Monthly Archives: March 2004

The return of the blocker bill

Posted on March 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

If we do in fact have a special session on school finance reform, the blocker bill and its 2/3 majority requirement for bringing a bill to the Senate floor for debate will be in effect, according to Lt. Gov. David … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on The return of the blocker bill

DeLay supported TTM

Posted on March 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Quelle surprise: Tom DeLay gave PAC money to Texans for True Mobility. Two political action committees controlled by DeLay gave $30,000 to Texans for True Mobility, which spearheaded a high-dollar effort against Metro’s proposal to expand its light rail beyond … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 3 Comments

Undead lobsters!

Posted on March 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Some things just defy embellishment. Call it cryonics for crustaceans. A Connecticut company says its frozen lobsters sometimes come back to life when thawed. Trufresh began freezing lobsters with a technique it used for years on salmon after an offhand … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | 3 Comments

Such a tease

Posted on March 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison continues to be coy about her future. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Democratic Gov. Ann Richards don’t agree on much. But they both feel like it’s time to return to Texas and get a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 2 Comments

Special Session: Still no consensus

Posted on March 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Governor Perry has promised to call a special session on school finance reform as soon as “consensus” is reached on how to replace the Robin Hood system. A quick look around is all you need to see that there’s a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Special Session: Still no consensus

UH apparently hires Penders

Posted on March 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll be damned. University of Houston officials have called a news conference for this afternoon, presumably to name Tom Penders as the Cougars’ new head basketball coach. UH officials said Monday night the new coach will be introduced at 4:30 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 3 Comments

Smokey Joe and the cement plants

Posted on March 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Byron points to this article about “Smokey Joe” Barton and his efforts to exempt a couple of cement plants from stricter EPA rules. I’ll leave most of the story for you to read – it’s worth your while – but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Cuellar calls for recount

Posted on March 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Cuellar-Rodriguez race in the Democratic primary for CD 28 is going into overtime as Cueller has formally asked for a recount. Henry Cuellar, the Laredo lawyer who narrowly lost to incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in the Democratic primary, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 3 Comments

The Station Fund

Posted on March 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The editor of Blah3 performed at a benefit concert for the victims of the Station fire in Rhode Island, and he’s got some things to say about the experience. Check it out, and also check out this Rolling Stone article … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on The Station Fund

Clarke on “60 Minutes”

Posted on March 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I didn’t watch “60 Minutes” last night. Just wasn’t feeling up to it. Of course, it’s not exactly a grand revelation to me that Team Bush had a severe cranial-anal inversion regarding Iraq and al Qaeda, and it’s not exactly … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 3 Comments

Perry secrecy watch

Posted on March 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Want to know where our globetrotting Governor is? Don’t bother checking his official schedule ’cause it won’t tell you. Defending a trip he took to the Bahamas with a group that included campaign donors, Gov. Rick Perry suggested Texans can … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Perry secrecy watch

All in how you look at it

Posted on March 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The latest Texas poll on the economy can be summed up as follows: It still stinks, but not quite as bad as the last time you asked. A year ago, 76 percent of those polled rated the U.S. economy as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on All in how you look at it

On the receiving end of obsession

Posted on March 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

In the past couple of hours, I appear to have gotten several hundred referrals from search engine queries for some variation on Diane Zamora. I presume someone’s running a bot rather than doing this manually, unless they have amazingly fast … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on On the receiving end of obsession

Sunday school finance op-eds

Posted on March 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Scott Hochberg (D, Houston) makes some good points in this piece in which he defends the much-maligned and marked for death Robin Hood system of distributing property tax revenues to school districts. Here’s something you probably didn’t know: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 5 Comments

TypeKey

Posted on March 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The folks at Six Apart, makers of MovableType, are getting close to releasing a new version of theit software that will allow blog owners to deal with unwanted comments (comment spam and anonymous drive-by abusives) in an integrated fashion with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 2 Comments

That so-called liberal media

Posted on March 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Good grief. I had no idea about this. Read it and be amazed. Continue reading →

Posted in Skepticism | 1 Comment

Hoops update

Posted on March 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Well, I got 22 out of a possible 32 in the first round of the NCAAs, putting me a solid 8th out of 9 in the BAN Hoops Contest. My sincere thanks to Jack for doing worse than I did. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 7 Comments

CD 32 tightening up

Posted on March 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Byron points to this NYT article which notes that the race between Martin Frost and Pete Sessions in the new 32nd CD is tightening up, at least according to Congressional Quarterly. Eight months before Election Day, the two candidates have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

They liked us! They really (mostly) liked us!

Posted on March 20, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

About 70% of Super Bowl visitors polled said they would recommend the city to others based on their experiences during their visit. Jordy Tollett, the president of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he commissioned the survey to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on They liked us! They really (mostly) liked us!

It’s official: The tech boom is over

Posted on March 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone remember DotComGuy? Would you believe he’s been DotComGuy for five years now? But not for much longer. Mitch Maddox, who legally changed his name to DotComGuy in 1999 and got lots of media attention because of a yearlong Internet … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on It’s official: The tech boom is over

Eckels shills for Perry’s property tax cap

Posted on March 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels is going to bat for Governor Perry’s proposed property tax rate increase cap. Eckels, who joined two state legislators on a three-city tour organized by the governor’s staff, said Perry has taken a “courageous stand” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 2 Comments

Final settlement in Tulia lawsuit near

Posted on March 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Now that the city of Amarillo has reached a $5 million settlement agreement in the federal lawsuit filed by the unjustly imprisoned Tulia defendants, a group of other counties and cities in the Panhandle are close to negotiating their own … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 3 Comments

Bell makes peace with Green

Posted on March 19, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’m glad to see this. Houston Rep. Chris Bell is attempting to mend a rift among House Democrats that grew out of the racially divisive election he lost to Al Green earlier this month. Bell met this week with Democratic … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

February traffic report

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t really know how much traffic I had in February thanks to the sudden and inexplicable death of my Sitemeter counter early on in the month. After a couple days of ruling out every other possibility, I decided it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Traffic Reports | 4 Comments

Those prison blues

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve harped on the correlation between our lock ’em up mentality in this state and our recent budget shortfalls (see here, here, here, and here for earlier installments). Slowly but surely, that idea is taking hold to the Lege. “I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 3 Comments

Your regular TRMPAC briefing

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The state Republican Part continues its efforts to smear Travis County DA Ronnie Earle by claiming that he has a double standard because he didn’t go after former Attorney General Dan Morales. Earle said he did not investigate Morales because … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Your regular TRMPAC briefing

ChevronTexaco closes the sale

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

After all that hoo-hah, ChevronTexaco went ahead and bought the Enron Building anyway, without the tax abatement from Harris County. Houston City Council had already agreed to give ChevronTexaco a tax break on $64 million in building improvements and furnishings, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on ChevronTexaco closes the sale

Rodriguez increases lead, and other news

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has increased his lead over primary challenger Henry Cuellar now that provisional and overseas ballots have been counted. Forty-four votes were added to his margin, which now stands at 170. Although the results are unofficial until the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Rodriguez increases lead, and other news

You can have my beer bong when you pry it from my cold, hungover fingers

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Spring break has many traditions associated with it. Lately, it seems that one of those traditions is for a City Council person somewhere to lose touch with reality and propose a stupid rule in order to keep those damn kids … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 6 Comments

County plays hardball on Enron building

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

When last we met, the County Commissioner’s Court was wreaking havoc on the proposed sale of the Enron building to ChevronTexaco by playing coy about a tax abatement for improvements. We see today that they haven’t changed their tune. Harris … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 1 Comment

Felo de spam

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a new variant on malevolent email that I at least haven’t seen before: Dear user of “Offthekuff.com” mailing system, Your e-mail account has been temporary disabled because of unauthorized access. Advanced details can be found in attached file. Have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Skepticism | 5 Comments

Whoever said snarkiness couldn’t be a force for good?

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Poor Man has decided to harness the power of honest competition and good old fashioned trash talking for the purpose of raising funds for John Kerry. Dean and Clark supporters in particular should take note. Check it out. Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 1 Comment

Select Committee report

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Select Committee on School Finance has issued its final report (PDF) for your perusal. Individual pages load really really slowly for me, so I haven’t given it more than a quick glance as yet. I will note, as the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 4 Comments

Off to Washington Monthly

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Kevin Drum has made his move over to Washington Monthly, where he will be blogging under the title “Political Animal”. (Is it just me, or is anyone else surprised to realize that no one else had claimed that moniker before … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Off to Washington Monthly