August 2004 Archives

31 August 2004

Cleaning Up The Crime Lab

Steve McVicker reports that HPD Chief Harold Hurtt has suspended internal investigations of the police lab so an "independent investigator" can be brought in to do the job.

This move is long overdue. Kudos to Chief Hurtt for finally pulling the trigger.

McVicker continues to distinguish himself with his reporting on this story.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 23:52 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

Blog Triumphalism? Maybe

Here are a couple of interesting media-criticism pieces from Tech Central Station today:

A Media Meltdown (Glenn Reynolds)

and

Media Con Game: Predetermined Storylines (Nick Shulz)

I suppose I'm turning into a blog triumphalist of sorts, because I really do view blogs and other alt-media as a corrective to old media's biases and shortcomings. So do those guys, of course.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 23:43 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

The Lovable Loser - cont'd

As I've mentioned previously, it's that time of year for the Mack Brown-UT spin machine to be operating at dizzying speeds:

The goals for the Texas Longhorns have remained unchanged for years. Win every game. Play for the national championship. Inside the locker room, no discussion is even required anymore.

This year, however, comes with a change. Not in the goals, of course. Simply the approach.

It started during summer 7-on-7 drills when UT's defensive players huddled. They started talking about everything they wanted to accomplish — including becoming national champs. But instead of ending the discussion there, they continued to talk about "how" they would do it. It was the first time the veterans had ever spoken about the big picture together.

The more the players talked, the more excited they became. The intensity immediately rose in practice and has only continued to grow, said junior defensive tackle Rodrique Wright. With the season opening Saturday against North Texas, the Longhorns say they are more prepared than ever to accomplish their goals.

"The last three or four years, we've been the team with the potential to do bigger things than we've been doing," Wright said. "And losing that (Holiday Bowl) game (28-20 to Washington State) really made us look at ourselves as players."

They knew their past mindsets weren't working. For one, they never thought about adversity until they faced it in a game.

Sometimes they overcame it, such as a home win over Kansas State last season. After leading 17-3 at halftime, the Longhorns fell behind 20-17 early in the fourth quarter. But with 5:19 left, quarterback Vince Young capped an 88-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run, and the defense preserved the 24-20 victory.

Other times, the Longhorns caved. After being on the verge of tying their game with Oklahoma, they couldn't overcome Young's fumble on the three-yard line and wound up 65-13 losers. The Longhorns also couldn't overcome a botched read on defense that allowed Arkansas to convert a third-and-30 in the Razorbacks' 38-28 win at Austin.

Such situations are worked on daily in practice now. They are also talked about constantly.

"Last year, we probably just expected for things not to happen," Wright said. "We just went in there and didn't think about adversity, because we didn't want to think negative. But that's not thinking negative. That's just being smart."

Coach Mack Brown is devoting more practice time than ever this year to working with the players on a slew of different situations that have the potential to change a game's momentum. The Longhorns have spent time discussing ball protection, ball stripping and every type of illegal block. They have also devoted hours to fumble recoveries.

"It's one or two plays in a key game for us that usually make a difference between winning and losing," Brown said. "And over the last few years, we've had some tight games we've won, and we've had some tight games we've lost, and then we've blown the rest of them out. We've tried to put the pressure on our guys to be in tight situations more in practice than we have in the past."

Such situations? Like being behind 65-13?

What a bunch of gasbags. Every year about this time, these Shorthorns just say the funniest things.

The columnist who wrote this latest laugher has this conclusion:

Of course, Brown has no idea how that will translate on the field.

That's sort of Mack's problem in big games, eh? That's about the only sentence in the whole piece that isn't BS. But most college football fans already knew that about Mack.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 23:03 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (2)

The Lovable Loser

Here's something I missed while I was away last weekend:

[Bob] Stoops stood before a crowd of 950 fans at the Sooners caravan earlier this summer at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and thanked them for their support.

With rock-star charisma, Stoops scored big when he addressed OU's rival, Texas. Brown was quoted during Big 12 media days saying that if OU beats Texas, Sooners fans talk about it all year. If UT beat OU, Brown suggested, then Longhorns fans would just move on to the next game.

"What have we done every year? I don't recall us losing the next game," Stoops said. "I think we've gone on to win a couple of [Big 12] championships and a national championship. So I'm not so sure what that's about, but we're not hosting any parades.

"We're not going to sit around and clap and applaud just because we beat somebody," he continued. "We're about winning championships. I understand that and love it, and that's what we're after every single year."

Mack Brown must just love walking into haymakers.

How else to explain the coach who's NEVER won a conference championship anywhere explaining away the importance of the OU game (the importance being it's usually a big step towards a Big 12 title)?

The Stoops response is typically Stoops. It made me laugh out loud.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 22:47 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (0)

Shoring Up The Base

It's political season, so maybe readers can forgive me for posting a little political humor (however inadvertent):

Sen. John McCain tended to his political base Sunday night: the entire national media. The maverick Arizona Republican, once (and future?) presidential aspirant and press secretary's dream hosted a hyper-exclusive 68th birthday party for himself at La Goulue on Madison Avenue, leaving no media icon behind. Guests included NBC's Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, ABC's Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos, CBS's Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer, CBS News President AndrewHeyward, ABC News chief David Westin, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, CNN's Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, CNBC's Gloria Borger, PBS's Charlie Rose -- pause here to exhale -- and U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham, New York Times columnists William Safire and David Brooks, author Michael Lewis and USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro. They and others dined on lobster salad, loin of lamb, assorted wines, creme brulee, lemon souffle and French tarts.

That's why I've long referred to him as Senator John McCain (R, Media). It's an old reference that I borrowed from somewhere ages ago, and it remains appropriate.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Senator! It seems the PubliusTX.net invitations to your little ~~grandstanding~~ media event must have gotten lost in the mail. We're sorry we missed it.

A tip of the hat goes to RatherBiased for the WaPo link.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 22:15 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

What A Nice Stable Of Running Backs

Folks expecting Adrian Peterson to start immediately for Oklahoma got a little surprise on Monday from Bob Stoops:

A freshman tailback is on Oklahoma's official depth chart. But it's not Adrian Peterson.

Instead D.J. Wolfe, who was originally expected to redshirt, is listed as No. 2 behind starter Kejuan Jones on the official depth chart, which was released Monday. "We intend to play him," OU coach Bob Stoops said.

Peterson is listed as third on the depth chart, although he almost certainly would have beeh higher if he hadn't suffered an injury in practice a few weeks ago.

All I know is that Kejuan Jones is going to have to step it up if he wants to remain at the top through the season. All indications are that he's been practicing really well, but every team claims that about its starters this time of year (see Brown, Mack).

The good news for Sooner fans is that Bob Stoops has the most talent he's ever had at OU. Having players the quality of Wolfe and Peterson as backups is a luxury of elite teams. I'm glad the Sooners have regained that elite status after the Schnellenberger/Blake years.

It would be nice if they block a little better for the running backs than they did at the end of last season, though.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 22:07 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (4)

Beer And Grenades Don't Mix

If any of you are thinking it might be fun to spend a night boozing it up and playing with live grenades, perhaps you might want to reconsider:

A home in rural Magnolia is now under watch by federal agents and the Montgomery County Fire Marshall. Both agencies are launching an investigation after a 911 call Friday night.

911 Operator: "What’s going on there?

Caller: "A firework blew up and caused some major trauma to the foot of a 32-year-old male."

911 Operator: "Are you there with him right now?"

Caller: "Yes."

911 Operator: "Is he conscious?

Caller: "Yes."

911 Operator: "Is he breathing?"

Caller: "Yes."

11 News has learned that several Cy-Creek EMS workers were reportedly partying at the home Friday night when a grenade went off near the foot of a Huffman Assistant Fire Chief.

Here's the second call to 911:

911 Operator: "Okay what’s going on there?"

Caller: "This traumatic injury to the foot from an explosive firework. I’m a paramedic supervisor with Cypress Creek. The last lady I talked to, I told we're going to need a helicopter to Hermann."

Caller: "Half his foot's gone."

911 Operator: "Half his foot's gone?

Caller: "Yeh."

911 Operator: "Okay."

The home is owned by a paramedic with the Cy-Creek EMS.

Sources tell 11 News the explosion came from a flash-bang grenade, a device used by federal and local SWAT teams. It’s not licensed for use by medical personnel.

Gawd bless KHOU-11 for including the italicized info. Here I thought that flash-bang grenades were part of every medical team's tracheotomy tray. Good to know that's not the case.

I also like the 911 operator's "Okay." 911 operators must hear everything.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 21:54 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

TMW Redesign

Sherry Sylvester's Texas Media Watch has gotten a facelift, and she's posted some new content.

For the time being, it's the most serious media watch site in the state. Go give her a read if that sort of thing interests.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 21:45 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (1)

Serena Rocks

Serena

Drudge has this posted, but I'm gonna be a copycat because I think it's an excellent tennis uni.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/04 21:17 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (5)

30 August 2004

Do Monkeys Edit The Comical?

The Comical ran an editorial today from former (some would say disgraced) New York Times editor Howell Raines.

Unfortunately, they identify him as HOWLELL RAINES.

A friend tells me the paper version carried the same misspelling.

Nice job, guys.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/04 23:29 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (1)

"We All Want To Be Big Stars, But We Don't Know Why And We Don't Know How" -AD

Steven den Beste posts what seems to be an announcement that he's closing up shop (in essay form, of course).

Ages ago, I remember Den Beste lamenting a relative lack of readers (this was back when he was running GreyMatter, back in the early days of blogging) and wondering how to break into the A-list.

At some point, readership grew significantly, leading him to close his forums and voice complaints thematically similar to those in the post I just linked.

Post 9-11, Den Beste became one of the most popular internet essay writers. Apparently, the readers became too pushy. Or something.

I guess the lesson here is to be careful what you wish for. Lots of readers isn't necessarily a better thing than one thoughtful reader.

I suspect Den Beste will be one of those guys who can't stay away. But here's wishing him well, whatever creative outlet he chooses next.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/04 23:25 | Web Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)

Lucy

The Houston Museum of Natural Science continues to work on plans to bring the famous "Lucy" fossil to Houston:

The first-ever public display of Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old fossil discovered in Ethiopia, is scheduled for Houston in 2006, to the chagrin of some anthropologists who fear the project will harm the partial skeleton.

Fossil remains of Australopithecus afarensi, known as Lucy, are displayed April 7 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The most complete fossilized skeleton ever recovered, Lucy is estimated to be 3.2 million years old.
Click photo for larger image.

Ethiopia, the east African country where Lucy is stored in a museum safe, hopes to encourage tourism and investment by offering the treasure to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

[snip]

The Houston museum would be responsible for organizing a possible four-year U.S. tour for Lucy once the final details of a memorandum of understanding are worked out and the agreement finalized with Ethiopia's Tourism Commission.

Other stops could include New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"It is a dream for the entire museum," said Dirk Van Tuerenhout, curator of anthropology at the Houston museum. "But for the department, the field of anthropology, it is like the Holy Grail coming over."

The Dead Sea Scrolls are coming in October.

Things like this -- and not a crash-prone, poorly designed choo choo -- are what make Houston world-class.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/04 20:53 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (1)

Kolb and Briles

I'm not much of a Richard Justice fan, and I missed this article on UH quarterbacks Kevin Kolb and Kendal Briles while I was in Oklahoma over the weekend.

It's a good article.

I can't wait to see how Art Briles plans to work his son Kendal into the offense. The guy was a phenom quarterback at Stephenville running the same offense that Kolb later ran (and excelled at running last year as a college freshman). Given UH's unorthodox motion sets and such, it should just be fascinating to see how the offense gets the ball to what amounts to a second quarterback (perhaps playing receiver).

Rice-UH is Sunday at Reliant. I can't wait to get this season going.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/04 20:34 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (1)

So THAT's Why It's Called the Startlegram

I didn't think any newspaper in Texas would be able to outdo the Comical's silly redesign, which includes replacing large chunks of text with pretty pictures and renaming the features section to a symbol of a star.

I was wrong.

The Star-Telegram wins. They've purposely made their front page a "teaser" for stories all over the rest of the paper. Not a single story begins and ends on the front page:

We've known for years that many readers dislike jumps and will not follow a story to another page, so the idea is to respect their preference [note: apparently NOT in the case of your own newspaper].

On Mondays, Page One parts with longstanding tradition. There are no stories there. Instead, the page is loaded with brief synopses of content throughout the paper, including summaries of stories inside that ordinarily would have run on the front page. Turning pages to get to the rest of those stories would have happened anyway, the thinking goes.

Of all the pieces of the redesign, Monday's unorthodox Page One has drawn the most criticism among the surprisingly few readers who have called or e-mailed to express their opinion of the redesign.

News on dead tree is a dying format. Maybe the Star-Telegram actually is ahead of the game in recognizing that a web-like aggregation of stories is the best way to get readers where they need to go. The only problem is, that's fine for internet news/opinion rags (Slate anyone?), but as even the editors admit, it's not really appropriate for a traditional newspaper.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/04 20:13 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)

High School Writers

I don't know why anyone would give a rat's ass about what a high school student writes about politics.

But the Comical has one helping it cover the Republican National Convention.

Apparently it's the thing to do, as the Comical watchblog started the unfortunate trend of letting high school students write about politics earlier this summer.

I wish it would stop. A high school student paper would be a more appropriate forum. Or maybe LiveJournal.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/04 19:42 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (1)

29 August 2004

Catching Up

We're back in Houston after an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Oklahoma.

Our friends the Dead End Angels put on a fine show at what would be my favorite music venue if it weren't so dang far away, the Blue Door. Callie, the parents, and I checked out the Bricktown area of Oklahoma City (local note: the Water Taxi people who operate there also serve the Woodlands Mall), which was cool, and we made a brief roadtrip down to Norman. In all, it was a hell of a good time -- although the combination of great food and little exercise means I'm gonna have to bust it at the gym this week.

It doesn't look like I missed too much in local happenings.

The Texans lost another preseason game, but Carlton Thompson wants everyone to know the first team did a decent job, although presumably they were a bit short of playing "like the regular season" (McClain's ~~cheerleading~~ assessment of their play against Dallas).

I hear we still have a local baseball team, and that Kent and Bagwell still play for it. I would rather have read news of a trade upon my return. No, not this one.

Mack Brown's "supporters" continue to say his job is safe no matter what he does against OU. They are liars, of course, but regardless, it can't be good for the coaching staff or for the players that just about every story on the team this year has focused on the fact that Mack Brown can't beat Oklahoma. That's gotta be getting old in Austin, and probably means Mack's team will again be too tight and too stressed to compete against OU in October. We'll see.

The Houston Police Department continues to have trouble handling evidence properly. There's a shocker.

Kristin Mack and Justin Gest get very excited in today's Comical about the fact that the race between Ted Poe and Representative Nick Lampson is so competitive. Of course, we have to take the word of Cal Jillson, Bob Stein, and Amy Walters that this race in a GOP-drawn district actually is competitive, because no poll numbers actually grace the reporting. Oh well.

Earlier in the week, a Comical staff editorial criticized county officials for spending taxpayers' money on appealing a recent lower-court decision on the Bible/monument controversy. Apparently, conservatives should just roll over on judicial decisions and never appeal them. Of course, if any court anywhere were ever to uphold a restriction on the killing of babies in the womb, one suspects the Comical would feel differently about that. But hey, who needs consistency? That's what makes it Comical. I really am getting tired of the notion that the positions of conservative politicians are always just efforts to "curry favor with Christian conservatives." I expect that sort of reductionism from ideological bloggers, but not from those exalted "gatekeepers" of journalistic truth in big media.

Speaking of ideological bloggers, yesterday Charles Kuffner called attention to the Ben Barnes story by the Comical's R.G. Rafcliffe. Phil Magness counters with a little background on Ben Barnes, including the fact that he wasn't actually lieutenant governor (as claimed) when he allegedly "helped" George Bush. That should provide plenty of fun frothing material for both ideological camps. Maybe they could have a cappucino-making competition in the leadup to November? Because that seems like a better use of froth. I'm definitely pro-cappucino right now.

Yeah, I'm grouchy. I'll be glad when the election's over, and semi-political blogs that I read mostly for non-political commentary have fewer partisan political topics to write about. And since I'm grouching about that, I think it means I'm generally up to speed on local stuff. Just in time for Monday Night Football tomorrow, and some Cowboys action. Woo hoo.

Now pardon me, but I have to go get my gym bag in order.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/29/04 22:06 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

28 August 2004

Friday At The Blue Door

DEA at the Blue Door

I met Callie five years ago, yesterday. For some reason she's still putting up with me.

Wasn't it nice of our friends in the Dead End Angels to serenade us?

Okay, it wasn't exactly a serenade, and we had to drive six hours or so to see 'em, but it was still nice. The Blue Door is a great musical treasure that not enough people appreciate.

Today is my dad's birthday, so that's more reason to get off the innernut and get moving.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/28/04 10:20 | Other | Technorati | Comments (5)

26 August 2004

Limited Posting

I'm roadtripping outta town to catch some music, so posting will be limited here for a couple of days.

I didn't intend for posting to be limited tonight, but arrived home from work today to discover my phone line was completely dead (and with it, the DSL of course).

Nice. Let me tell you, having the little cellphone with bluetooth that can act as a modem sounds cool, but at roughly dialup speeds with much more latency than dialup, it sure ain't much for surfing via laptop. About all it's good for is email with the pda. Which is cool enough, I guess.

Anyway, if you've emailed me and I haven't responded, that would be why. Thanks for your patience. :)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/26/04 22:26 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

Danger Train: Collision #60

There was another Danger Train collision overnight:

Accidents keep happening for Houston's light rail train ? the latest happened in downtown Houston Wednesday.

A woman was hospitalized after driving onto the rail line just as the train came down Main Street at Pierce.

Police say she ran a red light but should be OK, but she'll probably get a ticket because eyewitnesses saw her run the red light.

This is accident number 58.

By my count, that's number 60. Maybe that should qualify the Danger Train for early retirement? :)

Here is additional coverage from the Comical

(Update) Here is coverage from KPRC-2.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/26/04 06:21 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (4)

25 August 2004

Dueling Referenda?

In yesterday's Comical, Kristen Mack and Ron Nissimov reported further on the referendum duel on municipal revenues that Houston voters will face this fall. I had wondered in a previous post where the KSEV crowd might come down on these matters, hoping the CB folks might get in gear and follow up on it. Instead, they get scooped by the Comical with regard to Paul Bettencourt's position:

The revenue-cap proposal requires all revenue raised in excess of the cap to be returned to citizens and businesses. It does not mandate cuts in basic city services, supporters say.

RevCap, the group pushing that proposal, kicked off its campaign at the Post Oak Grill Monday evening, with Bettencourt emceeing the event. The group counts among its supporters council members Michael Berry, M.J. Khan, Toni Lawrence and Addie Wiseman. The group's organizers expect White's team will be able to raise more money.

"He will have arm-twisting ability with contractors, that gives them the advantage," said RevCap co-chair Jeff Daily. "We are expecting to be outspent." Daily said RevCap hopes to raise $500,000 for the campaign.

Bettencourt and fellow conservatives all seem to be lining up behind the more stringent revenue-limitation proposal, which is hardly surprising.

The most interesting battle to come will be the ballot language, as the reporting points out.

Near the bottom of the article is this interesting line in reference to the Proposition One measure passed earlier this year:

Most of that campaign money came from banks, energy companies, engineers and law firms that have a vested interest in the city's financial well-being.

They could have ended that sentence at "law firms" and been done. Why the editorializing? And what is meant exactly? Those organizations may have a general interest in the city's financial well-being, but one suspects their own well-being trumps that interest. And by "vested," do the authors mean to imply "have lots of contracts with the city and want to curry favor with municipal leaders?" Sounds a little different when put that way, huh? I don't know exactly what it means, but it probably should simply have been struck.

(Update) The Houston Business Journal has coverage here. More from KHOU-11 here.

(08-26-2004 Update) Paul Begala (sitting in for Edd Hendee on KSEV radio this morning) had on councilman Mark Ellis, who helped put together the referendum supported by Mayor White, and who supported both referenda. An interesting point he made is that these are competing referenda, meaning that if both pass, the one with the most "Yes" votes actually becomes law.

(08-26-2004 Update 2) The Comical just posted their coverage this morning.

(10-28-2004) I see this post is linked in a number of places. Unfortunately, it's a little old and the information a little out of date. A quick recent synopsis can be found here.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/04 21:29 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (1)

Recovering the Texas Gas-Tax Subsidy to Other States

From time to time, it can be useful when the House Majority Leader is from your state:

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay threatened Tuesday to block congressional passage of a six-year transportation funding authorization unless the bill sends more highway dollars to Texas.

"I am working on the conference committee to guarantee that bill will not go on the floor of the House until we guarantee every state gets at least 95 cents of every dollar back that they put into the highway fund," the U.S. House majority leader told a lunch meeting in Houston of the Alliance for Interstate 69 Texas. "It's high time Texas highway dollars stayed here to create Texas jobs."

DeLay and other Texas Congress members have worked for years to boost the state's share of federal transportation funding. U.S. motorists pay an 18.4-cent federal tax on every gallon of fuel purchased. That money is deposited in the Highway Trust Fund to pay for roads and mass-transit projects. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the state gets back 86 cents of every dollar of gas tax its residents send to Washington.

The Sugar Land Republican's comments were among his strongest yet indicating he would prevent passage of the House-Senate conference report if it doesn't improve Texas' take. As majority leader, DeLay controls the House agenda.

"Since the current highway-funding system was established in 1956, Texas has lost more than $5.3 billion because of its status as a 'donor' state," DeLay told the gathering of 189 alliance members at the Hilton Americas-Houston. "The federal government has been taking Texas dollars out of our state and giving them to other states to create jobs there.

"There's shared sacrifice, and then there's highway robbery. This is unacceptable and has to stop."

The Majority Leader has this exactly right. Given the number of years Republicans have controlled the House and had strong Texans (DeLay, Armey before his retirement) in the leadership, it's a little surprising that Texas continues to be such a donor state when it comes to federal gas tax revenues (although in fairness, consideration only comes up every six years or so).

It's hardly a surprise that the Comical editorial staff did not see fit to praise the Majority Leader's latest efforts in today's edition. Nor are liberal political bloggers saying much about it (I'm going to pick on Charles Kuffner, who takes time out from commenting on the Delay protests at UH-Clear Lake to offer the following):

Nothing says "I need help with my re-election effort" quite like a little pork-barrelling.

Against Richard Morrison? Come on. Barring indictment (highly unlikely in my view), the Majority Leader cruises to victory -- the only question being whether he polls to his district's potential, or some usual supporters stay home and hurt his margin of victory.

The bigger question here is whether this is a good public policy position for Texas. It is, and in this case, it's nice to have the House Majority Leader weighing in with a position that's indisputably good for Texas, and one that the Texas delegation (Democrats and Republicans) supports.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/04 21:02 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (2)

Progress?

Yesterday, the following line appeared in a Comical staff editorial:

Perhaps the president realized the ties between his campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth were beginning to show, making him liable for the attack on Kerry.

Since the editorial used the term "liable" I took that to mean that the Comical was suggesting direct ties (and coordination) between Bush campaign officials and a 527 organization, which is a pretty serious (and as yet unproven) charge. I wanted to be sure that's what the Comical really meant, so I emailed reader representative James T. Campbell a polite query.

To my surprise, he responded -- twice -- and actually conceded the editorial should have been more specific about the nature of the "tie" asserted (he didn't seem to want it to go as far as "direct ties" and I don't blame him).

I take that as progress, although I do think Campbell should have a regular column to address these issues for print readers.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/04 20:24 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

Rollercoaster

I just picked up the new Randy Rogers CD, Rollercoaster, at Cactus and am giving it a listen.

I've been waiting for this Radney Foster-produced bad boy for a while.

So far, so good.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/04 19:56 | Music | Technorati | Comments (0)

24 August 2004

Yahoo News Search RSS

For those who are addicted to newsfeeds, this is a very handy tool -- it generates RSS feeds from custom queries to Yahoo news.

I know it's an old post, but I just discovered it, and it's VERY cool.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/04 22:45 | Web Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)

Divided Clubhouse

There's some major friction in the Astros' clubhouse these days.

On Sunday, Alyson Fisher posted the following to MLB.com, following Roy Oswalt's ejection:

"There wasn't even a warning," Oswalt said of his ejection. "Our guy (Lane) gets hit right after a home run on the next pitch and there's no warning to him. I throw and hit a guy too, and I don't get a warning. I get thrown out."

But it's up to the umpire to decide if the plunkings were intentional, and it was seemingly Hohn's opinion that only Oswalt hit anyone on purpose. Jeff Bagwell agreed.

"(Oswalt) gave up a three-run homer and then hit a guy in the back," he said. "That's why he got thrown out. Kerry hit (Beltran) with a slider. He hit him with a slider on the foot. I'm sure he wasn't trying to hit Jeff Kent either."

Was Hohn too quick to eject Oswalt?

"I would have done the same thing," Bagwell said. "I would have thrown Roy out. It was as blatant as it could be. That's it."

[snip]

"We needed him," Bagwell said. "We need him to pitch for us. He's our Opening Day pitcher, as good as anyone in the league. We need him to be pitching.

"You can't talk about Kerry Wood. We have to look at our own situation. You can say whatever you want, but we needed Roy to pitch for us today."

Maybe, Jeffy, but you know what the team really needs? A first baseman who delivered a clutch hit or two on past Astros playoff teams. And, this season, a first baseman whose performance isn't just a small fraction of what one would expect from a guy with your contract.

Two days after this story appeared on MLB.com, the Comical's Richard Justice took on the topic:

To their credit, they didn't ignore the problem, and in an odd sort of way, they may have said more good things about their character than they had in the previous 123 games of this disappointing season.

By the time Bagwell headed toward Oswalt's locker [on Monday], manager Phil Garner already had intervened. He met behind closed doors with Oswalt and intended to do the same with Bagwell.

General manager Gerry Hunsicker met with both players after batting practice.

What really counted was that Bagwell and Oswalt sat down and spoke quietly with one another.

It's unclear if anything was settled, because neither player backed down. Bagwell said he answered a question that had been asked. He probably knows he made a mistake by publicly criticizing a teammate, but he was absolutely right that Oswalt should have kept himself in the game.

I'm sick to death of this angsty, whiny crap. For years, we've put up with the antics of Biggio and Bagwell exerting their "quiet" presence in the clubhouse, effectively turning the entire team into passionless, angsty drones like themselves.

That was fine when they were among the best players in the game (lead by example and all that crap). They're not anymore. Not even close. And if this team weren't so terrible, they wouldn't be among the best players on the Astros.

I kind of like the fact that Roy Oswalt got pissed off and plunked the batter. That's more life than the Biggio/Bagwell-led Astros showed in HOW MANY pitiful playoff appearances?

Bagwell's washed up and should be dealt to an AL team for next season if any takers can be found (unlikely). Roy Oswalt's one of the cornerstones of this team, now and for the foreseeable future. And frankly, it's more than time for this team to embrace his fire and ditch Bagwell's angst.

Thank goodness football season is quickly approaching.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/04 22:39 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (5)

Quincy to the Jets

The New York Jets signed Quincy Carter to be their backup quarterback today:

Herman Edwards believes not giving Quincy Carter a second chance would be a crime.

That's how the New York Jets' coach explained the team's signing Tuesday of the former Dallas starting quarterback who was surprisingly released by the Cowboys three weeks ago.

The fact the Jets were desperate for a backup to Chad Pennington had a little to do with the move, too.

"The worst thing you can do to any individual is not give them hope," Edwards said after Carter signed a one-year deal. "If a negative situation happens to a person in life, if you won't give them hope, shame on you."

Hope is a pretty thin reed upon which to build a professional football team.

I don't know what is worse -- that little lecture about hope, or the fact that Quincy Carter probably does represent an upgrade relative to the other backup quarterbacks on the Jets' roster.

They better hope they don't see much of Quincy, or it's going to be a rough season. There's a part of me that thinks it's fitting that Paul Hackett, who thinks Vinny Testaverde is washed up, is now going to experience the joys of Quincy Carter. Thank goodness his days in Dallas are done.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/04 22:14 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

Fukuyama Tonight

Although I'm on the Houston World Affairs Council mail list, I nearly forgot that tonight they are featuring Francis Fukuyama.

Here are the details.

I'm off to get in a workout beforehand. This should be good. HWAC brings in speakers of exceptional quality.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/04 15:33 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

Hold Everything, Buckaroos

According to KHOU-11, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has overruled a lower court decision from earlier today:

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Bible in front of the Harris County Civil Courthouse can stay put through the appeals process.

The county asked the court to intervene with an emergency stay after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Bible must be removed by midnight Tuesday.

The old bible is part of a memorial to a Houston philanthropist.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ruled in favor of Houston attorney Kay Staley who filed a lawsuit saying the Bible was a violation of the separation of church and state.

The county appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

County officials say they'll go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Good for the Fifth Circuit. It's fine to have court proceedings and appeals on the merits, but there's no rush to change the status quo on a case that almost certainly will head to the Fifth Circuit ultimately, and maybe on to the Supremes.

(Update) More coverage from the Comical here.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/04 11:19 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (8)

Danger Train: Collision #59

KPRC-2 reports the latest Danger Train collision:

A car collided with a METRORail train Tuesday morning, raising the number of accidents since the light-rail system's inception to 57, Local 2 reported.

The accident happened at McGregor and Fannin just before 8 a.m. Emergency workers quickly cleared the scene.

Investigators have not said who or what caused the accident.

No injuries were reported.

By my unofficial count, that's collision #59, not 57.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/04 10:29 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (2)

23 August 2004

Passing The Buck, Czar Style

There's already been a foulup with regard to the expanded parking meter hours downtown:

It seems this weekend there was a false start with the new parking meter hours.

Red stickers were posted on several meters downtown imposing the new rules which now include Saturdays. The only thing is, the new city law doesn't go into effect until October.

The mayor's office admitted there was a mistake and removed all the red stickers.

Czar Saperstein does a magnificent job of laying blame on city workers:

Barbara Sudhoff, director of Municipal Courts Administration, said the confusion flowed from a discussion with traffic czar David Saperstein's office about having a grace period to ease into enforcement of the new regulations.

Sudhoff, whose administration includes the city's Parking Management Division, said that for a couple of weeks parking enforcement officers will give warning notices to motorists who don't pay the meters on Saturdays once the ordinance takes effect in two months.

Saperstein, who visited Seattle with other Houston officials last week to examine some parking meters he's planning to order for downtown, said he was baffled to hear of the false start.

The city has no legal authority to collect meter fees on Saturdays until the revised ordinance becomes law, he said, and the mayor has no intention of extending rush-hour "no parking" restrictions to the weekend. "Nobody seems to want to take credit for who thought this great idea up," Saperstein said Friday after workers told him they had finished removing all the prematurely placed stickers.

Maybe because it wasn't their idea? Just a guess. Beats me, but hardly anything seem to get done in this city without the fingerprints of Mayor White or various czars, and it's hard to believe municipal workers just seized the initiative based on their own authority.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 22:38 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (1)

Go Buffs!

The University of Colorado just can't put its football scandals behind them:

A grand jury has handed down an indictment regarding the use of prostitutes to entice football recruits to the University of Colorado, according to a report Sunday by the Denver Post.

The newspaper does not say who is named in the indictment but adds that the jury also issued a critical report of CU.

That sort of thing can certainly disrupt a football season.

(08-24-2004 Update) Or not. The indictment was not nearly so harsh or far-reaching as yesterday's accounts suggested it would be.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 22:20 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (1)

The Buzzards Circle The Governor

Karen Brooks pens a column for the Dallas Morning News today that ought to get the attention of Governor Perry and staff:

An unprecedented plan to get Texans moving on the crowded byways of Central Texas has turned into a political pileup that threatens to drive its supporters right out of elected office.

The $2.2 billion project would give Austin seven toll roads over the next decade, more than any other toll plan in Texas and twice as many as New Jersey, which built its first toll road more than 60 years ago. Some would be wholly toll roads, while others would have pay-as-you-go lanes.

The brawl between politicians who want highway dollars and Texans who love their cars and the power to drive on them for free has slammed into Austin City Hall and reached all the way into the 2006 governor's race.

One by one, transportation boards in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio are passing less extensive but similar plans that are already drawing skeptics and – if Austin is the bellwether many say it is – could bring the same problems for politicians in those areas.

Veteran toll officials on the East Coast say the plans may be too aggressive for Texans to digest all at once, and they caution leaders not to underestimate the passion voters have when it comes to their roadways.

"There is a lot of resistance to restricting the freedom, the unfettered movement of people by automobile where they feel they've got a right to it," said Martin Robins, director of the Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "If you're only getting a limited amount of benefit, it may not be worth the political costs you're going to pay."

That couldn't be more true in Austin right now.

In the weeks after the July vote by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, a southwest Austin neighborhood began a petition drive to collect 41,000 signatures to recall Mayor Will Wynn and City Council members Brewster McCracken and Danny Thomas. All voted for the plan.

While the supporters say it will ease congestion by routing traffic off the free lanes, opponents say adding toll lanes to almost every major thoroughfare in Austin amounts to double taxation.

The recall is their best hope to stop the plan because, unless they can replace those seats on the planning board and overturn the vote, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is likely to approve it and seal the deal, said organizer Sal Costello, director of the People for Efficient Transportation PAC.

The chairman of that mobility authority, Bob Tesch, is an appointee of Gov. Rick Perry.

The Governor is already in big trouble politically. If this moves forward, it will probably be the final nail in the coffin. The Lady Comptroller and the Lady Senator from Texas are both doing their best buzzard impressions:

The protests got a boost when Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, both considered likely to run against Mr. Perry in 2006, wasted no time bashing the Austin plan.

Both said they support new roads built with the intent of being toll roads, but not adding toll lanes to existing, free roads.

"I think to cram toll roads down their throats on projects that have already been fully funded is the height of arrogance." Mrs. Strayhorn said. "I think Texans are very well going to make themselves heard on this."

Mr. Perry's spokeswoman, Kathy Walt, said the lanes that are now free will stay that way and that the plan is consistent with the comptroller's position on toll roads in a 2001 report exploring transportation issues.

"It is appropriate that she is flip-flopping in the middle of the Olympics, because the comptroller herself has endorsed toll roads," Ms. Walt said.

Ms. Walt is going to be looking for work after the 2006 election if that remains the Governor's position.

I have to admit that it is kind of fun watching the battle take place in the People's Republic of Austin, though.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 22:16 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (1)

Pension Follies

The City of Houston has been dealing with a massive unfunded liability in its pension plan for municipal employees since Bill White took over for the buffoon largely responsible for it.

Houston is not the only Texas entity dealing with the issue, but we do seem to have met the problem more directly than the managers of some plans. Here's an editorial from the Star-Telegram:

The Teacher Retirement System, the state's largest public pension plan, is committing more than $3.3 billion to these generally higher-risk investments in an attempt to elevate its returns and emerge from its underfunded financial hole.

As it stands now, TRS isn't projected to have enough money to pay promised benefits to the 610,000-plus active members who may retire in the next 30 years, the Star-Telegram reported.

Unless it can close a funding gap of at least $3.2 billion, the burden could fall on teachers and taxpayers to bail out the program.

Some teachers and pension experts are concerned that the higher-risk investments could backfire. Sonya Moore, a longtime educator in Port Arthur, dubbed the higher-risk investments "a crapshoot."

These investments are so complex that trustees who oversee public pension funds sometimes don't understand them, said Shad Rowe, board chairman of the Texas Pension Review Board, which oversees public pension plans.

In February, the Employees Retirement Fund of Fort Worth made its first investment in hedge funds, committing $130 million of its $1.36 billion fund, Executive Director James Newgard said.

"Not all hedge funds are high-risk, and the ones that we're invested in are low-risk," he said.

But risk isn't the only concern. Alternative investments tend to be much less regulated, less open to public scrutiny and enveloped in secrecy.

TRS has declined to release details of its alternative investment portfolio. Fund managers have gone to court in other states to avoid disclosing the types of securities they hold.

It's understandable that managers of underfunded plans are tempted by the thought of hitting a financial home run with higher-risk investments that offer the lure of bigger rewards.

But these pension plans could fall into an even deeper financial hole -- and damage public faith in them -- if they bet heavily on high-risk, complex investments that prove themselves to be losers.

610,000 potential retirees are one hell of a political constituency. Better be paying attention, Texas taxpayers, because this has the potential to be QUITE a bailout if things go further awry.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 22:02 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (0)

More Blogging About Blogging

Here's an interesting read from the always interesting TCS:

As such institutions as coffee-houses, town meetings, old fashioned barber shops, primary caucuses, soap box gatherings, debates, and suchlike fell into disuse, and the networks and newspapers took over, the Public itself began to disappear, to be replaced by a segmented demographic mass swayed by centralized journalistic voices and shaped by polls. What is now happening is that rather swiftly a new Public is forming, self-organizing around Google and link lists and blog chatrooms. And it will demand a new Res Publica.

Not sure that I buy everything in this densely packed essay, but it's provocative reading.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 21:36 | Web Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)

The Latest from McVicker

For those who might have missed it, the Comical posted another installment from Steve McVicker on the case of George Rodriguez, who may have been wrongly convicted in 1987 on the basis of problems with HPD's crime lab. McVicker's coverage of this story has been very good.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 11:11 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

Houston: It's Worth It

The folks at the Dallas Morning News take note of ttweak's little advertising campaign.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/04 08:18 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

22 August 2004

New Media versus Old

I don't generally do posts on national politics here, and this post isn't intended as a political post, but rather as an observation about the growing importance of blogs.

The Power Line blog, as some readers surely know, has been front and center on the Kerry/Cambodia controversy. They've recently been attacked viciously on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial pages.

It's going to be interesting to see whether the newspaper allows them to respond to the attack, or if this is an effort by the editors to portray (smear) blogs as insignificant, incoherent journals like this one.

I don't think they're gonna be able to portray the PowerLine folks as Memo-like dolts, for one simple reason -- the Power Line folks are not dolts (far from it). Print media's credibility is already sinking fast. If they don't let the PowerLine folks respond, it takes another hit and creates an even bigger buzz among bloggers and media watchers. If they do, it still takes a hit (as the Power Liners will point out how the newspaper got it wrong in attacking them).

That's a rather interesting development. And I do think we're likely to see more and more locally oriented blogs take on dull, lazy print media. More on that soon.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/04 22:13 | Web Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)

I (Don't) Want Candy

My buddy Anne Linehan found another good one earlier (gotta get her blogging somewhere soon!) in the Comical:

Levy is the founder and editor in chief of DailyCandy.com, an online fashion and style newsletter. William Safire is on vacation.

I'm not the biggest Safire fan, but certainly subbing the DailyCandy founder (and editor!) for him is a big step in the direction of dumb. And it's not like there aren't MANY fine conservative syndicated columnists out there to pick from.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/04 21:46 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

We're Not Chicago

Anne Linehan spotted an article on the Danger Train in today's Chicago Tribune.

Unfortunately, it contains these misleading paragraphs:

What's more, the light-rail line has helped spark a renaissance in the heart of downtown, where new restaurants, clubs and loft apartments are giving people a reason not to flee the city after 5 p.m.

"Houston is the most spread-out, least-dense city in America, and the result is that everything looks like a strip mall," said Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University and expert on Houston trends. "You can see that this light rail has really captured the imagination and, for the first time in 50 years, created a stimulus for downtown development."

There has been an effort to develop downtown, but it's a stretch to suggest that light rail is driving the move. Locating two major new sports facilities downtown had as much to do with it as any single thing, but really a concerted effort by city leaders to remake downtown is also a major driver. When I first moved here nearly ten years ago, there just was no reason to go downtown. It was a hellhole. It's come a LONG ways since then, and the development has little to do with the rail line.

Oh, there's one other whopper in this article -- the author actually mentions "rapid service" and "rapid transit" with regard to the Danger Train. Not quite. The thing putts along, and I've seen it nearly stop at some of the most dangerous intersections. There's nothing all that rapid about it.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/04 21:38 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)

Sudden Acceleration

A reader who remembered my sudden acceleration posts points me to this from Dave Barry today:

No amount of physical evidence will convince a bad driver that he or she is a bad driver. You take a motorist who, while attempting to pull out of a parking space, mistakes "forward" for "reverse," then, in an effort to correct this error, mistakes the accelerator for the brake and sends his car (an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme) lunging across a sidewalk and into a restaurant, attaining a speed of 37 mph by the time it rams the salad bar and is engulfed by a wave of the house dressing (a creamy Italian).

Even as the paramedics are tweezing chickpeas from the ears of this motorist, he will loudly insist that (a) the restaurant was not there before; and (b) there are PLENTY of people on the road who do not drive as well as he does.

No, Dave. They usually blame the car!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/04 21:04 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)

Maybe Texans Fans Should Be Watching The Movies

I love this observation on the front of KTRK-13's site today:

Week 2 of the preseason showed that the Texans still have lots to work on.

Yes. Yes it did.

Apparently they don't give you the Lombardi trophy to celebrate your Week One preseason shutout of the Dallas Cowboys. You actually have to keep playing.

Maybe the Texans should have watched fewer movies and gotten in more work this past week. It appears that they needed it.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/04 13:20 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

21 August 2004

Blogging About Blogging

I liked this bit of commentary from Ken Layne a few days ago (but am only now getting around to it):

Likewise, you need a Critical Update of your I_Take_Myself_Too_F***ing_Seriously run-time java app if you foam at the mouth just reading somebody who doesn't walk the Karl Rove line. I'll quote from Steyn again:

My advice is: you shouldn't become so ideological you can't see the comedy in your own side. That's one of the differences between Fleet Street and the American press.

Here's to that. My former editor Henry Copeland predicts the political blogs won't die after the election -- and he offers solid, grim evidence -- but I'd rather they die than continue on as lame copies of the shrill, humorless and worthless American Monopoly Daily Op-Ed Column Left / Column Right pages sitting in driveways throughout the country right now.

Good gawd, isn't that the truth (freely substituting the name Mary Beth Cahill for Karl Rove, of course)?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/04 22:52 | Web Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)

Fun Corrections

The Comical has the most entertaining corrections:

Prominent Texas Republicans, but not the Texas Republican Party, are donors to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group sponsoring advertisements disputing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam War record. The backers of the ad campaign were misidentified in a headline on Page One Friday.

Obviously, a good newspaper would need to correct such a mistake, but I'm surprised the Comical bothered.

Meanwhile, the local Comical watchblog is carrying on today with praise for an article from James T. Campbell that's nearly a week old now. Good that they're on top of things with timely commentary! Otherwise, we might have missed that one. Err, or not. And as pointed out previously, Campbell's column itself was somewhat dated, since Editor and Publisher picked up the topic a week earlier still.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/04 22:27 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

Dom Watches Movies; Parcells Watches Practice Film

It's good to know that the Texans have time for going to movies during training camp:

Texans head coach Dom Capers concluded the Aug.19 morning team meeting with the most unlikely of questions. He asked if the team wanted to practice or go to a movie.

Surprisingly, everyone voted for the movie.

"I saw a little bit more zip to them when they were getting on the bus to go to that movie," Capers said. "It's a long season. We're in our third year. We've got more guys that have been through our system; they understand what we're looking for. One thing I've never questioned with this group right here is they've got the right work ethic. They've got the right attitude."

I know they're a relatively new franchise, but it seems to me that a team that has lost as many games over two years as this team really needs those practices a lot more than it needs movies.

It seems unlikely that Bill Parcells is going to be holding "movie day" for the Cowboys any time soon, if this outline of a typical Parcells day is any indicator.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/04 20:16 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

20 August 2004

Danger Train: Collision #58

The crashes tend to come in bunches.

The Danger Train suffered another one just a while ago:

A Tarrant County prison van collided with a MetroRail train shortly before noon today downtown, injuring seven people.

The collision occurred near the intersection of Main and Commerce streets.

Five people in the van were taken to area hospitals with what police described as minor injuries. Two people on the train who were hurt declined treatment.

Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert said the accident occurred when the van tried to make an illegal right turn as it was southbound on Main. The MetroRail train was also heading south, having just pulled away from the University of Houston-Downtown station.

Crashes as a result of illegal RIGHT turns are new. Previously, crashes have been a result of LEFT turns into the train. However, this description doesn't seem right. I don't see how the van could turn right heading southbound on Main INTO the train. Maybe the van was on Commerce and turned into it?

FYI, it's not entirely clear what the proper crash number is now. John Gaver has received several tips that an unreported crash took place on 6 August, and I got a tip that an unreported crash took place yesterday. Be sure to keep an eye on his counter for any revisions in numbers.

(Update) More coverage from KTRK-13, KHOU-11, and KPRC-2.

(Update 2) Lucas Wall's Comical story linked above has been updated with additional information, not to mention grammatical errors.

(Update 3) Here is what Anne Linehan refers to in the comments below:

Metro's application, to be released later this afternoon, will include plans to build both rail extensions at street level just like the Main Street crash.

I think he means Main Street LINE, not crash. But the connection is so strong that he apparently couldn't avoid the slip.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/04 13:04 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (1)

Dead End Angels, Tonight

Dead End Angels

Don't forget to come out and see the rocking, alt-country Dead End Angels tonight.

Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, about 9:00 PM.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/04 07:59 | Music | Technorati | Comments (5)

Danger Train: Collision #57

The Danger Train suffered collision #57 last night:

The Main Street line recorded its 56th accident Thursday when a driver ran a red light at Main and Gray and struck a train.

Our count is 57. METRO counts one collision with a pedestrian as a "suicide attempt."

Nice, in-depth, one-sentence coverage there. Maybe the tv stations will pick it up.

(Update) A tip suggests there may have been a crash at Main and Jefferson last night. Anybody know anything about this? Leave a comment if so.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/04 06:28 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)

19 August 2004

Houston. It's Worth It

Today's New York Times reports on the "Houston. It's Worth It" guerrilla advertising campaign put together by inner-loop advertising firm ttweak.

As I've mentioned previously, I like the campaign.

And I like it even better because it seems to annoy Jordy Tollet:

Jordy Tollett, the president of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, whose job it is to shape the city's image, has publicly criticized the unofficial operation. At the same time, he was quoted in The Houston Chronicle as acknowledging that the city - the nation's fourth-largest and the core of a metropolitan area with more than four million people - had little to show from spending more than $75 million in the last 30 years on image campaigns. Mr. Tollett declined to comment for this article.

It doesn't seem so great for the city's image that the person most responsible for shaping that image won't talk to New York Times reporters!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/19/04 23:39 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

An Uncharacteristically Good Day For The Comical

Today's Comical contained so much coverage of important local issues that it didn't even seem like the Comical.

Ron Nissimov and Dan Feldstein report that Mayor White and the Pension Board have reached agreement on a plan to deal with the $2 billion unfunded liability that was the source of much agitation and confusion several months ago and culminated in a special election. Interestingly, the agreement really doesn't cover any ground that couldn't have been covered without the special election (in my opinion), but apparently the mayor felt he needed the stick of a voter mandate behind him to negotiate effectively with the Pension Board. The agreement reached seems more than fair to me, but readers can actually turn to this Comical article and draw their own conclusions. That's an improvement. (KTRK-13 report) (KPRC-2 report)

Ron Nissimov also follows up on last week's news that Mayor White is now supporting a charter amendment to limit property tax, water, and sewer rate increases in the city. The mayor had originally balked at including some property taxes devoted to paying off debt, but Councilman Mark Ellis apparently told Mayor White he would only support an amendment that covered all property taxes. Ellis (and taxpayers) seem to have won, as Mayor White now backs a more comprehensive amendment.

S.K. Bardwell reprints police chief Hurtt's assurances that he has HPD's manpower issues under control. 740 officers are expected to retire this year from the 5,100-strong force. Normally, there is about a 2% attrition rate. The police academy can add 70 officers per cadet class, with a capacity of 3 classes per year, but that capacity will not be met any time soon because of budget constraints. HPD faces a major manpower problem, and nobody in the city is being honest about it. Reduced HPD manpower will eventually translate into increased crime in the city. As in so many areas, Lee Brown deserves much of the blame for this problem, but the White administration will deserve criticism if it doesn't treat the problem more seriously than it has so far. (KTRK-13 report).

Finally, Andrew Tilghman and S.K. Bardwell report that Chief Hurtt has spoken with Cleveland's police chief about our crime lab scandal, as Cleveland has been trying to sort out its own crime lab scandal. That makes sense, but the most interesting parts of this story are these two snippets:

Cleveland's agreement to review old cases, which was completed in June, has been cited frequently by Houston officials in recent weeks since a panel of six experts accused a former Houston police crime lab supervisor of giving flawed testimony that contradicted basic elements of forensic science.

The experts' opinion was included in the Aug. 5 appeal of George Rodriguez, a man who was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the rape of a teenage girl in 1987.

New DNA tests indicate he is innocent and that another suspect from the original investigation committed the rape.

Rodriguez's case suggests that problems at the embattled crime lab are more widespread than previously believed, extending beyond the DNA division, which was shut down last year, into the serology section, which tests blood and hair for evidence in criminal cases.

and

District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said he would support any decision the police chief makes regarding the department's lab, but Harris County's top prosecutor suggested it is premature to believe the Rodriguez case reveals further problems at the lab.

"I don't know that it is all together appropriate in this case because, number one, I don't believe that we will find that anyone lied. And number two, I don't believe that we are going to find that the proper analytical procedures that were available at the time of the tests were not followed," Rosenthal said.

"It appears that things may have been OK," Rosenthal said, referring to the Rodriguez case.

That should be fodder for the growing number of Rosenthal critics. Additional reporting from KTRK-13/AP is here.

That's probably the most coverage of important local issues that I've seen in the Comical since Jeff Cohen took over the rag. Let's hope it continues.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/19/04 23:23 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

A Question About Reliant Stadium

There are a curious couple of lines in a Comical sports article by Bill Murphy on Reliant Stadium:

About 2,000 more fans could attend a Texans' playoff game or other major events at Reliant Stadium because of modifications to the facility for the Super Bowl.

The NFL built two rows of temporary seats around the top of the lowest level, called the concourse, and these would likely be reassembled for a Texans' playoff game, said Willie Loston, executive director of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp.

In an unrelated action, the corporation, a county body that oversees Reliant Park facilities, on Wednesday approved turning an area of temporary seating on the upper-stadium level into 364 permanent seats. These seats are not part of the 2,000 temporary seats that could be erected for playoff games.

When it opened two years ago, Reliant Stadium's official capacity was 69,500. Its official capacity this season is just over 70,000, and capacity for a playoff game or concert would be about 72,000, said Shea Guinn, president and general manager of SMG-Reliant Park, which operates the Reliant complex.

In January, the NFL brought in Noel Lesley Event Services of Ashland, Ore., to build two rows of risers at the top of the concourse. The seats provided good sight lines of the field, but the overhanging level above blocked the view of nearly anything above the field.

When the city bid to host the Super Bowl, the Texans and the county agreed to increase the stadium's capacity to at least 70,000, an NFL minimum for a Super Bowl stadium.

Note the bolded portions.

Question: Why in the world didn't the (expensive) stadium meet Super Bowl hosting requirements from the start?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/19/04 22:43 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

Hackett v. Parcells

Jets offensive coordinator Paul Hackett is some piece of work.

This is a guy who, many years ago, was brought in by Tex Schramm as a hot young offensive mind in hopes that he might one day take over for Tom Landry.

Instead, he proved to be so troublesome to Landry that at some point in his tenure as an offensive coach, there are rumors that Landry turned off his headset and effectively demoted him to working with the quarterbacks on mechanics. He gained a reputation as a troublemaker and had some difficulty finding work after his stint with the Cowboys. His career as a college coach was unspectacular. He's since managed to get work in the NFL, and has gotten a mix of praise and criticism. That's just a bit of context for Hackett's recent comments about Vinny Testaverde:

Not everybody is convinced that Vinny Testaverde has enough left to win in the NFL.

In fact, Jets offensive coordinator Paul Hackett sounded as if he believes the 40-year-old Cowboys quarterback is done when asked why the Jets are not going after an experienced backup quarterback this season.

"We had experience last year [with Testaverde], and we started very, very poorly," Hackett told the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger. "You are saying that Vinny wasn't a good fit in our offense? We won 10 games the first year [2001,] and he did well in our offense. He just didn't play at his best as he got a little bit older. That's simply the case, period."

Testaverde played the first seven games for the Jets in 2003 after starter Chad Pennington broke his leg in the preseason. They went 2-5.

And while Hackett said Testaverde's age, not the Jets' offense, was the problem, the Cowboys believe he is still capable of leading a team to the playoffs. The key is tailoring the offense around what Testaverde can do best.

Hmm. Hackett always seems to have someone to blame when things don't go well. Because it could never be his coaching.

I'm sorry, but I think I'll trust Bill Parcells to determine whether his veteran QB has any gas left in the tank over the opinions of one Paul Hackett. Testaverde may well be out of gas, but I'm happy to let the sure Hall-of-Fame coach determine that, rather than trusting the career journeyman coach who managed to annoy the last Hall-of-Fame coach who oversaw the Cowboys.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/19/04 22:31 | Dallas Cowboys | Technorati | Comments (8)

18 August 2004

Country Music's Not Dead (It's Just Sleepin') -- RR

Pretty Rickenbacker My buddy Cindy Chaffin calls attention to an article in the Dallas Morning News by Thor Christensen, How did alt country become musical roadkill?

It's a pretty pessimistic piece that includes this wholly pessimistic quote from Alejandro Escovedo:

"The exuberance it had in the beginning has faded away now," says singer Alejandro Escovedo. "I don't think alternative country really exists anymore. It was just a little spark, and it didn't really change anything."

We can perhaps forgive a sick man (and fusion alt-country pioneer in his own right) for a bit of bitterness.

But I'm not quite ready to give up on the alt-country "movement" just yet.

Yeah, it didn't become the next "grunge rock." Thank gawd.

But that doesn't mean it's dead. Just trip around Texas any given thurs-saturday, and you're gonna find roadhouses in cities and in some pretty remote places that are jamming with Texas alt-country artists. It's what our bud Randy Rogers would call the country music revival. It's there. It exists.

But it's not on KILT. It's not on MTV. Hell, now that Time Warner has dropped their Americana music channel, it's not even on cable. But it's out there. Jack Sparks knows where to find it. Cindy Chaffin knows where to find it. TFG hosts it from time to time. Ken Layne records it. It surely exists.

Is it ever going to be really big? Beats me. Probably not. Randy Rogers may just not be pretty enough for the MTV and Nashville crowds. But for folks who like musicians who write and practice and play their music, it's there. It exists. Texans are blessed to be surrounded by it.

If you want an example of it, come on out to Dan Electro's on Friday and see the Dead End Angels. Escovedo even produced their debut CD, so one supposes that he might just think they really exist.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 22:46 | Music | Technorati | Comments (4)

Harold Hurtt, Plainclothes Chief

If you've been wondering why Houston's police chief Harold Hurtt (who more and more seems like mayoral material) is never seen wearing an HPD uniform, Rich Connelly has the answer:

It turns out that it's not Hurtt's impeccable fashion sense that's keeping him from donning the uni. It's just that he's not allowed to. By law.

Hurtt has yet to take the required exam that would license him as a Texas law enforcement officer, a formality that previous chiefs from out of town got out of the way quickly. In fact, under the old law, Hurtt would have only a week or two remaining to take the exam; luckily for him the rule was changed earlier this year to extend to two years the time a newly arrived officer has to pass the exam.

Until he passes, Hurtt not only can't wear HPD threads, he can't do anything an officer does -- including make an arrest, says Lillian Aldrete, spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Officer Standards and Education.

Applicants have three chances to pass the test. Hurtt has yet to take it, she says.

Hurtt wouldn't comment, but HPD spokesman John Cannon says the chief indeed plans to take the test eventually, and "then you'll start seeing him in uniform."

Unbelievable.

Does anyone know if he's still living in his $775/night hotel suite downtown, for free?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 22:23 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (3)

Tax Matters

Last week, Mayor White announced his support for a Charter amendment to limit the rate of increase on property tax, sewer, and water rates in the city according to inflation and population growth.

The amendment is apparently intended to head off an amendment that will appear on the November ballot as a result of a citizen petition drive by Citizens for Public Accountability. That amendment would cap city revenues.

Since property tax reform statewide is a big issue for Dan Patrick, Edd Hendee, and Paul Bettencourt, I expected to see their thoughts on these potentially competing November proposals over on Chronically Biased. So far, nothing.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 22:07 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

Dr. Councilwoman

I thought once we got the choo choo, we'd be a world-class city.

But apparently the journey to world-class status isn't complete.

How else to explain Shelley Sekula Gibbs's decision to push a smoking ban on the city?

One would think the city's poor financial position, crumbling infrastructure, pension mess, police officer retirements that are outpacing replacements, and a whole host of other serious problems would be enough for council to tackle. But one would be wrong.

I don't have anything to add to Laurence Simon's assessment. I do like his nickname Dr. Councilwoman, though. I'm adopting that.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 21:42 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (7)

Chronically Inept

Last week, Rob Booth caught the Comical's Lucas Wall using old quotes from a Texans press release in his transportation column, which was noted here.

This week, Rich Connelly follows up with Mr. Wall:

The front of the local news section that day featured a story by transportation writer Lucas Wall saying that Metro was dumping its Park & Ride bus service to Houston Texans games; instead, everyone without a stadium parking pass would have to take the light rail and hunt for a parking space along the line. Which was kind of similar to a Hair Balls item that had been published five days earlier, but that's beside the point.

Wall's story looked like a press release, not because of its pollyannaish jump headline -- "Rail Can Save On Parking" -- but because...a lot of it came directly from a Texans press release. (A press release that by August 10 was two weeks old, but again, that's beside the point.)

The story highlighted two long -- and glowingly positive -- quotes from Texans executive Jamey Rootes and someone called Barry Mendel, the executive director of something called the Houston Downtown Alliance. Quotes that were taken directly from the Texans July 26 press release.

Wall said the "story had to be written in a very tight time frame" (guys, don't wait five days to pick up your copy of the Press) and the release "provided the information I needed from the team and the downtown alliance."

He said the story he filed included a reference to the press release, but the reference apparently was taken out for space reasons.

"I did not make a stink about the reference not appearing [in] the Texans rail story," he said by e-mail, "because I have a lot more important things to be concerned about."

Wall's claim that editors killed a reference to the press release isn't very convincing, because that would mean his columns are actually EDITED, and that's very difficult to believe.

Basically, that response to the best media critic in town amounts to, "I'm very important, Connelly, and you can just go eff yourself."

Nice.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 21:27 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (2)

Pettitte Shelved

Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte's season is over, as he will undergo surgery to repair the injury he's had most of the season.

That the Comical is posting AP copy instead of something from a beat writer is about par for the awful newspaper.

Of course, given the quality of their beat writers, it's actually a significant upgrade.

(Update) The Comical just did the normal switcheroo, and replaced the AP copy I linked above with their own copy, giving the misleading impression it was there all along. It wasn't, and that's annoying.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 16:59 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

Blogs Go Where The Comical Doesn't

Chris Elam has some useful thoughts on that civil rights lawsuit filed in Waller County.

He's knowledgeable of the folks involved, and it's an informative post. Of course, I think the criticism of the Comical for not getting out to cover what should be a local story is spot on.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 08:04 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (0)

Clueless

It's the simple things that confound MeMo:

My neighbor's backyard banana tree is making bananas. This may not be a source of astonishment to some of you, but for some of us it's the rough equivalent of a geranium sprouting chicken nuggets.

Why did they make this nitwit their featured blogger? And WHY did they let her rename the features section (to a symbol of a star)?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/04 06:32 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

17 August 2004

Dead End Angels

My buddies in the Dead End Angels are finally playing a Houston date, this Friday.

I would link over to their website, but they seem to be having technical difficulties at the moment.

Don't let that dissuade. They're coming, and it will be a good show. Come on out to Dan Electro's on Friday night.

(08-18-2004 Update) Their website seems to be back up now.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/04 21:49 | Music | Technorati | Comments (0)

A Little Love for the Coogs

Kevin Kolb The Victoria Advocate runs a nice piece on UH football today:

The Cougars averaged 34.5 points and 458 yards a game and befuddled most defenses with a scheme that incorporates elements of the shotgun, I-formation, triple option and single wing offenses.

But the Cougars gave up yards and points almost as quickly as they rolled them up, allowing an average of 36 points and 440 yards a game.

The Cougars were undersized and inexperienced on defense last season. Briles hopes the additions of junior college transfer D.J. Johnson (6-foot-3, 295 pounds) and emerging sophomore Marquay Love (6-0, 300) on the defensive line will help.

The Cougars will also count on the quick recovery of linebacker Lance Everson, who lost about 25 pounds after breaking his jaw during spring practices. Everson started every game last season and led the team with 126 tackles, 18 for a loss.

It's the continued expansion of Houston's complex offense, though, that will cause fits for most defenses.

Kolb, the first true freshman to start a season opener at Houston, ranked 10th nationally in pass efficiency last year and showed uncommon poise for a young quarterback. He threw for 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions.

Briles "pretty much kept the same system we had in high school," Kolb said. "I knew we could turn it around in a hurry, but our success was pretty shocking. You would never think that coming in that young that you would get that kind of a chance."

The Cougars could struggle early on the offensive line, which will have three new starters and plenty of inexperienced reserves.

That doesn't bode well against a brutal early schedule that includes non-conference games against Oklahoma and Miami. Houston also plays its first three Conference USA games on the road against tough foes Memphis, Southern Miss and TCU.

Even the Comical's Richard Justice gets in on the act, with a Coog article of his own.

It's nice to see the local guys get a little press. I don't know that the defense is going to be a whole lot better, and I don't much care. It's just a lot of fun to watch that Art Briles offense in action.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/04 21:17 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (2)

Shocker: The Comical Gets It Mostly Right

The Comical's near-invisible reader representative made an appearance yesterday.

That's right, a column from James T. Campbell!

Campbell is proud of the fact that he and another Comical editor were not impressed with their journalist brethen who seemed to take sides during speeches by the Presidential candidates at a recent UNITY conference.

I posted my thoughts on this about a week ago, here. I don't know why it took so long for the Comical to get something into print. I don't necessarily take issue with what Campbell writes, but it would be nice if the editors at the Comical concentrated a bit more on their newspaper and its journalists than on what other journalists are saying and doing. James T. Campbell has a ways to go before he's Kurtz or Romenesko.

But today's Comical does have a bit of a surprise in it: an editorial from one of their own, Lee Cearnal, asking why the major media have not jumped on recent allegations about Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam as ferociously as they jumped on allegations about President Bush's national guard service. Major newspapers do finally seem to be looking into the matter, thanks to the efforts of bloggers (including one of our own, Beldar), other alternative media sources, and what I would characterize as some real craftiness by Paul Gigot. There may not be any "there" there, but I do think it's going to be looked at more closely, as it should be.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/04 20:55 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (0)

That's Our Comical - cont'd

For the second day in a row, the Comical made Taranto's WSJ Best of the Web, for this fun little correction (previously noted here).

(Update) Yeah, you can just ignore the rest. My bad. :)

~~Maybe they can make it three days in a row. Because the following paragraph from a tortured editorial about disgraced and corrupt New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey is classic Comical:~~

However, McGreevey did not hold his stunning press conference last week because he realized the error of his ways and wished to make a clean breast of it. His announcement came as the object of his affection demanded a multimillion-doll

August 2004 Archives

31 August 2004

Cleaning Up The Crime Lab

Blog Triumphalism? Maybe

The Lovable Loser - cont'd

The Lovable Loser

Shoring Up The Base

What A Nice Stable Of Running Backs

Beer And Grenades Don't Mix

TMW Redesign

Serena Rocks

30 August 2004

Do Monkeys Edit The Comical?

"We All Want To Be Big Stars, But We Don't Know Why And We Don't Know How" -AD

More Problems Downtown

Lucy

Kolb and Briles

So THAT's Why It's Called the Startlegram

High School Writers

29 August 2004

Catching Up

28 August 2004

Friday At The Blue Door

26 August 2004

Limited Posting

Danger Train: Collision #60

25 August 2004

Dueling Referenda?

Recovering the Texas Gas-Tax Subsidy to Other States

Progress?

Rollercoaster

24 August 2004

Yahoo News Search RSS

Divided Clubhouse

Quincy to the Jets

Fukuyama Tonight

Hold Everything, Buckaroos

Danger Train: Collision #59

23 August 2004

Passing The Buck, Czar Style

Go Buffs!

The Buzzards Circle The Governor

Pension Follies

More Blogging About Blogging

The Latest from McVicker

Houston: It's Worth It

22 August 2004

New Media versus Old

I (Don't) Want Candy

We're Not Chicago

Sudden Acceleration

Maybe Texans Fans Should Be Watching The Movies

21 August 2004

Blogging About Blogging

Fun Corrections

Dom Watches Movies; Parcells Watches Practice Film

20 August 2004

Danger Train: Collision #58

Dead End Angels, Tonight

Danger Train: Collision #57

19 August 2004

Houston. It's Worth It

An Uncharacteristically Good Day For The Comical

A Question About Reliant Stadium

Hackett v. Parcells

18 August 2004

Country Music's Not Dead (It's Just Sleepin') -- RR

Harold Hurtt, Plainclothes Chief

Tax Matters

Dr. Councilwoman

Chronically Inept

Pettitte Shelved

Blogs Go Where The Comical Doesn't

Clueless

17 August 2004

Dead End Angels

A Little Love for the Coogs

Shocker: The Comical Gets It Mostly Right

That's Our Comical - cont'd