Articles for July, 2009
Why AT&T Worships At Steve Jobs’ Feet
As Dan Frommer notes, while the IPhone has produced solid growth for Apple, it has been a savior to Dallas-based AT&T. Subscriber revenue is up and subscriber churn is down.
Dallas Joins In World-Wide Iran Rally
United 4Iran is holding rallies in every major city in the world tomorrow to support of freedom in Iran. The Dallas rally will be at Dealey Plaza from 4 pm to 7. Drop by. Every bit of support gives hope to a battered but defiant people.
UPDATE: If you attend and take photos, submit them to the Huffington Post here.
Has Kay Bailey Hutchison Waited Too Long?
Now that John Cornyn has announced this morning he will vote against Sonia Sotomayor, Hutchison is left without much political cover. If she votes for the Supreme Court nominee, she provides more red meat for Rick Perry in the increasingly small, increasingly hard-core GOP primary. If she votes against, she endangers any chance of penetrating the Hispanic vote in the general or attracting them into the GOP primary. Which is why Evan Smith argued last Saturday she should resign from the Senate as fast as she can.
Why The Rich Are Disappearing: Taxes?
Last month, I linked (with a favorable comment) to Arthur Laffler’s op-ed in the Wall St. Journal on how high-tax states were losing the rich. Now along comes Daniel Gross of Slate.com with a closer examination of the numbers. The conclusion? Low-tax states are losing even more rich people than the high-tax states:
Comparative tax havens like Florida, Nevada, and Arizona didn’t see an influx of millionaires in 2008. Far from it. In 2008, Las Vegas lost 38 percent of its HNWIs [high net worth individuals], and Phoenix lost 34 percent. Florida, which has no state income tax and hasn’t been talking about one, was a killing field for the rich. The three major metro areas that lost more than 40 percent of millionaires in 2008 were all in no-income-tax Florida—Orlando (42 percent), Miami (42 percent), and Tampa (51 percent). The decline has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with bursting asset bubbles.
As Glenn Hunter noted on July 15, Dallas hasn’t been hit as hard but we are still down 1.4%.
Leading Off (7/24/09)
1. Developer Brian Potashnik testified yesterday that, even when he found out the FBI was snooping around Dallas City Hall, he kept paying the mistress (and future wife) of Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill $14,000 a month to be “a consultant.” What did she consult him on? How to charge people for doing nothing, apparently. (Insert airline/government agency/cable company joke here.)
2. If you would like a big plate of awesome to go with your cup of coffee this morning, read the transcripts of the Mark Cuban-Don Nelson case. You’ll find out just how much they hate each other. You’ll find out that, if Nellie is to be believed, his son Donnie told him in the bathroom before the 2004 draft, sorry pops, you’re out of the loop on this one. (And see that Donnie wanted to draft Pavel Podkolzin instead of Devin Harris with the 5th pick. Yikes!) You’ll see Nelson call Erick Dampier “doggy.” It’s fun for the whole family.
3. Earthquake insurance is being offered to residents of Cleburne, as well as lightning insurance, black panther insurance (the animal, not the super hero), and, of course, dinosaur insurance.
Jon Stewart Is Most Trusted Newscaster In Texas
From Time polls. The results for Texas: Katie Couric 6%, Charlie Gibson 23%, Brian Williams 31%, Jon Stewart 41%.
Sell Naming Rights To Dallas City Parks?, Ctd.
A FrontBurnervian responds:
Why not sell naming rights to Dallas parks? Because that is how we end up with Superpages.com Center, whatever the hell THAT is. Viagra Dealey Plaza? Red Bull Audubon Nature Center? Smirnoff Music Hall? Oh, wait, I think we already tried that last one.
Point-set-match.
Beer Pong!
It was while perusing this site, which promotes a beer pong competition at Lee Harvey’s on August 22, that I saw this video. I am in awe.
Conduit Gallery Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary
The shindig happens on Saturday at the gallery from 6-9 p.m., and features music from Buttercup. The after-shindig is at Sons Of Hermann Hall, with the Deathray Davies (featuring Conduit assistant director/Project Room curator Danette Dufilho’s husband, John), more Buttercup, and Salim Nourallah. If you go to both, you get into the Sons show for $5.
John Cornyn Really, Really Likes Lockheed, Ctd.
To my friend Wes Mantooth:
“…we haven’t had any of our soldiers or Marines killed by enemy air since 1951 or something like that. It’s been half a century or more since any enemy aircraft has killed one of guys.” — Former Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak (Ret.), July 17, 2009
Sorry for abbreviating and therefore mischaracterizing the fact.
A.H. Belo up 26% Today, 70% For Week
My Belo-tracking FrontBurnerian has just sent another alert.
Now, I don’ t claim to know anything. But I do know Brian Ferguson. So let’s ask him. Hey, Brian! How’re things going?
Celeb Sighting: The Office’s Jenna Fischer at a Richardson Starbucks
A first-and-last-name-having FBvian sends us this:
I saw Jenna Fischer at Starbucks in Richardson earlier today. Near Campbell and Coit. She was really nice to everyone that said hello to her.
I guess she’s doing some wedding planning. But seriously: no pic? Who doesn’t have a camera phone these days?
John Cornyn Really, Really Loves Lockheed, Ctd.
Don’t shoot the messenger, Wick. I am only passing along this e-mail. Your fight is with (former) five-star commenter Wes Mantooth, who checks in with this:
“4. No U.S. military personnel have been killed or wounded by an enemy’s air force since 1951.”
Really? Who’s drinking the kool-aid, Cornyn or Wick? Cursory research reveals Wick’s contention as, at best, sloppy, and at worst disingenuous:
http://air-combat.suite101.com/article.cfm/us_aircraft_lost_to_the_soviets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder
It might be fair to say that the USAF has not suffered a combat air loss since the end of the Vietnam War, but that’s a significantly more restricted statement than what Wick wrote.
And I think this is why we can’t have nice things.
Paul Giamatti on Jessica Simpson’s Soul
From The New Yorker’s Talk of the Town:
“I can’t get a read off of her, which is why I’m curious. Her soul might just be a tape measure.”
I’d give you the context, but I’m not positive it would help much.
On Scantily Clad Co-Workers
The folks at Androvett send out a newsletter periodically, trying to drum up pub for the lawyers they represent. In the edition that just went out, there appeared the following:
Fashion faux pas in the workplace can spike in the summertime as modesty often takes a back seat to comfort for many. But scantily clad workers in a professional setting can create real dilemmas for employers, says labor and employment attorney Audrey Mross of Dallas-based Munck Carter. “A coworker who is revealing a little too much can make colleagues uncomfortable or, intentionally or unintentionally, attract attention that forms the basis of a harassment claim,” Mross says.
I mention this for absolutely no reason at all. I swear.
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