This molehill we call a mountain.

Is it desperation to wring some drama out of what's sure to be a pretty boring legislative session*? Or is it the result of a slow, s-l-o-w news period?


Whatever it is it's got the State's lackluster political media in a tizzy. What is it you're asking?


(Two Freshmen Reps Pledge to Paxton for Speaker, Ross Ramsey, Texas Tribune (Maybe they NEED all that hip eyewear?)

Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, is also in the race, though Paxton appears to have more support. Last week, two of Chisum's fellow West Texans — Jim Landtroop of Plainview and Charles Perry of Lubbock — announced their support for Paxton.

Counting the candidate himself, that brings Paxton to nine votes. Straus claims pledges from more than 120. It takes 76 to win.

Nine. The leader of the conservative "groundswell" to unseat Speaker Straus currently counts his supporters at nine (9). According to this report Wayne Chisum has even less. To put this in perspective: Rep Paxton has approx 5.92% of the vote. That's less than Chris Bell for goodness' sake.

Even if you assume that Chisum's supporters number six (6) that would still leave both challengers with 9.87% of the total vote. Yes, that's creeping up into Democratic down-ballot territory, but it's not really threatening that low bar.


In other words, this "internal clash" really isn't, despite what Texas poor political pundits think. Unless something happens that greatly cuts into the support of Straus the only thing to take away from this is that the social Conservatives are going to make a lot of noise, but the actual numerical strength of the movement is somewhere around the listenership of KDAN Patrick's radio station.


*Yawn*







*By "boring" I don't mean things aren't going to happen. To the contrary, I think that there's going to be a LOT that transpires during the 82nd that will be meaningful (in a good and bad way) to Texans. What I don't think we're going to have is much hullabaloo surrounding it because the opposition party has been reduced to the political equivalent of a party-blogger.

The Noise Machine (11/29/10)

And we're back at it....


So far the bulk of the media's education stories have been dire predictions of doom should schools not get everything they wish for. While there probably would be some things lost what you don't ever see is that schools could choose to make other cuts, would that they wanted to. (Of course, it's easier to cry "Doom!!" than cut pet projects isn't it?) I'm not looking forward to this next legislative session if this is going to be the tone of the debate.


Nice to know that a storage device is considered a storage device by Texas courts. What's amazing is that this had to go in front of a judge at all.


This is a hope that could die with no argument from me. Of course, the World Classiness crew will be salivating over this prospect. (Including the pandering to FIFA reps that inevitably comes with it.)



When I was in High School Band we payed for our own instruments. Not today however.....(My parents sacrificed a LOT when I was in school. Today's parents seem to want all of the sacrifice done for them by others.)


Ah the beginnings of the budget debate. Furloughs, staff cuts, fire & brimstone. And we don't even know how much needs to be cut yet. (Yup, I can't wait for this next Lege session, and the media and blogger coverage that's going to surround it.)


It's good to know that Republicans are just as prone to wasteful distraction as are Democrats. The more things change the more they stay the same.


Green Houston. Or, at least, green-ish Houston with just enough baubles to keep the World Classiness, trinket-loving set quiet.


A lesson for BARC from Dallas. Something lost in the "no-kill shelter" debate is the animal control portion of the agency's charge. Certainly, you want to minimize euthanasia cases, but their existence is a sad reality in a world that places little value on the lives of animals.


Rick Perry as the harbinger or death? Perry derangement syndrome lives.


And finally,


Perhaps the problem is not with changing times but with short-sighted, restrictive laws that are always championed by myopic groups such as the Apple Dumpling Gang? (If every problem requires a new, big-government solution -typically one that reduced the rights of the people- then too much is never going to be enough.)

Weekend Update (11/27/10)

Stuffed.....can't move.....


The battle over red light cameras continues. The city's revenue grab could end up costing Mayor Parker a 2nd term.


Oh boy, here we go again. I can't wait until people start pulling the race card again....


Get ready for the anti-2nd Amendment groups to fire up again after this....


Tom Delay made redistricting political? Gotta love historical revisionism done in the interest of forwarding a point of view. (Redistricting has ALWAYS been political, when Democrats ruled the State they were political as well.)


A Republican speaks on Voter ID, Democrats respond. I can't think of any reason (political or otherwise) that Democrats would want to give-in on this issue. Right now their stance should be one of "vocal opposition".


The e-slate voting machines are coming back. Putting an end to the theory that whatever comes next may have the ability to provide a paper receipt.


Why is it that the Government's default response to a problem is suddenly to decrease the civil rights of everyone?


Willie arrested...Again.


And finally.....


SEC guy is the best local radio character bar none.....

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!


There are a lot of things to be thankful for this year. Here's just a few of the things on my ledger.....


My family - Especially my wife, who's learned to put up with last-minute blog meet-ups, poker trips, political rants & long nights researching for blog posts. Not to mention standing in line at Downtown Spec's for an hour making sure I get three six packs of the latest Divine Reserve. Yup, pretty great she is. (And a huge football fan, which does NOT make the Fall and early winter suck)



BlogHouston. Kevin, Anne, Callie and everyone over at bH were my first contact with the Houston blogosphere, back when I was writing Isolated Desolation just for the fun of it. Over the next several years I've developed friendships with all of them.



Living in Houston - Yes, during the Summer, the weather sucks, but it's late November and we're all going to be wearing shorts (until tomorrow). There are tons of things to do, a vibrant restaurant scene, and the economy is (relatively) good. The Government is entertaining enough to keep a local blog in content, and (last but not least) there's an ethnic diversity in this town that rivals anything you'll find in the South. I love Houston, and I'm always reminded how much I love living here.


ChronBlog - Yes, I constantly give them grief, and they're standard of journalism has fallen over the years to barely above that of a College newspaper, but I look at the Chron as a bloggy-type version of job security. If they ever go down, I'm betting 1/2 of Houston's blogosphere disappears right behind them.


The Houston Press - You can tell a lot about the soul of a City by taking a look at the health of their alt-media. Houston's alt-weekly is chugging a long with a bare-bones staff of professional journalists while increasingly leaning on the, upper-middle class sensibilities of a growing group of amateur bloggers. The result is a homogenized, relatively bland, trend-chasing product that fails to push the envelope and fails to offer up much but cliches. Amazingly, in Houston, it's the same groups that are behind the movement to "re-make" Houston into a reduced, less culturally deep, less original, version of New York City. That alone makes it a great resource for watching the dismantling of the things that have made Houston great.


Texas Watchdog. - Houston's #1 shop for hard-hitting, investigative journalism. They're also a great advocate of citizen-journalists and local blogs. One of Texas Watchdog's missions is to provide support and training for local bloggers. This is a great resource that I encourage everyone to take advantage of. I've also made many friends at Watchdog for whom I'm very thankful. Great group. (Even Lynn Walsh, who's an Ohio fan but I don't hold that against her too badly)


Texas Tribune. Without whom I'd be ignorant in regards to eye-wear options for the young and hip. Oh, and their Lege reporting is pretty good as well.


Chris Bell - It's always good to be thankful for a content driver. (See also: Dan Patrick, Bill White, Houston Metro, the InterLeft, Bloggers O' the Right, etc.)



Miller Outdoor Theater, The Houston Zoo and Houston's Museum District - Hours of low-cost (or free) entertainment that was helpful after my wife got laid-off and the entertainment budget was reduced.


And finally....My two (or so) regular readers. Thanks guys for following me around from blog to blog. I realize my writing style is not conducive to a big audience. That you've stuck around speaks volumes.



Happy Thanksgiving all. Take some time today to remember what exactly you're thankful for, and leave the political arguing to the truly sad and hollow. I'm off to eat some turkey and stuffing.

The 'new journalism' revolution marches on!

It's bad enough that ChronBlog feels the need to comment on America's most 'hated' cities without realizing that Houston, yes our Houston, is probably at the top of that list for most others due in no small part to the inferiority complex that our ruling and chattering classes continue to display to the rest of the world......

Then they have to go and do things like this, this and this.

Austin, Shreveport and Beaumont? Really?

Because, where Houston lives is somewhere in that dark place where a city of approx. 2.5 MM gets its jollies by picking on the 200K - to 500K set. Has our collective sense of we suck grown so large that we're left picking on the Golden Triangle? What's next, a discussion of the many ways Galleria Houston Prada is superior to Marfa Prada? Are we going to hear that Houston has better dining options than Mart? Boy I tell ya, you think Houston is bad you should take a look at Durant, Oklahoma. The Bayou City has all of them beaten COLD..... Thankfully, except for the occasional "libs are evil" commenter, most people advised ChronBlog just how wrong they were, including my favorite comment here:

77007 12:41 PM on November 23, 2010

A perfect example of why the Chronicle is the largest big-city paper to never win a Pulitzer.

It's also a perfect example of why many people want to change Houston to be more like other places....because, as a city, our self-confidence sucks. It sucks so bad we actually pay attention to the new urbanists who insist our community, full of despair, want and woe, can be magically healed if only we build a park that contains giant chess-board pieces, that we can all live happy productive lives if we just shoe-horn everyone into monochromatic apartment units within a relatively small geographic area, thus allowing the split-tongue toe lizard to make his return to the marshes that will re-surround the city. Why all we need to do is save that historical outhouse over there and tourists will come flocking to our doors. As a matter of fact, the key to a long and happy life is doing things exactly like they want you to do things with no deviation and no independent thought. McDonald's, it goes without saying, is right out. So is Thanksgiving, pick-up trucks, personal freedom and the right to not have to worry about playing in your living room without covering the neighbor's bed with a hail of plaster.


Yup, if we could just do that (and maybe bomb Beaumont) Houston would finally be a city deserving of the news daily it calls its own.

When Customer service isn't.

Spent part of my Sunday (the part during the second half of the Texans game thankfully) store hopping up in the Woodlands. Popped into Barnes & Noble to have a look at their Nook reader. I'm in the market for either that or a Kindle from Amazon, haven't decided which one yet.

One tablet that I'm definitely not interested in is a Nook "color". Not only is it $100 more than the regular Nook reader, ($249 vs. $149) but it doesn't have the e-ink technology which makes reading doable on a standard black & white reader. And that's primarily what I want this for: To read e-books. Despite my many attempts to convey this to the sales clerk at the kiosk, my appraisal of the black & white Nook was continually interrupted by a sales pitch for the Nook Color.

I now know that the Nook Color can stream movies (not what I'm looking for), it can connect to the NY Times (for a fee, as can the Nook B&W) or a host of other magazines and dailies, and it has the memory to download more books than I'll probably read in my lifetime. It's also not available right now. It's recommended that you reserve one on the release day just in case you MIGHT think you want one. Whether or not you actually buy one, just reserve one, you know, just in case.

Get the picture? (I'm sure we'll all be shocked, SHOCKED! when B&N announces supply shortages of the Nook Color right before Christmas won't we?)

I came in to look at a e-reader in which I was interested, only to be told by the staff supposedly selling said reader that it wasn't that great, they had a better (more expensive) option that I couldn't even GET right then, having instead to wait until December something-or-other, and that didn't really even do what I wanted it to do.


All things being equal I'm now leaning toward the Kindle. Which I will purchase on-line from the comfort of my own home. Oh yeah, it's $10 cheaper than the Nook B&W as well....Probably because Amazon isn't paying someone to talk me out of buying what I came in for in the first place.