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2006 – Page 8 of 15

Politics & Policy|
July 31, 2006

Joe Allbaugh

“They take a shot at the presidency indirectly through me, which is fine . . . It just angers me that our professional journalists have accepted lower standards. I feel like Sergeant Friday: ‘Just the facts, ma’am.’”

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Roar of the Crowd|
July 31, 2006

Water Log

I’M SURE GLAD YOU decided to exclude Belton Lake from your “Water, Water Everywhere” story [June 2006]. Maybe it will stay one of the most gorgeous, least crowded, clearest, and most enjoyable lakes in the state.GEORGE DUTTONArlingtonHOW COULD YOU LEAVE OFF the state’s number one bass-fishing lake,

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Pat's Pick|
July 31, 2006

Shinsei

IN MY 31 YEARS AS A RESTAURANT REVIEWER, I’ve never seen this before: The wives of two of the most famous chefs in Dallas have gotten together and opened their own restaurant. No, they’re not cooking, but they are definitely running the show, and, as might be expected given the

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Karen Olsson|
July 31, 2006

The Old College Try

The mayor of El Cenizo is 23, is still in school, and lives with his mother. But he’s serious about making life better in his impoverished border hometown.

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Feature|
July 31, 2006

Free for All

Eighty-five incredibly fun things, from movies to museums, that won’t cost you a red cent.

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Michael Ennis|
July 31, 2006

My Father’s War

What I learned about Iraq from World War II—and what all the president’s men could learn.

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Editor's Letter|
July 31, 2006

Change, Pardners

Two related points about the state of the increasingly crazy business we’re in. First, like delicate species in the ecosystem, magazines can’t survive if they don’t adapt. Second, rumors of print journalism’s death have been greatly exaggerated, but as with so many overstatements, there’s an embedded grain of truth, and

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Music Review|
July 31, 2006

Sound Team

SOUND TEAM initially gained notoriety with their DIY work ethic: They gigged constantly, hawked cassettes, built their own studio. Like many young bands, their early music lunged from one direction to another, finally coalescing in their recently released major-label debut, MOVIE MONSTER (Capitol). The irony of a fiercely independent Austin

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Music Review|
July 31, 2006

Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Texas without BOB WILLS? If you can even conceive of such a thing, you need to spend some serious time with the four-CD LEGENDS OF COUNTRY MUSIC: BOB WILLS AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS (Columbia Legacy). Crowing his trademark “a-haaaa!” over this weird, ofttimes hokey music, Wills—bandleader, master fiddler, drunk, innovator,

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Book Review|
July 31, 2006

Fear

JEFF ABBOTT’s star has been slowly but steadily on the rise. A string of paperback-only mysteries earned the Austin writer a bump up to the hardcover big leagues. His second hardback, FEAR, is a pharmaco-thriller about a clandestine medical clinic (cue diabolical laughter) experimenting with Frost, a drug that smoothes

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Book Review|
July 31, 2006

Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

One might suspect that gremlins erased all the peaceful democracies from BEN FOUNTAIN’s office globe, so fascinated is the Dallasite with the world’s trouble spots in BRIEF ENCOUNTERS WITH CHE GUEVARA, a collection of eight finely crafted short stories. Touching only quickly on the revolutions and coups of his settings

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Book Review|
July 31, 2006

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

THE LOOMING TOWER: AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11 might be the bracing splash of ice water that alerts the Great Satan America to how little it knows about the radical Islamic culture that spawned its bête noire, Osama bin Laden (the seventeenth of 25 sons and one of 54

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Around the State|
July 31, 2006

Around the State

Jordan’s PickShakespeare Festivals HOUSTON, ODESSA, WINEDALEWHAT IS IT ABOUT this time of the year That breeds such great love for thee, O Shakespeare? ’Tis said the sun’s heat doth render one giddy Is it more likely your verses so witty? In hamlets, in towns, no thought for

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Politics & Policy|
July 31, 2006

Taking the Fifth

NEW ORLEANS — This morning the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the Texas Republican Party’s appeal of an Austin federal district court ruling prohibiting the RPT from declaring Tom DeLay ineligible to remain on the ballot as the GOP nominee from congressional district 22 (on the grounds that he

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Politics & Policy|
July 30, 2006

The Fifth Element

I will go to great lengths to keep readers informed — in this case, some 500 miles. Tomorrow the U. S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans will hear the Republican Party of Texas’s appeal of the Tom DeLay ballot case. and I’ll be there. (Great sacrifice, having

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Politics & Policy|
July 28, 2006

Cell Blocked

Is the Republican party bent on self-destruction? David Broder’s column in today’s Washington Post features an interview with an unnamed longtime Republican bigwig from the South who laments what has become of his party–in particular, President Bush’s veto of the stem cell bill and congressional Republicans’ refusal to wage

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Politics & Policy|
July 28, 2006

Hiding in the Bushes

What is George Bush running for? George P. Bush, that is. The Rice University (a plug for the old alma mater) and UT Law School (and another plug) grad told Time last year that a run for public office was at least ten years away. But Republicans in North

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Politics & Policy|
July 27, 2006

Bell Rings

I want to call readers’ attention to the posts by Jason Stanford of the Bell campaign concerning my takes on the Wall Street Journal/Zogby Poll (“Polls Apart”) and the Rasmussen poll (“Bell Tolls”) earlier this week. The Zogby poll had Bell running second, at 20.8 percent, an eyelash ahead of

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Politics & Policy|
July 27, 2006

Jamail Call

Texas lawyers have been burning up cyberspace sending around this three-minute video excerpt of a deposition featuring famed Houston trial lawyer Joe Jamail. It gives a whole new dimension to the term “oral argument.” Definitely R-rated.I’m not confident that the link is going to work, so I’ll duplicate it

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Politics & Policy|
July 25, 2006

Bell Tolls

It was fun while it lasted. One day after a Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll showed Chris Bell running second (see yesterday’s posting, “Polls Apart”) to Rick Perry by 38%-20%, a new Rasmussen poll shows him running fourth, and not a very good fourth at that:Perry 40%Strayhorn 20%Friedman 19%Bell 13%And

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Politics & Policy|
July 24, 2006

Polls Apart

Chris Bell is touting the first poll to show him running second in the governor’s race. The July Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll has Perry in front with 38.3 percent, Bell second with 20.8 percent, Kinky third with 20.7 percent, and Strayhorn trailing with 11 percent. I am dutifully reporting

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Politics & Policy|
July 24, 2006

Drawing the Line(s)

What is the likely outcome of the Texas redistricting case, which will be argued before a three-judge federal court in Austin on August 3?Although a multitude of maps have been filed with the Court, only three are likely to matter: the State Defendants Plan (approved by Perry, Dewhurst, and

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Politics & Policy|
July 24, 2006

Open Circuit

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has set the Tom DeLay ballot case (Texas Democratic Party v. Benkiser) for oral arguments on Monday, July 31, in New Orleans. The Court had the option of deciding the case on the briefs alone, so a reasonable conclusion is that the legal issues

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Politics & Policy|
July 23, 2006

A Great Toy

This is for serious political junkies only: Check out the NY Times online electoral guide. It has great information about every U.S. Senate and House race and all the governors’ races–including, when available, money raised, candidates’ commercials, polls, and demographic data. One thing the map doesn’t do is offer

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Politics & Policy|
July 22, 2006

Fore!

Our spy on the scene at the ALEC legislative conference in San Francisco Blackberried this report: “Sen. [Troy] Fraser was playing golf with Michael Gregg, his chief of staff, Wednesday. Michael hit a tee shot 200 yards and knocked Fraser out while driving his cart. The golf ball is resting

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Politics & Policy|
July 21, 2006

Bonilla Weighs In

This is the text of a release received from Bonilla’s office late this afternoon:“Today Congressman Henry Bonilla (R-TX-23rd) issued the following statement regarding the brief in response to the redistricting proposals submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.‘Last week my colleagues Lamar Smith and Henry

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Politics & Policy|
July 21, 2006

Kinky’s Kronies

I had hoped to do a list of major and interesting donors to Kinky Friedman’s campaign, as I have done for the Bell, Perry, and Strayhorn campaigns. But — and I trust this will not come as a huge surprise — the Friedman campaign is not like the Bell, Perry,

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Politics & Policy|
July 21, 2006

Blogrolling In Our Time

“Management” has suggested that I use this blog to tout the many wonderful articles in our August issue, which is hot off the presses. At first, I was very huffy about this, but then I realized that I wasn’t keeping up with the times. I

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Politics & Policy|
July 21, 2006

Perry’s Pals: The Conclusion

This is the final installment of contributors from the Perry campaign’s semiannual filing with the Ethics Commission. The report runs to 2,280 pages (one contribution per page), but the last 400 or so represent expenditures rather than contributions. That leaves 371 names from which I culled the biggest and most

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Politics & Policy|
July 20, 2006

And We Thought KBH and DD Were BFF

A story is making the rounds that Kay Bailey Hutchison sent (or is sending, or will send) an emissary to David Dewhurst with the message that she is definitely running for governor in 2010 and would like the lieutenant governor to find some other office to run for. Is this

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Politics & Policy|
July 20, 2006

Perry’s Pals, Cont’d. Again

This is the third of four lists of big-bucks and otherwise interesting contributors to the Rick Perry campaign. Donors appear in alphabetical order in the campaign’s filing with the Texas Ethics Commission. This posting encompasses pages 1,001 through 1,500 of a 2,280-page filing. *Anne Marion, art patron and

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Politics & Policy|
July 20, 2006

Chris’s Chums

Chris Bell had 665 campaign contributors. I have not been listing “in kind” contributions for other candidates–donations of airplanes and automobiles, funds expended to host an event, and the like–but because Bell’s largest contribution falls in that category, I will include in-kind contributions for donors who gave at least $5,000.

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Politics & Policy|
July 18, 2006

Perry’s Pals, Cont’d.

Here are more major or otherwise noteworthy contributors to Rick Perry’s reelection campaign, from pages 501-1,000 (of 2,280) from the report filed on July 17 with the Ethics Commission.*Hugh Fitzsimmons, investments, Houston, $10,000. (Former chairman of the Texas Racing Commission.)*Morris Ester, president of Exxon-Mobil Production Co., Houston, $3,500 (two

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Politics & Policy|
July 18, 2006

Time to Unspike?

A few days back, I posted a comment spiking the rumor that Republican nominee Ben Bentzin would abandon his race against Democrat Donna Howard for state representative in Austin’s District 48. Howard won a special election runoff in the spring. Ever since the posting, based on a conversation with

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Politics & Policy|
July 18, 2006

Perry’s Pals

I’ve been through the first 500 names (of 2,280) on Rick Perry’s campaign finance filing. The list was filed in alphabetical order. Perry had many more small donors than Carole Strayhorn did, and, so far, no contributions that were even in the neighborhood of the $250,000 Strayhorn received from trial

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Politics & Policy|
July 17, 2006

The Givers

Before I list the donors who gave at least $25,000 to the Carole Keeton Strayhorn campaign, permit me to tell you a story. Before the 1998 governor’s race, I wrote about the contributors to George W. Bush’s and Garry Mauro’s campaigns. One of Mauro’s contributors was Larry Gatlin of Abilene.

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Politics & Policy|
July 17, 2006

The State of the Race

The campaign fundraising deadline is a good occasion to look at the state of the governor’s race. Rick Perry remains the favorite, but a good argument can be made that any of the other three major candidates — Chris Bell, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and Kinky Friedman — could finish second.Perry

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Politics & Policy|
July 17, 2006

Cashing In: The Complaint

The Strayhorn campaign confirms: $3.1 million raised since January 1, $8 million cash on hand. But don’t look for it on the Ethics Commission Web site today. A phone call to the commission elicited the information that “it takes a long time to pull [the electronic filings] over.” If I

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