The Noise Machine (05/07/10)

Will the last oil-field worker out of Houston please turn out the lights?



Did it ever occur to anyone at Metro that needing to spend $100K for "public image consulting" is one of the reason's they have a bad public image to begin with?


Mike McGuff relays ChronBlog's efforts to restructure leading BlogHouston to ask: How many people are going to get laid-off this time? (I realize I'm hard on ChronBlog, but that mainly stems from shoddy reporting habits by a few bad apples and piss-poor management from those on the masthead. There are a LOT of good folks over at Houston's biggest blog and I hope they land on their feet.)


Metro logic: Feds refuse waiver, Metro inks deal anyway. Maybe David Wolff can fax Mike Snyder from Istanbul that he's shocked, SHOCKED! to find out the Feds have problems with what Frank Wilson is doing?


I find it sad that HISD had to cut a deal with the Feds to ensure that no influence peddling occurred in the e-rate deal process. (Don't be fooled, this is NOT an ethical victory, it's a sad snapshot of just how full of it the process is.)


Note: Inconsistent discipline is a bad thing. (Let's hope the charges are just a fishing expedition and not true.)


I typically give Paul Burka a hard time (with good reason IMO) but credit where credit is due. His identification of Dr. Richard Murray's political ties in this story are better than almost any you see in ChronBlog or other local news outlets. Dr. Murray's analysis is typically insightful, from a Democratic perspective. Just running his numbers without a nod to his perspective only tells half the story. (For instance: His contention that Democratic single party rule=good and Republican single party rule=bad is perhaps the most honest reporting of his political beliefs that I've seen in print.) The rest of the story covers old ground. The shrinking Republican structural advantage. It's there and, until the Republicans get a change of leadership, a platform relevant to the 21st century or a mass lobotomy it's not going to slow.


Charles Kuffner informs us that The Houston Federation of Teachers Gallegos vs. Grier is heating up. Get your popcorn.


Quick aside: Orrin Hatch is still around? Well I'll be.


The Bill White Texas Tribune takes a hard look at the race for GOP State Chair. From debt issues to ideological concerns Texas Republicans have some problems. (Still, this story reads as if Boyd Richie was a consultant.) To her credit though, Ms. Smith did a good job providing some background on three people that most Republicans know nothing about. (And probably still don't, since I'm guessing not too many Republicans are checking the Trib daily.)


Also from the Trib, a primer on the financing shortfalls for public employee healthcare. For all of the talk about runaway government spending (some of it justified) and economy killing taxes (some of it also justified) the elephant in the room for America is the overwhelming cost crush that public sector employees' benefit plans will face in the near future.


And finally.....


We're so glad he didn't retire: Unca Darrell on the advocacy journalism prevalent in America's worst big city daily.