Monthly Archives: October 2005

August and September traffic reports

Posted on October 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I managed to skip doing a traffic report last month amidst all the excitement. August and September were both pretty busy around here, with 56,000 hits in August and over 79,000 in September, which is a new alltime high around … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Traffic Reports | Comments Off on August and September traffic reports

Who knew he was such a delicate flower?

Posted on October 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

What do you call it when a prosecutor offers to let someone who’s facing felony charges plead to a misdemeanor? If you’re Tom DeLay, you call it coercion. The plea offer was mentioned in a letter to [ Travis County … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 4 Comments

Berra’s wisdom

Posted on October 18, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were wondering, it’s games like last night’s that Yogi Berra had in mind when he said that thing about it not being over until it’s over. Reversals of fortune don’t get much more whiplash-inducing than that. What … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 2 Comments

Eight for District B

Posted on October 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know a whole lot about the candidates in the race to replace term-limited Carole Mims Galloway in City Council District B this year, but since there’s not likely to be much more news coverage on that race than … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 15 Comments

Congrats to the White Sox

Posted on October 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations to the White Sox for winning the American League pennant and thus finally killing their Lack Of Good Marketing Curse. I’m glad that nobody really cares about the agonies of being a White Sox fan – 88 years since … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 7 Comments

Texas Bigfoot redux

Posted on October 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

You may recall from my previous post on the Texas Bigfoot Research Center that they have an annual conference in the fall to discuss the state of Bigfoot research. Well, that conference was this past weekend. One can only imagine … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 3 Comments

Year of the Independent…or not

Posted on October 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

From the Governing Magazine blog, on the possibility that 2006 will see a rise in independent candidates at the statewide level: I can’t name a single credible candidate for governor in 2006 who isn’t a Democrat or Republican. I can’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 1 Comment

More proposition positions

Posted on October 17, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Karl-T has the official positions of the Young Conservatives of Texas on the nine ballot propositions. Some of them, notably Prop 1, are in agreement with those of the University Democrats. Make of that what you will. Karl-T will have … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | Comments Off on More proposition positions

Is this the best the pro-Prop 2 folks can do?

Posted on October 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I knew when I saw dueling op-eds on Prop 2 today that the one advocating a vote in favor of the Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment would be disingenuous and evasive. It’s hard to see what else it could … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 1 Comment

Chron At Large endorsements

Posted on October 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Just noting for the record that the Chron made unsurprising endorsements in all four contested At Large City Council races – Peter Brown, Jay Aiyer, Shelley Sekula Somethingorother, and Michael Berry. I’d have thought they’d do a separate piece for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 1 Comment

CD28: Ciro’s in

Posted on October 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

It’s official: Ciro Rodriguez is running to reclaim his CD28 seat from Rep. Henry Cuellar, joining State Rep. Richard Raymond in what is sure to be a contentious three-way primary. All I can say is that I hope this one … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 2 Comments

Take the ActBlue poll

Posted on October 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The folks at ActBlue, who did such a stellar job of streamlining the process of making online contributions to Congressional and Senatorial candidates last year, are looking to expand to all 50 states for state races. We made heavy use … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 1 Comment

Koufax fundraising

Posted on October 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The fine folks at Wampum are holding a fundraising drive to help them defray the costs of the annual Koufax Awards process. As detailed here, they don’t really have any other viable options for making this less expensive on themselves. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Koufax fundraising

Dueling over documentation

Posted on October 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this sort of thing is never good for prosecutors: The Travis County DA’s office has said that they do not have a list of Texas candidates who received money alleged to have been laundered through the Republican National Committee, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Dueling over documentation

You can have my ferret when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers

Posted on October 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

What exactly is one to make of a story like this? A student has filed an Americans With Disabilities Act complaint against a university because it won’t let her keep her pet ferret at her dormitory. Freshman Sarah Sevick, 19, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 2 Comments

What makes you laugh?

Posted on October 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Time for a little lighter fare: Amanda asks the question “What makes you laugh every time you see it, no matter how many times you see a movie?” I can think of several movies that always work for me, but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 13 Comments

CHIP applications

Posted on October 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I know there’s a lot of screwed up stuff going on at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, what with their cost-ineffective privatization and all, but you’d think they could still get the basics right. As detailed in a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on CHIP applications

Malone’s move to KHMX

Posted on October 15, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story about Sam Malone replacing Roula and Ryan on Mix 96.5, which as you can see from the comments here is generating a lot of complaints from R&R fans. I’ll admit that you won’t get rich betting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Comments Off on Malone’s move to KHMX

Strategic split

Posted on October 14, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Tom DeLay may want a speedy trial for the money laundering charges on which he’s been indicted, but that’s not the case for his codefendants. Two associates of Rep. Tom DeLay were released today on $10,000 personal bonds as their … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 2 Comments

More propositioning

Posted on October 14, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Local Voter has a summary page of the nine Constitutional amendments on the ballot this November, along with a more in-depth section on Prop 2, the Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage amendment, which the Harris County Democratic Party now officially … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 1 Comment

Aiyer/Lovell debate roundup

Posted on October 14, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Should have linked to these sooner, but here we go now. On Tuesday the Harris County Democratic Party hosted a debate between Jay Aiyer and Sue Lovell, both of whom are candidates for the open City Council At Large #2 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | Comments Off on Aiyer/Lovell debate roundup

Lottery commission close to naming new boss

Posted on October 14, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

There are nine finalists, including one familiar name, for the job of Texas Lottery Director. A special search committee will begin Friday to interview nine finalists for the position, whittled down from 126 applicants. Only one of the nine people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Jackpot! | Comments Off on Lottery commission close to naming new boss

Phone calls and more subpoenas

Posted on October 14, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The subpoenas continue to fly in and out of Travis County. Travis County prosecutors subpoenaed telephone records for DeLay’s home, mobile phone and campaign office from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2002. District Attorney Ronnie Earle also sought telephone records … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 2 Comments

Double duty

Posted on October 13, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Local radio DJ Sam Malone is about to be a very busy guy. He already does his thing on 740 AM from 10 till noon on weekdays. And now, as seen on the KHMX home page, he’ll be their new … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 98 Comments

TAMU-SA

Posted on October 13, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Plans to build a branch of Texas A&M University in south San Antonio have hit a snag over concerns about how committed A&M is to building it. Mayor Phil Hardberger said Tuesday he wants a solid commitment from Texas A&M … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 4 Comments

GOP targets for the State House: HD03 and HD41

Posted on October 13, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

We’re finally starting to see some GOP challenger action in the State House. The Quorum Report gives a two-sided look at HD03, which was one of the closest races from last year: Former Franklin County GOP chairman Kirby Hollingsworth is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 1 Comment

New frontiers in video on demand

Posted on October 13, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

I know that the ads shown during the Super Bowl are popular and all, but I’m not so sure about this. The NFL plans to pull together a half-hour show consisting of this year’s Super Bowl television ads for its … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | 1 Comment

Harrell’s announcement

Posted on October 13, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Mary Beth Harrell made the official announcement of her bid to unseat Rep. John Carter in CD31 on Tuesday. Eye on Williamson has the details. UPDATE: Ah, good, there is press coverage of this. BOR has more. Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | Comments Off on Harrell’s announcement

Anti-Earle ads coming

Posted on October 12, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Via PinkDome, Josh Marshall and email to me, I see that an outfit called the Free Enterprise Fund is going to be running anti-Ronnie Earle ads on TV, starting in Austin and going nationwide. Here’s a story in Roll Call … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 3 Comments

HISD coverage

Posted on October 12, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron gives some coverage to the HISD I open seat race and the three candidates in it, all of whom attended a candidates’ forum at Hamilton Middle School on Monday night. Richard Cantú, 36, director of Mayor Bill White’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2005 | 3 Comments

ACLU of Texas blog

Posted on October 12, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Via Scott, I see that the ACLU of Texas has its own blog now. I think that’s great – really, at this point, I have a hard time understanding why any advocacy group wouldn’t have a blog of some kind. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on ACLU of Texas blog

Bell’s ethics platform

Posted on October 12, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

As previously noted, Chris Bell’s plan for ethics reform is now available. Many of these ideas have been floated before, some of them in the 2005 legislative session. All of them strike me as common sense, but they’ve never had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 1 Comment

DeGuerin’s gambit

Posted on October 12, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

No one would ever accuse Dick DeGuerin of being fainthearted. Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay’s attorneys turned the tables on a Texas prosecutor today, delivering a subpoena to compel his testimony about his conduct with grand jurors. The prosecutor refused to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | 2 Comments

The Halloween Season

Posted on October 12, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Why is Astroworld staying open through October 30 now that it’s announced its closing? Because October is a busy time at theme parks, thanks to a surge in interest for Halloween and haunted houses in recent years. Not so long … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 1 Comment