Monthly Archives: July 2004

Fringe candidate watch

Posted on July 26, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Say what you want about Texas, our perennial candidates are a non-stop laff riot. A federal judge has fined John WorldPeace, a local lawyer and perennial candidate for high office, $25,000 for using the names of two Houston-area car dealerships … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 2 Comments

Express-News blogging the convention

Posted on July 26, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The San Antonio Express News jumps on the blogging bandwagon with a Democratc Convention-themed blog. No catchy title, RSS feed, or any other bells and whistles as far as I can tell, but at least each entry has its own … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 2 Comments

Burnt Orange in Boston

Posted on July 26, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Two of the Burnt Orange Report guys, Karl-T and Byron, are blogging up a storm in Boston. They’ve also gotten themselves quoted in the media an impressive number of times – see here and here for the latest examples. It’ll … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Maybe they could get Admiral Stockdale

Posted on July 26, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

LULAC vs. John Culberson. That could be entertaining if it actually happens. The local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens has challenged U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, to a debate. The topic: his proposal to bar immigrants … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Comments Off on Maybe they could get Admiral Stockdale

Rocking for Kerry

Posted on July 26, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

How’s this for a kick-butt concert tour? Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and a deep roster of other rock stars will unite for politically minded concerts this fall that will give voice to dissatisfaction with the Bush administration. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 4 Comments

Not much Texas in Boston

Posted on July 25, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Not too surprisingly, the Democratic Convention won’t be featuring too many Texans. While the delegation includes political activists and elected officials well known in their parts of the state, there are no delegates who are recognized names statewide, such as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Not much Texas in Boston

Milestone achieved

Posted on July 25, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I agree with Kevin: the fact that we have a story about blogs and blogging that isn’t about the phenomenon of blogging – in particular, which doesn’t make a point of noting that “blog” is “short for ‘weblog’” – is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 2 Comments

Kenny Boy’s attorney

Posted on July 25, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting Q&A with Mike Ramsey, one of Kenny Boy Lay’s defense attorneys. You think he knows who his audience is here? Q: Did you choose criminal defense work right out of law school? A: People ask how some left-wing crazy … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | 1 Comment

Thy lobbyist’s wife

Posted on July 25, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Oops. The backlash has forced Governor Perry to cut loose Marty McCartt, the wife of the lobbyist to whom he gave a cushy job. The wife of a lobbyist with close ties to the governor has resigned from her job … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Thy lobbyist’s wife

The prodigals return

Posted on July 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, that got resolved in a hurry. Actors George Eads and Jorja Fox will both be back on the job next week at “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” after learning a lesson in hardball network politics. Eads reached an agreement Friday … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 2 Comments

State house money races

Posted on July 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Andrew D highlights some of the competitive State House races and how the candidates are doing with fundraising. Most impressive is Mark Strama, but Kelly White and Hubert Vo, both of whom you’ll be seeing on Texas Tuesdays in the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 1 Comment

Oh, you meant those records!

Posted on July 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

So it turns out that all those records about George W. Bush’s TANG service in 1972 were not “inadvertently” destroyed after all. They were “inadvertently oversighted”, or something like that, instead. Still no actual indication what Bush was doing during … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 2 Comments

Jackson Lee responds to Bazan

Posted on July 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has responded to a claim by independent candidate Tom Bazan that she failed to file her candidacy papers for the Democratic primary on time in January. U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, asked a state district … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | 2 Comments

Expanding term limits

Posted on July 24, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Since 1991, the city of Houston has had term limits in place for municipal offices – three two-year terms for a given office: Council, whether district or at-large; Comptroller; Mayor. Since not long after 1991, there’s been a push to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 2 Comments

A matter of perspective

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I thought the whole Annie Jacobsen story was an embarrassment from the beginning, but after reading this, I wouldn’t want to leave the house any time soon if I were Ms. Jacobsen. Undercover federal air marshals on board a June … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 1 Comment

Congrats to Jay Allen!

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Major congrats to Jay Allen, creator of the indispensible MT Blacklist for winning the grand prize in the Movable Type 3.0 Plugin Contest. If you use Movable Type and you’re not using MT Blacklist, you’re probably spending way more time … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 1 Comment

GOP vs. the courts

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t often comment on national news, mostly because there are so many other fine outlets for such things, but I have a few words to say about the attempt by the Republicans in Congress to force DOMA-related lawsuits out … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | 10 Comments

Coors marries Molson

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Meet Molson Coors Brewing. Adolph Coors Co. agreed Thursday to inherit a Canadian cousin and take a back seat in naming rights under the proposed Molson Coors Brewing Co. In what company officials described as a merger of equals, Pete … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | 6 Comments

Yates improving in hospital

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Andrea Yates is doing better at the psychiatric hospital in Galveston, though she’s still clearly very ill. Andrea Yates, who three years ago drowned her children in a bathtub, was reported to be improving in a hospital here Thursday although … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 5 Comments

Ethics panel delays DeLay

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t see anything in Google News yet, but according to this Roll Call article, sent to me by the ever-vigilant AJ Garcia, the House Ethics Committee has exercised its option to put off doing anything on the complaint by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Ethics panel delays DeLay

Phil Rizzuto Park

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Hey, they named a park in New Jersey after Phil Rizzuto, the Yankees’ Hall of Fame shortstop and broadcaster. Holy Cow! Former New York Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto was on hand Wednesday to dedicate a park named in his honor. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 4 Comments

Playing the ponies with Perry

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

All of you who are surprised to hear that Governor Perry received large campaign contributions from horse racing interests shortly before the special session in which he proposed to allow slot machines at horse tracks, raise your hands. No one? … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Playing the ponies with Perry

Texas Tuesdays on ActBlue

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve set up an ActBlue page for all of the Texas Tuesdays Congressional candidates (ActBlue is for federal candidates only, so no State Rep hopefuls). It’ll serve as a repository for links to the profile/interview posts that we’ve done and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Texas Tuesdays | 2 Comments

New frontiers in recruiting

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Via Women’s Hoops and Off Wing Opinion comes this article from The Oregonian about how modern coaches are recruiting players to their college programs. Pam Stackhouse spent a recent workday making phone calls, writing letters and sending e-mails lobbying high … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 4 Comments

The Democrats of Williamson County

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not easy being a Democrat in Williamson County these days. With the Democratic National Convention set to unfold next week in Boston, the county’s Democratic candidates aren’t giving voters much to cheer about. Unlike decades past, when they dominated … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on The Democrats of Williamson County

House Ethics Committee meets today

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The House Ethics Committee meets today, and judging from the comments of Chairman Joel Hefley, it looks like they know how to stay bought: “The so-called good government groups always want us to do an outside counsel,” said committee Chairman … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on House Ethics Committee meets today

Badnarik in, Nader suing

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Libertarian Party candidate for President Michael Badnarik will be on the Texas ballot in November. Election officials announced Tuesday that the Libertarian Party has met the requirements to get its candidates on the November second ballot in Texas. As a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 3 Comments

DriveDemocracy blog

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

New blog in town, from Drive Democracy, featuring “Drive Democracy Director Glenn Smith, former Texas Observer editor Geoff Rips, and one of Texas’ most experienced online activists, Nathan Wilcox” plus various Special Guest Stars. Their initial post is about economic … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | 4 Comments

Jim Bonham speaks

Posted on July 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Jim Bonham, executive director of the DCCC, has a guest post up at The Stakeholder which gives an update on Ginny Schrader and what it will take to get the full advantage of this new pickup opportunity. Given the excellent … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2004 | Comments Off on Jim Bonham speaks

A little electronic voting paranoia

Posted on July 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

The MIT Technology Review Blog points to these two discussions of electronic voting by David Pogue that are worth reading. In the second piece, he prints an email from my buddy Dan Wallach that ought to curl a few hairs … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on A little electronic voting paranoia

Oh, by the way – no special session

Posted on July 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

That sound you hear is the last dying breath of a special session on school finance reform. The Texas school funding crisis should be addressed along with a slew of other state budget demands during the Legislature’s regular January meeting, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 3 Comments

Big donors prefer Perry

Posted on July 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

If you want a preview of the 2006 Republican primary for Governor, here it is from the Fat Cat perspective. Some big Republican givers are choosing sides in the battle between Gov. Rick Perry and state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 3 Comments

Andrea Yates hospitalized

Posted on July 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

This is no surprise. Texas prison officials transferred Andrea Yates to John Sealy Hospital Monday because she has lost a significant amount of weight and her mental and physical condition has deteriorated, George Parnham said. “There’s just a blackness to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 10 Comments

Kenny Boy’s insider trading

Posted on July 21, 2004 by Charles Kuffner

Tom Kirkendall points to this Business Week article which gives an overview of the case that Kenny Boy Lay engaged in insider trading as Enron was imploding, and also explains why it’s the SEC and not the federal prosecutors who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Enronarama | Comments Off on Kenny Boy’s insider trading