Would M*A*S*H have been able to survive its early ratings problems if it came along today? Would it even have gotten onto network TV? Larry Gelbart doesn't think so.
New Jersey Senator Bob Torricelli has dropped his bid for reelection, thus giving a boost to the national Democrats' efforts to hold the Senate. For the gory details and various scenarios, check out the Daily Kos.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
-- Bob Dylan, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (*)
Anyone who knows which way the wind is blowing in this election, please raise your hand and keep it raised so we can write your names down.
We start with this story, which shows that the voters appear to be firmly ambivalent about who they may vote for. They fear Iraq, but they don't want the US to go it alone. They think Republicans are better on the terrorism issue, but a sizeable majority thinks that the Democrats should be in control of Congress. No help there.
Will Vehrs goes by Professor Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball. There's still cloudiness in the Ball, but as things stand today only governorships would likely undergo a big partisan change (the range is +1 GOP to +7 Democrat).
Avedon points to this article which wonders just how is it that Bush is so popular. Seems there's a fair number of people in the heartland who don't think much of him. This is anecdotal evidence, of course, but it's not the only place I've heard such anecdotes.
Even at the local level here, no one knows what will happen. That may be good news if you're a Democrat in a GOP-dominated county as I am, but the news is never all good. Both the GOP and the Democrats are worried about straight-ticket voting, according to John Williams. The GOP has greatly benefitted from straight-ticket voting here lately, but new they fear that crossover votes for John Sharp may cause people to vote the old-fashioned way. This in turn may cost them votes in down-ballot elections, which in turn may help unseat a GOP judge or two.
(They're also worried about the Tony Sanchez effect, which makes me feel better.)
The Dems are worried that the eSlate voting machines may confuse people who want to vote straight Dem:
Here's why: The eSlate system presents two options for straight-ticket voting.One option allows the voter to cast a straight ticket, then review the ballot on the eSlate screen a page at a time.
When a voter completes the entire ballot, the eSlate presents a summary for review.
The potential for confusion arises, [Harris County Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue] Schechter says, because there are about 25 races on the county ballot in which no Democrat is running. Democratic straight-ticket voters will see the phrase "no selection" rather than "no candidate" on the summary for those races.
When that happens, Schechter worries some Democrats will think they should have made a selection. As they work their way through the problem, voting in Democratic precincts could get stacked up, causing some to abandon the polls without voting.
Virtually every race has a Republican candidate, so the potential problem would affect Democratic voters disproportionately, Schechter says.
So she may encourage Democrats to use the other method of straight-party voting allowed by the machine. They would cast a single straight-party vote, then go directly to the machine's "cast ballot" button to complete the process.
But voters who do that won't make a choice on nonpartisan ballot items, notably the Houston Independent School District's $808.6 million bond issue.
(*) With a tip of the cap to Fritz Schranck, who probably would've gotten the lyrical reference without any extra help.
The long-awaited retrial of accused murderer and fugitive (*) Ira Einhorn is set to begin this week. Already I'm grinding my teeth:
Einhorn's lawyers have said they hope to call celebrities such as Ellen Burstyn and Peter Gabriel as character witness.And Einhorn, who has always maintained his innocence, may take the stand as well.
(*) I refuse to call him a "former hippie guru".
I see that the Mainstream Montgomery County folks have discovered yours truly, as well as my fellow Axis of Left-Leaning Bloggers member Rob Humenik. They've got a decent collection of news stories linked, including this one, which contains a few priceless quotes:
"Our nation can only exist under a Christian nation," Monte Lane told the court quoting a founding father whose name he said he could not remember. He said, "(This book) is the type of a book a pedophile or child molester would have in their home. Replace it by books with good moral values." He went on to say, "This whole thing is being influenced by liberal, socialist fags."[...]
"What happened to the word marriage? Homosexuality is not something we want to normalize. Everyone knows that opposites attract, that doesn't mean a man with a man or woman with a woman, the parts just don't fit." [Jim Jenkins, president of the Republican Leadership Council] said, "As a taxpayer, I'm angry my money is spent to buy these books and spent on healthcare to take care of these people's illnesses that result from a deviant lifestyle."
There's a discussion thread at the Woodlands Online site regarding this topic, if anyone is interested. The sentiment on the first couple of pages is pretty firmly against the RLC and its ilk.
Having decided that they don't want to be mistaken for the publicity-hungry wackos of the Republican Leadership Council, a group of Montgomery County citizens have formed a group called Mainstream Montgomery County to oppose censorship and general nutbaggery.
Anne Bayerkohler, who helped found the group, said the book-banning issue has roused people of every political stripe to opposition. The response has consumed most of her time, she said, and 70 people have sent e-mails requesting membership."I can't keep up with the momentum this particular issue has caused within the community," said Bayerkohler, 26, who lives in The Woodlands with her husband and 7-year-old son.
"Everybody in the county knows they are not mainstream," said RLC president Jim Jenkins. "They are a bunch of Democrats upset about the movement of the Republican Party in the county. They're not just Democrats. They're very, very liberal Democrats."
"What we had in the library were 27 books promoting homosexuality or experimentation, one neutral and none that had opposing views -- no success stories about getting out of homosexual addiction," [County Judge Alan B.] Sadler said. "In my opinion, there's a problem."
Best of luck to you, Anne Bayerkohler and Mainstream Montgomery County. I fear you'll need it.
Yesterday's weird Google search result: "Sex with Hermes scarves". Nice to know we draw a higher class of pervert here at Off the Kuff.
Today's had-to-happen-sooner-or-later Google search result: "Madelyne Toogood nude". Okay, so not all of the perverts we get here are high end.
Scott alerts me to this debunking of the Bush-holding-a-book-upside-down photo. I'm convinced, and I'm not surprised. It's too easy to fake photos, and in retrospect, there was never a URL to a news story attached to that picture.
Just one thought to my right-leaning friends out there: If six months or a year from now you come across some sap who links to or forwards this picture (whether out of genuine ignorance or willful dishonesty), understand that whatever you think of him or her is what we liberals think of people who propagate long-discredited lies about Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Especially paid pundits.
The MIT Technology Review has a look back at instant messaging in its regular Trailing Edge feature this month. The technology dates back to the 1980s, when MIT implemented a system that was designed to send notifications about things like server outages to workstation users. Naturally, students discovered that using the system to chat was a lot more fun.
There were other forms of IM in the mainframe world before that. I spent two summers as an intern at USAA in the life actuarial department. My second year there, 1988, my buddy David worked over in Products and Casualty. We both spent some time on the company mainframe, which had the capability of sending a message to another logged on user that would display on the screen the next time the screen changed. (Later on, in the early 90s when I started working at the large multinational firm where I am today, their VM system had the same sort of capability.) We regularly amused ourselves with this feature.
Of course, as is often the case, any piece of technology can be misused. My boss, who was fairly indulgent about my chat habit, told me a story one day about another employee. Seemed this guy had the hots for a babe who worked a few cube rows away. One day he got it in his head to use the mainframe message system to confess his feelings and ask her out on a date. (I can already hear the women in my audience cringing.) Unfortunately, when he sent the message he accidentally used the feature that sends messages to all logged on users. Oops! They chose not to fire him, which in the grand scheme of things may not have been such a blessing. Alas, my boss didn't know if he at least got a Yes answer from his inamorata.
The Chron notes that all those lawsuits that are fixin' to be filed over the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup could add up to a lot of money, even in individual awards are likely to be limited. Oh, and it seems that arresting people for no good reason makes them suspicious of the police. Next week they'll tell us that invading Iraq might mean that people will die, and that bad economic times could result in layoffs. You read it here first!
Meanwhile, over at the Press, there's a nice overview of the history behind the perjury charge against Chief C.O. "B.A.M.F" Bradford. I can't wait for the trial, if for no other reason than to see how the Chron and the Happy Talk Local News broadcasts deal with the fact that it's all about a naughty word they can't say.
Former Enron evildoer Andrew Fastow is expected to turn himself in next week for arrest on fraud charges. As with David Kopper, the government appears to be aiming for a quick plea bargain:
The charges will probably come in the form of a criminal complaint, rather than an indictment by the Houston federal grand jury investigating Enron, said a source.[Robert Mintz, a New-Jersey based attorney and former federal prosecutor] said this follows a pattern that the government, including the Enron Task Force, has used in approaching recent corporate cases. "They seem to like to fire an initial volley, signaling how strong their case is prior to indictment," he said. Mintz said the government must intend to intimidate Fastow into a plea bargain.
Kevin points me to this WaPo opinion piece which heralds the coming end of the Oil Era. Kevin quotes the following paragraphs to note the differences in direction of the EU and the US:
The sun is setting on the great fossil-fuel culture that began with the harnessing of coal and steam power more than 200 years ago. Leading petro-geologists disagree about when global production of oil will peak -- that is, reach the point where half the known oil reserves and projected oil yet to be discovered are used up. After that point, the price of oil on world markets steadily rises as oil production moves down.The Cassandras say that peak production is likely to occur as early as the end of this decade, but probably no later than 2020. The optimists say global peak production won't occur until around 2040. What's most striking, however, is how little time separates the two camps -- only 20 to 30 years. What they both agree on is that once global oil production does peak, two-thirds of the remaining oil reserves will be in the Middle East, the most politically unstable region of the world. What this means is that countries still dependent on oil will struggle to maintain access to the remaining Mideast oil fields, with all of the risks and consequences that accompany that reality.
I should note that some people who have actual credentials think that there may be a lot more oil than we think. Diane E. has some information on Dr. Thomas Gold, who is one such person. Diane considers the political implication of Dr. Gold's words: "What if he's right, and we helped to create a bunch of monsters by hoarding a resource that is in reality quite plentiful?" Good question.
US District Judge William Wayne Justice criticized the criminal justice system for "a spirit of vengeance" in dealing with the mentally ill. He was in town at the UT-Houston Medical School giving a lecture.
For proof look no further than the Andrea Yates case, U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice said during an address to psychiatrists and others at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School."Andrea Yates did a monstrous thing, but is not a monstrous human being," Justice said. "She is, ultimately, a pathetic and tragic figure."
What is most disturbing about the Yates case, Justice said, is that it conformed to the law as it exists today.
"We punish those we cannot justly blame," Justice said. "Such a result is not, I believe, worthy of a civil society."
[...]
The change reversed an element of law that could be traced back to English common law of 1278, Justice said.
Texas and most other states changed laws regarding the insanity defense after John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity to charges related to his 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan.
Texas reacted by striking from its law a clause that said a defendant could be found not guilty by reason of insanity if he "was not capable of conforming his conduct to the requirements of the law." The change made it easier for prosecutors to win convictions, Justice said, because they had to prove only that the defendant knew what he was doing and knew his conduct was wrong.
The way the criminal justice system treats the mentally ill reflects poorly on society, Justice said.
"If we reject the moral necessity to distinguish between those who willingly do evil, and those who do dreadful acts on account of unbalanced minds, we will do injury to these people. But the ultimate injury is the one we will inflict on ourselves, and on the rule of law."
If you need further convincing that "mental illness" is really "brain illness" and not Corporal Klinger/One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest foolishness, I suggest you read Ted Barlow's post on the fraud of Freud.
(On a side note, I just want to take this opportunity to say that whatever you may think of him, "Judge Justice" is possibly the best name ever. Of course, if he were ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court, he'd be - wait for it - "Mr. Justice Justice".)
A KFC employee has been arrested after giving a customer a bag of marijuana as a side dish to his order. I am, as they say, Not Making This Up:
The customer who visited a KFC in this San Francisco suburb Friday got two bags of marijuana, instead of the extra biscuits he had ordered. He gave the pot back to the worker, got his biscuits and called police.Police arrested Carlos Ayala, 26, at the restaurant. The sheriff's office and the restaurant's management company did not immediately return calls Tuesday seeking further detail.
[...]
Ayala often worked the drive-up window, and authorities say he may have been selling marijuana to customers who used the right secret word as a code.
While you're pondering that, go visit William Burton, who's been having a good debate on the decriminalization issue here, here, and here.
Tropical Storm Isidore, which still packed a pretty big punch despite never working its way back up to Hurricane status - made landfall in Louisiana, dumping more than 10 inches of rain and knocking out power for thousands of people.
Never let it be said, though, that the folks in Louisiana don't know how to handle stressful times like this:
Two days of steady downpours had already left 10- 12-inch accumulations on some New Orleans streets, and the French Quarter, usually aglitter all night, was empty with many bar fronts boarded up before midnight. One of the open bars was Molly's at the Market, where about a dozen people holed up against the rain."It's all hardcore locals -- the people you knew would be here," said bartender Jolie Meaux. "The owner specifically said we don't close -- ever -- unless they make us. Better to be stuck in a bar than at home watching TV."
There are two items of interest regarding the Madelyne Gorman Toogood, the woman who was videotaped beating her young daughter, in today's Chron. First, columnist Ken Hoffman interviews Toogood and her attorney, Steve "Rocket" Rosen. Whatever good they may have hoped would come out of this will probably be sunk by the opening exchange:
"Hi," she said. "I know you think I'm a monster. I think more people hate me than Osama bin Laden."In the video she appears to be, as she said, a monster. On the phone, she sounded like a confused high school girl, much younger than her 25 years.
Incredibly, she made a joke when I asked what she thought the first time she saw the video of herself beating her child.
"I thought, you know, I'm not the babe I thought I was," she said. "I thought I was better looking. So not only am I hated by everybody -- I'm not as attractive as I thought I was."
I was stunned by her answer. Maybe she doesn't understand what's happening to her, or what she did, or how much trouble she's in. Maybe she uses humor when she's scared.
Over in the Metro section is a profile of Rosen, who has been involved in some other high-profile cases, including the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Like his client, he needs to watch what he says:
Toogood is a member of Texas-based Irish Travellers, insular, itinerant laborers who often earn their livelihoods through home improvement and business repair work. They are descendants of 19th-century immigrants who fled the Irish potato famine."I've represented members of the (Travellers) for 15 years around the country," Rosen said. "Mainly it's been petty crimes, thefts, fights among each other. Someone referred one to me, and they liked the job I did. They're like the Mafia in that if they find a lawyer they like, they keep using him. I wouldn't want to compare them to the Mafia, though."
For what it's worth, I agree with TalkLeft's opinion, which is to wait for all the facts are in before calling for Madelyne Toogood's head on a platter. If this is typical of her parenting, then by all means take her kids away from her. If this was a one-time event, then it's in everyone's long term best interests for her to get the kids back after an appropriate sentence that includes anger management classes. In the meantime, take a deep breath and pay attention to the followup stories, which are sure to get nowhere near the airplay of that infamous video.
The crooked "E" that was for sale at the Enron auction sold for $44,000 to a buyer who was told to get it at any cost:
Jimmy Luu, sent by his boss to buy the sign, said he was given explicit marching orders regarding the behemoth corporate logo that once stood outside a downtown satellite office."He said, `Do anything to get it,' " Luu told a crush of reporters who surrounded him shortly after his bid was gaveled out in a packed Astrodome hotel ballroom.
"It's just a once in a lifetime thing that he wanted to own."
[...]
Scott Bui, attorney for Microcache, explained why the store wanted the mammoth sign so badly.
"The reason we bought this was to preserve this business icon," he said. "It also signifies a lot of sweat, greed and fraud in business."
Luu said his computer store, which has three locations in Houston, will display the sign at one of the sites.
Luu's bid electrified spectators. Early bidder John Quinlan had boosted the price to $25,000 before bailing out, saying he "always wanted to own Enron."
The last online bid was $30,000, and Luu appeared to have wrapped up the letter at $31,000, but homebuilder Mir Azizr stepped in, finally stopping at $43,000.
"I came here intending to buy it for $20,000. I didn't expect it to go for $44,000," said Azizr, who planned to incorporate the logo in a new downtown project he's calling "E-Lofts."
Rob Neyer has an interesting suggestion to the wild card dilemma. I'll quote him since this is a quick-hit piece that won't get archived:
My gut feeling is that there are plenty of postseason berths already. Any more, and we'll be veering dangerously close to NHL and NBA territory.However, Tom Hirdt has suggested adding two spots ... and you know, I think it's at least worth considering.
The idea is that you'd have two wild cards per league, and they'd face off in one-game playoffs the day after the season ended, with only the two winners advancing to the Division Series.
The benefit, of course, is that the division races would necessarily be meaningful, because nobody wants to be stuck playing one game with everything on the line. What's more, even the winner of that game would be at a significant disadvantage, without the benefit of a game off before the Division Series. And that's as it should be; the wild card should not begin the postseason on anything like equal footing with the division winners.
I'll admit, I haven't thought through all the ramifications of this idea. But let's think about it.
Letter writers have harsh words for the class-conscious Wal-Mart protesters and the Montgomery County Decency Squad. I just love being at the forefront of public opinion.
The number of lawsuits filed stemming from the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup case is up to three, with many more likely to follow.
In their suit, Brandi Ratliff, 18, and William Ryan Grenwelge, 20, claim false imprisonment and blame the city of Houston, the police chief and other officers in charge of the scene. Their suit, filed in state district court, does not specify a monetary amount.[...]
Ratliff and Grenwelge said they were en route to a friend's house Aug. 17 when they stopped at the Kmart in the 8400 block of Westheimer to buy drinks and use the telephone. As they were leaving the store's parking lot, police yelled at them and at least one pointed a gun in their faces, Ratliff said.
Police also told them they were not being arrested at that time, she said, but hours later she was put in a cell with several other women, including those accused of murder and prostitution.
The incident left her "traumatized for life," she said.
"I used to look at cops as protecting us and not arresting innocent people," Ratliff said.
Meanwhile, Kevin has a modest proposal for dealing with the dirty drag-racing kids that the cops were supposedly going after in the first place.
I wandered over to the Radisson Astrodome during my lunchtime to check out the Enron assets auction, but as you can see, I never made it in the door. (Sorry, Scott.) There were two lines stretching out the door, with probably 100 people total waiting to get in. (Don't these people have day jobs?) Once I realized it was hopeless, I headed back to work.
Of course, you can go to dovebid.com and check out the auction via webcast if you really want to. I'll have to look for another opportunity to buy an air hockey table.
Debate over the proposed resolution to kick some Iraqi butt continues apace, but it looks like the President will have to settle for something less than complete power to do whatever he wants whenever he wants it:
"At the end of the day, he's going to get his vote. But the size of the victory is going to depend on how it's drafted," said Rep. Ken Bentsen, D-Houston. "The draft the White House sent over is generally felt to be overly broad by most Republicans and Democrats that I have talked to."[...]
"I can't vote for the resolution that was submitted by the White House. I think it's way too broad and I hope that our committees change it to where people would recognize there is another elected body to consider," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, referring to Congress.
[...]
Rep. Nick Lampson of Beaumont said he has yet to decide how he'll vote on the resolution, although like many Democrats he objects to the unchecked military authority the Bush administration is seeking.
"I think my constituents generally want me to support the president, but I think they also want a clear statement of mission objectives, and there remain a number of questions about whether the timing is right," he said.
Many Republicans do support the President, though not all. The previously mentioned Rep. Dick "More Intellectual Than Thou" Armey remains "the toughest sell in this town", while Rep. Ron Paul opposes any intervention anywhere, as Tony Adragna pointed out. It will be interesting to see if they support him enough to follow him off this cliff.
At a campaign event for Katherine Harris, Dick Armey took a moment to educate the world about the two types of Jews in America:
"I always see two Jewish communities in America: one of deep intellect and one of shallow, superficial intellect," Armey said, according to the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald.
During his usual briefing with reporters, Armey said he meant no ethnic slur. Rather, he was answering a question posed to him regarding political divisions among Jews.He said the only point he wanted to make was that liberals of all backgrounds are less intellectual than conservatives.
"They don't think deeply. They don't comprehend," he said.
Looks like TS/Hurricane Isidore will be heading to Louisiana and not to the Houston area. Here's hoping everyone stays safe and dry throughout.
I should have updated my post below earlier to link back to the Buffy Blog Burst index. Better late than never, I guess. Anyway, there's lots of good stuff there, so go check it out. I'm particularly fond of Amptoons' drawings of Willow, IronGall's trust in Joss, Dave Tepper's analysis of horror versus terror, and Nora Cox's discussion of actions and consequences. Best of all, Captain Euro visits Sunnydale. What are you waiting for?
I totally don't know what to make of this story about a group of folks in a northwest Houston subdivision who are trying to halt the construction of a 24-hour Wal-Mart in their vicinity. On the one hand, looking at the enclosed map of the area, it's unclear why Wal-Mart thinks they need another store there. And you don't really have to try hard to get me to dislike the idea of Yet Another Megastore paving over a swath of green space.
But I have to say, the people they quoted in this story seem to be vying for the Least Sympathetic Aggreived Homeowners I've ever encountered. Here are a few samples to give you the gist:
Northwest Harris County residents say the proposed Wal-Mart will ruin their tranquil suburban neighborhood of cul-de-sacs and uniform brick houses."We moved out here because it was quiet and it is away from all the hustle and bustle, which is just on the other side of the tollway," Susan Kight said.
"I'm really afraid for our children's safety," said Chris Peters of Willowlake as her son Ryan, 16 months, and daughter Hailey, 3, scribbled messages such as, "Wal-Mart Do Not Hurt My Trees."She was among those who are now boycotting Wal-Mart.
"I have not shopped there in the last two weeks," Peters said. "If it goes in over here, we plan to never shop there again."
Kight said the store also will bring in undesirable shoppers, including criminals, from another Wal-Mart at U.S. 290 and Hollister Road, which residents think will close when the supercenter opens."The people that shop there are lower class, lower income," Kight said. "All the perverts are going to see our children."
Nancy Witmer of Willowlake, who attended Monday's meeting, is also worried about who will patronize the new Wal-Mart.
"I don't know what kind of people shop there 24 hours," she said. "That's not the kind of people I want over here."
Local architect and city planner Peter Brown, who has researched Wal-Mart, said residents have some hope of making a case against the store by focusing on preserving wetlands and problems with drainage, safety and traffic they say the store will create."In terms of creating an attractive, livable community, there's nothing worse than a Wal-Mart," Brown said.
Go back to that original quote by Susan Kight, who says her share of God's Little Acre is away from the "hustle and bustle" of the tollway. The tollway exists because of developments like her Willowlake subdivision and all the others that get plopped down on empty land. Sooner or later, people complain because it Takes Too Damn Long To Get Anywhere from where they are out in East Nowhere, so they raise a hue and cry until the powers that be see fit to underwrite a nice, wide road. Now the mobility problem is solved, which makes the area more attractive to other developers, who in turn look to build Wal-Marts and the like. And here we are, with the original residents complaining about Too Much Development, which incidentally has led to Too Much Traffic and eventually to the need to expand that not-so-nice-and-wide-anymore road.
Houston is a growing city. That's a good thing. We've got a lot of undeveloped and underdeveloped areas, and that's also a good thing. It's just that we do such a half-assed job of making sure that current development will not cause avoidable future problems. In the same section as the Wal-Mart story is this one about how residents of another northwest Houston neighborhood have waited 17 years to get proper drainage put in and will likely have to wait another six years at least. Why wasn't drainage put in when the land was developed? Because the developers aren't responsible for that. No rule exists to make them do it or to consider it. That's the sort of thing that helps make housing cheap around here, but as with everything else you get what you pay for.
Those wacky Republican Leadership Council members up in Montgomery County have claimed another victory when an Oshman's store placed a fig leaf on a statue of David and moved it atop the store.
Although the recent decision by managers of the Portofino shopping center to place a fig leaf on the statue did not result from the RLC's action, the group expressed support for the move. The statue stands atop an Oshman's sporting goods store, where it was moved from eye level.Dianna Whitt of Shenandoah, whose complaint led to the addition of the fig leaf, said she shares the RLC's views but prefers to call her protest a personal effort by a concerned citizen.
Whitt said she is not satisfied with the fig leaf and will press to have the statue moved someplace where children cannot see it without parental permission.
Not everyone has taken complete leave of their senses up there:
"They are not mainstream on the political spectrum," [county GOP Chairman Walter D. Wilkerson Jr.] said. "They are out on the radical right, and no political organization or movement has ever succeeded in winning an election when they position themselves to the right or left of the spectrum."He said the council overstates its claims of success, noting that it has never backed a winning candidate for office above precinct chairman.
[...]
"I'm more offended by what they are trying to do to that sculpture than (by) the sculpture itself," said Eric "Bulldog" Yollick, a lawyer who resigned as RLC president last year and made peace with Wilkerson.
Noting that the statue is on top of a building, Yollick said, "I couldn't see that high up unless I had binoculars."
It's just another day at the office for the hard-working RLC.
The Republican Leadership Council is continuing a boycott of the Buca di Beppo restaurant in the same shopping center because it has photos of nude statues and paintings.[RLC Chairman Jim] Jenkins said he is not satisfied that the restaurant had removed a photo of a statue of nude wrestlers and a photo in the men's restroom of a boy facing a wall, apparently urinating.
He said he will be satisfied "if they put a sign up in front that says, `Caution, this restaurant is R-rated.' "
UPDATE: Larry, naturally, finds a Third Way to look at this.
Tropical Storm Isidore is heading towards the Texas Gulf Coast after battering the Yucatan Peninsula. It's not clear when and where it will hit yet, but pretty much everyone's nervous about it.
This post is part of a Buffy Blog Burst. Go check out the index of posts, they're all worth reading.
I've been racking my brain over what to write for the Buffy Blog Burst. In a show that's already had alternate universes, the death and resurrection of the lead character, a musical, and the hint that the whole thing might just be a delusion, what new angle can you take?
Inspiration finally came while watching another show that I hate to miss, The Sopranos. Actually, all it took was the theme song. Look at these lyrics:
You woke up this morning
Got yourself a gun,
Mama always said you’d be
The Chosen One.She said: You’re one in a million
You’ve got to burn to shine,
But you were born under a bad sign,
With a blue moon in your eyes.You woke up this morning
All the love has gone,
Your Papa never told you
About right and wrong.But you’re looking good, baby,
I believe you’re feeling fine,(shame about it),
Born under a bad sign
With a blue moon in your eyes.You woke up this morning
The world turned upside down,
Thing’s ain’t been the same
Since the Blues walked into town.But you’re one in a million
You’ve got that shotgun shine.
Born under a bad sign,
With a blue moon in your eyes.
Consider the similarities between the two shows:
There's a more serious way in which the two shows are similar, and I'm not talking about the hysterical reaction that certain killjoy groups have for them. I'm talking about their inevitable end, which is surely either this season or next. There's basically only two possible endings: Death or some form of retirement for the lead character. Since death hasn't stopped Buffy before, it's unlikely to be the final act in the future. I don't know what retirement means for her - it surely means either "prison" or "witness protection program" for Tony Soprano - unless the Council of Watchers can find a way to call forth a new Slayer or get Faith sprung from the joint. They'll figure something out, I guess.
That's too deep to contemplate right now. I want to see what the new Sunnydale High School looks like. I want to see how Spike handles having a soul. I want to see if Xander can make it up to Anya for dumping her at the altar, and if Anya can ever forgive him. Is it Tuesday yet?
This is the sort of speech I want to hear from my President. It's why I voted for Gore in 2000 and why he's the frontrunner for my vote in 2004.
Link via O-Dub.
I just got a nice note from Tom Spencer, who wondered if I was the Charles Kuffner that he went to college with. I am, and I'm glad to hear that an old classmate is a fellow traveller. Tom's a history professor at Northwest Missouri State University, and as I recall, a pretty good trombone player. I commend you to check him out.
The main reason why I haven't been too harsh on Florida for its most recent election snafus is because it could happen here just as easily. I've used the eSlate voting machines - I'm one of those annoying people who does early voting - and while I have no qualms with how they've been rolled out and explained to users, I do have a problem with the fact that they don't create a hardcopy of the votes they record. When (not if) we have a contested election like Reno/McBride, we better hope that no votes have disappeared from the system.
If Larry Simon wins that FX American Candidate show, he's going to have an all blogger cabinet. I'm in line for Secretary of Commerce. Surely I can do a better job than that girly-boy Don Evans.
(Note: The fact that I knew Don Evans was Commerce Secretary without having to resort to Google should be sufficient qualifications, don't you think?)
Meantime, take a look at Larry's platform. He's sure to piss you off eventually.
There will be a big auction of surplus Enron items this Wednesday at the Radisson Astrodome, which is quite near where I work. All sorts of interesting this will be available:
The nearly 5-foot tilted E being auctioned by Enron this week would be a real conversation piece at Matt Mitchell's Internet café -- if he could afford it."I think that will be one of the hottest items out there," the former Enron employee said. "I'd be willing to put a couple of hundred on it myself, but I know it will be much higher than that."
Among the oddities up for sale are a number of fake, wooden flintlock pistols Enron gave away at trade shows and 18-inch replicas of three-masted tall ships."They're nonworking," Palmer said of the flintlock look-alikes. "They are at least 10 years old."
The stands that come with the pistols are stamped "Enron Gas Services Corp.," a name that hasn't been used since the early '90s.
[...]
There are Foosball and air hockey tables, as well as an entire basketball system still in the box it came in.
Arrayed in formation are hundreds of Herman Miller Aeron chairs, which retail for as much as $800 each.
Hurricane Isidore, a Category 3 storm, is about to hit the Yucatan peninsula, which is being evacuated as a precaution. No one knows for sure which way this storm will go next, but it could come knocking on our door here. We'll be watching.
A UT law professor named Brian Leitner has a piece today about how religious conservatives are working to control information in school textbooks. It's a useful article, though really, anyone who's lived in Texas for a few years that hasn't heard of Mel and Norma Gabler should be ashamed of themselves. Where Leitner falls down is in his conclusion:
There is an obvious solution: Just as then-Gov. George W. Bush championed local control for school districts, we must have local control over textbooks. The influence of the well-funded extremists is exaggerated because they have only one target: the Texas State Board of Education, which approves textbooks for the entire state. But if they have to go community to community pressing their censorship campaign, they are doomed to the defeat they so richly deserve.
Polly Ledvina of the Katy Corridor Coalition gets top billing in the Sunday op-ed section with this piece that argues against the current plan to widen I-10.
The Chron has endorsed Tim Riley, Tom DeLay's opponent for Congress in the 22nd Congressional District. The Chron, which has generally endorsed DeLay in years past, has finally had enough:
[...] DeLay has given voters of both parties abundant reasons to reject his bid for re-election.Thanks to DeLay, Houston is the only U.S. city forbidden to receive federal funds for rail transit. What would have been Houston's share went to Dallas and other cities, forcing Houston-area taxpayers to pay their own way.
While DeLay's opposition once stemmed from a loyalty to highway contractors who gave generously to his campaign, DeLay now seems to block rail for the sheer pleasure of punishing Houstonians.
The Chronicle's opposition to DeLay goes far beyond rail transit. DeLay also opposed President Bush's efforts to give every American child a decent education and leave no child behind. He has spoken disparagingly of distinguished research universities in Texas because they teach science that confounds his unyielding theology.
DeLay says that he wishes the U.S. government to embrace and promote a single religion above all others, and that government policy should reflect the beliefs of a single sect. The congressman finds irksome secular democracy of the type envisioned by the Founders.
While DeLay says he wants Houstonians to breathe clean air, he has relentlessly worked to excuse industries from any requirement that they limit the poison they put in the air. In public he pretends to support clean-air efforts, but works the back channels of the Capitol to thwart them.
DeLay says one thing to the general public and something else to religious groups who share his views. He rages if anyone points out the contradiction and hypocrisy.
Tom DeLay, who will become House majority leader and puppetmaster if Republicans retain control of the House, is obsessed with winning partisan advantage and husbanding personal power. His machinations make him incapable of working with opponents for the common good and subjugate the interests of Houston-area residents to his unbridled ambition.
But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the demographics in Fort Bend are changing along with the rest of American suburbia to a more centrist belief. Maybe people in Sugar Land and Missouri City will believe that Tom DeLay has lost touch with them. Maybe there will be enough of a get-out-the-vote effort among Democrats to lift the tide on Tim Riley's boat. I don't really think this will happen, but I can dream, can't I?
I saw the Asylum Street Spankers last night at the Mucky Duck with Steve Patlan and Michael Croft. The show was a release party for their new CD, My Favorite Record, and as an extra added bonus the lineup featured original Spanker Guy Forsyth.
It's tough to categorize the Spankers. They started out as a ten-person band, of which everyone but the drummer and bassist took turns on lead vocals. As such, their early work spans a wide range, mostly oldtime jazz and blues. Now, with the core band essentially reduced to three original members (Wammo, Christina Marrs, and Stanley Smith) plus one more recent addition (Korey Simeone) and occasional guest appearances by Forsyth, their sound is more a focused whole rather than an agglomeration of random parts. Not that it's any less anarchic, especially in the live shows, it just sounds more like a band that plays together all the time.
I see the Spankers every time they come to Houston, and I never know what I'm going to get. I just know I'm going to like it. I liked it so much last night that I stayed with Michael for the second show (the Duck often does two-show nights for big draws like the Spankers).
They started off with a Spike Jones-y version of "Some of These Days", then Wammo got the crowd rolling with his paean to beer (called "Beer", simply enough). With Forsyth present, they reached back for some old material, including "Deep Ellum Blues" (from the sadly out-of-print Spankers Live CD) and the melancholy "Hometown Boy". They put a twist on Marrs' "Got My Mojo Workin'" (from the also out-of-print Live in Europe CD) by accompanying her vocals with a single guitar and four of the men singing doo-wop backups. A big treat was the reappearance of "Fanny", which had gone into hiatus with the departure of original member Mysterious John, now performed by Korey. You can hear a Real Audio sample here. And of course, there was the Muppets classic "Ma Nah Ma Nah", which is really just an excuse for Stanley and Wammo to scat sing. When Wammo scats, he quotes Led Zeppelin and Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", which in turn becomes the world's only scat singalong.
Much as I like the various Spanker CDs (and I have all of them), they really can't match the live performances. When Wammo does "Hick Hop" from his solo CD, he has to do it acoustically, which is how I prefer it, plus you get to see Wammo and Korey do a bunch of silly gangsta rapper moves. They really ought to do a concert video one of these days so they can capture that on tape.
This was a CD release, so several songs from that CD were featured, including "Breathin'", "Wammo's Blues", "Antifreeze", "Mountain Town", "A Minor Waltz", and the sure-to-be-a-classic "Whatever", a song about how to get by in these politically conscious times. I'll quote the first verse so you can get the gist:
I've got to save the world
Liberate
Eat the food that's on my plate
Recycling is really great
Whatever I can do
To get in bed with you
The two shows differed only in the encores - the first show concluded with the end-all country ballad "If You Love Me (You'll Sleep On The Wet Spot)", off their recent Dirty Ditties CD, while the second show was another trip through the wayback machine as Forsyth and Marrs teamed up for the rollicking "If You Want Me to Love You" from Nasty Novelties followed by Forsyth's "If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day", the first cut off the first CD, Spanks for the Memories. Just getting to hear those two songs would have been enough to justify the second ticket, and they were exactly the right ending for a great night.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Spankers are one of the best, funniest, and most original bands out there. In a just world, they'd be richer and more famous than all the boy bands and Britney wannabes combined. Do your part to help them acheive that by checking their schedule and catching a show when they're in your neighborhood.
Talk Left points to this story which alleges that as many as seven Mets players have used pot regularly during the season. Though Mets management denies that the problem is that widespread, three players have admitted that the story is true for them.
Jeff Cooper and Eric McErlain have it pretty well covered from a Mets fan point of view. I agree that the pot smoking is unlikely to have been a cause of the Mets' bad season. The Mets' problem was a lack of good players, and the few good players they do have are not apparently involved.
Not that star players have never had substance abuse issues. Ken Caminiti's problems are well known. Dave Parker would likely be in Cooperstown by now had he not used cocaine during his career. I don't know if Mickey Mantle ever said the word, but it's clear from his own autobiography as well as other books about the Yankees during his career that he was an alcoholic. Didn't stop him from being a great player, but sometimes you have to wonder what might have been.
In other weird baseball news, a father-son lowlife combo charged out of the stands to attack Royals' first base coach Tom Gamboa. Travis Nelson has a pretty amusing take on it. Astros Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio recalled similar incidents for which they were present, in 1999 when a Brewers fan attacked Astro outfielder Bill Spiers and in 1995 when Cubs pitcher Randy Myers was charged on the mound.
If you haven't already, take a moment to read this Andrew Northrup post on the nature of news reporting and objective truth. It's well worth your time.
Kyle Still and the Angry Clam point me to the case of Katie Sierra and her fight to establish an anarchists' club at her high school. Reading the Court TV coverage, there's some interesting questions about free speech and the limits that a public school can impose on it, but I don't feel like talking about that (go read the Clam's comments for some decent discussion). I'm too busy trying to imagine what a meeting of the Riverdale High School Anarchists' Club would be like:
FIRST ANARCHIST: All right, settle down, I call this meeting to order.
SECOND ANARCHIST: Hey, who put you in charge?
FA: What do you mean? I'm the duly elected President of the Riverdale High School Anarchists' Club.
SA: Well, I don't believe in elections. They're all rigged so they can propagate the patriarchal power structure and oppress the masses.
FA: You were my campaign manager!
SA: And you were oppressing me the whole time! I'm taking charge here.
FA: No, you're not!
THIRD ANARCHIST: Hey, there's a monster movie marathon on TNT right now. Anyone wanna go to my place and watch with me?
(He leaves, with two other anarchists in tow.)
FA: Wait! Where are you going? We need to approve the charter and bylaws. We won't have a quorum if you leave! How can we get anything done as anarchists if we don't have proper rules and procedures in place?
SA: I wonder if the chess club is still taking members...
Some good stuff out there regarding the nomination of Michael McConnell to the Tenth Circuit bench by Matthew Yglesias, Sam Heldman, Jeff Cooper (here and here), and Nathan Newman. It is funny, in a pathetic sort of way, given what happened during the Clinton administration, that any Republican would complain about politics and ideology being part of the confirmation process.
Of course, they decry it on the one hand while campaigning on it on the other. As I pointed out in June, John Cornyn made his support for Priscilla Owen a part of his platform from the beginning. If it's okay for John Cornyn to say "Vote for me and I'll help people like Priscilla Owen become federal judges", then it's okay for Pat Leahy to say "The people who voted for me did so in part because I'll work to prevent people like Priscilla Owen from becoming federal judges".
I believe it was Chuck Schumer who argued awhile back that political and ideological concerns should be an open part of the confirmation process. I agree with this. I'd rather see senators ask pointed questions about case law than look for bogus scandals like video rental tendencies and pot smoking in law school as a fig leaf for opposing a nominee on ideological grounds. Bloggers often write about how they wish Old Media would admit its biases up front rather than strive for some kind of phony objectivity. The same thing applies here.
Sam and Nathan get into an interesting discussion in the comments on Nathan's post, which Jeff also notes, regarding the strategy of opposing a nominee like McConnell, who is known as an excellent legal mind and who has the support of some prominent liberals like Cass Sunstein. I tend towards Sam and Jeff's viewpoint here, that you have to pick your battles carefully so as not to be out of ammunition when a really bad nominee comes up for a hearing. Based on what I've read so far, I'm reasonably comfortable that McConnell would give issues a fair and impartial hearing, a sentiment which I emphatically did not have for Priscilla Owen. As such, I'll support his nomination and will save my strength for the next Owen or Pickering.
Once again, other writers follow where Off the Kuff leads. Not only does Richard Connelly of the Houston Press take his shot at poor defenseless Fran Blinebury, he even quotes LA Times writer TJ Simers doing the same:
After the [Houston] Texans won their first game," he wrote, "a sports columnist for the Houston Chronicle wrote: 'The Texans came out like old-time gunslingers, their six-shooters blazing, and served notice there was a new marshal in town.' Just think, if we had gotten the team instead of Houston, I could have written like that.
I'm just going to give in to the fact that I'm in a whimsical mood today and keep posting silly stuff...
The noted academic journal Seventeen magazine recently released its list of the Top 100 Coolest Colleges, "where girls can get the best college experience[, f]rom frat parties to professors' involvement, from campus safety to great shopping". Their Number One Kool Skool is none other than Houston's own Rice University. As a former grad student at Rice and a longtime member of the Marching Owl Band, I can tell you that this came as a great surprise - not to mention source of amusement - to the campus itself. They're not afraid to live up to their newfound reputation, however, as this article from Rice News makes clear:
Rice President Malcolm Gillis is asking everyone to wear shades inside and outside for the next week or two as badges of coolness. “If people insist on calling us cool, then maybe we should act the part, at least part of the time,” he said.
I study nuclear science
I love my classes
I got a crazy teacher, he wears dark glasses
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades
From today's Chron:
If the TV show Survivor has conveyed one clear message to viewers, it's that people are dispensable.When someone gets on your nerves, simply vote him off "the island."
If only the original stranded castaways had such voters'-rights knowledge. Yes, we're referring to (start humming now) Gilligan. The Skipper, too. The millionaire and his wife. The movie star. The professor and Mary Ann. (Cease humming.)
Just how would these 1960s characters fare in this low-on-tolerance survival game of the 21st century? When it comes to getting rid of simpletons and meek wimps, we ask: What island could have used this game more?
Today is National Talk Like A Pirate Day. Too bad we don't have a staff meeting, this could have come in handy.
You can also find out your Pirate Name. Here's mine:
Captain James RackhamEven though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!
And hey, if talking like a pirate isn't enough fun, you can always white-boy rap like a pirate.
You're gonna swing from the gallows if you don't stop the killin'...
You'd better eat all your lemons or else you'll be illin'
(Thanks to Liz, Katy, and Angelo from the Roundtable list for pointing this out to me.)
UPDATE: Andrew Northrup has an excellent rapper-to-pirate translation table.
Congrats to Mac Thomason for his 50,000th visitor. He's earned every one of them. Here's to your next 50,000, Mac.
As for me, between the old Blogspot site and this one, I've passed 25,000 and am on my way to 30,000 hits. Depending on how I count (moving from one place to another confuses things), I'm either just past 26,000 or close to 29,000. I'll figure it out and settle on a number eventually.
The top headline in today's Chron is for this story, which shows Governor Goodhair holding a nine-point lead in the polls over Tony Sanchez. The other statewide races are all seen as closer.
Before I go into the details, let me bitch about the fact that the nice pie-chart graphics which are on the front page of the print edition are nowhere to be found online. This is a common occurrance in the Chron. Why, oh why, is this the case? Is the Chron short on disk space or bandwidth or something? Sheesh.
Anyway, the numbers, based on "879 likely voters across Texas", are as follows:
For governor
Perry 46%
Sanchez 37%
Undecided 10%
Other/neither/no answer 7%
For US Senate
Cornyn 42%
Kirk 36%
Undecided 13%
Other/neither/no answer 9%
For Lt. Governor
Dewhurst 41%
Sharp 35%
Undecided 16%
Other/neither/no answer 7%
No chart was given for the Attorney General race. The article says there's a "statistical tie" between Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Kirk Watson.
I think there's a bit of a contradiction here:
Unless Perry stumbles, pollsters said, he has a good chance to retain the seat he ascended to as lieutenant governor after former Gov. George W. Bush was elected president.[...]
Although Sanchez, a Mexican-American, would be the state's first Hispanic governor, polling indicates 44 percent of Hispanics have little interest in the governor's race. In comparison, 23 percent of whites have little interest and 37 percent of blacks have little interest.
I'm not sure how accurate these overall numbers are. I believe Perry has a lead, but I don't believe that Cornyn and Dewhurst are statistically ahead of Kirk and Sharp. Regardless, I've said before and I'll say again: These races will be decided by turnout.
As noted before, there's good news in the Lite Guv race numbers:
[Pollster Richard] Murray said the story in the lieutenant governor's race is that Dewhurst doesn't have a bigger lead after outspending Sharp about $11 million to $1.2 million.Sharp spokesman Kelly Fero described Dewhurst's standing in the poll as "pitiful" in view of his heavy spending relative to Sharp.
In recent weeks, Dewhurst has flooded markets with a commercial showing a sneering Sharp and attacking him as a liberal.
As Sharp starts to roll out his commercials, the gap should close, Murray said.
Today's weird Google search: "naked women in alamaba". Hey, Mac, can you help this guy?
King Kaufman makes the standard complaint about how the wild card in baseball has ruined what would have been a great pennant race between the A's and Angels.
The wild card strikes again. In the wild-card era, which began in 1994, a great pennant race is simply not possible. In order to have one, you have to have two great teams, and the loser has to go home. Otherwise you're left with lesser teams stumbling toward the finish -- witness the wild-card race between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the National League -- or great teams, assured of a playoff spot, merely jockeying for a better seeding. Not exactly riveting stuff.The way baseball works now, with the best second-place club in each league making the playoffs as the wild card, the best we can hope for is the second- and third-best teams in the league fighting it out. That may be what we have. In fact, one could argue that at the moment, the A's and Angels are the two top teams in the A.L., better than the more consistent but not as hot New York Yankees, who had the same record as the Angels Monday morning.
But the other part of the recipe is missing. The punishment for failure must be death (in the sporting sense), or the games won't have enough on the line to provide the kind of drama that baseball spent more than a century teaching us to expect. Barring an epic collapse by one of them, and a miracle finish by the Seattle Mariners or Boston Red Sox, the A's and Angels are both going to survive and make the playoffs, regardless of what happens in their series this week.
But with the league expansions in 1962 and 1969, breaking the leagues into divisions made sense. A geographical division - even if Atlanta was in the West while St. Louis and Chicago were in the East - saved on travel costs, promoted rivalries, and gave more teams "faith and hope", to coin a phrase. And sometimes, like in the American League in 1976, having divisions created pennant races instead of obviating them. Had there been no divisions, the Yankees would have won the pennant by 8.5 games over the Royals. With the divisions in place, we got the Royals-A's race, with the upstarts holding off the five-time winners by 2.5 games.
Once you accept that the concept of divisions is artificial, what's so hard about swallowing the wild card? Kaufman may sneer about the Dodgers and Giants "stumbling towards the finish", but I daresay that their fans are interested in what happens. Why is that race, which will go down to the wire and in which the penalty is "death", any less compelling?
Kaufman says that only an "epic collapse" plus a surge by either Boston or Seattle can shake things up in the American League. But the reason why the AL West has come down to two teams with the loser getting the wild card consolation prize is because we've already seen a huge collapse by the Bosox and Mariners, who were leading the West by several games when August started, plus an incredible surge by the A's and Angels. Had the Mariners had the good taste to wait another 30 days before falling apart, we'd have everything Kaufman wanted.
Baseball's not going to shrink the playoffs. They're too lucrative, and besides they're a lot of fun. But it has to find a way for the postseason to be the exclusive domain of division winners, so that it's possible for the best two teams in the league to be battling at the end of the season, with the loser's season ending. If that means each league has to have four divisions in each league, then have four divisions.
If you really want only the best teams to make the playoffs, then what you want is to go back to no divisions, with (say) the top four teams making the playoffs. Now you'd have Boston, Seattle, and the Twins separated by two games for the last playoff spot in the AL, while the Cards, Giants, and Dodgers are equally bunched up for the last two spots in the NL. All that adding divisions does is separate the good teams who are also fortuitously situated from the good ones who are not so lucky.
Democratic Senate candidate Ron Kirk has backed away from his prior statement that GOP candidate John Cornyn wouldn't be so gung-ho for war in Iraq if the soldiers involved were children of privilege.
In a written statement, Kirk sought to lay to rest a controversy that erupted four days earlier with remarks that he made during a rally in San Antonio.Kirk suggested then that Cornyn was supportive of military action against Iraq because minority soldiers would do a disproportionate amount of the fighting. Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, is black, and Cornyn, the Texas attorney general, is white.
"I support the president's efforts on Iraq. I also am concerned about each and every American who potentially will be on the front lines fighting in Iraq, should we go to war," Kirk said Tuesday.
"I regret the way I stated those concerns and had no intention of offending anyone, particularly those who serve or, like my father, have served this country," he added.
Kirk also repeated an earlier statement that President Bush had made a "compelling case" for building an international coalition to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power. And he accused Cornyn of trying to "politicize the important decision about how we conduct a war in Iraq."
It is interesting that the article bothers to mention Kirk and Cornyn's races. You'd think anyone interested enough in this story would already be sufficiently familar with both candidates to not need that information, especially since the print edition contains a head shot of Kirk. Whatever.
The Katy Corridor Coalition has filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the proposed expansion of I-10 on the west side of town. The suit alleges that concerns about pollution, noise, flood abatement, and property losses haven't been adequately addressed. I wish them luck.
Some new blogs added to my blogroll recently:
Ungodly Politics
Raving Atheist
Alas, a blog, who among other things knows his stuff about comic strips.
Dawn Olsen
William Burton, whose post on atonement I linked to yesterday.
TalkLeft
Serenity Quest
Dark Blogules, who recently had a hilarious encounter with the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
Greg's Opinion
The latter three are all Houstonians. I think I'm going to have to add a second blogroll just for the locals.
Anyway, check 'em out if you haven't already.
In the comments to my recent entry about the Lite Guv race, Greg points me to the Nolan and Sharp Express, which demonstrates quite clearly that regardless of what may be on the list of those who've endorsed John Sharp, Nolan Ryan's support of the Democratic candidate is not a secret. Thanks, Greg!
One week till the premier of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the accompanying Buffy Blog Burst. I'm so ready.
From today's Chron:
SAN ANTONIO - After months of internal debate at the Pentagon and in Congress, the U.S. Army has decided to downsize and relocate its Southern Command from Puerto Rico to Fort Sam Houston here, officials said Monday.Overcoming a strong lobbying campaign on behalf of Fort Benning, Ga., Fort Sam Houston prevailed in a protracted competition that will bring about 500 jobs -- and a significant amount of prestige -- to San Antonio. The command oversees all Army operations in the Caribbean and Central and South America, including National Guard and construction activities.
The command, known as Army South, has been headquartered at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, where it was relocated from Panama in 1999. Although military officials pondered leaving the command on the Caribbean island, they began looking for a new home where its current staff of 1,200 could be greatly reduced.
The Pentagon considered other sites in Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, but the selection process was widely considered a two-site competition between Fort Benning and Fort Sam Houston. The victor offered a large underutilized facility -- the old Brooke Army Medical Center [BAMC] -- for the command headquarters.
Those pinko liberals at the Cato Institute give ten reasons why invading Iraq is a bad idea. Does Jim Henley know about this?
Via Tim Dunlop, who's been all over the weapons inspections point/counterpoint.
Looking to attack Ron Kirk in his home base of Dallas, the campaign for John Cornyn has started airing attack ads. From the description in this Chron article, it appears it's the same ad we've already seen here in Houston. At least now I know that it was paid for by the RNC.
There's some interesting commentary on the state of this race and Kirk's support in Dallas at the Daily Kos. Be sure to read the comments for some insight from a Dallas resident.
The feds' investigation of Enron Broadband Services is a hint that former CEOs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are firmly in their crosshairs:
EBS is only one part of the multifaceted investigation, which includes such areas as improper power trades to boost prices in California and a 1999 energy trading deal with Merrill Lynch that helped Enron earn a $60 million profit.But the new focus on EBS and other businesses also indicates that Skilling and Lay cannot be clearly linked to the complex partnerships that former Enron executive Michael Kopper admitted he created with former Chief Financial Officer Andy Fastow to siphon money into their own pockets, said Robert Mintz, a New Jersey-based attorney and former federal prosecutor.
Prosecutors will most likely find it easier to show that Lay or Skilling misrepresented the finances of the company than to prove they knew of the intricate accounting involved in the partnerships, Mintz said.
"Prosecutors must feel fairly certain they have their case against Fastow secured and are moving on to the bigger fish," said Mintz. "They're just trying to fit the missing pieces of the puzzle together."
Either a multicount indictment or plea agreement with Fastow is expected by the end of the month, say sources familiar with the case.
Ted Barlow was the first blogger that I saw who pointed to this page, which is a memorial to Shiri Negari, a young woman killed by a suicide bomber in June. I confess I didn't click the link at the time.
Today, via Jeff Cooper, I came across this post by William Burton about loss, remembrance, and atonement. I urge you to go and read it.
The following sentence appears in a technical document I'm reviewing. Those of you with weak constitutions should avert your eyes:
"Upon acceptance of the gap analysis, an automated way of updating the information as well as introducing any new required information will be solutioned."
Some nouns just shouldn't be verbed, y'know?
Yet another story about how yet another alternative to the good ol' dollar bill - the gold Sacagawea coin - is a big flop. Counting the Susan B. Anthony coin and the two-dollar bill, that's three failed attempts to convince people that the buck should head off into the sunset. With any luck, it'll be the last one.
I understand all the reasons why coins are preferred: They last longer and they save the Treasury money. The public doesn't care. I say the only way to get people to give up the greenback is to actually stop printing $1 bills. I'll only choose the coins if I have no choice. It's simple - given the option, I prefer paper in my wallet to metal in my pocket. I don't like carrying dollar coins and you can't make me.
(OK, my inner numismatist still digs the old Eisenhower dollar coins for their sheer size. I'd love to find a Bicentennial dollar coin to join the 1976 quarters and half-dollars that I have hoarded away. But that's the only exception I'll make.)
The race for Lieutenant Governor, which is where the real power resides in Texas, remains a tight one. This article is a fairly standard overview of the race, with a bit more emphasis on Democrat John Sharp. What excited me was this bit:
Most polls show the candidates neck-and-neck, but by the end of June, [Republican candidate David] Dewhurst had already spent $11.3 million to Sharp's $1.3 million. Dewhurst, tapping into his personal wealth, has appeared in campaign television advertisements for more than a year, while Sharp has yet to hit the televised airwaves. When he does, expect to see baseball pitching legend Nolan Ryan, a Republican who backed President George W. Bush and Gov. Rick Perry, this time touting a Democrat.
From In the National Interest, some analysis of how Russia, China, and France reacted to President Bush's recent speech before the UN. Some good quotes:
It remains unclear to us, however, whether the Bush Administration will be prepared to accept the results of successful international inspections in Iraq, i. e. a disarmed Iraq--with Saddam still in power.[...]
What influences American policy still remains a mystery. President Bush's address reminds one of a comic-book plot, where the United States is cast in the role of the superhero (Superman, or Spiderman) who faces not complex political issues, but megalomaniac characters--Saddam Hussein as "the Joker", or bin Laden as "The Penguin." (ed. note: this guy needs to get his comic book characters straight.)
[...]
One cannot also ignore the domestic factors behind this speech. Bush's challenging international diplomacy takes place only weeks before midterm elections, and retaining control of the Congress is the number-one consideration of his staff. They have concluded that the Iraq issue would help the Republicans to win, since they are facing attacks from the Democrats, a troubled economy, and the President's own position is eroding. So, the president, by speaking before the General Assembly, and negotiating with the other permanent members of the Security Council, keeps the Iraq issue in the headlines through to November.
Hot off the presses! Lots of college students use the Internet on a daily basis! They use it for school-related stuff as well as for slacking off! It's, like, useful in so many ways!
Whoo. I'd better sit down. My heart gets to palpitating when I read such exciting stuff.
The city of Lubbock has approved a plan to relocate prairie dogs from a site used to treat wastewater, and if necessary, to kill those they can't capture. This settles a dispute which I noted in August.
As expected, GOP Senate candidate John Cornyn fired back at Ron Kirk for suggesting that Cornyn would be less gung-ho about invading Iraq if children of privilege were on the front lines. I'm so surprised.
The funniest thing you'll read today is this wedding announcement in the Sunday Chron. I thought Tiffany was gonna bust a gut next to me on the couch. Read how the guests "transcended" to the reception, while the orchestra played the tender and romantic "Aggie War Hymn" for the recessional. Someone got their money's worth out of their Word-A-Day Calendar, that's all I can say.
Democratic Senate candidate Ron Kirk has suggested that GOP opponent John Cornyn's strong support for an invasion of Iraq may have some racial undertones:
Democratic Senate candidate Ron Kirk suggested Friday that Republican opponent John Cornyn's comfort in sending U.S troops to Iraq may come down to racial and class differences between him and those who would be actually taking enemy fire."Look who would be doing the fighting," he said following a joint rally with Tony Sanchez, the Democratic candidate for governor. "They're disproportionately ethnic, they're disproportionately minority."
Kirk said that if the children of Cornyn's wealthy friends and acquaintances were destined to be on the front lines, "he would be just as deliberative as the rest of us."
[...]
The issue is not that minority soldiers are not prepared to do their duty, Kirk said.
"The point is, I would be curious to see if we would go to war without any thought of loss if the first half-million kids to go came from families who made $1 million," he said.
Ron Kirk is certainly not the first person to make this charge, either - it was commonly made during the Vietnam War, as children of privilege avoided the draft via student deferments and political influence. The Creedence Clearwater Revival song Fortunate Son protests this inequality.
(On a side note, is anyone else offended by Wrangler Jeans' use of this song's first two lines - "Some men are born, made to wave the flag/Ooh, the red, white, and blue" - as part of a patriotically-themed advertisement? You can bet that if John Fogerty controlled the rights to CCR's songbook that this wouldn't have happened.)
That said, I don't know that this was the best way of countering the soft-on-defense charge. The GOP has already taken pot shots at the so-called "Dream Team" by claiming that the Democrats are trying to make the election about race. Seems to me this plays into their hands. The Cornyn camp didn't respond in this article, but I won't be surprised if that changes.
Interesting article in today's Chron about investment by Spanish businesses in Mexico. Spain is the fourth-largest investor in Mexico at $3.6 billion, trailing Canada ($3.8 billion), the Netherlands ($8.9 billion), and of course the US ($66.7 billion, all numbers courtesy of a sidebar chart that's apparently only in the print edition).
From a Two Minute Drill by Will Vehrs:
I'm surprised there isn't more outrage over voting problems in South Florida, especially from the "Al Gore Was Robbed" crowd. I guess irregularities only matter if your candidate is losing. We all have a stake in fair and efficient voting, no matter what our partisanship. Voting is a local function and local officials need to be held accountable, despite the urge to tar higher officials or engage in wistful conspiracy theories.
Charles Dodgson has some sharp words regarding Noelle Bush and reactions to her recent troubles:
Now that Noelle Bush has been caught trying to smuggle a crack rock into a rehab facility, folks on the right are cautioning left-wingers not to make too much partisan hay over issues in the purely private life of a troubled young woman.Well, relax. The top item on a google search for "Chelsea Clinton" is a rant from the National Review's John Derbyshire which winds up with a few insults in the direction of Bill Clinton, kicks in with "I hate Chelsea Clinton", and proceeds to excoriate her for, among other things, her choice of college majors (she went to Oxford to study --- ewwww --- economics), for showing up late once to church, and (no, I'm not making this up) for publicly showing solidarity with her family when her dad was going through a rough spot. We promise to hold Noelle to no higher standard than that.
On a side note, I wish Mister Dodgson would update the blogroll link he has for me. I want to move up in the ecosystem, durn it!
(That goes for you, too, Kimberly and Max. I'm not feeling the love over here.)
Patrick points me to this hilarious piece by Max Sawicky:
EU DEBATES MEASURES TO RESTORE ORDER AND DEMOCRACY IN FLORIDA. [From Le Monde et La Merde, September 12, 2002]BRUXELLE -- The storied war cabinet of the European Union continued to meet today, deep in deliberations on restoring order to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Florida, U.S.A. Sources said debate bogged down initially over disagreements over whether order had actually prevailed in the first place.
EU Minister of Information & Household Appliances Bo Husqvarnaquistholm from Sweden reported to the group on the present situation: "We have an across the board breakdown of the state's social and public services. The Child Welfare Department has been taken over by people who believe in flogging disobedient minors. Law enforcement agencies let perpetrators of drug offenses walk away from arrest. They prefer to focus on conducting surveillance on houses of prostitution. Election officials are ignorant of election laws. Election workers are ignorant of how to administer elections. Governor Jeb Bush is ignorant of the fact that elections are a state government responsibility. Dogs and cats have begun to try to eat each other, while alligators are eating them both. Janet Reno evades apprehension and is liable to eat anything."
UPDATE: And sure enough, Captain Euro is on the scene. I feel better already.
From today's Chron:
DALLAS -- A man who last year drew the ire of women's rights groups for selling so-called "wife-beater" T-shirts on the Internet is facing a felony charge for purveying another questionable product: fake handicapped-parking placards.James Doolin, 31, was arrested in Denton County on Sept. 5 for selling 100 phony tags for $500 to undercover sheriff's officers.
He was charged with tampering with a government record, punishable by a maximum $10,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail, Denton County Sheriff's Department spokesman Kevin Patton said Thursday.
[...]
Patton said officials learned of the fake tags when an officer noticed one hanging from the rearview mirror of a vehicle in a handicapped spot in front of the Denton County Courthouse.
"They're exactly the same size. All the writing from a distance looked authentic," Patton said.
Upon closer inspection, Patton said, the tags were missing some numbers and letters, and were a darker blue than the real thing.
"We ran a sting on him and he was arrested after he made the sale," Patton said.
And yet another Didn't Think It Could Possibly Get Any Weirder moment for the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Seems that a Houston police officer paid for 50 "no trespassing" signs with his own credit card two days before the Roundup occurred. Presumably, this was done because there were no such signs in place beforehand, and thus no grounds for arresting most of those people.
Councilwoman Ada Edwards sent a letter to [City Controller Sylvia] Garcia's office Wednesday asking her to look into the purchase after council members received an anonymous call from a police officer alerting them that the police paid for the signs.The caller said Capt. Mark Aguirre ordered [Dilip] Patel to get 50 signs. Patel works in the South Central patrol division where Aguirre served as captain before he was suspended in connect with the arrests.
Buying the signs is legal, but posting them on private property is not, because city funds cannot be spent for private use, city officials said.
"I don't think the city of Houston should purchase `no trespassing' signs to be placed on anything but city of Houston property," Garcia said.
"If they went on private property, I would have concerns, and I think the taxpayers would have concerns."
Garcia said her office will continue to look into the matter to determine if there was a violation of city policy or procedure.
Meanwhile, in a Special Bonus Weird Moment, this story cites yet another figure for the number of arrestees, 298. As Ginger has noted, this number seems to change from one story to the next.
(Snarky aside: Will this appear in Rich Connelly's column in next week's Houston Press? Stay tuned.)
Meanwhile, Police Chief C.O. Bradford is apparently taking that perjury charge seriously, as he's retained three (count 'em) big name defense attornies to fight it. Bradford, you may recall, is accused of lying about calling Captain Aguirre a naughty name. Thank $DEITY we have no other pressing matters in Houston with which to concern ourselves!
From today's Chron:
Texas student allowed to wear Christian crucifixDALLAS - A North Texas high school student whose family practices a Christian religion won the right Wednesday to wear her crucifix necklace in full view after appealing to the district superintendent.
Waxahachie High School freshman Rebecca Moreno, suspended for wearing the jewelry, had been forced to wear it hidden under her blouse in order to return to class.
In a letter to Moreno, 15, and her family, Waxahachie public school Superintendent Bobby Parker said that the district's policy protects all faiths.
He also said he would recommend that the school board review the district's dress code to make sure religious expression or free speech is not restricted.
"While the Christian faith may not be the majority religion in our community, our board policies protect all faiths," Parker wrote the Moreno family.
Michael Linz, an attorney hired by the American Civil Liberties Union in Dallas to represent the family, praised the decision.
"The superintendent's opinion is what I had hoped for," Linz told The Dallas Morning News for its Wednesday editions.
The teen was twice suspended from Waxahachie High for wearing the crucifix, a cross depicting the execution of the Christian god, because school officials said she violated school policy.
The policy classifies jewelry that features the crucifix, swastika and drug-oriented symbols as potentially disruptive to the educational environment.
Last week, school officials softened their position and let Rebecca was to return classes if she agreed to wear the crucifix inside her clothing.
But the Morenos, who practice Christianity, say the crucifix is an important symbol in their religion and not allowing students to wear it in full view violates their First Amendment rights.
School officials said they never banned the crucifix on religious grounds. They said the symbol was banned in 1997 because it became associated with animal sacrifice and devil worship.
"The result was a distraction and disruption at school," Parker wrote.
Parker said Rebecca can continue to wear her necklace "so long as it does not cause a disruption in the educational environment."
Laura Moreno, Rebecca's mother, said she doesn't see that happening.
"I don't think it will be a distraction to anybody," she said. "Rebecca is excited and relieved that this is over."
Following up on his mocking of Chron reporter Rachel Graves for her "Crawford Weblog", Richard Connelly of the Houston Press makes fun of Fran Blinebury (scroll down) for his ignorant selection of BYU to with the Western Athletic Conference.
Help me out here. Am I allowed to shout "Advantage: Blogosphere!" at this point, or is its non-ironic use only allowed amongst self-professed warbloggers? I can't keep up with all the memos.
Via Josh Marshall comes this NYT article which talks about how little we know about the collapse of the Twin Towers.
Of course the country had to understand what went wrong. One of the largest structures ever built had failed, at a terrible cost in lives. When warned of danger, those in charge had shrugged. Many died because the rescue effort was plagued by communication breakdowns, a lack of coordination, failure to prepare.These findings on the sinking of the Titanic entered the public record after the Carpathia docked at the Chelsea piers in Manhattan on April 18, 1912, with the 705 survivors plucked from the North Atlantic. Starting the next morning at the Waldorf-Astoria, the barely dry witnesses provided a rich body of facts about the accident, the Titanic, and maritime practices to the United States Senate Commerce Committee, which held 18 days of hearings. Their testimony gave form to a distant horror, shaping law and history.
No inquiry remotely similar in scope, energy or transparency has considered the attacks of last Sept. 11, the devastating collapse of two of the world's tallest structures, the deaths at the Pentagon or on United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. A handful of tightly focused reviews have taken place mostly in secret, conducted by private consultants, or by Congressional committees.
One year later, the public knows less about the circumstances of 2,801 deaths in Manhattan in broad daylight than people in 1912 knew within weeks about the Titanic, which sank in the middle of an ocean in the dead of night.
In 1993, fundamentalists parked a truck bomb in the trade center basement. Six people were killed. For rescuers, "Communications in that complex was the No. 1 issue, a big problem that had to be fixed," said Dennis Smith, the author of "Report From Ground Zero" (Viking, 2002) and a retired firefighter who has studied both attacks.The firefighters returned Sept. 11 carrying the same radio equipment, with one big difference: the department had arranged to link the radios to a system of boosters and cable lines. Even so, nearly every surviving firefighter reported problems sending and getting messages.
Yet Fire Department officials did not obtain the single known recording of their operations inside the tower until after The New York Times reported its existence in July. At that point, the response study had already been drafted.
[...]
As the towers were burning, Randy Mastro, a lawyer who served as deputy mayor under Mr. Giuliani, was asked on CNN if the city had changed its approach since 1993. Indeed it had, he said.
In 1993, Mr. Mastro said, "There was no coordinated city response. There was no Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. Rudy Giuliani established that. It's been one of the hallmarks of his tenure. And unfortunately, there are circumstances like this one where that coordinated effort has to come into play and is coming into play now."
The belief in the coordinated public safety efforts of the Giuliani administration turned out to be much like the belief in the unsinkability of the Titanic. Early in the crisis, the Office of Emergency Management had to be evacuated. It had been located in the trade center complex by Mr. Giuliani, against much advice that it was unwise to put an emergency center in a terrorist target. The Police and Fire Departments barely spoke on Sept. 11. They set up separate command posts. The firefighters stayed on the ground, 900 feet below fires that police officers in helicopters were seeing up close. The two departments had not practiced helicopter operations for at least a year before the attack.
Literally as Mr. Mastro was speaking, police in the sky were urging that everyone pull back from the tower, saying that a collapse appeared inevitable. This message was sent over police radios, but went unheard by firefighters. As many as 100 were resting on the 19th floor of the north tower. "A wall of firemen, shooting the breeze, as if we were in a park," said Deputy Chief Joseph Baccellieri, the commanding officer of the New York State Court Officers Association.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't paid more attention to this story. I saw the Salon article about the McKinsey press release where much of this information was first published, but I didn't read it at the time. I know I haven't seen this story in the Chron - I searched the archives for "McKinsey" and "World Trade Center" and found nothing related.
I may be late to this party, but I'm here now. I plan on learning more. I want to see this story get more exposure.
Johnny Unitas, voted the best player of the NFL's first 50 seasons, has died at the age of 69. Unintas, first to accumulate 40,000 passing yards, still holds the NFL record for throwing touchdown passes in 47 consecutive games.
As noted by Kevin, the DA's office has announced it will drop all charges against those arrested in the Roundup last month and to vacate the convictions of those who already pleaded guilty. I'm glad to hear it. Now let's figure out how this mess happened and make sure it doesn't happen again.
On a whim, I answered the Chron's poll question, which is "Were the Aug. 17-18 arrests at the Westheimer Kmart justified?" Out of 8991 votes cast, 15% said "They needed to be done", 19% said "A well-intentioned mistake", and 65% agreed with me that "It was an outrage". Not scientific, of course, but interesting nonetheless.
When I see things like this story, which Karin and Kevin have both flagged, I just can't help myself.
At around 5 a.m. Monday, authorities say two people in a dark SUV broke in to Austin Powder, a business that sells explosives to construction companies for blasting purposes.
I am now going to resume living my normal life...
Mac points to this story, which claims that you can teach children to like yucky foods such as broccoli if you keep making them try it.
In her speech about the psychology of eating your vegetables, Jane Wardle of University College London said picky eaters are not born and, more importantly, they can be unmade in about a week.Aversions to certain healthy foods -- broccoli, spinach and peas were her examples -- can be turned right around with only 10 tastings, according to her research. Most parents give up after two or three failed attempts, she said.
Meanwhile, my buddy Drew sent me some better food news. It seems that starchy leftovers are better cancer preventatives than oat bran.
According to Prof John Burn, cold potatoes, baked beans and porridge are more likely to reduce the risks of bowel cancer than bran flakes or muesli.
The following is from an email my father sent to family members on September 30, 2001:
Our father and Grandfather, Charles A Kuffner, badge 9647, was one of those special men who entered the ranks of the Fire Department during the Depression. That is not the most unusual feature of my Dad’s service. It was the competition he faced for a Civil Service job, with its attendant security.The caliber of the candidates, research reveals, were college graduates, lawyers, accountants and even dentists and other persons with Professional degrees who also strove for the appointment.Dad was a high school dropout who only completed 6 months at Curtis High School. He did, however, remember his Spanish class, and could recite in flawless Spanish, the story of "Henny Penny, The Sky is Falling"!
Before his appointment, he supported himself and family as a bill collector with the Richmond County Gas Company. That wasn’t the hard part; his territory was an enclave of Italian immigrants who didn’t speak English: Rosebank, Staten Island. No problem for our resourceful parent/grandparent, he learned to count and make change in Italian!
When he was appointed in 1939 he was especially proud of the uniform and the position he assumed. For the next 22 years, he shared a brotherhood within his firehouse, especially with his brother-in-law, Paul Crifasi, who did him the honor of marrying his only sister Loretta in 1947. According to Aunt Loretta, Dad unsuccessfully tried to play match maker. It wasn't until another tragedy - Uncle Paul's brother's wife died in childbirth - that he and Aunt Loretta finally met, and that was when she took Gram to watch the fireman respond to an alarm on Richmond Terrace near Bement Avenue in 1946.
At the firehouse, Engine 157, Truck 80 Engine, Uncle Wille Schwarz was the resident barber and all us kids had their hair cuts; Archer Frey who was the accountant; Abe Cohen, the tinker, almost put Dad out of his second job as a wallpaper hanger. It seemed that Dad had perfected the use of old fire extinguisher to spray walls to loosen up old paper so it could be removed easier that sponging it down. The extinguisher developed a pinprick leak. Abe volunteered to weld it closed. He gave up after the original hole was enlarged to about a half-dollar, and earned a new name, "The Brazier". There was also “Big” John Lamendolla; Lt. Tom Kane, famous for his compliments to his men after a successful operation, “Men, I seen what youse done, and youse done good”! and Uncle John Hall, who was the firehouse photographer, his photos record our family history. Later on we met "Sgt" Art Foley, the Marine from Iwo Jima; Bob Podilack; Vince Furia, who counseled Dad in the use of "Four inches a brush"; so many wonderful men, so many stories. One more story must be told. I met a retired fireman at a cocktail party and when he learned who I was, he told me about a saloon fire in Port Richmond. It seems that the men were taking out burned and scorched bottles of liquor and Dad blocked the door, telling them to replace the bottles since it was the wrong thing to do to a small business owner who just got put out of business. A Man's man was his closing comment.
These memories are tempered with great sadness when I read the list on missing fireman; Lt. John Fisher, Rescue 5 painted 366 Oakland Ave in 1999 before we sold it; Steve Siller, Engine # 201 who moved onto Oakland Avenue with his wife and 5 kids about 4 houses down the street; Kevin Hannafin, whose parents John and Lillian were clients of mine, as he was when he was 16; Lenny from over Mastro Barber shop, a retired firefighter whose son followed in his foot steps, and died at the WTC; My court reporter's son; after a while I stopped reading the list of the missing, I didn't want to know any more names.
We just observed a moment of silence here in our building to commemorate the terrorist attacks of a year ago. I didn't need to be asked to be silent - I was in the middle of reading Teresa Nielsen Hayden's remembrances, which had my full and undivided attention.
I'm from New York, but I haven't lived there in a long time. I have no direct connection to what happened on September 11 of last year, which is an obsequeous way of saying that none of my friends or family were killed by those fucking bastards. People still called and emailed me to ask how my family was. I was very grateful for that. My sister Eileen works for Mount Sinai Hospital up near the Guggenheim Museum. My sister-in-law Pamela was working for Morgan Stanley in their midtown office. I have two cousins, a cousin-in-law, and various friends who live and work in the Washington, DC area. All were thankfully miles away from Ground Zero and the Pentagon.
They were handing out lapel pins in the lobby this morning. I get to work at a ridiculously early hour, so I was at my desk before the pin distributors had gathered. One of them, a friend who works on my floor, came by a little while ago to offer me a pin, since she knew I wouldn't have gotten one. I thanked her and declined. It's just not my style.
When they sent us home last year, Tiffany and I sat on the couch and watched the TV news coverage. I really don't remember any of it. The only thing I remember is hugging my dog and wishing that my world were as simple and comprehensible as his.
I remember the trumpet player and the operatic NYPD officer who performed God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch in the 2001 World Series. Moving as that was, I often longed for different music. America the Beautiful, as performed by Ray Charles. Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait. The Schoolhouse Rock rendition of the preamble to the Constitution:
We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domsetic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
I have no wisdom about where we are today compared to then. I'm just glad we're here.
The Chron intones solemnly about Police Chief C.O. Bradford's indictment for lying during a disciplinary hearing.
I have to say that the whole thing leaves me slack-jawed. How dumb do you have to be to lie about something on the record when there are witnesses who can contradict you? Unbelievable. I keep wondering how this whole K-Mart Kiddie Roundup thing could get any weirder, and I keep finding out.
On a side note, Alex Whitlock compares Chief Bradford to Bill Clinton. All I can say is that regardless of how this turns out, I sure as hell hope it doesn't take $70 million to reach the conclusion.
Billie Carr, the dean of Texas liberals, has died from a stroke at the age of 74. I'll have to keep an eye open for Molly Ivins' eulogy, which will surely contain all of the best stories about The Boss.
The book-banning patrol is at it again in Montgomery County (north of Houston). Having discovered one book that they don't like, they've gone searching for more:
A crowd of about 200 people spilled into the hallways at Commissioners Court on Monday to hear the debate on a proposed ban on It's Perfectly Normal, by Robie H. Harris. Critics of the book asked that a second book by Harris, It's So Amazing, which addresses sex education for younger children, also be removed because of what they called its pro-homosexual stance.County Judge Alan B. Sadler said he had received hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of comments from residents and the sentiment appears to be about evenly split on the issue.
"It frankly does not sway my feelings on wanting more control on what is on the shelves that is accessible to children in Montgomery County," Sadler said.
"We have to draw a line in the sand," said Jim German, a Republican precinct chairman. "We are fed up with the liberals shoving immoral views down our throats."
Rob Humenik has also been on this story, and has more information about a protest that was planned for yesterday.
Wanna guess which pair of pitchers has the best record since the All-Star break? Not Mulder and Zito, not Johnson and Schilling, not Maddux and Glavine. Nope, it's Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller. They're both on nine-game winning streaks and are a combined 18-1 with a 2.11 ERA since the Midsummer Classic.
I thought I had some insightful things to say about sexism in the blogosphere (debate started by Dawn Olsen, with followup here and here, and amplified by Meryl Yourish, with followup here, here, and here), but I don't think I can do better than Diane E. (scroll down and look for "Meryl is right") and Ampersand. I do have a couple of points to add:
Math geek that I am, I decided to see if I could get a rough count of "known" female bloggers. I started at the Myelin Ecosystem and did some counting. Of the 501 most-linked blogs, I identified 47 as being written by women. I did the same exercise with the most-forward-links blogs and came up with 37.
Now, there's quite a few links that are not individual blogs (such as Blogger.com and MetaFilter, plus various group blogs like Samizdata), and a sizeable number of blogs that I don't know and can't tell from the title what the author's gender is. So take that number with a grain of salt, but I'm willing to bet that a more rigorous classification would still put the level of female-written blogs in the 20-25% range. This is, of course, a tiny and not-likely-to-be-representative slice of the full blog world, but since the discussion started with who does and doesn't link to whom, I think it's an interesting data point.
As for how female bloggers are perceived compared to male bloggers, I can't speak for Diane, but I will say that anyone as iconoclastic as she is likely to get less adoration than someone who consistently preaches to the choir like den Beste. For what it's worth, I dropped den Beste from my blogroll a few weeks ago when I realized that he no longer had anything to say that I found interesting. Diane continues to amaze, infuriate, and challenge me. And I simply disagree with Ampersand's assertion that Jeanne D'Arc suffers from a lack of respect or linkage. I see (scroll down to 1:11 PM) people citing (scroll down) Jeanne all the time (and deservedly so, might I add).
Finally, Dawn has this to say about double standards:
I post pictures of myself on my blog, which is my prerogative and is only tangentially related to my blog content. Yes I discuss sex. I have recently written some erotic material as a way of honing my writing skills. BUT, I also discuss LOTS OF OTHER THINGS TOO. Like breastfeeding a toddler, home-schooling, giving birth, abortion, gun control, parenting and basic social commentary.
Glenn [Reynolds] is a prolific linker and can be quite generous about throwing his weight around, and he certainly links to female bloggers. He has even linked to me, but I have noticed a trend in what he links to: it's never any of my more heady posts, but usually something sexual, which taken out context, comes off as condescending or even vaguely insulting.
Of course, Dawn had the option of drawing attention to her blog in this fashion. That option was open to her solely because she's a woman (and a beautiful one at that). I submit that no one would care if I or just about any other male blogger started writing about sex. It's just not nearly as interesting when a man does it, not to mention that many men can't talk about sex without sounding boastful or creepy.
(Not that I ever will blog about sex, mind you. My parents, wife, and at least one of my sisters reads this page. I ain't talking about sex without my lawyer, priest, therapist, best friend, and a six-pack of Shiner Bock all present.)
Yes, as Dawn points out, men can and do post nekkid pictures of women to get readers. And yes, hardly anyone questions their morals for doing so. But they also generally don't get Instapundit links for it, either.
UPDATE: Jeanne herself disagrees with Ampersand's statement that she's not linked to enough.
Avedon is "inarticulate with disgust" over this rant by Steven den Beste in which he claims "[...] there's been a deafening silence from such people about the sheer brutality and barbarity of some of their customs, particularly in how they treat their women. You'd think that those in the Women's Studies departments in the major universities, and activists in the Women's Rights movement, would be in the forefront as supporters of our war against Islamic extremism, based on the kind of hell that strict enforcement of Sharia makes life for anyone with two X chromosomes..."
Part of den Beste's problem is that he seems to link criticism of the War On Terror as it now stands with criticism of the initial US invasion of Afghanistan. The document he links to was published on June 14, quite a bit after the bombing began, and states that its purpose is to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001", which includes such things as the Patriot Act and military tribunals, the sort of government encroachments on American civil rights that once upon a time riled up people like den Beste. They argue, and rightly so, that not everyone agrees with the idea that we're best served at this point by attacking Iraq or anyone else the president doesn't like. There's a lot in what they wrote that I think is correct.
That said, I wouldn't have signed this document. They don't actually draw a distinction between the initial invasion that led to the overthrow of the Taliban and the subsequent expansion of the WoT, a fatal flaw in my opinion and worthy of the criticism that den Beste and others levelled at it.
If only den Beste could have left it at that. But no. Like Wile E. Coyote, he had to go chasing it right off the cliff, leaving behind any trace of rationality. I don't honestly know how it is that den Beste thinks that feminist concern for women in Afghanistan and other Islamist countries is a new phenomenon. Perhaps he never got the eternally-forwarded anti-Taliban email petition that made the rounds starting in 1999. If he had, he might have taken the time to check out the Snopes Urban Legends page, which in turn would have pointed him towards RAWA, which was founded in 1977, and this Feminist Majority page, which describes its anti-Taliban activities since 1997. Having done that, he might have taken a moment to look around the Feminist Majority page, where he would have seen these recent stories, complete with Action Alerts, as well as these older stories, all about the very anti-woman excesses of sharia that he got started ranting about.
But hey, who has time for research when you could be bashing those dumb ol' multi-cultural types? It's so much easier to win an argument against a non-existent opponent.
So yes, the Professional Women's Libbers are aware of these cruel and vicious things that den Beste writes about. I'd be willing to bet that like Avedon, they've been well aware of them long before den Beste was. One can certainly argue that a continued use of force is the optimal way to help these women, just as one can argue that there are better solutions that don't invlove the military. Asking "[w]hy aren't women's advocates raising their voices about this cruelty?" when they've been doing so all along is just butt-ignorant.
Just got an email from my friend Nick Gvosdev. He's the editor-in-chief of In The National Interest, an "online weekly designed to provide insight and analysis of American foreign policy and world events from a realist perspective". It's a companion to The National Interest, a quarterly journal that's been published since 1985, and it just put out its first edition today. Be sure to take a moment and check it out, I expect it to be an interesting read.
Jack Cluth braves mud, fire ants, and the possible wrath of his wife to bring you photos of the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fay. As noted, it wasn't bad, and we are thankful for that. Thanks, Jack!
UPDATE: Oops. It's not over yet.
On the way in to work this morning I heard a radio ad saying that David Carr bobblehead dolls are now available at McDonald's for $4.99. They didn't say if you had to buy a Happy Meal in order to be eligible for this sure-to-be-a-priceless-collectible.
On the plus side, Ken Goldstein bobblehead dolls are still free. Hallelujah!
Well, the Texans won their debut NFL game yesterday, which can only mean one thing: The Chronicle has gone into hype overdrive, with a complete special section on our new beloved hometown heroes, surely the greatest thing this town has seen since the invention of silicone.
OK, OK, I'll stop. I watched most of the game last night. The Texans played pretty well, and beating the Cowboys is always a good thing. I'm sure I'll eventually warm up to them. But please, for $DEITY's sake, will someone please gag Fran Blinebury? I dare you to read this excerpt without giggling:
It was huge, bigger than all of Texas and even bolder than anyone could have imagined.It was tastier than a corny dog at the State Fair, the wildest ride since they shut down the mechanical bull at Gilley's.
The Texans came out like old-time gunslingers, their six-shooters blazing and served notice there was a new marshal in town.
One comment about the game: The announcers noted that the Kansas City Chiefs were once known as the Dallas Texans, and that in 1962, the Texans played a memorable double-overtime game against the Houston Oilers for the AFL Championship. What they didn't mention was the infamous mistake made by Texans' running back Abner Haynes, who blew the coin toss, giving the Oilers the ball and the wind at their backs to start the first overtime. Thankfully for Haynes, a great if mostly forgotten running back, his error didn't affect the game's outcome.
Nice article on ESPN.com by Doug Pappas about baseball's labor history. The following quote is a pretty good encapsulation of why the owners have always been and likely always will be the bad guys:
Shortly after helping to force [then-Commissioner Fay] Vincent from office in September 1992, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf explained the owners' new labor strategy: "You do it by taking a position and telling them we're not going to play unless we make a deal, and being prepared not to play one or two years if you have to."
Go away for a few days and the weird Google searches pile up. To whoever found me with the search string "i love relaxing nude at home now since the 2 of us joined a nudist organization", I'm very happy for you. Now go put some pants on, OK?
I'll be out of town from this afternoon through Sunday, so no bloggage until I return. Have a great weekend.
Kevin forwarded me this link to a Reason article which argues that the baseball settlement which averted a strike is just snake oil. Regular readers of this site and of the Baseball Prospectus will see a lot of familiar stuff.
Speaking of the BP, they really dislike this agreement as well. They believe, and I tend to agree, that the owners won the battle of public opinion decisively enough that the players basically capitulated. They're also not very optimistic about the next time the CBA expires.
Getting back to the Reason article, I was checking out the standings this morning and was struck by a thought. If baseball were football, with 12 playoff teams and a 16-game schedule, there'd be a hell of a race for the postseason in the National League. Consider: The Braves are the equivalent of 9-5, as is Arizona. The Dodgers, Giants, and Cardinals are all 8-6. Then there's the Phillies, Expos, Marlins, Astros, and Reds at 7-7, while the Mets are a half-game back at 6-7. Even the Pirates, Cubs, Rockies, and Padres, all at 6-8, likely have some complicated mathematical scenario in which they can make the cut. Keep that in mind the next time someone extols football's "competitive balance".
The Houston Press has finally written about the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup, and I have to say it was worth the wait. They're particularly scathing to Chief Bradford and Captain Aguirre, but pretty much everyone in this sorry episode who deserves to get singed does so. Four stars. Chuck-Bob says check it out.
Kevin is particularly amused by what ERACER stands for. "Environmental Ravagement"? Man. That's something out of the old "Batman" TV show. If you could just figure out a way to tack on "Rapacious Rapscallions" or "Holy turbocharged tumult!" you could start working on cloning Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith for the inevitable made-for-TV movie.
A nice feature in the "This Week" section of the Chron on Kaldi Cafe owner Stephanie DuBroff and her attempt to get a private members-only liquor license. Looks like she'll get it. Good!
The main problem with a free-market economy is that sooner or later, someone produces something like this. Yeesh.
Via Ungodly Politics.
Here's the Chron's full review of the Lyle Lovett/Bonnie Raitt concert from Tuesday. Reviewer Michael Clark spends a lot more time on the Lovett half of the show, par for the course when a hometown boy is playing, I suppose. He also makes a curious statement about Lovett's signature song:
"This next song we play everywhere, but nobody knows what we're talking about" was his introduction to the big-band two-step of That's Right (You're Not From Texas).
Good grief! Twenty straight wins for the Oakland A's, the last one coming on a walk-off homer after coughing up an 11-run lead. They've got the best record in the American League, the best starting rotation anywhere, and speaking as a Yankees fan, they scare the bejeezus out of me. All this after a second straight year of being written off after a slow start. They may not win any individual awards, but don't go betting against them in the playoffs.
Two notes about the long streak: One, while the teams that won 19 in a row (the 1947 Yankees and the 1906 White Sox) also won the World Series, the teams with longer winning streaks (the 1935 Cubs, who won 21 straight, and the 1916 Giants, who won 26 including a tie) did not. The '35 Cubs did win their pennant, but the '16 Giants, amazingly enough, finished in fourth place at 86-66.
Two, a long winning streak isn't always this much fun. In Peter Golenbock's book Dynasty, about the Yankees from 1949 to 1964, he writes that manager Casey Stengel became a real hardass as the team put together an 18-game winning streak. Many players were actually relieved when the streak finally ended and Stengel returned to his normal temperament. Fortunately for the A's, Art Howe hasn't imitated this behavior.
Dan Lewis responds to my to-do list for when I'm named Commissioner of baseball. A couple of points: I'm not sure why draft-pick compensation for losing a free agent leads to higher salaries. I know that the "compensation pool" that was the ugly result of the 1981 strike was a bad idea that deserved to die, but I don't see the issue here.
My idea about having players sign autographs was mostly a feel-good thing. Dan's right that volatile personalities, and even good guys having a bad day, make this likely to be more trouble than it's worth. Perhaps I should just encourage teams to encourage players to sign autographs before games.
In any event, I'd be a better commissioner than Beelzebud even if I did nothing but attend games. So would just about anyone else, for that matter. Not a high hurdle to clear, of course, but we already knew that.
Matthew Yglesias notes that the eeeevil liberal media may be growing a backbone over Priscilla Owen, the judicial activist judge from Texas that Bush wants to install on the federal bench. May the Democrats on the judiciary committee be similarly emboldened.
Mark Evanier has a good take on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon:
Years ago, I got into a friendly argument with a lovely gent named Artie Forrest, who is one of the all-time great TV directors. Artie was then handling Jerry's telethon and was defending it to just about everyone he met. They were all saying it was tasteless; that it had less to do with helping sick children than sick show biz careers; that Jerry was going to give himself a muscular ailment from patting himself on the back. I told Artie that I thought it would be possible to raise even more money each year without all that ego-massage. "Perhaps," I said, "If the telethon weren't so tacky, bigger stars would appear and larger sums would be collected."Artie didn't disagree. But he said something that I thought was very true and very realistic. He said, approximately, "Yeah, but Jerry raises a helluva lot of money doing it his way, and nobody else is doing anything. You can talk all you want about other ways it might be done, and you might be right. But, in the meantime, he's buying research and wheelchairs and getting results."
The more I think about it, the more I think Artie was right. When it comes to something like this, results matter.
Tiffany and I went to see Lyle Lovett and Bonnie Raitt last night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion last night. It was the second time I'd seen each artist - we saw Lovett at the rodeo in March and Raitt at the Venue Formerly Known As The Aerial Theater downtown a few years ago - but the first time I'd seen them on the same ticket.
It rained before the show, but for once that didn't matter, as we had covered seating instead of the usual spot on the hill. Much as I enjoy kicking back on the grass, it loses some charm when the grass is wet, and besides, it was cool this once to really be able to see the artists' faces.
Lyle Lovett went first. He's still hobbled from a run-in with a bull six months ago, as the walking cast on his leg attested. He specifically thanked the doctors that patched him up at one point. His Large Band is well-named: four horn players, three string players (fiddle, cello, upright bass), two percussionists, a pedal-steel guitar player, an electric guitar player, and a piano player, plus Lovett himself and four backup singers. They were really smoking as they charged though one barn-burner after another like "Church" and "(That's Right) You're Not From Texas", a song the Lovett introduced by saying that out of state audiences just never fully understood. He'd try to explain it to them, but "things that are worth explaining don't really need to be, you know?" We knew.
Not too surprisingly, the set ended with a standing ovation and an encore. Also not surprisingly, Raitt came onstage during the first encore to sing along. She did the same thing with Keb' Mo', the opening act at the Aerial show, except it was during his set and really did come as a surprise to me. Lovett noted that this was the third time he'd toured with Bonnie Raitt, the first time being in 1986, which was his first ever national tour. The two are clearly friends, and they have excellent chemistry onstage.
Lovett's set was fantastic. He spent a fair bit of time talking about how grateful he was to be healthy after his accident and how happy he was to be performing in Texas so he could see his momma and his family. He gave credit to the small venues like Anderson Fair, where he got his start and still sometimes shows up unnanounced. He moved from blues to gospel to western swing to rockabilly to folk without missing a beat, and the crowd loved him
Bonnie Raitt had a tough act to follow, but she was up to it. She also spent a fair amount of time talking to the audience - she was particularly amused by the large number of people wearing buttons that flashed a red light on them (something that a vendor must have been giving away), calling them "space aliens". She spoke about how happy she was to still be performing after 30 years, and how she's having fun in her fifties. (For the record, however old she is, she looks great.)
And of course, she also played some kickbutt rock and blues music. As with Lovett, a lot of her best stuff doesn't get a whole lot of airplay, but the crowd sang and danced along anyway. She saved a couple of favorites for her encore, including "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "Thing Called Love", which was done, naturally, as a duet with Lyle Lovett. They also did a rousing version of "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" before that, accompanied by Lovett's horn section.
All in all, a wonderful evening, even if it did mean I only got five hours of sleep last night. Go see 'em if you can.
There's a brief favorable review in the Chron today, with a promise of a fuller review in tomorrow's entertainment section.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander says the projected state budget shortfall really is only $5 billion, despite what some Gloomy Guses are saying. The Gloomy Guses are sticking to their guns.
"There has been recent speculation of a $7 billion, $10 billion and even $12 billion shortfall," Rylander said."These numbers are based on `wish lists' of various agencies and also they are manufactured from faulty fabric that ignores natural revenue growth during 2004-05, which will help offset spending needs," she added.
Rylander's statement puts her at direct odds with the projections of fellow Republican Sen. Chris Harris of Arlington, vice chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a member of the Legislative Budget Board.
Harris said his belief that the state could "easily" see the budget shortfall grow to a frightening $12 billion is not based on agency "wish lists" but rather on what it will take to maintain current services amid rising demands.
If anything, he argues, agency requests are understating needs, not the opposite.
Rylander, who is seeking re-election this fall, projected that the state's budget problems will be eased by a "modest to moderate" economic recovery during the next two-year budget cycle."We believe that real gross state product will be 2.1 percent this calendar year and rebound to a more robust 4.6 percent next calendar year," she said.
Bernard Weinstein, an economist at North Texas State University, said he's skeptical of that rosy outlook.
"Boy, I would love to see that happen, but I don't think so," Weinstein said. "I believe there is a very, very strong possibility of a double-dip national recession, which will affect Texas."
Weinstein said it is true that tax revenues grow when the population grows. However, current population growth in Texas is concentrated among the lower-income, a stark contrast to the migration of wealthy Californians in the last two decades.
"Most of the population growth is in people who are going to put demand on state services," he said. "What's driving population growth in Texas today is immigration, mainly from Latin America, and higher birth rates among lower-income immigrants, particularly Hispanics."
The title of this post is taken from a book by Molly Ivins. Be sure to scroll down the page and note the review from "A reader from USA", which 0 of 12 people found helpful.
The good news: The Metropolitan Transit Authority will have room for a rail line as part of the planned Katy Freeway (I-10) expansion.
The bad news: Any such rail line will depend on federal dollars, and that means the blessing of Tom DeLay. Good frickin' luck.
It also depends on voter approval. I'm not worried about that yet. If the Right People are convinced that this plan is a Good Thing, then I believe voter approval will follow. It's way too early to say how that may shape up. As was the case with the Rockets' new stadium, it will depend in large part on the specifics of the plan, and we're a long way away from that.
One factor in how all this plays out is Rep. John Culberson (R, Fort Bend). Culberson won Bill Archer's old district in part on a pledge to Do Something about the Katy Freeway. He's one of the architects and advocates of the planned 22-lane expansion that I've derided in this space. His plan is popular in Katy and the far western reaches of Houston, where people with long commutes live, but is a lot less popular than he probably thought it was in places like Spring Valley, a wealthy and heavily Republican independent township just north of I-10.
Culberson recently attended a meeting of the Spring Valley City Council to talk about the freeway expansion plan. Before attending, he did a talk radio show in which he invited supporters to come out and give those "environmental whackos" what for. He got a lot more resistance than he expected. I have the pre- and post-meeting scoop here and here, taken from two emails I got from Polly Ledvina of the Katy Corridor Coalition.
Another person whose fate will be entwined with this is Orlando Sanchez. Sanchez staked out an anti-rail position in last year's mayoral election, and he's running again in 2003. If the pro-rail forces score some early victories and line up some key Republican supporters, Sanchez may have to back off his original stance or face the possibility that a Joe Roach might cut into his base. On the other hand, if the pro-rail forces go down in flames early on, Sanchez could ride that to an easy victory next year. We'll see.
Jack Cluth celebrates one year of blogging today. Not to be outdone, Dan Cook celebrates fifty years as a sportswriter for the San Antonio Express-News. Happy anniversary to you both.
With the threat of a work stoppage safely in the rearview mirror for awhile, I'd like to follow through on a promise I made awhile back to say just what I'd do if I were named Commissioner of baseball. I present herewith my Top Ten To-Do List for baseball.
I recognize that some of these things may be challenged in court by agents. I don't care. I believe that the best and most cost-effective way for a franchise to be competitive is to develop young players, and towards that end I believe every team should have fair access to them.
(With apologies to Alex Whitlock. Please note that I'm not claiming that I know how to save baseball. I'm just claiming that I know what I'd do if I were put in charge of baseball.)
Got a few extra bucks in your pocket that you just can't get rid of? Want to help a damsel in distress? Well, look no further. You can help pay off someone's credit card or help finance someone's divorce.
I'm reminded of the old scam in which someone places an ad that reads "Today is the last day to send in your dollar!" and lists a PO box. Or perhaps the homeless guy on the streetcorner with a sign that says "Why lie? I need the money to buy beer." I suppose these two sites could be for real. They may even be worthy of your charity. I still think they're tacky.
This is as good a time as any to say that I will never have a tipjar on this site. I will never pay to read someone else's blog, and I will never ask you to pay to read mine. The day may come when I will seek to be paid to write, but I'll do that the old-fashioned way.
(Links spotted on TPRS.)
Argh. According to this story, the next Harry Potter book won't be here until at least 2003, maybe later. The wait is killing me.
The good news is that kids haven't abandoned reading amid the delays, according to local librarians:
At the Houston Public Library, kids who are wild about Harry are also showing interest in classic fantasy authors such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Roald Dahl, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.Also popular right now are German author Cornelia Funke's Thief Lord (set in Venice, with orphans and a cruel aunt-uncle duo); Neil Gaiman's Coraline (about kids' souls getting trapped behind mirrors); and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.
I had only skimmed the story when it appeared, so I hadn't realized that the AFL-CIO played a significant role in the recent severance payment agreement for some 4200 ex-Enron employees. I don't really expect organized labor to get much of a membership boost out of this, but it's nice to see them wear the white hat and get some good press for it.
Captain Mark Aguirre's sister has spoken up in his defense, saying that he's the victim of a vendetta by Chief Bradford. She also claims that only the guilty were arrested:
"My brother told me the crowd was 500 strong when police moved in," [Ivonne] Carr said. "They had undercover police officers everywhere to make sure nobody who was a shopper at Sonic or Kmart was arrested. These are kids who are complaining because they got caught and mommy and daddy had to cough up some dough. ... This was not a peaceful gathering."Plain-clothes officers staking out the lot before the raid handed out cards to shoppers to help ensure they didn't get caught up in the fray, she said.
Today Tiffany came back from the Home Depot Expo Center with a bagful of drawer pulls and knobs for the kitchen. Apparently, the ones we have are gold colored, which is all wrong. The ones she bought and is now installing are silver, which is much better aesthetically.
I have to take her word for it on that part. I am, as she reminds me, an aesthetic retard. It wasn't until this afternoon, as I watched her do her thing, that I even noticed that the knobs on the cabinets don't match the pulls on the drawers. (In my defense, we've only been in this house since April. These things take time.) She was amazed by that. Hey, I said, in my universe there are two types of knobs and drawer pulls: Those that work and those that don't. The rest is just details.
This is probably the real reason why polygamy is a mystery to me. I have a hard enough time understanding the aesthetic needs of one woman.
Here's a story about a man who lives in Waller (a mostly rural county to the west of Houston) with his two wives and seven kids. Interestingly, their status is well-known and fairly well tolerated by neighbors, not necessarily what I'd have expected in a conservative area like that.
What makes it work for them is twofold: First, all the adults have jobs. Most high-profile polygamy trials seem to involve welfare fraud, not an issue here. Second, the "practical" part of the polygamy is in the fact that there's only one legal marriage involved here. The second wife is such in name only.
The Houston Press did a longer and more in-depth article on polyamory awhile back which didn't involve the family featured in the Chron story. I'm always intrigued by stories like these because no matter what I read about the people in them, I can't quite wrap my mind around it. I don't really have a problem with it, and if some day a polyamorists' rights movement rises up I'll support it, but I just have no idea how they make it work. Perhaps I'm blindered by my lifetime of being in traditional family settings. When you've only ever lived one way, it's hard not to see that way as being "normal", and it's a short step from "normal" to "correct".
I'd love to see some long-term studies of kids from families like these to get a better handle on how they turn out. I suspect they do no worse than kids from traditional families, but that's just a guess on my part. Anyone know of any data that already exists?
Earlier I pointed to a Chron article about widespread abuse of disability parking hangtags, which showed that some 40% of cars that have them shouldn't. Now it turns out that there's almost zero enforcement of hangtag abuse laws here in Houston. Other cities don't seem to have this problem:
Mesquite, less than 10 percent Houston's size, has seized 69 tags in the past year.San Antonio, with a new program for its downtown, plastered warning fliers on every hangtagged car it could find two weeks ago. Last week, it began enforcement and seized at least 15 tags.
[...]
With cheating rampant in Houston's airports, malls and downtown, in the last 12 months, the city has seized a total of ... one.
Given the way people have reacted to this story, I can't help but think that some politician is going to jump in front of this issue.
One person e-mailed the Chronicle: "I have in-laws that have a hangtag that they had gotten because they were caring for a now-deceased relative in their home. They laugh about it and always park in the handicapped parking spaces.""I would love to see their tag yanked from them, as well as someone teaching them a lesson."
The writer then provided their names and address.
