An episode of “Seinfeld”:
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Life imitates:
Monday, October 8th, 2012Well. Well well well well. Well.
Monday, October 1st, 2012The significance is not that I happened to stumble across this:
(This being Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up
The significance is where I found it: on a register endcap at my local H.E.B., where they usually keep magazines, best-selling books (like King and Patterson) and impulse purchase items.
(Edited to add before someone points it out me: H.E.B. is a large local grocery store chain.)
And while my readers outside of Texas may think that this is a particularly conservative state…well, you’d be right, but Austin, and especially the part of Austin I live in, is an Obama stronghold. Seeing this get such prominent display is a bit surprising.
Random notes: September 28, 2012.
Friday, September 28th, 2012So Bo Xilai has been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, and faces criminal prosecution on charges related to bribery and the criminal case involving his wife and her alleged murder of a British businessman. That’s pretty much news everywhere.
But here’s something interesting:
More Herbert Lom obits: NYT. A/V Club. LAT.
Good news, everyone! If you work in the Texas state prisons, a Facebook friendship with a convict no longer violates the ban on fraternization!
Joseph Wolfe, a former police officer with the Fullerton police department, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force in the beating death of Kelly Thomas. Officer Wolfe is the third officer to be charged in this case. (Previously. Also previously, and graphic image warning.)
Really? That’s a shocker.
Art (Acevedo), damn it! watch. (#O of a series)
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012So Austin’s favorite police chief had a press conference this morning “flanked by two of his harshest critics”. (In case you were wondering, those are Nelson Linder, president of the local NAACP, and Jim Harrington, executive director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.)
Why the press conference? APD policy changes, which Chief Acevedo credits to input from Mr. Linder and Mr. Harrington. Specifically:
- Supervisor approval is required before officers do a consent search of a house or vehicle. Officers are required to get consent in “written and videotaped form”.
- “In cases where a suspect is known to be mentally or emotionally disturbed, a minimum of four officers along with a sergeant will be sent to the scene, and at least one of them must be specially trained in handling such issues.”
- Don’t stand in front of moving vehicles, dumbasses.
It isn’t clear to me if these are the only policy changes, or if there were less significant ones that the Statesman is skipping. One other area that’s been highly controversial lately is photographing and recording APD officers during arrests: Scott Henson over at “Grits for Breakfast” has some good coverage of what’s been going on.
Off the top of my head, none of these sound horrible. I do have a concern that requiring a minimum of four officers to respond to emotionally disturbed persons might, just might, cause problems, if that kind of response looks overwhelming to the subject. However, I think the training requirement may offset that concern. The big issue: does APD have enough people, with the right training, to respond in a timely fashion?
Apropos of nothing in particular…
Monday, September 17th, 2012There was a time in my life when I was listening to the original cast recording of “Evita
And the money kept rolling out in all directions
To the poor, to the weak, to the destitute of all complexions
Now cynics claim a little of the cash has gone astray
But that’s not the point my friends
When the money keeps rolling out you don’t keep books
You can tell you’ve done well by the happy grateful looks
Accountants only slow things down, figures get in the way
Never been a lady loved as much as Eva Peron
This guy’s no Patinkin, but he’s pretty good, and this is the best video I could find on YouTube. (There is one video that claims to be Patinkin performing the song, but it is almost unbearably poor quality.)
Actually, I take back the “apropos of nothing in particular”, because what got me going down this path was the “Stuff You Missed in History Class” podcast, and especially the “Why did it take more than 20 years to bury Eva Peron?” episode. There is a comment in the liner notes to that cast recording that the story of Eva’s body is almost as fascinating as the story of her life, and I’ve agitated for Rice and Weber to do a musical about the saga of Eva Peron’s body.
Formula 1 is heck.
Saturday, September 8th, 2012At least it will be in downtown Austin in November.
“But they aren’t racing in downtown!” No, they’re not. The racetrack is out near the airport.
But the city is considering three applications that involve closing downtown streets for up to a week during the festivities. The closures would include seven blocks of Congress Avenue, the main downtown artery.
The next question: who and why? The people who are organizing the race have requested two of the three pending closures.
…requested lane closures on Trinity between East 15th Street and East MLK from Friday through Sunday of that week for the scores of shuttle buses that will ferry fans to and from the race. There will also be similar operations at the Travis County Exposition Center and at another yet-to-be announced location.
“They’ll be loading 12 buses at a time,” said Gordon Derr, assistant director of the City of Austin’s Transportation Department. “There may be one through-lane open, which we may close intermittently.”
I’m actually semi-okay with this. I’m not sure they need to close the entire street, but I’ve never tried to run shuttle busses for 30,000 people. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Next:
…centered on the Warehouse District west of Congress, will be the site of Fan Fest, which will “celebrate Formula One the sport,” circuit spokeswoman Julie Loignon said Thursday.
Loignon said the Fan Fest, which will run from the evening of Friday, Nov. 16, through early Monday, Nov. 19, will feature music, food vendors and other elements that she declined to specify. Circuit officials plan to announce details of the event in the coming weeks, she said.
If the permit is granted as currently contemplated, Congress between Second and Fifth streets would close in stages starting Thursday evening, Nov. 15, and would open before rush hour on Monday, Nov. 19. Parts of West Second, Third, Fourth and Colorado streets would also be closed for several days.
I’m less wild about this: it seems like fan wankery for the eurotrash that come in for these kind of events. But it is in the Warehouse District, and they’re only asking to close a few blocks of Congress for what amounts to a long weekend. Number three:
The other pending closure application is for Experience Austin, a festival organized by Run-Tex that will run through the race weekend. It would close Congress from Seventh to 11th streets, as well as parts of Eighth, Ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th and Colorado streets. Some of those closures would last almost a week because of the time required for setup and breakdown of the festival.
Alexandra Stewart, community events coordinator for Run-Tex, said it will be “your typical Austin street festival,” with food, drink, music and artists. “Think Pecan Street.”
Pecan Street doesn’t close Congress Avenue for a week, you maroon! And why do we need both this and the “Fan Fest”? I can’t see a good reason, except that “Experience Austin” sees a way to make a few bucks by screwing up downtown traffic for a week.
In case you were wondering:
By comparison, at this year’s SXSW Music Festival, 36 downtown blocks were fully closed, most for four days. Those closures did not include Congress Avenue.
I’ve got some frequent flyer miles on the former Continental Airlines. Cleveland in November is beginning to sound nice.
Quick banana republicans update.
Thursday, September 6th, 2012The bankrupt city of San Bernardino has voted to cut 100 city jobs.
The city is not cutting fire department positions. (It is interesting that the original reports stated that 20 positions were proposed to be eliminated, nine people would be demoted, and nobody would be laid off. I wonder why, if this was the plan, there were threats of “rotating, temporary closures of fire stations”.)
Random notes, September 3, 2012.
Monday, September 3rd, 2012Workers of the world, unite! Dyslexics of the world, untie!
Oh, yes. Garden and Gun. I remember them. I was considering subscribing: that is, until they refused ads from the NRA. Now they can die in a fire, as far as I am concerned.
In other news, the NYT wants you to know that you should be careful buying art online.
My big question for the day: now that Reverend Moon is dead, how long will the Washington Times be around? I’ve gotten the distinct impression that it has survived that long purely because he wanted it that way, and his successors are not as wild about the paper as he was.
Mike Nesbitt has resigned as offensive coordinator at the University of Houston. That would be two days after the season opener, which they lost 30-13 to Texas State.
I’ve been kind of tied up the past couple of days and haven’t had a chance to blog the Austin Police Department acting as agent provocateurs to Occupy Austin story. I don’t really know what to make of it, so instead I’ll refer you to the Statesman story above, and the coverage from Grits for Breakfast here. (The other problem I have with this story is that much of the coverage comes from sources I don’t read and don’t trust.)
Speaking of Grits, he also has an interesting followup on the Texas Highway Patrol Association and other similar scam organizations.
Some stuff.
Saturday, August 25th, 2012More specifically, a random assortment of things that turned up in my Post Office box today, or that I found while I was out and about. Not that I’m bragging, but I think some folks might be entertained, amused, or interested in some of these items.
The first issue of “Infowars: The Magazine” (as Gregg Easterbrook might say, “Published on Earth: The Planet”).
I’ve got big balls. (Also acceptable: “Ah, but the strawberries. That’s where I had them.“) (Previously.)
The only political party that can actually change things this year. (Get yours here.)
Finally:
My USB TV receiver from Germany is here! (Previously.) More when and as I get a chance to dink with it.
Random notes: August 24, 2012.
Friday, August 24th, 2012I have some things I want to say on the Lance Armstrong front, but I also want to take some time and write a longer, more thoughtful post, rather than dashing something off first thing in the morning. I’ll try to have that up later today. In the meantime, for you out-of-towners, here’s the Statesman coverage.
In other news: gee, when you try to pass new laws that threaten someone’s business, they might possibly consider moving to a more friendly jurisdiction. Who’d thunk it? Apparently, not the NYT.
A while back, I noted the ongoing issues in Patton Village, what with the mayor trying to disband the police department while she was under indictment. It turns out that the mayor has some additional problems; she’s now been charged with “tampering with government records”. (Edited to add: now including linkage.)
The really odd thing is that this charge has nothing to do with using cop cars as loan collateral. Back in 1979, the mayor pled guilty to charges that she plotted with a co-worker to rob a Jack in the Box she was managing. She got four years probation, but the conviction was on a felony charge. Texas law bars people convicted of a felony from running for elected office, and the mayor stated on the forms she filled out to run for mayor that she hadn’t been convicted of a felony. (She hasn’t been granted any kind of pardon/restoration of civil rights, as best as anyone can tell.)
Random notes: August 15, 2012.
Wednesday, August 15th, 2012I think today is going to be a day for food writing. I have a longer post planned about last night. But in the meantime, here are some random things for you to chew on.
The NYT has made several discoveries:
- There are places outside of Manhattan, and even outside of New York state, with exotic names like “Iowa”.
- People in those exotic places sometimes gather during the summer, in what are called “state fairs”.
- At those “state fairs” you can purchase food items on sticks.
(Quote from the slide show attached to the article: “The fascination with food on a stick is difficult to explain, but it usually means a 30 to 40 percent increase in sales.”)
(I would really like to know how well the vegetarian corn dogs are selling.)
Speaking of food, today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. Expect festivities around the web, starting with the NYT. I kind of like Julia Moskin’s “The Gifts She Gave” and Jacques Pépin’s “Memories of a Friend, Sidekick and Foil“.
(I note, with some bitterness, that our local PBS station is showing something called “Julia Childs [sic] Memories: Bon Appetit” tonight. I say “some bitterness” because a) I expect this to not show any complete recipe preparations, from start to finish, and b) our local PBS station is in the middle of a pledge drive, so I expect constant “give us money” interruptions.)
Something I noticed over the weekend: the French Quarter Grille has opened a second location. In Round Rock. Specifically, in the old Gumbo’s location. Hmmmmm.
Obit watch for the record: Ron Palillo, “Horshack” on “Welcome Back, Kotter”.
The LAT has apparently discovered that used car dealers are…used car dealers.
Toys, toys, toys.
Monday, August 13th, 2012Did you know that the promo code SUCKITGROUPON will get you 45% off your Buckyballs order from getbuckyballs.com?
I didn’t, either, until I saw it on Overlawyered. I already got my first set of Buckyballs, but I just ordered some more: this time, I got some BuckyBigs, so I can pretend to be Captain Queeg while I’m sitting at my desk.
(Note that I have no financial relationship with the BuckyBalls people; I just want the CPSC to die in a fire.)
In other news, the Germans have shipped my USB TV receiver.
Yes, we have more bananas.
Wednesday, August 1st, 2012…
Obstruction? “deliberate failure to produce documents”? “…callous disregard for her staff and the resources entrusted to her by the American people”? And she gets a reprimand?
Random notes: July 24, 2012.
Tuesday, July 24th, 2012Obit watch: Sally Ride.
Previously noted, but bears repeating: The Lustgarten Foundation for pancreatic cancer research.
Noted without comment. (See also.) (See also.) (See also.)
More:
I’m fascinated by the events in Anaheim, but I don’t know what to make of them right now. (More here.)
I want my two dollars!
Thursday, July 19th, 2012Back in 2008, Austin Energy (the city’s electric utility) made a deal with Nacogdoches Power LLC to purchase the entire output of a proposed new power plant. The key here was that the new power plant would produce electricity from burning “wood waste”, a renewable resource, and thus would avoid potential federal taxes on carbon-based fuels.
This was not a popular decision at the time. Even the local environmental activists were opposed to the plant. Many people felt the city wasn’t releasing all the relevant information and was rushing into the deal.
The plant went live yesterday.
More:
Austin Energy is currently paying “a little more than” 4 cents a kilowatt hour for “coastal wind” power. If I’m reading the article correctly, natural gas is running at about 2 cents per kilowatt hour.