Monday, December 14, 2009

The Noise Machine (12/14/09)

There's nothing like taking a few days off....


In case you haven't heard: Houston has a new Mayor-Elect, and...by the way...she's *gasp* gay.

True to form, ChronBlog has opened up the "newly elected public official cliche generator" providing such stunners as: Pulls no punches, grass-roots and aggressive agenda. Oddly enough, every mayor since Kathy Whitmire also generated the same cliches at one point or another during their tenure. At least ChronBlog is keeping it simple. (At this point we'd say something about bad newspapers and limited talent regarding Houston's political analysis class but...well..that'd be a cliche)


Note: Running a re-hash of things people have known about for quite some time is not the Yellow Brick Road to the city of Pulitzer. (You're welcome...in advance) *There have been posts regarding this issue from Judicial and InterLeft bloggers. I'm too damn lazy to look them up, but they're out there. (Although not with the same information that Olsen's story has, I'm not suggesting plagiarism is at play, just that this series of stories is hardly ground-breaking, watchdog journalism.)


You knew it was coming: finger pointing in the fingerprint lab mess. (Question: Is "everyone is doing it?" really a valid defense?


What's $1.1 Trillion amongst friends? (The next fight on a federal level is going to be raising the ceiling for National debt. Republicans did it several times under Bush, and the Democrats howled in protest. Now the Democrats will do it under Obama, and the Republicans will howl in protest. Partisans on either side will then take the time to convince us that what they're doing now is 100% different than what they criticized the other side for, despite it being exactly the same.)


Proof that competency and politics do not go hand in hand. (I have nothing personal against Mr. Green, but Houston hasn't had a qualified auditor as Controller for many years.)


A better election round-up than you're likely to find anywhere. A must read.


Beware labelers giving advice about not labeling others.


And finally, just when you thought it was safe...

It's already 2010 election time, for political types that is. (Be afraid, be very afraid) *When a significant portion of the economy is based on politics you know you're in trouble.*

No comments:

Sports Section