The Noise Machine (05/06/10)

Give us this day our daily bread.....



Frank Wilson is learning an important Houston lesson: Live by the establishment, die by the establishment. It's neither going to be surprising to many long-time observers of Houston politics that the blame for any delay in federal rail funding will be laid at his feet, or that ChronBlog is now dutifully devoting column inches to that contention. (Now let's see if certain ChronBlog reporters continue accepting stories from David Wolff and running them without question. After all, research is not high on ChronBlog's skill set.)


Elenor Tinsley gets a street. Not a fancy street mind you, but one that's close to Planned Parenthood's Houston headquarters. (Which relatives assure us is what she wanted despite the fact that billboards, and not reproductive rights issues, are what she made a career campaigning on.) Hey, as long as everyone is happy.


From the NY Times: Americans are concerned about immigration and are OK with the Arizona law, even though they admit it could lead to racial profiling. (Which, if we're honest, is mainly a concern for progressives who travel in homogeneous social circles and academics. Truly civilized countries understand when, where and how much profiling security requires.)


Don't get too hyped-up for high-speed rail. The truth is you're probably not looking at a working system for 20 years. Even if everything goes right. And we do mean everything. The reality is, if any high-speed rail is ever implemented, it will probably be future generations that use it. (Which makes sense considering it will be their money we're going to be spending to build the damn thing.)


Here's a thought: Instead of viewing gambling as a revenue stream cure-all (which, outside of Vegas it's not) how about viewing it as a freedom issue? (As opposed to running a nanny state where a bunch of politicians supported by morality groups (on both sides of the aisle) tell us what's right and what's wrong.)


You know the Country is in trou....We interrupt this link post for an HCA PSA:

If you think Newsweek's continued presence is invaluable to the future of democracy. It's not. In fact, much like ChronBlog, it's been failing at the mission of journalism for some time now. There's far better news coverage elsewhere.

(We now return you to your regularly scheduled link post, already in progress)....Texas State Representatives in knee-high stockings dancing the can-can.



When "Of" is vitally important. and why those who subscribe to "from" are dangerous. All that being said....the truth is you don't need a National day to pray just pray.


In response to ChronBlog's sicky-sweet love-in with the Dynamo stadium Houston Clear Thinker's Tom Kirkendall wonders if a little truth-in-advertising is too much to ask. Meanwhile BlogHouston reminds us that, given ChronBlog's and Ortiz' history for this type of writing, we shouldn't be surprised at all.


And finally.....


The ends justify the means? Another question is this: How can you have a taxing authority that is in no way answerable to the voters? No taxation without representation? Anyone?