February 2005 Archives

27 February 2005

Oh Those Neocons

Readers of various blogs where I've posted know that I've long thought the term "neoconservative" really has been robbed of any historical meaning. It's effectively been turned into a pejorative term for people on the Left and Right to describe Republicans they don't like very much.

The latest in a growing line of such buffoonery regarding "neoconservatism" appears in the New York Times this weekend.

An essay reviewing two recent books in the anti-neocon genre from the most recent Claremont Review of Books provides a partial answer to such nonsense. Here's an excerpt:

Dorrien says National Review is neocon, but Halper and Clarke don't put it on their list. Halper and Clarke say the Heritage Foundation is neocon, but Dorrien doesn't even list it in his index, even though both Heritage and NR backed to the hilt the signature neocon project of Iraq. Both books say Donald Rumsfeld is not a neocon. That doesn't seem controversial, since almost everyone says that. Except that he seems to me to meet the criteria Halper and Clarke adopt (on page 11) to define neocons. But he's out anyway. Both books say Daniel Pipes is a neocon. But Pipes is a well-known skeptic of Middle East democratization. Maybe they put him in because he likes to quote Bernard Lewis, and apparently neocons like to do that.

This feels less like rigorous analysis and more like teenagers haphazardly joy-riding through a think-tank with a paintball gun. Over fifteen years ago, Seymour Martin Lipset urged that the term neoconservative, while not useless historically, be dropped as "irrelevant to further developments within American politics." We should have been so lucky.

All this matters, instead of just being silly and sloppy, because the labeling game has a very specific effect on the debate over neoconservatism. When the two generations of neocons are shoved together, and their ideas are homogenized and then traced to alleged theoretical tap-roots like Straussianism, the overwhelming impression left with readers is that today's neoconservatives should be understood above all as an ideological community. And this misimpression has big implications. For one thing, as a debating tactic, it un-levels the playing-field from the start, by portraying neocons as ideologues who collide uncomfortably with reality. This leaves other foreign policy approaches free to claim that they, in contrast, are realistic or pragmatic, as virtually all of neoconservatism's critics do. Halper and Clarke identify "the fatal neoconservative flaw: conceptual overreach and the absence of pragmatism."

More important, treating neocons as an ideological community invites critics to treat their ideas as the product of an ideological heritage instead of as the product of hard-won, real-world experience. If they saw them as the latter, critics would set out instead to evaluate the validity of neocon ideas compared to other foreign policy proposals on offer.

The entire essay is worth reading.

Incidentally, I saw the AARP blog that Charles Kuffner praised a few days ago for answering "scurrilous attack on itselfs" engaged in just this kind of intellectual buffoonery in a post that same day I clicked over:

In a previous post on this blog, AARP presented information about the neoconservative lobbying group named USA Next. There is a new development in the attempt by some to discredit AARP because of our stance on Social Security.

Further proof that "neoconservative" is just a pejorative for "Republicans we don't like."

And further proof that the AARP is no different than any other interest group. It shouldn't be surprised when it's treated like one.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/27/05 19:24 | American Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)

25 February 2005

Publius Fellowship Time

The PowerLine crew reminds me it's time to plug the Claremont Institute's Publius Fellowship Program.

Every summer, the institute brings out a select number of students (college, grad) who are interested in political philosophy and writing about politics.

They provide intensive seminars in writing and political philosophy (with particular emphasis on American political thought from a West Coast Straussian/Jaffa-esque perspective), and there will be notable guest lecturers. The orientation is conservative, but I would not call it ideological. Lodging, travel, most meals, and a stipend are provided.

I was fortunate enough to be a Publius Fellow in 1996, and it was a great experience. That year, it was six weeks. This year, it's been cut down to two. I'm sure they'll cram in all the seminars, which means the "fun" time will suffer. Still, for any aspiring conservative writers (including bloggers) with a serious interest in American political thought and political philosophy, I highly recommend applying to the program.

Anyone with questions about the experience should feel free to email me. Applications are due mid-March.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/05 09:15 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)

AP Adds News Feeds

The Associated Press has made available news feeds of its content.

That's good news for savvy news consumers, and bad news for old-media gatekeepers.

I found out about it from Patterico, who found out about it from Jarvis.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/05 08:05 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (1)

23 February 2005

The Parcells Show

Steve Casburn forwarded me this SI.com article by Jeffri Chadiha on Bill Parcells.

I don't know that things in Big D with Big Bill are all that dire.

I mean, things are always dire at Valley Ranch when the team is not competitive, and last year's team was not competitive. Hell, sometimes things are dire when the team IS competitive (see 1990s, Jimmuh and Jerruh). But in today's NFL, team fortunes can be turned around with one good year of drafting and free agency.

Still...

I'm not sold on Drew Bledsoe as the answer, but it's an upgrade over what they had last year (and I'm less sold on Drew Henson or Tony Romo). QB is only one of many problems Parcells must solve.

The fact that Chadiha writes that Butch Davis or Houston Nutt might be waiting in the wings ought to scare the hell out of every good Cowboys fan, though. We'll just have to hope he's wrong about that also.

Thank goodness college baseball season is upon us. Nothing like UH being in the middle of a three-game losing streak, with LSU on their way this weekend! Go Coogs! *sigh*

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/05 22:00 | Dallas Cowboys | Technorati | Comments (3)

On Second (And Third) Thought...

Further to the brief commentary on Kottke's new direction....

Look, I had the BEST life when I first moved to Houston for grad school.

I read exciting books about American political thought.

I hung out with stimulating friends and talked about everything from Ayn Rand to the religiosity of the Founding to backpacking.

I ran around cool dive bars and coffeeshops in Montrose.

It rocked.

If ya'll want to start a donation drive to let me quit my job and relive that lifestyle -- with the understanding that I'll post ALL ABOUT IT here -- I'm game.

Chron.com Traffic

Speaking of the Pegasus crew, they've been playing around with traffic stats for various online news providers, and think our own Chron stacks up well against analogous peers.

The question they have is -- Why?

I don't have any better answer than: it's a frequently updated site that doesn't make it a pain in the ass to read (no excessive registration, popups, etc).

Perhaps some reader can enlighten the Pegasus crew. Or perhaps the Chron's tech guru will speculate on his blog?

(02-24-2005 Update) A Chron exec comments on the Pegasus post.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/05 20:00 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (1)

Things I Can't Believe I Just Read

Local bloggers surely have been entertaining of late, and now that a wicked head cold is finally starting to clear, I'm starting to catch up on some of it.

Here's a good one from the Lone Star Times/KSEV/CLOUT paid staff:

We are continuing to look into the defense of Rep. Larry Taylor’s appraisals that was brought to our attention by his wife. It should be noted that Taylor was included in an early draft of CLOUT’s ad but then removed; he only reached public attention in this regard after someone (not on CLOUT’s staff but with access to the draft) leaked it to a reporter. CLOUT didn’t make Taylor a public issue; the leaker did. Regardless, we are endeavoring to research the issue and will publish our conclusions prominently.

My goodness. They might have smeared the guy themselves, but they decided against, but some unpaid, non-staff associate who had access to their original draft leaked it to a reporter to smear the guy, but please don't associate the smear with them directly, as they're still investigating.

Wow. And they wonder why some reputable pols decline their requests for interviews.

That's even better than this bit of ragging on Marc Campos:

Marc Campos, heretofore the lone defender of State Senatore [sic] John Whitmire, is just SHOCKED ... SHOCKED I tell you ... that the Texas State Senate has steamrolled through the anti-Bill White bill to end SafeClear as we know it.

It sounds exciting, almost scandalous, eh? Well, except Campos never wrote anything that would suggest he was shocked. Indeed, in the linked post, Campos was critical of the anti-SAFEclear bill that Whitmire zipped right through committee at the time, which served Whitmire's purpose of getting the mayor's attention and eventually obtaining changes he wanted to the program. But one supposes it was more exciting to mischaracterize Campos as being SHOCKED ... SHOCKED!

With the power of alt-media also comes responsibility, folks. And with responsibility comes credibility.

On a not-so-local note, blogger Jason Kottke announces he's quit his job to blog full-time, but rather than run ads, he'd like to remain "pure," via the donation model:

Like I said above, there's got to be a way to support media that doesn't involve advertising. But more than that, I don't want to disrupt the relationship dynamic we've got going here. There are currently two parties involved with kottke.org: me and the collective you. Advertising introduces a third party. In my experience, the third wheel of advertising often works to unbalance the relationship in favor of either the author or the readers (usually in favor of the author). If ads were involved, I might feel the need to change what or how I write to appease advertisers. I might write to increase pageviews and earn more revenue. I could fill pages with ads, earning more revenue but making the content more difficult to read or pushing some content off the page entirely. You could block advertising and deny me needed revenue.

Err, okay, whatever. At least he's not asking for contributions for volunteer blockwalking.

Look, I don't begrudge Kottke his dream to be the user-supported KPFT of personal blogging, but I just don't get the "third wheel of advertising" commentary.

Let me ask this of readers here -- do you believe I'm unbalancing our relationship with those google ads to the side? Or back when I ran blogads (dropped because I think they're too big and ugly), were you bothered?

I'd be shocked, but please do tell if you think he's on to something.

Personally, I think this attitude towards advertising is all wrong. I rather share the view of the Pegasus crew that advertising -- whether on a blog or on the newspaper of the future -- could well be an integral part of the web experience, bringing together advertisers and readers who are likely to share interests. Google Ads try to do that based on keywords, but keywords are not content. Nobody knows content like the provider of said content. The web advertising model that figures out how best to engage this relationship may well be a winner.

I wish I had a bigger interest in it, but my brain just doesn't seem equipped for figuring out how to make money off the internet. Rather than act holier than everyone, I'll just admit that.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/05 19:53 | Other | Technorati | Comments (4)

Another Plug For The Squeezebox

Dwight Silverman writes about his experience with D-Link's DSM-320 Wireless Media Player in his weekly tech column.

After purchasing a DTR laptop last fall, I was ready to ditch the desktop, which I used to stream audio to the stereo via a usb audio device. However, before ditching that box, I needed to find a standalone device that could connect to my stereo AND act as a streaming device from a central server (as it turns out, the old desktop box, which got moved to a spare room).

The DSM-320 is a device I considered, but ultimately rejected in favor of my Slim Devices Squeezebox.

I went with the Squeezebox because I had a chance to test out the open-source software that powers their device (products by competitor Roku can also use the software), and was very impressed with how it worked. In comparison, the D-Link and some other devices made use of proprietary software written for Windows. My reaction to that -- uh, no, I don't think so. I might have considered the Turtle Beach Audiotron, but it had been discontinued.

The Squeezebox has been outstanding. The software is regularly updated, and the open-source architecture means lots of useful plugins are developed. Technologically, it's super -- sounds great, operates well, no complaints. The only thing I would change about it is the appearance. It looks like an alarm clock sitting in with the rest of my stereo components.

It doesn't stream video, so if that's important to you, you're better off looking to other devices. But if your main interest is streaming mp3s and internet radio stations, I HIGHLY recommend the Squeezebox, which can be operated via remote control and/or via web interface. And you can always try the Slim Server software, which also has the capability of streaming your music over the internet. I experimented with the software a week or so before I ever ordered the Squeezebox, and it definitely helped sell me on the product.

(Update) Okay, there is one more thing I would change about the device -- the silly damn name. See comments below. :)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/05 17:47 | Music | Technorati | Comments (3)

22 February 2005

Ana Imel Joins K-State Coaching Staff

I meant to mention some time ago the news that former UH head coach/disaster Ana Imel has joined the Kansas State coaching staff.

As a graduate assistant!

Here's the news from the K-State site:

Kansas State has added experience to its football coaching staff with the addition of Dana Dimel as a graduate assistant. Dimel played for K-State in 1985 and 1986, and later served as an assistant from 1989 through 1996 on Bill Snyder's initial staff.

Dimel then became the youngest head coach in NCAA Division I football when he accepted the head coaching position at the University of Wyoming in 1997 at the age of 35. In three seasons, Dimel's Cowboys went 23-12. In 2000 through 2002, Dimel coached the University of Houston to an 8-26 record. For the last two seasons, he has been out of coaching.

It's the second time that a former assistant to Snyder has entered the head coaching world and come back as a graduate assistant. Del Miller left K-State in 1995 to become the head coach at Southwest Missouri State, but returned as a graduate assistant at K-State in 1999.

After a one-year stint at Oklahoma State as offensive coordinator, Miller returned as assistant director of football operations in 2001 before returning to the field as a full-time assistant in 2002.

The K-State announcement does not mention that Ana Imel led UH football to the glory of a winless season during his tenure.

In case anyone is wondering, his name shall forever be Ana Imel here, because the man's teams had NO D.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/05 18:29 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (0)

Showing My Age

I can't help but wonder how many readers of Laurence Simon's blog will get his reference to that old Operation advertisement.

How old do you have to be to remember that ad?

I'm 34 and remember it vividly.

What about the good readers of this blog?

If you don't know the Operation advertisement being referenced, perhaps you could leave your age for us in the comments? Thanks! :)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/05 14:20 | Other | Technorati | Comments (8)

20 February 2005

A New Halloween Character From Dinosaur Media

The Tulsa World, which has recently threatened bloggers for the horrific crime of linking to articles, has an editor who refers to herself as the "word witch":

Every newspaper in the country has reporters and editors and all the other jobs associated with getting the paper published.

News on 6 reporter Rick Wells introduces us to a unique postion at the Tulsa World. Someone they call the "Word Witch".

The afternoon meeting in the newsroom at the Tulsa World and Rusty Lang, the Tulsa World's general editor, is critiquing the morning paper.

It's a chance to take a look at what she thought was good and maybe not so good. She says she tries to represent the readers, making sure they can understand what the paper is talking about. She applies her critical eye to every paragraph on every page.

Among her biggest pet peeves, over used phrases and cliches. Puns are ‘OK’ when used appropriately like in a story about curbing construction on the Main Mall. Here's something she didn't like. "We say, prosecutors fumbled, which I think is too cute for a serious news story."

After this daily critique is over the paper is left posted for all to see with her notes, the good ones and otherwise. "The most important thing it brings out is the discussion among the editors."

And the daily discussion, she says will make a good paper even better. At the Tulsa World she's the ‘word witch’, a name she gave herself. "I just figured people would be calling me what it rhymes with, so I thought I'd beat them to the punch." A witch with a sense of humor.

For the love of gawd I hope this doesn't give the Chronicle any ideas.

(link via Okiedoke)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/05 20:52 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (1)

Rice Season Goes Off Track

Rice basketball got a little negative press from CBS sportline earlier this week:

Rice was supposed to make its NCAA Tournament return after a 35-year absence. The Owls returned four starters from last season's 22-11 team, including potential WAC player of the year Michael Harris, but it's not going to happen. And it's hard to say why. Rice (13-8, 7-5) shoots well from the floor (48.2 percent) and foul line (70.4 percent), has a plus turnover-to-assist ratio and rebounding margin, and has gotten big seasons from Harris and Jason McKrieth. But the Owls have lost four WAC games by five or fewer points and were blown out by 29 at UTEP. It has been an NIT season, which is better than Rice does most years -- but not good enough for this one.

It didn't get any better yesterday, with that brutal loss to Murray State at Autry Court.

I guess I bought into all the preseason press, as I thought Rice would do well in WAC play and compete for an at-large NCAA bid. It's not clear to me that Rice will even make the NIT at this point.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/05 09:57 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (5)

19 February 2005

If We Could Just Add Some Sunlight To The Mix...

I might as well just move to the UH campus.

I'm doing the baseball game at 2pm today, then a break, then the basketball game at 7pm.

In between, I'm planning on finally making my first trip to what some folks call the best Thai place in town.

And our local newspaper has offered up lots of silliness today as well that could stand a post or two.

But folks will have to wait for me to be "prolific." Life intrudes. :)

(Update) Cougar baseball blew an early lead with poor play, and could never come back. Cougar basketball drew the biggest Hofheinz crowd of the season (6,200+) and never trailed in avenging a loss to TCU in Fort Worth earlier this season.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/05 10:54 | Other | Technorati | Comments (4)

Experience Is Not Talent

Michael Murphy has done a mostly good job with the UH Cougar beat (aside from falling down once in a big way), which is why I suppose it's so noticeable when someone else is writing about UH athletics.

Today, Megan Manfull has a mostly good column about last night's UH baseball win that begins:

The Houston Cougars didn't enter the baseball season expecting to overwhelm teams withtalent. Coach Rayner Noble fields a team short on experience.

But Noble saw a few early signs of the intangibles he expects will make up for the lack of know-how.

I wish an editor would have taken the time to explain to Manfull that actually, this recruiting class that Rayner Noble has brought in is one that many folks think is one of the more talented he's brought to UH, and that EXPERIENCE and TALENT are two different things.

This UH team may not expect to "overwhelm teams with talent," but that's mainly because Rayner Noble always puts together one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the country, NOT because the team has little talent. One of those "intangibles" she mentions is that Noble is hoping his talented recruits can overcome lack of experience and help out right away.

Indeed, this year's team can throw lots of snappy arms at teams, mainly because Noble's recruited a lot of talent (like freshman Aaron Brown, a 6-6 kid who can bring it and who closed out the game last night, or Ricky Hargrove, a freshman who pitched well enough to win the Oklahoma State game with a better bounce here or there). That was a luxury Noble did not have last year, when there just weren't enough healthy arms period, let alone talented arms.

Early in the season last year, I was awfully frustrated watching the Coogs play baseball. In addition to a lack of pitching depth/talent (in part because of injuries), they just didn't look like a typical Rayner Noble team, even though they played better ball by the end of the season. This year's team looks much scrappier and isn't making all of those silly mistakes. They are young -- yes -- but it looks like they're going to be competitive if they keep playing this way. That's what I hope for as a fan.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/05 10:27 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

18 February 2005

Tom DeLay To Become Speaker?

Charles Kuffner takes up the rumor reported by Chris Elam that Tom DeLay might shortly become Speaker of the House, and wonders:

Mostly what puzzles me is that this would make DeLay a lot more visible, and thus a lot easier for Democrats to run against in 2006. I guarantee that one of the first things to happen after this were to be announced would be another round of editorials bashing DeLay and the Congressional Republicans for their ethics problems. All of which is fine by me, of course, but I'm not seeing what the Republicans will get out of it.

The Republicans get effective conservative leadership in Congress. Those of us who remember the days of Bob Michel can appreciate the difference. As Chris puts it,

It is undeniable that Tom DeLay will be a strong Speaker. He is a natural leader, he has persuasive skills, and he has worked hard to lead the Republicans to this historical majority.

As far as lefty bloggers and activists thinking they can build their comeback on being anti-DeLay (and leaving aside the notion that the anti-Bush comeback strategy has not worked out too well), Orrin Judd posted some interesting numbers not all that long ago that suggest this might not work as well the lefties hope:

When Americans have just elected a guy president they're inclined to cut him some slack even if he doesn't thrill them, but some other numbers here are astonishing:

G. Howard Dean

Favorable--31
Unfavorable--38

H. House Republican Leader, Tom DeLay

Favorable--29
Unfavorable--24

I. The Republican Party

Favorable--56
Unfavorable--39

J. The Democratic Party

Favorable--46
Unfavorable--47

Those numbers suggest to me that Howard Dean may be more of a problem for the Dems than the potential elevation of DeLay to Speaker is likely to be a positive for their Party. We'll see how it plays out.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/18/05 14:36 | American Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)

Bridging The Gap (or Widening It?)

For the last few weeks, I've quietly been meeting with and emailing a number of alt-media and MSM types, and discussing blogs and blogging and the MSM and the newspaper of the future and all sorts of good stuff.

Part of the effort has been motivated by the notion that "Blogs v. MSM" is tired, and it's time for both blogs (and MSM) to start thinking about what they have in common, and how they can complement each other. Part of the effort has been truly living by the blogger creed and suggesting to MSM types who read us -- hey, we dish out the criticism, but we can also take it. Why not engage us when you think WE get something wrong?

But there are major gaps in understanding still, and I don't know that they can be bridged (or should be).

17 February 2005

Counting The Ways

For anyone keeping track of the creative ways UH has managed to take a proud athletics program and send it into the crapper over at least the last decade or so, here's yet another one:

Harass the few students who come to basketball games that are nearly empty anyway (3,500 fans officially last night, but it looked like 3,000 at best to me) because they *gasp* STAND AND GET WILD DURING THE GAMES.

It's hard to know exactly what happened here, but it does sound like Dave Maggard needs to make the standing policy clear to security personnel, and maybe send a few ushers over to the general area. This is the last sort of "problem" UH athletics should be having when too few people in Houston give a crap about it already.

(UPDATE): Callie tells me registration is required to get to the CoogFans link I posted. So you won't have to register, the gist of the discussion is: a student was ejected (unclear why -- officer said he used profanities, others contend he never curses; I've heard him be obnoxious, but I've never heard him use profanities), security repeatedly told the student section to sit down (students contend), students contend they were rudely treated when trying to explain to the security that they should be allowed to stand, some season ticketholder apparently was punk enough to complain about students standing. It's all just stupid and unnecessary when we need more fans and more enthusiasm over this job Tom Penders is doing with a team that won 16 games in two years under the last clown. I shot off an email to Dave Maggard that he needs to make sure students and security understand his Student Section policy (they can stand), and he needs to deploy ushers/security who understand the policy and can handle any misunderstandings a little better.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/17/05 14:33 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

Coogs Keep Rolling

The basketball Coogs rolled over South Florida last night (no repeat of the Tulane upset).

It's a shame so few of us were actually at the game. The crowd will probably need to be bigger to pull off a win against TCU on Saturday.

Things are starting to get VERY interesting as far as NCAA possibilities go. UH is likely to be a bubble team if they win out (unlikely, but not impossible), but if they finish the season strong and they've beaten another possible bubble team (Memphis), they stand a shot. I don't think the Aggies are going to the big tourney, given their atrocious nonconference schedule and their losing conference record. UT may sneak in, but given their late season injuries and swoon, they may not unless they can string some wins together. And of course, how other conferences shake out will determine how many bubble teams (if any) get in from C-USA.

All UH can do is keep playing well and stringing wins together themselves. It sure would be nice to grab one on Saturday after losing at Fort Worth earlier in the season. I hope Hofheinz will be rocking.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/17/05 06:36 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

16 February 2005

Can't Figure Out How To Secure Site? Just Sue A Blogger

The Tulsa World executives who arethreatening bloggers with legal action for linking the newspaper's articles have apparently decided it would be a "good idea" to talk to local media, thereby confirming for even more people that they're clueless:

Robert E. Lorton III, President of the Tulsa World, disagrees. Lorton says Bates is opening a channel to PDF, or Portable Data Files, hosted on the Tulsa World website. Lorton says those files are owned by the Tulsa World and should not be free, but that they cannot lock the files.

"One way to stop it is to pull the PDF files, and I don't want to do that," Lorton said.

"I am linking to files or pages that are freely available on the Internet," Bates replied.

Bates says he does not have a subscription to the Tulsa World nor its website. He says you can find the Tulsa World PDF files by searching Google, an Internet search site. He says many people have sent him links to the files so that he may comment on them.

Lorton also claims by excerpting paragraphs from Tulsa World stories, Bates is taking stories out of context.

It's not clear why any news organization would actually want to discourage someone from viewing its product, but one way to stop it would be to put in a login screen and deny access from anyone but people with authorization. That shouldn't be all that hard to do.

I'm thinking that maybe it's time for Philip Anschutz to end Tulsa's status as a one-newspaper town. It seems like the World under Mr. Lorton's management could stand a little competition, and I doubt Mr. Lorton's legal threats would scare off Anschutz.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/16/05 22:40 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (0)

15 February 2005

Tulsa World Attempts To Squelch Critical Blogger

The only newspaper in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the dreadful Tulsa World, has apparently decided that it doesn't like the criticism it's been getting from a Tulsa blogger.

That's the best explanation I can come up with for the newspaper's threat of legal action against Michael Bates, for the mere act of excerpting from their articles (as a part of his criticism, and seemingly within fair use) and even linking to the articles! Yes, linking!

As Charles G. Hill puts it,

This sort of thing would be laughed out of any courtroom in the country, which undoubtedly is why the threats came from a World officer and not from its legal team. (What'll you bet that the World board actually called in the lawyers, and were told flatly that they had no case?)

Yes, but unfortunately, bloggers have to take such threats seriously, and even defending against frivolous legal action is something that takes resources.

Here's hoping that gawdawful newspaper is properly embarrassed at the attention this lame brained move has attracted (with more to come if they keep it up), and will rethink its position.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/15/05 23:25 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (0)

UH Baseball

If you're thinking way too many posts these days are about UH athletics, well... you're right.

But, basketball has been compelling this season, and baseball is always compelling.

So, it's a beautiful day and I'm blowing out of work a bit early to go enjoy the UH Cougar Field season opener, against Rice.

There are worse ways to spend a gorgeous afternoon.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/15/05 14:59 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

14 February 2005

Happy Halloween Everyone

An old friend I've lost touch with once deemed this February 14 holiday Halloween.

It's stuck with me. So I hope everyone enjoys their Halloween.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/05 12:08 | Other | Technorati | Comments (3)

13 February 2005

UH Baseball Gets A Win

I was feeling a bit under the weather again today, and missed UH win its first baseball game (in three tries), against those ninth-ranked Texas Farmers, who look to have a good team this year.

UH has assembled quite a bit of talent, but it's such a young team that it may take a while to come together.

I'm determined to make it out to the UH-Rice game on Tuesday at Cougar Field. Rice has been a very tough opponent for UH and everyone else the last few years.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/13/05 23:59 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

Danger Train: Collision #79 (7)

The Danger Train suffered known collision #79 (7) yesterday:

A METRO light rail train is back in service Sunday morning after colliding with a car.

It happened around 3pm on Oakdale at Fannin. The driver had just bought flowers at a flower shop when police say he drove into the train.

No one was injured in the accident. The driver was cited for failing to stop at a rail crossing.

Reports of a collision on February 3 have not been confirmed, so we'll call this one #79 for now.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/13/05 12:00 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (0)

12 February 2005

Maybe Josh Pastner WASN'T A Better Pick, Eh?

The Chronicle's Michael Murphy, who compounded his newspaper's breakdown on its Cougar coverage last weekend with this bit of idiocy, tries to make amends today with a nice piece on head coach Tom Penders. The article doesn't really break any ground -- and indeed, recycles quotes from other articles without giving any credit to those articles (but who knows -- maybe they came from a press conference) -- but still, it's positive coverage for a coach who deserves it.

Murphy's article mentions Penders' "baggage," but I would suggest he also has the "baggage" of having won everywhere he's been, including Columbia. Yes, Columbia.

And the way he's embraced the Cougar tradition and gotten fans to buy into the program after the last disastrous decade or so is impressive. Even more impressive considering the guy has a bad ticker.

As far as Murphy goes -- if he's going to be a punk and use his column effectively to blast good Cougar fans, maybe he also ought to acknowledge them when he borrows from their nearly week-old discussion of a potential UH-UT NIT matchup?

Finally, speaking of punks, has anyone talked to John Lopez lately about his earlier assertion that John Lucas, David Rose, and Josh Pastner were all demonstrably better head coaching candidates for UH than Penders? I'd like to hear what he has to say about that.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/05 16:31 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (3)

Chris Bell, Opportunist

Chris Bell has gone public in "exploring" a run for governor.

I wonder how long it will take him to discover that it will be difficult to build a statewide coalition to win the Governor's office based on lefty bloggers and national Dems who hate Tom DeLay.

Bell is so funny. And so is the minority party in this state.

Still, they shouldn't be taken lightly. Be sure and donate to the Rob Booth fund over at Chris Elam's place. Who knows, I might help Chris with some blockwalking (I can walk to several good pubs). So donate today!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/05 14:44 | American Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)

Conservatives In The Academy

Peter Schramm expands on a post by Steven Hayward on conservatives in the academy.

Both are former Claremonsters.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/05 12:49 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

Contrasting Recent Blog "Takedowns"

Jeff Harrell has a good take on the recent controversies of Eason Jordan and Jeff Gannon:

I do find it pretty interesting, though, to compare the way the blogosphere responded to Eason Jordan with the way it responded to Jeff Gannon. The blogs, mostly conservative, that attacked Eason Jordan did so based on what he said in Davos. The blogs, mostly liberal, that attacked Jeff Gannon went dumpster-diving until they found a tenuous connection between Gannon and some filthy Internet domain names. Not sites, mind you, just names.

[snip]

While I'm not exactly proud of my blogging brothers and sisters for making a mountain out of what I still think was essentially a molehill, I am immensely proud of them for being professional about it. The contrast between the right and the left is rarely as stark as it is in this case.

I'd probably put Jordan's actions somewhere between the molehill and mountain, but otherwise am in agreement here. The contrast IS stark.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/05 12:29 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (0)

11 February 2005

The Second Best Season Is Almost Here

UH Cougar Kevin Roberts Two months (eh, nearly two months, seems like a long time ago) after that rough ending to the Sooners college football season, my SECOND favorite season has arrived.

That's right, college baseball season is finally upon us.

UH opens at Minute Maid (blech) with Baylor today at 3:30 pm, meaning I'm blowing out of work early.

Brad Lincoln gets the start for the Coogs. He showed real promise as a freshman last year, and it's going to be important for Coog success this season for him to take a big step forward.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Kevin Roberts (pictured to the side), who was named the Greater Houston Area College Preseason Player of the Year by the Houston Athletic Committee. I was very impressed with his hitting as a sophomore last year. He showed great discipline for a college hitter, working counts extremely effectively, and exercising good judgment as to when to try to hit for power, when to protect the plate, and when to leave alone pitches that even a good hitter can't handle. He should only get better this year, and college baseball fans are in for a treat if he does. Word on CoogFans is that he's also been popping the 90s with his pitches, which is also good news for the Coogs.

Rayner Noble has lots of new faces this year, so it will be interesting to see how those guys pan out. Returnees to watch include Jake Stewart, Travis Tully, Brett Logan, Matt Farrington, Shea Hancock, and Austin Sumerlin, in addition to the players previously mentioned.

(Update) Baylor looked really strong in beating UH. UH had trouble stringing together hits and trouble slowing down the Baylor offense. I think I'm coming down with some sort of bug, so that may be the extent of my baseball watching this weekend. Blar.

(02-12-2005 Update) I was feeling too blar to go to the OSU game today, but I listened on the radio and UH is now off to a rocking 0-2 start after a game that had too many Cougar miscues.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/05 09:42 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (1)

What Are You Waiting For?

Chris Elam has generously started soliciting for a Rehabilitate Rob Booth fund.

Sure, there's no real accountability for the funds, and they're quite likely to wind up buying a beer or two, but hey, if some folks can beg for money for volunteer blockwalking, surely Chris oughta raise some beer money in the name of our good friend Rob Booth. You don't mind do ya, Rob?

Yes, this post is very much tongue in cheek. But still, go donate to Chris. I'm hoping he'll buy me a beer over college baseball later this weekend.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/05 09:14 | Other | Technorati | Comments (3)

10 February 2005

Danger Train: Collision #78

Danger!

KHOU-11 follows up on earlier radio reports with coverage of the latest Danger Train collision:

A Metro light rail train collided with a van Thursday afternoon near Fannin and University. Two people were aboard the van, when the vehicle was pinned against a nearby light pole.

A van was pinned to a light pole after it was struck by a Metro light rail train.

The condition of the two people aboard the van is unknown, although several ambulances were called to the scene. The woman was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital with multiple broken bones. The male driver of the van was also transported. Neither were said to have life-threatening injuries.

There was no immediate word of injuries aboard the light rail train.

That's either collision #78 or #79, as an earlier collision that made radio reports on February 3 has not yet been verified by Metro or a linkable story.

(Update) KPRC-2 reports that the vehicle struck by the Danger Train was a "handicap van."
I'll fill in the numbers at some point later if I get confirmation of the February 3 collision.

KTRK-13 reports that the vehicle struck by the Danger Train was a "private ambulance."

(02-13-2005 Update) I've not found any confirmation of the alleged February 3 collision, so I'm going to disregard that report unless someone finds confirmation.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/10/05 18:50 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (2)

09 February 2005

New RK CD

I picked up the newly released Reckless Kelly CD earlier.

It didn't wow me after one listen.

However, it took the last disc quite a number of listens to grow on me, so maybe that will be the case with this one too.

Jack Sparks had this to say about it, before we mere mortals could actually buy the thing:

A road record that's not another boring road record. It's like Reckless Kelly is finally comfortable in their own skin. Not to say that they weren't good before, but rather, they've pounded out their identity with a slaughterhouse skull hammer, and now we have a very tight disk, both musically and thematically.

Comfortable. That may actually fit what I heard earlier. But I like my alt-country a little uncomfortable.

I'll have to listen more before I have anything else to say.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/05 23:06 | Music | Technorati | Comments (1)

The Danger Train Scares Me

Callie and I crossed the Main Street rail line last night, somewhere in the area of Elgin (can't remember what street we were on exactly).

I saw something I've never seen before.

We were stopped at a red light.

Danger Trains were approaching from both directions.

Then we got the green light. I thought "oh my gawd, we're about to become #78."

But no -- BOTH Danger Trains stopped on either side of the street, and waited as the cars went across (knowing the statistics, we, of course, waited until both Danger Trains were fully stopped before paying attention to that green light).

The lights for cross traffic finally turned red, and the Danger Trains resumed putting along [edit: For clarity, I want to add that the lights for cross traffic finally turned red AFTER all the traffic had gone through the intersections, and the trains had been sitting still for somewhere between 30 seconds and one minute, I would estimate. That may not have been clear from the original post. To be even more clear -- traffic was stopped at the street as trains were approaching. As trains were nearly at the intersection, traffic got a green light. The trams did stop, on both sides, and were forced to wait by the traffic crossing. The system seemed to work exactly backwards from how Metro initially said it would work, since the trams are said to enjoy right of way at intersections and are not supposed to be held by misbehaving lights.].

There's our Transit Backbone in action. And actually, I was a little surprised. It had been raining, after all, and there were puddles. The little tram can't always go when there are puddles.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/05 06:32 | Danger Train | Technorati | Comments (7)

07 February 2005

Boot Liquor Radio

Yesterday, Ken Layne posted a recommendation for Boot Liquor Radio, a streaming audio station.

I finally got a chance to listen to the thing tonight. I'm hooked, as I fully expected I would be after that recommendation.

One good turn deserves another. If Mr. Highways West or anyone else gets in the mood for a little more of a Texas angle, there's always Gruene with Envy and Radio New Braunfels (KNBT) on the more professional side. And from those who just love this stuff, there's Radio Cindy and Radio Gary C!

(Update): Gary C. tried to comment as follows, but was caught by the spam filter (which traps geocities sites, I think):

Thanks for info and thanks for the mention as well. I'm looking forward to checking out the other stations you listed.

Right now I am going with a blues oriented mix on my station, though it's often blues with horn sections (ie Calvin Owens and Grady Gaines). And there is some non-blues as well, though admittedly not so much alt-country. Anyway, the current playlist is here

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/05 21:44 | Music | Technorati | Comments (7)

Do I Have The Best Friends Or What?

So, after spending last Thursday evening getting a new host for blogHOUSTON and other sites while running on too little sleep already, I was fairly worn out and pissy Friday morning.

Until I got this kick ass email from my friend Dave (in Tulsa).

It was this innocuous little, Lyle Lovett and Joe Ely and Guy Clark and John Hiatt are playing this cool gig at the Brady Theater. Interested? sort of thing.

I think I injured myself and the keyboard answering so quickly.

YES.

Saturday, Dave grabbed the tix. 12th row. Too cool.

This should be one amazing show at the end of the month. I can't wait!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/05 21:28 | Music | Technorati | Comments (0)

Crouch Named Deputy National Security Advisor

I just ran across the news that one of my old profs from the Defense and Strategic Studies masters program, JD Crouch, has been named Deputy National Security Advisor.

He's one of the most intense, well rounded, informed defense intellectuals in the business.

Good for JD and good for the country.

RELATED: Personnel announcement from the White House.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/05 09:26 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

06 February 2005

An Eccentric Man?

Anne Applebaum has commented on the late architect Philip Johnson's sympathies with Nazism, and the fact that most commentaries glossed over that fact when he was alive, and after his recent death:

Take, for example, Philip Johnson, who died last week just as the world was marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In its obituary, the New York Times described Johnson as "architecture's restless intellect." The Post proclaimed him a "towering figure." Both articles, like most of the other obituaries, described Johnson as the "elder statesman" of American architecture. Both also mentioned, more or less in passing, Johnson's "early admiration for fascism and anti-Semitism that he soon recanted."

But read a bit more and it turns out that this "early admiration" lasted for the better part of a decade. During that time, Johnson didn't merely sympathize, like Lindbergh, or make a juvenile joke, like Prince Harry. On the contrary, Johnson helped organize a U.S. fascist party. He worked on behalf of the Nazi sympathizer and radio broadcaster, Father Charles E. Coughlin. He attended one of Hitler's Nuremberg rallies in 1938, and in 1939 he followed the German army into Poland. "We saw Warsaw burn and Modlin being bombed," he wrote afterward. "It was a stirring spectacle."

In the week since his death, a few articles, including one in the New York Times, have examined Johnson's in fact elaborate and widely known fascist past in more depth. But in his lifetime -- as his obituaries reflect -- nobody was very interested. Johnson won every major architectural award, built dozens of buildings and received commissions from the likes of AT&T and the Lincoln Center. He occasionally apologized for his youthful politics, but with ambivalence. Asked in 1993 whether he would have built buildings for Adolf Hitler in 1936, he answered, "Who's to say? That would have tempted anyone." He frequently described himself as a "whore," a phrase that seems to have amused him -- he liked to shock -- and to have provided another sort of excuse for his past.

More and more, it seems like he was not merely an eccentric man, but a vile one.

PREVIOUSLY: Form Follows Fascism

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/05 20:34 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

The Wussification Of Texas Indeed

As usual, Orrin Judd was way ahead of the poliblogger crowd with his one-liner about Kinky Friedman's then-looming gubernatorial candidacy.

Look, the left has nobody to run anyway. Why not just rally around that guy?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/05 19:43 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (0)

05 February 2005

1000!

The Cougars rode a great second half to win #1000 in the history of the basketball program today.

It was nice for the thing to come against Memphis, so John Hyperactive Calipari got to waste all of those antics of his.

Now if they can just pick up a road victory or two over the next couple of weeks, they could make that last game of the regular season (against UAB) very important. I'm a fan; I can look ahead.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/05/05 18:14 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (2)

Breakfast With Gordon Bethune

Callie and I were enjoying breakfast just now at the Montrose 59 Diner, when in strolled Gordon Bethune.

Gordon Bethune is the recently retired head man at Continental Airlines who turned that company from a gawdawful, bankrupt, struggling airline into the player it is today.

I've long been a Gordon Bethune "fan" (yes, those old Objectivist habits die hard), so I couldn't help but notice the guy when he strolled in. Nobody seemed to know who he was, and there didn't seem to be a bit of pretension about him.

So, there's my "breakfast with Gordon Bethune," from afar. I wanted to get an autograph on a 59 Diner napkin, and might have done so if he had been by himself, but we decided that would be too intrusive. Ah well.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/05/05 09:55 | Houston | Technorati | Comments (6)

04 February 2005

UH v. Memphis

Best line of the Cougar postgame show from the last game (paraphrased from memory):

Tom Franklin: ... John Calipari and Memphis come in Saturday.

Tom Penders: John who?

Tom Franklin (clueless): John Calipari.

Tom Pender: John WHO?

Tom Franklin finally gets it and moves on.

UH v. Memphis gets national television, Saturday, at 2pm.

UH cannot lose another home game and entertain any notion of the big tourney. But, a win against Memphis and UAB (last game of the season) could certainly boost their case, especially if they can steal one or two games on the road.

Houston hoops fans ought to get out tomorrow to see the game. You can't find a better sports value for $6 in this city.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/05 21:43 | Sports | Technorati | Comments (0)

Happy 100th Birthday, Alice Ro$enbaum

Ayn Rand's birthday passed a couple of days ago, but I didn't get a chance to comment because of various reasons.

She's dead, so she shouldn't be too upset.

But, the subject of Ayn came up in an email about my black/white sense of morality earlier, so here's to the founder of Objectivism.

Ayn Rand

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/05 21:29 | Other | Technorati | Comments (1)

Moved

Okay, this site is on a new server now.

The old host seemed to think the weblog software was causing resource issues. Nucleus is one of the most resource friendly blog software packages out there, so I don't think so. And since moving blogHOUSTON (and its traffic) to Hosting Matters didn't impact their server a bit, I'm inclined to think that the problem was not my sites, but something else on the old server.

Still, the guy who owns the server gets to make the calls, and so here we are. I took the opportunity to hack the comment Blacklist plugin so that Trackback would call it now, so I hope I've solved the unfortunate trackback spam problems also. Of course, after nearly a bottle of merlot, it's entirely possible I've really screwed something up. Please let me know if you find that to be the case!

(02-05-2005 Update): Okay, I've tested the new trackback with a known spam url, and the blacklist plugin caught it. I've tested it with a legitimate trackback, and it went through. So I think it's working, at least for pings coming from Nucleus blogs. Please let me know if you have any difficulties.

The description of the hack I made can be found here. I can also share my files with any Nucleus user who emails wanting 'em (publiustx at gmail dot com)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/05 21:15 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

Can Ya'll Believe This?

Callie missed the Debris Game earlier because she was listening to that other guy, through her headphones.

That's just unfortunate.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/05 17:39 | Other | Technorati | Comments (4)

03 February 2005

Up And Down

It seems my websites may be causing some server load issues.

I'm working with the webhost to try to figure out what exactly is causing the trouble.

I suspect it's these damnable comment and trackback spammers, so both are likely to be disabled for a while.

If this site's unavailable at some point, that's most likely what's going on. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/05 18:50 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

02 February 2005

Trackback

I've had to disable the trackback plugin for the time being because of trackback spammers.

I apologize for the inconvenience. I trust that a plugin developer may come up with some solution to this problem.

In the meantime, if you have a post that you'd normally send a trackback ping for, if you'd send it along, I'll try to note it.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/05 17:34 | Other | Technorati | Comments (2)

Signing Day

In addition to the bad news for Mack Brown mentioned previously, signing day found stud Louisiana QB prospect Ryan Perilloux committing to LSU.

He had previously given an oral commitment to UT, but had been seen as wavering recently. Les Miles and crew apparently won him over to LSU.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/05 09:44 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (2)

Banjo's SO Bad

The headline to the post says it all:

Calvin Murphy's b-ball camp: lotsa openings!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/05 06:35 | Other | Technorati | Comments (0)

01 February 2005

At The Center Of His Universe

Man is killed tragically, apparently because he was hoping to beat a wrecker that was about to latch on to his car under $AFEclear.

Dan Patrick rages that Mayor White lied to him about unrelated provision of $AFEclear on his radio show.

Then, Dan Patrick rages further in a blog post that Councilman Berry won't take his calls.

That's certainly a revealing focus.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/05 22:35 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (0)

Blog Realism In The Press

This is an interesting observation on blogging from a journalist who seems to get it:

David Akin: The blog is an increasingly important tool for newsgathering and for maintaining a connection with the community or ecosystem of those that you report on. That last part was the bit that surprised me as I started blogging. It has made my print reporting interactive.

I write; I publish. And that used to be the end of it. Now, I write, I publish and a community of people who have special knowledge or who are deeply interested in the topic amplify, correct, modify, or extend the reportage. For a beat reporter, this is fabulous, because I now have more knowledge about my beat.

I think that's spot on.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/05 22:19 | Media Matters | Technorati | Comments (1)

Here We Go Again

It's always fun when the technocrats decide to fix various problems.

Take Senator Wentworth's obsession with "bipartisan" redistricting.

This time, he's added a twist -- selection via coin flip or drawing a name from a hat or other similar "random" act.

Various editorial boards and lefty bloggers actually seem to be taking this seriously.

It's good to know they think so highly of representative government that they'd replace it whimsically with the flip of a coin or a name tag in a hat.

Look, the technocratic approach to redistricting -- like the technocratic approach to freeway breakdowns (err, maybe not) -- surely is alluring. Just throw a bunch of experts in a room and make 'em produce something that isn't so "political" or "partisan."

Bah. I don't want to be represented by a coin or a name tag, thank you. We elect leaders to handle political decisions in our representative democracy, and one such political decision is redistricting.

Yes, Tom DeLay used it to partisan advantage, just like Democrats used it to partisan advantage in years past.

So why not hold Tom DeLay and those in his party accountable? Let the Richard Morrisons of the world rally around the great DeLay gerrymander! Throw the scoundrels out (if they're really scoundrels)! That seems simple enough. That seems in accordance with old political theories of responsible party government.

But please don't go mucking with a constitutional design that honestly isn't that broken (and actually is reflective of an older strain of political thought). And please don't take my power to hold elected officials accountable away, and give it to a coin or a name tag.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/05 22:14 | Texas | Technorati | Comments (5)

Mack Coming Up Short On Top Talent

Tomorrow is signing day for college football, and it's nice to see Mack Brown coming up just a little short once again.

Last year, he lost stud recruits Adrian Peterson and Rhett Bomar to Oklahoma.

This year, he apparently will lose the top defensive player in Texas, DeMarcus Granger, to Oklahoma. Granger should give my Sooners a needed boost on the defensive line, which was the Sooners' biggest weakness after Dusty Dvoracek's suspension (Dvoracek has been reinstated and should also provide a boost).

He will also lose the top player overall (on one list) in Texas to the rival Aggies.

Mack's chances at winning a national championship were much better back when he could still reel in #1 recruiting classes and true difference makers. The Big 12 South should be even more interesting now that A&M is right back in the recruiting mix, and Mack's classes have slipped a bit.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/05 21:27 | Big 12 Football | Technorati | Comments (2)

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