Monthly Archives: May 2006

Email problems

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

FYI, my webhost is experiencing email delivery issues. The last email I received was at 11:20 AM. If you’ve been trying to reach me since then, I haven’t gotten it yet. You can try my alternate address, cakuffner – at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | Comments Off on Email problems

RIP, Lloyd Bentsen

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen has died at the age of 85. Bentsen, in failing health for more than a decade after a stroke in 1995, died at his home in Houston, said family spokesman Bill Maddox. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 1 Comment

On running against DeLay

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

The Morning News had a story on Sunday about The Big Buy (see my review here) and the possible Democratic strategy of running against Tom DeLay in November even though he won’t be on anyone’s ballot. “DeLay becomes a symbol,” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 2 Comments

Want to blog the convention? Read this first

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Are you a blogger who plans to go to the state Democratic Convention in Fort Worth and blog about it from there? If so, then read this first so you can get properly credentialled. While you’re reading that, here’s some … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on Want to blog the convention? Read this first

Mary Beth Harrell on Air America

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Via Eye on Williamson, here’s audio and a transcript (Word doc) of Mary Beth Harrell being interviewed on an Air America show called Your Local City. They’re going to have a bunch of candidates stopping by in the coming weeks, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 1 Comment

Those three little words: “Active hurricane season”

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Well, I’d say there’s good news and bad news in this. A hectic, above-normal tropical storm season could produce between four and six major hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico this year, but conditions don’t appear ripe … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | 5 Comments

RIP, Jack Cato

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Treasurer Jack Cato passed away earlier today. Cato, 70, has been county treasurer since 1999. From 1995 to 1998 he was the spokesman for the Houston Police Department. Cato also spent 25 years with KPRC-TV working as a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 3 Comments

Barry and The Babe

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose I should say something about Barry Bonds finally catching up to Babe Ruth in the career home run department. I addressed this topic almost three years ago when Bonds spoke publicly about his pursuit of 714 and ultimately … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 6 Comments

Fall out!

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I still don’t know what kind of political fallout there may be from Rick Perry signing HB3 into law, but that doesn’t stop me from writing about it at Kuff’s World. Come see me try to work it all out. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on Fall out!

Airport parking

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

The Sunday Chron had a story in the business section about fierce competition among the satellite parking lots at Intercontinental Airport. We entered the market as the only player somewhere upwards of 30 years ago, and today there’s got to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

Strayhorn makes her pitch

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Never one to let an opportunity pass by, Carole Keeton Strayhorn has announced that if elected Governor, she will repeal the new business tax. Here’s her press release (Word doc): “Gov. Perry said he was signing the largest tax increase … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 2 Comments

Asian-Americans and Democrats

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting article about demographic changes in Texas and their effect on the electoral landscape. The Asian-American community, which is approaching the growth rate of Latinos in some parts of Texas, contributes to a shifting demographic landscape that may eventually return … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on Asian-Americans and Democrats

Earle files one more appeal

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

What should be the last round of appeals in the Tom DeLay money laundering case has been filed by the Travis County DA’s office. Prosecutors in the case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay have asked Texas’ highest criminal court to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Earle files one more appeal

The Unofficial Fort Bend Survey is out

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Remember that survey by mail of Fort Bend County that was intended to take an unofficial pulse of who the Chosen One for CD22 should be? Well, the unofficial results are in, and unintentional humor is following quickly on its … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | 1 Comment

Net Neutrality update

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Couple of updates here on where Net Neutrality stands, from Art Brodsky and MyDD. It’s nice to see more Congressional candidates make an issue out of this (and kudos to David Harris and Tim Barnwell for being at the front … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on Net Neutrality update

“The Big Buy” premiere in Houston

Posted on May 20, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Tiffany and I attended the fundraiser/Houston premiere for The Big Buy last night. This was the first time she had seen the movie – I of course saw an earlier version that was released just prior to DeLay’s indictment in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on “The Big Buy” premiere in Houston

Report from the I-45 Design Workshop

Posted on May 20, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

The I-45 Design Workshop that I’ve mentioned before took place two weeks ago today, on May 6. Here’s a report from the event. John Wilson, president of the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention and a member of the I-45 Coalition, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Comments Off on Report from the I-45 Design Workshop

To boldly bid

Posted on May 20, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a Star Trek memorabilia auction at Christie’s. The Oct. 5-7 auction will take place on the 40th anniversary of the debut of the legendary sci-fi television show, which spun off five series and 10 movies. When informed of the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in TV and movies | Comments Off on To boldly bid

Interview with Henry Cuellar

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Vince scores a nice coup by getting an interview with US Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was unsuccessfully targeted in the March primary by many netroots activists, myself included. It’s a good read, and I join Vince in coming away from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on Interview with Henry Cuellar

Noriega and Reyes on the Bush border plan

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey writes about State Rep. Rick Noriega, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard and who fully expects to be one of those 6000 troops that President Bush is sending to the US-Mexico border. Greg has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on Noriega and Reyes on the Bush border plan

Evan Smith profile

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

As long as we’re talking about Texas Monthly, there was a nice piece in Wednesday’s Chron on its editor in chief, Evan Smith. Apparently, he’s also a 40-year-old ex-New Yorker. I’m definitely going to have to compare notes with the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on Evan Smith profile

Texas Monthly on Chris Bell

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Greg and Ryan both point to this Texas Monthly preview piece (available for the standard Limited Time Only) on Chris Bell‘s gubernatorial campaign. Lots of themes there that have been harped on here and elsewhere, plus some good background on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2006 | Comments Off on Texas Monthly on Chris Bell

Welcome to Houston. Need some directions?

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

According to a Mapquest survey, Houston is tough to navigate. Houston’s grid is jumbled and inconsistent. In the Heights, streets are numbered, but without reason numbers turn to letters. In downtown, street names change without clear definition. Gray and Alabama … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 13 Comments

WiFi chatting and bidding

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor White had his chat about the city’s WiFi plans last night. Mayor White, who is in no danger of setting speed records, nonetheless gamely manned the laptop and personally answered dozens of questions from some of the 650 people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 3 Comments

The TPBBEPPM

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the Texas Push-Button Bureaucracy-Eliminating Paper-Pusher Massacre, also known as the great Texas Health and Human Services Commission privatization scam. The article the describes it does a nice job on the history and current status of this fiasco. Link via … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on The TPBBEPPM

Second fundraiser showing of “The Big Buy” in Houston

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I mentioned before that there will be a fundraiser showing of The Big Buy this Friday at 7 PM at the Angelika Theater downtown. That showing is sold out, so there will be a second one immediately following, at 9 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scandalized! | Comments Off on Second fundraiser showing of “The Big Buy” in Houston

Survey(USA) says: Harris County is down on Bush

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

The latest 50 state approval ratings for President Bush are out, and they contain some surprisingly bad news for him in Harris County. I’ve got a post on it over at Kuff’s World. Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 3 Comments

Chat with the Mayor about WiFi

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

Tonight’s the night to chat with Mayor White about the citywide WiFi initiative. Go to HighTechTexan.com and create a user ID if you want to be able to ask a question. One point you can discuss, which Tory brings up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Chat with the Mayor about WiFi

Getting close to put up or shut up time

Posted on May 17, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to return to a theme for a minute here. Take a look at this bit from Gardner Selby‘s piece on why the special session was good for Governor Perry, where Selby discusses the potential downside. No matter how … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 5 Comments

Sine Die and see ya

Posted on May 16, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

So the Lege wrapped up its business yesterday and went home, having sent all of the tax-related bills to Governor Perry for his signature. So now what? Well, to start off wit, Perry is denying that the massive cut in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

Political blogs have influence – who knew?

Posted on May 16, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on this Chron story on the Netroots. I just have one question: Why wasn’t anything written about the political blog scene in Texas? There’s plenty of us out here, after … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | 2 Comments

WiFi conference call

Posted on May 16, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I got to participate last night in a conference call with Mayor White and the city’s Director of Information Technology Richard Lewis to talk about the upcoming WiFi rollout (see Dwight and Michael Garfield for a preview). The call was … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 1 Comment

Why Utah matters

Posted on May 16, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I just want to take a moment to endorse this response by Utah Democratic Party Chair Wayne Holland, Jr. to Paul Begala’s arrogant and condescending remarks about the 50 State Strategy. I can understand the tactical reasons for wanting to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on Why Utah matters

Wireless travellin’ blues

Posted on May 15, 2006 by Charles Kuffner

I’m here in Orlando for another exciting Wireless Enterprise Symposium, so bloggage may be a little light for the next few days. Click the More link for a picture of Olivia to make it up to you for that. Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Comments Off on Wireless travellin’ blues