The Noise Machine (12/02/09)

Just about as crazy as snow in Houston.....(oh wait)



That's the thing about ill-conceived Gov't fees. They ultimately come back and bite the taxpayer in the... *Note: replace "Texas would fund" with "taxpayers would fund" in this story to get an idea how. The State can't fund anything without first collecting it from citizens


Yesterday's chub about problems in the HPD fingerprinting lab, has grown into a full-fledged the Houston taxpayer is about to get reamed story. I'd sure like to hear how the next Mayor, Controller and City Council candidates propose to deal with (and pay for) this wouldn't you? *You KNOW we're going to hear all about it on the Gubernatorial campaign trail


With all of the local grist to chew on, is anyone really surprised that the ChronBlog Caucasian Think-Tank chose to focus on Ms. Cohen's pet issue? (Silly us for wanting the local ed board to...you know...think about local issues, especially during an election)


Heat...with no light. Possibly the worst two Mayoral candidates in any major City in the U.S. not named Detroit. Possibly (Which is what you can expect from your political system when a 10% {or less} voter participation rate is the norm.)


Much ado about Hispanic candidates is starting to emanate from both party's partisans. For Democrats it's from the InterLeft and from Republicans on talk radio. Seems everyone wants them some Mariachi's at their 2010 election night parties. (And...who can blame them? Demographics is politics after all)


Hey...They don't mean to discriminate.....That makes it all better then. *snicker*


Note to John Cornyn: If you're being played by Al Franken....It's time to hang it up. (It seems somewhat akin to losing to the Texans doesn't it?)


No documents were faked during this interview. (At least that we know about)


Healthcare reform as Liberalism's savior...More likely however, in its current form, it will lead to a huge, unwieldy, cash-sucking bureaucracy that would make Kafka groan.


Your friend, the atom....


When editorial pieces pose as news stories, you often end up with predictable results.


There are holes in the Democratic ticket which is causing a lot of people to wonder how they are going to be filled. To me, the interesting slot is the one for Lt. Governor. If White catches fire and the Democrats put someone strong in that spot to challenge Dewhurst, then the rest of the ticket could ride to victory due to a coattails effect. (We've seen these other candidates before, and pretty much know what they (don't) bring to the table as far as ballot appeal.)


Looking back on four weeks of the Texas Tribune. So far, they've been a little disappointing. Advocacy, opinion-based journalism is OK, if you have enough content to keep things interesting. During their run-up I figured they were prepping enough content to really get things moving during the first month (or two) we haven't seen that at all. Still, they're finding their sea legs and are doing some things right. There's a lot of journo talent over there, so hopefully they'll really pick it up come the elections and the next Lege session.