I found this funny.....
Ride Houston's Rails: 3 Stops for exploring H-town. Syd Kearney, Underwater in the Gulf.
That's right exploring H-Town folks!
Or, exploring 7 miles of two blocks in H-town, which is really about 1-100,000ths of the area as a whole.
A better idea would have been for Metro to ramp up bus service from Downtown to the Galleria, or to the Washington Corridor. The guys at Rev Eco-Shuttle should be thanking their lucky stars that Houston's transit agency is dysfunctional.
Of course, most Houstonians will be staying far, far away from the festivities this year, H-Town not being all that much of a College Basketball town.
All's not that bad however, ChronBlog's sole remaining asset, Allison Cook, proves again why she's the best food-writer in Houston. It's not even close now that Robb Walsh has semi-retired and is in the restaurant business.
Plus, at least the article got me paying attention to Houston's underwater publication again. I should pay more attention to them, since they still use my quote on their site that is.
Oh, and the final will be KY vs Butler. I'm pulling for Butler.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Citizen Patrick
Remember when State Sen. Dan Patrick was on his "Austin needs to stay our of city's business" kick?
Yeah, not so much.
I guess by "Austin" he meant all those other people, not him. Obviously HE knows what's right for you and the City right?*
*This goes beyond whether or not you support the drainage bill fiasco. The point is, the citizens of Houston voted for it, now they're (sort of) working with their government to implement the thing. Whether or not the plan was accurately presented is beside the point. Take your own advice Dan, stay out of Houston's buisiness.
Yeah, not so much.
I guess by "Austin" he meant all those other people, not him. Obviously HE knows what's right for you and the City right?*
*This goes beyond whether or not you support the drainage bill fiasco. The point is, the citizens of Houston voted for it, now they're (sort of) working with their government to implement the thing. Whether or not the plan was accurately presented is beside the point. Take your own advice Dan, stay out of Houston's buisiness.
Much ado about oil
First, there's Obama's speech today full of the usual: Speaking of increasing domestic production while his administration takes steps to curtail it, speaking of so-called "green" alternatives and automobile fuel efficiencies. (Didn't we just pass those?)
Second, there's the GOP plan which is centered around "drill baby drill" but doesn't really present anything outside of that. No real, sustainable, long-term plan. Drilling is great, etc. but there are viable alternative energy options (clean(er) coal, nuclear, etc.) that have to be a part of the mix. Geothermal, wind and hydro-electric power make sense in some areas, and Natural Gas.
Third, T. Boone is still out there beating his drum. Granted, his drum is all about creating markets for all of that Natural Gas his companies have placed huge bets on, but it's a drum that would really be of help. Contrast that with Al Gore, who's personal enrichment plan would pretty much kill several large industries while he and his investors made out like bandits. That being said, I'm still not in favor of corporate welfare so I struggle mightily with those parts of his plan.
Finally, there's the much debated high cost gas exemption which is, by all accounts, going away.
My problem with all of this is not what it will do to the oil giants, they'll be fine. The big, multinational oil companies will just shift more operations over to International lands and waters and will continue to make a ton of money on the product they're pulling out of the ground. What's often missed in the debate over so-called "big oil" is that, for the most part, they're really not that big. It's the small companies that suffer most. The companies that don't have the resources (or, let's be honest, the connections) to operate in foreign climes, who are reliant on being able to operate here, at home, in America or her waters.
Those are the operators who are going to be hurt the most by this political spit-ball fight whether our politicians believe it or don't. For every Chevron, Exxon, Royal-Dutch Shell and BP there are hundreds of small producers out there every day doing it right, and doing it well. If we forget about them, then we're cutting our energy back-bone in half.
Added: I just saw where Obama is still calling for large increases in Ethanol. Thus increasing the folly of trying to use the primary food-stuff of the world's poor to maintain travel standards. Heck, even the eco-mentals understand how bad of an idea that is, and they live on a diet of twigs and edible flowers.
Second, there's the GOP plan which is centered around "drill baby drill" but doesn't really present anything outside of that. No real, sustainable, long-term plan. Drilling is great, etc. but there are viable alternative energy options (clean(er) coal, nuclear, etc.) that have to be a part of the mix. Geothermal, wind and hydro-electric power make sense in some areas, and Natural Gas.
Third, T. Boone is still out there beating his drum. Granted, his drum is all about creating markets for all of that Natural Gas his companies have placed huge bets on, but it's a drum that would really be of help. Contrast that with Al Gore, who's personal enrichment plan would pretty much kill several large industries while he and his investors made out like bandits. That being said, I'm still not in favor of corporate welfare so I struggle mightily with those parts of his plan.
Finally, there's the much debated high cost gas exemption which is, by all accounts, going away.
My problem with all of this is not what it will do to the oil giants, they'll be fine. The big, multinational oil companies will just shift more operations over to International lands and waters and will continue to make a ton of money on the product they're pulling out of the ground. What's often missed in the debate over so-called "big oil" is that, for the most part, they're really not that big. It's the small companies that suffer most. The companies that don't have the resources (or, let's be honest, the connections) to operate in foreign climes, who are reliant on being able to operate here, at home, in America or her waters.
Those are the operators who are going to be hurt the most by this political spit-ball fight whether our politicians believe it or don't. For every Chevron, Exxon, Royal-Dutch Shell and BP there are hundreds of small producers out there every day doing it right, and doing it well. If we forget about them, then we're cutting our energy back-bone in half.
Added: I just saw where Obama is still calling for large increases in Ethanol. Thus increasing the folly of trying to use the primary food-stuff of the world's poor to maintain travel standards. Heck, even the eco-mentals understand how bad of an idea that is, and they live on a diet of twigs and edible flowers.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
You saw this coming right?
GOP leadership softens tone on budget proposal - Peggy Fikac, ChronBlog
I'll say this. Whoever is in charge of the GOP's noise machine should be fired. There are good arguments for entitlement cuts that need to be made to the general public, but you don't ever see them in the media or coming from the GOP.
Do I blame the media for this? Not really, because they're basically Statist types who can find a Government non-solution to almost any problem, real or imagined.
Do I blame the Democrats? No again. I have a big enough problem with Democrats not being honest about their policy platform. Tax & spend is OK, just be honest about it.
Nope, I put all of the blame on Republicans.
IF (and that's a pretty big if) you believe in the "cut government" mantra then you need to make the case for it. If not through the old MSM outlets then through the new media alternatives out there for use. Information dissemination is hard work. Work I've not seen the GOP willing to do.
Their failure to do so is either because....
A. They don't really believe in cutting the budget. (There's ample evidence that this is the case. NO ONE can increase spending and cut revenues at the same time like Republicans)
Or....
B. They just suck at getting their message out. (There's ample evidence for this as well. NO ONE can bungle a message like the State GOP.)
Of course, then there's the problem that many in the GOP's base (the Tea Party for example) haven't thought all of this through. The funniest sign of this political season was "Keep your Government out of my Medicare!" Cutting entitlements means that some people, those incapable of planning their own retirement etc.) are GOING to suffer. That's a pretty hard electoral road to hoe. Now, if you phased it out and went back to teaching personal finance to the younger generation you might be onto something. Well...the College students wouldn't think so but hey.
The only other option is to raise taxes somewhere around 10-15% for all taxpayers with no deductions. Which isn't a winning strategy either. Which probably explains why the Democrats aren't honest about what they really want to do. To be fair, it's probably why the GOP isn't either. The end result is that nothing really changes, nothing gets fixed, and overheated rhetoric continues unabated.
About the only group happy about this are political consultants, who make a mint on attack ads.
Back to the Texas budget. If anything this is going to prove that Republicans and Democrats aren't all that different. Both are relying on an awful lot of Hope, without much spare change.
As a vote looms on a bare-bones budget that would slash education and threaten nursing homes with closure, House GOP leaders softened their rhetoric on Tuesday to emphasize that it is a starting point and that cuts could be eased later without raising taxes.
I'll say this. Whoever is in charge of the GOP's noise machine should be fired. There are good arguments for entitlement cuts that need to be made to the general public, but you don't ever see them in the media or coming from the GOP.
Do I blame the media for this? Not really, because they're basically Statist types who can find a Government non-solution to almost any problem, real or imagined.
Do I blame the Democrats? No again. I have a big enough problem with Democrats not being honest about their policy platform. Tax & spend is OK, just be honest about it.
Nope, I put all of the blame on Republicans.
IF (and that's a pretty big if) you believe in the "cut government" mantra then you need to make the case for it. If not through the old MSM outlets then through the new media alternatives out there for use. Information dissemination is hard work. Work I've not seen the GOP willing to do.
Their failure to do so is either because....
A. They don't really believe in cutting the budget. (There's ample evidence that this is the case. NO ONE can increase spending and cut revenues at the same time like Republicans)
Or....
B. They just suck at getting their message out. (There's ample evidence for this as well. NO ONE can bungle a message like the State GOP.)
Of course, then there's the problem that many in the GOP's base (the Tea Party for example) haven't thought all of this through. The funniest sign of this political season was "Keep your Government out of my Medicare!" Cutting entitlements means that some people, those incapable of planning their own retirement etc.) are GOING to suffer. That's a pretty hard electoral road to hoe. Now, if you phased it out and went back to teaching personal finance to the younger generation you might be onto something. Well...the College students wouldn't think so but hey.
The only other option is to raise taxes somewhere around 10-15% for all taxpayers with no deductions. Which isn't a winning strategy either. Which probably explains why the Democrats aren't honest about what they really want to do. To be fair, it's probably why the GOP isn't either. The end result is that nothing really changes, nothing gets fixed, and overheated rhetoric continues unabated.
About the only group happy about this are political consultants, who make a mint on attack ads.
Back to the Texas budget. If anything this is going to prove that Republicans and Democrats aren't all that different. Both are relying on an awful lot of Hope, without much spare change.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The Noise Machine (3/27/11)
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So far the Apple Dumpling Gang has come out against pretty much any cut imaginable. Their "solution" is to raise taxes on everyone but them. Are they getting their ideas from Kuffner?
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BurkaBlog :: Worst newspaper column ever
Burka the Clown can't help but reveal his Demo-partisan stripes from time to time.
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Biden Thugs Imprison Reporter - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine
Behold how free
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College daze: The insanity of the application process - The Washington Post
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Hoping for Arab Mandelas - NYTimes.com
Really sums up progressive foreign policy....blunder around and hope.
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Egypt Air wipes Israel off the map – a sign of where Egypt could be headed – Telegraph Blogs
The Religion of "peace"
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Replace ObamaCare With Health Savings Accounts - Dean Zarras - On Civil Society - Forbes
I have a high-deductible policy with an HSA. Love it. Unfortunately, ObamaCare wants to make it impossible to get.
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Why Obama’s Poll Numbers Didn’t Get A Boost From The Libya Intervention. | The New Republic
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Obama gas tax | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment
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Votes of that type, while honorable, will get one primaried in a heart-beat. The Democratic progressive noise-making apparatus is already in full voice.
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Schism brews in Coffee Party - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com
"The movement, co-founded by filmmaker named Annabel Park, was initially seen as a progressive alternative to the Tea Party." But....but...certain local nosy engineers assured everyone they were CENTRIST, not PROGRESSIVE.....
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BurkaBlog :: Help! Help! There’s a pig in this room! Quick, get the lipstick!
"You have to feel sorry for the Legislative Budget Board" No you don't.
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Inside the House's Brutal Budget - The Texas Observer
Wow.
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The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics | The Weekly Standard
Progressive's *sigh*
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The tax man cometh, and it isn’t bad for business - The Boston Globe
Jackson conveniently stops short of the end result. Taxes don't hurt businesses, they hurt consumers (taxpayers) who get the costs passed on to them.
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Pensions squeeze government budgets - The Washington Post
Funny that "reform" is opposed by the same politicians who got us in this mess in the first place.
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Candidates such as this are why I still don't consider the Tea Party to be a political movement for serious people. It's the right's "Progressive movement".
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Media Matters' war against Fox - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com
So, they're doing what they've always done except that now they're admitting it.
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The Lege’s job killing budget – Off the Kuff
"Cutting government spending is taking money out of the economy." The fallacy of the progressive mind-set presented in one sentence. Government spending is a DRAIN on the economy, the source of the money being the job-creating private sector.
The more things change.....
...The more they stay the same.
Whether you call them "Mrs. White", "The ed board formerly known as Mrs. White", "Mr. Gibbons" (nice to see him back in the pages of ChronBlog" today) or "The Apple Dumpling Gang" one constant has been there though thick and thin, bad editorials and worse ones.
Through it all the irrational desire to roll out the catapult and throw increasingly large amounts of money at the problem has stayed the same. Today's editorial (and accompanying political cartoon) were no different. When it comes to education, The Apple Dumpling Gang just can't help calling for increases in funding to programs that continually produce diminishing returns. Given that the State's education system is experiencing more and more bloat, perhaps a forced diet is just what is needed in order to get the focus back on educating children, and less on how to feed the administration/union machine.
To my knowledge there have been no discussions of pooling resources to reduce construction costs, of not building schools that are more tributes to existing leadership than education centers and no talks about requiring schools to cut (or require hard audits on) programs that are notoriously wasteful. Instead of worrying about teaching children, the Apple Dumpling Gang are threatening to use ChronBlog's editorial and reporting resources (which ARE intertwined, since both Kilday-Hart and Fikac act as both columnists AND reporters) to attack law-makers who choose to not perpetuate the State's failing education model and not raise taxes on anyone ChronBlog and their fellow Statist travelers don't agree.
If the definition of insanity is to keep performing the same actions while expecting differing results than it can reasonably be said that those calling for additional funding into a failed education model are made by those who should be under the supervision of the State's Mental Health services. Of course, we're cutting those services as well, which means that those of us who understand this can't continue are forced to see dreck foisted on the public as "journalism". This leads us to surmise that the only two things more broken than the State's education system are the political system that's allowing this failure to exist and the State journalism machine that's seemingly incapable of allowing Texans to have an honest debate on how to fix it.
Whether you call them "Mrs. White", "The ed board formerly known as Mrs. White", "Mr. Gibbons" (nice to see him back in the pages of ChronBlog" today) or "The Apple Dumpling Gang" one constant has been there though thick and thin, bad editorials and worse ones.
Through it all the irrational desire to roll out the catapult and throw increasingly large amounts of money at the problem has stayed the same. Today's editorial (and accompanying political cartoon) were no different. When it comes to education, The Apple Dumpling Gang just can't help calling for increases in funding to programs that continually produce diminishing returns. Given that the State's education system is experiencing more and more bloat, perhaps a forced diet is just what is needed in order to get the focus back on educating children, and less on how to feed the administration/union machine.
To my knowledge there have been no discussions of pooling resources to reduce construction costs, of not building schools that are more tributes to existing leadership than education centers and no talks about requiring schools to cut (or require hard audits on) programs that are notoriously wasteful. Instead of worrying about teaching children, the Apple Dumpling Gang are threatening to use ChronBlog's editorial and reporting resources (which ARE intertwined, since both Kilday-Hart and Fikac act as both columnists AND reporters) to attack law-makers who choose to not perpetuate the State's failing education model and not raise taxes on anyone ChronBlog and their fellow Statist travelers don't agree.
If the definition of insanity is to keep performing the same actions while expecting differing results than it can reasonably be said that those calling for additional funding into a failed education model are made by those who should be under the supervision of the State's Mental Health services. Of course, we're cutting those services as well, which means that those of us who understand this can't continue are forced to see dreck foisted on the public as "journalism". This leads us to surmise that the only two things more broken than the State's education system are the political system that's allowing this failure to exist and the State journalism machine that's seemingly incapable of allowing Texans to have an honest debate on how to fix it.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Noise Machine (3/24/11)
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That tow service may cost you soon | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Now there's a tax on having the audacity to break down? The Bill White Legacy Lives!!!
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On The Huffington Post, Cowardice, And The Ad Hominem Attack | The Right Sphere
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Best of Houston Just Got Better - Houston News - Hair Balls
"You totally trust Houston Press to help you find the best margaritas in town" Terrible. Amateur Hour. You name it.
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Exposing the Elites by Michael Knox Beran - City Journal
Read this.
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Upcoming Changes at the Post-Merger United, Outsourced Blog Post Edition - View from the Wing
We'll see.
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Owls Soar Over the Cougars and Continue to Dominate Cross-Town Series - Houston News - Hair Balls
Blah.
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Word To Local Commies: Fear The Wrath Of Khon - Houston News - Hair Balls
Funny.
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RealClearPolitics - Energy Fantasyland
"The entire climate-change movement, fairly or not, is now in shambles, thanks to serial scandals about faked research, consecutive record cold and wet winters in much of Europe and the United States, and the conflict-of-interest, get-rich schemes of prominent global-warming preachers such as Al Gore."
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Steve Inskeep: Liberal Bias at NPR? - WSJ.com
O'Keefe has committed the cardinal sin. He went after the media.
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Year One of the Obamacare Era - Avik Roy - National Review Online
Somewhat scary.
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RealClearPolitics - A Liberal War in Libya
Warren is right on.
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We’re fighting War Lite, without leadership or goals - The Globe and Mail
At least Bush understood the inevitable end-game. It's clear Obama does not.
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One year later, ObamaCare still in ICU - Opinion - ReviewJournal.com
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The Libya campaign: Into the unknown | The Economist
It's probable that our International credibility is at it's lowest point ever. That's saying something.
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Analysis: Libya mission is clouded by confusion - The Denver Post
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House Democrats keep pressure on Obama on NPR funding bill - TheHill.com
"The unanimous vote sends "a very powerful signal to the Senate and the White House," // - No, it doesn't really.
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Half of 'earmark' spending untouched in GOP bills - USATODAY.com
It's hard to cut a pet-project that you've used in re-election campaigns.
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Houston goes the extra mile to please BG Group | Houston Business Journal
It's non-profit and doesn't take public money, but it's still kinda sad that someone has to do this.
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And the beat goes on.....
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Part of it is Eversole doesn't believe what he's done is wrong.
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There's a serious argument to be made that the Constable's office is redundant.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The Noise Machine (03/22/11)
Back from tech exile.
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RealClearPolitics - America's Descent Into Strategic Dementia
It's an administration that's run off the rails.
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Blithely off to war - NYPOST.com
More fun from the little administration that couldn't.
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Obamacare: One Year Later, Even Less Popular | The Weekly Standard
Didn't get the memo.
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Christy Turlington: Why Families Need Health Care Reform Now More Than Ever
Obviously on the e-mail list.
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A difficult first year - Tuesday, March 22, 2011 | 2:05 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
It's funny when the talking points e-mails go out to certain journo's who will then try and deny they got the memo.
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The definition of being "in the tank" for a political party. JournoList Lives!!
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GOP leaders pledge to block deficit package that increases taxes - TheHill.com
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It's time to curb welfare growth | detnews.com | The Detroit News
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America's Coming Budget Emergency | The New Republic
The media shares much of the blame, for failing to properly lay-out the alternatives and provide true cost/benefit analysis of the choices.
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Time for a corporate income tax? – Off the Kuff
While he protests his property taxes right?
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Republican legislators to support Republican legislation – Off the Kuff
So...Democrats don't support Democratic legislation? At least, for the rest of us that is.
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United, Continental hike fares by $10 per round trip | Front page | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
United: Boo. Chronicle using the AP to cover local companies: Boo
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Rice, UTSA agree to home-and-home football series | Owls | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Rice better hope they win, otherwise.....
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Of course...we need actual football first.
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Budget Cuts May End State HIV Program - Houston News - Hair Balls
Read the comments on this one. More logical fallacies than over at Coby's blog.
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Should We Stop Saying Remember the Alamo? - Houston News - Hair Balls
It's not the immigrants that I fear, it's the natives who are readily willing to give away our history and heritage.
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Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na, BAT VAN! - Houston News - Hair Balls
Well, we know that Jeff Balke doesn't keep up with local news.
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Lionel Trilling and the Social Imagination by Michael Knox Beran - City Journal
It's a must read
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Better Late Than Never by Stephanie Hessler - City Journal
Heh.
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More solid reporting sure to be recapped by ChronBlog with no attribution.
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Bill limiting solar panel bans blazes through Senate committee | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com
This is actually not a bad idea. Micro-grid technology should've been promoted from the start. Instead we got big, unwieldy, corruption filled projects doomed to fail.
A local news investigation in the making....
On the heels of the day care tragedy involving Jessica Tata comes the news that Houston City Council Member Sue Lovell is crafting an ordinance designed to force day cares to register with the city and submit to annual inspections.
While we here at HCA don't have any truck with the City overseeing day cares. (as a matter of fact, when it comes to the people who watch over the people who will be paying our retirement in the Ponzi-scheme of Social Security we're all for them being well taken care of) we have severe concerns about the City's ability to actually pull off these annual inspections.
How long will it be until Wayne Dolcefino or the Channel 11 Defenders team runs a sweeps week piece about the City falling down on it's responsibilities when it comes to performing annual inspections? How many stories will there be of "well off" day care centers not facing the same type of scrutiny that "poor" day care centers face?
In other words, this is a mess waiting to happen. That the Houston Way of government is designed to create messes seems to be beyond anyone's grasp. The only way to deal with something is through an ordinance, which then becomes part of a system that's too unwieldy to ever properly navigate.
While we here at HCA don't have any truck with the City overseeing day cares. (as a matter of fact, when it comes to the people who watch over the people who will be paying our retirement in the Ponzi-scheme of Social Security we're all for them being well taken care of) we have severe concerns about the City's ability to actually pull off these annual inspections.
How long will it be until Wayne Dolcefino or the Channel 11 Defenders team runs a sweeps week piece about the City falling down on it's responsibilities when it comes to performing annual inspections? How many stories will there be of "well off" day care centers not facing the same type of scrutiny that "poor" day care centers face?
In other words, this is a mess waiting to happen. That the Houston Way of government is designed to create messes seems to be beyond anyone's grasp. The only way to deal with something is through an ordinance, which then becomes part of a system that's too unwieldy to ever properly navigate.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
One Hundred Seventy-Five Years
Happy Birthday Texas.
We promise, we'll keep it down and stay off your lawn. We understand you're getting old and yes, you're starting to show your age a little but that's OK. Yes, you're turning grayer around the edges than Charlie Sheen's publicist according to some but to most of us you're still among the best when compared to your peers.
Our problem, of course, is what to get you as a birthday present.
Being a little short of $25 Billion closing your budget hole is out, and we're not 100% sure that building a wall between you and Mexico is all that great of an idea. There's the Governor's mansion of course, you could use a new one of those, but then that would mean having to submit to the design whims of Anita Perry and her Classic doesn't mesh with our modern. We toyed with the idea of getting you a gift card of course, but then we realized that you're already the custodian of funds of thousands of those. If folks don't believe us you could show them your unclaimed property rolls. Our final idea was to give you a real, effective government, but then we realized that'd mean the one we currently HAD would come back to our communities and join HOA boards. Ugh.
Then it hit us. Why not give to Texas the idea (and wish) for a competent media?
After all, it doesn't cost much (anything) it's desperately needed, and it's something most of us can agree is severely lacking. A media that would act as a citizen watchdog and not an apologist for the government. Not a media that focuses on why Government is good and citizens are bad. Not a media that hires out of towners and teen writers to write their (frequently corrected) Metro columns while continuing to employ an editorial board that's out of touch with 90% of the populace all while griping that they are continually overlooked for a Pulitzer. And not a media that's perpetually un-curious and views itself as above the little people who pay their salaries.* While we're at it, I'd like to see a media with a tech writer who's not so far up Steve Job's asshole that Job's Dr's are using them as a medical source. Sports, well...that's for another blog.
Nope, what we want is a media that cares about the people in their communities and view them as more than just another bump (or dip) in circulation numbers. A media that remembers the days when their job was to cover State and Local news, leaving the National news to those who have a clue. A media that isn't hung up on "World Classiness" or what the news-ish sites are saying, one that's ahead of trends instead of perpetually chasing them, and one that doesn't try and mask cleverly disguised advertisements as a "features" section. And most importantly, we want a media that welcomes opposing points of view and doesn't try to wipe down the memory hole anyone who dares disagree with them.
Of course, having a media like this would involve having a blogosphere that would try to keep the media in check. An independent blogosphere that does more than just regurgitate press releases from favored political parties while blockquoting others with little value add, or using profanity just because....well you know. A blogosphere with original content that's witty, only slightly profane, and not a little bit rough around the edges.
Yup, that's the media and blogosphere Texas needs.
Of course, we'll have to replace what we have now but, judging by readership numbers, you're already doing a fine job of that.
Happy birthday Texas. Here's hoping you get what you deserve.
We promise, we'll keep it down and stay off your lawn. We understand you're getting old and yes, you're starting to show your age a little but that's OK. Yes, you're turning grayer around the edges than Charlie Sheen's publicist according to some but to most of us you're still among the best when compared to your peers.
Our problem, of course, is what to get you as a birthday present.
Being a little short of $25 Billion closing your budget hole is out, and we're not 100% sure that building a wall between you and Mexico is all that great of an idea. There's the Governor's mansion of course, you could use a new one of those, but then that would mean having to submit to the design whims of Anita Perry and her Classic doesn't mesh with our modern. We toyed with the idea of getting you a gift card of course, but then we realized that you're already the custodian of funds of thousands of those. If folks don't believe us you could show them your unclaimed property rolls. Our final idea was to give you a real, effective government, but then we realized that'd mean the one we currently HAD would come back to our communities and join HOA boards. Ugh.
Then it hit us. Why not give to Texas the idea (and wish) for a competent media?
After all, it doesn't cost much (anything) it's desperately needed, and it's something most of us can agree is severely lacking. A media that would act as a citizen watchdog and not an apologist for the government. Not a media that focuses on why Government is good and citizens are bad. Not a media that hires out of towners and teen writers to write their (frequently corrected) Metro columns while continuing to employ an editorial board that's out of touch with 90% of the populace all while griping that they are continually overlooked for a Pulitzer. And not a media that's perpetually un-curious and views itself as above the little people who pay their salaries.* While we're at it, I'd like to see a media with a tech writer who's not so far up Steve Job's asshole that Job's Dr's are using them as a medical source. Sports, well...that's for another blog.
Nope, what we want is a media that cares about the people in their communities and view them as more than just another bump (or dip) in circulation numbers. A media that remembers the days when their job was to cover State and Local news, leaving the National news to those who have a clue. A media that isn't hung up on "World Classiness" or what the news-ish sites are saying, one that's ahead of trends instead of perpetually chasing them, and one that doesn't try and mask cleverly disguised advertisements as a "features" section. And most importantly, we want a media that welcomes opposing points of view and doesn't try to wipe down the memory hole anyone who dares disagree with them.
Of course, having a media like this would involve having a blogosphere that would try to keep the media in check. An independent blogosphere that does more than just regurgitate press releases from favored political parties while blockquoting others with little value add, or using profanity just because....well you know. A blogosphere with original content that's witty, only slightly profane, and not a little bit rough around the edges.
Yup, that's the media and blogosphere Texas needs.
Of course, we'll have to replace what we have now but, judging by readership numbers, you're already doing a fine job of that.
Happy birthday Texas. Here's hoping you get what you deserve.
The Noise Machine (03/02/11)
I'll be honest...I don't rodeo.....
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Sonagram bill delayed | Postcards
Cue irrational Tea Party anger toward Straus in 5...4...3...2.....
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BurkaBlog :: Mike Leach will seek permission to sue the state
He has a case.
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So the sky is (not) falling?
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Budget cuts are bad for the economy – Off the Kuff
Last week's press releases today, only from the shining star of the InterLeft.
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Ooooh....tens of jobs created by the green economy.
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UT-Austin students: 'They say cut back, we say fight back' | Trail Blazers Blog | dallasnews.com
Obviously UT-Austin is doing a terrible job teaching finance.
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Jackson Lee hosts briefing on NFL lockout | Houston Business Journal
Good to see she's keeping her priorities in order. My guess is she's "fighting" for someone on this issue....
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Daily Caller: Queen Sheila treats her staffers badly. Very badly (blogHOUSTON - The Stream)
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Council expansion stalling | Houston Politics | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Another public defeat for Parker? That ship's almost capsized if she loses this battle.
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Present-day Texas has one boot in the past | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
The key is not to forget one's heritage, as many on the Left would like, but to embrace it and learn from it. Both the good and the bad.
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High court: Kansas group can picket military burials | Chronicle | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Free speech is free speech, no matter how much it offends.
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METRO (even new METRO) is FULL of lost opportunities.
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The iPad (2) Scores Again | Ted Landau's User Friendly View | The Mac Observer
What they fail to note is how flawed the first iPad turned out to be, and why a replacement was so quick in coming.
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On the South Steps, Tom Bailout
"If Texas had any reporters with fingers anywhere near the pulse of Republican politics, I would have to exclaim “I can’t believe they haven’t written about this yet!" That pretty much sums it up.
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BurkaBlog :: Perry lags in Tea Party straw poll
"The winner of the live poll was pizza magnate Herman Cain with 21.98% of the vote. The winner of the online poll was Ron Paul, with 49.6% of the vote." You can stop reading this here.
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Texas taxpayers have rolled up billions in debt to keep rolling down the road | Texas Watchdog
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Council’s code of conduct – Off the Kuff
"I’m not sure what to make of this." But that won't stop him from block quoting heavily and adding little.
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