Monthly Archives: May 2005

The Granny Tax

Posted on May 20, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

How desperate are they in the joint committees to pass something, anything on HB2 and HB3 to the floor of those chambers for a vote? Desperate enough to revive a bad idea from 2001 which is opposed by Lt. Gov. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 4 Comments

The Texas Research Foundation

Posted on May 20, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The Houston Democratic Forum meeting that I attended last night turned out to be a standing room only affair, as almost 70 people packed into the reserved room at Ziggy’s Grill on Alabama to hear Dr. Richard Murray and Keir … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | Comments Off on The Texas Research Foundation

Who’s qualified?

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

And the HD143 activity continues, as Dos Centavos points to the state Constitution’s residency requirements for State Rep and asks “Who’s qualified to run?” Marc Campos, who has decided to talk about this race after all, answers that question thusly: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 1 Comment

“Get Out The Vo” article up

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the promised link to that Texas Monthly article on Hubert Vo. It’ll be up till Monday, at which point I’ve been asked to take it down, so read it now while you can. The piece is in the June … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Ronnie Earle speaks, and other DeLay news

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not going to claim it was a smart idea for Ronnie Earle to give a speech at a fundraiser for a brand-new Democratic PAC. I mean, it’s a little hard for me to see why there’s anything scandalous in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 8 Comments

Katy ISD kerfuffle

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey highlighted a controversy from the recent Katy ISD school board elections in which the director of secondary education sent out an email to his subordinates extolling a vote for the incumbents and reminding them to do the same … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | Comments Off on Katy ISD kerfuffle

RIP, Frank Gorshin

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Frank Gorshin, best known (at least among us post-Baby Boom syndicated TV watchers) as The Riddler from Batman, has died at the age of 72. Despite dozens of television and movie credits, Gorshin will be forever remembered for his role … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 2 Comments

Round One goes to the grackles

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The humans have negotiated a cease-fire in the Grackle War. Concerned about grackles that have been attacking people outside the Harris County Administration Building, building managers have decided to keep the area blocked off until the birds’ fledglings learn to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 3 Comments

HDF meeting tonight

Posted on May 19, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll be at the Houston Democratic Forum meeting tonight to hear Dr. Richard Murray, Keir Murray, and Heidi Kirkpatrick talk about the new progressive think-tank called the Texas Research Foundation they’re organizing. This has been in the works for awhile … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 4 Comments

Revenge of the Sith

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

All right, I guess I need to start planning to see “Revenge of the Sith” sooner or later. We haven’t been to the theater since seeing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhaban” just before Olivia was born. I’ve almost … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 16 Comments

The TIERS meltdown begins

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Father John notes that a legislative attempt to slow down the full-blown launch of the Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System (TIERS) is dead for this session, meaning there’s nothing to stop the billion-dollar project from rolling out statewide, ready or … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on The TIERS meltdown begins

Kay’s temptation

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

How much do some people want to see Kay Bailey Hutchison stay in the Senate and leave Rick Perry alone? Enough to dangle some pretty big carrots in front of her. [Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky] said Hutchison … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 6 Comments

More HD143 stuff

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

More jockeying for HD143: The Chron’s Kristin Mack fills in a few blanks on some of the potential contenders whose names have floated up so far. [Ana] Hernandez, who has three legislative sessions under her belt, has won [Rep. Jessica] … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 21 Comments

Report from the Senate on HB789

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Save Muni Wireless has a report from Wayne Caswell, who testified to the Senate about HB789. Very informative stuff, so check it out. I don’t know what’ll happen if the House and the Senate can’t agree on their competing bills, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 1 Comment

Stephen F. Austin statue update

Posted on May 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Banjo brings us an update (and a photo) on the planned Big Statue for Stephen F. Austin, to be done in Angleton by Big Statue maestro David Adickes. I noted this awhile back, and based on Banjo’s pic, I’d say … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 1 Comment

Grand Parkway public meeting in Spring next week

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Those of you in the Spring area with an interest in not getting run over by the Grand Parkway extension should consider attending a public meeting next Wednesday, May 25. Here’s the scoop, from Anne: Please join us for a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Comments Off on Grand Parkway public meeting in Spring next week

Kudzu: It’s (potentially) good for something

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

One person’s weed is another person’s binge-drinking-curber. Kudzu, an ever-expanding vine considered a pest in much of the South, appears to contain a compound that can be effective in reducing alcohol intake among humans. Researcher Scott Lukas did not have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on Kudzu: It’s (potentially) good for something

Get Out The Vo

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I received an email this morning from the folks at Texas Monthly to tell me about an article from their upcoming June issue that might (and does) interest me. From the email: “Get Out the Vo” is a story by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Municipal WiFi safe for now

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news from Save Muni Wireless: HB789 was heard this morning in the Senate Business and Commerce committee. The commitee substitute was based on Chairman Fraser’s earlier SB332, which imposes tests for suburban and rural markets before deregulating. Chairman … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 1 Comment

Jeff Bagwell

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

So Jeff Bagwell has shut it down, possibly for the season, possibly forever though he hopes to come back, so he can get his shoulder surgically repaired. I hope his surgery is a success and he’s able to come back, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 6 Comments

Rick Perry’s leadership inaction

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

And speaking of our only Governor, someone woke Rick Perry up long enough to inform him that there’s a budget going on and that he may not like parts of it. Perry and his aides notified legislative leaders he is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 4 Comments

New digs for PerryVsWorld blog

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The Rick Perry Versus The World blog has moved to its own domain and a Nucleus-powered back end, meaning it now has comments, trackbacks, and so on. Update your links accordingly. Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on New digs for PerryVsWorld blog

When grackles attack

Posted on May 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Dive-bombing grackles send workers running Aggressive grackles around the County Administration Building launched attacks Monday that left a lawyer bloodied and county employees wondering whether Hitchcock’s The Birds was make-believe. Really, what can one add to this? Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments

Speaking of sneaky tricks

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Remember how I talked about crunch time and the odious things that can get snuck into otherwise innocuous bills as amendments? This is a good example of what I’m talking about. Will Hartnett gets our first Sneaky Legislator Award. SB419, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 4 Comments

An update on Barbara Radnofsky

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I had the chance on Friday to chat with Barbara Radnofsky, who was in town to do some mediation work in between trips around Texas for her Senate campaign. She takes her job – and by that I mean “running … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 4 Comments

CTC update

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The Citizens Transportation Coalition gets a little writeup in today’s Chron. “The process isn’t always designed to engage the public,” said Robin Holzer, who chairs the coalition. “We want to solve problems in the planning stage before contracts are let … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 3 Comments

Your useless statistics of the day

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Tony Womack stole four bases in Sunday’s game for the Yankees. He did not, however, score any runs. This is, in many ways, a microcosm of his career. That is all. Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 1 Comment

Crunch time

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

It’s T-minus two weeks for the Lege (barring overtime, of course, in the still-not-too-unlikely event that school finance and related tax work don’t get finished), and that mostly means watch out for bad but sneaky legislation. This is the crunch … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 1 Comment

The jockeying for HD143 has begun

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Governor Perry hasn’t even announced a date for the special election to replace the late Rep. Joe Moreno from HD143 (the earliest it can be is September 10), but there’s already three candidates that I know of out there for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 6 Comments

Blogging in Amarillo

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Nice mention in the local media for the Amarillo-based bloggers of the Panhandle Truth Squad. Keep up the good work, guys! Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Blogging in Amarillo

Postcards from the labor market

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

There were a couple of stories in the Business section that caught my eye recently. First is this piece about how the offshoring trend has had an unanticipated side effect – scheduling regular meetings with coworkers whose workday doesn’t intersect … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | 1 Comment

Enron Broadband trial: Bored now

Posted on May 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

You may think that any trial which features mixed-up videotapes would be a generally exciting one, but the Enron Broadband trial appears to have bogged down in a bunch of boring technobabble. Tom points to this Chron story from last … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on Enron Broadband trial: Bored now

Action alert for Monday

Posted on May 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Isn’t this sweet – the Senate has decided to hear public testimony on HJR6, the Double Secret Illegal bill for gay marriage, on Monday morning at 8:30 AM. Apparently, they were a wee bit reluctant to make that information known … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Comments Off on Action alert for Monday

Other dead bills

Posted on May 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a fact that in a 140-day session, a lot of bills (some good, many not so good) fail to make it to the floor of one chamber or the other for a vote. Despite some encouraging successes on the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Comments Off on Other dead bills