Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Noise Machine (12/15/09)

Blah.....


Don't look now, but there's evidence less draconian criminal justice might actually work. It sure beats locking up a larger percentage of your population than any other country in the World.


Y'all pack 'em in tight now ya hear?


I never took one of Prof. Bott's classes, but I've met the man. No bigger a UH booster will you find anywhere. (Which is unusual in a faculty that's as negative toward campus life as any I've ever seen)


How to tell when it's not looking good for you. (Official oppression style)


Anyone else get the idea that Perry wishes this entire forensic mess would just go away?


Ride, Jitney Ride (Just don't take too much revenue away from Yellow Cab or the establishment will sock you in the mouth)


The Harris County Budget crunch is morphing into a political football being kicked down the street by supporters of newly minted (Possible) County Judge Candidate Gordon Quan. While that's certainly fair, I wonder if the same principle applies to Bill White's FIVE consecutive rate cuts now that the City of Houston is struggling financially as well? (Fiscal Conservatism: What's good for the goose....) **This would normally be the point where I'd talk about the need to take a holistic look at Texas' antiquidated, land-based, tax system. But I think I'll let that slide for now**


Health Care reform is what happens when you're not asking the proper questions. (Asking "who" should pay for health-care reform is a recipe for failure. Everyone should pay for their own healthcare, that's the only way to sucessfully reform any system. As long as a coveted voting bloc is being given a free ride, people will continue the pattern of abuse.) That a majority of American's don't see this says more about the health of our democracy than any other indicator.


Drive more? Well, you're going to pay more. I wonder how long it will take big city politicians to realize that the "urban core" policies they've been espousing are going to indirectly lead to tax cutsincreases on the poor (who will have to drive further to get to their jobs due to land prices, etc)? Meet the law of unintended consequences.


Jason Stanford gets fired and his biggest supporters are the journos that are supposed to be providing unbiased coverage of his candidate. There used to be something called professional detachment. Obviously that's gone by the wayside. (Along with "secret" get-togethers, the new idea being to pimp one's attendance as some archaic status symbol) **I have no problem with PR people and journos being friends, but when so many of them are that close?



The Texas Tribune's Ross Ramsey provides a Peek into the wonderful world of incumbency of the Texas Lege. It's a good gig, if you can get it.


Kinky drops his Gubernatorial bid choosing instead to run against Hank Gilbert for Ag Commish. (He's still going to face the same problem of finding a constituency in the Democratic Party, who still hasn't forgiven him for running against perennial candidate Chris Bell, a man whose electoral draw was slightly below the dead.)

2 comments:

Ed T. said...

Under "Drive More?", I presume you actually meant "...are going to indirectly lead to tax increases on the poor..."

I'm not so sure it will be an unintended consequence, however: remember the original economic justification for "Safe Clear", and how part of the cost of the program would be recovered by selling off the cars of the poorer folks who didn't have the $70 on them, and couldn't afford the mounting storage charges?

Cory said...

You are right. Thanks again to my army of unpaid editors for catching one of my (many) typos. *correction will be made*

Sports Section