!

Gallegos and Van de Putte do what? [Evan, Perry vs. World] - Oh...just criticize the man who's engineered Democrats from minority party to majority party over his failure to spend Millions on a sub-par candidate that's all. (played to the hearty cheers of the InterLeft)

Yeah...I got two bags of ice for Hell...

Residents of Hell are toasting one one another with ice water today as the unthinkable has happened....

I am in agreement with Lisa Falkenberg...

The overriding problem with Saavedra's spread-the-talent philosophy is that it attempts to build up neighborhood schools on the backs of students, rather than the backs of the teachers and administrators who work there.

In some ways, HISD's neighborhoodistas remind me of Detroit's automakers. If nobody's buying your cars — or attending your schools — build better cars and schools to lure them back. Don't punish those who have found a better deal elsewhere.

In other news the world will be stopping at 3PM CST this afternoon so anyone who wants to get off the ride can do so.

High mobility rate hurting HISD

When poor families move, children suffer.

[Jennifer Radcliffe, Chron.com]

Out sick for just two days last year, first-grade teacher Hazel Boatner returned to class to find that four of her students had moved from Bonham Elementary School.

"I wanted to cry," Boatner said. "Those are my babies. I had to clean out their desks."

Keeping track of students is a difficult challenge for teachers and principals at urban schools such as Bonham, where roughly one-third of children change campuses before the end of the year. Educators expect the little-discussed "mobility rate" to increase because of the sour economy.

The mobility rate — which reflects the number of children who spend less than 83 percent of the school year at the same campus — exceeds 20 percent statewide and 25 percent in the Houston Independent School District. Some of the hardest-hit campuses have rates near 40 percent.

The only issue that I take with this article is that its seemingly making this out to be more a product of the weak economy than anything else. The facts are the 20-25% (40% in the poorest schools) number is something that was gleaned during so-called boom economies.

And there's very little that can be done about it.

Even assisted housing programs won't work, because (most) people have a constant desire to better their condition. Advocates for the poor recommend building cheap, affordable housing units and renting them out for next to nothing, the problem with this approach is that its nothing more than an attempt to put a band-aid on a cancer. Eventually, people want out. They want their own homes and their own stuff and (again most people) don't want to be on Government assistance as a matter of pride.

Then you have the illegal immigrant problem, and families that wouldn't accept Government homes if offered.

Sadly, throwing money at this issue, which will undoubtedly be the recommendation of tAFKAMW, isn't going to get much done. All that can be done are increased attempts to control the issue and to try and make the transitions as smooth as possible for the children.

SD-17 Runoff today

After all of the sound and fury, Huffman and Bell settle things today as America intended it...at the ballot box.

[Houston Chronicle]

Today is another Election Day for voters in state Senate District 17, which covers parts of southwest Harris County and sections of Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, Chambers and Jefferson counties.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for voters to choose between Republican Joan Huffman, a former Harris County felony court judge, and Democrat Chris Bell, a former congressman and Houston councilman.

More than 18,000 people cast ballots in last week's early voting period.

The district's former senator, Republican Kyle Janek, resigned around mid-year, triggering a special election with multiple candidates from each party. Bell placed first and Huffman second; the runoff is needed because no candidate received a majority of votes.

If you live in SD-17, you should go vote. Runoff elections such as these are typically low turnout affairs, and it'd stink to see yourself represented by someone you don't like just because you didn't want to head to the ballot box on a cold day right?

Chris Bell's website has voting information (but, alas, no punching bag), Joan Huffman's website has voting information as well. (and FAMILY PICTURES!!!)

If you're a Chris Bell supporter then this election is important. I don't think he can lose this one and expect to be a viable candidate down the road. Huffman, of course, is running her first 'major' campaign and has made several slip-ups along the way. She's also less of a communicator than is Bell, which has hurt her in settings such as the Chron "keyboard" debate.

Come again?

One: Special Education Teacher arrested on marijuana charge. [Ericka Mellon, Chron.com]

Another Houston ISD teacher was arrested today on suspicion of marijuana possession as part of the school district's ongoing searches of employee parking lots.

The employee, whose name was not released, is a teaching assistant in the special education department at Harper Alternative School.

Ahhh...It just seems like last week that tAFKAMW was lecturing Houstonians regarding percieved "overreaction" to this failure of teachers to detail their automobiles....oh...wait...it WAS last week.

Oops.

While the Chron Editorial board might be willing to carry the water for the Teacher's Union most citizens are not. We scream and hollar for random testing for athletes, some of us (including me) are subject to pre-employment and random drug testing at our jobs, yet the Chron asks us to balk at testing the people entrusted with the education of Houston's children because that would constitute a "witch hunt". Yeah, logic. Besides, this problem is resolved because Gayle Fallon sent out a memo asking teachers to have their cars detailed right? Oh.



Two: Houston anti-kidnapping expert kidnapped in Mexico. [Mark Stevenson, AP via Chron.com]

A well-known U.S. anti-kidnapping expert has himself fallen victim to Mexico's wave of abductions as unidentified assailants snatched him from a street in the northern city of Saltillo, one of his employers said today.

The kidnapping of U.S. security consultant Felix Batista — who was in Saltillo to offer advice on how to confront abductions for ransom — showed how bold Mexico's kidnappers have become. Attacks on U.S. anti-crime consultants have largely been the stuff of movies.

Prayers and condolances to Mr. Batista's friends and family. I can imagine there are few things worse than being kidnapped...in Mexico. I, and many others, pray for his safe return.

That being said: Lord willing he gets out of this and can move on to (possibly) another career. I imagine that might not look to good on the ol' CV.

Three: Remember when SNL was funny? [Martin Krumboltz, Yahoo! Buzz blog]

Live from New York, it's time to mock the disabled!

With Sarah Palin out of the national eye, "Saturday Night Live" turned its satirical guns toward another governor, New York's David Paterson. However, this time the laughs weren't quite as hearty. It's one thing to mock a moose-hunting beauty queen, but quite another to laugh at the visually impaired.

Governor Paterson is a legally blind man who took over for the disgraced Eliot Spitzer earlier this year. SNL's Fred Armisen portrayed Paterson as a bumbling man who is completely unqualified for the position. Funny? The studio audience seemed to like the skit, but many groups are outraged and speaking out.

I watched a bit of it and it just wasn't funny. Poking fun at someone's competence...fair game. Poking fun at a disability over which they have no control? Not funny.

There was a time in America that this skit could have aired on SNL and had been done well enough that the outrage would have been limited. It's not that you can't have a laugh, you just have to be clever enough to not mock them soley for being blind, deaf, or possessing some other handicap. Don't believe me? Take a look at some old Richard Pryor skits and call me back.

Irony was killed by the Clinton administration, sarcasm by the Bush administration, hopefully the Obama administration doesn't see the end of satire.

That'd be truly sad.

Houston Asides (12/15/08)

The "real world gets in the way" version....

Job cuts hit chemical industry. [Brett Clanton, Chron.com] - See the question from yesterday. Where are these people going to work in the 'new' economy? (And, more importantly, when will the jobs be there?)

Power prices falling, but is now the time for a fixed rate? [Tom Fowler, Chron.com] - It's a question people shouldn't have to ponder during the Holidays. Re-regulate utilities now.

Decorators spending less to deck halls [David Kaplan, Chron.com] - Oh Noz!!

Plan could revise rules on indigent health care. [Liz Austin Peterson, Chron.com] - You heard it here first....BAD idea.

Sheriff-elect reaches out to Sikhs [Cindy Horswell, Chron.com] - Ideally, Garcia would plan to "reach out to" everyone in Harris County. Still, this was damage control so view anyone complaining about this with a jaundiced eye.

Republicans revive voter ID proposal. [Clay Robison, Chron.com] - Coupling this with voter outreach programs would be ideal, but that would assume that elected officials want to maximize the legal vote.

That's a solution? [Tom Kirkandall, Houston's Clear Thinkers]

Strange bedfellows

Perhaps nothing has illuminated the fluid nature of American politics as has the ongoing automotive industry bailout drama...

[John Hendren, ABCNews.com]

The White House is not expected to wrap up a bailout for Detroit's Big Three automakers by Monday, leaving stocks open to a yet another potential selloff and the clock ticking down to what automakers say could soon become an inevitable bankruptcy.

The angst of Democrats toward Detroit is well documented. The picture of the Republican-leaning suburbanite proudly getting groceries in their Detroit manufactured SUV has long been a rallying cry of liberal-minded "green" activists. Democratic-supporters driving a Toyota Prius or other fuel sippers of Japanese origin has been long burned in voters minds. Aside from unwavering support of Unions, the Democratic party has been a very vocal critic of Detroit for some time now.

The surprising (and under-reported) role reversal from the two major parties has made for interesting political theater. On the one hand you have Democrats, who have encouraged supporters to purchase fuel-efficient vehicles (most of which are manufactured by Japanese companies) lining up in support of Detroit's "Big Three" while Republicans, who actively court the support of small-town values voters, resisting a bailout in an effort to punish unions for their lack of support, as well as to suport Japanese auto factories in Southern States.

What? Democrats pimping for those polluters in Detroit, Republicans supporting Honda? What's next, Dogs and cats living together?

It appears so...

[Vanessa Gera of the AP via the Chron]

Some U.S. labor groups that have long feared environmental campaigns as a threat to American jobs are starting to see advantages in going green.

This evolution was clear at this week's U.N. climate talks in Poland, where several American labor groups and environmental activists made joint appeals for policies that would promote high-tech renewable energy as the answer to both climate change and job losses.

About 25 representatives of U.S. unions were in Poznan — about twice the number at last year's U.N. talks in Bali, Indonesia — representing workers from the electrical, transit, steel, service and other sectors.

"There is a very wide cross-section of American unions that reflects the growing engagement of American unions' support of climate change policies," said David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance. The group was founded by the United Steelworkers, North America's largest manufacturing union, and the Sierra Club, the United States' largest and oldest grass-roots environmental group.

Such is the crazy world of political expediency.

Houston Asides (12/14/08)

the "Republican hack-job" edition...

New model for political corruption. [Rick Casey, Chron.com] - And this column was written why? Rick Casey's "digging" is getting shallower and shallower by the column.

HISD tackles polarizing topic. [Ericka Mellon, Chron.com] - New Saavedra plan? Attack that which is successful to push all students toward mediocrity.

Petroleum companies delay expansion, new projects. [Kristen Hays, Chron.com] - People rail against "big oil" but its the smallish "oilfield services" companies (many located in Houston) that are going to feel this pinch the most.

Oil firms face tough disclosure rules. [David Ivanovich, Chron.com] - Not requiring all industries to live up to these new standards reveals the intentions to be punitive toward oil, and not beneficial to developing countries as proponents claim.

Economy question for the day: - If Democrats are successful and pass these punitive measures against big oil, are there enough green jobs out there to re-employ the tens of thousands of oilfield services workers that are going to lose their jobs? Discuss.

Dallas extends smoking ban. [Off the Kuff] - Point.

Booster seats. [Off the Kuff] - Point.

Why is the solution to social problems always more cops, courts and punishments [Grits for Breakfast] - Counterpoint.

Chron editorial logic.

Wanna make the HISD drug problem go away? Offer car detailing services to Teachers.

I kid you not...[tAFKAMW, Chron.com]

Now that HISD employees realize their cars are likely to be checked for illegal drugs and alcohol if parked on campus, only the densest would fail to detail their vehicles to make sure they are clean. Fallon says her staff is in the process of preparing a memo to members reminding them that possession of illegal drugs will end their careers, and outlining steps to make sure they are not mistakenly targeted and what to do if arrested.

As role models for students, teachers have a special responsibility to obey the law, both in their professional setting and their personal lives. At the same time, HISD administrators should make every effort to make sure drug violations are substantiated before they publicize them to the detriment of the district's reputation.

Somewhere, Gayle Fallon is smiling inside with the knowledge that tAFKAMW issued a press release editorial this morning in favor of the Teacher's Association. My guess is that the prevailing thought behind the bolded text is that future drug searches are wastes of money because most "intelligent" teachers will have removed the incriminating evidence anyway. No need to search, test, or even really question that some teacher's might be doing drugs right? After all, its probably just a small fraction of the overall population in the first place, hardly anything to get all worked up about....

Unless, of course, one of said teacher's is the homeroom instructor for your kid. (Or, maybe more importantly, a child of one of the writers that makes up tAFKAMW) THEN I'm guessing that there would be an outcry and some notice.

One thing stories like this highlights is the sorry state of drug punishment in Texas. Recreational marijuana use is punishable by prison time in our "zero tolerance" drug reality. There should be more focus on treatment programs and after care, allowing teachers a chance to continue teaching, but requiring them to attend a qualified addiction program.

All that being said. newspapers, journalists and other "advocacy" groups get all up in arms and demand school districts spend millions of dollars to change menus, replace vending machines and hire nutritionists in order to prevent children from making diet decisions that are out of favor. At the same time they do this, they are content to water down the curriculum, increase the number of "electives" that students must take, reduce the amount of physical education that's required and continue to treat children like cookie-cutter constructs who all have the same level of talents, skills and career paths (all leading to a 4-year liberal arts University) while ignoring the need for skilled labor.

As State Government reduces the amount of funding sent to schools, while enrollment is constantly on the up-tick, its not hard to see why stress levels in this important field are rising. We ask our teachers to be the single largest touch-point for our child's development, then we turn a blind eye to what happens during the day. I've no doubt that an overwhelming majority of teachers are clean, upstanding students. That doesn't mean that every possible resource should be exhausted to maintain the clean, honest reputation of those that are.

Beyond ensuring that they have clean car interiors that is.

Report refutes Dallas County voter fraud allegations

The Chronicle links to an AP report today refuting claims by a State political watchdog website that the dead are voting in Dallas County.

[AP via Chron.com]

Names of dead Dallas County voters that an Internet blog said may have been used to cast improper ballots, in fact, were not used, according to a newspaper report.

In a report headlined “Dead voters cast ballots in Dallas County," the Texas Watchdog blog had reported on its Web site just before Election Day that 48 names of dead voters on the county’s rolls appeared to have been used to vote.

Texas Watchdog compiled the list of 48 names by comparing federal death records with Dallas County’s election rolls, said the blog’s deputy editor, Jennifer Peeples.

“When you show up at a voting place, you don’t necessarily have to show photo ID. Identification can be as little as a utility bill,” she said.

A study of those 48 names by The Dallas Morning News, however, found that 47 of the names were not associated with questionable votes.

The newspaper reported that its review found that the mistakes generally resulted when a poll worker stamped the wrong name in the poll book or the bar code associated with the wrong name was scanned. No ballots were cast for those names, the newspaper reported.

“When you have human beings doing a process, it’s impossible not to have some errors,” said Bruce Sherbet, the elections administrator in Dallas County, which has 1.2 million registered voters.

The original Texas Watchdog report can be found here.

Voter ID proposals are partisan powder kegs. Already, in the Chron.comments to the story allegations of blatant Republicanism are being showered on Texas Watchdog despite their being no evidence to support such claims. (To date, Texas Watchdog has reported on malfeasance by both parties equally) This story on the scandals surrounding a major GOP donor is an example of this? The unfortunate trend in all of the partisan bickering surrounding voter ID and access is that the end game is getting lost in the shuffle.

It's long been the position at Lose an Eye that the "goal" of voting reform in Texas should be to maximize the amount of legal votes and minimize the amount of illegal votes cast in American elections. This novel idea would (hopefully) slow the incessant tide of election lawsuits filed by both parties in their never-ending quest to destroy the credibility of the electoral system in America. Republican charges of malfeasance regarding Obama's citizenship are just as heinous as the 8-year Democratic effort to discredit the victory of Bush II. Loss of confidence in the electoral system allows fringe actors to make a mockery of the entire electoral process. We're currently seeing that in Minnesota it's not hard to imagine this spreading, especially as the Country grows more and more polarized over core issues.

Are we seeing the future of American elections playing out in Minnesota? Or is that just an isolated case where a fervent anti-democracy candidate is playing a game on a whim? Is this the future we want to see? Or do we demand of our elected officials real, meaningful voter reform that renews the promise of The Great American Experiment?

Green Dementia Syndrome

China has a bad case...

[AFP]

China's top negotiator at the UN climate talks welcomed the climate pact adopted by EU leaders on Friday as a "positive step," but criticised carbon reduction goals set by US president-elect Barack Obama as too weak.

In an interview with AFP, Su Wei said the deal struck at the European Union's summit in Brussels as "a positive step."

"We welcome that," Su said. "It is important that European Union continue to take the lead in the international cooperation to address climate change."

He added, though: "Maybe some of the positions have been watered down compared to 2007.

"Of course, we understand in the face of the international financial crisis, countries put more efforts to address that crisis. But we think measures to address climate change should not in any way be delayed or watered down."

Su -- whose fast-industrializing nation has overtaken the United States as the world's leading emitter of CO2 -- qualified this.

Really? China? Now the worlds leading polluter, a country that doesn't intend to make ANY meaningful deductions in its pollution tolls due to its (convenient) insistence that its a "developing" Nation, China? Lecturing the US on our plans?

Of course, if you take into account that the Chinese goal is the weakening of the US then their Green Dementia Syndrome at least has a root cause.

That's more than I can say for some.

One thing on the auto bailout...

Actually $700 Billion things...

[David M. Herszenhorn, NYT]

In a shift, the White House said Friday morning that it would consider using money from the $700 billion financial bailout to rescue troubled automakers, one day after the Senate abandoned its efforts to pass legislation offering a government rescue to the companies.
Dana Perino, a spokeswoman for President George W. Bush, issued a statement criticizing Congress’s failure to pass an automotive rescue plan that had been negotiated betweem Democratic lawmakers and the White House. Two of the Big Three, General Motors and Chrysler, have said they are so short of cash that they may not be able to survive through this month without aid, and the third, Ford Motor, is also struggling with weak sales.

The push, all along, should have been to use the existing money to "bailout" the auto companies, if a bailout is coming at all. A better solution would have been to provide a cash infusion and guarantee solvency through a very streamlined bankruptcy system, allowing renegotiation of some of the more idiotic UAW contracts, while preserving the integrity of the union at the same time.

Nay-sayers and partisans who are claiming any such altering of the contracts will fail are ignoring the fact that the UAW does just fine operating under more business friendly contracts in place with the Japanese auto-makers. It could work, partisan rhetoric to the side.

That being said, I (partially) agree with Perry Dorrell here:

I believe the Republicans just sealed their fate as a minority party for a generation, isolated in the Southern region of the nation, policed by radicals and extremists.

Not for a generation, because politics doesn't work that way, but for the immediate future for certain. That Republicans, after caving in and approving a bailout for an industry they like (financial services), suddenly had a fiscal conservative "come to Jesus" moment over 5% of the amount for one they didn't is stretching credibility. Yet, to their folly, they'll all stand up in the media, the bloggers O' the Right will type away and their talking heads will...well talk the same line: "We had to stop this bailout madness somewhere."

The problem is, they should have stopped it where it was, by leaning on President Bush to use funds from the, previously authorized, $700 Billion dollars. What Republicans are going to be left with is a very small minority and an open door for fundamental change that they won't like.

White for Senate?

That's the early report. [Ben DuBose, PolitickerTX.com]

Houston Mayor Bill White will announce on Monday that he intends to run for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R-Dallas) anticipated vacant U.S. Senate seat, "reasonably reliable sources" told the Quorum Report late Thursday.

White, a favorite among Houston voters and likely the most high-profile Democratic candidate statewide, was debating between running for the U.S. Senate or for Texas governor. But he admitted that issues of "energy policy" were his passion, and Democratic consultants this week agreed that hint seemed to point toward the U.S. Senate.

White will have immediate competition for the post from former Texas Comptroller John Sharp, who declared his U.S. Senate candidacy on Monday. Sharp currently holds the mark for the highest percentage (46) of the statewide vote by a Texas Democrat this decade.

However, on the whole, the U.S. Senate race will likely have less big-name competition, especially from Republicans. If White were to run for governor, he'd likely be a significant underdog in the general election to one of two political heavyweights, either Hutchison or current Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

So, the Democratic Primary could be John Sharp vs. White, while the Republicans are still waiting for a big name to throw their hat into the ring. A White Dewhurst showdown for the position would be humorous for the fact that it would pit two of Texas' most vanilla political personalities head to head.

I have to admit, if this is true, that I'm surprised by this decision. White doesn't exactly have a long distinguished track record of dealing with opposition well and, in the Senate, he'd have to be a LOT more open to criticism and compromise than he has been as Mayor. Based on his governing style alone, this seems a bad fit.


Then again, who can blame White? He'd lose to Kay Bailey (but would probably beat Rick Perry) so he may believe replacing her by beating a Dewhurst, Williams or Shapiro (or TX State Sen. Dan Patrick -just sayin'-) may be his best shot to a higher paycheck and better pension.

Moneyshot comment of the day.

Let's say...you're a Chron.com viewer, you log on every day and you see a story that so infuriates you a comment is necessary.


What do you do? For this anonymous commenter the answer was to say something completely ridiculous...

devolveit (0)
devolveit wrote:
Let's hope Clear Channel becomes a victim of the recession and goes away, along with all their ugly signs.

According to the Clear Channel website the company employs 30,000 people.

that's 30,000 jobs that would be lost (many in the Houston area) if Clear Channel "was a victim of the recession." All that so Scenic Houston and others wouldn't have to bother with the sight of billboards.

Brilliant!

Houston Asides (12/12/08)

Illegal immigrant care costly: $677 Million per year [Janet Elliot, Chron.com] - This will be some fine red meat for the sharks to chew on.

Saddles used by the disabled stolen from Katy Group. [AP via Chron.com] - There's a special circle in hell....

Another Houston oil firm moves headquarters overseas. [Brett Clanton, Chron.com] - It won't be the last.

Harris County must pay $525,000 for blocking sign [Liz Austin Peterson, Chron.com] - Ooops.

Jilted by a Tax collector. [Rick Casey, Chron.com] - That's the type of "hard hitting commentary we were promised from Casey uh....wait...nevermind. It's just story recap of things that have already circled the blogosphere.

Wake up Everybody! [Desperado, Something Different]

Market and Auto industry in the ditch - how about a little relief? [eljefebob, Gimme some Truth]

Ok, so the economy is in recession brought on primarily due to overspending, bad loans, poor Government policy and bad oversight. The Chron's "citizen" bloggers decide the answer to fixing the problem is overspending, bad loans, poor Gov't policy and increasing amounts of the same oversight.

SD-17 Tidbits *Updated*

Early voting numbers trending for Huffman...

[Ben DuBose, PolitickerTX.com]

Numbers are out from the first day of early voting for the state Senate District 17 runoff, and they appear to point to a more competitive race between Republican Joan Huffman and Democrat Chris Bell.

Huffman captured only 26 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 special election, compared to 38 percent for Bell, a former U.S. Representative. But since neither had a majority, state law dictated the Dec. 16 runoff, and Huffman remains optimistic based on the hope that she can consolidate Republican support in the Houston-area district. Four Republicans were on the Nov. 4 ballot, compared to only two Democrats.

Early voting, which began Monday and runs through Friday, brought 3,822 voters to the polls on Monday in the five district counties — obviously a far cry from the 223,295 total votes in the initial election. But on a percentage basis, Bell strongholds aren't voting as much, while Huffman's strongholds are becoming an increasingly larger proportion of the electorate.

For example, in Harris County, which includes Houston, Bell won the Nov. 4 race, 38 percent to 21 percent. However, Harris County voters made up 53.6 percent of the vote in the initial election. On Monday, they accounted for only 41.1 percent. After Harris, the second-largest county in the district is Fort Bend, which represented 27.8 percent of the Nov. 4 vote and went to Bell, 39-36. On Monday, Fort Bend accounted for only 19.7 percent of the vote.

Huffman's biggest strength was in Brazoria County, which she carried, 37-27, on Nov. 4. However, Brazoria County voters were only 9.5 percent of the electorate in the special election. On the first day of early voting for the run-off, they made up 19 percent of all voters.

On the heels of that...Former Judge's campaign breaks election law. [Alan Bernstein, Chron.com]..

Joan Huffman's campaign for state Senate appears to have broken the law against campaigning on property where voting is taking place, Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman said today.

Republican Huffman, opposing Democrat Chris Bell in next Tuesday's state Senate District 17 runoff, hosted a barbecue luncheon for voters today inside the Tracey Gee Community Center in far west Houston. Early voting in the state Senate election is taking place through Friday in another room in the same building.

Commissioner Steve Radack, a Republican, said he attended the luncheon along with Huffman and urged people to vote for her. She is a former felony court judge.

Call it me, but I'd rather see hard analysis in the Chron blogs such as that PolitickerTX provided over scandal mongering any day. I left a comment saying the same on Chron.com. Sadly, since Bernstein has taken over local political reporting its been more scandal focused than ever. Matt Stiles rumored departure to Austin isn't likely to help matters much on that front.

UPDATE 3:50 PM

InterLeft stalwart PDiddie offers up this retort in the Comments of the chron blog:

Yeah, it's nothing but petty when the Republican county clerk has to point out to a former Republican judge that she has violated the law.

It's also just liberal bias (sic) on the part of the Chron to "rear its head" and report it, isn't it?

I don't know what's worse: the lack of integrity on the part of people like Bettencourt (and Rosenthal and Stafford and Thomas and etc.), the sinmple stupidity of pols like Huffman and Radack, or their sycophants here who rush to make excuses for them.

Arrogant ignorance like this is obviously why we have so many stupid and corrupt local officials in the first place.

Posted by: PDiddie at December 11, 2008 03:25 PM

Yeah...complaints about the falsity of Lib'rul bias charges and name calling...except that, according to my read of the comments, no commenter claimed the Chron was displaying a liberal bias. (until after that post that is)

Under the FWIW catagory: Alan Bernstein seems to be pretty equal opportunity when it comes to reporting scandal on both sides so I don't think bias is an issue. What IS at issue is the quality of the Chron's local politics coverage on a consistant basis. Sometimes they're really good, and sometimes they're really bad. It's hit and miss.

All that being said, before someone weighs in for me, I should probably weigh in on the actual scandal, since certain folks seem very concerned about it....

It's a Class C misdemeanor, nothing more. If the Huffman campaign was guilty of the crime then she should pay the fine. If the Bell campaign did the same thing I'd have the same feeling.

It probably doesn't mean much to partisans that I don't think the Bell campaign would make a mistake like that based on the fact that he's a very experienced candidate. Granted, most of that experience involves losing, but its experience nevertheless. Unlike Bell this is the highest profile campaign that Huffman has ever been involved in. Mistakes like this happen. Hopefully the Huffman folks learn from it and move on.



SD-17 Interviews: Be sure to listen to the audio interviews compiled by Trent Seibert and Jennifer Peebles of Texas Watchdog. They did a very good job presenting both.


Finally, in case you missed the SD-17 chat debate on Chron.localpolitics.com on Tuesday I created a Google Doc with the answers edited and organized in relation to the questions asked that you can find here.


Early voting ends tomorrow and the election is on the 16th.


So, if you live in that District, get out and vote.





*Kudos to the Chron for holding the debate. That's the kind of coverage you should expect from Houston's "Leading information source".

State Dems bash National Party over lack of Noriega Support

And this is their reaction to a good electoral cycle...

[Alan Bernstein, Chron.com]

Two prominent Hispanic Democratic officials from Texas harshly criticized an arm of their national party today for skipping over the state when it provided funding muscle for U.S. Senate candidates across the country.

State Sens. Mario Gallegos of Houston and Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio objected to the fact that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee collected contributions from Texans — $1.1 million at an event in San Antonio, for instance — without sending any to the campaign of outgoing state legislator Rick Noriega of Houston.

Noriega lost the Senate race in November to Republican incumbent John Cornyn, who raised $10 million during the campaign to $4 million for Noriega, according to federal records.

The Democratic committee's decision to spend the money outside Texas "is shameful and disgraceful, and we will do everything we can to prevent this disrespect from happening again," the two state senators wrote.

"For the face of the U.S. Senate to represent the true face of America, we must all work together to invest in quality candidates such as Rick Noriega, not take a walk when our candidate is not a member of the millionaires' club," they added.

Noriega, too, is Hispanic, and Gallegos and Van de Putte implied in their letter that ethnicity figured into the national Democratic strategy.

"Rick Noriega has an impeccable pedigree to run in Texas. He is an old-fashioned Democrat — a family man, a man of faith, a combat-decorated veteran, a legislator, with an Ivy-league education and time spent defending the border," they wrote. "He has a heart for the people, impeccable Democratic credentials and is an awesome retail campaigner. To some who chose to sit on the sidelines in this election, those characteristics were apparently not enough — he is not wealthy or white. We have always believed Democrats are better than that."

This is just the latest example of Noriega supporters chastising the National Democratic Party for their perceived "slight" of InterLeft fav-rave Noriega. While its fair to speculate that lack of Federal funding damaged Noriegas chances to win the election, there were ample signs coming out way prior to this decision that Mister Rick wasn't near the candidate local Progressives imagined him to be.

Getting money from the National Party has more to do with polling numbers and less to do with ethnicity than one thinks. A National Party (rightly) focuses on elections that can be won. Except for one outlier or a poll, there was very little evidence the race was going to be all that close.

Unless, that is, you read your own campaign literature that's being distributed out in the blogs.

Look, we're all guilty of it. I backed Michael Skelley against Culberson and foolishly opined that Skelley would "make it close". Ooops. It happens. Sen. Dan Patrick was predicting as late as Monday evening before the election that McCain was going to "surprise people". Whoops.

The point is that we all tend to overestimate the base of support of those candidates we like and support and underestimate the base of support of those we don't. This is especially true of politicians and political hobby bloggers. Part of the reason is due to the fact that a majority of opinions we hear, read or pay attention to are remarkably similar to our own.

Politics is nothing more than a series of like-minded people building each other up through carefully orchestrated circle-jerks. The echo chambers are huge. The problem develops when we begin to think that our echo chamber is somehow morally superior to the other sides' echo chamber. When that happens we get non-funny blog-posts and comments that do little more than call the other side names that are neither particuarlly imaginative nor witty.

And it leads to people searching under stones for reasons their bad candidate lost instead of just admitting that the candidate in question just wasn't very good.*





*This has nothing to do with Noriega's qualifications, but more to do with his abilities as a candidate. Sorry D's, he wasn't that good in front of the camera, he came across as rude to his wife and clueless in the Texas Monthly article, and he demonstrated somewhat of a temper all too often. Not a guy you want to "share a beer with". He also blew it by not utilizing his strongest campaign asset: Melissa Noriega.

Republicans acting like Democrats (Mobility issues)

One of the strongest messages that's churning out of the Right Wing of the ever-shrinking GOP of late is that when Republicans act like Democrats the Democrats win elections.

Since the Republican "brand" is damaged currently, and Discussions are on-going regarding how to save it. I thought I'd take a look at that meme (on a State level) to see how it holds up to closer scrutiny...

What follows is a (partial) listing of major mobility projects that have been either pushed or enacted since the Pachyderms took over the State: The object is to see whether, or not, the policies are "Republicans acting as Democrats" or if something else is at work here.... (NOTE: We're dealing with "public perception" here, which (as I've stated before) is 99% of politics)

1. Trans Texas Corridor - Conceptualized and championed by Rick Perry, the Trans-Texas Corridor (or Texas Trans Corridor as Dan Patrick likes to call it) is also referred to as 'the NAFTA expressway'. The original plan called for a massive superhighway coupled with commercial railways cutting across Texas from Mexico's border to Arkansas. Strong public opinion ran counter to the TTC and TxDOT took a beating for it in several "citizen input" meetings. While its true that many Republican elected officials came out against the plan, the Public largely views this as a Republican-hatched idea due to Rick Perry's public and vocal support.

Was this "acting like a Democrat"? - Most assuredly no. It's hard to imagine the anti-highway, anti-commerce, Anti-NAFTA protectionist Democratic Party brainstorming anything remotely close to the TTC project. While the project did call for large increases in Gov't spending, it was Gov't spending designed for the primary benefit of Corporations, including a Spanish Corporation that was famously awarded large portions of the project.

2. New Toll Roads - Facing a shortage of Highway funds, and forced by ideology to not raise the gasoline tax, Rick Perry and TxDOT hatched a plan to expand the use of Toll roads. Even worse, the plan called for 'non-compete' clauses built into the Toll Road contracts which had the potential to choke off municipal road repairs on non-toll options. Again, there were several Republican lawmakers who disapproved of this plan, but the media focused primarily on Democratic opposition.

Was this "acting like a Democrat"? - Again the answer would have to be a resounding no. Democrats would have moved to raise the gas tax, and would have required moving the main thrust of infrastructure to a more rail-centric system. With rail gaining in popularity with the mainstream the perception of being "pro-highway" damaged the Republican brand.

3. Westpark Tollway Congestion pricing - Fighting urban congestion is a losing proposition, even in cities where public transportation is robust. The simple fact is that when a lot of people need to get somewhere at the same time, roads and transit is going to back up. Newly appointed County Commissioner Ed Emmett found himself in the middle of a transit firestorm when he raised the issue of congestion pricing on County Toll-Roads, including the popular WestPark tollway which was operating beyond its designed capacity when it opened. The plan met with outrage from local drivers who, rightly, derided the County for their willingness to charge higher tolls, without there being viable alternatives in place for those who pay the tolls.

Was this "acting like a Democrat"? - Yes, and no. Raising tolls and fees to curb congestion is certainly something that comes out of the Democratic playbook. What's different here is how the money would be used. Democrats would 'probably' earmark the money for mass transit, Republicans wanted to use the excess money to 'build more toll roads'. It's that distinction that's important.


For the time being, I'm going to omit MetroRail and Houston transportation issues due to their only being applicable to voter attitudes in Houston. In a futre post I'll address both DART, METRORAIL and other items.

The next post will be a look at Deregulation and privitation initiatives started under Republican majorities.


As with anything, what appears above is just my opinion and is open to debate, rebuttal, etc. LaE welcomes comments from all viewpoints just make sure you follow the basic guidelines listed at the bottom of this blog. (no profanity, mutual respect, etc.)

Houston Asides (12/11/08)

The "boring and predictable" edition....

Perry aims to be fitness Governor [Peggy Fikac, Chron.com] - Lesson one: How to craft a REALLY good head of hair.

KBR delays plans for campus in West Houston. [Nancy Sarnoff, Chron.com] - That's too bad. KBR jobs are typically well-paying jobs, wing-nut protestations aside.

Not a book for the faint of heart. [Lisa Falkenberg, Chron.com] - Interesting, the Chron's Jr. columnist appears to be calling for a Religion test to be applied to SBOE candidates. Dunbar needs to go, but it needs to be done by the voters, and not by the whim of cultural elitists.

Team from Rice wins $10,000 in "Recycle Ike" contest. [Carolyn Feibel, Chron.com] - I guess my "build the Dynamo Stadium with the debris" idea was rejected. (NOTE: due to recent "over-sensitivity" by certain readers I must make the disclaimer that the preceding was a JOKE. We now return you to your reguarly scheduled blog.)

Stephen Chu as Energy Secretary. Who? [eljefebob, Chron.commons] - I'd just say that the appointment of an avowed AGW acolyte to the position of energy secretary is political in and of itself. Not "wrong" per se, but hardly as apolitical as Obamapologists would have you believe.

Plant explosion galvanized neighbors. [Matthew Tresaugue, Chron.com] - Important omission: Which came first, the plant or the residential neighborhood? That's an important question. If you move in next to a waste processing plant then shame on you. However, if you've been there and the plant moves in? I'm a little more sympathetic to your plight. It's the same thing as moving in next to a bar and complaining about late-night noise.

BBTROE: Address GOP gap with Hispanic and younger voters. [David Benzion, Lone Star Times.com] - Interesting, if vitriolic, reads in the comments, just don't waltz over offering an opinion outside of their mainstream and you'll be fine.

Follow up on the "Libertarian effect" in the house. [Charles Kuffner, Off the Kuff] - More mathmatical analysis of the election. (What Kuff does best BTW)

HCRP Absurdity [The County Seat] - The Senators and bloviators over at the seat wax wise once again.

Strange Bedfellows [Evan, Rick Perry vs. World] - A strong memory for relationships and an ability to connect the dots makes Evan's blog a must-read come campaign time.

Onto Greener Pastures. [K, She Eats] - Congrats to K on her new gig. She's a talented writer with a passion for food. Need I say more?

HISD being urged to re-visit pre-employment drug screening.

Probably a good idea...

[Ericka Mellon, Chron.com]

For many job applicants, whether the work involves driving trucks or answering phones, passing a drug test is a given.

That's not the case for Texas public school teachers.

The state does not require teachers to take drug tests before being hired, and local school districts aren't mandating the tests on their own.

Officials with several districts — including the Houston Independent School District, San Antonio ISD and Alief ISD — cited cost as one major reason they skip pre-employment drug screens for teachers.

But with the recent drug arrests of more than a dozen HISD employees, some advocates are calling on districts to revisit their hiring practices.

"School teachers — next to parents, and in some cases, above parents — are the strongest role model in a child's life," said Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. "If there's ever an employee that we should be looking that they're drug free, it should be teachers."

State Rep. Rob Eissler, who chairs the House Public Education Committee, said he would support studying mandatory drug screening for teaching applicants. More than 300,000 teachers currently work in the state's public schools.

Come to think of it, I just always assumed that teachers had to pass a simple drug test before getting the job. That they don't is a hole in the system that needs to be filled. I understand that the unions and "education" advocates will object to this on the grounds that it will make it harder to attract teachers but, are drug-using teachers really the type of talent that we want to attract to teach our kids in the first place?

The biggest "hurdle" seems to be cost. The article notes that screening the yearly average of 1500 new applicants would cost approximately $42,000 per year. Not exactly what I would call a "prohibitive cost". Especially when you consider the escalating number of drug busts on campuses of late.

Baby its cold outside....

Okay, okay...cold from a Houston perspective but I think this at least qualifies as "chilly" right?

Last night at the Crow compound we were all bundled up and drinking hot chocolate, feeling real good about ourselves and our foresight to stock up on winter essentials when, my Rottweiler freaked out and started madly barking at the snow. We let him outside and he went MAD chasing snowflakes around the yard, trying to eat them. The other two dogs just sat at the door and looked at him like he was nuts. Then the Ridgeback yawned, walked back to her bed and proceded to sleep the rest of the event away. You'd think snow would be a bigger event to a Dog with African lineage right?

The good news? From what I'm hearing on the radio traffic is light this morning. Which means I've got time for a cup of hot cocoa before I head out of here.

All abuzz at Commissioner's Court

The Chron's Liz Austin Peterson fills readers in on today's goings on at the County...

1. More intrigue in search for Bettencourt's successor....

The Harris County Administration Building is still abuzz with rumors over who'll get picked to replace Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt.

The most intriguing scenario mentioned so far involves the possible nomination of Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who would give up her seat to position herself to challenge County Judge Ed Emmett in 2010 or to run for a statewide office.

Picking Garcia would give a Democrat control of the voter registration process, something that party has got to want. But Emmett would get to pick her replacement, likely giving the GOP a fourth seat at the table.

Garcia said the rumor is "absolutely not true."

The swap would probably backfire on the Democrats anyway. The new Republican supermajority could just move the voter registration duties from the tax office to the County Clerk's office, headed by Republican Beverly Kaufman.

The article goes on to say that this idea was already floated by Republican chairman of the Ballot Board, Jim Harding. If you don't remember, Bettencourt came under fire for perceived foot-dragging in respects to verification on provisional ballots. The resulting response by Bettencourt, leaving irate phone messages on Harding's voice mail, only served to stir the pot. Garcia says she's not a candidate, I still think Theresa Chang has the hole shot on the appointment, but the way things are going nothing would surprise me.

2. Court rejects Vince Ryan's request to expand County Attorney's office by seven positions and almost $800,000.

It took Commissioners Court about 30 seconds to slap down County Attorney-elect Vince Ryan's request for permission to create seven positions for members of his transition team.

The idea that Ryan was able to even get the request on the agenda clearly annoyed several court members, since, technically, he's still just a member of the public.

"Vince Ryan is a citizen right now," Commissioner Jerry Eversole said. "He can't do this at this time. ... Let him bring them back at the appropriate time, but I don't think this is the appropriate time."

The court then voted to table the request, a move so rare that Commissioner Steve Radack remarked he wasn't aware such a vote would have to be taken.

Ryan, who takes office Jan. 1, requested approval to hire a senior general counsel, two assistant general counsels, a special investigator and three executive assistants at a cost of nearly $800,000 a year, not including benefits.

Wow! An $800,000 expansion of the County Attorney's office before day one in office. If this is the type of fiscal restraint that citizens can expect from Mr. Ryan then we've got a long four years ahead of us.

All in all it was a very rare exciting day at Commissioner's Court, and one that highlighted the faults of both major parties.

Technical issues

If you're like me and experiencing the constant clicking when you open LaE I apologize. Apparantly the "in-line" ad that Google Ad's has placed on my blog is gumming up the works. I've tried to remove these ads but Blogger has a known issue right now (read: a bug) that's not allowing me to make format changes.


I've notified management about this little issue, until then I guess just close your eyes and imagine popcorn popping.....

Commuting on the "new" I-10

As most know I live on the Northwest side. Getting home from Bellaire, for a while now, has involved paying a toll on the Westpark tollway. I've avoided I-10 like the plague due to traffic and my aversion to not moving period.

Yesterday I left late from work and knew that the backup on Westpark would be bad. Since I was doomed to wait anyway I decided to take a look at what I-10 had to offer now that construction was complete. Wow...




Here's a (blurry) shot of my spedometer, and a shot of the clock that I took to verify the time....





Yup, I averaged 65 almost all the way home. At just about 5 PM in the afternoon btw.


Nice

Houston Asides (12/09/08)

Bipartisan option [tAFKAMW, Chron.com] - The argument for a Trautman appointment is a political one, namely that the County is trending Democratic so a Democrat should get the position. How you turn that into a "non-partisan" selection is beyond me. I have no beef with those Democrats who support a Trautman appointment (my thinly veiled misogyny notwithstanding) but I do take issue with tAFKAMW trying to cast this as an apolitical event.

HISD plans drug searches at employee parking lots. [Ericka Mellon, Chron.com] - About time.

Chat with SD 17 run-off candidates today. [Alan Bernstein, Chron.com] - If you reside in SD 17 you should pay attention.

8 Pulic arts projects are set for completion in 2009 [Douglas Britt, Chron.com] - I'm a fan or art for art's sake, I'm sure some will oppose this, but bringing more art to the public square is a good thing.

Precinct analysis: The appeals courts [Charles Kuffner, Off the Kuff] - Projects favorable results for the Democrats in 2010, something I don't quibble with if Republicans continue along the same path.

Fast Company profiles Opportunity Houston. [Kevin Whited, BlogHouston] - The "branding Houston" discussion continues.

State and Local Transportation Issues, part 2 [Tory Gattis, HoustonStrategies] - Dispatches from the recent Transportation conference. Good stuff.

Proper Nouns [Slampo's Place]

Happy Eid [Lou Minatti] - A strong argument for the retaining of Christmas, and using your consumer choice to make a point.

More Myopia in the Republican Party

Beat that tax relief drum...

[Alan Bernstein, Chron.com]

Harris County's Republican precinct chairmen tonight essentially decided to stay out of the dispute over the 2006 e-mails that led party chairman Jared Woodfill to call recently for Republican misdemeanor court judge Larry Standley to resign.

The precinct leaders voted to shelve a so-called unity resolution proposed by Mona Lisa Chambers of Houston, vice chairwoman of the Texas Federation of Black Republicans.

The resolution, taking note of a Republican polling firm's findings that the public thinks of the GOP as more racist than the Democratic Party, would have supported Woodfill and called for rebuking wayward elected officials when necessary.

(snip)

The grassroots leaders did adopt a resolution opposing public funding for a new stadium for the Dynamo soccer team. They said the city should sell the land for the proposed project and use the proceeds for taxpayer relief.

Sigh...

Still the "party of no" without offering up alternative solutions. Let me see if I can help our Republican friends frame this a different way...

"The grassroots leaders did adopt a resolution opposing the placement of a new Dynamo Soccer Stadium downtown. They said the city should sell the land and redirect the proceeds to infrastructure projects while offering up other (cheaper) city lands on the Northeast side of Houston, an area that would better benefit from the economic development that Stadium backers are promising."

Land would be much cheaper outside the Loop you understand, and the City certainly owns tracts of land in that direction that can be donated for stadium construction. Also, since the issue is being "labeled" as a "Hispanic" issue by citizens, the argument could be made that building a stadium in a region heavily populated by Hispanics would do more to benefit that constituency than would building it Downtown.


Instead? They give us "no" and "tax relief". Which is the same plan that has been consistently losing elections for the last four years. People want progress, and they've demonstrated via the ballot box that they like to have nice shiny stadiums. What Republicans need to do, in keeping with their Conservative principles, is to ensure that the public's wants are met in the most fiscally responsible manner possible.

Texas Lege: Barely getting by

Oh the humanity...

[Gary Scharrar, Chron.com]

A defensive committee chairman showed off a recently renovated lounge for legislators on Monday, saying upgrades for the private area were sorely needed despite criticism of the makeover's $140,000 cost.

Newly milled oak cabinets, granite countertops and two late-1800s-period chandeliers put a nifty touch on the lounge, which is next to the House floor and open only to the chamber's 150 members.

The renovation project was launched long before economic hard times arrived and before Gov. Rick Perry asked all state agencies to pare down expenses, said Chairman Tony Goolsby of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the allocation of office space for the chamber.

Were the granite tabletops, fancy cabinetry and chandeliers — at $29,000 a pair — necessary?

"Well, we think so, yes," said Goolsby, R-Dallas. "You will have to agree, whether you like it or not, that we have done a great job here."

Tough times call for tough measures. Before the economy went south I heard they were considering the chandeliers that cost $50,000 a pair.



Who says your Government isn't a good steward of your tax money?

Sharp vs. Shapiro vs. TBD

Kay Bailey isn't even out of the seat yet and both parties already have players in the race to replace.

[Clay Robison, Chron.com]

Former Comptroller John Sharp, a Democrat, said today that he will run for the U.S. Senate seat expected to be vacated next year by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison

Hutchison last week designated a campaign treasurer to begin raising money for an anticipated race for governor in 2010 and is expected to resign from the Senate in mid-term.

``I will be a candidate whether the election is in 2012 or any time before then,'' Sharp said. ``Texans face tough challenges that call for innovative solutions, and that's what our campaign is all about.''

State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, already has formed an exploratory committee for a potential race for the Hutchison seat. A special election for the post could attract numerous candidates from both major parties.

I would imagine that this is only the beginning in terms of not-obscure, but not big-time political names popping up for a run at this seat. In all probability this office will have no power of the incumbency and, due to its high profile, it will be a good measuring stick for each party to determine the status of their brand name in respect to the "other guy". If each Party can coalesce around a strong candidate, then we might just get the truest sense of Democratic vs. Republican strength in Texas that we've had in a long time.

The question is: Will each party gel behind a candidate?

On the Democratic side Sharp is almost a decade away from holding a political office of any kind, and with two decisive losses on his immediate resume (to Rick Perry and David Dewhurst) the prevailing thought is that his political time has passed. To that mix I'm wondering if you could add Rick Noriega (should he not be appointed to a cabinet position in the Obama administration), Chris Bell (assuming he loses his run-off to Joan Huffman) and a wildcard or two like Mikal Watts (who stepped aside in the primary against Noriega, but who has been consolidating power within the State Democratic Party and might be willing to cash in some favors.) just to make things interesting. There's also the possibility that Barbara Ann Radnofsky would throw her hat into the ring, but from what I hear she's focusing on another office at the State level for now (one thing about resignations however, they change people's plans). One name I haven't heard (but would like to hear) on the Democrats side is Scott Hochberg. Not only do I think he has the temperment to win a Statewide race, but he's a skilled legislator whose shown an ability to attack complex problems head-on. I've neither seen (nor heard) any information stating that he'd consider a run for the Senate, so this is just thinking out loud on my part, and shouldn't be considered as the start of a rumour that he's in the running.

For the Republicans any discussion of a Senate seat has to start and stop with David Dewhurst. Now that he's seen his path to the Governorship close up all guesses are that he will refocus his energies on the US Senate, where a six-year term allows him to bide his time without fear of constant campaigning, should the Governor's seat open up again. Can you ever really rule out Dan Patrick now for a Senate run? It's pretty much common knowledge that the guy isn't happy having to "play the game" in the Texas Senate, a more likely scenario is for him to declare for the Lite Gov. seat after Dewhurst declares for the Senate. The last (credible) candidate for the Senate seat is Attorney General Greg Abbott. It's no secret that he's hoarding money for a possible run at something, to think that he would follow John Cornyn's footsteps from the AG's office to a seat in the US Senate does not take (too) much imagination. If nothing else, it could re-open the door for some of the more angry bloggers out there to craft non-ADA compliant posts about flailing legs and what not. (which has happened before).

London is cold.

After a marathon photo uploading (and editing) session on Sunday. I finally got the last of the Europe trip photos uploaded. This includes all of the random pretty building pictures in London, as well as the Paris pictures in the previous post.

All that being said I should probably go ahead and get the explanation for this picture out of the way:


1. It was on the Eurostar and I was returning from the bar car with "round four".
2. London is cold. My tongue was permanently frozen in that position.
3. It was on the Eurostar and I was returning from the bar car with "round four".


As they say, you might as well laugh at yourself because everyone else is....


Anyway, here's the link to the England picture set, as well as the two links to the Paris sets again if you don't wish to go hunting for them...

England

Paris One

Paris Two

Houston Area Asides (12/08/08)

Slowdown creating chemical reaction. [Brett Clanton, Chron.com]

Man charged in HPD death. [Jennifer Latson, Chron.com]

Texas wants to retain grip on regulation. [R.G. Ratcliffe, Chron.com] - Finally, some blow-back to the Paulson/Bush Federal power grab.

Teacher's groups critical of new HISD 'human talent' hire. [Ericka Mellon, Chron.com] - If you guessed Gayle Fallon was opposed, give yourself a gold star. Unintentional humor moment:

"We need long-term employees who consider teaching their profession," said Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers.

Is Gayle Fallon a teacher? I don't think so currently.

Flow of Guns to Mexico endangers US safety. [tAFKAMW, Chron.com] - Not to be an I told you so, but I told you so. NOTE: the original story this editorial is referring to broke on 11/30/08) NINE days ago. Under the previous Ed. board director Mr. Gibbons timeliness was an issue, it's gotten worse. Staff editorials are starting to seem more and more like an afterthought at the Chron.

BBTROE: Educate GOP base Re: The dangers of going to way of CO [David Benzion, Lone Star Times] - Further discussion from the Synagogue of Dan about the future of the GOP. Interesting reading.

Looking ahead to 2010 in Harris County. [Charles Kuffner, Off the Kuff] - Further discussion from Texas Monthly's favorite local blogger reading the Democratic tea leaves for 2010.

Noble Road Trail. [Lou Minatti, LouMinatti.com] - A mountain biking must do as soon as the Holidays are behind us.

Astrodome Hotel Idea on Life Support?

It sure seems that way...[Bill Murphy, Chron.com]

The credit crunch has not killed the effort to turn the Astrodome into an upscale convention hotel, but the project's developers and county officials are unsure whether financing for the $450 million plan can be obtained.

Before the financial markets tightened, Astrodome Redevelopment Co. was prepared to put up $150 million in equity — much coming in the form of historic tax credits given for preserving the iconic building once known as the Eighth Wonder of the World.

But the company likely will be required to raise as much as $225 million in equity because loan standards have become stricter during the credit crunch, said Astrodome Redevelopment president Scott Hanson.

"It's clearly more difficult to get credit at this stage," Hanson said.

But talk of whether Astrodome Redevelopment can obtain financing is speculative.

The company is waiting to see whether the Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo sign off on a proposed lease between it and the county before it tries to obtain financing.

The county hasn't gained approval from the Texans and the rodeo since opening discussions more than four months ago.

Translation: Uh, we don't really know because we haven't really tried, but it sounds reasonable to assume that credit isn't out there. (Something we're hoping to find out if we can get the whole "approval" thing worked out.)

Strangely, misleading headline to the contrary, the key concerns that this article raises is the lack of planning that's gone into the "luxury convention hotel" in the first place. As of now, well into a year after the idea was first floated, there are no detailed plans, no basic financial structuring and not even primary approval from the Rodeo or Texans. I don't know about you but, as of now, this project is sounding more and more like a non-starter. If that's the case then "finances" are going to be the least of the Astrodome worries. Nevermind the fact that the old building is starting to fall apart:

The Dome is hardly a top-notch facility these days. It was closed in July after the Houston Fire Marshal's Office found that its sprinkler system lacked enough water pressure and cited the building for nine code violations.

SMG-Reliant Park, which manages the complex, and other Reliant Park companies moved more than 40 employees out of offices at the Dome, and it has been sitting empty since.

No events will be held in the Dome at the upcoming rodeo because of its building code violations, said rodeo chief operating officer Leroy Shafer.

The article also makes mention of Astrodome Production Studios a plan that I've voiced reservations about previously. It seems that my skepticism was well founded, as the article mentions that the group pushing the idea has not even cobbled together a formal proposal as of yet.

I still think there are only three viable options for the Dome.

1. Demolition - Which I still think is unlikely due to conversations I've had with local political leaders. Noone (rightly) wants to be seen as the politician "who tore down the Dome".

2. The Astrodome Casino - Granted, that's not going to happen now. Getting the Texas Lege to even consider casino gambling seems a pipe dream. Heck, Race Tracks can't even get video slots approved. Gotta protect that Lotto monopoly.

3. The Astrodome Museum and Parking Garage - Converting the Dome to a parking garage/museum is something that makes a lot of sense (especially if Metro can be convinced to offer a multitude of services that hub from there) it could be a money maker, and its probably the simplest option since it won't involve drastically altering the external structure. I'm really surprised that no-one has thought of this yet. You could structure things to where the museum was closed on Sunday's during football season to appease Bob McNair, and the Rodeo surely wouldn't object to having all that extra parking on site would they? (not to mention a nice Rodeo Houston exhibit in a museum).

My first inclination was to tear it down, but after thinking about it some I've decided that option three could be a real winner. Not for the historical significance of the Dome (It's a young building in terms of that) but in regards to preserving a symbol of Houston's former "can-do" attitude that's been sadly lacking in recent years. Maybe the sight of the Grand-old-Dome still standing will spark memories of Houston's past and drive a renaissance in our Municipal and County Government?

Parisians are nice, nice people

Contrary to what you might have heard.

We took the Eurostar to Paris From London, about a 2 1/2 hour ride each way. The good news is they have bar cars, so yes, you can drink a beer at 212 MPH.

Paris is a bustling, hectic, sort-of dirty feeling City, full of some of the most beautiful buildings in the World. The old canard is that Parisians are mean, spiteful and rude to Americans. The truth of the matter is, provided you show some basic respect for their culture, they are quite understanding that you don't speak the language. Parisians were friendly, cheerful, eager to help, and curious about why two Texans and an Ex-pat from Britain weren't fans of President Bush. The funny thing was they all laughed when I corrected them regarding the Bush family origins. Once I explained that the Bush family was from Maine, (only residing in Texas) there was a hearty laugh quickly followed by a toast and the consumption of several glasses of wine.

A word about wine: Americans get wine all wrong. We have "tasting notes" and wine snobs and "trendy" varietals. Europeans, on the other hand, serve good wines at pedestrian prices that are the equal in taste to wines that sell in America for four to five times the price. Drinking wine in France is a birthright not a privilege, most wine is a drink for the common folk.

There are a lot of good things in Europe that they do right. Wine is one of them.

I said earlier that Paris was surprisingly dirty. Don't take that to mean it wasn't beautiful. Paris is "bite the back of your hand" beautiful, to the point that you are constantly struck by the site of another random pretty building.

The food in Paris is great, and not that expensive.

Here are a couple of links to Flickr galleries of some of the photos we snapped. Enjoy.

Paris Photo Set One

Paris Photo Set 2

Give

Star of Hope struggles through economic crunch. [Allison Triarsi, KHOU.com]...

Times are tough for Heller, but it’s also tough times for the Star of Hope. The organization is currently experiencing a budget shortfall of over $400,000. It also has 22 open positions that it can’t afford to fill.

"Just like the general public, you can’t throw in the towel. You have to keep pushing forward," said Marilyn Fountain, who works at the Star of Hope.

Fountain said it cost the organization 35 percent more this year for food, and 45 percent more for utilities.

"We have to serve more people with fewer resources," said Fountain.

In this season of giving, those who need the Star of Hope, pray that that the economy doesn’t make a Grinch out of the people.

At Big, Giant Eeeevil Oil Co. we have the option of having charitable donations directly pulled from our paychecks. Star of Hope and Houston Humane Society are my two selections.

If you have some extra change this Holiday Season and can donate to Star of Hope I encourage you to do so. You can do it online Here.

Think about it...as a Country we gave $750 Million dollars to the Obama campaign. Surely we can find the charity to provide needed funds to groups that are really working to bring about "change"...

Houston Area Asides (12/07/08)

The "thinly veiled misogynist" edition....

UH-Downtown pursues a new identity. [Jeannie Kever, Chron.com] - Good press for the ol' Alma Mater. I didn't realize President Castillo was stepping down next year. The search for his replacement will be key to the Universities future success. Someone like Mary Helen Berenga would be a good pick.

Groups push public policy behind scenes at Capitol. [R.G. Ratcliffe, Chron.com] - *Gasp* Special Interests? In Austin? You don't say.....

Traffic Cam Benefits. [TAFKAMW, Chron.com] - Was there ever really any doubt that this editorial (almost a full week after the release of the story FWIW) was in the works?

SD 17 Runoff: Chris Bell [TAFKAMW, Chron.com] - Not surprising.

Large Counties should stop electing judges. [Gary Binberg, Chron.com] - No, they should just remove the parenthetical letter from behind their names (a la Houston Municipal elections). The call that voters are "too dense" to make the right picks speaks volumes of how Binberg feels about Harris county voters.

What would Jesus have to say about illegal immigrants. [Bill King, Chron.com] - I don't know, but I can tell you that he would probably tell people to quit putting words in his mouth on modern political issues.

Charity builds first home for Ike victims. [KHOU.com] - Nice to see charities stepping it up.

Reform you can belive in: Lykos bans short skirts. [Kevin Whited, BlogHouston.net] - Corrupt culture at the DA? Change the dress code!

What is this blithering 90-degree rule? [Tom Kirkendall, Houston's clear thinkers] - Ha!

Another PR black eye for area Repubs

Bettencourt skates, right after the election.....

[From KRIV, Fox 26]

FOX 26 News has learned Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has turned in his resignation to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.

Apparently there's a private sector job offer involved. Either way this reeks of a Republican getting out while the gettin's good. Leading up to the election Bettencourt was making a habit of blowing up when asked questions about his handling of the position, especially as it related to questions involving his efforts to purge the voter rolls. One wonders if he saw the electoral writing on the wall, and decided to bail, or if he made an agreement with Repub leaders to run for the office (giving Repubs the power of the incumbency) before resigning, a disturbing prospect.

Either way, on the heels of the Eckels resignation, this looks bad. It doesn't pass the smell test and is just one more reason for Harris County voters to choose Democrats over local Republicans.

Local blogs are running in overdrive trying to make sense of the event, including playing a type of parlor game guessing the eventual replacement.

The way I see it, here's the early handicapping on the main contenders....

Theresa Chang - 3/1: Easily the early favorite. She was considered to be a "rising star" within the local GOP, until her straight-ticket voter driven Harris County Clerk's loss to Loren Jackson.

Diane Trautman - 50/1: This is the name being bandied around by Democrats, the candidate who lost to Bettencourt in the general election. I don't see a still-majority-Republican Commissioner's Court appointing a Democrat to the position, especially a Democrat who's totally unqualified to hold the office.

Charles Bacarrise - 1000/1: Not a chance. There's no love lost between Bacarrise and Emmett. I'm willing to bet Ed Emmett would rather slide naked down a razor blade into a vat of rubbing alcohol rather than appointing Bacarrise.



I think the pick will be Theresa Chang, but I'm sympathetic to the idea that a Democrat should be the selection, but I'd like to see it be a Democrat who's qualified to run the office. Someone like Dexter Handy would be nice.

The "thought police" talking point.

I've written some about the so-called Tolerance Bridge on LaE of late, and other people have written about it as well.

I have noticed an emerging talking point coming from the side of the political spectrum that enjoys accusing the other side of relying on talking points.

To whit:

Dos Centavos...

Still, I would hope that the overall goal is not just tolerance (which to me sounds like we're putting up with groups of people), but that it be acceptance--of cultures, languages, etc.

Texas Liberal...

"Tolerance" suggests we are just tolerating other people. We'd might as well call it the "I Guess I've Got No Choice But To Live In This City With You Bridge." Or the "I've Suppose After All These Years I've Finally Developed A Tolerance For Your Kind Bridge."

Why not instead call it the "Acceptance Bridge?" Or the " You Are My Fellow Human Being Bridge?" Or even the "I Like You A Great Deal Bridge?"

We don't have to accept all that people do or believe. What we have to do is accept people as fellow human beings. Can't we hope for more than to just tolerate people?

PixieGirl commenting on Chron: Local Politics...

hate the word tolerance. To tolerate is "to up with". I'd rather have the word acceptance, inclusive or another better word!

Why is this odd? Because each and every one of them is using the exact same incorrect definition of tolerance (does not mean "to tolerate") in order to forward a move toward "acceptance".

Here's my response to PixieGirl from the Chron: local politics blog....

That's a meme I've seen pushing around the InterLeft but its false. Tolerance does not mean "to tolerate" or "to put up with" as you are claiming....

(from Dictionary.com)

1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry.
2. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.

From Merriam-Webster:
2 a: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one's own

Acceptance is something altogether different:

(again, from Merriam-Webster:)
to endure without protest or reaction b: to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable c: to recognize as true

I don't think its ideal to attempt to require Christians to "recognize as true" the tenets of Islam or vice versa. What I do think each party needs to be is have Tolerance for the ideas and beliefs of others. People are entitled to their own beliefs.

Attempting to substitue "acceptance" for "tolerance" brings us way to close to the realm of the Thought Police, where thinking and believing outside of "accepted" norms is outlawed and punished.

Notice that I didn't even mention the hypocracy of calling for acceptance while you yourself are incapable of accepting the point of view of those to which you are issuing the call...

Classic case of using talking points to move the goalposts down the field. First you get the idea of being tolerant toward others firmly established in the mainstream, then you reset the target to a much higher standard. The problem with this theory is that its proponents already view themselves as accepting of all others, except those who are not elevated to a higher conciousness as are they. Those people* aren't worthy of acceptance because their ideas run counter to those of the writers of the talking points. A fact that would require deep self-examination to discover.

Don't construe this post to be an admonishment of Democrats alone. Republicans are every bit as guilty of blindly distributing talking points as well. Don't believe me?

Don't let talking points dominate your world-view. Focus on having tolerance for others' beliefs and don't fall for the "acceptance" meme. After acceptance, the next logical step is condemnation. Condemnation for those who do not "accept" the conventional orthodoxy that a prescribed set of beliefs is "correct".







*Note the code words there. That's not accidental and "acceptance" proponents do use them to describe the intolerant at the same time mocking them for using the same.

Back to (semi) normal

Good luck Galveston!

[Harvey Rice, Chron.com]

This weekend's Dickens on The Strand is Galveston's first major event since Hurricane Ike struck in September, and could indicate how quickly this island city can revive its vital tourism industry.

The 35th year of the festival, which recreates the 19th century with period costumes, also is an attempt by Galveston businesses to let the outside world know that most of its restaurants and hotels and many of its attractions are up and running.

"Houston — they are a lot of our lifeblood and they don't even know we're open," said John Warthan, whose family owns the Emporium Market and two other shops along The Strand, the historic street where the festival is held.

The Galveston Tourism and Convention Bureau has predicted that tourism will return to pre-Ike levels by spring break, but that is of little consolation to shop owners in the Galveston Historical District that are laboring to reopen.

Due to time constraints and family illness, I won't be attending this year. I regret that because the Dickens' festival is one of my favorite annual events.

Here's hoping (for Galveston's sake) that the event is a successful and profitable affair.

Houston Budget Woes

Budget woes in the future?

[Carolyn Feibel, Chron.com]

Sales tax revenue could be 3.4 percent lower than planned for this fiscal year, said Controller Annise Parker. That means a shortfall of $17.7 million from what was budgeted.

"I'd like to be proven wrong and see oil prices pop back up and the economy humming along, but we have to be prepared if it doesn't," Parker said. "If we are correct in our estimates — and they are estimates — then the administration will have to make changes and cut costs somewhere."

Mayor Bill White's finance director, Michelle Mitchell, had a slightly more optimistic estimate, predicting a drop of less than 1 percent in projected sales tax revenues for Houston.

That translates into a budget shortfall of less than $5 million. The city expected to spend $2.1 billion in operating funds in fiscal year 2009, which began in July.

(snip)

Both emphasized the city still will bring in more sales tax revenue than last year, but it will not be as much as anticipated when the budget was finalized in late spring. Since then, the city's economy has weathered a hurricane, credit and stock market woes, and the official announcement of a national recession. Oil prices also have dropped.

White said the city previously announced delays in some infrastructure projects and has no plans for more cuts.

"We're tightening our belts at City Hall, and I think a fair number of Houstonians are doing the same," he said.

Other Texas cities are undergoing similar economic pressures, said Frank Sturzl, executive director of the Texas Municipal League.

(snip)

Mitchell said that while revenues may be lower than expected in Houston, so may expenditures. She said that departmental budgets already were benefiting from lower-than-expected gasoline prices. Also, the city still expects to end the fiscal year next June with a balance of $212 million.

City Hall will not know until mid-February how much revenue it will get from the December retail season. But the city will be OK, Parker said.

Options include drawing down savings instead of borrowing on the bond market while interest rates are high, borrowing operating cash from enterprise funds, or waiting for credit markets to improve.

Budget shortfalls are never a good thing, but with the current leadership in place this one could be especially difficult for Houstonians because of their priorities.

For some, unkown, reason Mayor White and the current City Council do not place a high priority on public works. Evidence of this is illustrated by Mayor White's default statement that infrastructure projects will be delayed due to anticipated budget woes. What White (and Council) fail to realize is that infrastructure and public works should be among the last budgets that are cut due to their ability to spark economic development and create jobs.

After police and fire service, the most important function of Municipal Government is keeping the trains running on time, keeping the streetlights working, the roads paved, and the water flowing. Construction of these systems provides jobs, it adds to materials purchase, stimulates the economy, moreso than any $100 Million dollar playpen for sports elite.

Unfortunately, for Houston, the revenue announcement came on the heels of Mayor White announcing construction of the $7 Million Tolerance Bridge, a TIRZ funded project that (legally) is an entirely seperate matter from the City's general budget. The problem is most citizens don't understand (nor care to understand) the mechanisms and rules behind a TIRZ project. As a result they see almost 1/2 of the projected shortfall being spent on an ugly design with an unfortunate name while they're given dire projections (from the media and elected officials) that police patrols will be cut and their neighborhoods will be left vulnerable unless they go out and spend beyond their means this Christmas.

"We have seen the enemy and he is us." - Pogo Possum.

Or, at least, he is those people that we are electing to govern.

The Winter of Republican discontent

David Benzion of Lone Star Times rolled out the much ballyhooed "Republican Survey" yesterday for all the world to see...

[David Benzion, Hill Research Consultants and Lone Star Times]

Given my 12-year long, revolving-door career in media & politics, it is sometimes difficult for me to remember who knows me from which world–so by way of disclosure, I’ll remind everyone again that in addition to my on-line and on-air activities, I make my actual living as the Senior Research Analyst at Hill Research Consultants of The Woodlands, a political/strategic polling firm.

Typically, this is where I add the caveat that the nonsense that regularly appears here on LST has nothing to do with my employer or clients… but in this case, that isn’t true, and instead I’m proud to announce the public release (and LST Exclusive Scoop, if only by minutes!) of HRC’s ground-breaking statewide survey of 636 Texas voters, “Beyond Bush: Texas Republicans in an Obama Era.”

The entire 179 pg .PDF file can be found here.

I had a chance to skim the results last night, and (for Republicans) they're not good. Democrats however should be giddy this morning. Very giddy.

Oddly enough, this report (sort of) echoes themes that I've been blasting away at here for years. Namely, that Republicans cannot survive by continuing to be a predominently caucasian party of "No". Half of this is due to changing demographics, and half of it is due to the fact optimism is more of a selling point than pessimism. Americans want solutions, not to be scolded at by people who feel they are somehow superior to them because of some unique insite into how Gov't should be ran.

Sorry Republicans, but that's the image you're radiating at the moment.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....It's not enough for Republicans to be "against" any public works project Democrats put forward, no matter how rediculous those projects really are. What's important is that Republicans are able to stand up and offer up a "better way". Something that's more fiscally responsible, more useful and is a better stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

Voters want infrastructure, they want flood control, they want transportation options that get them where they need to go. That's the vision that Republicans need to learn to articulate, and not the nattering nabob negativism that they've been defaulting to of late. The Republicans need themselves a "Conservative deal". One that deals with education on a holistic level, more than just vouchers and screaming about waste, one that offers up a workable public transportation and road plan, not just screaming to rip up the tracks on the existing toy train, one that addresses the wants and needs of the community, and provides rallying points of progress.

It's OK to say that the "Tolerance Bridge" is a bad expenditure of funds if you think it is, but what do you have in place of that?

"Don't spend the money" isn't an electable answer.

I'm sure there will be more I have to say on this as I fully digest all 179 pages of the presentation. Thanks to Hill Consulting for releasing it to the public for mass consumption.

Hopefully this will spur BOTH Republicans and Democrats to a direction of sounder Government and less spiteful rhetoric. No, I'm not talking about the political blogosphere, because that's where good debate goes to die. I'm talking about our elected officials that are actually making decisions every day that impact our lives.


And change the name of that freaking bridge.

Ficksing Skools (Part III)

Education in Texas, for Republicans and Democrats, has recently seen an increase of "advocates" speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

On the one hand: Lawmakers and activists decry the need for "quality jobs" that have been hard to come by due to an untrained, and unskilled, manual labor force.

On the other hand: Many of the same lawmakers make speech after speech discussing the need to increase the number of potential laborers that are foolishly redirected into the University system.

In short, we've allowed a false elevation of the relative worth of a Liberal Arts-based degree to blind us to the necessary role and value to a society that a skilled workforce brings.

Does a Welder need a 4-year degree?

Of course not. But we've convinced ourselves, as a society, that having an advanced degree grated by a Liberal Arts institution is a necessity to living an "educated" proper life. What this has done is elevate subjects such as sociology and the humanities to the same level of critical need as civics, personal finance and whatever skill one is attempting to master. That an understanding of the concepts espoused by Sigmund Freud has been placed on equal footing as balancing a checkbook is laughable. A homebuilder, welder or other skilled laborer is probably not too worried about the mental motivation of the wood-cutter, nor should they be.

The problem with forcing too many students into the secondary-education sausage maker is that you end up burning people out requiring them to take courses with which they have nothing in common. As an accountant, I never could figure out why I had to take two semesters of chemistry, especially when you consider it was basically a review of High School chemistry and just wasted two schedule slots that I could have used to take additional Math classes. Or better yet, a civics class and a personal finance class.

Instead of funnelling students into the University system blindly, Texas should focus on identifying areas of expertise and focusing energies toward that goal. If a child excels in auto-shop, enjoys it, then why try to make him a poet? Instead, put him on a career path where he can focus on the following four areas:

1. The skill in question. - High schools used to do a good job providing basic skills in shop classes that prepared students for skilled labor positions once they completed their apprenticeship or trade education. This needs to come back.

2. Communication: Being smart at a trade is useless if you cannot communicate to the general public. Basic communication and writing skills should be mandatory for graduation.

3. Civics: Its of more concern that a child understand the functions of Government at the Federal, State and local levels in respect to being an "educated citizen" than it is that the student have read the Cliff Notes for all the combined works of the Greek philosophers. Focus on American civics and let the political science/history majors quibble over the classics. Under civics I'm also including a healthy dab of history. By "History" I mean neither the white-washed, "rah-rah", go-America version that we recieved as children, nor am I referring to the "boo-hoo" America is bad, we suck mish-mash that some want to teach. I'm talking about an honest, frank discussions regarding the pros and cons of the American experience. Yes Virginia, America has done some crap things in her past, but she's also done some wonderful things that deserve mention as well. Teaching this truthfully will help our children grow up to be well-adjusted, productive Americans and will lessen the impact that violent anti-American sentiment has on them.

4. Personal Finance: One of the great failures of the public education system is the lack of basic financial education that we're passing onto our children. At a bare minimum, ALL students should understand how to balance a checking account, understand the concept of compound interest, understand a mortgage, escrow, and simple financial concepts. The value of savings and the danger of high-debt loads should be emphasized.

Again, I'm not sitting here at night (I write these at night, then proof them during the next days' lunch hour) pecking these education posts out lightly, thinking that all Texas needs to do is wave a magic wand and fix everything. Full-scale structural change is hard. What I'm talking about is a cultural sea-change that runs counter to everything the education industry (yes, its an industry) has told us about University for years. Since the rise of American financial wealth in the 50's the prevailing wisdom has been to send one's kids to College so that they "can have a better life" than you. The result of this has been a full scale devaluation of skilled, manual labor by the American populace. Becoming "educated" has been morped into a type of Frankenstein's monster of poet, scribe, historian, art-lover all combined with an aptitude for work that places you in the corner office.

Reality is upside down. We've lost sight of the skill that it takes to build the home, instead focusing on the guy who SELLS the home as the ideal worker. If America doesn't turn that thought-pattern around soon....

Rapid Eye Movement (12/04/08)

The "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills" edition...

Will Supreme Court take case on Obama's citizenship? [James Janega, Chicago Trib via Chron.com] - It was wrong for Democrats to try and delegitimize the election of President Bush then, it's wrong of Republicans to try and do the same with Obama now. Obama won, get over it Republicans. Efforts to subvert the Democratic process only move us closer to totalitarianism.

AT&T to cut 12,000 jobs. [AP via Chron.com] - They're blaming the recession, but the truth is they're finally being forced to re-tool to become competative in the mobil-communications age.

Auto CEO's make pitch to Congress for massive loans. [AP via Chron.com]

Let the CEO's make some concessions. [Desperado, Something Different] - They have, on the surface at least.

In support of Loans for the American Auto Industry. [Neil Aquino, Texas Liberal] - 61% of Americans feel otherwise. Each of these companies would probably benefit from the protection afforded by Bankruptcy. As an added bonus they could get out from under some of the more punitive agreements they foolishly have signed with the UAW.

GM, The company no-one wants. [Black Shards] - Unlike some others, I don't blame UAW entirely for what's happened to the American Auto Industry, the descriptions in this blog post are a big reason why. UAW played a role, but GM, Ford and Chrysler were all willing co-conspirators.

Economic blues push crude into the mid-$40's [AP via Chron.com] - Yesterday I filled up my 12-gallon tank for $17. (using the Kroger fuel discount) $40 is a little low for oil however, once OPEC cuts production it should find a fairly stable price of around $60-$65 dollars which is about right.

Austin wants to be green energy capital [Tom Fowler, Chron.com] - As does Houston, and Dallas, and San Antonio, and Sacramento and Seattle and San Francisco etc....

Housing is next proposed target for relief. [Christopher S. Rugaber & Alan Zibel of the AP via Chron.com] - Ready! Fire! Aim! governance runs amok. Still, at 4.5% it could be time to refinance.

No. 2 Federal prosecuter shot dead in Juarez attack. [AP via Chron.com] - Waiting for the editorial by tAFKAMW blaming this shooting on America. Oh...wait

Poll: Calif. gay marriage ban driven by Religion. [Lisa Leff of the AP via Yahoo! News] - We're not too far away from Evangelical Religion being classified as "hate speech". Passive Religion or "unity" religion will become the new "accepted" norms. That being said it's very possible to be a Proud Evangelical Christan and not be opposed to Gay Marriage. For an example of that see the author of this blog.

You're never really out of politics

Even electoral losers can become winners.

[Gary Martin, San Antonio Express News via Chron.com]

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, trying to boost Latino representation in President-elect Barack Obama's administration, on Wednesday pushed a slate of candidates for the remaining Cabinet posts, including state Rep. Rick Noreiga of Houston.

Noriega, a Democrat who failed to dislodge Republican John Cornyn from his Senate seat last month, was mentioned for secretary of Veterans Affairs. Also on the list was a former mayor of Laredo, Saul Ramirez, who was promoted for secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

"There is no doubt that Rick Noriega and Ramirez are being discussed," said Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio. He made the statement on a day when Obama announced that his choice for Commerce Secretary was Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.

The chairman of the caucus, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif, warned that Obama's legislative agenda could be jeopardized if Richardson is the only Hispanic in the Cabinet.

So much for "post-racism" in America eh?

There was bloggy-style banter scooting around the InterLeft that Noriega was in line for Director of FEMA. I'm wondering if he ran away screaming from that post. That being said, Director of Veterans Affairs would seem to be a good place for him, and it might serve to mollify a Democratic Hispanic Caucus who's rapidly learning how to fly, in a political sense.

It will be interesting, as time progresses, to see whether Obama can corrall the coalition of interest groups that the Democrats rely on, or whether they will effectively stifle his Government as happened with Republicans.

IAH installs Karaoke...

I kid you not...

[Carolyn Feibel, Chron.com]

Air travel and karaoke. They go together like, um, like — well, we're not exactly sure.

No matter. Karaoke has landed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, just in time for the holiday season. Now you can clear security, step up to the microphone and belt out your travel frustrations by singing the Beatles' Nowhere Man or Help! Or, if you're not such a Grinch, you can croon Home for the Holidays or Sentimental Journey.

For the first time, the Houston Airport System is adding karaoke to its menu of holiday music entertainment. The first session is this afternoon, behind security between Terminals D and E.

I'll be avoiding the area behind security between Terminals D and E.


On the bright side (this IS Houston after all) I'm sure it will be billed as "World Class" karaoke.

The Tolerance Bridge. (UPDATED)

Good idea...

[Bradley Olson, Chron.com]

Mayor Bill White unveiled plans Wednesday for a $7 million walking bridge across Buffalo Bayou that will connect walking and bike trails in an area set to see a flurry of development.

Built with public and private funds, the "Tolerance Bridge" will connect trails around Allen Parkway with those on the other side of the bayou on Memorial Drive near Montrose Boulevard.

The bridge features a twisted archway at its center that from afar, project officials told City Council on Wednesday, makes it seem impossible to cross. However, when pedestrians or bikers are closer, they will see the walkway is easily passable under the arch.

B.A.D. Name.

Artistic foot bridges are good civic projects, it'd be even better if they tied it to a major activity center in Houston, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Gotta work on that name though.

UPDATE:

As expected, Local politicians are falling over themselves in the race to see who can be the most embarrassing.

[Bradley Olson, Chron.com]

Although many of you have had questions about the design, some also have asked about council members' attitudes.

Peter Brown, an architect, praised the project and repeatedly stressed that "Houston needs more civic art like this." He even compared it favorably with the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Councilwoman Jolanda Jones recalled a recent rally she attended within the transgender community and said she felt saddened when activists began to read the names of transgendered victims of violence. An ode to tolerance, she said, is just what this community needs.

The Eiffel Tower? Really Pete? You're comparing an artists' conception for a foot-bridge to the almost century-old symbol of France? (Of course, he's an architect so he can't be wrong....right?

And Jolanda Jones is wrong as well. What this community "needs" is infrastructure development first and foremost. It "needs" a roads and drainage, a real plan to deal with the pension shortfall, that's what Houston "needs". $7 Million dollar footbridges are political legacy baubles that fuel the desire for TrinketGovernance at the expense of nuts and bolts. In short, its putting "wants" over "needs" and its (typically) bad public policy.

This time however the Money is coming from a TIRZ, so there's little impact the expenditure would have on any of the "needs" that I listed above. Because its coming from a Heights area TIRZ it only makes sense that the residents of the Heights should have the final say on it. If they want it, fine.

That doesn't change the fact that the name is terrible and our elected officials are taking silly pills again.

Houston Asides (12/03/08)

The "time's they are a changin'" version...

Harris Hospital to Dr's: Wash hands or else. [Liz Austin Peterson, Chron.com] - Eeeew.

Texans Pittman suspended for doping violation. [Megan Manfull, Chron.com] - You know the season's going bad when your deep snapper is busted for banned diuretic use.

Tracy McGrady to miss three weeks. [Fran Blinbury, Chron.com] - Early public reaction: You're worthless and weak McGrady.

The lasting legacy of President Bush [Desperado, Something Different] - It's too early to determine the "lasting legacy" of President Bush. Nothing different about partisan rambling.

New Internet Poll: Are we a Center Left Nation? [Eljefebob, Gimme some truth] - If I had to guess I'd say 'yes', but ONLY for everyone else. Each and every American wants to retain their rights and privilages while taking them away from those who are one pay grade higher. "For the common good" of course.

College Report is warning for Texas. [Jeannie Kever, Chron.com] - Which reminds me. I've got to get back to my posts on schools.

Quannell X meets judge about e-mail with racist slur. [Alan Bernstein, Chron.com] - Is anyone else but me concerned about Q-10 becoming the arbritor of racial justice?

Precinct Analysis: Go West young candidate. [Charles Kuffner, Off the Kuff] - The phrase "enduring majority" could become the Democratic equivilent of Karl Rove's infamous "permanent majority" for Republicans. The political pendulum always swings. ALWAYS.

Worker's Paradise [Unca Darell] - Things are not going rosy in Chavez' Eden are they?

"That's just not us" [Tom Kirkendall, Houston's Clear Thinkers] - *snicker*

Two-Egg Man [Slampo, Slampo's Place]

The Lykos Strikes Back

Heads are starting to roll at the Harris County Criminal Justice System.

[Brian Rogers, Chron.com]

Prosecutors sat by their telephones Tuesday to see whether they will remain employed in District Attorney-elect Pat Lykos' administration.

Lykos does not take office until January, but she already has begun looking at which lawyers and other staffers she wants on her team. She has demanded that all staffers submit resumes and reapply for their jobs. Monday was the deadline to do so, and on Tuesday heads started rolling.

Longtime first assistant Bert Graham, who led the office for a month after the resignation of District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal in February, was the first to announce he would retire at the year's end.

(snip)

Lykos would not confirm any of the ousters, or give reasons for the decisions.

"I'm not going to be critical of individuals — I'm not going to bad mouth anyone," Lykos said.

She said she wants to give as much notice as possible to employees whose contracts she is not going to renew when she takes office Jan. 1.

(snip)

When Rosenthal decided in January not to run for a third term, prosecutor Kelly Siegler threw her hat into the ring, only to lose to Lykos in the Republican GOP primary.

Graham, who supported Siegler's campaign, and several other friends of Rosenthal and Siegler were among those whose contracts wouldn't be renewed, including Assistant District Attorney Murray Newman.

"I was a very vocal Kelly supporter," Newman said.

Newman said he wasn't surprised, despite an e-mail from Lykos after the primary saying there wouldn't be retribution for supporting someone else.

Defense attorney Robert Fickman, who compared Tuesday's purge with the infamous World War II era "Night of the Long Knives," said the changes were political.

"It's the day of the long knives," Fickman said. "Political retribution ain't reform."

Other prosecutors who were given their walking papers didn't seem to have any political connections, including Joe Owmby, the head of the police integrity division, which prosecutes peace officers accused of official misconduct.

"I've been here 22 years, and I've never had a person come up to me and tell me I've done wrong by them or their relatives. I feel good about the 22 years," Owmby said.

Most notably, Owmby prosecuted Andrea Yates in 2002 and 2006 for the drowning deaths of three of her children.

Owmby said he wasn't given a reason why he was fired.

Graham and Anderson were no-brainers, Graham was all over the press in support of Seigler and Anderson maintained a thinly veiled (for those in the HCJS)anonymous blog where he was critical of Lykos and supportive of Seigler.

It will be interesting to see who else is a part of the shake-out. I agree with Robert Fickman however:

Political retribution ain't reform.

Other Eyes:

My Day [Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center]; The Lykos Political Purge Begins. [BlogHouston]; In Defense of Murray Newman [Ron's Insanity]; Lykos brings changes to Harris DA [Grits for Breakfast]

First Red Light Camera Study Arrives

The numbers look good for camera proponents.

[Matt Stiles, Chron.com]

Red-light cameras have sprouted quickly across Texas in recent years, sparking heated debates about whether they reduce crashes or simply bring easy revenue for the cities that install them.

New data from Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute could help settle the argument.

A statewide study by institute researchers shows that monitored intersections had an overall 30 percent decrease in collisions.

The state-mandated report, released Tuesday by the Texas Department of Transportation, examined data from 56 intersections across the state, including many in Houston, from July 1, 2007, to June 31.

The data and analysis are limited because some cities' cameras went online during the study period and their post-installation data were not complete. But the report states that the cameras could be changing driver behavior.

"While these results cannot conclusively determine that red light cameras are responsible for the overall reduction in crashes ... the presence of the treatment provided some effect on the frequency of crashes at the selected intersections for the limited time period of this analysis," the report states.

Granted, this is a limited study of questionable value (the REAL study to pay attention to will be the City of Houston study released later) but it does provide red-light camera proponents with a sizable arrow in their quiver. I've no doubt that forthcoming studies will produce similar numbers.

Still unanswered, for me, are due process and Constitutionality concerns. I've no doubt that Red Light cameras make intersections safer. I've no doubt that Cities profit from them (while claiming revenue isn't a factor). What I have severe doubts about is whether not having due process on ticekt collection (with the stiff penalities for non-compliance that are being batted around)is a GOOD thing.

That being said, America IS a Representative Democracy, so if 50%+1 of the citezenry is willing to do away with liberty in return for safety......that's America.

On my recent trip to London there were probably only a handful of minutes that I was out in the public and NOT on a surveillance camera. All in the name of "safety" mind you. The British learned to deal with it, it seems that Americans will as well.

NASA working to fight budget scrutinization...

Cuts for thee, but not for me....

[Stewart M. Powell, Chron.com]

The Texas congressional delegation is launching a campaign to combat potentially deep budget cuts for NASA as President-elect Barack Obama focuses on rescuing the nation's economy.

The drive comes amid expectations that billions of dollars will be shifted from various federal agencies into new programs to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial system.

With tough trade-offs ahead, NASA's supporters are bracing for a hard look by the new administration and Democratic-controlled Congress at the space agency's $20.2 billion budget for the current year, which includes $5.8 billion for the shuttle and $3 billion to develop the Orion moonship.

I'm constantly in amazement that, when issues of budgets and belt-tightening come to the fore, NASA is among the first to start screaming that they should be "immune" from reviews of the type. The bottom line is this: EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT AGENCY should be required to go through a budget scrub in times of recession or depression. They should be tightly audited in fat times as well.

While I admit that my preference would be to farm-out space travel to private agencies, I do this with a hearty tip of the cap to the advances NASA provided society. Advances that have been sadly on the decline from an agency that's been listless and floating aimlessly with no rudder for quite some time now.

Perhaps a healthy bit of budget cuts and time to reorganize are just what NASA needs.

646944

Indulge me for a moment....

Four years ago, on Thanksgiving Day, my youngest Sister was diagnosed with Leukemia. Fortunately, through the hard work and efforts of the Dr's at St. Luke's Medical Center, the cancer was pushed into remission and all was well.

Two weeks ago, while going to the Dr. for her regular blood check-up, it was discovered that the Leukemia had come out of remission and was again active in her body.

During our London trip I made several calls home to get updates on her progress. forunately, we still think we are dealing with the type of leukemia that is treatable. My L'il Sis is still young (in her 20's) and in relatively good health. Unfortunately this means that she's going to have to go through another round of Chemo, and probably a bone marrow transplant this time because we are fighting for the second time.

If you're wondering, this is the same Sister (Tana) that got married during Hurricane Ike, so this is an early test of the marriage that the young couple didn't need.


The good news is that Tana is being treated at the best cancer Hospital in the world this time around (MD Anderson) and she's insured.

The reality is, however, that she's going to need to undergo several blood and platelet transfusions. This is the onus behind the post I'm authoring.

The number in the title of this post is Tana's case ID. Anyone making a blood or platelet donation under that ID number will have that amount credited to Tana's account. If you're a regular reader of this blog and could donate blood or platelets to Tana's account, my family and I would greatly appreciate it.

The way I understand it, when you fill out the donor form, there's a box asking if you are donating to credit a special account, that's where you enter the number. The good thing about donating like this is that, even if you aren't a match, the blood can still go to help others who need transfusions while Tana's account gets the credit.

Unfortunately, due to a hereditary blood condition that I have the misfortune of carrying, my blood is no good. However, three years ago when I had internal bleeding, it was the ready availability of blood for a transfusion that saved my life. Even a little thing like a pint of blood can be key to helping those in need.


Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to stop by the blood bank in Tana's name. I know that we all have busy lives and time contstraints and that there are increasing requests for charity during the Holiday Season.

Tana's going to beat this again.

Trains, Tubes, Double Deckers and Foot Power

When you go to London, be prepared to walk, be prepared to climb stairs (Europe is NOT ADA friendly) and be prepared to be flexible when you are trying to ride public transit. There's ALWAYS something going wrong with London transit, especially the Tube (London Underground).

All that being said, getting around London is fairly simple provided you take your time, read the signs, and do some moderate planning in advance of where you're going. Being from Houston and, by definition, totally unfamiliar with capable, efficient public transport, it took me a couple of days to get my bearings. When you live life in a car, suddenly being thrust in a car-free lifestyle (even temporarily) requires a small amount of orientation. By the end of our second day in London however, I was competent enough reading signs, schedules and boards, that I felt I could get around London with little problem.

What follows was a typical day in our travels....

Wake up (whenever), brew coffee and fortify with a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme. Shower, shave and off we go on a 5 minute walk to the train station. After a quick glance at the schedule we'd typically board a train with service to London Bridge Station, from there we would transfer to a tube line to bring us to our final destination in the City center (or thereabouts). Somewhere around noon, all of the walking worked up an apetite and thirst. Time to stop at the first corner Pub and have a beer and some nibbles. After that the rest of the day involved jumping on tubes, sightseeing, and riding double-decker busses to places we wanted to see.

A note on navigating London's Tube system: To get to and from the tubes you have to ride on long escalators up and down. If you're in no hurry and want to stand on the escalator (instead of walking up it) make sure you stand on the far right side. Failure to follow this rule WILL get you hollared at. Fortunately I never violated this rule personally, but I did see some poor bloke standing on the left (there are many signs that advertise this) and saw the resulting carnage.

Note 2: Southern politeness is a sign of weakness on London public transport. Get where you need to go, shove your way in, don't worry about jostling people, because they won't care about jostling you. The first day we were there I tried to "excuse" my way onto the tube. Big mistake. I was cut-off and shoved back by a lady that had to weigh 120 soaking wet. Not even an "excuse me" or a sideways glance. Our friend, who was already on the tube, had to jump off quickly to avoid us losing her.

Needless to say that didn't happen again. Compared to Londoners, my 260 lb. frame is big, wide and low to the ground. I soon learned the value of bulling my way in, setting my feet and holding my ground. For those of you who know my wife, you will not be surprised to find out she was VERY good at staking her claim to real estate on trains and tubes.

The sad thing about all of this is that I'm now thoroughly spoiled. You see, I LIKE the idea of efficient, useful public transit and ENJOYED my time riding it in London. Coming back to Houston and being forced to jump in my car because of Metro's incompetence was a harsh reminder that I was back home. What's sad is, after nine days abroad, I was ready to get back to Houston, get back to work and settle into the routine, I just didn't want to be forced to drive to do it.

Bollocks.


Here are a few more pictures of London taken via cell-phone. I'm planning on uploading all of the pictures from my main camera tonight, and building a Flickr page to allow mass viewing.

This is a walkway along the River Thames. There was a German Holiday festival going on and people were everywhere. Fortunately they were serving German beer and brauts so all was well.

The front of Buckingham Palace. We went back on another day and recorded the changing of the guard on video and took several pictures.

Parliament and the Thames in the sunset. I really like this picture and wish I would have had the good camera with me here so I could have taken a proper one.

The Memorial Statue in the Roundabout just outside the gates of Buckingham. This is the place to stand for the best overall view of the Changing of the Guard.

Houston Asides (12/02/08)

The "you really, really LIKE me" version...

Houston's HIV rate nearly twice the National Average [Cindy George, Chron.com] - But right in line with the infaction rates for OTHER large cities. It's too high for sure, but probably not an aberration in comparison. That's really not mentioned in the article in lieu of scare tactics.

Bernanke: U.S. slump may drag down Texas economy. [Clay Robison, Chron.com] - It's scary to think that someone like Bernanke is in charge of all this right now.

Courting an expert to rescue BARC [Lisa Falkenberg, Chron.com] - "No-kill" is an unworkable ideal forwarded by people with little grasp on reality. The fact is, some animals are better off humanely euthanized. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't do whatever you can to reduce the kill rate, it just means that (at times) practicality is the best policy. Hopefully Winograd can bring us closer to that.

Warning to Chron.com readers, beware of booby traps. [BigJolly, LoneStarTimes.com] - Haha.

State Auditor's Office, Queen Shiela, raise questions over Metro. [Kevin Whited, BlogHouston.net] - One set of questions is timely and justified, the second set of questions is pandering clap-trap. Guess which is which?

Checking in on the NBA [Tom Kirkendall, Houston's Clear Thinkers] - Better sports reporting than one typically finds in the Chronicle.

Transportation Conference, zoning debate, and tourism stories. [Tory Gattis, Houston Strategies]

It's all over, you can come out now. [Slampo, Slampo's Place] - Summing up the 2008 Hurrican Season with heart and humor.

Star Alliance moves forward

One step at a time...

[Bill Hensel Jr., Chron.com]

Continental Airlines’ push to partner with United Airlines and other carriers in the U.S. and abroad is moving forward despite objections from what could soon be a former ally.

Houston-based Continental, which seeks to leave the Delta Air Lines-SkyTeam alliance for United and its Star Alliance, also wants antitrust immunity from the U.S. Transportation Department to join United and eight other carriers already immunized from antitrust laws when it comes to cooperating on scheduling, fares and service.

The antitrust immunity should be nothing more than a bauble on the tree. These types of immunities are present in every code-share arrangement and, as a matter of fact, allow them to work. Delta's just objecting because Continental is leaving their house to play their video games on another person's (upgraded) system.

Now that most of the Star Alliance members have gotten their preferred flyer plans back in line with reality I'm excited (again) about this moving forward. The fact that I have around 20,000 Dividend miles with US Airways probably has something to do with this.

Houston: We are desperate

This is just sad.....

[David Barron, Chron.com]

With everybody’s mama watching, in the words of Texans lineman Chester Pitts, ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and his Monday Night Football colleagues used Houston’s victory over the Jaguars as an extended infomercial for the likes of Mario Williams, Steve Slaton and Andre Johnson.

Touchdowns were at a premium until garbage time of Houston’s 30-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, so the ESPN crew had plenty of time to discuss some of the Texans’ younger players.

“So many people outside the state haven’t seen those guys, so that was kind of the focus of the night,” Tirico said. “We were able to give a good perspective on Williams’ growth and Slaton’s impact and where the franchise is.

“I still think that it’s probably a disappointing year for (the Texans), given their expectations, but if you salvage this team and finish 8-8, you’ve got a positive way to start the next year.”

It's high time for Houston (and Houstonians) to stop with the pandering and bowing to the National media every time they set foot in, or pay attention to Houston. Not only does it reek of desperation, but it brings to the front our municipal sense of inadequacy.

ESPN was here, great. Now move on.


Really this shouldn't even be a news story. That we look to people like Kornheiser and Stuart Scott for affirmation reveals quite a bit about the current character of Houston.

Flame out

This surprised me...

[AP via Chron.com]

The WNBA president says the franchise that won the league's first four championships is disbanding.

Donna Orender told Houston television station KRIV on Monday that the league-owned Houston Comets would be shut down because new owners couldn't be found.

Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, the original owner of the Comets, sold the team to Houston businessman Hilton Koch last year. The WNBA took over the franchise earlier this year and began a search for a new owner.

Not that the Comets are disbanding, but that the entire WNBA hasn't followed suit.


ASIDE: Nice job by the Chron of picking up the AP feed on local story.

Pandering

Ford CEO will travel to Washington by car. [AP via Chron.com]

Ford Motor Co. says CEO Alan Mulally will travel by car when he makes his return trip to Washington, D.C., to seek $25 billion in government loans.

Company spokesman Mark Truby says in an e-mail that Mulally will make the 520-mile trip on the ground.

This is all genuine.....right? Right.

If I were the CEO of Ford I'd drive myself to Washington D.C. in a Ford Focus while staying at a Motel 6.





Then I'd ask the parking attendant if he'd validate.


Just sayin'

Rapid Eye Movement (12/01/08)

U.S. Recession now official. [AP via Chron.com] - In related news, the sky was blue in Dec 2007. (Thus furthering my theory that economists and weather forecasters are the most self-unaware people in the Universe)

Former campaign rival names to Secretary of State. [Liz Sidoti, AP via Chron.com] - Why can't they just say Hillary?

Muslim Cemetary in Mumbai refuses to bury gunmen. [Aijaz Ansari, AP via Chron.com] - Nice to see Muslims stepping up in the name of the "Religion of Peace" is it not?

Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard played into Potter Finale. [Carol Memmott, USA Today] - You expected something different? Were I her I'd milk that cash cow until its dry.

Historic Venice suffers worst flooding in 22 years [Yahoo! News] - Don't worry, Al Gore has a "plan".

Ford weighs selling Volvo amid industry downturn. [Kimberly S. Johnson & Tom Krisher, Yahoo! News] - Here's an idea: make good vehicles that the public wants and stop trying to force high profit-margin crap down our throats. I'll be sending you my consulting bill in the mail.

America's other Auto Industry. [WSJ] -

The men from Detroit will jet into Washington tomorrow -- presumably going commercial this time -- to make another pitch for a taxpayer rescue. Meanwhile, in the other American auto industry you rarely read about, car makers are gaining market share and adjusting amid the sales slump, without seeking a cent from the government.

Deepak blames America. [Dorothy Rabimowitz, WSJ] - 'tis better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are an idiot.....

The Threat of Protectionism. [Katinka Barysch, WSJ]

Dangerous AIDS Policy. [Thompson Ayodele, WSJ]

Is Obama a secret Centrist? [Fred Barnes, The Weekly Standard] - Probably not, but he's also smart enough to understand the dangers of overreaching.

Race, youth and even 'Burbs go against Republicans [Albert R. Hunt, Bloomberg.com] - There's a lot of talk from Republicans about "core values" and not abandoning them. There needs to be more talk about what those "core values" are and which ones are worth going to the wall over.

Getting real on climate change. [Ted Nordhaus & Michael Schellenberger, The American Prospect] - Cheaper alternative energy, NOT punitive measures against traditional energy......Brilliant! (unfortunately, it doesn't jive with Al Gore's risky financial bets so it won't be accepted.)

Fueling up the next bubble. [Bill Frezza, RCM] - I've yet to see a forecast model showing the "Green" economy to be a profitable economy long-term. I agree with Frezza 100% here.

Americans have lost their appetite for spending. (11/28/08)[Floyd Norris, New York Times] - Amend the above list of the self-unaware as follows: economists, weather forecasters and financial journalists.

Houston Asides (12/01/08)

The "Welcome back" edition...

After Ike, oyster fishermen take shellacking. [Cindy Horswell, Chron.com] - I was jonesing for some Gulf oysters as well. suck.

Harris County finds more youths drawn to dogfighting. [Peggy O'Hare, Chron.com] - A sad commentary on our society.

TxDOT spends $10.5 Million to inform public. [Peggy Fikac, Chron.com] - Talk about a poor return on investment.

After Mumbai tragedy, Houston Indians pray for peace. [Jennifer Latson, Chron.com] - I was in London when this happened. Terrible story all around.

State Politics are all about anticipation. [Clay Robison, Chron.com] - "Under-promise and over-deliver" are not in politicians vocabulary.

City lays out agenda for Austin, prefers you don't think about City Pensions too much. [Kevin Whited, Bloghouston.net] - I've often wondered (sometimes aloud) how long the City can continue to sweep the underfunded pension beneath the rug.

Metro IAH bus service long overdue, but expensive. [Kevin Whited, Bloghouston.net] - After spending nine days in two International Cities with "World Class" public transportation systems its a little disheartening to come back to Houston's bungled, tangled mess of unridable busses and trains that don't go anywhere meaningful. *sigh*

Back Stateside

After nine days abroad I flew into Houston Intercontinental Airport at 10 PM on Saturday, and promptly spent most of Sunday grocery shopping and sleeping. Nine days is just about an ideal time for a vacation, in case you're wondering, by the time we were done we had seen pretty much everything we set out to see, took photos of pretty much everything we wanted to take photos of, and ate pretty much all of the British food we wanted to eat. (more on that over at my food blog)

For now, I'm going to have a ton of work and news reading to catch up on before I'm back to full blogging speed, in the mean-time expect a LOT of London thoughts, posts, and the inevitable comparisons to Houston, especially in terms of transportation and how things are done over there vs. over here.

That being said, here are a few London pictures for starters....

It's impossible to describe just how pretty London is, or how old parts of it feel. One thing I did notice is that the City is a nice mix of new and old. They seem to have a pretty good feel for saving what is truly historical, and not throwing fits when developers wish to tear-down and re-build modern buildings in place of ratted out "historical" locations.

Yes, its true, Paulistines are everywhere

Waterloo Train Station. Unfortunately taking photos of trains, tubes and transportation infrastructure is somewhat frowned upon following the terrorist attacks of 7/7. I was able to snap this picture of Waterloo with my camera phone. The image doesn't do justice to both how crowded the public transit was, nor how breathtakingly beautiful Waterloo Station is the first time you walk into the main concourse.


On the whole I liked London a lot and would have no problems living there. Paris, on the other hand was beautiful and a wonderful place to visit, but I would hate to think I had to live there. What may surprise you is that this is not due to the people. On the whole Parisians were nicer to us than were Londoners. Parisians are definitely more polite on the busses and rails than are Londoners, which shocked me somewhat.

Now, off to work to read 500 e-mails and hopefully I can catch up and resume normal posting soon.

Bonjour Houston.

Suck in that clean air....

OK, Sort of...

[Matthew Tresaugue, Chron.com]

Once the nation's smog capital, Houston is making steady progress on the path to clean air.

With the region's ozone season having ended Sunday, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's data show fewer days with harmful levels of smog in the eight-county Houston area for the third consecutive year.

This year, Houston had a record-low 16 days that exceeded federal health-based standards for ground-level ozone, an invisible gas that is smog's main ingredient. Not long ago, such days occurred more than 60 times a year.

The "chatter" in the article centers around pollution-control measures, many of which are voluntary. That's right, the type of voluntary measures that are said to be ineffective by anti-industry environmental groups looking to get in the news. Also noted as a contributor to the decrease is Mother Nature, proving that, despite our God-like protestations to the contrary, the Earth has more to do with our climate than we want to give it credit for.

All that being said, pollution abatement, and not "global climate change" should be the primary focus when environmental causes are addressed. The former can be impacted by human activity, the latter (as we are seeing) is pretty much going to do what it wants to do based on cycles. European cities who excessively worry about individuals "carbon footprint" (i.e. Paris) are amazingly some of the dirtiest cities you will ever visit.

"Clean Houston"...and the rest will take care of itself.