Monthly Archives: December 2003

Big BCS mess

Posted on December 7, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

You know, I don’t actually like Kansas State. I don’t like their coach, Bill “King Cupcake” Snyder, who’d schedule nonconference games at home against high school teams if he could. But when they can throw the entire BCS structure into … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 5 Comments

White wins big

Posted on December 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Even George Strong’s projection was pessimistic. Annise Parker won by as big a margin, too, and Ron Green knocked off Bert Keller. Only Peter Brown’s close loss kept this from being a clean sweep. Today was a good day. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 5 Comments

Smoke ’em if you got ’em

Posted on December 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Testimony on school finance reform has started, and that can mean only one thing: How can we raise taxes without making it seem like we really raised taxes? Answer: Raise taxes on select groups of individuals, such as cigarette smokers. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 4 Comments

Address harvesting in comments

Posted on December 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

One of my readers just sent me a note saying he’s been spammed by some outfit that referenced a blog post of mine in which he’d left a comment, of which his email address was a part. I hate spam, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 4 Comments

Runoff today

Posted on December 6, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The 2003 election season comes to a close today. Look on the bright side: even if your candidates lose, at least you won’t be getting any more campaign mailers (six for me yesterday) or phone calls (three yesterday, two recorded … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 3 Comments

Who bribed Rep. Smith?

Posted on December 5, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

So you’ve probably heard about the strongarm tactics used on Rep. Nick Smith (R, Michigan) to vote for the godawful Medicare bill. To recap, as Robert Novak reported: On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 4 Comments

Inside the belly of the beast

Posted on December 5, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Ginger reports on being a mole at a pro-life rally last night. For the record, I’m the unnamed friend who accompanied her. I have just a few things to add to her excellent account of the event: The politician from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 6 Comments

DeLay’s sham charity attacked

Posted on December 5, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

You may recall Tom DeLay’s new “charity”, Celebrations for Children, which was set up with the dual purpose of raising funds for children and Republicans and which has been roundly criticized as a sham and a campaign-finance law dodge. Now … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 3 Comments

White with big lead

Posted on December 5, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The latest poll gives Bill White a failry comfortable lead going into tomorrow’s runoff election. White narrowly led Sanchez in the Nov. 4 voting, 38 percent to 33 percent. Going into the runoff, White has a 53 percent to 35 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 1 Comment

They’ve got boundary issues

Posted on December 4, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I mentioned that the candidate filing season has begun, and it’s brought with it a lot of confusion since no one knows for sure whether the new Congressional map will be in place or not. Some Democratic incumbents filed for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 4 Comments

Meek Mega-Millions

Posted on December 4, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t really have a whole lot to say about the so-far meager sales of Mega Millions lottery tickets. Maybe it’ll eventually be a hit, maybe it won’t overcannibalize sales of Texas Lotto, and maybe it’ll sink like a mastodon … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Jackpot! | 5 Comments

Three Blog Night

Posted on December 4, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Austin American-Statesman political columnist Dave McNeely now has a blog, making the Statesman a three-blog newspaper. He’ll continue doing his regular column, but promises to post to his blog, called “Inside Texas Politics”, when events warrant: Updates will be as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 2 Comments

Movie badness is an issue Americans care deeply about

Posted on December 4, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Much like Dave Barry when he did his Bad Song Survey, I was rather overwhelmed by the response to my personal Ten Worst Movies List. One link from Atrios and the hit counters go nuts. Anyway, a number of other … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 13 Comments

Tis the season

Posted on December 4, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The candidate filing season, that is. The period started yesterday and runs through January 2. Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Arlington filed to run in the district he has represented for 25 years. Frost said he was confident a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Tis the season

District H update

Posted on December 3, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I guess things were a little too quiet in the City Council District H runoff. City Council candidate Adrian Garcia was disciplined for misplacing drug evidence, causing two accidents and missing work in his early days as a Houston police … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 4 Comments

Jim! You cannot break the laws of physics!

Posted on December 3, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

First, Atrios spots the mystery. Bush made a 20-minute speech to a crowd of about 500 party faithful in the main ballroom of the Hanover Marriott at a $2,000-a-plate evening fund-raiser. Not breaking any ground, Bush highlighted the accomplishments of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 4 Comments

He’s got a pretty good y’all going

Posted on December 3, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Via Ginger, Hope, and Scott comes this story about how Texans talk. Among the unexpected findings, said Guy Bailey, a linguistics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a leading scholar in the studies with his wife, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 4 Comments

NDN Blog

Posted on December 2, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Via Kos, I see that another Democratic organization has gotten the blogging bug: Presenting the New Democrat Network Blog. They’ve already got some good stuff up, so check it out. UPDATE: Credit Where Credit Is Due Dept: Greg Wythe was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 2 Comments

Good thing I didn’t triple-dog dare him

Posted on December 2, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Thanks to an earlier double-dog dare on my part, Pete has not only graced us (if that’s the right word) with his ten worst films list, he even went so far as to detail his methodology for choosing said films. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 80 Comments

Enron, two years after

Posted on December 2, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

It was two years ago today that Enron officially imploded, and the good news is that its former employees seem to be mostly back on their feet. Two years ago today it all came crashing down at Enron Corp. Two … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 1 Comment

The sweet smell of desperation

Posted on December 2, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Orlando Sanchez may not have scraped the bottom of the barrel yet, but he’s within reach. Mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez went on the attack Monday, attempting to link the owner of the company for which opponent Bill White works to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 1 Comment

DeLay/Barton subpoena quashed

Posted on December 2, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The three-judge federal court has rejected a subpoena brought by the Democrats to compel US Reps. Tom DeLay and Joe Barton to testify about their role in redistricting. For now, at least. The court held that federal case law requires … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 1 Comment

Cruisin’ with Big Tom

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

I think many things of Tom DeLay, but I’ve never thought he was stupid. I have to say, though, I can’t understand what he’s thinking with this idea. It is being billed as the perfect place for celebrations during the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 5 Comments

The reclusive Bill Watterson

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Via Mark Evanier and Greg Morrow comes this story about the extremely reclusive Bill Watterson, the genius behind Calvin and Hobbes. It’s got quite a bit of detail about the man that I did not know, so I highly recommend … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 9 Comments

Dems win one in Colorado

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Via Kos and Colorado Luis: The Colorado State Supreme Court has struck down the last minute re-redistricting job done by the state’s General Assembly. In its ruling, the full court decided that a Republican redistricting plan, pushed through the state … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 2 Comments

Hall of Fame time

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

The Hall of Fame ballot has been released, and I think it’s safe to say that the two top newcomers, Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley, are the two favorites for enshrinement this year. It’s the returning players that interest me … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 6 Comments

Runoff rundown

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Charles Kuffner

Both Mayoral candidates got front page coverage in yesterday’s Chronicle as the runoff campaign enters its final week. (Aside: Early voting ends tomorrow, so get out there and vote while you still can!) The side-to-side articles were in the “contrast … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2003 | 3 Comments