Monthly Archives: March 2004

The Chron still doesn’t get this whole “blog” thing

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Chronicle now has a spring training “blog”, continuing the great tradition of “blogs” that it started with Rachel Graves in Crawford. This is what, their fourth or fifth try at it and they still haven’t figured out that real … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on The Chron still doesn’t get this whole “blog” thing

Barack Obama

Posted on March 17, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations to Barack Obama, the clear winner of the Democratic primary for Senate and presumptive favorite in the general election. He overcame opponents who were well-connected and well-funded, not to mention his own unusual name (a nontrivial handicap in Illinois … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Barack Obama

Ye shall know us by our photo ops

Posted on March 16, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Ezra is hopping up and down about the following passage in this Time article: Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 2 Comments

“Clams got agendas!”

Posted on March 16, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I skip over the “BC” comic strip in the Chron, as it ceased being funny to me awhile back. (It really was pretty damn funny before it became so didactic. Find an old collection from the 60s or early 70s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 2 Comments

More TRMPAC noise

Posted on March 16, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

In response to some Republican whinging, Travis County DA Ronnie Earle released a bunch of documents on Friday related to his grand jury investigation of TAB and TRM. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle on Friday denied accusations that he … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on More TRMPAC noise

Hoops contest

Posted on March 16, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Retrogrouch over at Barefoot and Naked is running an NCAA Tournament contest, which he’s opening up to bloggers and blog readers. I’ve filled out my bracket, which was ridiculously easy to do within the Yahoo! group. (I used to run … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 2 Comments

Light sentence for Lea Fastow

Posted on March 16, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The Enron federal prosecutors have asked the judge to give Lea Fastow a five-month sentence as they had promised in return for hubby Andy’s testimony. Enron Task Force prosecutors Linda Lacewell and Andrew Weissmann filed objections to the pre-sentence investigation … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on Light sentence for Lea Fastow

Three cheers for Tony Knowles

Posted on March 16, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Kos shows us how a principled progressive can do the right thing on divisive issues. Let’s hear it for Tony Knowles, the future junior Senator from Alaska. Atrios says it best: There’s one thing I think many Democrats have forgotten … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

XM radio

Posted on March 15, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Came across this article on XM Radio in a magazine at the gym, and it’s pretty interesting. The XM folks went through quite a bit to get where they are. A couple of points of interest, starting with this bit … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 6 Comments

In Jeopardy!

Posted on March 15, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Note to self: Next time you’re at the gym and “Jeopardy!” is on the TV, ask someone to change the channel to something less mentally engaging, like Fox News. It’s very embarrassing to realize that everyone is looking at you … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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

Support for Iraq invasion dropping in Texas

Posted on March 15, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The latest poll of Texans shows declining support for the invasion of Iraq and not a small amount of cognitive dissonance. In what analysts called the most striking finding, 58 percent disapproved of the way the war is going for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq attack | 3 Comments

The Complete Peanuts

Posted on March 15, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

As you may know, Fantagraphics is releasing the first entry in The Complete Peanuts, a 12.5-year, 25-volume oddyssey that will cover the entire body of Charles Schultz’ work in the dailies. Mark Evanier has been all over this from the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 3 Comments

It’s a bad time to be a political consultant

Posted on March 15, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, how things can change from a year ago when everyone was living high off the hog during that long, expensive mayoral race but now there are hardly any opportunities for a political consultant to make a few bucks. “There … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 2 Comments

Tourney time

Posted on March 15, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Well, even though the teams I really care about are in the NIT, I’m looking forward as always to the NCAA basketball tournaments. Mostly because just about everyone who has any kind of case to make gets a shot at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 4 Comments

Piling on Perry

Posted on March 14, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

As he departs for sunny Italy, Governor Perry is getting another pounding in the editorial pages. Here’s a little sample to brighten your day. From the Dallas Morning News: Gov. Rick Perry’s proposal to put a 3 percent annual cap … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 3 Comments

Lazy Sunday

Posted on March 14, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Ever have a Sunday where you didn’t feel like doing a damn thing? I’m in the middle of one of those right now, that and a John Sandford novel. Hope your Sunday is going as well as mine. Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Comments Off on Lazy Sunday

Kos on CNN

Posted on March 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I see the Kos and Josh Marshall got discussed on Wolf Blitzer’s show on Friday. The comparison of blogs to talk radio is a bit cliched, but I take great pleasure in this: Very interesting study out of George Washington … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Kos on CNN

Arrividerci, Governor

Posted on March 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Well, if he does ever get around to calling a special session, our Governor will certainly be tanned, rested and ready for it. Fresh from a jaunt to the Bahamas to discuss school finance, Gov. Rick Perry and his wife, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 2 Comments

Practice report

Posted on March 13, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve had a week of practices so far, and there are many differences between this year’s team and last year’s at the same point in time. Last year I was still trying to figure out what the kids’ skill levels … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Just call me Coach | 5 Comments

McCourt memoir

Posted on March 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I see that Frank McCourt is dipping into the memoir well once again. Frank McCourt thought writing a novel would be a liberating experience, but the award-winning author said on Thursday he has abandoned that project in favor of something … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 3 Comments

Oh, hell, it’s Friday

Posted on March 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve had my fill of the serious. Time for the strange. Whatever you do, don’t offer to take Norbizness to lunch at Schlotzky’s. Only Larry could find a story like this: Nun Faces Jail For Drunk Tractor Driving. If this … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in General snarkiness | 2 Comments

Skilling trial delayed

Posted on March 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Apparently, there’s a buttload of paperwork that no one particularly feels like wading through about now. Who can blame ’em? It’s Friday. Pop open a cold one and relax. We can always do this later. Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on Skilling trial delayed

TRMPAC roundup

Posted on March 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

All sorts of stuff for your perusal regarding the many interesting activities of Tom DeLay and his band of acolytes. First up is this Salon piece which look at the TRMPAC grand jury investigation and predicts that indictments will be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 1 Comment

More school finance stuff

Posted on March 12, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

If you had any optimism about the potential of a special session on school finance reform to actually improve schools and funding for them, Governor Perry was in town to kill all hope of that. Perry wants to limit home … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 7 Comments

“He was wrong”

Posted on March 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

You’ve probably heard that the Senate just passed a rule to require a supermajority for any new tax cut or spending increases that don’t have a counterbalance over the next five years. I’d like to call your attention to what … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 5 Comments

Settlement in Tulia civil suit

Posted on March 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

All of the still-living Tulia drug bust defendants will share in a $5 million settlement of a civil suit against the city of Amarillo. Amarillo also agreed to disband the multi-agency task force that oversaw Tom Coleman, the lying undercover … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 6 Comments

Mail problems

Posted on March 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

If you’ve sent me email since last night, I’m not ignoring you. My web host is experiencing some technical difficulties, and one of them is affecting webmail. I haven’t been able to log in all day. Hopefully this will be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | Comments Off on Mail problems

Campaign web sites

Posted on March 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve added links on the sidebar to the Contributions/Donations page for each of the Democratic candidates for Congress this year who a) are not unopposed and b) have a campaign website that I could connect to. Hopefully, this will make … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

Survey says

Posted on March 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Has this ever happened to you? I got a call on Tuesday night from some outfit that was doing a survey on banks and financial institutions. Midway through the call, my call-waiting chirps. I pick up the other line, and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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

Primary wrapup

Posted on March 11, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The closest race of the primaries may not be over, as challenger Henry Cuellar contemplates asking for a recount in his loss to Rep. Ciro Rodriguez. The drama surrounding the already spirited race was amplified by election night woes in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Primary wrapup

Avi Rubin as election judge

Posted on March 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Avi Rubin, well known for his role as electronic voting machine critic, spent yesterday as an election judge in Baltimore County. He wrote about it here, and came away with a much better understanding of the process and the Diebold … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 3 Comments

Viacom v. EchoStar

Posted on March 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

It’s another consolidated media catfight. DISH Network owner EchoStar says it will do “whatever it takes” to soon resolve a fee dispute with Viacom that has darkened several channels for its as many as 9 million satellite TV customers in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | 6 Comments

Rodriguez wins squeaker

Posted on March 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The final tally is in, and Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has held on to win his hard-fought primary race with Henry Cuellar. This Express News story says the difference is 151 votes, but the SOS page has it at 126, with … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Money bridge followup

Posted on March 10, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

First, a correction to my earlier post about the money bridge studio in Houston. I received an email from Betty Freedman yesterday who informed me that regular customers settle their tabs monthly rather than at the end of each session, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Comments Off on Money bridge followup