Monthly Archives: November 2004

Safety!

Posted on November 14, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

A few weeks back, Penn State registered two safeties for its only points in a 6-4 loss to Iowa. Yesterday, after trailing UTEP 21-17 in the fourth quarter, Rice scored two safeties to tie the game before losing in double … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 4 Comments

KLOL switch makes front page

Posted on November 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

KLOL’s format change was front page news today. In a clear signal of the growing media clout of Houston-area Hispanics, radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications has yanked legendary rock station KLOL-FM (101.1) off the air and replaced it with a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 115 Comments

Fry me a turkey

Posted on November 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

If it’s November, it’s time to talk turkey, and the best turkey of all is a fried turkey. Seriously, if you’ve never had a Cajun fried turkey, you just haven’t lived. Just make sure someone else fries it for you. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | 4 Comments

Another TiVo matter

Posted on November 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Via Mark Evanier (of course), some more TiVo news of interest. Sometime in the next few months, your machine will quietly download a patch that makes it respond to a new copy protection scheme from software maker Macrovision. The app … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 1 Comment

KLOL changes format

Posted on November 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Damn. Did anyone see this coming? KLOL, 101.1 FM announced Friday that station has changed formats. The station switched from a rock format to a Latino music format branded as Mega 101. The station’s web site was listed as under … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 285 Comments

Why Colorado?

Posted on November 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Colorado Luis takes a look at the numbers which show an improvement by President Bush in Hispanic voting preference, and asks why it is that Hispanics in Colorado went so much more heavily for John Kerry. He also links to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 3 Comments

Harris County canvass report is out

Posted on November 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Like Greg, I’ll be spending some time this weekend checking out the Harris County canvass report to see what I can learn. One quick point of interest for me is in Precincts 003 and 004, which cover my neighborhood. 2004 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 7 Comments

College Republicans update

Posted on November 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Another article on the College Republicans’ fundraising controversy, and frankly it raises more questions than it answers. First, we see that CRNC President Eric Hoplin has decided that avoiding the press won’t make them go away. Hoplin, 26, whose job … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 3 Comments

In order to be on message, we must first have a message

Posted on November 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Greg has a long open letter to Harris County Democratic Party Chair Gerry Birnbirg regarding the importance of having a good message to bring to voters in every election. I strongly encourage everyone to read what he says and think … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 4 Comments

Will Heflin challenge his loss to Vo?

Posted on November 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Andy Taylor, lawyer for Talmadge Heflin, is still being cagey regarding strategy to cope with Heflin’s electoral loss to Hubert Vo. Because of the narrow margin, Heflin and his attorney were still considering late Tuesday whether to ask for a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 4 Comments

On being a blue person in a red place

Posted on November 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Let me throw my hat in here with Ginger regarding all this “Fsck the South” stuff. It’s insulting, and I refuse to loathe myself because of where I live. I’m doing what I can to help turn my little corner … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 5 Comments

Lupe Valdez

Posted on November 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Washington Post takes note of the bluing of Dallas County and the election of Lupe Valdez as its Sheriff. Check it out. Via Vince, who’s back in the blogging saddle again now that his duties with the Bob Glaze … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

“Staten Island?”

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Michael thinks I’d enjoy this comic because it pokes fun at Staten Island, my hometown. He’s right. Thanks, Michael! Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | 1 Comment

Give me a season pass

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Want to know what fellow TiVoholics are watching? Via Mark Evanier, here are the Top 100 season passes. I’ll stipulate to having the following in my pass list: Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 4 Comments

War Liberal in exile

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Mac Thomason dropped me a note to say that with the apparently premature death of Bloghosts.com, his regular blog site is unavailable. He’s set up a temporary home for War Liberal here, and will eventually migrate everything (including, I hope, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 1 Comment

Planning to upgrade

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Last night I finally got around to downloading the latest version of Movable Type. I’m hoping to do the upgrade in the next few days, Copious Spare Time permitting. I’ve got a couple of questions for those of you who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 1 Comment

The College Republican Senior Scam

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

One of the things that I never got around to blogging about in the runup to the election was a little fundraising scandal that’s percolating in the ranks of the national College Republicans. Here’s an update to that story. Officials … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 8 Comments

Coyotes in River Oaks

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Coyotes in River Oaks. What’s next? Fears are running high that coyotes living in Memorial Park’s isolated areas are wandering farther afield, bringing them into contact with joggers and residents of the city’s toniest neighborhood, River Oaks. And here I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 4 Comments

HD149 status still uncertain

Posted on November 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The votes have been counted, but we still don’t know for sure what will happen in the race for HD149 between Hubert Vo and Talmadge Heflin. “It’s not over yet,” Vo said. “I am proud of the results. I feel … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

Election challenges

Posted on November 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Now that we’ve established that Kristen Mack was correct regarding an election challenge being decided in the House rather than in the courts, I’m starting to find out more about how that process might work if Talmadge Heflin goes that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 7 Comments

Seven for Clemens

Posted on November 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Roger Clemens has won his seventh Cy Young Award. Clemens, 42, is only the fourth player in history to win a Cy Young in both leagues and is the oldest winner of the award given annually to the league’s best … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 2 Comments

Silly season begins

Posted on November 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The initial filing period for bills to be introduced in the 79th session of the Texas State Legislature has begun, and as always, it brings silliness. Gay marriage was a heated issue during last week’s national elections, with 11 states … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 2 Comments

Seeking an alternate venue

Posted on November 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Poor Jeff Skilling. Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling wants his trial moved out of Houston because one-third of area residents polled associated his name with negatives like “pig,” “snake,” “economic terrorist” and the “financial equivalent of an ax murderer.” Skilling’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 1 Comment

Vo wins!

Posted on November 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

We have a winner, pending any recounts or other challenges. With the last votes finally counted late Monday, Democratic newcomer Hubert Vo nudged Republican incumbent Talmadge Heflin out of the Texas House of Representatives seat he has held for 22 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 11 Comments

Vo still leading

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

It’s an even more razor-thin margin, but Hubert Vo is still in the lead in HD149. Houston political newcomer Hubert Vo clung to a narrow lead Monday night in his bid to unseat the state House’s most powerful GOP committee … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Vo still leading

Abramoff! Abramoff!

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Well, now that election is over we can get back to focusing on all those Tom DeLay-related scandals that are still floating about. The WaPo kicks in with a little bio of Jack Abramoff, whose cookies are soon to be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 1 Comment

A tale of two usage reports

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Take a look at these two stories and see if you see what I see: Record rail ridership October numbers released last week show 32,941 average weekday boardings, up 2 percent from the 32,292 recorded in September. That was the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 2 Comments

And so we look ahead

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Greg gives his look back and look ahead from this year’s election. I’m still mostly agnostic about who should run for what statewide office on the Democratic side, but the more I think about it, the more important I think … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 4 Comments

Building the farm system

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Kos had an interesting post a couple of days ago regarding gains made by Democrats in state legislatures around the country. As silver linings go, that one’s pretty good. For one thing, state legislators should be a big part of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 7 Comments

There won’t be any T-Birds for this daddy to take away

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Is it silly of me to hope that by the time Olivia is 16 someone will have invented Star Trek-like transporters so I won’t have to buy her a car? Nearly every culture has a recognized turning point between childhood … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 11 Comments

Final count today for Vo-Heflin race

Posted on November 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

We should find out today if Hubert Vo’s lead in the HD149 race will stand up. Officials began but didn’t finish counting the county’s 3,000 absentee ballots on Sunday. They planned to finish on Monday as well as count 4,000 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 5 Comments

Asian-Americans in politics

Posted on November 7, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting article about how Asian-Americans have made political inroads in Houston. Hubert Vo’s strong showing against entrenched state Rep. Talmadge Heflin in Tuesday’s election is the latest evidence of the rise of Asian-Americans in Harris County politics since 1994, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 2 Comments

When you care enough to send the very last

Posted on November 7, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Last word, that is. Haunting friends and family from beyond the grave just got easier. LastWishes.com, a Dallas-based Web site, has found there’s a lively market for people who want messages distributed upon their death. Since it was launched last … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in General snarkiness | 1 Comment

Berkman tears ACL

Posted on November 6, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Not the most auspicious sign for the Astros’ offseason: Lance Berkman tears his ACL playing flag football. Known for his positive outlook, Berkman, a three-time All-Star, used humor to caution against panic. He also joked he is more frustrated because … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | Comments Off on Berkman tears ACL