D.
Danger Train: To date, the most effective method of removing personal motorized vehicles from Houston's roads ever invented by HoustonMetro.
Not in the way they intended of course. The fact is the Danger Train is so named because of its unique ability to run into, and damage, automobiles, pedestrians and cyclists to the point that they are unable to continue on.
Dan Patrick (King): Officially, the Lt. Governor of the State of Texas who happens to hail from the Houston area. Unofficially: The greatest example of political ego the State has ever seen.
Davis, Wendy (!!!): The Democratic Party of Texas' nominee to be their candidate for Texas Governor in 2014. Wearer of pink tennis shoes and viewed as the savior of the party at the State wide level. A special favorite of the courtesans.
Davis, Wendy (???): The loser of the 2014 race for Texas Governor who underperformed badly. This led to some mild soul-searching by the Democratic Party of Texas regarding the efficacy of Battleground Texas and their bench-strength at the state-wide level. Currently on an apology tour as she desperately tries to atone for her sins in hopes that she can again be a capable candidate for inclusion in the ruling class.
Debates (Political): "Oops."
Democratic (Party of Texas): A loose collection of aggrieved (based on self-perception) groups who continually vote for trinket governance above all other concerns.
Democratic (Process): Either the greatest part of the American Experiment ever invented or a scourge depending on how the citizens choose to vote on any given issue.
Demographics: Often miscast as destiny the used of demographics by the ruling class is solely a method for dividing and conquering the electorate as a whole.
Demagogue: A member of the ruling class whose sole talent is to use demographics and fear to consolidate power.
History is full of Demagogues, and they are always effective in the short run but run afoul of their own division in the long run. One of the favorite ploys of the courtesans is to mis-cast earnest candidates with whom they don't agree as McCarthyites. This is effective because McCarthy is the greatest American Demagogue that people still remember (albeit mostly incorrectly).
Deserts (Food): A poorly defined solution in search of a problem that might not exist.
Deserts (Transit): An intentional transit shortage in areas where the demographics are not a priority of the ruling class. Typically exist in neighborhoods where a majority of people are considered not desirable by New Urbanists and keeping them out of the Inner Core is to the benefit of the courtesans.
Development (Inner City): For the ruling class, this is viewed as the be-all, end-all of urban design and must be promoted at great length. This includes the generous application of tax abatements and TIRZ funding which are then used to create, mostly, luxury apartments for primarily well-to-do, Caucasian Progressives.
Development (Suburban): For the ruling class, the worst scar on Gaia since the advent of the Oil and Gas Industry. Something that must be stopped at all costs.
Disability: The ruling class loves disabilities. They are especially enamored of them if they believe that there is a voting bloc that can be attained from them. They also like that disabled communities are especially prone to vote for candidates who offer trinket governance to their benefit.
Discovery Green: Trinket Governance brought to it's logical conclusion: A dog-park for the relatively well off. An esplanade within which is the only real surviving legacy of Bill White.
Dishonesty: When filling out an application to become a candidate, dishonesty is the first requirement for consideration.
Diversity: Often miscast as a means to an end the best diversity is that which grows organically without interference, and heavy-handedness, from the ruling class. True diversity is a wonder to behold and leads to great societal gains. Forced diversity is typically fraught with unintended consequences which require more interference by the ruling class which creates even more unintended consequences, these even worse than before, which convinces the ruling class that the only fix is to become even more involved in crafting a solution.
Doughnuts: Processed, refined carbohydrates whose over ingestion leads to health problems such as obesity and diabetes.
The problem with doughnuts lies not with the doughnut itself. Consumed in moderation they are perfectly acceptable food stuffs which make a tasty breakfast food. The problem is when citizens over-romanticize them and elevate them to cult status. Much like the barbecue wars, doughnut wars are territorial, and the proponents of each individual brand are extremely tribal in nature.
E.
EaDo: Long version: East Downtown. (Houston). Officially the end of creativity on the part of Houston's New Urbanist groups. The most blatant rip-off of New York since Discovery Green.
Ed Emmett: The current County Judge for Harris County whose lone goal during his last, announced, term in office is to ensure that the Astrodome is not demolished on his watch. At one time, a fiscal conservative.
Editorial Board (Houston Chronicle): 1. A group, lacking diversity itself, which constantly chides other organizations on their lack of diversity. 2. A stunning misuse of dwindling resources at the Houston Chronicle.
Education System: See Academia.
The goal of the Texas Education system has long stopped having anything to do with teaching children and has morphed into sustaining the funding of the system itself. That this is a problem is not something that has yet registered to either the ruling class or the courtesans. Sure, there is a vague idea that the State system is foisting a coddled mess of functional idiots into the workplace but, as long as the teacher pensions stay secure, they are quite happy doing nothing about it.
Elder Statesmen: The deification of which is proof of the fallacy that longevity equals expertise.
Electorate: Not as broadly defined as citizens, the electorate are those who actually cast a vote. During campaign season the ruling class values the vote of the electorate very much, but still maintains a healthy disdain for the electorate itself. The actual power of the electorate is difficult to determine since it does not often act rationally or in an informed manner.
Elité: Those who are sought out by the ruling class.
In truth, there are few members of this actual group but many in the courtesan class think they are a member. True members of the elite are courted to by the ruling class who are hoping to gain either their endorsement or an imprimatur for their ideas. Very seldom will you find these people in the public eye.
Experts: Hint: They usually aren't.
F.
Fabrication: Campaign advertisements.
Fallacies (Logical): The creation of which are considered prudent and necessary to the maintenance of the ruling class' power.
Fantasy: The genre of fiction that many members of the ruling class pull their ideas from.
Fiscal Conservatism: A term only applicable during a campaign in which a candidate is trying to convince the electorate that they will not pillage the treasury to fund projects outside of the scope of the voters' will. Has no meaningful application in the actual function of politics.
Fiscal Mess: The inevitable result of decades of trinket governance.
Fiscal Sanity: A myth.
Free: A word that has two meanings, neither of which is true.
1. "Free" when used by the ruling class is meant to convey to the electorate that the trinket governance being promised by the candidate will come without cost. This is neither true or even possible since someone, somewhere, has to pay for everything.
2. "Free" when used by citizens is implied to mean that they possess freedom. This means that they operate in their day to day lives fairly freely from the mechanisms of government and that they alone control their individual destines to the relative exclusion of the State. However, since even the right to property and property ownership are now subject to the whims of ad valorem taxes free as a concept is officially dead.
Because both of these definitions are patently false, the word 'free' can be construed as something only useful in propaganda.
Freedom: See Free.
Freedom of Information Act: A means by which the foxes guarding the henhouse grant the illusion of security to the chickens.
Fun: In excess, frowned upon generally by the ruling class. (Unless they are having it.)
