Presumptuous Blogging: Things you should read. (07/27/2015)

Here are some things you might have missed.....

Houston's bicycling activists are angry. - Very angry, and their answer is typically to say that all car drivers in Houston should be taken off the roads.  Well, they don't exactly say that but you can hear it in their voices.

The TLSPM obsession over Ag Commish Sid Miller is getting sad. - It reminds me, some, of the anger that built near the end of the Perry tenure as they tried, and failed, to take him down. Bag of idiots.

Mrs. White has supported TIRZ and psuedo-government groups for years. - Suddenly, with a financial cliff looming, the power brokers would have you believe that they were pro-voter, and not pro-developer lobby, all this time.  To pull this off, of course, you have to ignore almost everything they've said, and done, before.  Just a smaller bag of idiots.

Houston's budget problems make for strange bedfellows. - Including Houstonian Don Hooper, who is giving Chris Bell's zero-based budgeting proposal some praise?  Strange times.

In case you thought that Mayor Parker our Councilwoman Cohen gave a damn about rule of law or due process. - You can put that out of your mind now as these two seem hell-bent on getting HER Ordinance pushed through by hook or by crook.  Damn the torpedoes and all of that. It's the HALV on full display.

Your weekly reminder that it takes neither brains nor likability to lose multiple political elections. - I hope Bell never stops running (and losing) because he brings a certain amount of humor to the proceedings

Ken Hoffman makes the mistake of thinking that, because he's a writer, he's also a financial expert. - It's clear that, despite knowing about fast food, he has absorbed very little knowledge regarding Houston's biggest industry.

Congrats Craig.

The Texans are Houston's most poorly managed sports team. Discuss.

Possibly the worst travel article you will read all year. - From a site that often provides some quality content unfortunately.


Enjoy your week.

Blame Culture: At some point, we're all going to offend.

I'm going to be honest in admitting that I've paid little attention to the bloviations of "The Donald" as he trundles along on his grand "Look at Me!" dalliance in Presidential politics.  While the National media tries to make something out of his temporary bump in the polls I still feel that cooler heads will prevail and Republicans will eventually settle on a real candidate, not a cardboard cut-out with a dead rat on its head.

I have the same feeling about Bernie Sanders, a pseudo-socialist who really wants crony capitalism and who's only in the campaign to make his friend Hillary Clinton, look moderate in comparison.  If Hillary needs cover on the left, Sanders is there to provide aid and comfort.

The difference between the media treatment of the two faux-candidates is pretty shocking however. Trump is treated as entertainment while Sanders is treated as a principled crusader who's scaring the Clinton campaign because.....rally attendance? This is the silly season in politics where the media, desperate to find a framing narrative for the entire campaign, is grasping at straws.

Are there too many Republicans in the race for the nomination?  No.  In fact, it's only an issue because that's the narrative the media wants to push. It's a joke that's told in DC pubs and restaurants while the correspondents and their contacts are dining on roast peacock and washing it down with Krug served by indentured servants in waistcoats.

Which brings me to my point.

There's been a lot of attention paid of late to so-called "gaffes" uttered by The Donald.

First he angered the immigrants, and gave liberal writers and politicians the vapors. Then, he had the temerity by doubling down and insulting the holy grail of personal politics.  Do I agree with The Donald on either of these issues?  No.  Do I think he should be vilified for it or owe McCain an apology?  No again.

But the fact is we now live in a blame culture. It's a touchy feely world with participation medals, and bullying, and micro-aggressions and fuzzy definitions of widely accepted terms. And we're all going to fall into the trap eventually.

It's impossible not to, as Donald Trump has found.

Now, don't get me wrong (although some will). I wouldn't vote in The Donald to the position of local dog catcher. I think he's unfit to be President and is a man so bereft of ideas I've all but ignored him.  But, and this is important, the man is a communicator.  And that's important when you're trying to get people to vote for you.  Do you think it's any mistake that Obama used a TelePrompTer almost exclusively prior to being elected?  Have you heard the man try to speak without a prepared speech? It's a litany of "uhs" and "umms" and it's all but unlistenable.

Trump doesn't do that, but he needs the attention so he says outlandish things.  Does he really believe any of them?  Probably, to a point. I think that he honestly feels McCain is not a hero but I doubt he believes what he says about illegal immigrants. After all, he needs them to prop up his real estate empire.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of John McCain. From what I've seen about him he's a 100% political animal, and not a very pleasant one at that. He can be abusive when people disagree with him and he seems to carry a grudge. While I don't discount his time spent as a POW that doesn't mean that he's worthy of praise in every other area of his life, or even that his military career prior to that was distinguished.

We make that mistake all the time in society, we assume that one act of valor defines one's entire existence. That in order to pay homage to McCain's greatness as a POW you have to also accept, without question, his greatness in every other aspect of life as well. We also do it with criticism of things we like. Far be it that someone offers criticism of our chosen candidate for some bone-headed decision they made. Someone! Must be blamed. And blame is really all that America excels at these days.

So eventually, in a society such as this, we're all going to offend. On a personal note, this harmless, humorous take on the debate surrounding the City of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance was once called "the most homophobic thing I've ever read." A fact that only indicates the offended really needs to get out more. But these people are not going to get out more, and they're not going to try and see reason. In fact, reason as a concept has not only died in America, its body is being actively beaten whenever it has a sympathetic twitch.

If you issue an opinion, it's going to run counter to someone's deeply held belief somewhere and they're going to demand not only an apology, but that you be tied to a rail and carried out of polite society. You will be banished to the far corners of the country reserved now for racists, bigots and Caucasian males who still think it's OK to be well....male. (Soon to welcome evangelical Christians).


Our media and our politicians don't care about reason or truth or any concept that might interfere with page views and power, all they care about is making more money.  Add increasing their power to the politicians' tool-kit and you have America today.  Is there any fixing this?

My guess is no, because we LIKE our blame culture and our breathless news stories about how everyone is offended about everything everywhere. If we agree with the issue we get high on the outrage. If we disagree we get high on getting outraged at the outrage.  In fact, I think it's an integral part of our societal DNA.

Which might suggest that the DNA of America is somehow dysfunctional.

Presumptuous Blogging: Things you should read.

Like that headline?

I did. But then, I'm easily amused.  As I stated earlier I'm on a mock hiatus from poli-blogging for a bit, but I did threaten to try and compile some link posts from time to time.  In that vein, if you are a Houstonian and missed these stories you might want to spend a few moments catching up.....


Houston METRORail numbers are not only down, they're way down. (BlogHouston) - As Neil says in the post however the tracks are built, and to rail supporters that's all that matters.

And more tracks equals more auto/pedestrian/train wrecks. (BlogHouston) - Blog Houston DID, quite intelligently, call it the DangerTrain after all.  While the default of supporters is to blame "stupid Houstonians" there is some fault to be applied to the at-grade design itself.

So far, there are few TV ads running in Houston's Mayoral race. (Houston Chronicle) $$$ - Whether or not this is a good or bad development I leave entirely to your judgment.

Bike riders are tired of sharing the road with cars. (HoustonPress) - Maybe we should just outlaw cars? Although I doubt, given the history of bike "advocates" even that would make them happy.


Enjoy.

A Brief Hiatus: When real life interferes with PoliBlogging

There's so much going on Nationally right now that I'd love to blog about.  From the disturbing (and horrific) Planned Parenthood allegations to the World's new $100 Billion bailout to Iran to high-speed Internet getting labeled the next great human right to budget airline foibles and United's next economy seating arrangement or even ESPN proving once and for all they are full of it I could go whole hog on several issues for months.

This doesn't include what I really focus on, Houston area politics and media.

But the fact is this:

Real life, those things that involve people I care about and share my life with, is way more important than anything going on in politics or media right now.  So I'm taking a brief hiatus.

Maybe I update with some fun stuff from time to time but right now there are other priorities that take precedence over writing words.

Besides, it's Amazon Prime Day and I've got shopping to do.

If you still care to see stuff then I'll be updating the following.

My PinBoard Account

My Twitter Account



Unlike past run-ins with blogger's fatigue I'm not shutting down this blog.  For one, I kind of like this layout and second, I'm running out of names and I really like this domain.

One thing I might do, which I used to enjoy doing greatly, upon my return is to retry link blogs.

Until then have fun, don't believe anything in the Chronicle that has to do with City, County or State politics and keep paying attention to the Mayoral race.

It's a pretty important thing that.


Slainte.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: The Politics of Political Convenience.

This is fortuitous....

Testy CIP meeting sparks debate about equity. Katherine Driessen, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)

(Pay wall protected, of course)

District C accounts for the largest share of planned projects at more than 20 percent of the planned expenditures. Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, who represents District C which includes Montrose and the Heights, said concerns around the dais were valid. But she noted that her district includes some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city.

I'm sure the fact that Mayor Parker resides in District C, that her strongest base of political support is within its boundaries, and that Councilwoman Cohen is among her biggest sycophants had NOTHING at all to do with this allocation.

Nope, nothing at all.

I would also point out this: In the ongoing debate over food deserts private grocery stores are all but being accused of discrimination for making business decisions that allocate recourses to relatively wealthy, upscale, trendy areas where profits can be made. Perhaps they should also use the "oldest neighborhoods argument to justify their investments in the same?

It's good to be in the Ruling Class is it not?

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Let's spend some more (of other people's) MONEY!!!

What passes for leadership in the Houston area is rolling out Mrs. White's catapult again.

Amid mounting budget concerns, Parker plans to push for revenue cap change. Katherine Driessen, HoustonChronicle.com($$$)

(Paywall protected, please read the entire thing if you can)

"I'm going to make them vote up or down," Parker said of the revenue cap. "If they want to give a pay raise to firefighters without having to cut huge numbers of programs across the city they're going to have to figure out that, you know, that's one way to bring some relief in."

In Houston, this is what passes for leadership.  Parker's tough talk backed up by.....? More rhetoric.  In fact, the only time that Parker has been anything close to tough has been when she was advocating for HER Ordinance which was, unsurprisingly, very important to her personally and probably the one thing that could be considered to truly be on her political agenda.

What the raising of the cap allows politicians to do, long-term, is avoid making tough choices and exercising fiscal discipline. When you consider that the top-tier Mayoral candidates (with the exception of Bill King) are all talking about "investments" in communities and "public-private partnerships" in lieu of fiscal responsibility you know that Houston is looking down the barrel of fiscal calamity.

Even worse is the candidate pool for City Council.  I've been following a lot of them on Twitter so you don't have to and let me assure you that Houston is paddling around in the kiddie section of the leadership gene pool.  Everyone has a plan to spend money, everyone has an idea how to increase what's being called "city revenues" (taxes and fees) and some are even worse than that suggesting that ideas from Brazil (seriously) would be good for Houston to adopt.

Another thing that I find funny, mentioned in the article, is how mercurial and quick to cower to the mayor Ellen Cohen is. Texas Monthly likes to think they rank politicians as "Best, Worst and furniture". And while they tend to do a fairly mediocre job getting the rankings correct (the lists are usually just placing politicians into the respective buckets based solely on whether or not the TM staff likes them or not) they are leaving out one pretty vital category.

The political sock-puppet, a politician who serves no purpose but to parrot the positions of someone who is either their political patron or more experienced then they. Ellen Cohen is Mayor Annise Parker's sock-puppet of that there can be no doubt.

While I make light of this situation it's important to realize that the City's finances are central to Houston's well-being.  I get that there are some who are considered serious political thinkers who think that One-bin recycling and parklets are "meat and vegetables" issues but none of that stuff happens if the plate itself is cracked.

And that's the problem in a city where there's no leadership. Trinkets, and things that wet the pants of gleeful political bloggers, get piled on plates that don't have the strength to support it. It's very much like putting too much potato salad on a single paper plate. There's no way you're making it to the picnic table before all of those "meat and vegetables" become food for ants.

So, beware pundits trying to distract from the fact that Houston's got a big budget problem, and shake your head at the media who are only just starting to figure this out. The games out leaders have been playing and the trinkets they have been buying all come with bills that are about to come due.

It might be a good idea to start asking city candidates how they plan to pay those bills instead of just letting them spout platitudes.

Tales of a sub-par media outlet: The problem is not them (according to them) it's you.

"I do not like Houston. I've never been as miserable in any other place in the world as I am here."

This is the first line in David Dorantes odd mix of a rant against Houston and a love letter to an Ex who left him and married another man.

The article, if you can read it behind the Chron's increasingly expensive pay-wall, ran earlier today on the "Gray Matters" blog-ish type piece of whimsy that serves as a de-facto editorial outlet for Chron staffers, and people that they find compelling.

It's articles like these, and prose such as this (Example: "I once had a girlfriend. I loved her very much [I still love her, she is married to another man]") that has lead me to question why I ever started paying the Chron for access to this dreck in the first place.

The problem with the Chron's in-house editorial writing is that it is both simplistic in it's logic and dismissive of other points of view at the same time. Yes, Falkenberg won a Pulitzer, but she only won it after Chron Editor Jim Newkirk was appointed chair of the selection committee for that subject. As I've previously mentioned, this doesn't mean that her columns were unworthy, but it does mean that her award is tarnished and we will never know if she did win based on equitable judging.

Of course, it's not fair to single out Ms. Falkenberg for this because it's something the media has done for years now.  The Pulitzer has long since stopped being a marker of excellence in journalism and now treated as a participation medal for the cool set.  For reference see: the Nobel Peace Prize.  Same difference.

This doesn't mean that ALL of the writers at the Houston Chronicle are bad, quite the contrary. In many cases the writing is pretty decent. I do question the ability of the editors to understand their jobs but I know of many reporters over there who hustle their asses off and genuinely try to do a good job.

For a large portion of the leadership, and some of the reporting staff, the problems behind their subscriber hemorrhage isn't their product, it's you.

From time to time they pull back that curtain and allow a peek behind what's going on in their minds, and why they hate you for not seeing the world through their lens. Not that it's fair to ask them to see things your way but, at the bare minimum, there should be an understanding that the vast majority of Houston's do not share the same Houtopian, new-urbanist dream held by the editors and their running circles.

The projection is astounding. I, and other non New-Urbanist types get accused all the time of being "angry". We're either angry that the light rail was built or angry that Critical Mass is gumming up traffic or angry that Mayor Parker is doing her level best to put a Band-Aid on the cancer that is becoming Houston's financial situation.  This could not be further from the truth. The folks that I meet with (who are, some of the biggest names in the so-called "angry opposition") are for the most part quite happy with their lots in life.

And I'm happy too.  I enjoy living in Houston, traffic, potholes, gender neutral restrooms, bad politicians, horrible media and all. I'm glad that there are organizations like Metro that are easily made fun-of, that our local politics are entertaining, that there are groups such as Houston Tomorrow and Tea Party groups that provide almost constant humor and I'm happy that the party bloggers in this town are so consistent. It makes living here entertaining and blogging about the city easy.  I have a good job that provides for my family, we spend time taking advantage of the many amenities that are available including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, golf year around, the Museum District, good places to eat, drink and generally live a fairly happy life. My only concern is that all of this gets whitewashed away by some wave of gentrification that strips Houston of all that makes her vibrant.  In short, I fear world-classiness most of all, not the people behind the movement. For the most part, among the ones I've met, them I actually like.

Yes, the weather is not the best, and yes the traffic sucks, and yes, there are many people in this City who would just as soon spit on you as give you a drink of water. Quite often however I've found those types to be the New Urbanists rather than the luddites who are continually "against progress" or "wanting to hurt the poor" (both not true in most cases*). Were money and access no object are their other places I'd rather live? 

Of course. Pamplona, Spain for one, Northern Italy for another, in America probably Las Vegas and that's about it. Although, if pressed, I'd probably move anywhere in France. (Watch the TV coverage of the Tour de France, you'll understand)

Maybe because I live in the suburbs I don't see the level of hate and threats of physical confrontation that Chron writers seem to experience. I've walked, ridden my bike, driven and rode trains and buses around Houston and I've never had anyone approach me with a tire-iron in hand threatening to beat my brains in because I was walking. And I doubt many people in Houston have either. For the most part we all get along and make our way through life in this City potholes and all. Sure, there might be the quick bleating of a horn or an odd anonymous online comment but, for the most part, the folks in Houston that I've met are pretty amicable, even when we disagree from time to time. Usually on those occasions I've found it best to just agree to disagree, and order another round.

So either the Chron is hiring a special kind of asshole or mountains are being made of molehills in their writer's minds.

Of, possibly, they're just going for page-clicks.  If that's the case then they suckered me in.  It's just these days, I exclusively take the free route in through their Twitter account.









































*Hurting the poor, or evil intentions supported by bad moral arguments are not just the provenance of progressives, new urbanists and the left. If you don't think that Tea Partiers, Republican establishment writers and (admittedly) you and I fall into the trap of false demonization from time to time then you're not being fair. A reminder that this is OK when you're using a person's own words to characterize their position (as can safely be done using the prose of the linked article above, where the author clearly spells out the fact that he is, in fact, a raging asshole with interpersonal communication issues) but is usually bad when you have to project what it is that they're thinking. A few years ago I was constantly making this error when categorizing New Urbanists. I've tried to get better at that just focusing on what they are actually saying instead of what I imagine them to say. Still not perfect, but hopefully getting better.