Houblog

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
‘Nuff said.

Steven den Beste notes:
I started thinking about that when I saw this question someone posted today at ask.metafilter.com:
“As an American, can I hand out flyers detailing the Tiananmen Square Massacre during the Beijing Olympics?”
I’m really glad to see that the many answers were virtually unanimous that this would be an utterly boneheaded […]

Basically, the Democratic-controlled Committee on House Administration is drafting rules that would prohibit House members from posting content on any but “approved” websites. One can only imagine what kind of list the Dems would draw up.

Bill Steigerwald of Townhall takes a look a mass transit with Wendell Cox. It isn’t pretty.
When you talk about transit in the United States, you have to be talking about best prisoner awards. These systems are a scourge on taxpayers. There are some that do some wonderful things, but nobody does it all right.
I […]

There’s been some confusion over a request by Ed Wulfe to swap some land and a public road in the Galleria area for his Boulevard Place project. After looking at the maps and reading the proposed ordinance carefully, I wanted to post to set the record straight. This is not S. Post Oak […]

Four years ago, I wrote a letter. It was meant to badger someone into doing something I thought was important. They refused, but I don’t apologize for it, even though I completely understand that person’s decision — and ironically, have made exactly the same one. Hypocritical? I don’ t […]

A story wherein a couple of pro-smart-growth types attempt to extract their feet from within their oral cavities after criticizing those eeeeeeeeevil right-wing neo-cons for driving gas-guzzling SUVs and driving up their household debt, instead of eating tofu and supporting driving up government debt and taxes. You know how it is with those bitter […]

Amazing how I can get started typing a short reply to something on Chizumatic, and end up with an article. Sigh. SDB wrote, about the decision to secretly re-route the Olympic Torch in order to derail the protests:
The point is that their decision, in the microscopic, defeats the entire purpose of the exercise […]

Well, they’re at it again, the one department that continues to embarrass the city only somewhat less than the HPD Crime Lab. This time, the Houston Housing Authority is holding hostage all the remaining worldly possessions of several elderly immigrants, for the “best” of reasons, of course.
Back in November, the Bellerieve apartments, had […]

It’s Friday, the day that our local newsmakers traditionally try to bury stories by releasing them at 4:49 pm. What’s your guess for an important shocker to be buried today? (Sorry, appointment of the interim DA is off the table; that’s already happened.)

The following e-mail just appeared in my mailbox.
Joint Email to City of Houston Employees
City of Houston and HOPE Reach Tentative Agreement on Contract
We are pleased to announce that the City of Houston and the Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE) have reached a tentative agreement in contract negotiations. This agreement reflects our mutual commitment […]

If the mayor really believes that the city is not bound by leases of over 30 years because they’re not legal, why hasn’t he terminated the 50-year lease with Zoo Development Corporation which gives them:
Complete control of the Zoo.
The right to raise admission prices up to 25% in a single year.
Free water and sewer service […]

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. The Houston Chronicle is part of the problem in Houston. We badly need an alternative news outlet, and the Houston Press isn’t it.

If someone asked me to pick two international entities that I don’t trust in the least, at the top of the list would have to be the United Nations. I’d be hard pressed to find a good second choice that obvious, but I would probably settle for Google, which I have long called […]

More proof that the energy crisis is manufactured by policy decisions spearheaded by the enviro-nuts. (Although I have to ask, what landfills will accept a used one?)
And no, it’s not a hoax.
“I’m pretty sure I can give up one of my nuclear reactors, and still be greatly feared.” Or was that “doomsday devices?”
Via.