Monthly Archives: June 2008

The definition of insanity, Harris County style

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Commissioners Court will be considering a number of thins for its Capital Improvement Projects budget soon, including a proposal to build a smaller jail in place of the bigger one that voters rejected last year. In doing so, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Comments Off on The definition of insanity, Harris County style

State secrets

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

While the state GOP convention going on right now in Houston will surely present plenty of opportunities for snark, I think this is the most noteworthy thing I’ve seen so far. Texas GOP Chairwoman Tina Benkiser said Bush still is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on State secrets

Another year, another Secretary of State

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The revolving door in the Secretary of State’s office spins again. Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson is stepping down to work for a Dallas-based energy company, he announced Thursday. His last day will be July 6. He’ll begin his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Another strip club lawsuit

Posted on June 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The strip club owners haven’t had much luck in court with the 1997 anti-SOB law, so I’m not sure why a strip club landlord thinks they’ll do any better, but they”re giving it a try anyway. The landlord of a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Comments Off on Another strip club lawsuit

“In the White House there is no beer”

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

You’ve probably heard of this by now: [A] misreading of the teleprompter led [Sen. John] McCain to sound a little bit more like a teetotaler fraternity president than a presidential candidate. Speaking about his use of the veto pen to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in General snarkiness | 3 Comments

Unity watch: Republicans (not) for McCain

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

You might have heard (via Kos) that Democratic Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren is not endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for President. Oh, he’ll vote for him, he just won’t endorse. This has gotten no small amount of press. Meanwhile, there are … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Council’s budget wishes

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, City Council had its turn with the 2009 budget. The Chron has a look at some of the members’ requests, a few of which we’ve seen before, but I want to focus on this one: Councilman Mike … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 1 Comment

Van Gundy disputes Donaghy

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Indicted former referee Tim Donaghy’s claim that the NBA told him and other refs to influence the outcome of some playoff games was met with skepticism by former Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy. Van Gundy was fined a record … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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DeLay versus DeLay

Posted on June 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

I still don’t know why it is that anything Tom DeLay says would be considered newsworthy, but given that he’s going to get quoted, he’s at least doing us all the favor of being amusing. Tom DeLay will vote for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 3 Comments

Council delays Metro vote

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

City Council has delayed for a week a vote on the consent agreement with Metro to build more light rail lines. “I think we have a good agreement,” said Councilwoman Sue Lovell, “and at some point in time we have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

Interview with Chris Turner

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Next up in my series of convention interviews is yet another Tarrant County candidate, Chris Turner, who is running against the egregious Rep. Bill Zedler in HD96. This is another purple district (the list of such district in the Metroplex … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Today’s blog news today

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Are you looking for the opportunity to get into blogging, but aren’t quite ready to pick a domain name and wrestle with stylesheets and whatnot? Consider joining the Texas Kaos team: Now that we’ve all survived, more or less, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 4 Comments

Meet the man who’s taking on Tom Craddick

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

BOR has an invitation for those of you in Austin tonight. Bill Dingus is in town tomorrow at the historic Scholz Beer Garten, and this is a chance to talk to the man with the guts to take on Tom … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Help Max crash the parties

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

My friend Max Cardenas is in a contest called Crash the Parties in which Si TV and Voto Latino are looking to select two reporters to carry the Crash the Parties mic and represent their community at the national conventions. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Was the fix in against the Rockets?

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who is under criminal indictment for betting on NBA games in which he officiated, is now claiming that a pair of playoff series, including one in which the Rockets played, were fixed by the league. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Council gets its turn with the city budget

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor White proposed his budget for 2009 last month, and now it’s City Council’s turn to have at it. With oil prices on the rise and construction costs escalating, some council members plan to submit proposals they say could make … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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TxDOT rethinks I-69

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose my main reaction to this story is what took them so long? The Texas Department of Transportation said Tuesday it has abandoned plans to build part of the controversial Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor through rural areas north and west … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Comments Off on TxDOT rethinks I-69

Interview with Robert Miklos

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing with my series of candidate interviews from the convention, next up is Robert Miklos, who is running for HD101 in Dallas County. Miklos is a former prosecutor with the Harris County DA’s office (he worked under Johnnie Holmes) and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 1 Comment

Commuter rail lines recommended

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready for some commuter rail proposals. A commuter rail study for the Houston area, unveiled Tuesday, recommends starting with five lines — but none would provide direct service to Sugar Land, The Woodlands or Kingwood, or to Bush and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 2 Comments

The state of solar power in Texas

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The wind energy industry is going strong in Texas, but the solar energy industry is working to catch up. Solar advocates say high costs, a lack of incentives and resistant homeowners associations are clouding the nascent industry’s future in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 2 Comments

Running prosecutors

Posted on June 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Being in Austin last week meant I got a chance to pick up a copy of the Austin Chronicle. I know, I know, I can read it online, but when you’re traveling and don’t have your usual access to the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Annie’s List matching contributions to Diane Trautman

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

June is always a busy time for political fundraising, since there’s a June 30 quarterly reporting deadline looming, and everyone wants to max out their totals for the quarter. Sometimes there’s a little extra incentive to donate to a particular … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Update on Metro v. Scarborough

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Rad Sallee has an update on the lawsuit filed last year against Metro by anti-rail activist Daphne Scarborough. [Scarborough’s attorney Andy] Taylor wants a jury to decide whether Metro is violating what rail opponents view as a promise, made in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

Rasmussen shows Cornyn with a big lead

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Along with their Presidential poll, Rasmussen has a result for June that shows Sen. John Cornyn with a 17-point lead over Rick Noriega. As they note, this is a huge swing from last month, where they had Cornyn up by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 1 Comment

Interview with Wendy Davis

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Next up on the interview list is Wendy Davis, who is running for State Senate in Tarrant County, in SD10. Hers is one of two – hopefully three – high profile Senate races this year, which is something we don’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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What will Obama do in Texas?

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Burka drops some early thinking on what Democratic performance in Texas might look like if the Obama campaign does some real work here. Democrat (sic) numbers-crunchers believe that if Obama gets 42-43% in the state, Democrats will fare well in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 3 Comments

Lottery sales down

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

This is just what school districts need to hear right about now. Texas lottery officials are monitoring a decline in ticket sales that they say could reduce the amount of money the lottery sends to public schools if the trend … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Jackpot! | 1 Comment

Texas blog roundup for the week of June 9

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Still woozy from the Bloggers Caucus? Well, there’s nothing like a little hair of the blog to cure what ails you. Click on to read the Texas Progressive Alliance roundup for the week. Continue reading →

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Bell not quite ready to jump in to SD17 just yet

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The Austin Political report says that Chris Bell is set to officially enter the special election race for SD17. Several sources report that former congressman and gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is telling Houston lawmakers that he will run in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Those grumpy Republicans

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Now that the Democratic convention is over, it’s the other guys’ turn. After a decade of political dominance, the Texas GOP is opening its party convention in Houston this week with a troubling prospect: Grumpy Republicans may not turn out … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Interview with State Rep. Dan Barrett

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

While I wasn’t in Austin for long during the convention, I did manage to achieve my goal of doing a bunch of interviews with various candidates and officeholders. I’ll be publishing them over the next two weeks, and will continue … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Unity watch: McAuliffe and Moeller

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Just a little check to see how the reunification of the Democratic Party is going. First we have former DNC Chair and outspoken Hillary Clinton supporter Terry McAuliffe: I’ve told all of the donors this week that we need to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Still two-stepping

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Among other things done at the convention, Texas Democrats decided to keep the prima-caucus system for the time being. The state Democratic convention ended Saturday with no decision about whether to abandon the “Texas two-step” system of awarding most nominating … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 2 Comments

Now that’s a burial

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

We should all have as cool a way to depart this vale of tears as this. The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a portion of his ashes has been … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on Now that’s a burial