Monthly Archives: February 2004

Freewayblogging contest

Posted on February 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Scarlet Pimpernel, also known as the Freewayblogger, has a contest going: This one’s easy: Take a piece of cardboard and paint the letters A, W, O, and L on it and affix it securely (duct tape and coathangers work … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 3 Comments

Blogads for Congress

Posted on February 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Looks like the success of Ben Chandler‘s online fundraising via BlogAds has already spawned the inevitable successors. So far, Georgai’s John Barrow and Texas’ Morris Meyer are running ads on blogs, and I’m sure they won’t be the last ones … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 3 Comments

Skilling in the sights

Posted on February 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Be still my heart: Task force preparing indictment for Skilling. An indictment against former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling is on the prosecutorial drawing board and could be brought to the grand jury as early as next week. Though … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on Skilling in the sights

January traffic report

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve gone and reclaimed the old Sitemeter counter I’d used on my Blogspot site. Had to reset it to zero and rebuild all my pages, and I’ll be taking a WAG as to my actual February numbers, and so on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Traffic Reports | 4 Comments

Congressional race preview

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Teen prodigy Stephen Yellin gives his view of the 2004 House races in Texas. He’s a bit more optimistic than I am, but it’s always nice to get an outside perspective. I will say this – if Ralph Hall actually … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

How terribly strange to be 70

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Today is Bill Russell’s 70th birthday. Six days ago, Hank Aaron turned 70. 1934 was obviously a pretty good year for producing sports legends. Other than that, I don’t really have a point here. Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 2 Comments

Schilling and Atrios

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Those of you who don’t read baseball-oriented blogs are probably unaware of a recent kerfuffle involving Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Schilling, who’s always been an outspoken player, recently revealed that he has been a regular poster on a Red … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | 2 Comments

Bill Burkett

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Damn. Kevin Drum has an interview with Bill Burkett, the former National Guardsman who was recently quoted in the Dallas Morning News saying that then-Governor Bush’s chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh, told the National Guard chief to get the Bush … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 4 Comments

Dean for Edwards

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

When I first stumped for John Edwards as the second half of a Kerry/YourNameHere ticket, I mentioned that I had a gut feeling that having Edwards on board would help Kerry woo back some Dean voters who are unenthusiastic about … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 7 Comments

Lee Harvey was a friend of mine

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The History Channel has asked three historians to review the credibility of a documentary that claims LBJ was behind the assassination of JFK. The History Channel aired the documentary, The Guilty Men, in November as one of several programs exploring … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Skepticism | 1 Comment

Westar may keep its secrets

Posted on February 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Kansas utility Westar, which last year revealed that it had given over $50,000 in hard and soft money to several Congressional Republicans and Tom DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, has announced that it may or may not … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Westar may keep its secrets

Where I’ve been

Posted on February 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone else is posting their States I’ve Visited maps, so what the hell. Click on the More link to see mine. I’ll even throw in a little bit of useless trivia about me to make it seem more worthwhile: States … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | 5 Comments

Law and Order: Public Morals Unit

Posted on February 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

And now one of our esteemed County Commissioners is in full panty-bunch mode over Janet Jackson’s boobie. Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack wants to make sure there’s no more such misbehavior in a county-owned building. Radack said Tuesday that he … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments

Stripperama!

Posted on February 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

In case you’ve ever wondered, this is exactly the sort of thing that makes athletic directors chug Maalox. The president of a company that employs topless dancers said Tuesday his strippers have been hired by students at Rice University and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 4 Comments

Countdown to the 17th

Posted on February 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

A couple of big elections coming up on Tuesday. Over in Kentucky, Congressional candidate Ben Chandler has hit a small jackpot by running blog ads. “We’re raising [considerable] money off the blogs,” said Chandler spokesman Jason Sauer. “It’s been really … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 4 Comments

Sitemeter screwup

Posted on February 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve had a free Sitemeter counter for nearly two years now, and though it has its wonky moments it’s always worked. For some bizarre reason, yesterday the counter at the bottom of this blog became inaccessible to me – if … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 3 Comments

An interview with Fred Lewis

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Fred Lewis is one of the people behind Clean Up Texas Politics, a nonpartisan site that tracks and shines a light on the influence of big money in elections. There’s been a lot of activity to keep them busy lately, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on An interview with Fred Lewis

Where were you in 1972?

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Diana Moon suggests an interesting question for President Bush regarding his National Guard service: “Mister President, can you give us the names of three National Guard Service colleagues who served with you between May 1972 and October 1973?” Via Seeing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 10 Comments

Round round get around, I get around

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Quite a bit of transportation-related news in the paper today. The big story is that the planned construction on the so-called “downtown spur” off of US 59 will go ahead as planned starting this weekend. Spur 527 will close this … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

Ryan to rejoin Astros?

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Nolan Ryan is poised to rejoin the Astros. No, silly, not as a pitcher, but on a personal services contract, which is to say he’ll get paid to schmooze with big shots. According to a person close to the situation, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | Comments Off on Ryan to rejoin Astros?

Deep Thoughts Dept.

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Hoffman answers the questions you didn’t know you were asking: Houston attorney Phil Sellers sent an e-mail with a perplexing legal question: “In the Jack-in-the-Box commercial where the delicatessen manager is mad at Jack for introducing turkey club sandwiches, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in General snarkiness | 5 Comments

The state of the state’s economy

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

A panel of economists talks to the Legislative Review Board, and it ain’t very pretty. “The reason people question whether the economic recovery is real is because there hasn’t been much job creation,” said Bernard Weinstein, director of the Center … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 6 Comments

Stopping reredistricting before it begins

Posted on February 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The DLC highlights a proposed amendment to the Alabama state constitution regarding mid-decade redistricting. Down in Alabama, State Rep. Marcel Black of Tuscumbia, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, noticed the very different outcomes of the Colorado and Texas power … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Killer D's | 3 Comments

Coach 2: Electric Boogaloo

Posted on February 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

You may recall that I spent a few months last year coaching a Little League team. At the end of the season, I was asked several times by parents, players, and league officials if I would do it again this … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Just call me Coach | 4 Comments

Daily News Online

Posted on February 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The march of online progressive publishing continues with Daily News Online, a slick-looking collaborative effort (I hesitate to say “blog” because it doesn’t quite look like one, but that may be just me) focusing on current events. There’s an awful … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | 1 Comment

And batting second…

Posted on February 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose it’s time to do a little navel-gazing about who might run as the Robin to John Kerry’s Batman in November. Not that I’m ahead of the punditry curve here – Mark Evanier quotes someone he describes as “loosely … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 4 Comments

You too can be a pundit

Posted on February 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Normally, upon reading an op-ed entitled Call now, and you too can become a pundit and realizing that there isn’t a single mention of blogs or blogging would inspire me to gripe about people who are hopelessly out of touch, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | Comments Off on You too can be a pundit

Res ipso loquitor

Posted on February 9, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

From John Williams’s column today: Two Democratic Houston state representatives with re-election races are getting help from Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick. Tonight, Craddick is scheduled to be the “special guest” at a fund-raising reception for Ron Wilson and Harold … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

More fun with the TiVo

Posted on February 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

One of the perhaps underappreciated joys of the TiVo is the things it records for you on spec, stuff it thinks you might like based on the things you have asked it to record. Thanks to this feature, Tiffany and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 5 Comments

Chron discovers William Krar

Posted on February 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron runs what I believe is their first story about William Krar, the man from East Texas who was found with 800 grams of cyanide (that’s about 28 ounces; according to the story, it’s enough to kill everyone in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 2 Comments

Are you ready for some baseball?

Posted on February 8, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Now that we’ve gotten all this Super Bowl silliness out of the way, we can start getting ourselves in the right frame of mind for baseball. We’ll begin with your 2003 national champion Rice Owls, who make their initial defense … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 4 Comments

Boobiemania jumps the shark

Posted on February 7, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

It’s official: Our national case of the vapors resulting from Janet Jackson’s exposed boobie has become a clown show. A Tennessee woman has sued Janet Jackson and others involved in her breast-baring Super Bowl halftime show in Houston, saying millions … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 10 Comments

That’ll take the edge off of any lingering Super Bowl euphoria

Posted on February 7, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Say this for Mayor White: he knows when a party’s over and it’s time to get back to work. Mayor Bill White held out the prospect of employee layoffs Friday as he acknowledged that the projected budget gap for the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Comments Off on That’ll take the edge off of any lingering Super Bowl euphoria

Governor exaggerates job growth

Posted on February 7, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Look around! There’s new jobs everywhere, created by the sheer force of Governor Perry’s will. At least, that’s what he says. Gov. Rick Perry says he has reeled in more than 10,000 jobs since 2003 by luring big business and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 1 Comment