Not much new in the story, which is hot off the presses. I just like the sound of "78-count indictment".

Give your throat a nice spritz, bubbe. It's time to start singing.

Texas Secretary of State Gwyn Smith is predicting 40% turnout, or approximately 5 million voters, in this year's election. That compares to 32.4% and 3.7 million voters in 1998, though it's nowhere near the level of Presidential elections (6.4 million and 51.8% in 2000, 5.6 million and 53.2% in 1996).

Interestingly, if you look at turnout over the years, the turnout for the governor's race in 1994 was over 50%. However, a much smaller percentage of the voting age population was registered (66.09% in 1994 versus 78.75% for the primaries in 2002). The big jump appears to have taken place in 1996. Given that Texas instituted a Motor Voter law in 1991, two years before the NVRA was enacted in 1993, I wonder why it took so long for the registration gap to start to close.

I received this in a Windows 2000 tech newsletter today. It's amazingly sleazy. Don't fall for it.

* SNEAK ATTACK THROUGH A LICENSE AGREEMENT

Have you ever received a Web-based greeting card from a friend or relative? They're common these days, and they seem to be taken for granted, in that people trust the intent of someone who might send them a greeting card. People like to be greeted with kindness, so they're inclined to look at and read the greeting card. It's one of the feel-good things that many people simply can't resist.

Have you ever wondered why a company would spend its Internet resources delivering free greeting cards on behalf of people with whom it conducts no business otherwise? How does such an entity profit from those endeavors? What might its motives be?

Last week, a user posted an interesting message to our HowTo for Security mailing list regarding one company that delivers Web-based greeting cards. That company, Permissioned Media, runs a Web site called FriendGreetings.com, which lets one person send another person an electronic greeting card. The friendly facilitation seems simple and harmless, but it has a rather insidious side.

When you receive a greeting from FriendGreetings.com, the message says that someone sent you the greeting and that to read it, you must click a URL that takes you to the Web site hosting the greeting. When you click the URL, you're prompted to install an ActiveX control before you view the greeting. As the greeting-card recipient, you would probably assume that you must install the ActiveX control to view the greeting; however, that's not the case. Instead, FriendGreetings.com has designed the ActiveX control, complete with an End User License Agreement (EULA), to interact with your mail client software and harvest information about your email contacts. After the ActiveX control obtains your private contact list information, it sends a similar greeting card to everyone in your contact list, probably unbeknownst to you!

If you took time to read the EULA from FriendGreetings.com, you'd discover that the EULA clearly states Permissioned Media's intention to do just that. A section of the EULA reads, "As part of the installation process, Permissioned Media will access your Microsoft Outlook contacts list and send an e-mail to persons on your contacts list inviting them to download FriendGreetings or related products." By accepting the EULA and installing the ActiveX control, you give the company permission to perform that activity.

In essence, the greeting cards that FriendGreetings.com delivers resemble many worms that travel the Internet: They're parasitic, intrusive, devious, elusive, and most of all, probably unwanted. Even some antivirus vendors issued warnings about the greeting card last week. However, we can't completely blame FriendGreetings.com for its use because, although the company counts on most users' acceptance of the unread EULA, the EULA does spell out some of its intention. By agreeing to the EULA, users agree to the ActiveX control activity. Nevertheless, the lesson here should be obvious: When you encounter a EULA, don't take anything for granted. Read it word for word to understand exactly what you're accepting and think through what the consequences of acceptance might be.

Permissioned Media bills itself as a "behavioral marketing network" with more than 100 clients that advertise online. The company also operates Cool-Downloads.com. You can read Permissioned Media's EULA at this URL. Take note that it grants the company "the right to add additional features or functions to the version of PerMedia you install, or to add new applications to PerMedia, at any time." Yikes!

If you've received a greeting card from FriendGreetings.com and installed the associated ActiveX control, you might want to remove its software from your system. To find out how, be sure to read the related news article, "Protect Your Contact List: Read the EULA!" in this newsletter.

And if you're a security administrator for your network, consider blocking FriendGreetings.com to help ensure that none of your network users inadvertently compromise private contact information by accepting a greeting card from that Web site.

A Scripps Howard poll is showing a sizeable lead for Governor Goodhair over Tony Sanchez, a tie in the Lt. Governor race, and slight leads for the Republicans in the Senate and Attorney General race.

I'll get to all that in a minute. First, compare and contrast the related story in the Brownsville Herald to the one in our own newspaper. John Williams is normally an astute writer. I can't say if his piece was cut for space or if he simply did a cursory cut-n-paste job because he was late to buy a round at the bar, but you'd think the Chron might be a teensy bit embarrassed at being out-covered by a small town paper.

Anyway, the usual caveats apply. How did they determine "likely voters"? What turnout model did they use? You know the drill.

There is one thing in the Herald's coverage that sounds right:

If the election for governor were today, 50 percent of likely voters would choose Perry compared with 35 percent who favor Sanchez. Fourteen percent are undecided. In August, 42 percent preferred Perry while 28 percent picked Sanchez.

Texans are almost split in their views about Perry’s job performance. While 44 percent say he has done an excellent or good job as governor, 43 percent say his performance has been fair or poor.

"People are looking (at the governor’s race) as the lesser of two evils," said Bruce Buchanan, political science professor at the University of Texas. "Voters are not enamored with Perry, but people don’t see Sanchez as the answer. I think that’s it in a nutshell."

[...]

Meanwhile, 37 percent of likely voters say neither Perry nor Sanchez is talking about the issues important to them. Thirty-two percent say the candidates are talking about important issues and 22 percent say the candidates talk about the issues sometimes

Of course, it's easy for me as an Unpaid Political Pundit to sit back and wax pompously about Boldness and The Vision Thing because I can use weaselly pundit words and overlook inconvenient facts such as the fact that boldness in this context would have meant talking about taxes. In particular, it would have meant talking about raising taxes, or at least rolling back some of the tax cuts that Dubya implemented. Some of this is going to happen whether people like it or not, but the first person to mention it in a campaign in this state is going to get tarred and feathered for it. It's hard to crime Sanchez too harshly for realizing that once he mentioned the T word, the campaign would be about nothing else.

And hey, we still don't know what's going to happen. Even if Sanchez loses, it doesn't mean it was because he wasn't sufficiently bold for me. If he does lose (and I'm certainly not willing to concede that he will), we'll know sometime after November 5 why he did. He's played his cards. We'll see how it goes.

I haven't paid much attention to the Congressional races around here, mostly because I live in Sheila Jackson Lee's district, which means for me there is no race. Over in the 25th CD, which is an open seat due to Ken Bentsen's decision to run for Senate, things are getting ugly. Republican candidate Tom Reiser is running an ad which alleges that his opponent, former City Councilman Chris Bell, sexually harassed a woman who was on Mayor Lee Brown's staff. Bell has called this allegation a lie, and he's got quite a bit of support for his defense, including the woman who he supposedly harassed:

The allegation of sexual harassment dates to a debate at Houston City Hall in the summer of 2001, when Bell was a council member and [Carol] Alvarado worked for Mayor Lee Brown.

At the time, the council was considering a proposal to prevent city employees from running for political office. The Bell-supported proposal was aimed at Alvarado, who then was running for the council seat she won last fall.

Shortly after a private meeting with Bell, then-Councilman Rob Todd said Bell made a "sexual comment" regarding Alvarado. The Houston Press later quoted Todd as saying that Bell had said, "You make sure to tell (Alvarado) how well you argued on her side when she is repaying the favor tonight."

Bell denied making any comment that could have been construed that way.

Bell and Todd were frequent combatants when they served on the council. Todd could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Reiser spokesman Dugan said the allegation in the commercial is backed up in a letter written Aug. 8, 2001 by Brown ally Cindy Clifford and three other women demanding an apology from Bell.

"Clearly, the four who wrote the letter were offended by the comment as I would be, as the women of Mr. Reiser's staff would be," Dugan said.

Clifford, who supports Bell, said she "barely remembers" the letter in which she wrote, "It's remarks such as these that make life more difficult for all women in the workplace."

"But I have always felt that Chris was very, very interested in women's issues," Clifford said. "He's obviously worked out the issues with Carol."

Alvarado said she never believed Todd's allegation, and she called on voters to "Please call Tom Reiser and ask him to stop lying."

George Biggs, a former aide to Todd who now works for Alvarado, and City Councilwoman Annise Parker were among the supporters who appeared with Bell Wednesday.

Both said they don't believe Bell made any sexually suggestive comments to Todd about Alvarado.

The big thing next year in Houston is going to be the mayoral election, which will be wide open since Mayor Lee Brown is prohibited from running again by our stoopid term-limits law. Former City Councilman Joe Roach, who announced his candidacy a few months ago, has now announced that he will drop out of the race, citing concerns about his wife's health. This leaves one known candidate, first-term Councilman Michael "Boy Wonder" Berry, and a whole lotta speculation.

Anyway, as I noted before, Roach would not have been my first choice but he was a serious candidate who would have run a good campaign. I'm sorry to see him drop out and wish him and his wife well.

Dwight Meredith points me to this startling revelation about the DC snipers from NewsMax:

On Wednesday night, shortly before the capture of Muhammad and Malvo, Chief Moose acquiesced to the sniper's demand and read publicly a statement:

"You asked us to say, 'We have caught the sniper like a duck in a noose,' " Moose said, swallowing hard. "We understand that hearing us say this is important to you." ...

A caller to Ed Martin's talk radio program on WGY in Albany, N.Y., says if you take the first letter of each word in the phrase "like a duck in a noose." and exclude the last 'a', the acronym spells "L-A-D-I-N." Now, that's not exactly the way bin Laden's family name is commonly spelled, but Muhammad and Malvo apparently never won a spelling bee.

Frank: (Nervously) "Huhuhuh...."
Flagg: (Takes magazine) "This won't look good on your record."
Frank: "But sir, it's only Reader's Digest, I.."
Flagg: "Not when you eliminate the third, fifth, and sixth letters. Then it's Red's Digest, comrade."

Andrew Northrup has moved to his own domain and Movable Type. Drop in, say Howdy, and update your blogrolls.

Ann Richards is in Austin campaigning for the Democratic ticket. The story contains some interesting tidbits about polls and female voters:

In November 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, 3.3 million men and 3.7 million women voted in Texas.

[...]

In a poll conducted for the Dallas Morning News two weeks ago by Blum & Weprin Associates, Cornyn had 45 percent of the female vote to 39 percent for Kirk, while Sanchez had just 33 percent of the women's vote to 51 percent for Perry.

The poll showed Cornyn and Perry with double-digit leads overall. The margin of error was plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

Ben Tulchin of California-based Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates said his polling for the Democrats shows the race much closer, including among women. Democrats contend Republicans are overrepresented in that poll.

Tulchin said 10 percent to 15 percent of voters are undecided, and 60 percent of those are women.

Generically, Tulchin said, women identify themselves 40 percent as Democratic, 34 percent Republican and 20 percent independent, but their support depends on the candidate.

Perry pollster Mike Baselice's figures are a bit different; he also noted they can change with individual races.

He said surveys he conducted this spring and summer show male voters identify 52 percent Republican to 34 percent Democratic, while the female split is 44 percent Democratic to 43 percent Republican.

UPDATE: To be clear, in the above paragraph I'm saying that the Democrats are doomed unless a majority of women vote for them. Sorry for any confusion.

I attended a lecture last night at the Houston Museum of Natural Science with Tiffany and her parents that was about the excavation of the ship La Belle, which wrecked in 1686 in Matagorda Bay. It was a part of the four-ship fleet that French explorer La Salle brought to the New World to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Unfortunately for La Salle, he missed the delta by 400 miles. He went ahead and got his colonists ensconsed in Fort St. Louis, then tried to hike (!) to Quebec for assistance from other French forts. (Amazingly, one of his men made it all the way there; his journal, which tells the story, survives to this day.)

The lecture and slide show by Dr. Jim Bruseth was outstanding. Here are some pictures from the excavation. The ship basically ran aground in shallow water without breaking up, so its artifacts were all in one place. The water is very murky, so diving was not a good option. Instead, a "cofferdam" was built around it. It's basically a dry oasis in the bay - they enclosed an area and pumped the water out. Cost a bunch of money, but the payoff was fantastic.

I knew who La Salle was, but I knew nothing about La Belle or Fort St. Louis. If you ever get a chance to see Dr. Bruseth give this presentation, it's definitely worth it.

Alex Whitlock compares the policy statements on Rick Perry and Tony Sanchez's web pages. Check it out, he's done some good work.

Apparently, the "poll books", which list all 1.9 million registered voters in Harris County, are missing those who have moved and not updated their addresses. This is an issue because you're allowed to vote at your old polling place for up to four years.

Suspense list voters are supposed to be marked so poll workers can identify them and update their addresses.

But because the 319,000 suspense voters are not noted, poll workers will have to refer to new lists being printed this week by the county tax assessor-collector's office, which also serves as voter registrar.

That extra step could lead to longer lines at the polls just as the county kicks off its new $25 million eSlate electronic voting system.

An electronic voting machine the size of a legal pad, eSlate has been used only for early voting since the county bought the system last year. Some officials, such as Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Sue Schechter, are concerned the system could confuse voters and lead to delays at the polls.

Some fear the problem with the poll books, which were prepared by a private company hired by the county, could exacerbate those problems.

"It's an unneeded complication," said Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt. "Anytime you have a complication in procedures, you're going to increase the likelihood of a problem."

Doesn't mean I don't find this story annoying, though:

Votec Corp., a San Diego company paid $70,000 a year by the county, was supposed to ensure the information in the poll books was accurate. Although Votec was given accurate information, [County Clerk Beverley] Kaufman said neither the company nor her office caught the error until after the books were printed. She said they were more concerned with ensuring that all voters were listed and that the books were broken down properly for each precinct.

"We're certain (Votec) has learned its lesson, and we know we've learned ours," she said.

Kaufman said there was not enough time or money to print up new poll books after the error was discovered. That's why officials decided to have Bettencourt's office generate a new list.

Bill Bilyeu, president of Votec, said the problem will not be repeated because his company will work directly with Bettencourt's office to maintain the voter roll.

Tim Dunlop has been enjoying his first Halloween season, as has his six-year-old son Noah, who's quite excited about trick-or-treating. Dunlop and his family live in the DC area, which led to this observation:

You want to know another reason the region is sighing with relief that the snipers have been caught - Halloween is it. No-one I know was particularly thrilled at the prospect of their kids wandering around in the dark with those two murderers still out there.

So I'm glad to see that people are looking forward to Halloween, as they should be. Our neighborhood makes a big deal out of it every year - the folks across the street have more decorations up than some houses have for Christmas. We get so inundated with trick-or-treaters that I always feel compelled to give a heads-up to new arrivals. It's pure chaos, and it's a lot of fun.

Tony Adragna points me to this Tim Noah piece, in which Noah attempts to uncover the reason for all those nice obits for Paul Wellstone that various right-wingers have been writing:

Conservatives grieve Paul Wellstone because there is little or no chance that anyone as far to the left as Wellstone will be elected to the Senate anytime soon. Since the start of the Clinton administration, the main Republican project has been to maintain the fiction that an overwhelmingly centrist Democratic Party lies to the left of the American mainstream. Without Wellstone, that point will be a little harder to argue.

Maybe it's just different here in flyover country, but I honestly can't ever recall seeing a political ad or reading a scare quote in the papers from a Republican that invoked Paul Wellstone's name as That Which All Right-Thinking People Must Stand United Against. For one thing, I just don't think Wellstone was all that well known. For another thing, the great Clinton menace was more than enough red meat for the purposes at hand, with Ted Kennedy serving as the steak sauce if a little extra zest was needed. Senator Wellstone's tragic and untimely death will not change any of that one bit.

In 2001, Houston Press writer Richard Connelly and his family were flooded out by Tropical Storm Allison. More than a year later, his house was torn down after they got a FEMA buyout. Allison has had a huge effect on his neighborhood, which is not very far from my own. Take a moment and read both stories. Here's an excerpt from the first one, titled "Wading for Godot", to whet your appetite:

Everyone has had a Bizarre Moment in life, a moment when you just step back and ask, "How the hell did I get in this situation?"

Often it'll come when you're attending the wedding, say, of two people you thought you knew well. Then the preacher announces that the loving couple have written their own vows, and that those vows are based on Time in a Bottle and the rest of Jim Croce's works.

[...]

My own Bizarre Moment came sometime in the predawn hours of June 9, courtesy of Tropical Storm Allison.

I was standing in the middle of my living room, taking a leak. While normally pissing in the living room would be considered a social faux pas among the Smart Set -- unless your name is Jackson Pollock -- Miss Manners might have given me a pass this time, seeing as how I was thigh-high in fetid, brackish water that had spread throughout the house. Wading back to stand over a commode that was itself under water seemed somewhat pointless at the time.

I'm standing there whizzing, surrounded by large pieces of heavy furniture floating leisurely about as if on a pleasure cruise. Outside, my wife's car -- the one that just got $300 in repairs -- sits totally submerged, its burglar alarm gargling pitifully underneath the waves.

The rain continues to pound down in vicious sheets, showing no signs of letting up before we all go under. The only place to sit that's above water is a wooden barstool currently occupied by my fitfully dozing wife. My nine-year-old son is back in our bedroom, using our mattress as a raft to keep above the waves.

He's been occasionally nodding off; in the interludes he has been trying to distract himself by singing loudly to the new CD we have been playing incessantly lately.

So there I am, pissing in the living room, watching the incoming water slowly cover up more and more books and doodads and keepsakes, a raging river outside where our street used to be, my wife trying to sleep without slipping off her chair into the gross indoor lake, and I'm suddenly listening to the disembodied voice of a nine-year-old belting out Springtime for Hitler.

Bizarre Moment? Geez, I can only pray that my life never gets more bizarre than that.

Federal Judge David Hittner has declined to force the appointment of Calvin Burdine's appeals lawyer to his retrial case, agreeing with the argument that forcing the change would enjoin the trial. Looks like I called that one wrong. The ACLU is appealing the ruling, which may delay the start of the retrial.

While I understand Hittner's ruling, I have to ask: Doesn't it make sense to close off this potential avenue for appeal now? The whole reason for this retrial is that Burdine got essentially no representation in 1983. Is it in anyone's interest to risk another retrial? Unless I'm missing something, it looks to me like the reason that attorney McGlasson needs to be appointed by Judge Hoffman to represent Calvin Burdine is that it's the only way McGlasson can get paid for the work, as Burdine is indigent. The lawyer who is representing him now has agreed to work pro bono. Is it worth all this trouble to avoid paying the defense attorney?

I spent two hours last night at the Houston headquarters for the Tony Sanchez campaign. I'd volunteered to help call supporters to remind them to vote. It was a good night to make phone calls - it was raining and flooding around town, so most people were at home. Here's a report of my evening.

The headquarters are in a union hall in between downtown and the Third Ward. The first thing I noticed were a lot of vans in the parking lot. The Sanchez campaign has boasted about renting every van in the state. There was definitely evidence to support that claim.

There were about fifteen people making phone calls while I was there. Several of them were speaking Spanish to the people they were calling. We were primarily calling heavily Democratic areas - this was about getting out the vote, not changing minds. The script we used mentioned all four top-of-the-ballot Dems - Ron Kirk, Tony Sanchez, Kirk Watson, John Sharp, in that order.

I was calling people in Precint 195. Precint data from the 2000 election can be found here, from the County Clerk's web page. In 2000, this precint of about 2500 registered voters had a 48.6% turnout. Over 90% of them voted straight Democratic - the final tally in the Presidential election was 1175 votes for Gore, 10 for Bush. This was a receptive crowd for the message I was delivering, to say the least.

I spoke to about 35 people (not counting answering machines). I kept tallies as requested by the vounteer coordinator. About half had already voted in early voting. Three people I spoke to were ineligible to vote. Three or four told me that they'd already voted, then hung up before I could confirm who they'd voted for. (None was rude about it - they all said something like "oh, I've already voted, thanks".)

Only one person expressed no interest in voting. One person specifically said she was not voting for Tony Sanchez (I didn't ask about the other candidates). Twenty-five had already voted or were planning to vote for the Democrats.

This is basically anecdotal evidence, so take it for what it's worth. My impression is that I was pleased by the effort and commitment I saw. One woman I spoke to said that she'd not yet received her absentee ballot - she was basically homebound, so she had to vote by mail. We sent a volunteer that same night to her house with a ballot, since today is the effective deadline for getting them in the mail.

If the key to getting elected is getting your base motivated and turned out, then what I saw was good for the Democrats. The people I spoke to were definitely into it.

Early voting continues to be heavy. The numbers for the first week, at the bottom of the linked page, for the 15 most populous counties, are 350,214 so far in 2002, compared to 322,095 for 1998.

According to my webhost, everyone on my server has been moved to a new box. They're still not sure why the old one was failing, but so far everything looks good on the new one. Thus, I can post normally again, and comments should be working as before.

By the way, the change occurred yesterday around 1:30 PM Central time, so if you tried to get here around then you would have been unsuccessful.

Anyway, things should be back to normal here. Thanks for your patience.

Congrats to the Angels, a truly fine team, for winning the World Series. It was a great Series and it's a shame that not too many people watched.

BTW, I lost count of how many times the announcers mentioned that Angels pitcher John Lackey was aiming to be the first rookie starter to win a Game 7 of the World Series since 1909. However, no one ever mentioned who that starter was. It was Babe Adams, who won three games in the 1909 Classic for the victorious Pittsburgh Pirates. Adams, who actually pitched in 5 games in 1906 and 1907, wound up with a 194-140 record in his 19-year career.

In response to an ad that attempts to link him to the 1985 murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena, Tony Sanchez has called Governor Goodhair "the most disgusting human being I've ever known."

In the ad, one of the DEA agents, Hector Berrellez, says, "We investigated that murder. The same drug dealers who killed Kiki laundered millions in drug money through Tony Sanchez's bank."

Berrellez was referring to the fact, which is a central theme in the governor's race, that in the early 1980s money belonging to Mexican drug dealers was laundered through Sanchez's Tesoro Savings & Loan in Laredo.

Sanchez has repeatedly denied knowing the money was tainted until told by federal authorities and nobody associated with the bank, which failed in 1988, has ever been charged.

The agents have said that they hold Sanchez and the leaders of other banks involved in money laundering indirectly responsible for Camarena's death.

If Perry has a comfortable lead over Sanchez, as recent independently conducted polls have indicated, why did he stoop to the new campaign low?

There was a suggestion that Perry is being vindictive, trying to get even with Sanchez for the Democrat's barrage of ads hitting Perry -- legitimately -- over his campaign contributions from Enron and insurance companies and for trying to throw his weight around with a state trooper during a traffic stop.

If Perry is simply being vindictive, he also is stupidly running the risk that the new ad could backfire and turn some swing voters against him.

There also is the possibility that Perry knows his lead isn't as solid as the public polls indicate and is trying to rally conservative voters and reinforce lingering questions about Sanchez's background.

Neither reason -- nor any other -- is an acceptable excuse.

Of course, if you're just tired of all the bickering, there is now another choice.

Lynn Johnston will retire her comic strip For Better Or For Worse sometime in the next five years.

Johnston believes that her retirement will come at a good time as the lives of her characters are coming full circle. April, for instance will be going off to university by the time the strip ends. Elizabeth, the middle child, will be off to the work force. And Michael, the oldest child, is soon to be a parent with his wife Deanna.

"You know, she's (April) growing up too fast. It's really too bad. But Michael is going to have a baby sometime in October, and that's going to rejuvenate my interest a little bit, and bring the strip back to family and little kids again, which is going to be a lot of fun," Johnston said.

"Michael's family will be the same age as he and Elizabeth were when they first started the strip. So it will be a full cycle of the family and I think it's a good time to wrap it up," she added.

Disgruntled Marble Slab Creamery franchisees are suing the company over claims of misleading business plans. I wouldn't have bothered blogging this except for the following quote:

But [Hal] Cook and other former Marble Slab franchisees said the often-crowded stores come with some bitter financial realities.

The franchisees say they lost millions on their investments because they depended on inaccurate projections of potential revenues and expenses provided by the corporation, based on its labor and operating costs at the corporate store at 10001 Westheimer.

"Financially, it destroyed us. They need to supply true figures. They are the Enron of ice cream," Cook said.

Tony Sanchez is working to get out the vote as the campaign enters the final week before Election Day. The conventional wisdom continues to be that it's too little, too late:

The pollsters concluded that a victory by either Sanchez or Kirk would require a record-breaking turnout among minority voters, which was the Democratic Party's goal in assembling a racially diverse statewide ticket.

Sanchez also would have to chip away some of Perry's support.

Some Democrats have reported privately that black activists have assembled a strong get-out-the-vote effort for Kirk, and that Kirk likely will receive more than 90 percent of those votes.

But figures released by the secretary of state show that voter registration of Hispanic-surnamed Texans increased by only 170,127, far short of the 500,000 new-voter goal set by former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros' Every Texan Foundation. Cisneros claimed that his voter-registration effort was nonpartisan, but he is a strong backer of Sanchez and Kirk.

There are 2.5 million registered voters with Hispanic surnames. But voter registration in the heavily Republican North Texas counties of Denton and Collin outpaced new registration in the heavily Hispanic South Texas counties of Bexar, Cameron, El Paso, Hidalgo and Webb by almost 16,000.

By the way, the Chron article mentions 2.5 million registered voters with Hispanic surnames. The Borderland News article linked immediately above cites 1.95 million as of 2000. I point this out to note that even counting Hispanic voters can be a dicey proposition. The bottom line is that we're all guessing. My guess, based on recent electoral history, is that Hispanics will turn out for and vote for Tony Sanchez. Whether it will be enough remains to be seen, but I'm confident it will be more than what's been projected so far in the press.

The "experts" may even realize that they could be wrong:

[Jerry] Polinard [chairman of the political science department at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg] said that until early voting started, there hadn't been much noticeable enthusiasm for the governor's race, but that is beginning to change.

"Much of Sanchez's strategy was that much of the heavy lifting would be below the radar," he said. "We may not have as good a handle on this as we think."

Animal rights activists are protesting the city of Lubbock's attempts to forcibly remove prairie dogs from a large site where wastewater is treated.

The controversy began in June, when the then-Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission cited the city of Lubbock for polluting the site with treated sewage the city sprays on crops.

The TNRCC, now titled the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, reported high concentrations of nitrates in monitoring wells in the area, indicating the sewage has permeated the soil and threatens the Ogallala Aquifer below.

That report -- in a town where "Prairie Dog Pete" was once touted as Lubbock's ambassador to the world, where "Peppy the Prairie Dog" was previously used by the TNRCC itself to promote recycling -- at once made the little animal a villain and a cause célèbre.

The agency's finding was nothing new. The land application site has been in violation before. The city has used the site since the 1930s, spraying as much as 8 million gallons of effluent daily on 3,000 of the 6,000 acres.

[...]

In their June report, however, TNRCC investigators added a new wrinkle: They blamed prairie dogs. The report mentioned the increasing numbers of the little animals that have moved into and flourished in the abundant rye grass that is fertilized with the effluent. That report postulated that water could be traveling down prairie dog holes, beneath the grass roots and closer to the aquifer.

Prairie dogs are not a protected species and the city immediately began considering gassing or poisoning the little rodents. Any immediate plans for mass extermination ended, however, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pointed out that migratory burrowing owls, a nationally protected species, use the prairie dog holes in the summer and fall and might be killed as well.

That prompted the city to move its extermination plans to winter, when the owls have departed.

I have heard from my web host that one of their servers (namely, the one that I'm hosted on) has been having sporadic problems running CGI scripts. This has the effect of causing "Internal Server Error" messages to pop up when you click on a Comment link, and it has the same effect when I try to log in to Movable Type. Hopefully, they will get this cleared up soon.

I voted yesterday, making it to the polling place a few minutes before they were scheduled to shut down at 4:30. There were a few other voters there, including one that I overheard who had not used the eSlate machines before but seemed to like them. I didn't quite go straight Dem - Jack Cato, the Republican county treasurer is an acquaintance of mine, so I generally vote for him. There was a minor constitutional amendment (our state constitution covers all sorts of esoterica) and an HISD school bond issue, both of which I voted for.

Tiffany voted today and reported a decent sized crowd - she was on line for about 15 minutes. The early voting site is a "multipurpose metropolitan center" with a fairly tiny parking lot. Usually, I just park across the street in the lot for a large and mostly underused strip center. Tiffany and others had to park there and cross the street in the rain because over a dozen canvassing candidates had camped out in the center's lot. She was pretty cheesed about it. The security guard at the center chased a few of them off, but it didn't make much difference.

It's been rainy and miserable all week, so the fact that early turnout has been strong is a good sign. Stay tuned.

Ron Kirk was in town again, this time at a campaign event designed to drum up Hispanic support.

In Houston, several Hispanic leaders turned out for the Kirk event at Don Carlo's Restaurant near Hobby Airport with the same message: Hispanics should get to the polls and vote a straight Democratic ticket.

"The beauty of this ticket is, it's Texas," said [Rep. Ciro] Rodriguez, a San Antonio Democrat. He was referring to the "Dream Team" of Kirk, who is black; gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez, a Hispanic; and lieutenant governor candidate John Sharp, who is white.

Meanwhile, early voting continues to be strong in San Antonio. Via the newly permalink-enabled Tom Spencer.

An English setter pup on a hunting trip stepped on a shotgun and shot his master in the ankle. Fortunately, the only serious injury suffered was to his dignity:

[Michael] Murray admits there is a certain amount of notoriety that goes along with getting shot by your dog.

"That's the hard part, talking to people, because you feel like such a fool," he said.

The day after the shooting, he and friends walked into a restaurant in the nearby town of Lemmon, S.D., population about 1,600.

"Everybody in town knew about it. As soon as I walked into the restaurant, they said, 'You're the one.' "

Republican Congressman Lamar Smith is airing an ad that uses an image of the World Trade Center as it burned following the September 11 terrorist attack.

San Antonio ad man Arthur Emerson, whose agency cut the commercial for Smith, defended the spot, which started airing earlier this week in San Antonio and Austin.

Emerson called the ad "tastefully done," using a long shot of the twin towers that lasts for "only a couple of seconds."

It tells voters that Smith has fought for beefed-up homeland security in the face of the country's war against terrorism, Emerson said.

Smith is chairman of the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.

"It's a hurtful tragedy that hit us," said Emerson, of the Groves Rojas Emerson agency. "The commercial shows that we're still standing (because) it shows the Empire State Building."

MyDD pays tribute to Paul Wellstone in a fitting fashion by casting his vote today. I join him and many others in saluting a truly principled man who served his country with valor. Rest in peace, Senator.

From TNR's &c blog comes this story about race baiting in the Michigan governor's race. TNR notes that the fairly nasty ad run by trailing Republican Dick Posthumus (ed. note: Oh, the juvenile humor potential in a name like "Dick Posthumus". Good thing this is a Serious Blog.) has backfired, as polls have shown that Democrat Jennifer Granholm's lead expanding to 14 points. Worse, even Republicans such as former Governor William Milliken have blasted Posthumus' ad.

What caught my eye about all this was that &c used this link, to the Detroit News Politics Index page, as their link to the story of Milliken's rebuke. Somewhat amusingly, the lead story on that page right now is this one, which shows that Posthumus is within 8 points of Granholm. Oops.

Never trust an index page when linking to a specific article.

(It should be noted that the more recent poll has a higher margin of error than the previous one, and that the difference appears to come entirely from undecided voters. There's also not a lot of info in either poll about demographics, so as always take them with a grain of salt.)

One reason to root for Granholm to win, by the way: Ted Nugent says he'll run against her in 2006. I can't wait to hear him explain "Cat Scratch Fever" to an assembly of Republican women.

Did you know that John Cleese and Michael Palin once did a guest shot on Saturday Night Live where they did the famous "Dead Parrot" sketch and apparently bombed? Mark Evanier has the details here (scroll down), here, and here.

Ginger has retired. Michael has always published infrequently. Ted went on hiatus Wednesday. Rob joined him yesterday.

If it makes anyone feel better, I'm not going anywhere.

Enjoy the break, but do hurry back, y'all. It's lonely being an axis of one.

Derek Zumsteg snarks all over the whole overblown Baseball's Most Memorable Moments As Brought To You By MasterCard thing. I'm right there with him. What makes a moment memorable is what it meant to you at the time and what it still means to you years later. My most memorable basseball moment is probably watching Chris Chambliss hit a ninth-inning home run to win the 1976 pennant for the Yankees. It's a pretty small moment compared to all of the Officially Sanctioned Memorable Moments, but I can still see it in my mind. I can still hear Bill White's "Deep to right! That ball is GONE!". I was ten years old and I'd never been more excited.

There have been a lot of wonderful moments in baseball since then, some of which were Officially Commemorated. None of them gave me the same thrill as Chambliss' home run. My memories don't need a corporate sugar daddy.

I wrote that last post in a bit of a hurry, so this morning I'd like to spend a bit more time with the subject of aggressive baserunning and risk/reward ratios. Of the three aggressive baserunning decisions the Angels made last night when the game was still within their reach (Palmeiro legging out a double, Eckstein going from first to third on Salmon's single, Eckstein scoring on the wild pitch), the most defensible one is Eckstein going from first to third on the single. There are advantages to having that runner on third with less than two outs. One out is generally considered the optimal time to try for third on a single - the adage is "never make the first or last out at third base".

What all of these situations have in common, though, is the risk of an extra out for an extra base. That's true even for the wild pitch where Eckstein scored. Had he stayed put, the Angels would still have a man on third with less than two outs and their 3 and 4 batters coming up. They'd even be out of the doubleplay sitation, since Salmon advanced to second on the play. You've got to like youir chances to score there.

It's the risk of the extra out that requires a high probability of success. Take a look at the run expectation chart in this ESPN article by Michael Wolverton of the Baseball Prospectus. In 2002, the expected value of runners on second and third with one out is 1.358 runs. The expected value of a runner on second with two outs - the result if Eckstein is thrown out - is 0.322 runs, less than one fourth the value of staying put. That means that Eckstein needs a better than 80% chance of scoring in order to break even.

Aggressiveness has a much better case for it when you're not risking an extra out. Two situations from the 2000 playoffs illustrate this. In the divisional series between the Mets and Giants, the Giants had Armando Rios on second with one out. The batter hit the ball into the hole between third and short. Rios ran, shortstop Mike Bordick threw to third, and Rios was nailed. The Mets went on to win the game, and Rios was roundly criticized.

Problem is, by any reasonable definition, Rios made a rational decision. The math works out such that he needed only a 15% chance of being safe for it to be worthwhile. The reason for the shift in the odds is that if Rios stays put, Bordick throws to first and the out is recorded anyway. Rios is risking a base, but not at the cost of an out. Joe Sheehan explains it as follows:

I know some of you may disagree, but I don't think there's any way that Rios had less than a 1-in-6 chance of being safe. I'll concede that there were two good defensive players involved, and that the situation could possibly have called for a conservative approach. Still, if you look at the big picture, it's not a bad play.

If anything, Mike Bordick made the riskier decision. If he goes to first base, no one says anything. But if he one-hops the throw or hits Rios with it, he's got a shot to be Bill Buckner. OK, with knees.

And I guarantee this: had Bordick hit Rios with the throw, or Rios's foot kicked the ball out of Robin Ventura's glove, leaving the Giants with first and third and one out, all we would have heard was about "putting pressure on the defense" and Dusty Baker's aggressive attitude rubbing off on his players. Those things that sportswriters love to talk about, speed and hustle and forcing teams to make plays? That's what this was. The Mets made the play, won the game, and now get to be Bird feed.

An almost identical situation came up in the World Series. The Mets had runners on second and third with one out. They were down by a run and the infield was in. The batter hit a ground ball to the second baseman and the runner at third held. Here's Joe Sheehan again:

The Mets had second and third with one out in the ninth when [Timoniel] Perez hit a two-hopper to Jose Vizcaino at second base. Todd Pratt held at third base, Perez was out at first base and the Mets didn't score in the inning.

This is ground well covered, but even granting that Pratt moves slower than campaign finance reform and Vizcaino was in on the grass, the contact play has to be on in that situation. There's virtually no downside--the worst-case scenario is first and third with two outs--and the upside is a run and the potential for more.

Holding Pratt was a needlessly conservative move. A nod to Tim McCarver, who was all over this one.

Baseball is a long-run game. Teams that look for and exploit small advantages win more games over the course of the season. (It's a lot like bridge in that regard.) Outs and bases are the currency, and needlessly risking one for the other is almost always a bad idea. It's amazing how often in a short series this gets forgotten, especially when the result is against the odds. David Eckstein will get lauded for his hustle while Armando Rios got criticized for his. Maybe results are all that matters. I'm just saying that going with the odds is usually the best way to get those results.

So I'm watching Game Five of the World Series. It's the top of the fifth and the Giants are leading the Angels 6-0. The Angels lead off with pinch hitter Orlando Palmeiro, who hits a one-hopper off the wall in right. Palmeiro, running aggressively, chugged into second for a double. A good throw might have had a shot at him. David Eckstein then singled, and after a sac fly Eckstein went from first to third on a single by Tim Salmon, just beating the throw from Kenny Lofton.

Eckstein then scored on a wild pitch, again just beating the throw from Benito Santiago to pitcher Jason Schmidt. That's Angels baseball, scratching out runs. Both runners' aggressiveness looked good when Garrett Anderson struck out - it would have been second and third with two outs and only one run in otherwise.

Of course, Troy Glaus then doubled off the wall in left, just missing a home run, to drive in Salmon. Had Eckstein run the bases like Mo Vaughn, he still would have scored. Go-go baserunning is fun and can certainly pay off, but I'm the kind of stodgy grump who believes in not risking outs on the basepaths when you're down by more than two runs. Tim McCarver praised Eckstein for his aggressiveness but never noted either the risk involved (the Angels would have been held to one run had Eckstein or Palmeiro been erased) or the fact that Glaus' double made the whole exercise moot. That's a pet peeve of mine - announcers never do that sort of thing, which in my mind always skews the perception of the risk/reward ratio.

OK, enough crotchetiness. Back to the game.

CNN says Ron Kirk has the buzz, though they say his campaign is the hare to John Cornyn's tortoise:

At a recent fund-raiser in the affluent Dallas neighborhood of Highland Park, Kirk worked the crowd of mostly wealthy, white Republicans with a master's touch. His smile beamed; he seemed to know everyone and was in a constant motion of handshaking and backslaps.

When he was Dallas mayor, Kirk won firm support from these white Republicans who helped Bush when he was governor of Texas. And that is what has Republicans worried. "All the excitement is on the Kirk side of this election," said Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

He said Cornyn was a solid candidate who was likely to win, but "none of the sizzle is on his side of the equation."

"This is one of the more high profile races in the country simply because there is a highly qualified black candidate who is within striking distance of winning this race," he said.

From today's Chron:

The Houston federal grand jury investigating Enron has heard from several witnesses this week about the personal finances of former Chairman Ken Lay.

The witnesses are the first indication the grand jury is considering the possibility Lay engaged in insider trading when he sold $70 million in stock last year as the share price spiraled steadily downward. Federal investigators, however, indicated months ago they would look into Lay's stock trades.

[...]

In November 2000, Lay and other Enron executives began taking advantage of a new rule allowing options to be exercised and sold regularly year-round as long as it is done on a plan approved by securities regulators.

Almost every workday, Lay exercised a fixed number of options and sold the same amount of stock on the market, netting the difference. From Nov. 1, 2000, until early February 2001, Lay exercised about 4,000 shares per day; from February to April 2001, the amount dropped to about 3,000; and from May 1 through Aug. 21, the amount went back up to 3,500.

Lay began these programmed sales shortly after Enron stock hit a peak of more than $90 per share in August 2000. He continued on a similar pace as the stock began dropping in February 2001 and throughout the year.

Programmed trading has yet to be tested as a defense against insider-trading charges.

Investigators are likely, however, to be interested in several sales outside the programmed schedule that netted Lay as much as $70 million. In each of those transactions, Lay sold about $4 million worth of shares back to Enron. His attorney previously explained that they were used to pay off loans to various banks that were secured with Enron stock.

The first such transaction was on Dec. 28, 2000. Others came in February, April, May (two), June (six), July, late August (four) and early September.

"Between June and August 2001, the pattern of Lay's insider trading was substantially inconsistent with his prior trading behavior, inconsistent with rational behavior assuming Enron's shares were fairly priced by the market but consistent with rational behavior assuming Lay had a reasonable expectation that the price of Enron's shares was inflated," the report said.

The report concluded there was only "remote chance" the sales were not related to his knowledge of information relevant to the company's stock performance.

Couldn't get logged into Movable Type until now due to CGI errors. My web host still hasn't answered my email, but at least the problem is solved. Let's hope it stays that way.

I'm really sorry to see that Ginger Stampley has apparently retired from blogging. I'm sorry to see it because Ginger is a fine writer with a strong voice and is knowledgeable on many topics. Her writing will be greatly missed.

On a personal level, Ginger is a good friend of mine and the person most responsible for getting me started as a blogger. I'd been reading the blogs that Slate linked to in their old "Mezine Central" feature - it was basically Kaus, Postrel, Josh Marshall, Andrew Sullivan, and a new guy named Reynolds - and one day Postrel had a link to something Ginger had blogged on. I followed the link and was surprised to see that she'd been doing this for awhile. I read through her archives, followed a few of her links, and decided that this looked like fun. I talked to her and Michael about it the next time I saw them and a few days later I was publishing.

I'm sad that my blog has outlived hers. The Heights Area Axis of Left-Leaning Bloggers salutes you, Ginger. Take care and be well.

Damn, damn damn. The Fabulous Satellite Lounge will soon close its doors.

Soon, for the first time since 1977, the storied 3600 block of Washington Avenue will be without a live music venue. Among others, Rockefeller's and Club Hey Hey have come and gone, and now, after ten years as a mainstay on the Houston rock/roots/country scene, it's the turn of the Fabulous Satellite Lounge. Landlords Hank and Marilyn Zwirek, who run nearby Star Pizza and own the buildings that house Rockefeller's and the former Leo's, have given Satellite manager Dickie Malone an April 15, 2003, deadline to vacate the premises, and Malone says he doubts he will stay open even that long.

I hope a deal can be worked out that allows the FabSat to exist in some form somewhere. It won't be the same, but at least the owners have no plans to tear it down. Meantime, I'd better check their schedule and look for a good last show to catch there.

William Burton has posts on why North Korea is a bigger threat than Iraq, why unilateral action in North Korea has a better risk-reward ration than Iraq, why we really need to keep nukes out of Kim Jong Il's hands, and how he would go about accomplishing all that. Go check it out.

Scott brings my attention to this excellent story about sheep and donkeys:

Thanks in part to a benevolent farmer from Maryland, Old City Park now has a full complement of sheep.

And for their protection, a "guard donkey" – 8-year-old Mary Kate – has been moved to the area where the sheep are kept at night.

[...]

The two sheep are examples of a breed known to have thrived in North Texas in the late 19th century – an important point in an exhibit that strives to meticulously re-create a farmhouse of that era.

Victoria Owens, a park employee, said the sheep are doing well despite the mishap, and both were hits with school groups that visited the farmhouse over the weekend.

"Floppsy did little tricks, like sitting up and begging – not that that's historically accurate," Ms. Owens said.

This has been such a serious year, I'm glad to see a little low comedy:

Calling all cars, please check out disturbance on Texas' broadcast airwaves. We have a report of state politicians attacking one another using police cruiser dashboard videotape.

New commercials in the governor's race and a state Senate race in Austin use police video from traffic stops to portray Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Democratic Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos in a less-than-favorable light.

Experts say these ads may mark the first time in U.S. political history that the relatively new technology of police dashboard video has been used in negative campaign advertising.

"I can't think of another one," said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan. "It's potentially very powerful."

Democrat Tony Sanchez's commercial features Perry when he was lieutenant governor in video shot from a Texas Department of Public Safety patrol car. It shows Perry urging a trooper to "let us get on down the road" after an aide driving Perry was stopped for speeding.

Another commercial features video of state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, hopping on one leg as he failed a field sobriety test last year. Barrientos pleaded no contest and received a year's probation.

Meanwhile, retiring U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, is using his campaign account to pay for a radio commercial supporting Perry's election.

Gramm praised the governor for his small-town upbringing and dedication to Republican principles. Gramm also blasts Sanchez for spending millions of dollars of his own money on the race for governor.

"Tony Sanchez is spending his family fortune trying to buy what Rick Perry's earned," Gramm says.

"There's some things that are not for sale. My dog's not for sale, and neither is the governorship of Texas."

Early voter turnout in the state's 15 largest counties is up 91 percent over 1998, bolstering Democratic hopes in the statewide races.

The three biggest increases occurred in urban counties with long histories of Democratic voting -- Bexar, Hidalgo and Travis -- according to early voting numbers released Tuesday by the Texas Secretary of State's office.

Early voting also is up in Republican counties -- especially Montgomery and Fort Bend in suburban Houston and Collin in suburban Dallas -- which did not start early voting until Monday.

Montgomery and Fort Bend counties, both Republican strongholds, were also both up over 100%, but in much smaller absolute numbers: 1,147 to 2,818 for Montgomery County and 490 to 1,170 for Fort Bend. Only Galveston County, which dropped nearly in half from 3,283 to 1,610, had a decrease. Williamson County replaced Lubbock in the top 15 and has a total of 3,903 so far (no 1998 number was given; Lubbock's number for 1998 was 853). Overall, the total went from 56,873 to 108,532.

1998 was an aberrant year in several ways. Dubya, who was already being talked about as a Presidential nominee, ran basically unopposed. There was no Senate race in 1998. The extreme weakness at the top of the Democratic ticket had an effect on several down-ballot elections, where John Sharp lost to Rick Perry by less than 70,000 votes in the Lt. Governor race and Carolyn Keeton Rylander squeaked by in the Comptroller race by 20,000 votes. Just the fact that there are viable, high-visibility candidates for Governor and Senate should at least help bring Democratic turnout back to normal levels. Where they go from there is going to be the key.

Inspired by this article in the MIT Technology Review (sadly, only a preview is available here), I've finally decided to enable Trackback. If a fellow MT user would care to ping me so I can verify I've done this correctly, I'd appreciate it.

Josh Chafetz has questioned some of my implicit assumptions in the comments on this Matt Yglesias post. I had expressed my skepticism of the recent DMN poll that gave a 10-point lead to John Cornyn over Ron Kirk and a 15-point lead to Rick Perry over Tony Sanchez.

Josh makes the following assertion about Hispanic voters and the likelihood that they will vote as a monolithic bloc:

Or, to look a little closer to home, consider the 2001 Houston mayoral race. There, conservative Hispanic Orlando Sanchez lost by less than 1.5 percent to incumbent Lee Brown. And, as the Houston Chronicle article I just linked to notes, "Sanchez cobbled together the same coalition of conservative whites and Hispanics that put Bob Lanier in office in 1991." Lanier is white -- suggesting that Sanchez wasn't simply attracting the Hispanic vote because he himself is Hispanic.

But it's also true that the Orlando Sanchez example is exactly what Tony Sanchez is hoping for. Here's an excerpt from a Chron story written on November 26, 2001, by Lori Rodriguez, a few days before the runoff between Orlando Sanchez and Lee Brown:

And on Nov. 6 in Houston, Orlando Sanchez , a first-generation immigrant from Cuba and a Republican, drew more than 60 percent of the mainly Mexican-American and historically Democratic Latino electorate in his bid to be the city's first Hispanic mayor.

From the venerably Mexican-American barrios of the east side to the more integrated Latinos in middle-class enclaves, a majority of Hispanic voters shrugged aside partisan ties and political ideology to cast a vote for ethnic pride, for ``La Raza.''

"Some of them considered the politics, saw the last name and said `that's good enough for me,' " says University of Houston political scientist Adolfo Santos.

"Sanchez certainly let everybody know that he's a Republican and conservative."

[...]

In the first flex of Hispanic muscle in the early 1970s, Mindiola served as Harris County chairman of La Raza Unida, a political third party forged from the ranks of disgruntled Hispanic Democrats. For decades, he has monitored the community's political maturation via exit polls in key races; the most recent was District I, Houston's first Hispanic -majority council seat.

Of 233 Hispanic voters in the district surveyed on Election Day, 62 percent voted for Sanchez , 25 percent chose Brown and 11 percent went with Councilman Chris Bell, who was eliminated from the runoff. More tellingly, in a city where the mostly Mexican-American Hispanic political establishment energetically opposes Sanchez , 72 percent of Hispanics voting for Sanchez identified themselves as liberal or moderate Democrats.

"District I tells us that party loyalty doesn't mean a damn thing when you get to vote for one of your own," says [Tatcho] Mindiola, [director of the University of Houston's Center for Mexican-American Studies]. "It tells us we don't care what our leadership is doing, we're going to vote for a cousin.

Obviously, Tony Sanchez will need a much higher percentage of the Hispanic vote than Orlando Sanchez got. I believe the hope is for 75%. Given that more Hispanics are Democrats to start with, that's a smaller hill for him to climb.

Again, I'm not saying this will happen. I'm saying it's what Tony Sanchez is trying to make happen. If he drives the turnout, he'll reap the reward.

Woo hoo, a new Wallace and Gromit short film is out, with a full-length feature due in two years! Via the Donk.

Texans, schmexans. Houston already has a championship football team. And their owner plays cornerback. Take that, Jerry Jones!

Robin Howington awakes on a Saturday, makes a pot of coffee, turns on the VCR and studies a game film for the third time in a week.

Howington plays defense on the Houston Energy, the two-time national champions in the Women's Professional Football League -- and undefeated again this season.

The Dallas quarterback mostly throws slants to the right, Howington notes as she sips her coffee. And the receivers don't run patterns out to the sidelines. Her job as a starting cornerback will be easy -- even for a rookie.

Satisfied with her observations, Howington turns to her more challenging role on the Houston Energy -- as owner.

The first two years as owner were rough, so overwhelming she didn't have time to play the game. Howington changed her coaching staff early in the first season, parting ways with former Houston Oilers wide receiver Haywood Jeffires.

Meanwhile, she dealt with the invariable problems of leading 60 people. Players complained they weren't playing enough, others demanded money or special perks for their talent. One even hired a lawyer to make Howington pay for her Super Bowl ring.

Amazing. The Chron has endorsed Kirk Watson for Attorney General, meaning that they went with the Democratic candidate in three out of the four big statewide races. And they threw in an endorsement for Debra Danburg in her State House race against Martha "No Thong" Wong (see the comments here for the etymology of the nickname) for good measure.

The Chron has endorsed very few Democratic candidates in major races in the past decade or so. Some of that was, admittedly, due to a lack of good candidates at the state level in recent years - the last serious Democratic candidate for Senate was probably Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 - and some of it was not. This is the strongest top-to-bottom slate of Democratic candidates in awhile, and I'm pleased and more than a little amazed to see the Chron recognize it.

Now if only their crappy election section had some info on early voter turnout...

The Noose has the scoop:

PYONGYANG -- Following on the heels of last month's admission that his country had kidnapped Japanese nationals, and last week's extraordinary revelation that North Korea possessed a secret nuclear weapons program, leader Kim Jong Il disclosed on Monday that his nation was guilty of additional malfeasance.

"We sank the Lusitania," Mr. Kim admitted. "Also, we shot down Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. We killed J.R. We stole Fizzy Lifting Drink."

Scott points me to some cool news:

Seattle-based computer maker Cray is collaborating with Sandia National Laboratories here on a new, faster supercomputer - Red Storm - that will be seven times more powerful than the federal weapons lab's current supercomputer.

Red Storm, expected to go into operation sometime in fiscal year 2004, will have a theoretical peak performance of 40 trillion calculations per second.

Here is the text of a speech Seymour Cray gave in 1996. Here is a slide show overview of the man and his computers. Here is a 1995 interview with Seymour Cray.

Sandia's Jim Tomkins and [Sandia's director of computers Bill] Camp were the architects of the Red Storm design, which Sandia said was strongly influenced by the successes of the Cray T3E and ASCI Red supercomputers.

Tomkins said Red Storm could be upgraded to 60 trillion calculations per second, and the system architecture is designed to scale up to hundreds of trillions of calculations per second.

Sometimes snarkiness is no substitute for the actual text of a newspaper story:

The River Oaks mansion of former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow has sold for $3.9 million to another local energy company CFO.

Thomas Hook, the CFO of privately held Hilcorp Energy, purchased the home at 3005 Del Monte with his wife, Laura. The 11,493-square-foot home was on the market for about $4.3 million through Greenwood King agent Karen Garrett.

Federal prosecutors claim Fastow built the home with laundered money, according to court documents, so the proceeds will be turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service until a judge rules on whether it was looted from Enron Corp.

Hook, the son of former American General Corp. Chairman Harold Hook, previously worked for Goldman Sachs in New York and in the Houston office of accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

The house was built with the finest materials, but about $300,000 worth of work remains to be done before the house is finished, said Martha Turner of Martha Turner Properties.

The three-story house has six fireplaces, Italian blue flagstone flooring, a state-of-the art security system, museum-quality lighting for artwork, a large outdoor pool with whirlpool, a screened summer house and an oversized three-car garage with living space above.

The Fastows still live in a Southampton home worth $700,000.

If you'd like to do something that has real value and actually can make a difference, may I suggest the volunteer opportunities that Sisyphus Shrugged linked to recently. Progressive action without all that icky intifada stuff! What more could you want?

There are days when you just want to chuck it all and spend the rest of your life watching TVLand and eating junk food. Today is one of them, now that I've read this appalling article in the Chron about the brain-dead movement to "divest" from Israel that has now infested the University of Texas. While I give the author some credit for skepticism, I nearly choked when I saw who was quoted as the "dissenting voice":

"This is an anti-America movement and has solidarity with terrorists, which I consider very dangerous," said David Horowitz, a leading university radical in the 1960s who has since become a prominent critic of student and faculty leftists.

"It's a movement to destroy Israel, and there are always unwitting people who go along and believe slogans," said Horowitz, who has started an ad campaign to try to debunk the divestment movement in college newspapers.

Texas universities were noted for a dearth of student activism even during the tumultuous 1960s, and there was little activism in the state during the South Africa divestment movement.

"Progressive students are afraid to speak out in Texas," said Kathy Goodwin, a University of Houston student who heads a campus National Organization for Women group.

A petition drive has not been started at UH, but Goodwin and several Muslim students interviewed who oppose Israeli policies said there is no reason that one could not.

Sigh. It's Ho-Hos and a Brady Bunch marathon for me today. Wake me tomorrow when things are looking better.

First, go read what Dr. Limerick has to say about margin of error. Next, consider the following excerpt from this article from the Wilson Quarterly about polls:

Although the public displays no overt hostility to polls, fewer Americans are bothering to respond these days to the pollsters who phone them. Rob Daves, of the Minnesota Poll, says that "nearly all researchers who have been in the profession longer than a decade or so agree that no matter what the measure, response rates to telephone surveys have been declining." Harry O'Neill, a principal at Roper Starch Worldwide, calls the response-rate problem the "dirty little secret" of the business. Industry-sponsored studies from the 1980s reported refusal rates (defined as the proportion of people whom surveyors reached on the phone but who declined either to participate at all or to complete an interview) as ranging between 38 and 46 percent. Two studies done by the market research arm of Roper Starch Worldwide, in 1995 and 1997, each put the refusal rate at 58 percent. A 1997 study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found statistically significant differences on five of 85 questions between those who participated in a five-day survey and those who responded in a more rigorous survey, conducted over eight weeks, that was designed to coax reluctant individuals into participating.

Much more research needs to be done on the seriousness of the response-rate problem, but it does seem to pose a major challenge to the business and might help to usher in new ways of polling. (Internet polling, for example, could be the wave of the future--if truly representative samples can be constructed.) Polling error may derive from other sources, too, including the construction of samples, the wording of questions, the order in which questions are asked, and interviewer and data-processing mistakes.

Fortunately, I have MyDD to tell me about the demographics of the DMN poll as well as the biases of various national polling companies. And it's not just liberals who have been complaining. Conservatives have made many of the same points about sampling error, nonresponsiveness, and pollster bias.

The only poll that really matters is the one taken on Election Day. Early voting has begun. You know what to do.

Atrios is having some trouble posting to his blog, so he's (temporarily) moved to this new spot. Hope you can get the glitches worked out, dude.

My mother informed me tonight that our old hometown paper, the Staten Island Advance, published an obituary for my grandmother which includes a couple of paragraphs from my own tribute. Apparently, my dad got in touch with a writer at the Advance that he knew and tipped him off to what I'd written. It sure reads as if they'd interviewed me instead of cribbing from my writing, doesn't it?

I'm going to return the favor and copy the obit here, so I'll have it after it rotates off their page.

Sunday, October 20, 2002

Native Staten Islander Ann Abbruzza Visco, 85, of Kirkland, Wash., a retired business owner, died Oct. 14 in the Evergreen Vista Rehabilitation Center, Kirkland.

Born in Ann Carasaniti in Sunnyside, she moved to Kirkland in 1999.

She married her first husband, Russell Abbruzza, in 1939. The couple owned and operated the former Russell's Beauty Salon and Barber Shop in Sunnyside for more than 20 years.

Mr. Abbruzza died in 1961. Ten years later, she married Nicholas Visco. Together, the two owned and operated an Italian restaurant called Pasta Galore in Mays Landing, N.J., until 1982.

She was know for her flaming red hair for which she had garnered the nickname, "Red" by family and friends. Her eldest grandson Charles Kuffner III has fond memories of his grandmother.

"I was her first grandchild. When I was born, she started saving the tips she got [from the salon] for my college fund," he said. "Every Christmas I'd receive a big plastic container full of coins, representing a year's worth of gratuities for perms and cuts. My siblings got to share in this when they arrived, but I got the best of it for getting there first."

Mrs. Abbruzza Visco was an accomplished knitter. "Sweaters were her specialty," her grandson said. "When my mother's brother, Russ, remarried and produced two grandsons, it was a new lease on life for her, and she knitted with a vengeance. I don't think either of those kids needed a store-bought sweater for the first few years of their lives."

Mrs. Visco was the past president of the Richmond County Hairdresser's Association. She enjoyed Italian cooking, and was an avid fan of the New York Yankees.

She also enjoyed caring for plants and creating outdoor gardens and was the past recipient of a Lynne Robbins Steinman Foundation award for outstanding garden displays.

Her second husband, Nicholas, died in 1998.

In addition to her son, Charles, and her grandson, surviving are another son, Russell Abbruzza; a daughter, Carol A. Kuffner; a brother Frank Carasaniti, and five more grandchildren.

A private funeral was arranged by the Green Funeral Homes, Bellevue, Wash.

A Dallas Morning News poll taken last week shows a double-digit lead for Rick Perry and John Cornyn. The Lt. Governor race is a dead heat, it says.

Make of it what you will.

Attention, Howard Dean fans (and you know who you are): Today's Chron has a nice profile of your man.

He has no national organization, little staff and no real campaign Web site, yet enthusiasts are comparing Dean to former President Jimmy Carter and Republican iconoclast Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Less optimistic but still positive comparisons also can be made of Dean to defeated former presidential candidates Bruce Babbitt and Bill Bradley -- Democrats outside the mainstream who attracted limited but fervent support.

"I think there are some similarities between me and Bill Bradley," Dean said, "although I am shorter."

A 53-year-old physician whose wife is also a physician, Dean wears corny ties and gives windy, detailed answers to questions about his cornerstone issues -- children, health care and balanced budgets. When he travels, he stays at the home of a local supporter or party activist, where he dutifully makes his bed.

But in an early field already crowding with slick, moneyed, Washington-insider candidates such as Sen. John Kerry from Massachusetts and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Dean's earnest and quixotic candidacy is generating a familiar sort of buzz.

"I picked him out as my candidate after seeing him a number of times on C-SPAN," said George Appleby, a Des Moines attorney who is helping Dean locally. "The first time I saw him speak, I thought, `Here is the quintessential Democratic wonk, someone who wants to do the right thing.' "

The electronic voting system eSlate, which has been used in early voting for the past couple of elections here in Harris County, is being rolled out to all voters this year. All eyes will be on County Clerk Beverly Kaufman, who led the drive to replace punch card ballots with the new system.

There are some concerns about how eSlate handles straight-ticket voting and some questions about how cozy a relationship Kaufman has with the eSlate vendor, but I'm not too worried about that. I've used the eSlate machines before, and I think they're reasonably straightforward. (Of course, I am an IT professional. I'd have to turn in my decoder ring if I got discombobulated by a voting machine.) If they have as many volunteers to show people how to use the machines as they have in the past, there shouldn't be too much confusion.

No, what bothers me (as I've mentioned before) is the lack of a hard copy of your vote with eSlate. I'm really worried about how a recount will be handled. The Harris Votes web site deals with this question in its FAQ as follows:

Q: Computer experts claim that there is no way to audit the vote without a paper trail? Does this system have paper backup?. What is Plan B if the equipment doesn't work as intended? What is your worst case scenario?

A: Actually, this system provides voters with much better confidence that their vote will be counted as they intended. First, the voting device provides each voter with a summary of all their votes, alerting them to any races they missed, and allowing them to make changes until they are satisfied. They have visual confirmation that they voted exactly as they intended. To ensure those votes are recorded correctly, the system programming is tested and validated before and after the election - in the presence of witnesses - to ensure that votes are counted and reported as they are cast, through a process known as logic and accuracy testing. There are many other security features both in process and in equipment and software built into the process. And while a paper printout could be added to the equipment, it isn't necessary to ensure secure and accurate elections. Such a step also would introduce new security concerns and add unnecessary complications and costs to the process.

Beverly Kaufman says that she will be judged by the success of eSlate. She's right, and the judging won't end after this election. I just hope she's judged a success.

The Chron endorsed Ron Kirk for Senate today. I'm surprised. Hell, I'm shocked. I'd have laid odds on Cornyn getting the nod. I would have thought that the pro-Bush angle would have been more than enough for them. I'll have to think about this.

If John Sharp wins the Lt. Governor's office by one vote, he can thank me for that vote.

Be sure to read the comment that I left regarding former City Councilwoman Martha Wong, by the way.

Just got a knock on the door from a couple of Tony Sanchez campaign volunteers who were passing out a flyer for an Early Vote Rally and Barbecue being held downtown. Bad day for it, unfortunately, as it's been raining on and off most of the day, but it's nice to see some activity. The sponsors of the event are listed as State Senator Mario Gallegos, State Rep. Jessica Farrar, City Controller Sylvia Garcia, City Councilman Gabriel Vasquez, the Southwest Voter Registration & Education Project, and the Inner City Learning Centers, both of which are "501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan" organizations.

This Chron article says that Tony Sanchez's efforts to recruit and energize new Hispanic voters has fallen short of its goal, which in turn may cost him in November. I'm not convinced that it's a fatal flaw, on the grounds that Hispanic voters historically have turned out in lower numbers than black and Anglos (at least in Texas). Sanchez will be working to get more of those already-registered folks to turn out this year. Though it's admittedly not clear how successful that effort will be, this article gives no indication of where that effort now stands. I'm a bit surprised that R.G. Ratcliffe failed to note the Sanchez campaign's claim of having rented every van in the state, a claim I've also seen reported in the San Antonio Express-News.

There is some good news for Democrats in this story:

The bright spot in the state coordinated campaign organization, said some Democrats who did not want their name used, is that state Rep. Terri Hodge of Dallas has developed a strong get-out-the-vote effort for black voters.

In the Democratic primaries, Kirk pushed U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston out of the runoffs with a surprisingly strong showing among Dallas black voters. Kirk won the runoff over schoolteacher Victor Morales.

Ron Kirk and John Cornyn took part in a televised debate here last night. Both came out swinging, with Enron being a particular point of contention:

"You basically served as in-house counsel for Enron," Kirk told Cornyn, the state's attorney general, who has received thousands of dollars in Enron-related campaign donations during his political career. "The bad news is the people of Texas were paying you at the time."

Cornyn, noting that Kirk's Dallas law firm did work on behalf of the former energy trader, asked Kirk, a former Dallas mayor, whether he felt he could still work in the public's interest.

"What I think the people of Texas want to know is how you can stand here and attack me on Enron when your law firm took $180,000 from Enron," Cornyn said.

[...]

Central to the exchange over Enron, Kirk took Cornyn to task for a ruling that allowed Enron to keep financial information secret as it pursued business in the state's deregulated utility market.

Cornyn's opinion was issued just weeks before Enron's finances began publicly unraveling.

Noting that Cornyn accepted $193,000 in contributions from the company and its employees, Kirk said the attorney general's ruling "rewarded them well" for the political support.

Cornyn responded that his ruling was in compliance with law, and that he subsequently recused himself from handling any aspect of investigating Enron.

The Chron gave its endorsements for Governor and Lt. Governor today, going with Governor Goodhair and John Sharp. Neither of these comes as a surprise to me. Sharp is exactly the kind of fiscal conservative/social moderate that the Chron generally likes, while Rick Perry is a Republican running for Governor, which has been sufficient for every Chron endorsement since at least 1990. If you think I'm just being a bitter partisan, read the following paragraph:

But the point is that Perry has experience and a record he is willing to defend. As a member of the Texas House, as the state's agriculture commissioner, as lieutenant governor and as governor since December 2000, Perry has a long track record and knows how the state Capitol works.

Federal judge David Hittner will decide by next week whether or not Calvin Burdine should be represented by his appeals attorney in his murder retrial, or if he should let stand Judge Joan Hoffman's ruling that Burdine should be represented by an appointed attorney. It's highly unusual for a federal judge to intervene in a case that is still in progress. Hittner is actually ruling on whether or not he has the authority to intervene, which is just a tad bit convoluted to me, but whatever. For sure if he rules that he can step in, he will rule that Burdine should get the lawyer of his choice, as anything else would make the whole exercise pointless. Time to set a precedent, Your Honor...

Former Enron energy trader Tim Belden, who just pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, is preparing to give prosecuters an earful regarding the company's malfeasance and general naughtiness during the California energy crisis last year.

While at Enron, Belden headed the trading operation in Portland, Ore. He reported to then-Enron executives John Lavorato, Greg Whalley and Mark Frevert, who in turn answered to Enron's Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling.

Local GOP activist Dave Wilson is sending an automated telephone message to Republican voters urging them not to vote a straight ticket because a down-ballot GOP candidate is (shudder) gay.

The target of Wilson's attack is Alex Wathen, a Republican candidate for justice of the peace, who is president of the Houston chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans -- the party's leading gay and lesbian advocacy group.

"I'm asking you to vote principles over party politics," Wilson said in his message to Republican voters in JP Precinct 1.

Wilson's campaign surprised Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill, who wasn't happy about the effort to split the party's ticket.

Woodfill said he worries that without straight Republican voting, the party could lose its local dominance because voters often don't vote in down-ballot races unless they cast a straight ticket.

Republicans now hold all countywide elected offices.

"Why would Dave do this?" Woodfill said. "I mean, I agree with him on the homosexual issue, and the party position on that is clear."

"But it is wrong for Republicans to send the message not to vote straight ticket," he said. "The straight ticket helps all of our judicial races in Harris County."

There's been a war brewing in the state GOP for some time now to enforce ideological purity, which can only be good for the rest of us. With all due respect to Alex Wathen, who's running in a precint that's got a substantial homosexual population and is thus a viable candidate, I hope Dave Wilson is successful in his crusade. The Democratic Party will thank you later.

At least Alex Wathen has kept his sense of humor throughout this ordeal:

Log Cabin Republicans have had a series of battles with others in their party in Texas. Besides adopting its anti-gay platform, the party has denied the Log Cabin Republicans booths at recent Texas GOP conventions.

Wathen said he has "not been bothered too much" by such party positions.

"I believe that most Republicans don't worry about those things," Wathen said. "After all, the platform also says the United States should get out of the United Nations."

One of the people who was killed by the terrorist bomb in Bali was a lawyer and family man originally from Houston named Jake Young. He was an All-America center for Nebraska in the late 1980s, and was the brother-in-law to Houston Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman. Hoffman says goodbye to Jake Young in today's paper.

Kevin Drum, who's about to jet off to Italy, has a chart that gives average word count for several bloggers. I'm moderately surprised to see that I'm #8 on the wordiness list. I suspect part of the reason is my propensity to quote, but I admit that I can get on a roll sometimes. No surprise at all that Den Beste is the most longwinded, and by a large margin.

Ira Einhorn has been convicted of murdering Holly Maddux.

Good. May he rot in jail.

Dynegy, which once considered buying out Enron before the full extent of the fraud was known, is getting out of energy trading and preparing layoffs. With their stock at 81 cents, though, the question may just be when to call the undertaker. Good thing for Chuck Watson he got that golden parachute when he did, eh?

If you look up the phrase "anti-climax" in the dictionary today, you'll probably see a pointer to this story, in which Arthur Andersen is fined $500,000 for obstructing justice in the Enron case. This graf says it all:

The once world-class firm, with 28,000 employees in the United States alone, now has fewer than a thousand employees, most of them in the Chicago area, closing out leases, dealing with litigation and running a training center.

Actually, as Mac notes, Andersen was also assessed $400 in court costs. That does make all the difference.

Timonty Belden, former head of trading in Enron's Portland, Oregon office, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. As with Michael Kopper, he may have a deal in the works for his future testimony.

Belden was a key figure in the California price gouging situation from last year:

Federal investigators have interviewed a California Senate panel investigating the state's energy crisis about evidence uncovered in its long-running investigation of market manipulation. A federal grand jury in San Francisco has been weighing criminal charges related to the energy crisis, according to reports.

The Senate panel has long believed Belden to be the mastermind behind price manipulation as outlined in the so-called Enron memos.

Those internal company memos describe how Enron took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and sold it out of state to elude price caps, according to documents obtained by investigators.

Enron bought California power at cheap, capped prices, routed it outside the state, and then sold it back into California at vastly inflated prices, authorities said.

Belden was "the mastermind behind the strategies described in the Enron memos," said Chris Schreiber, an attorney working with California's Senate Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market.

"He's been our on radar for a long time," Schreiber added.

Schreiber said Belden declined an invitation to testify in front of Republican Rep. Doug Ose's hearing on the energy crisis, the same hearing that H. Ross Perot refused to attend in July.

Transactions that moved power out of California, then back into the state, were called "ricochet" deals. They were designed to circumvent the California-only price caps on wholesale energy.

That strategy ended when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission implemented regional price caps.

"We knew that Enron was using them as a parking agent to move electricity out of state, park it in Oregon, then bring it back down to California, avoiding the price caps," Schreiber said.

Ron Kirk was in town to give an interview to the Houston Chronicle editorial board, and in the resulting story, the Chron spends as much time quoting a John Cornyn spokesman as they do Kirk himself. What's up with that?

I really wanted to be fair here. Maybe all of the candidate-meets-with-the-editorial-board stories are like this, where "equal time" (for some value of "equal") is given to the opponent's spokesdog. (Seems to me that simply granting an interview to each candidate would more than suffice for "equal time", but nobody asked me so I'll clam up now.) Unfortunately, the Chron's pathetically lame Election Central section only keeps a few stories and editorials in their accessible archives. Everything else goes into the main Chron archive section, which requires a subscription code and some keyword fu to work properly. Would it kill them to maintain a directory of links to recent stories along with the two-bit candidate profiles that they have? Even just a link to the candidate-kowtows-to-our-ed-board-folks stories would be something. You know, as a public service since they're the only freakin' daily newspaper in America's fourth-largest city? Are they low on disk space or something? Jeez louise...

Numerous people have joked about how Saddam Hussein's campaign song, which is apparently getting a lot of airplay in Baghdad these days, is Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". However, so far no one has seen that this is the key to the whole regime change thing. It's simple, really: Tell the RIAA that Saddam is using a pirated copy of the song, which he's got stored on a peer-to-peer file sharing server, and for which he's paying zero royalties, then sit back and let their lawyers take care of it.

On second thought, an invasion might be the more humane thing to do.

I use this link to read TAPped on the American Prospect's web page. They have a "work in progress" blogroll down at the bottom which contains all of four links.

Today I stumbled across this alternate link to TAPped in my referral log. I'm not sure if this Movable Type-powered version of TAPped was an abortive one day experiment or a migration in process that may explain their recent four day absence, but I was nonetheless chuffed to see that the sidebar links included me. That's some pretty nice company to be in, and I sure got plenty of traffic from the last time they cited me, so naturally I hope this is the TAPped of the future. Anyone from the Prospect care to comment on this?

Who said the following?

"If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein, you have to go to Baghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?"

These words were spoken by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in 1991, quoted in the New York Times and cited by Tim Noah, who found the cite via this Daily Howler article.

As Noah notes, Cheney isn't quite so interested in those questions now, but James Fallows is.

Coming into the final weeks of the campaign, John Cornyn has a lot more cash on hand than Ron Kirk does. I'm sure he'll get money from the national party, but you can help, too, if you want.

It's stories like this one that make you want to pull your hair out. Texas, like all states, gets federal money to help pay for health care for uninsured children (Children's Health Insurance Program, called CHIP). This year, Texas is returning $285 million because it can't use it. This would be great if it were because all of the uninsured children have had their needs met, but it's not. It's because Texas can't afford to kick in its matching share because there are so many uninsured kids in our great state.

Federal data show Texas may have nearly 2 million uninsured children. Add adults, and nearly a quarter of the state's population is without health coverage.

Those families tend toward emergency-room care that hospitals often have to subsidize, or they go to clinics supported by charitable donations and state taxes.

State Democrats and child advocacy groups say Texas Republicans are unwilling to use the SCHIP program to its fullest potential -- a charge [state CHIP director Jason] Cooke called unfair. Currently, 508,000 children are enrolled, he said.

"Can we do better?" Cooke asked rhetorically. "We can always do better. But the fact of the matter is we've been out there enrolling kids very aggressively. And I think it's debatable as to whether we could use all that $285 million by enrolling more kids."

He said Texas shouldn't use the SCHIP funding because it was rolled over from the program's earlier years, before Texas had its program up and running. The state Legislature was out of session when Congress created SCHIP in 1997.

To spend all of the money now would temporarily drive up enrollment. Meanwhile, the state's inability to use the federal funds has triggered a reduction in its share to $302 million for 2002 to 2004 -- a $200 million annual cut.

"If you're planning a budget and you know your income's going to be lower, you don't take on commitments you can't meet," Cooke said.

We can debate the merits of CHIP and budget priorities all day, but the bottom line is that we're paying for uninsured kids one way or another. Using the emergency room as the family doctor has got to be the least efficient way of paying for health care imaginable, so we're paying more for these kids than we should be. Of course, once it's a line item in a budget it becomes a target. How much better it is to diffuse the cost in a million hidden ways so no one really knows how big a bite is coming out of their own asses.

An interesting article in today's Chron about the Thunder Ranch, a high-end firearms training facility in West Texas that has been very popular with law enforcement groups.

Heidi Smith, wife of Thunder Ranch President Clint Smith, said she has been flooded with media requests seeking interviews with her husband for insights into the sniper subculture. She declined a request from the Houston Chronicle for an interview and tour of the facility.

But she did say the complex, about 96 miles west of San Antonio near Mountain Home, has had no contact with Maryland authorities about the shootings, in which nine people have been killed and two wounded since Oct. 2.

"Our only comment at this time is that anybody that we do (train) here has proof of no criminal background. We do not want to say anything, do anything until this is all over," she said. "Until this is over and they capture this excuse for a human, we really don't want to contribute to anything or say anything that would hinder the police in what they're trying to do there."

Clint Smith has trained snipers for police departments, and some of them have returned as part-time instructors. One course at Thunder Ranch teaches students in precision rifle shooting, hitting a target at up to 1,000 yards.

"Snipers are kind of like the Air Force. They stand off a little bit, they get to hit stuff. They don't really kind of have to get dirty, and I don't mean that ugly. But there is a detachment from it a little bit," Smith said in a 60 Minutes II interview last year.

In the lexicon of snipers, Smith described the sniper target as a computer shielded inside a helmet that is constantly moving. He was referring to the human head of a hostage-taker with the computer being the brain and the helmet being the skull.

Many people have raised their voices thoughtfully, eloquently, and forcefully against the pending invasion of Iraq. They have made many cogent arguments why this is a bad idea, and they have made may people at least think about why they do or don't support this action.

Unfortunately, not everyone who protests does so intelligently. Naturally, the dumb ones get the press.

Sigh.

Today, October 15, is National Grouch Day. I'd wish you a Happy National Grouch Day, but somehow that just doesn't seem right.

Sadly, there is no unusual observance on February 19, which is my birthday. I am somewhat heartened to learn that the week of February 14-21 of this year was National Condom Week. I will refrain from any further comments.

Want to know more? Click here.

Note to Fritz Schranck: February 23 is "Curling is Cool Day". Just thought you should know that.

(Thanks to Matt for the link.)

Congrats to the Giants for winning the pennant and sending Barry Bonds to his first World Series.

Both pennant winners are wild card teams, which was enough to make King Kaufman rethink his dislike of the wild card. See, King? The wild card isn't so bad.

I see also that teevee ratings are up for the LCS over last year. Maybe Fox won't have to worry about the lack of a New York team in the World Series after all.

My maternal grandmother passed away last night. She was 85 years old. It's amazing that she'd lived that long; she'd survived lung cancer (she was a nonsmoker) that cost her part of a lung over two decades ago, and she'd been near death several times in recent years. Each time she bounced back, but not this time.

I have a lot to say about her. I hope you'll indulge me a bit.

My grandmother really hadn't been the woman I knew for awhile. She and her second husband Nick (whom she married when I was a kid after 10 years of widowhood; he was always a grandfather to us) were able to make it to my brother's wedding in Montana in 1996, but it was their last hurrah. Nick declined pretty rapidly the following year and had died by the time my wedding came around in 1998. Ann had also declined and was not able to make the trip from New York to Texas. The last few times I saw her, most recently in June of this year, she was an increasingly smaller shell of the vibrant woman she'd always been.

She was my last surviving grandparent. Russell Abbruzza, my maternal grandfather, died before I was born. Charles Kuffner, Senior, was three years into a bout with leukemia when I arrived; he died when I was three months old. I had Jessie Kuffner in my life for 20 years and I miss her every day. We always called Ann "Red" because she had flaming red hair. As the senility progressed, she lost interest in fighting off the grey, but we called her "Red" anyway.

My earliest memories of Ann have to do with the beauty salon she owned. It was half of a combination beauty salon/barber shop she ran with Russell, the sort of place that was patronized by people who'd give you a funny look if you said the words "unisex hair stylist". Though the salon was her domain, the whole thing was named "Russell's Beauty Salon", which was written on an old-fashioned street marquee. One evening some lexically gifted pranksters rearranged it to spell "Russell Eats Baloney". Ann retired in the early 80s and sold the shop to a man who rechristened it "Vincent's Hair Care", but I could never go past the place without thinking "Russell Eats Baloney".

I was her first grandchild. When I was born, she started saving the tips she got for my college fund. Every Christmas I'd receive a big plastic container full of coins, representing a year's worth of gratuities for perms and cuts. My siblings got to share in this when they arrived, but I got the best of it for getting there first.

I got my hair cut at the barber shop when I was little, then later on I got haircuts from Ann at home. I hated getting haircuts and always put up a fight. She was doing me a favor, and it never took all that long, but I'd always try to weasel out of them. In retrospect, I have no idea why I was so obstreporous about it.

When Ann married Nick in the early 70s, he was running an Italian restaurant in South Jersey, a little roadside place called Visco's on the White Horse Pike in Mays Landing (exit 44 on the Garden State Parkway), not too far from Atlantic City. They had a little motel in the back. We'd pack up the 1970 Saab station wagon (with luggage rack on the roof), make the interminable 2.5 hour drive down from Staten Island, and take over a couple of rooms for long weekends in the summer. We'd eat at the restaurant (fettucini alfredo was my fave) and spend days at the beach by the boardwalk.

The restaurant had a bar attached, which drew a variety of questionable types and which utterly fascinated us kids. We really loved the pool table. One day one of us (probably me, I forget) got the bright idea to see what would happen if we dropped a Super Pinky ball into the corner pocket. Naturally, this gummed up the ball return mechanism (it was a pay table, so sunk balls went into a bin until the next quarter was inserted). I remember watching Nick crawl under the table to retrieve our ball, worried that we'd broken the thing for good. He got it out, and we learned our lesson.

Ann was a lifelong baseball fan, and the Yankees were always her team. She and Nick would regularly get into arguments over baseball, and when they did I was the ultimate arbiter. They'd call me on the phone whenever they'd reach an impasse, and whatever answer I gave was the word of God.

In 1981, when I was 15 and my brother Michael was going on 9, Ann and Nick drove us down to Orlando for a week at Disneyworld. They'd taken my sisters the summer before. We stayed at a modest motel and spent our days at the park. We were there during the time that Adam Walsh's body was found. Ann was overprotective in the best of times, and this must have kept her awake nights, especially since Michael was the kind of social and outgoing kid who'd talk to anyone. We all managed to have a good time. Really, since Ann was a world-class backseat driver, we were in far greater peril on the highways.

When I was in college, she and Nick came to visit me for a few days. They rented a car and stayed at a small hotel a couple of miles from the Trinity campus. The highlight of the visit was when she made lasagna for me and 20 or so of my closest friends. We managed to find the right ingredients at a restaurant that had a small Italian grocery in front - my grandmother would sooner have slept on the street than made lasagna with anything but real ricotta cheese. One of the newer dorms had a couple of small kitchens which we commandeered for the afternoon. My friends, who had already grown accustomed to the regular care packages of cookies and other baked goods that she'd send, were ready to adopt her by the time we were finished eating.

Nick sold the restaurant and retired around the same time Ann did. When they cooked at home, she was the head chef and he was the sous-chef and dishwasher. Every Christmas Eve they made a huge traditional Italian feast of pasta and seafood - fillet of sole, conch salad, fettucini with clam sauce, Manhattan clam chowder - plus fried zeppoles for an appetizer. For Christmas and other special occasions, they'd make cannolis. I'd kill to find cannolis as good as theirs.

The most amazing thing Ann made was the annual Easter bread. She stopped making it around the time I left for college, which bummed me out because it was my all-time favorite. I figured out why she retired from this when I finally saw the recipe. Here's the ingredient list, from the original handwritten instructions that my mother unearthed a year or two ago:

4.5 pounds hard sausage (preferably Abbruzzese brand)
2 dozen hard boiled eggs
2 dozen scrambled eggs
1.5 to 2 pounds Mozzarella cheese
1 cup parsley
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
3 pounds Ricotta cheese

That's the filling. The dough uses 5 pounds of flour, 2 dozen eggs, 2 pounds Ricotta cheese, one teaspoon baking powder for every cup of flour, and "a little salt". My mother's words to Tiffany upon reviewing this list were "No wonder all the men in our family died young". Tiffany revived this recipe last year with great success for a party we threw. She cut everything by one-sixth and still used every bread pan in the house.

On top of everything else, Ann was an accomplished knitter. Sweaters were her specialty. When my mother's brother Russ remarried and produced two grandsons (they're now 11 and 9), it was a new lease on life for her, and she knitted with a vengeance. I don't think either of those kids needed a store-bought sweater for the first few years of their lives.

My father has said that if Ann could have finished high school, she could have been President. She was sharp, she was focused, she did whatever she set out to do. She was barely five feet tall and never weighed more than 100 pounds, but woe to the bureaucrat or sales clerk who thought she was a pushover. Her children and grandchildren meant everything to her.

We love you, Red. Rest in peace.

Nice article today on Beans Barton, local artist/musician/eccentric who's currently busy painting a bigass dinosaur mural on the walls of our neighborhood elementary school. You can see a picture of the artist at work here.

If you're a fan of the band Trout Fishing in America, you've seen Beans's work before. I hadn't realized that he did artwork and auctioned it off during his shows. I'll have to make time to see him perform - I've always wanted to buy one of his paintings but never got around to it. Meantime, I need to walk past Travis Elementary so I can see that work in progress.

Houston is apparently the place to be for Texas politicians searching for votes. We've always been big, but we've never been popular. What's different this year?

But Houston has been the biggest voter-trove for years without getting as much attention. Other factors also enter this year's picture. Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan, who also worked for former Gov. George W. Bush, said Houston reflects the rest of the state: a multiethnic collection of voters.

While Dallas has sizable shares of African-American and white voters, and San Antonio has white and Hispanic voters, Houston has large shares of all three. And Houston has influential groups whose heritages extend to Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.

If a candidate's message works in Houston, it has a good chance of working statewide.

That becomes increasingly important as the state's population continues to shift from rural areas to urban ones.

"Houston is becoming a microcosm of Texas," Sullivan said. "It has a large business sector, vibrant ethnic groups and a range of workers, from the Ship Channel to the high-tech industry."

Congrats to the Anaheim Angels on their first-ever trip to the World Series. I could really feel the excitement the locals had about this while we were there. The games were on TV everywhere you went. Displays on buses alternated between route numbers and "GO ANGELS!" And of course, much red was worn.

How about Adam Kennedy hitting three home runs? Amazing. I was actually at Yankee Stadium in 1978 when George Brett hit three out of the park, the last time someone did that in a postseason game. Unfortunately for him, the Royals lost, thanks to a titanic home run by Thurman Munson. For whatever reason, I've seen several of Brett's highlight moments in New York. I was there for Game 3 of the 1980 playoffs, in which Brett hit a towering upper-deck homer off of Rich Gossage to help KC clinch its first pennant. And yes, I was there for the infamous Pine Tar game in 1983. Weird.

Looks like California may get an all-state World Series this year. I wonder if the TV ratings will beat the 2000 Subway Series if that happens.

Got back from California yesterday afternoon, in time to do the week's laundry. Had a bit of jet lag, which only ever seems to affect me on the trip home regardless of which direction I'm travelling, but eventually got to sleep. I'm now basically caught up on my email, for which I can thank my Blackberry and my early office hours.

Disneyland was a lot of fun. We spent about eight hours there, and did just about everything we wanted to do. Fastpass rocks. I can't begin to fathom why anyone would wait on a two-hour line when they don't have to.

Space Mountain was the best ride. The "Nightmare Before Christmas" haunted house was cool. The "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience" show was funny. Splash Mountain was a bit of a disappointment. The animatronics were as spectacular as I'd expected.

I was surprised at how small the place felt. It was a shorter walk than I expected from one end of the park to the other. They make great use of space, but as much as anything I think as a kid I imagined the place was huge.

My dad told me last night on the phone that he'd never been to a theme park. I told him to take Vanessa and Jack (my niece and nephew, his grandchildren) in a couple of years. Seeing the place through a child's eyes has got to be the best way to do it.

Ginger is back from hiatus and she's moved to a new directory. Update your blogrolls and give her a warm welcome back.

May as well mention the recent updates and additions while I'm here. Surely by now you know that Karin Kross has moved her blog to a new site. Meanwhile, two other friends of mine have started blogging. HWRNMNBSOL (and yes, I know what that stands for) has a gaming blog. Binkley is a friend of many years who lists me as a blogparent. It's good to have both of them on board.

We also have Kevin Drum, whom I met last week and who I should've blogrolled awhile ago, (Note to Kevin: I'm not a camera buff, but I found the discussion fascinating anyway.), and finally Max Sawicky, whom I suspect everyone here is already reading. I really need to make a donation to Blogrolling.com so I can get multiple blogrolls and organize things a bit better. It's also on my list.

A fairly boilerplate treatment of the several close Senate races nationwide in today's Chron, along with some "independent polling" numbers that are sadly not included in the online edition. (Yes, that's our daily fishwrap for you.) Anyone who's a regular in the political end of the blogosphere is familiar with all of this, but there was one paragraph that jumped out of the page and whacked me across the nose:

The White House's own analysis of the Senate races this year identified Texas, Tennessee and North Carolina as states likely to elect new Democratic members. More problematic for Republicans this year, however, is the close race in Arkansas.

If these three states really do go Democratic (and frankly I'd be thrilled if any one of them did), I can't see the Dems losing control of the Senate. Wow.

UPDATE: From my archives, some early evidence that the national GOP was at least worried about Texas and Ron Kirk all along.

Just got out of my last MEC session. T and I will hang out today, and tomorrow we're off to Disneyland. I'm off the air until I return to Houston. See you Monday!

Alex Frantz ties together some recent threads on those who lionize Ollie North and throws in a mess of pointers to those who compound the sin by falsely villainizing Al Gore in the process. Check it out.

Greg Morrow has some data about the relative value of the Marshall Plan versus what we are doing in Afghanistan. It's another reason why so many of us are so suspicious about Iraq invasion plans: We don't believe that Team Bush will give a flip about Iraq once the fighting is done.

Alex Whitlock has some good information on the six House Republicans who voted against the Iraq resolution. Check it out.

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my plea to support Ron Kirk. My mail server is not responding right now, and I don't know how much longer CommNet will be available to me, so I'll take this opportunity to say thanks very much for the support. I definitely appreciate it.

UPDATE: Based on my preliminary websurfing, the following people have linked to this request. (Yes, I really do need to add TrackBack. It's on my list, I swear.)

Ted Barlow
Jack Cluth
The Daily Kos
Lisa English
Oliver Willis
Meryl Yourish
Atrios here and here
Jeff Cooper (scroll down)
Greg Morrow
Mac Thomason
Phil Leggiere
Andrew Edwards

Please let me know if I've missed you. Thanks again to everyone.

Only managed to sit in on two lectures, both in the morning, yesterday. I finally spent some time in the vendor area and had my suspicion confirmed that there were far fewer freebies out for grabs than in prior years. There were a number of drawings for decent prizes, but almost no toys and trinkets.

The vendor area closed yesterday afternoon, so it's a good thing I finally visited. The souvenir shop is closing today at 1 PM. Everything is half off, after having been 20% off yesterday. I bought a MEC polo shirt for myself. I don't understand why anyone who's still here on the last day buys anything before then.

Tiffany arrived last night in time for the group trip to Disneyland's California Adventure. It was okay - the food was so-so, but the rides (especially California Screamin') were good. We didn't stay out too late, as she was tired and jet-lagged.

Saturday will be Disneyland Day for us. I wonder if it's better to have your first Disneyland experience as a kid or as an adult. I'd been to Disneyworld in 1980, when I was 14, but I don't remember much about it. The park was a lot smaller back then - they hadn't even started work on EPCOT yet. This will be a lot different no matter how you slice it.

We'll see if I can make it through more than one session today.

Today is International Powers of Ten Day, fitting enough for 10/10/02. Larry pointed it out to me and also got into the spirit of things as only he can.

Here's a fun fact about the number one billion, which is 10 to the ninth power. Imagine you were given one billion dollars on the day you were born. Suppose you knew that you were going to live to be exactly 100 years old. How much money could you spend every single day of your life and not run out until the day you died? Answer below under the "More" link.

You could spend $27,758 every day for 100 years and still have a bit of spare change left over at the end. Nice work if you can get it, eh?

The liberal part of the blogosphere has been doing its part for some important Democratic candidates, most notably Bill McBride and now Tom Strickland. I'd like to implore people to consider giving the same kind of support - even if it's only a link - to Ron Kirk, the Democratic candidate for Senate from Texas. Here's an email I got from my good friend Matt, who just attended a Kirk fundraiser:

First, the pitch - I'm writing to ask you to donate money to Ron Kirk's campaign to become US Senator from Texas.

Ron is the popular two-term mayor of Dallas [he resigned to run for Senate] and has served as Texas' Secretary of State. He is running for the open seat left by the retirement of Phil Gramm - the seat that has been held by a Republican since LBJ became Vice President. Ron built a bipartisan consensus in Dallas that has gained him many supporters across the political spectrum.

Next, the story - I met Ron in person last night at a fundraiser and was extremely impressed. I talked to him for maybe ten minutes, and he seems like a really kind, decent person who shares my values and position on the issues, and is someone I would be proud to have represent me in the Senate. He's a left-leaning consensus-building moderate Democrat, which is why he can get elected in Texas and will be a very effective Senator.

I'm tired of having to hang my head when I talk about Texas' elected representatives, and decided for once I'd do something about it. Many of you live in Texas or spent significant time here - perhaps you will feel the same way. The rest of you will hopefully see this as a historic chance to affect our nation's future.

Some important points to remember:

* Ron is within sight of a win. Some polls show him 3-6 points ahead, some a bit behind. It's probably neck and neck, which is why donations are so crucial right now.

* There may not be a better time for many years to get involved. With no incumbent, and control of the Senate up for grabs, you can make a real difference. Imagine the laws (and judges) that we'll see if the White House and Congress are both controlled by the Republicans.

* A loss in George Bush's home state would be a big blow, so the national Republican Party has committed to spend whatever it takes - perhaps $20 million or more in soft money.

* The huge blitz of negative ads running against Ron right now, paid for by Republican soft money, hasn't affected the polls, and has raised Ron's name awareness. He can win as long as there's enough money to keep the positive ads going for the next four weeks.

* Ron's opponent, John Cornyn, has pledged to bring "strong conservative values" to Washington, and is running mostly on being a friend of George Bush. If he wins, expect more of what we got from Phil Gramm.

* Ron was the first black mayor of Dallas and would be the first African-American Senator elected from the South (and the third overall) since Reconstruction. He is sure to become one of the leading voices in America as Senator from Texas.

I've not been very politically active in my life, but I really feel that now is the time. This is the best year in over a decade in Texas for Democrats - Tony Sanchez for Governor, John Sharp (former Comptroller) for Lt. Governor, Kirk Watson (former mayor of Austin) for Attorney General, all of whom deserve your support, but Ron Kirk can make a huge difference on the national stage for a long time.

US citizens and permanent residents may donate up to $1,000 to a candidate for Senate. If you want to donate more, you can send any amount to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which will spend it in Texas if you ask.

I've personally given more money to candidates this time around than in my whole life up to this year. If you care about who represents you, perhaps you will too. The next four weeks will be crucial, so if want to donate, do it today - please.

You can donate quickly and easily with a credit card online, or if you prefer, by mail:

Contributions

Feel free to forward this message as you see fit.

Further Reading:

Texas Monthly: Mr. Happy Man Goes to Washington
[a good read to see what's he's like - matches my experience]

New Yorker Magazine: Why George Bush is scared of Ron Kirk

Ron Kirk's great chance (Washington Post Writer's Group)

New Democrat Network: Ron Kirk

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: info on the Texas race

Donations

Source of Funds: Kirk vs. Cornyn

African-American members of Congress since 1870 (only 4 Senators)

The Fat Guy has gone Movable Typing, complete with a nifty new template. Have a look and give him some advice on the various MT goodies.

Rob has the latest on the censorship battle in Montgomery County (TX). Check it out.

Party time last night - HP (among others) sponsored a food-drink-and-playathon at the ESPN Zone, where I'd met some of the local folks on Monday. The difference was no Monday Night Football crowd to deal with, and all of the games were available to play for free. The NHL2Nite game, in which you shoot pucks at a movable goalie was way cool.

Finally spent a little time in the vendor area and chatted with a couple of our providers. They're always very happy to talk to (and give free stuff to) an employee of one of their big accounts.

The CommNet area was down during the afternoon due to a server crash. At least you knew they had plenty of people around who could fix it.

Via The Poor Man comes The Top 40 conservative rock songs. My initial reaction was to snark about the cheesy nature of many of the songs within, but I reconsidered. A requirement for making the list was cracking the actual Top 40, so any questions of taste can be foisted on the public at large, and we all know how that goes. I'll leave that for a genuine conservative like Eve Tushnet. There were plenty of other points of interest, so let's get started:

Song #2 is "Revolution" by the Beatles, which gets things started on the wrong foot for me. Listmaker Bruce Bartlett includes it because it is "fundamentally anti-revolution". Why is being "anti-revolution" inherently conservative? Am I the only one who remembers the Reagan Revolution of the 80s and the Gingrich-led Republican Revolution of the 90s? Does that make me a conservative for opposing the Contract With America?

Bartlett also expresses surprise at the rebuke to the "often-violent demonstrations" on college campuses contained within the lyrics. I think he's misreading their sentiment. It's pretty clear that L&M agree with the goals of the revolutionaries ("Well you know/We all want to change the world"), they're simply disagreeing with the methods. Doesn't that put Lennon and McCartney in the same category as Martin Luther King? I'll be magnanimous and state that their belief in the effectiveness and righteousness of nonviolence is a universal humanitarian one, and not one that hews to a particular political ideology.

Song #7 is "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds. Bartlett notes:

This is an odd conservative classic, having been written by old time lefty Pete Seeger and performed by a group that later glorified drugs in "Eight Miles High." Nevertheless, it makes my list because the lyrics are drawn straight from the Book of Ecclesiastes. I figure that any song based on the Bible deserved inclusion. I also like it.

Song #15 is the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law (And the Law Won)", which Bartlett fetes as having a "strong law and order message". There's a bit of subtext in there as well if you look - consider the lyric "I needed money 'cause I had none" and ask yourself if this isn't a tacit admission that poverty causes crime. I don't usually hear conservatives making that case.

Song #18 is George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord", a song whose inclusion Bartlett recognizes may be problematic:

The inclusion of this song may be controversial because of its non-Christian lyrics. However, I take the view that being deeply religious makes the song per se conservative, even if the religion is Hinduism or Buddhism.

Song #30 is Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach". Says Bartlett:

Amazingly, this is a strongly pro-life song, for which the singer was criticized by pro-choicers at the time. In it, she asks her father’s advice about what to do with an out-of-wedlock child. "My friends keep telling me to give it up," she sings, but in the end decides, "I’m gonna keep my baby."

Finally, there are a couple of interesting choices in the runners-up as well. I'm not exactly sure how "Summertime Blues" qualifies as a "libertarian" song. It's a song about the drudgery of having to work for a living, which (call me crazy) would seem to resonate across the political spectrum. "Wake Up Little Susie", a song about how two kids fear their lives are ruined because their dirty-minded friends will never believe that a boy and a girl could spend a few unchaperoned hours together without having sex, is cited for its "cultural conservatism". Indeed.

UPDATE: Charles Dodgson weighs in, as do Max Sawicky and Alex Frantz.

What do you do when you're a budget director who's just received a revenue estimate that will force painful cuts in already-reduced services? Well, if you're the City of Houston's Finance and Administration Department director, you increase the revenue estimate, of course.

When Municipal Courts Director Barbara Sudhoff turned in her 2003 revenue predictions to the city this spring, she estimated the courts would produce about $43 million. But with the flick of a pen, [Finance and Administration Department director Phil] Scheps increased that estimate to $48 million, and thus was born a deficit.

Scheps said he and others expected more money from parking and traffic tickets. But the city also was facing a tight 2003 budget, in which library hours were cut and city health services barely escaped being slashed.

By boosting the courts' revenue estimate, Scheps was able to avoid worse cuts. But changing the estimate didn't change the reality, and the courts are coming up short for the third year in a row.

Council members are exasperated by the repeat problem. They blame budget officials for their rosy projections and the courts for not bringing in enough money.

"First it was police officers weren't writing tickets," said Councilwoman Annise Parker. "Then officers weren't showing up in court. We kept expecting it to get better, and it never did."

So far the strangest thing I've seen at MEC this year is at my hotel, the Hilton Anaheim. For reasons that are unclear to me, there is always at least one uniformed hotel staffer whose job it is to hold the door open. Why they haven't invested in a doorstop I can't rightly say.

On the other hand, given the keynote speech I attended today, it's nice to see a situation where automation has not yet replaced human workers. The Microsoft VP who spoke to us today talked at some length about how the latest version of Exchange is going to help them and their customers consolidate servers and reduce the number of staff needed to support them. IT has officially morphed from "investment" to "cost center", folks. Don't pin too much hope on it as an engine for economic growth in the immediate future.

It's a good thing that most of the sessions don't take the full 75 minutes they're allotted. My attention span is no more than 60 minutes under the best of circumstances. Thankfully, there's a well-established tradition here of getting up and leaving when you want to.

A federal judge will rule whether or not Calvin Burdine, the Texas death row inmate who was granted a new trial on appeal because his original lawyer slept through much of the case, gets to retain the attorney who won him the new trial.

State judge Joan Huffman has ruled that Burdine, an indigent defendant, is not entitled to the lawyer of his choice. Personally, I can't see what the harm is if the guy's working pro bono, which the lawyer whom Huffman did appoint is doing. Unfortunately, I suspect that the right thing is to throw out the state rule, which the federal judge will be reluctant to do and which will cause a hue and cry among conservatives if he does. I say this is a unique case that touches on a big part of the reason why people are justifiably skeptical about the death penalty and that we really owe it to everyone involved to do it right. If that means trashing a rule that doesn't properly deal with a situation like this, then so be it. Send the Lege a message that they have work to do.

Twins-Angels and Cards-Giants. You'd have gotten some kind of odds on those matchups back in April, let me tell you. Welcome to the Payroll-Isn't-Destiny Playoffs, folks.

Two articles in USA Today about the Twins, contraction, and Bellzebud Selig. Ian O'Connor says Bud will visit the Metrodome during the playoffs, despite his status as the state's most hated man. He gives Selig way too much credit when he says that Selig was "the guy who made a labor deal that saved the Twins season". No, that was the players' union capitulating because they knew they'd unfairly blamed for a strike. Selig would have been perfectly happy to go forward with a strike had it been the way to acheive the owners' goals of reducing labor costs. The players surrendered before that happened.

Hal Bodley makes the case that the whole contraction thing wasn't all Bud's fault:

Contraction became a part of baseball's vocabulary in January 2000 when Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris suggested that eliminating failing franchises would help solve some of the game's economic problems. Larry Lucchino, San Diego Padres president at the time, also began to back the concept.

Give Selig credit. Originally, he was opposed. Former MLB president Paul Beeston urged him to reconsider his views.

"I was reluctant," Selig says. "I knew the heartache it would cause. I'll never forget when the Braves left Milwaukee for Atlanta. That's why I got into baseball originally.

"This wasn't Bud Selig wanting to contract something. It was an overwhelming demand from owners that we do it. In all my over 32 years in baseball, I'd never seen anything that had more unanimity among owners. In fact, there were many who were widely quoted who wanted four teams contracted."

The Twins weren't even on the original list. Although Selig refuses to confirm it, owner Carl Pohlad, frustrated with the failure to get a new stadium, volunteered his franchise for elimination.

In reality, contraction isn't about the team on the field. It's about teams with low revenue, heavily subsidized by revenue sharing. The rich franchises pushed for contraction because they were weary of keeping some teams alive.

Finally, whatever you may think of the Yankees, people watched them in the playoffs. We'll see what happens this year.

The Slacktivist discovers that "Ashcroft" is an epithet even among Republicans. Via Body and Soul.

Former Attorney General and failed Democratic candidate for governor Dan Morales is set to endorse Governor Goodhair over Tony Sanchez.

For months Morales has made it clear he disagrees with Sanchez on certain issues and tactics. And he has taken aim at leaders of the Texas Democratic Party, saying they appear to be concentrating too heavily on generating Hispanic votes while overlooking white voters.

Morales in June was appointed as an advisor to Perry's Anti-Crime Commission, fueling speculation he would endorse Perry. Morales said he and Perry have worked together in the Texas Legislature in the 1980s on anti-drug laws.

"I think we see eye to eye on probably all these criminal justice efforts," Morales said at the time.

Perry then described Morales as a friend who was "a strong prosecutor and was a strong hand in the Legislature."

The little red truck that Janet Reno rode across Florida in her quest to challenge Gov. Jeb Bush now sports a Bill McBride for Governor bumper sticker.

And it was Reno in her truck Sunday who provided the entree for the Democratic nominee as he dashed across Miami-Dade County, attending services at six black churches in an effort to woo voters who sided with Reno, but whom he needs to turn out in force -- on his side -- if he is to have any chance at defeating Gov. Jeb Bush on Nov. 5.

''I stood before you this summer asking for your help. Now I come back to ask you to back a man who can be a great governor of Florida,'' Reno, who narrowly lost to McBride in a primary marred with voting glitches, told congregants at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Carol City.

At every church, Reno was greeted with cheers and applause. And at several churches, she was the one to introduce McBride, who spent most of the primary campaign in North and Central Florida, strategizing that the Democratic Party's South Florida stronghold would in the end support the nominee.

But many said they're doing so primarily because of Reno's word.

''We know you're not going to let anyone let us down,'' Ossie Conley, a North Miami Beach retiree said to Reno after services at New Birth Baptist Church. "Because Janet's saying it's all right, we'll go with Mr. McBride.''

Dan Morales is of course free to endorse whoever he likes. I'm free to consider him a crybaby and a sore loser. It's a shame because I really liked Morales once - hell, I voted for him in the primary because I had serious doubts about Sanchez at first. I still do have doubts about Sanchez, but they pale in comparison to my doubts about Governor Goodhair. I'm sorry that Morales doesn't see it that way.

MEC 2002 officially begins today. After attending two of these things, I know enough to bag the morning keynote addresses - the marketing to technology ratio is always dangerously out of whack. There are a few like-minded souls here in the CommNet area, where Microsoft has thoughtfully provided a bunch of net-connected PCs. They must have had complaints about squatters last year - there are no chairs in the CommNet area this year. That might discourage some websurfers, but I'm made from sturdier stock than that.

It's not clear to me if there's any overriding theme to this year's MEC. Two years ago it was all about Active Directory, and last year they were pushing .NET for all its worth. I don't see any clear indications of some Big Thing they want to emphasize.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the vendor area is as large as it was in years past. With the economy in the crapper, I was afraid that vendors wouldn't want to spend the big bucks to sponsor a booth and staff it for a week, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I haven't had a chance yet to see if the vendor freebies are as good as they've been before. In some sense, it almost doesn't matter in that the attendees will gladly prostitute themselves for a handout or contest. A common tactic is to make them wear a sticker that advertises some product with the promise that if a vendor rep sees them on the floor with it, they'll get some Fabulous Prize like a T-shirt. It always feels like a radio contest where you have to be the Nth caller to win. Someone must be getting lucky, but all I get is a constant busy signal and the vague feeling that I'm a fool.

First breakout session is in an hour. I'll have more to report tomorrow.

Had a great time last night with Ann, Kevin, and Brian. We hung out and talked about a zillion things until the ESPN Zone restaurant in Downtown Disney finally threw us out at midnight. Thanks for making this traveller feel right at home, y'all.

I'm off to Anaheim for a week. I'll be attending MEC 2002, so I'll have access to computers and the ability to post, but don't expect too much this week. Tiffany's coming out later in the week - Disneyland, here we come! Tonight, I'm meeting up with Ann Salisbury, Brian Linse, and Kevin Drum. All in all, should be a cool week.

I can't believe that WB has scheduled Angel for Sunday nights opposite The Sopranos. Why must they complicate my life?

To Jish, who hung out with us Houston bloggers on Thursday night. Jish travels a lot for work, and when he does, he looks for a blogger group in whatever city he's visiting and tries to plan a get-together. He got to visit some Austin folks on this trip as well.

I arrived late, having had an earlier engagement, so I didn't have much time to spend at this gathering. Nonetheless, I can certify that Jish is a Cool Dude, well worth your time if you hear he's coming to a theater near you. Here are a few pictures so you can see what you're in for.

The cover story in this week's Houston Press is on the schism in the victims' rights movement. One of the main players is Houston-based Justice for All, led by Dianne Clements. JFA is as tuff-on-crime as they come, and they brook no dissent. The following occurs at a National Organization of Victim Assistance conference, during a workshop held by a group called Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR):

The session was called "Healing the Wounds of Murder," and most of the audience seemed attentive. However, workshop hosts noticed a middle-aged woman who took a back-row seat in a far corner.

They described her as if she were a sullen student defying a teacher, facing sideways in her chair, affecting an air of disinterest. As the workshop began, she ate ice from a cup, crunching loudly enough to be heard by all 40 or so in the room.

The woman was Dianne Clements, president of the Houston-based victims' rights group Justice For All. She soon began interrupting the speakers. According to some attendees, these exchanges followed:

[Renny] Cushing asked Clements to hold her questions until after the presentation. She refused, demanding answers.

"I want you to tell us," Clements angrily insisted, "what are you? Are you an abolitionist [anti-death penalty] group or a victim support group?"

"We're both," replied [Jennifer] Bishop.

That answer was unacceptable to Clements. She repeated her line of questioning, then stunned listeners when she told Cushing and Bishop, "You're really a bunch of abolitionists who just happened to have family members killed."

The story goes on to relate the problems that the victims' rights movement is having now that it has accomplished most of its goals. Those of who who have felt that the civil rights movement is in danger of becoming irrelevant as its leaders do silly things like complain about the movie Barbershop may take note of the similarities.

Personally, if JFA and its hardcore supporters fall by the wayside, I won't be the least bit unhappy. I've written before about how focusing exclusively on punishment is a poor way to reduce crime, but as long as JFA is a sacred cow we'll never start to think critically about what policies are truly the best.

It's also amazing how the politics of victimhood can twist seemingly simple things. Take this example:

MVFR believes there is discrimination against victims who do not agree with prosecutors' goals, especially when it comes to the death penalty. They point to a 1999 Nebraska court ruling that seems to defy basic definitions.

Nebraska law says that a victim will be granted an opportunity to appear before the parole board. But when a Nebraska victim's family asked to appear in support of clemency, the board said no.

The case went to Nebraska's highest court, which reached this conclusion: Victims who testify for the defendant are not legally victims. MVFR argues that truncated versions of that attitude prevail in criminal justice offices all over the nation. In arguing that, the group points to one prominent case in Houston this year: the murder trial of Andrea Yates. Even though his five children were drowned by his wife, husband Rusty Yates was not really treated like a victim.

JFA's devotion to the death penalty is in itself nearly enough to change my mind on the subject:

University of Houston law professor David Dow sees the hard-line execution position as a major problem with Justice For All. Dow is a director of the Innocence Project in Texas, a volunteer group that investigates convicts' claims of innocence.

JFA, says Dow, is "unwilling to be critical of the police or prosecutors, even in cases where they deserve to be criticized, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the system makes mistakes."

Dow says wrongful convictions point out serious shortcomings that Justice For All refuses to acknowledge. "Justice For All people are mostly middle-class white folks who are never going to be put in the position of being wrongly accused."

He says that many of those exonerated -- by DNA results or other evidence -- are poor and black, and that Justice For All does not consider that the wrongly convicted are crime victims, too. Dow says they "tend to have a racist view that, well, the person may not have done this, but he did something else."

JFA representative Rusty Hubbarth, testifying to Texas legislators last year on a proposal for a moratorium on executions, was asked by one lawmaker, "Rusty, you're not in favor of executing innocent people, are you?"

"Not this week," Hubbarth joked.

The humor was probably lost on two men in attendance that day. Randall Adams and Kerry Cook had collectively spent more than a decade in prison for crimes they didn't commit -- they'd both come within hours of execution.

One last thing to note here is the sidebar story about the author, Scott Nowell. Nowell is an ex-con who did time for false imprisonment of an ex-girlfriend a few years back. His past did not endear him to JFA, whose reps not only refused to talk to him but accused him of harassment. It's an interesting twist on the story.

El Paso, Texas, is hoping to capitalize on its status as Gene Roddenberry's birthplace to draw the lucrative Trekkie tourist trade:

Trekkies in town for the city's first Star Trek convention won't need star charts to find the birthplace of Gene Roddenberry, who created the science-fiction television series.

By this weekend's convention, the central El Paso site where Roddenberry was born in 1921 will be marked with a plaque. That location is now occupied by Sylvia's Flowers.

The wooden plaque, which reads, in part, "He created a universe for his future and that universe was `Star Trek,' which became a worldwide phenomenon," will be placed inside the flower shop. The plaque is a little larger than a legal pad.

"We can become a big Trekkie town," city Rep. Anthony Cobos told the El Paso Times. Cobos, who is paying for the marker with campaign funds, hopes the plaque will become a destination for legions of Star Trek fans and bring tourism to El Paso.

The timeline in the official Star Trek Web site begins with Roddenberry's birth in El Paso, and many hard-core fans will boldly go to see the plaque, said John Peterson, a fan and administrator of the El Paso school district's Gene Roddenberry Planetarium.

Max Sawicky takes time from his busy blogging schedule to do some paid work arguing against the Bush tax cut.

Well, the Yankees are out of the playoffs. Not much to say other than congrats to the Angels for a job well done. Not what I expected, but anything can happen in a short series, and in this series the Angels deserved to win.

This was the best Yankees team since 1998, but there are some issues lurking beneath the surface. Derek Jeter's glove is becoming enough of a liability that the Yankees ought to give serious thought to moving him to third base, assuming that Robin Ventura doesn't return. I know Drew Henson is the anointed heir at third, but he hasn't proven that he can hit yet. The Bombers have enough pop in their lineup that they could carry a good-glove no-stick guy like Rey Ordonez. Heck, playing Enrique Wilson would be an improvement. It'll never happen, partly because it's heresy to suggest that Jeter is anything less than a stellar fielder, but it's what I'd do if I could.

Speaking of the lineup, it's time to recognize that Alfonso Soriano belongs in the five hole, not leading off. Put Jeter there, where his .370 OBA and decent power can do maximum good. Follow with Nick Johnson, Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams, Soriano, Jorge Posada, and whoever else is playing.

Finally, there's the outfield. Again, I'm risking excommunication, but it's time to think about moving Bernie Williams to left field. He has no arm, and he's starting to slow down a bit. Perhaps the rookie Juan Rivera can hack it, and if not there's probably some free agent available. This is a lesser issue, but it can't be ignored for long.

I just have one request for the rest of the playoffs: I want the Braves to lose so that at least no one can gripe about how only high-payroll teams have a chance to win. If my team can't win, I'm rooting for a big fat repudiation to Beelzebud's party line about economics. Is that so much to ask?

A nice article in today's Chron about local brewery and success story St. Arnold's. If you're a local and you haven't done one of the Saturday afternoon brewery tours, you're missing out on a fun experience as well as some free samples of their tasty beer. You might even get to see St. Arnold himself if you're lucky:

People appreciate beer in general because it has a socializing influence, said Bev Blackwood, a member of St. Arnold's Army, the nickname for the brewery's legion of supporters.

On special occasions, Blackwood wears a robe his wife made and a bishop's hat to assume the role of St. Arnold, the patron saint of brewers.

Blackwood, a computer trainer at San Jacinto College, explained his devotion. St. Arnold is a quality beer that must compete in a corporate environment driven by "bland and undifferentiated products," he maintained.

"If we don't support the St. Arnold brewery we may not have St. Arnold beer to drink."

One last reason to like St. Arnold's: You can redeem six-pack and twelve-pack carriers for cool stuff.

Michael O'Hanlon gives Donald Rumsfeld a spanking for deliberately misleading the nation about the case for war against Iraq. It's a short summary of Rummy's misstatements that should come in handy when you need it.

They've got a different reporter covering the story today, so it's not quite as snarky as earlier efforts. There's still no mistaking who the bad guy is, though:

Grisly autopsy photos of Holly Maddux made the courtroom audience gasp yesterday, but accused killer Ira Einhorn intently stared at the giant image of his former girlfriend's smashed skull projected on a screen at his trial.

Einhorn, 62, put on his wire-rimmed glasses to look more closely at the colored images of Maddux's corpse. He raised his arm to point out details to his defense team. And at one point, he turned to his attorney and smiled.

"That was a really inappropriate reaction," Maddux's sister Meg Wakeman later angrily told reporters.

Another sister, Elisabeth "Buffy" Hall, said: "It's beyond description, what it feels like... . It makes your stomach hurt. It makes you sick."

Talk Left has some more information as well.

Ken Goldstein was the first to call my attention to a little tempest at the World Bridge Federation's Open Championships in Montreal this August. One of the gold medal winners, an Iceland-born American named Hjordis Eythorsdottir was denied her silver medal when she refused to submit to a drug test. The tests are now apparently mandatory as bridge is trying to get certified for the Olympics.

This week's Houston Press has more on the story, as they've interviewed Dan Morse, a local bridge champ who was the team captain and apparently the drug testing enforcer in Montreal.

I've played tournament bridge in Houston since 1988, so I know Dan Morse pretty well. He's about the best person they could have gotten for this job. Given the habits of some of bridge's best players, it's not a task I envy.

This was the most amusing part of the story:

The WBF went easy on the first two drug users detected. They were not penalized. One had taken prescription antihistamines for allergies -- Morse says the IOC considers them performance enhancers, but that they don't provide any competitive edge to bridge players.

Results on the second player showed the presence of alcohol. "We don't think that's a performance-enhancing drug," Morse says. "If you're drunk, then that's a conduct issue."

Good luck, Dan. You're going to need it.

UPDATE: The snail mail just came, and with it my October ACBL Bridge Bulletin. Here's what they have to say about this incident:

The tournament was marred by an incident involving Hjordis Eythorsdottir, a member of the silver-medal team in the McConnel Cup. Eythorsdottir was disqualified by the World Bridge Federation for refusing to take a drug test after the competition. She has since engaged an attorney to represent her in the matter.

Eythorsdottir, a professional player from Huntsville, AL, said she was taking diet pills before the tournament and that when she arrived she asked several tournament officials if taking the pills would be a problem. She said she never received an answer.

She said that when she was chosen to take a drug test, she again inquired about whether the pills would be a problem. Again, she said, she received no answer and that she refused to take the test becuse "frankly, I didn't know what to do."

The WBF issued a press release in mid-September saying that the drug-test requirement was part of the published conditions of contest for the tournament, including a proviso that "refusal to take a drug test is consequently subject to penalties."

From the referral log: Next year in space Kuffner. Well, we have been discussing a family reunion, but so far we're just considering Colorado and Oregon. But we appreciate your suggestion anyway.

I should note that there is a Kuffner Planetarium and Observatory in Austria, so the query itself is not necessarily from outer space.

President Bush says the economy is just peachy despite precipitous declines in the stock market and more people giving up the search for jobs:

The Bush administration [...] issued an upbeat report yesterday on the economy, proclaiming that despite lost savings, "America is on the road to recovery." It urged Americans to "share the president's confidence and optimism."

The report, distributed to numerous business leaders and others around the country as a nine-page memo from Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans, argued that despite unease because of terrorism, war and corporate misdeeds, "there is more than ample cause for optimism about the economy" and asserted that "most of the economy is following a normal recovery pattern."

"Investors should stay on the sideline," said Mark Arbeter, Standard & Poor's chief technical analyst. "I wouldn't recommend people buy any stocks at this time."

WaPo link via Kos.

Larry sits for a blogger interview with Dawn Olsen. Check it out.

Jack points out this story which I saw but forgot to blog about the hot new trend in fundraising: Nekkid calendars.

In today's precarious economy, charities seeking to raise money are finding that bake sales just don't cut it anymore. But stripping sure does.

Taking it all off is really, ahem, taking off as a new crop of bare-all calendars featuring plain folks shedding their inhibitions for worthy causes is on sale for 2003.

The groups range from female wool spinners seeking to confront "the ageism and sizeism in our culture" to the Rotary Club in Brattleboro, Vt.

The Rotarians convinced a whopping 53 men -- bankers, lawyers, real-estate agents and physicians -- to appear mostly nude in their 2003 "Men of Brattleboro" calendar.

"Some men were reserved and needed convincing," said organizer Tom Fegley, who said proceeds will go to Rotary-supported charities. "Others laughed, and then the clothes fell to the floor faster than a prom dress."

The charitable groups all say they were inspired by the highly successful "Ladies of Rylstone" in England. Those pillars of their community, ages 45-60, posed nude for a calendar to generate funds for leukemia research. Their 1999 calendar was so popular that it was published again in 2000 and wound up generating an eye-popping $700,000.

Larry is kind enough to list yours truly among his ten favorite blogs. As you can tell from the rest of his list, mine is not the prevailing viewpoint. I know Larry's also quite fond of Ginger, Mac, Meryl, and O-Dub. It's an honor to be picked from such tough competition.

It's impossible for me to pick ten favorite blogs. There are too many blogs that I really like, and I'm the kind of squishy liberal who'd worry about hurting someone's feelings by excluding them.

That said, my buddy Binkley has just started reading blogs, and I thought it would be useful to point out a few to him that I think he'd enjoy. Binkley is a libertarian who's into music (especially classical), science and technology (especially space exploration and open source software, gaming, and science fiction. He's also one of the most intellectually curious people I know. With that in mind, and given that I've already mentioned to him all of our mutual friends who are blogging, here are some Blogs for Binkley:

1. Jim Henley's Unqualified Offerings. Jim's a libertarian who's into gaming, music, and sci-fi. It's a quadrafecta!

2. Eve Tushnet.

3. and 4. Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden.

5. Chad Orzel's Uncertain Principles.

6. Brad DeLong.

7. Virginia Postrel.

8. Charles Murtaugh.

9. Doc Searls.

10. Instapundit. I really wanted to avoid paying the inevitable homage to Instapundit, but I do think Binkley will like him.

So there's a starter's list for you, Binkley. There's a lot of good stuff out there - starting, of course, with my blogroll on the right. Seek and ye shall find.

We here in Houston like to complain about the Houston Chronicle for its many sins: it's mealy-mouthed, a corporate shill, doesn't have a good investigative reporting tradition (they missed the whole Enron scandal, after all), and is just as colorless as a glass of Perrier. All of which is true, but I sometimes fail to appreciate how true the latter item is until I come across stories like this from the Philadelphia Daily News, whose reporting on the Ira Einhorn trial has been a hoot. Take yesterday's entry, in which the Einhorn defense team gets to cross examine some prosecution witnesses:

APPARENTLY, women who don't love Ira Einhorn and his big, fat, bossy personality must be...lesbians!

In a shocking turn of courtroom strategy, Einhorn defense attorney William Cannon yesterday unleashed this sexual-orientation defense in an attempt to discredit female witnesses who saw bruises on Holly Maddux's face in the years before she was beaten to death.

Cannon implied during cross-examination, then confirmed to reporters later, that he believed the women were testifying about Einhorn's alleged beatings of Maddux because the women were jealous of the hippie's romantic relationship with the beautiful Texan.

They keep it up in today's edition:

WE'RE NOW faced with the unpleasant task of discussing Ira Einhorn's sex life.

During Einhorn's murder trial yesterday, his attorney modified his previous "Lesbian Defense" to make room for the big, 1970s sex-romp diversion. The foray into free love stars the hygienically challenged hippie and his bevy of willing partners.

Anyway, I think this is where I'll be tuning in for future trial updates. How can you go back to wire feeds after you've seen this?

Via Mikey comes the latest addition to the blogger's vocabulary:

blurker (BLUR-kur): n. 1. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs. 2. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur.
"But, Mikey, I can't have a blog of my own! I'm a blurker!"

Scott reminds me that today is the anniversary of Bobby Thomson's famous home run that won the 1951 playoff for the Giants against the Dodgers. In commemoration of the event, I've got a little trivia quiz for you:

1. Who pinch-ran for the injured Don Mueller?

2. Who was the winning pitcher for the Giants?

3. What uniform number did Ralph Branca wear?

Scott has already given the correct answers in the comments here, but for convenience I'll put them under the More link. Scott also has a great followup question whose answer is unfortunately eluding me...

1. Clint Hartung, one of the great all-time busts in baseball history. He was a pitcher and hitter who was supposed to be great at both but wound up being good at neither.

2. Larry Jansen, a 23-game winner for the Giants in 1951.

3. Quoted by Scott ,a href="http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/B/Branca_Ralph.stm">from the Baseball Library: "Before the '51 playoffs, Branca had worn number 13 and good-naturedly posed with black cats. Afterward, he changed his number, but not his luck."

The NJ Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that Frank Lautenberg can appear on the state ballot to replace Bob Torricelli. That was a 7-0 ruling, with two Republicans and one independent joining in. Six of those judges were appointed by Christie Whitman.

Anyone who whines at me about biased partisan rulings is going to hear some words that I've heard a few times since a certain SCOTUS ruling in late 2000: "Get over it." And go check out Alex Whitlock, who has some good thoughts on the issue.

I see that the GOP is going to make a big deal about the overseas ballots, which they claim can't be reprinted in time. According to the WaPo story, 106 such ballots had been mailed out as of the Torch's withdrawal. Seems to me that in a pinch, you could just call those 106 people and tell them that a vote for Torch would count as a vote for Lautenberg and go from there. This is a small enough exception to be handled manually without any problem.

Finally, is it just me, or is the AP wire story on this just a tad bit slanted:

Giving hope to Democrats scrambling to retain control of the Senate, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the party can replace Sen. Robert Torricelli on the November ballot.

More speculation today that the arrest and indictment of Andrew Fastow will lead to more big fish, as the plea bargain with Michael Kopper helped lead to Fastow.

While Fastow is charged with stealing money from Enron investors to personally enrich himself, the court documents make no similar allegations against [chief accounting officer Richard] Causey, former Enron chairman Ken Lay, [Jeff] Skilling or the company's board.

But the criminal complaint lists by title -- not name -- former Enron executives, including Causey, who prosecutors claim made "false representations" to the company's board of directors that allowed Fastow's schemes to be approved.

Among those who prosecutors charged made false representations to the board was a former Enron CEO. One source close to the case said that was a reference to Skilling, not Lay, whom he replaced in that job in March 2001.

The charges also mention that Enron's former treasurer helped deceive investors and the company's board of directors. Though not named, Ben Glisan was company treasurer during the period described in court papers.

Fastow himself could be a critical witness against his superiors in the company, said experts who reviewed the wording of the charges against him.

And the document itself may be designed to send a signal.

"The reason people are identified but not named may be to send a loud and clear message to those Enron executives that this is the last opportunity to fashion a deal with the government," [Philip Hilder, attorney for Enron executive Sherron Watkins] said.

(CSM link via Kos.)

Hurricane Lili has made landfall in Louisiana. The good news is that Lili has been weakened by some dry western winds and has been downgraded to a Category 2 storm. The bad news is that she's still packing 100 MPH winds.

Once again, Louisianans know how to get through the tough times:

Some residents stayed. Steve Petty, 45, taped the windows of his Lake Charles home but did not board them up. Late Wednesday, he was watching baseball playoffs in one of the few open businesses -- a bar and pool hall.

"I've been through Audrey and several others I can't remember the names of. I'm not freaking out, I'm not leaving town. I been through a lot worse," Petty said.

The homeowners in Northwest Houston who are fighting to prevent a 24-hour Wal-Mart from opening up nearby have gotten some help from their county commissioner, who has looked into the possibility of buying the land and turning it into a park. It's unlikely to happen, since the land owner has a contract with Wal-Mart, which in turn has an option on the land. But you never know.

Jerry Eversole, the county commissioner, wasn't too happy about how his consituents came to him for help, either:

Eversole said he would also be meeting with Wal-Mart officials, though he added that he was getting deeply involved in the controversy only after feeling political heat from constituents.

"I have received half a dozen to 20 letters saying, `Why don't you stand up for your people?' and `I guarantee I'll remember this at the polls,' " he said.

"I explained to the West Road Alliance there are two ways to ask for something -- logically and with threats, and that threats aren't a good way to operate. I don't enjoy being threatened."

But Eversole, a Republican incumbent facing Democratic and Libertarian challengers on Election Day, said he opted to help because the group has a legitimate gripe, not because of threats.

Sheesh. Are there any sympathetic characters in this story?

Breaking news from the Chron:

Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew S. Fastow was arraigned in a packed, downtown courtrooom about 11:20 a.m., on charges of securities, wire and mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Fastow, one of the top executives credited with toppling Enron Corp., last year, surrendered to the FBI early this morning in Houston. Magistrate Marcia Crone set his bail bond at $5 million, in which he was required to put up all his, his wife's and his parents' real estate, and $3 million from a Fidelity investment account.

The former Enron executive also agreed to allow prosecutors to freeze an additional $11 million. Prosecutors say that money represents ill-gotten gains. John Keker, Fastow's attorney, said he doesn't agree the $11 million represents ill-gotten gains, but has nonetheless agreed to the freezing of the money.

The criminal charges center on a number of partnerships that had been previously identified as improper in the plea agreement of former Enron finance executive Michael Kopper last month, including the partnerships named Chewco, RADR and Southampton. Also mentioned is a Brazilian power plant project named Cuiba and a Nigerian power plant project.

The most revealing aspect of the charge is a claim that Fastow and Enron's chief accounting officer, Rick Causey, had what is known as a "Global Galactic" agreement, which assured any losses Fastow's LJM partnership incurred in its dealings with Enron would be made up later, according to the filing.

This agreement had long been alluded to by others, and was mentioned in an Aug. 2001 memo from Enron executive Sherron Watkins to then chairman Ken Lay, but was believed to be a deal between Skilling and Fastow.

The charges say Fastow "willingly engaged in these transaction in order to achieve accounting goals and to circumvent regulatory requirements," both those required in corporate accounting and covered by personal income tax laws.

In the deals Fastow and his family members, including his wife and son, received money. For example, as part of the Chewco investments, Fastow had some of the funds that were considered his management fees sent to his wife's Chase account via 6 checks for a total of $64,000. In later 1998 Kopper did two transfers of funds to accounts in Fastow's son's name for $10,000 each.

Since any amount above $10,000 has to be reported to the IRS, Fastow told Kopper that "if ever asked, they could explain the checks from Kopper by saying that he and Fastow were close friends and the checks were gifts," according to the charges.

The precise wording of the charges against Fastow could provide valuable clues as to whether prosecutors appear poised to pursue his superior, Skilling, experts said.

"I'd expect we will get a much clearer sense of how the government intends to build a case against Skilling -- if that is their intention -- when we see the Fastow charges," one attorney said.

While Fastow has repeatedly refused to address Enron, his advisers have maintained his actions were approved by superiors within the company, including Skilling.

According to Sports Illustrated, the University of Texas is the best overall college for sports. I don't actually care about that. What I do care about is that they listed Rice at #45, which just happens to be one spot ahead of Texas A&M. I can just hear the moaning and gnashing of teeth coming from College Station. It's a sweet sound, let me tell you.

Geez, the folks in Louisiana haven't even recovered from Isidore, and now they've got to worry about Hurricane Lili, which looks to be a lot worse. Batten down the hatches, y'all.

Here's a little advance warning for the serious student of conspiracy theories:

At this point, Hurricane Lili appears to be aiming for Cameron, which means it will pass through the area of the Gulf that has the greatest density of oil company production platforms and rigs. Cameron is just 25 miles from Port Arthur, which is 15 miles southeast of Beaumont.

UPDATE: Lili is now a Category Four storm. Hold on tight.

You take your fame where you can get it, I always say.

(In case you can't tell, that's me on the far left. Mikey is in the foreground. Good thing I never planned on a career in politics.)

Ira Einhorn will testify at his trial, and by $DEITY he may just tell us all about how it was Evil Guvment Agents who killed his girlfriend Holly Maddux and stuffed her body into a steamer trunk in his apartment. I have a feeling that will go over as well as Linus' Great Pumpkin speech did when he ran for class president...

Via TalkLeft

The kids at Pearland High School, a bit south of Houston, thought they had a novel way to raise some cash for scholarships: Raffle off a house. They got a house from a builder at cost and were aiming to sell enough $100 raffle tickets to earn over $100K. Only one problem - it's illegal for charities to award prizes whose value exceeds $50,000. Thus endeth the grand plan.

I have to say, even if this had been kosher, I'd consider this prize to be more trouble than its worth for the following reason:

Ken Vargas, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service in Austin, said depending on a person's income, the tax on $230,000 could be almost 39 percent, or $89,700.

Vargas said that tax would have to be paid before the April filing deadline.

By now I'm sure you've heard that the 15 kg of weapons-grade uranium that was seized in Turkey has turned out to be 150 grams of inert metals such as zinc and zirconium. Oopsie.

I took a quick peek through some warblogger sites (and will be off to take a shower as soon as I can) to see which of them played fair with this story. To their credit, more of them did than didn't. Gold stars to Den Beste, who was skeptical from the beginning and noted the followup. Bill Quick, the Big Baby of the Blogosphere, also called it properly. Charles Johnson worked up a lather at first, but did note the correct story at the end.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have a few guys who dropped the story like a bad habit once it no longer followed their script: NZ Bear, who knows all about making a nuke, Damian Penny, and InstaPundit himself, who eventually gave himself some weasel room with the daring prediction that this "will turn out to be something less than initially advertised". Disadvantage: InstaPundit!

Finally, a shoutout to a guy who's way too cool to be a warblogger, Scott Chaffin, who did get all worked up when the story first hit, but is honest enough to admit it and throw in a pig picture to make it up to us.