Monthly Archives: May 2004

Do the Senate two-step

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Will they or won’t they take action in the Senate on school finance reform? Maybe. The Texas Senate continued drifting like an iceberg Tuesday, taking a long time to do very little in public while nine-tenths of the school finance … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Do the Senate two-step

The shining moral example of Tom DeLay

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

One can only wonder how the mind of Tom DeLay works. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) continued his ferocious counter-offensive against Democrats yesterday, accusing them of trying to gain political advantage from the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | Comments Off on The shining moral example of Tom DeLay

How mighty is the pen?

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Julia suggests a way to help an acquaintance of hers in Afghanistan help some kids over there. Check it out. Continue reading →

Posted in Around the world | 1 Comment

The enduring appeal of classic rock

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Great article in the Press about Arrowfest, the local classic rock’s all-day nostalgia show, and the enduring appeal of the mucis it features, which I’m somewhat surprised to learn, cuts across age groups. This year’s Arrowfest, the crown jewel of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 2 Comments

The Rumsfeld Wire

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Note the addition on the sidebar of the Rumsfeld Wire, courtesy of the DCCC, which will give you updated blog commentary on our “superb” “best ever” SecDef and his status. You can still sign the petition calling for Rumsfeld’s removal … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Texas Tuesday wrapup

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Thanks once again to everyone who participated in Texas Tuesdays, this week on behalf of Morris Meyer. We’re continuing to define and refine the process, and as we go along we hope to get the message of our many excellent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Texas Tuesdays | 1 Comment

Iraq

Posted on May 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t write about Iraq issues very often because I often find that I just don’t have the words to adequately express how I feel about the whole situation, and because there are some many other voices out there that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 3 Comments

Google blog

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Well, what do you know – Google has a blog, with the first post written by Blogger author Evan Williams. The most recent entry points to this explanation of why Googling the word “Jew” had given a hate site as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | 1 Comment

Guest post: Morris Meyer

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

And for the third leg of our Texas Tuesday trilogy, I present to you a guest post by Morris Meyer. He’s working hard to help us send “Smokey Joe” Barton back home to Ellis County where he can breathe the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

School finance town hall meeting

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Via email from a reader at Rice, there will be a town hall meeting at Rice University on Wednesday, led by State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, to discuss school finance reform. Click the More link for time, place, and details. Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on School finance town hall meeting

Judge rules for Cuellar

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

This may be the last nail in Rep. Ciro Rodriguez’ electoral coffin, though an appeal has been filed. LAREDO — Democratic congressional hopeful Henry Cuellar prevailed today in a lawsuit against him alleging voter fraud in his primary election victory … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Judge rules for Cuellar

Fusion

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I believe it’s a natural law that whenever one discusses Ralph Nader, the subject of Instant Runoff Voting must be brought up (I believe a plague of frogs is the penalty for failure). Putting aside the fact that IRV will … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 5 Comments

Morris Meyer interview

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing with Texas Tuesdays, here’s a brief interview with our featured candidate, Morris Meyer from CD06. Remember, the goal here is to help him in his battle against Smokey Joe Barton, so please help us help him by kicking in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Texas Tuesdays | 3 Comments

The slot machines will rise again

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose no idea is ever truly dead as long as Lege is still in session. What else can you say about the revived and expanded slot machine proposals now working their way through the Senate? Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

Texas Tuesday: Morris Meyer

Posted on May 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Our featured candidate in this week’s edition of Texas Tuesdays is Morris Meyer, running against incumbent “Smokey Joe” Barton in the 6th CD. If you’re a blog reader, you’ve probably come across Meyer one place or another, through his guest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Texas Tuesdays | 3 Comments

Nader fails, Nader sues

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Ralph Nader has filed suit after failing to collect enough signatures to secure a spot on the Texas ballot in November. Nader filed a federal lawsuit in Austin challenging Texas ballot access rules as the deadline passed for him to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 6 Comments

VotersUnite

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Got an email today about a new site called VotersUnite!, which calls itself a “non-partisan national grassroots network for fair and accurate elections”. They’ve got a lot of info about Direct Recording Electronic voting machines, the Help America Vote Act, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Texas Veterans for Kerry

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

YDB brings us the news that former Sen. Max Cleland will be in San Antonio on Wednesday to announce the formation of Texas Veterans for Kerry. Speaking in support of fellow veteran John Kerry will be Max Cleland, a former … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 13 Comments

Beating the house

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The History Channel has run and will run again a documentary called Breaking Vegas, based on a book called Bringing Down the House about a group of MIT students who learned card-counting techniques and won a ton of money at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 6 Comments

Deadline day for Nader

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Today is the deadline for getting on the Presidential ballot in Texas, and it’s not clear if Ralph Nader will have enough petition signatures to make it. Monday is the deadline for Nader to submit to the Texas secretary of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 6 Comments

Your periodical Congressional watch post

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Just a few campaign-related stories from recent days: Via BOR comes this Roll Call article in which the NRCC expresses some fear about Rep. Pete Sessions’ chances against Martin Frost. Tom DeLay and the National Republican Congressional Committee yesterday acknowledged … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Your periodical Congressional watch post

Postmortem on attack mailers

Posted on May 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Remember those anonymous attack mailers from late in the 2003 municipal elections, the ones from a group calling itself “Citizens for a Better America” (not this group, mind you)? I wrote about their sleazy mailers, in which those who funded … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 2 Comments

How much does baserunning matter to run scoring?

Posted on May 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

With all the recent hoo-hah about productive outs and the poo-pooing by ESPN talking heads Harold Reynolds and John Kruk about “lumbering sluggers” who “clog up the basepaths” (Kruk, at least, should know a thing or two about that), it’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 1 Comment

One more week on Prop 1

Posted on May 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The vote for City Proposition 1, which will determine whether or not Houston opts out of the constitutional amendment ratified last year to outlaw reducing pension benefits for a public employee, even if the employee was retired, is this Saturday, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 2 Comments

Judge to Skilling: Sober up!

Posted on May 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Am I a bad person for admitting that I find this funny? A federal judge on Friday ordered former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling to stop drinking alcohol, find a job or volunteer work and obey a curfew — one month … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 2 Comments

Come back to the city

Posted on May 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The latest Houston Area Survey shows that more people are moving back to the city and away from the suburbs compared to recent years. This increased interest in urban living is being driven in large part by Anglos, Republicans and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Come back to the city

April traffic report

Posted on May 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

April was my best month ever, with about 41,000 hits. A couple of referrals from Kevin Drum’s new Political Animal site was a big part of the boost. Things have tapered off a bit so far in May, but my … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Traffic Reports | Comments Off on April traffic report

Another reason why it’s a good thing that slots are dead

Posted on May 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Steven Pearlstein explains what the problem is with the horse racing industry. Even as interest in horse racing has increased thanks to “Seabiscuit,” satellite broadcasts and Internet betting, attendance continues to decline. Most tracks barely break even, and many, like … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

Upgraded

Posted on May 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Just finished upgrading to version 2.661 of Movable Type. I’m hoping this will fix the Atom bugs that people have reported. I’ll see what the Feed Validator says after I rebuild all my index files. Let me know if you’re … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 2 Comments

Expect overtime

Posted on May 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Senate is saying they’ll probably need another session to come up with a plan that can be passed by both chambers. “We are not under any time constraints. We don’t feel May 19 is forcing us to make a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Expect overtime

Rice versus Trinity

Posted on May 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

John Lopez (yes! again! I can’t believe it either!) notes that my alma mater Trinity is a good comparison for Rice as it decides what to do with its athletics. Trinity was a Division I school – in fact, it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 7 Comments

This is the life

Posted on May 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Little League game this morning (we won – we’re back on a two-game win streak after Monday’s loss), Art Car Parade this afternoon. Life is good. UPDATE: Here’s Mayor White enjoying the parade: UPDATE: Pete and the Chron have some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | 1 Comment

The new battleground

Posted on May 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an interesting look at the dynamics of the swing states this time around, taking into account population changes and how they benefit each party. Good reading, and more evidence that this will be a close election. Via Political Wire. Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 1 Comment

What they knew and when they knew it

Posted on May 7, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Rafe Colburn is keeping track of who knew what about Abu Ghraib and when they knew it. The Stakeholder has a similar list. None of the items on those lists support the conclusion that the pictures we’ve seen are from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 9 Comments