Normally I crave deadlines, but in my current frame of mind I've not been terribly excited about this political risk deadline.  I worked most of the evening on political risk reports, but still came up far short of where I would like to be.  It's a little strange in any case, as the goal of moving online was to get rid of deadlines altogether.  We have not quite managed to do so.  So it goes.

I listened to the song Subdivisions by Rush three times today.  It is a really good song.

I read nothing compelling all weekend long.  This is another reason that it will be nice when online delivery makes quarterly deadlines a thing of the past. 

I did read an interesting article (not editorial) in today's Houston Chronicle, usually a pro-Houston, pro-government, anti-quality-journalism rag.  Here are two representative paragraphs:

"At this point in his administration, [Mayor Lee] Brown does not have much margin for error.  Lest anyone forget, he was reelected last year by a relatively paltry 67 percent of the vote.  His two opponents were nuisance candidates who never should have achieved double-digit percentages.

Since then, the city streets have fallen into shocking disrepair, crime is going up, the city budget is a mess, and now rail is in trouble.  How did things get so out of hand?"

The answer to that question was given by a lot of thoughtful people in Brown's first mayoral campaign, when some of us pointed out that people probably didn't want the same fellow who was chased out of New York for being an incompetent, not to mention anti-Semitic, police commissioner.  Some of us also weren't terribly polite in pointing out he often looks, acts, and sounds like a little retarded man.  Throw his good friend Jew Don Boney into the mix, and Houston quickly becomes a laughingstock.   What is telling is that even the pro-Houston chattering class at the Chronicle has noticed how quickly the city seems to be going to hell, and suddenly the idiot isn't so charming.

Hallmark and I actually came up with a great solution a while back.  Al Gore should pick Lee Brown as his running mate, Brown should resign to campaign full-time, and Orlando Sanchez should swing his campaign for mayor into full gear.  Meanwhile, Gore will be trounced by Bush, Lee Brown can go away, and Orlando can start fixing some of the city's problems.  And perhaps Mr. Lence can even practice being Machiavelli. 

Of course, that would be far too neat to happen, and Gore will probably pick a competent liberal like George Mitchell over an incompetent boob like Brown.  Still, one can wish late at night.  Hell, perhaps I'm having a very sweet dream....

Copyright (c) 2000, Kevin L. Whited