Monthly Archives: August 2002

Harris sued

Posted on August 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The Daily Kos notes that Katherine Harris has been sued by her Republican opponent, who alleges that she should be kicked off the ballot for violating state law. Harris resigned from office on August 1 instead of the required deadline … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | 1 Comment

Hail to the Chief

Posted on August 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The Fundraiser In Chief, that is. Dubya is now the record holder for both a single fundraising event as well as the all-time leader for his 19 months in office. Aren’t you glad we have someone in the White House … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | Comments Off on Hail to the Chief

Or to put it another way

Posted on August 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Naturally, I went and wrote the entry below before I finished my daily reads, so I hadn’t yet gotten to Avedon’s ringing defense of MWO. She makes many of the same points I do, in a typically more spirited way. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | 1 Comment

MWO

Posted on August 16, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

There’s another kerfuffle going on about MediaWhores Online, thanks to this article in SpinSanity. Patrick doesn’t much care for MWO, while Atrios and his merry band of commenters are fans. I wrote about my ambivalence with MWO back in my … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | 4 Comments

Aggies dis Texas Tech in media guide

Posted on August 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Kevin and Jack have also noted this story about Texas A&M’s sports information director falling asleep at the copy-editing switch. All I really want to say is that while Lubbock may be, at best, an acquired taste, people who went … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Aggies dis Texas Tech in media guide

Away, away, with rum, by gum

Posted on August 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The greater Houston Heights area, known primarily for its Axis of Liberal Bloggers, is also one of Houston’s oldest neighborhoods. It was once an independent city, but like many such places was annexed by Houston in 1918. At the time, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | 1 Comment

WTC Memorial

Posted on August 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The best suggestion I’ve heard for a WTC Memorial in New York comes courtesy of my friend Ben on the Roundtable list: Replacement towers of some sort. The only thing I specifically want is the following component: 1. Excavate. 2. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 1 Comment

Middle Eastern immigration

Posted on August 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Somewhere along the line since I started blogging, I started receiving email from Center for Immigration Studies. I’m not exactly sure how they came to get my email address, but at least the mail they send me is interesting. Today … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 3 Comments

Appeal for help

Posted on August 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

OK, I give up. I’m appealing to all the lawyers who read this site. Please take a look at this Salon article about Ira Einhorn and explain to me why exactly the law that Pennsylvania passed in which “any American … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Comments Off on Appeal for help

It’s official: Ann Coulter can’t count!

Posted on August 15, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Well, as expected I had no trouble finding more than eight people in Ann Coulter’s America who oppose the current plan to invade Iraq. I’ve since discovered that others such as Michelle at A Small Victory have successfully performed the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | 3 Comments

Wait, that borders on being interesting

Posted on August 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Today, alas, is the last day of the Crawford weblog, as intrepid reporter Rachel Graves gets to come home tomorrow. Which is too bad, because she’s just starting to verge on being interesting. Yesterday, in a day that must have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 2 Comments

Are you now or have you ever been?

Posted on August 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Matt and Brad and Patrick write about Martin Amis’ book Koba the Dread and in doing so meander off into topics such as who was worse, Hitler or Stalin, and the usefulness of each as a rhetorical club with which … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | 4 Comments

Mets owner sells and settles

Posted on August 14, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday, who had filed a lawsuit alleging accounting shenanigans against MLB, has agreed to sell his half of the Mets and to drop his lawsuit. “I am pleased this is behind us,” Doubleday said in a statement … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 2 Comments

A safe prediction

Posted on August 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Mark Evanier makes a safe prediction about 2004: I have only one prediction, which I’ve made here before. I think, in ’04, the question will be, “Do you feel safer now than you did on September 11?” If most voters … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | 4 Comments

Footage Fetish

Posted on August 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

My buddy Pete Vonder Haar has embarked on a side career as a film critic with the debut of his biweekly Footage Fetish feature on Film Threat. His first review is a little know Man vs. Rat flick called Of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 1 Comment

Paranoia may destroy ya

Posted on August 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve tried to find a reason to praise Dick Armey for his recent apostasy on Republican red-meat issues. Really I have. I just can’t quite bring myself to do it. It’s not that I’m unhappy with what Armey has done. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 3 Comments

One clarification

Posted on August 13, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my call for people from Ann Coulter’s America who oppose an attack on Iraq. Be sure to read through the comments, there’s some good stuff in there. Meantime, I’d like to expand on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | Comments Off on One clarification

Ann Coulter’s America

Posted on August 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

By now you’ve probably heard of Ann Coulter’s latest contribution to civil discourse: HOW IS IT that the New York Times managed to locate the only eight people in America opposed to attacking Iraq? (By “America,” I obviously mean to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | 25 Comments

How’s it look?

Posted on August 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve received feedback that this site doesn’t render well under the Opera browser, apprently due to a known problem with CSS. I’m going to dig through the MT support forum to see if there are any tips, but if you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | Comments Off on How’s it look?

Reparations fallout

Posted on August 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Two Houston City Council members who voted against Mayor Brown’s reparations resolution are feeling the heat, according to John Williams in today’s Chron. One of them is my Council member, Gabriel Vasquez, whom I lauded for doing so. Last week, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 1 Comment

Happy anniversary

Posted on August 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

One year ago this week, Jeff Skilling resigned as Enron CEO, and Sherron Watkins sat down to write a memo that would make her a household name. Time flies. Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on Happy anniversary

Another thing familiarity can breed

Posted on August 12, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

The never-ending debate over which side of the political spectrum is more likely to engage in ad hominem name-calling is raging anew. Reynolds started one such conflagration in the comments on this post, while Will Vehrs points to an entry … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | 3 Comments

How the RIAA is like MLB

Posted on August 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Michael Croft has submitted an excellent list of questions for Cary Sherman, President of the RIAA, who has agreed to be gang-interviewed by participants in Eric Olsen’s BlogCritics project. I highly recommend you read Michael’s list and ask yourself what … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 2 Comments

Football finances

Posted on August 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

In other news regarding Houston development, this article attempts to quantify the economic impact of the Texans NFL franchise on Houston. It’s a good picture of what money is really new to Houston and what is just being transferred from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Football finances

Asiatown

Posted on August 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Nice article in today’s Chron about the success of Asian immigrants in Houston. While there is an established Asian enclave on the south end of downtown, the booming area for new arrivals and their second-generation children is out west and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments

New prime number algorithm found

Posted on August 11, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Three computer scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology have discovered an algorithm for determining if a number is prime which is both deterministic and relatively fast. This is a very cool result, one that is likely to help cryptographers … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 2 Comments

Houston blogs: The musical

Posted on August 9, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

First Ted, and now Rob. Whatever you guys sprinkled on your Cheerios this morning, I think I want some. You should have kept the karaoke machine, Larry. I feel a song soming on… UPDATE: I can’t believe I forgot to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | 2 Comments

That can-do spirit

Posted on August 9, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Now that I’ve discovered it, I have the ten-car-pileup kind of fascination for the Chron‘s Crawford weblog. So much about why our daily fishwrap is the way it is can be gleaned from her permalinkless dispatches. Let’s start with today’s, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 2 Comments

Amway politics

Posted on August 9, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

What do you get when you cross grass-roots political activism with Green Stamps? Why, you get the GOP Team Leader program, of course. Team Leaders get the inside scoop on what’s going on at the Republican Party. Each week you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2002 | Comments Off on Amway politics

The making of a pop star

Posted on August 8, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Ted Barlow and Charles Dodgson point to this story about how record label J Records is attempting to manufacture a new pop music sensation, a 23-year-old named Amanda Latona. Having read the article and Ted and Charles’ commentaries, I have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Comments Off on The making of a pop star

You’re out!

Posted on August 8, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Michael forwards me this story about PitchTrax, the new technology by QuesTec that follows the trajectory of a thrown baseball. The screenshot shows the sorts of things that it can do, and ESPN and Fox have been all over it. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 1 Comment

What kind of blog the Chron does like

Posted on August 7, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Eric and Lisa make some good points in the comments to my post about Steve Olafson, the Chron reporter who was fired for running a weblog on the side. While I remain sympathetic to Olafson and think the Chron was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments

Calling Immigration Lass!

Posted on August 7, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

From the NYT: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Marquis de Lafayette, who fought alongside George Washington and secured the aid of France during the Revolutionary War, on Tuesday became the sixth person to be conferred with honorary U.S. citizenship. Boy. I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in General snarkiness | Comments Off on Calling Immigration Lass!

Chron blogger fired

Posted on August 7, 2002 by Charles Kuffner

Ginger has discovered what happened to the Chron reporter who ran a blog on the side until said blog was discovered and reported to his boss: He’s been fired. It’s a damn shame. I can understand the complaints, and I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments