Monthly Archives: July 2003

Anniversary approaching

Posted on July 13, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

This week will mark the one year anniversary of this domain. Which date you want to pick to mark the occasion depends – the domain was created on July 17, the first blog post was made on July 19, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 5 Comments

Sine die?

Posted on July 13, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a scenario I hadn’t considered from the state Senate: Pass a redistricting bill that they like, and then adjourn, leaving the House to take it or lump it: One way out was outlined on Harvey Kronberg’s Quorum Report newsletter. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 5 Comments

Focus on the Senate

Posted on July 13, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

With the Senate adjourning for the weekend so various members can draw their own Congressional maps, the time is ripe for Sunday newspaper edition articles on the heartaches of being an undecided member of that chamber. Here’s the Chron story, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Focus on the Senate

Dan Cook retires

Posted on July 13, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Legendary sportswriter and broadcaster Dan Cook, who celebrated his 50th anniversary at the San Antonio Express News last August, has announced his retirement after 57 years in the business. They don’t make ’em like Cook any more. Enjoy the retirement, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | Comments Off on Dan Cook retires

La Raza in Austin

Posted on July 12, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The National Council of La Raza is holding its annual convention in Austin this weekend, and up to 20,000 attendees are expected. They’ve got some pretty high-profile speakers lined up to address them: Latino leaders and activists will attend workshops … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | Comments Off on La Raza in Austin

Enron reorganization complete

Posted on July 12, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Enron’s bankruptcy reorganization plan has been completed and filed. This is pretty much all you need to know: Two years ago, Enron claimed $67 billion in assets. Today, it has at least $67 billion in debt. […] Creditors of parent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 1 Comment

Craddick overstepped, court rules

Posted on July 12, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Missed this yesterday: AUSTIN — Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick overstepped his authority by dispatching state troopers to search for Democratic state representatives who bolted in May to kill a redistricting bill, a state district judge ruled Thursday. State District … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Craddick overstepped, court rules

Goodhair wins one, loses one in House

Posted on July 11, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The House passed a boatload of bills that would give the Governor’s office more power over agency heads as part of an effort to reorganize state government, and rejected a bill that would have allowed budget drafts to be kept … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 3 Comments

Run, Jerry, run!

Posted on July 11, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Jerry Springer will file papers today to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by George Voinovich. He’ll announce in the next 30 days or so if he actually is running. I hope he does run. I was quite … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Sock puppets

Posted on July 11, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the picture I was looking for on Monday. The caption reads Democratic supporters in the state House gallery donned white socks as hand puppets to mock Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, as he debated his redistricting plan Monday. Every time … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 6 Comments

No action on redistricting until next week

Posted on July 11, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The Senate Jurisprudence Committee, which is handling bills on redistricting, has adjourned until Monday and will not vote until Tuesday at the earliest amid concerns about lawyer Andy Taylor, rural representation, and the role of the House in crafting any … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 2 Comments

Odd man out

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Am I the only person who doesn’t hate the Houston Rockets’ new logo? Kevin, Jack, and Larry all heap scorn on it. I’m not saying it’s a thing of beauty, just that it’s an improvement over the cartoon character rocket-ship-with-teeth … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 14 Comments

All’s quiet on the redistricting front

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Nothing much new to report today – the Senate is still busy preparing at least three maps, and according to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, they probably won’t have anything until next week. It’s beginning to become possible that the clock … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 2 Comments

More tax trouble for Boy Wonder Berry

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Remember how mayoral candidate Michael “Boy Wonder” Berry and his henchman Allen Blakemore announced that they had a silver bullet to aim against Orlando “Steel Blue Eyes” Sanchez in the form of a Sanchez supporter who was delinquent on his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 1 Comment

Turner announces

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Sylvester Turner made the official announcement of his candidacy yesterday, so barring any late surprises or other obscure candidates the field is now set. I hope this means that someone will publish a poll soon – I’m dying to know … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | Comments Off on Turner announces

What a difference a little code makes

Posted on July 10, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

So yesterday, when I pointed to the new Blog Traffic Ranking at TTLB, I noted that I hardly got any Sitemeter referrals from search engines, even though I got tons of them on my old Blogspot blog. This led Prof. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Traffic Reports | 5 Comments

Editorial roundup

Posted on July 9, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Time for a little tour of the editorial pages. The Chron says “Enough already” and slams most of the main participants, especially Governor Goodhair: Gov. Rick Perry bears ultimate responsibility for pointlessly prolonging the agony of the redistricting battle in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 4 Comments

Am I paranoid, or is there a pattern here?

Posted on July 9, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Unprecedented mid-decade redistrictings in Colorado and Texas orchestrated by the White House. An unprecedented effort by a Congressman to recall a governor who was re-elected less than a year ago. A county commissioner found guilty of violating state campaign finance … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 5 Comments

Senate poops on House map

Posted on July 9, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

To no one’s great surprise, the Texas Senate declared the House redistricting map dead on arrival, though I confess I’m a bit surprised at how many Republican Senators have taken potshots at not only the map, but also at how … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Senate poops on House map

Blog traffic comparison

Posted on July 9, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Via Atrios, I see that TTLB has a new feature, which is a ranking of blog traffic based on Sitemeter statistics. There are numerous caveats that come with this – not everyone uses Sitemeter, not everyone makes their stats public … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Traffic Reports | 7 Comments

And on we go

Posted on July 8, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Not much new to report that Byron hasn’t already covered. The House map passed as expected, and now the battle is joined in the Senate. A commenter on Byron’s latest Polstate posting notes that in addition to Bill Ratliff and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 5 Comments

Ham radio

Posted on July 8, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Having written about the potential of a newfangled form of mass communication, I feel compelled to cite this article about an old-fashioned form, the ham radio. I love this quote: “The Internet is cool and all, but the last two … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 1 Comment

Blogs and radio

Posted on July 8, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

O-Dub points to this column by Ron Brownstein which suggests that blogs are (or are about to be) to liberals as talk radio is to conservatives. It’s difficult to compare the audience of talk radio and the Internet. The largest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 3 Comments

Savage Weiner followup

Posted on July 8, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a bizarre twist in the firing of Savage Mikey Weiner – the call that precipitated his finally-too-much-for-MSNBC outburst was a prank call by a troll for a competing radio talk show. Here’s what the caller was saying when he … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 3 Comments

Savage Weiner fired!

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Michael “Savage” Weiner, host of that moronic MSNBC talk show, has been fired for – get this – making anti-gay remarks on the air. The popular radio talk show host who did a weekend TV show for the cable channel … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 8 Comments

Madla and Ratliff

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Here are a couple of decent profiles of two of the Senators who are not committed one way or the other on redistricting: Frank Madla (D, San Antonio) and Bill Ratliff (R, Mount Pleasant). I did a Google search on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Madla and Ratliff

Coach lets team manage itself

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Why didn’t I think of this? A Little League coach let his players manage themselves for a playoff game, and they won. [Coach Paul] Davis patiently watched from the top row of the bleachers as son Nick and the rest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Just call me Coach | Comments Off on Coach lets team manage itself

That presidential picker thingy

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Question: Has any Democrat who’s taken this poll wound up with a preference other than Kucinich or an unnamed Green candidate? Here are my results: 1. Kucinich, Cong. Dennis, OH – Democrat (100%) Click here for info 2. Kerry, Senator … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | 12 Comments

How we got here

Posted on July 7, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Angry Bear has a nice summary of the redistricting battle of 2001 and how it wound up in the federal court. His conclusion: The net result of this was that the panel adopted the original plan proposed by the Texas … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on How we got here

Weekend’s over, time for redistricting again

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

OK, as the joke goes, “Break’s over, back on your head”. The House Calendars Committee has voted to send the latest redistricting map (which you can see here, though you’ll need IE to do it – it didn’t render in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | Comments Off on Weekend’s over, time for redistricting again

Turner to announce candidacy

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a profile of Sylvester Turner, who on Wednesday will formally (and finally) announce his candidacy for Mayor in this year’s election. It’s a nice enough piece, which touches on his original run in 1991 and highlights the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | Comments Off on Turner to announce candidacy

Cluelessness on parade

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The following question and answer appears in “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade” in today’s Parade magazine: Q. In your opinion, will ex-Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s liberal positions help or hurt his odds of winning the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination? A. Dean, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 13 Comments

Mystery!

Posted on July 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Best news I’ve heard today – the MYSTERY! series on PBS will be premiering a series of episodes based on the books of Elizabeth George. Turns out they’d already done her first book, A Great Deliverance, last year, but I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | Comments Off on Mystery!

Harry Potter: Mission accomplished

Posted on July 5, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Finished reading all 766 pages (in the British edition) of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday. It was good, though a bit slow to get started. If you haven’t read it yet, give serious thought to rereading … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 5 Comments