08 March 2009
John Keeling concedes area hotel occupancy is down
We were amused by this recent appearance in the Chronicle by hospitality consultant/advocate John Keeling:
Houston-area hotel occupancy is expected to fall to 63.9 percent this year, down from 67.9 percent in 2008, according to analyst John Keeling.
The industry is facing a rough year as individual business and meeting travel slows and more hotel rooms are added to the market.
[snip]
Revenue per available room, a key indicator of financial performance, will be off 6.1 percent.
But the market should turn around early next year when demand is expected to exceed the increase in supply, said Keeling, senior vice president of PKF Consulting.
The reporting did not add, ".... at which time, even if there is no rebound, Keeling can be expected to be out shilling for a new Astrodome Hotel, or a new downtown City of Houston hotel venture, or any number of other big hotel boondoggles." But you can just about bet on it!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/08/09 09:56 PM |
Why not just reprint the press release?
Matt Bramanti calls our attention to this story by Chron reporter Todd Ackerman.
As Bramanti notes, a number of phrases in the reporting seem to be lifted from this press release with hardly any change (and no attribution).
It's not the first time that Ackerman has been caught engaging in really lazy journalism (whether you care to call it something else is your prerogative). Why does the Chronicle allow it to continue?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/08/09 09:43 PM |
Ruffled feathers: Recent Chron METRO, county coverage prompts responses from public officials
Chron transit reporter Rosanna Ruiz is shaping up so far to be much more diligent and probing than her two most recent predecessors on the beat. METRO isn't quite used to the local newspaper being anything but a PR outlet for its proclamations, and one official apparently wasn't too happy with a recent headline. Spokesperson Raequel Roberts also felt the need to write to the Chronicle recently to clarify some matters:
Houston Metro encourages everyone to ride Metro, including Chronicle reporters. (Please see “An inside look at Metro bus commute,” Monday.) To neophytes, riding transit can take some time to master. We have a project under way to straighten out routes that have evolved over the years into zigzag patterns. Any visitor to New York City finds venturing into the subway system a bit daunting, but a day or two of experience leaves many singing the praises of the system. It’s a maturation we often observe with first-time riders to MetroRail.
We are glad the reporter noticed Metro’s buses are clean. We were, however, perplexed by the statement that one must input intersections, not addresses, to use our trip planner. The trip planner works with addresses, as it does with landmarks. We recently added Google Transit to our site as an added form of assistance.
On the matter of fares and our operators: Operators monitor fares to look for abuses of the system, but their primary responsibility is to drive buses safely and adhere to schedules. Buses lurching and creaking? Well, they’re buses, not limousines. Metro isn’t perfect — we’ve fixed a clogged drain that caused leaking on the bus the reporter rode — but we provide a valuable, clean and safe service for one of the lowest fares in the U.S.
These points merited a letter taking issue with the newspaper's coverage? The skin seems to be pretty thin at METRO headquarters these days. As for the bolded comment, one can only wonder what has taken so long, as METRO's route system has long needed a makeover beyond the usual "service improvements" we've discussed before.
Elsewhere on the Chron metro/state pages, Liz Austin Peterson has apparently ruffled some feathers in Harris County government (another beat that hasn't been covered all that well in the past by the Chronicle) with a recent report on drivers for the Sheriff and County Judge. Like many commenters, bloggers, and even our friend Chris Baker, we aren't that bothered by the notion that the Harris County Sheriff and Harris County Judge might need a professional driver/security detail from time to time. On its face, it doesn't necessarily seem like an unwise or inappropriate use of tax dollars, although Commissioner's Court probably would like to be kept better informed on these matters. (Then again, if he were being fully honest, one quoted commissioner might admit that it's a LOT more fun talking about this kinda-not-really "scandal" than his own).
Still, we were a little surprised to see Sheriff Garcia and Judge Emmett's office react so strongly to the story, in terms of this letter to the editor and various comments on local blogs. We're always interested in seeing facts reported accurately and different perspectives represented in stories, but we're also interested in reporters getting stories out there and letting readers/voters decide how important they are. So we hope Peterson isn't dissuaded by the strong reaction from public officials.
What say you?
UPDATE (03-09-2009): METRO is even more thin-skinned than we thought. The Chron apparently cut Raequel Roberts much-too-lengthy letter, so it has been reposted by METRO's very expensive blogger Mary Sit on their blog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/08/09 09:25 PM |
05 March 2009
Ready-Fire-Aim: METRO board approves rail contract nobody else has seen
METRO's board has unanimously approved the big rail contract that the public was not allowed to see or debate before the big vote yesterday and which, they contend, was still being negotiated right up to the vote (ready-fire-aim!).
Rosanna Ruiz's coverage for the Chronicle is here.
Instead of offering our opinion, we're gonna throw this one open to readers. What do you think about METRO's $1.46 billion deal (and the gazillion jobs that METRO says it will create)?
Okay, we'll offer one little bit of opinion -- here's hoping these projects turn out better than the Main Street line, with its fine record of collisions (with cars, people, and even wheelchairs), ongoing stray current problems and water art turned to eyesore (photo via Michael Berry). Because a lot of your money is at stake.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/05/09 09:00 PM |
Chron E-Edition signup/purchase process = Monumental FAIL (updated)
We recently commented on the news that Hearst newspaper executives are discussing putting some of their online content behind a paid firewall and raising subscriber rates. Locally, there has been something of a backlash to that news, as reflected in various blog posts and their comments.
I seem to be in the minority in that I do think there is content in the Houston Chronicle worth paying for. I wonder what all the people who insist that online news should be "free" are going to blockquote and comment on when the local newspaper's revenues can no longer support the sorts of coverage of local affairs we've seen from Brad Olson, Carolyn Feibel, Rosanna Ruiz, Matt Stiles, and others. And I just can't quite believe they think Yahoo/AP sports coverage is a substitute for real sports beat writers (although the Chron sports section is weak weak weak).
But I'll admit, I haven't subscribed to print delivery for a long time. Like many people, I'll skim the paper copy in the office sometimes, and pick up a print edition here and there. Because I like to travel, I don't want newspapers cluttering my yard advertising "Hey, I'm gone -- come take my stuff," and I don't want the hassle of turning the delivery on and off. So I prefer online copy, but only partly because it's "free."
Someone recently reminded me of the Chronicle e-edition, which is effectively a pdf version of the print newspaper. That seems like a perfect solution for someone who actually wants to see a "print" newspaper from time to time. And if Hearst is planning on charging me for some content anyway in short order, why not just go all in with an e-edition subscription? The price is certainly right ($4.95/month).
And so it began. Yesterday, I went to subscribe, and was presented with a request for a physical address for delivery. That didn't seem quite right. Since the Chronicle has been known to throw promotional newspapers that people don't want, I decided an email to the Chron was in order, because I really do not want print newspaper delivery (see above). Reader (or should that be customer service?) rep Jim Newkirk responded quickly to my query, and assured that the info was merely for tracking and billing purposes, and that no print newspaper would ever be thrown, nor would any carrier ever have access to the address info.
Good! I went to sign up for the Chronicle e-edition today, entered my email and physical address and credit card info, and got this announcement after a short time (during which I foolishly assumed credit card info was being verified and temporary username/password were being generated):
Thank you!
Your request has been sent to our Subscriber Services department. If appropriate, one of our Subscriber Services representatives will contact you regarding your request via telephone or by e-mail if you provided an e-mail address. You can use our automated phone service 24 hours a day at 713-220-7211 or 1-888-220-7211. Our associates are available to help you on Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m..
Orders placed on the weekend will be processed in the next 2 - 3 business days of placing the order.
The year is 2009, I've just tried to engage in e-commerce and support my local newspaper, and I'm getting a customer service message that reads like something from the 70s?
It gets worse. A few minutes later, I got this email:
Dear Kevin Whited,
Thank you for becoming a Houston Chronicle subscriber.
Your Houston Chronicle should begin arriving at your home within two business days of placing your order. If you haven't received your Chronicle by that time, please let us know.
Our top priority is providing you with first-rate customer service. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.
If you need further assistance, please contact a Subscriber Services representative using one of the following options: 713-220-7211 or toll-free at 1-888-220-7211.
In addition, if you would like information on placing classified advertising (there has to be something in your garage that you can sell!) please call our Classified hotline at 713-362-6868 and one of our friendly representatives can get you set up and selling withing minutes.
Thank you again for choosing the Houston Chronicle.
The Chronicle can't pull off a simple e-commerce transaction that should result in my receiving a username/password to their "e-edition" product immediately, they send out a form email describing a product I did not order (home delivery), and Hearst executives think they are going to start charging for online content shortly? Umm, I JUST TRIED TO BUY ONLINE CONTENT AND YOU ARE MAKING IT A PAIN IN MY ARSE!
Wow.
I once had trouble imagining a world without newspaper newsrooms engaged in local reporting, but I have to say that the people on the business and customer-service end of things sure seem to be doing their part to bring that world about.
Now, I'm going to email the Chron's reader rep again and see if he can help me to get a username and password for the service I just tried to purchase, rather than waiting two business days to see what happens (will they toss the username/password on my driveway?) and then calling a "Subscriber Services representative" (on the phone, perhaps with menu trees and hold times! whee!). I'll update the post when/if I manage to get access to the product I just tried to purchase from my local newspaper.
UPDATE (2:15 PM): The reader rep must have passed my email on to someone, because I just got a voicemail message from a pleasant sounding woman who informed me that I had received an incorrect email, and that I was NOT subscribed to print home delivery. Rather, I'm subscribed to the Chronicle electronic edition. And if I have any questions, I can call her back.
That's it. No further useful information, like, say, my username/password. I will follow up later, perhaps. Or maybe I'll just wait and see if I ever receive a username/password.
UPDATE (03-06-2009, 7:15 am): I received my username and password via email this morning, and am trying to access the product. Login was fine, but the iBrowse newspaper pages refuse to load in Firefox on my work PC. They load in Google Chrome just fine, and the product seems pretty good (nice pdf-style reproduction of the actual Chron pages). I'll try Firefox on my home machine tonight and report on that. I am pleased to report that all sections seem to be reproduced (including the Fry's ad, yay!).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/05/09 11:40 AM |
04 March 2009
Undercover Man looks at Mobility Response Team (Part 3)
Last night, KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino continued his look at Mayor White's Mobility Response Team.
City Controller and mayoral candidate Annise Parker even weighed in:
"This is a failure of training. It's a failure of leadership. It's a failure of supervision," said Parker. "And it ends up as a waste of taxpayer dollars."
[snip]
Parker added, "It's a great idea in theory and it probably could be a very good idea in practice, but it's a disaster."
That sounds familiar!
The full report from Tuesday can be found here. Once again, be sure to click on the video link for the full Undercover Man effect.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/04/09 10:26 PM |
03 March 2009
METRO: We'll release public information when we feel like it
The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz reports today that METRO refuses to hand over any information about the multi-billion dollar contract that it will vote on tomorrow:
The Metropolitan Transit Authority continued to withhold the anticipated overall price tag on its next four light rail lines Tuesday in advance of Wednesday's board vote on a contract with Parsons Transportation Group.
Metro spokesman George Smalley said the cost, which he described only as “more than $1 billion,” would not be disclosed until just before the board of directors votes on the contract Wednesday afternoon.
[snip]
Earlier this week, Wolff defended the agency’s silence, saying negotiations likely would continue until the last possible moment before the vote and the terms likely would change.
Ruiz quotes friend Jennifer Peebles of Texas Watchdog:
“If the public can’t find out what’s going on until two seconds before the board makes a decision, that’s just too late,” said Jennifer Peebles, of the nonpartisan Texas Watchdog. “If they are not giving details before the vote and not allowing us a chance to weigh in, they’re making decisions in a bubble.”
Peebles elaborates in this Texas Watchdog blog post.
Right on!
Readers of blogHOUSTON will not be surprised that METRO is being secretive with what should be the public's information, since frequent commenter Tom Bazan is regularly given the runaround by the organization when he requests information. Rosanna Ruiz's predecessors never seemed that interested in the organization's efforts to deny information to the public -- or, for that matter, METRO President and CEO Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson's shady background -- so it's nice to see Ruiz reporting more aggressively on the organization.
Unfortunately, it seems as if we're only going to get the information when METRO is good and ready for us to get the information.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Fireballs, Lightning Bolts, and Hell Storms.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/09 09:44 PM |
Alvarado: Fiddling while Rome burns
We had to borrow from a recent post by Clear Thinker Tom Kirkendall, because the headline was our immediate reaction to this news about Carol Alvarado's big proposal:
State Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, who as a City Council member spearheaded Houston's smoking ban, has introduced legislation than would eliminate trans fats from Texas restaurants.
Alvarado, serving her first term in the Texas House, plans to discuss the bill on Thursday at Ibiza in Midtown. The bill would ban trans fats, often used to boost the shelf life of foods, in all Texas restaurants. It also would require that prepared and served foods contain less than a half gram per serving, according to a news release....
Recession? Budget shortfall? Ike rebuilding?
Feh. Rep. Alvarado is focused on trans fats.
At least she's out of municipal government and in a place where she, individually, can't do much harm to Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/09 09:05 PM |
Quanell strikes back
Episode I:
First he gets slapped with a lawsuit for defamation.
Episode III:
Quanell is filing a lawsuit against the three HPD officers suing him. He is claiming that their lawsuit is violating his civil rights. In other words, Quanell is doing what he accused the officers of doing. He is trying to stifle any criticism of him now, and possibly in the future, again lending credibility to the mentality that public servants have neither rights nor voice.
To be clear here, I am not saying that public servants should never be questioned. What I am saying is that the usual critics should also be questioned, especially when they are shown to be wrong. If a critic is going to jump in front of a camera, then that critic shouldn't get his feelings hurt when someone criticizes him.
Posted by Jason @ 03/03/09 11:04 AM |
Undercover Man looks at Mobility Response Team (Part 2)
Last night, KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino continued his investigative reporting on Mayor White's Mobility Response Team program. Here's is an excerpt, although the video is even more fun:
The lights were working. The train was doing its thing. The officers weren't directing traffic. They didn't even walk in the street. They were just hanging out on the sidewalk.
In fact, the only thing blocking traffic on Congress was the city mobility van, parked in a moving lane of traffic, surrounded by those emergency traffic cones.
"I can't imagine what the guy was thinking," said Asst. Chief Vicki King of the Houston Police Department.
I'm guessing it might have been something like, "Dang, this is a sweet gig. Government jobs programs RAWK!"
The full story is here. Be sure to click the "watch video" box if you want the full Undercover Man experience.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/09 10:12 AM |
02 March 2009
Chron Move It columnist recaps experiences riding METRO buses
Chronicle Move It columnist Rosanna Ruiz has been commuting by bus in recent days, and recaps some of the experiences in today's column, which is not exactly a ringing endorsement of transit in Houston:
For rookie riders, the bus system can take some time to figure out. You must first make sense of the tangle of routes and transfers that can require an abundance of time to get to a destination.
The trip planner on Metro’s Web site can frustrate, too. Intersections, rather than street addresses, are required, which then should result in a handful of options. Miss your bus and another may not arrive within the hour.
A trip from my home to the Chronicle took about 45 minutes on the bus, plus walking a few blocks. A typical drive into work usually requires 15 minutes.
The first day of my Metro odyssey involved six buses, two more than necessary.
After an assignment, I mindlessly took a bus heading in the wrong direction. The other was a case of the right route, but the wrong bus. The result was an additional hour to my commute.
The rest of the column contains various observations about other bus patrons, bus drivers, and even the mechanical condition of the buses.
Although not as *ahem* colorful as some of Laurence Simon's past recaps of the METRO experience, it's good to see the Chron transit columnist actually checking out the daily performance of the main transit organization on her beat. That's more curiosity than we saw from her predecessor over a number of years.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/02/09 10:11 PM |
01 March 2009
Undercover Man looks at Mobility Response Team
KTRK-13 has been busy promoting Wayne Dolcefino's latest investigative effort.
Apparently, the Undercover Man's latest series will examine the Mobility Response Team, Mayor White's program in which various scooter patrols zip around and help solve minor traffic snafus.
The reporting is supposed to start on the 10 o'clock broadcast tonight (Sunday). Feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments if you catch the report. We'll add a link once it's online.
UPDATE: The text of Dolcefino's story is posted here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/09 09:28 PM |
Chronicle Trying To Slide in a Half-Fact
The Chronicle reported on the death of a naked Conroe man who fought the police and was tased. At the very end of the article the Chronicle tried to slip in their usual opinion on the subject of tasers.
The Houston Police Department started using Tasers in 2004. A Houston Chronicle analysis showed that HPD officers deployed their Tasers 1,724 times between December 2004 and May 2008, triggering 69 internal affairs investigations.Wow! At first glance, 69 internal affairs investigations sound like a lot. The Chronicle has long been against the use of tasers, especially on people who resist police officers. The Chronicle fails to reveal if any of those IAD investigations were found to be sustained against the officer. The Chronicle had a story in 2008, revealing the results of an audit of taser use. While the archive link isn't working, KPRC had the same story. A blog post shows the faults of reading these numbers to fit a particular agenda. Even though I couldn't get the original Chronicle article to link I did find this quote:
The report noted 55 complaints filed against police officers for using their Tasers, only three of which resulted in discipline.Hmmm . .. originally 3 out of 55 complaints resulted in any disciplinary action. Nice try Chronicle!
Posted by Jason @ 03/01/09 09:27 PM |
Does Bill White hate puppies? (cont'd)
KHOU-11's Brad Woodard documents the latest problems at BARC:
BARC recently let one veterinarian go and suspended another, who has now resigned. This means that there is just one chief veterinarian left. She was off last weekend, but on call.
“She was called to consult with the vet techs. We have several vet technicians who work all the time, and there are certain tasks they can do simply on standing orders from the chief veterinarian,” said Kathy Barton, who is the spokesperson for the organization.
But there are certain tasks, the veterinarian technicians can't do.
Over this past weekend when the chief veterinarian was off, records seem to indicate some of the dogs brought in over the weekend were vaccinated for rabies.
But according to state law, the veterinarian technicians are not allowed to do this.
“It has to be done in direct supervision by a board certified veterinarian, which means they need to be in the same room and observe the vaccine being given,” said Rosser.
Barton says BARC is doing the best it can under the circumstances and aggressively seeking replacement vets.
The constant criticism, she says, isn't helping.
Unfortunately, neither patience nor task forces have helped, so constant criticism and media attention are about all that would seem to be left to motivate our mayor, who is angling for statewide office, to focus on improving the awful conditions at BARC right here in Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/09 09:09 PM |
Swamplot: Ashby high-rise developers rejected again
The invaluable Swamplot blog posts an update on the Ashby high rise project, whose developers saw their latest proposal rejected (unsurprisingly) by city bureaucrats who understand very well that Mayor White doesn't want the plans approved.
Swamplot notes that the Chronicle's Mike Snyder has blogged that since one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, perhaps the developers have just been trying to build a record for a lawsuit all along. Well, Snyder doesn't quite blog that -- rather, unnamed "observers" are said to feel this way. Snyder further notes,
The developers are portraying this case as an example of heavy-handed and inequitable city regulation that all developers should worry about.
A more thoughtful criticism is that some of us are worried about non-transparent government that seemingly changes the rules in the middle of the game because certain elites in the city have the mayor's cellphone number and don't want high-density development in their neighborhood.
Swamplot also notes that in contrast to Snyder, the Houston Business Journal does not downplay the changes proposed by the developers:
In order to address traffic concerns, Buckhead recently made some changes to the project design and commissioned an expanded traffic study.
Under the new plan, the Ashby driveway would only be used as an emergency exit. Buckhead also relocated the main driveway on Bissonnet to the center of the project, instead of having it on the east end of the site.
“It optimizes the traffic movements in and out of the driveway from both directions,” Morgan says.
All quibbling about the extent of the changes aside, we do concur with Snyder's characterization in this sense: it is indeed insane to think that any bureaucrat is going to sign off on the last roadblock to this project so long as Mayor (Boss Hogg?) White remains in office and he (and fellow elites) remain opposed to it. We know how The Houston Way works.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/09 08:43 PM |
Qualitative Survey: What parts of Chron.com would you pay for (or not)?
Banjo Jones calls our attention to this Wall Street Journal blog post, in which Steven Swartz, president of Hearst newspapers (which include our Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News), indicates that Heart newspapers plan to start charging for some online content, and charging print subscribers even more (for a shrinking product). Here's an excerpt from Swartz's memo:
We believe we must begin to provide greater differentiation between the content of our free Web sites and the content of our paid product, be that paid product read in print, on a digital device like Amazon’s Kindle, or online. This doesn’t mean we wall off our Web sites behind a paid barrier. Our sites must continue to be the superior and dominant free Web sites in their markets. This means they must offer the best in breaking news, staff and reader blogs, community databases and photo galleries. In fact, we need to expand the number of reporters, editors and photographers who are running a truly great blog, creating a rich dialogue of opinion and data sharing. We must do a far better job of reaching out to prominent citizens in our communities, those who already have a blog and those who don’t, and providing them a prominent platform to state their views. We must develop a rich network of correspondents to help us grow the deepest hyper-local community microsites in our markets. We must do a better job of linking to other great sources of content in our communities. And we must put staff resources behind building those channels of interest that have the greatest potential: those built around pro sports teams, moms and high school sports, to name a few. Exactly how much paid content to hold back from our free sites will be a judgment call made daily by our management, whose mission should be to run the best free Web sites in our markets without compromising our ability to get a fair price from consumers for the expensive, unique reporting and writing that we produce each day.
We must continue to ask readers to pay more for their subscriptions. Our print subscribers don’t pay us enough today that we can say they are actually paying for content. Rather, we only ask readers to pay for a portion of the cost of printing the paper on newsprint and delivering it to the reader’s doorstep. We must gradually, but persistently, change this practice.
I have no objection in theory to paying for quality local content, since the Chronicle has the resources to cover local/state better than any other Houston news organization -- stuff like critical urban, county, and state reporting, food and drink reviews, arts, and sports. Unfortunately, the local newspaper's coverage of county affairs is spotty, cheerleading on urban issues like rail has sometimes displaced quality, watchdog reporting, and the fare offered by most of the sports and opinion columnists (and editorial board) is weak, making "local" harder to sell than it should be for any newspaper. I have no need for this newspaper's rewrite of national, international, and entertainment stories covered by many other, higher-quality outlets, and would not want to pay for that.
What parts of the Chronicle would you be willing (or unwilling) to pay for to read online? Why (or why not)?
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Unca Darrell, Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/09 01:03 PM |
28 February 2009
The family that slays together, stays together...
A father and son have been charged with the February 21 murder of Walter Ventura. I used to patrol this area and know exactly which strip center they are talking about.
Police investigations led to 20-year-old Yovanni Valverde, who authorities say is a known gang member, and his father, Angel Guzman Valverde, 36. The older man was arrested in Houston. and the younger was found in Austin late last week. Both remain at the Harris County Jail.Wow! Usually these guys run off on the kids. Talk about staying together!
Posted by Jason @ 02/28/09 11:14 PM |
27 February 2009
Anyone for a tea party?
Are you among the many who didn't realize "change" and "hope" meant your national government's already profligate spending was going to skyrocket, conveniently funding (err, "stimulating") all sorts of Democratic pork projects, interest groups, and pet priorities?
If so, then you might want to join Houston's version of the Tea Party protests that have sprung up around the country. Here are the details, courtesy of the Houston group's facebook page:
Date: Friday, February 27, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Fondren Green at Discovery Green Park!!! Right in front of Amphitheatre!![snip]
Meet in Downtown Houston to protest the stimulus!
FONDREN LAWN AT DISCOVERY GREEN!
11 am brown bag tea party and ROUND UP!Wear your GO TEXAN gear and bring your tea!
NO TAXATION WITHOUT DELIBERATION!!!
REPEAL ALL IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING OR WE'LL RETIRE YOU!!!
[snip]
Few simple rules, :
NO: breaking the law (e.g., loitering, vandalism)
NO: violence (physical or verbal)
NO: Offensive displays or messagesJUST: good cheer & a positive sense of public engagement & a smile & the message that our ideas work better!
It looks to be a beautiful day, so if you can actually shake free from your jobs (you know, the productive endeavor that funds the beast), this might be a worthwhile way to get a little sun and express your opinion.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/27/09 08:12 AM |
25 February 2009
Clarence Bradford just wants to serve YOU
Failed Harris County DA candidate and former HPD police chief Clarence Bradford apparently came out of hiding long enough today to announce that he's running for City Council. Here is an excerpt from Alan Bernstein's reporting for the Chronicle:
Less than four months after losing a close race for Harris County district attorney, former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford announced today that he is running for an at-large seat on the city council.
Bradford is aiming for the at-large #4 seat being vacated by Ronald Green, who is running for controller.[snip]
Bradford, a lawyer and security consultant, indicated in a written statement to news media that he is launching his second candidacy in two years because he wants to serve the public again.
[snip]
Bradford served as police chief from 1997 to 2003, when he retired amid a series of controversies such as errors and faked results by police crime lab personnel.
Oops, never mind. Apparently, Clarence Bradford remains in hiding. And honestly, if I were his campaign advisor, that's probably exactly where I would keep him. Otherwise, he might have to answer questions about his mismanagement of the HPD Crime Lab during those halcyon days known as the Lee Brown era (or more appropriately, error) in Houston politics.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/09 09:21 PM |
SJL reminded there is a war going on!
This is an interesting article. State lawmaker Pete Olson, Rep. Michael McCaul and our favorite, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee toured Guantanamo Prison. According to the Chronicle article they were all "given chills". More evidence that our government is behind:
...Mohammed appeared every bit as bent on America’s destruction as the day he orchestrated the synchronized suicide attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.They've been saying this for years; our elected representatives finally just now got the message!
What did our elected representatives have to say?
"It was eerie, kind of spooky, and it exuded evil to me,” said [Michael] McCaul, a Republican whose congressional district stretches from Houston suburbs to Austin.Good! Our elected representatives need to see this kind of evil face to face if they want to fight it!
[Pete] Olson, a Republican and former Navy pilot, said it was “an eye-opening experience” to see the American-educated Muhammad and other senior al-Qaida leaders awaiting military tribunals.The best one yet:
“I was riveted,” said Jackson Lee, a Democrat. “It became very, very real and sobering to me that our task dealing with terrorism is still ongoing.”Is she serious? I guess all those times she was jumping in front of a camera or trying to get hurricane names changed to be more racially diverse she forgot there was a war on terror going on.
Posted by Jason @ 02/25/09 11:03 AM |
[Previous 20 Entries] [Next 20 Entries]