Articles for June, 2009
In Defense Of Public Libraries
As the Dallas City Council prepares to cut library hours in the current deficit emergency, author-hero Ray Bradbury, 88, rallies in defense of the Ventura County public libraries:
“I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries…”
And just as Mr. Bradbury speaks out, Willard Spiegelman launches his own broadside, with a perfectly timed and perfectly tuned column on the downtown Dallas Public Library in the print edition of FrontBurner.
Leading Off (06/22/09)
1. The Dallas North Tollway continues to confound drivers late at night/early morning. Saturday night, someone opted to use the southbound lanes to head from Wycliffe Avenue over to Lovers Lane. That driver made it. The guy who attempted that trick a few hours later in Frisco was less successful–he, and the the two people he injured, are at Parkland. This is happening too often to be a mere fluke. Might I suggest taking the traffic light-filled Preston Road once the sun sets until some sort of breathalyzer situation happens at the toll booths?
2. Dallas wins 8th place in the country for “owner give up.” The scam: people report their cars stolen to the insurance company when in reality they’ve just never picked them up from the over-priced valet at the Joule or they’ve set them on fire in front of their ex-boyfriend’s house in order to let him know that you can’t treat people like that. I mean, I’m just guessing here. My car is paid for. No problems here. No sir.
3. It is way hot outside, people. But lest you think that’s an excuse to sit in your house and watch bad television, this DMN article says it isn’t so. People continue to do things outside like play tennis, soccer, and baseball–they even watch hot-air balloons. I know, right? I’m changing my ways.
How Bad Laws Get Made In Texas, Ctd.
Rep. Jerry Madden (R., Plano) authored the original bill that Tara Hill complained about on Wednesday. Originally, it was innocuous and uncontroversial. Then, Democrats added amendments that would allow Child Protective Services more leeway to abuse its already substantial power.
Today, Madden asked the governor to veto his own bill. The guv has until Sunday to decide.
Where Has Jack E. Jett Been?
The radio personality (he dismisses the word “broadcaster”) was one of our favorite most prolific commenters when we had comments. But he disappeared from the airwaves last month. Now he’s back – after a stroke and quadruple heart bypass.
“Four Things I Learned From My Dad”
Jim Meigs is the editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. (The Dallas connection is that he is also my cousin.) Here he tells what his “machinist father” taught him. What he fails to mention is that his father — one of the greatest guys I know — was also a professor of economics at Princeton.
DCAD Moves In Mysterious Ways
Take heart, all those protesting their property values before DCAD’s Appraisal Review Board. I think they’ll knock some off your total just for showing up. That’s what seemed to happen yesterday, after my hastily prepared “comparable values” study for our neighborhood left the hearing board unimpressed. At that, the DCAD guy displayed some actual recent sales comps; they placed our home’s proposed value at the rock-bottom end of a $30,000 spread. Then–and I’m not complaining here–the board voted to slice $6,000 off the total anyway. DCAD hearings will continue through mid-July.
Now You Can Buy Myopic’s Plays in Pieces
In January 2008, Adam McGill wrote about the forthcoming solo record from Jeff Ryan (aka Myopic), titled Plays in Pieces. It had been reviewed (favorably) on NPR’s Open Mic website, it was recorded by noted producer Stuart Sikes, and it featured Ryan playing “stark and minimalist” and “layered and complex” melodies on piano, Rhodes, guitar, bells, and drums. We mentioned at the end of the short piece that it was due in stores in February.
Okay, so we jumped the gun. But you can finally get it, via Simulacra Records, and all the things Adam said before remain true. All we’ll add — since, full disclosure, Ryan’s son Alexander is my son’s best friend and, as such, we all had dinner last night at Lovers Pizza in Casa Linda (represent!), where he told me this — expect a proper CD release shindig at Good Records in the near future.
Rick Perry and A&M: Hot Rumor Of The Week
The university’s president was fired to make room for the governor. An invitation by his hand-picked Board of Regents to lead Texas A&M would provide Perry with “a gracious exit” (source’s words) in the face of the almost-unanimous withdrawal of support by major GOP donors and Kay Bailey Hutchison’s huge early lead in a potential match-up.
Why Does Texas Still Have The Death Penalty?, Ctd.
On Wednesday, I raised the question. Now comes word from a News-writing FrontBurnervian that the paper has (”quietly”) launched a blog centered on that very question. On it, Michael Landauer cites a chilling statistic:
It’s telling that countries where power and authority are key to keeping people in their place rely on the death penalty. China leads the way in executions, for example. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — all countries led by people who sleep with one eye open — help make up 93 percent of all executions. Well, actually, those countries plus the United States (led, by far, by Texas, of course). So, to recap: China, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States (mostly Texas) make up 93 percent of all executions.
My major concern is that no other Texas county has maintained the DNA records that Dallas has. We cannot be sure that any of the people today on death row are not innocent of the murders they were convicted of. At the very least, we should suspend it, like Maryland, Illinois, Nebraska, and New Jersey to make sure that state does not wrongly kill an innocent person. But the facts weigh against keeping the penalty at all: Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1846. It was the first English-speaking government in the world to abolish it. Its homicide rate is lower than states that have it, which is not unusual.
Times Are Tough, People Are Kind
Speaking of Park Cities People, Merritt Patterson writes perhaps her best column ever about a moment of grace amid her family’s own financial turmoil.
Have You Nominated Someone for the 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas?
No? Shame on you. Do it now.
What To Do in Dallas for Father’s Day
So you’re a procrastinator, eh? Well, no worries. We’ve got some great suggestions for what to do with dear old Dad this weekend. Take a look.
Friday Time Suck: Flip Flop Fly Ball
I can’t really describe this site any better than Craig Robinson, the man behind it does: “A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly Ball.” Therein, you can find clean, beautiful graphic representations of things such as the real world cost of stolen bases and the height of Fenway Park’s Green Monster as compared to other icons.
My favorite so far, and what gives me the most tangential of reasons to post this, is a fully realized box score of a fictitious tiebreaker game between the Wu-Tang Clan and the E Street Band to decide the Eastern Division pennant and determine who will face Earth, Wind & Fire in the Championship Series. (That’s not local, you might say. And you’re right. But along with that, Robinson also includes the final division standings. Look at the bottom of the Western Division. There, in last place with a record of 4-14, is Dallas’ own The Polyphonic Spree. Boom.)
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Texas Jobless Rate Hits 7.1 Percent in May
I don’t know why Wick doesn’t want comments. Why, look at the political insight offered by readers of this DMN unemployment rate story. Now that’s just good reading. Especially the parts in all caps.