Articles for August 19th, 2009
The Dumbest Threatening Email Of The Month, Ctd.
By popular demand, here is the offending photograph, from “Driving Ambition: How 5 Dallas CEOs Feed Their Need for Speed,” in the current issue of D CEO. The Bentley looks good, don’t you think?
This is the absolute last post on this subject. I hope.
Tom Hicks’ Money Woes
By Tom Hicks, I mean Hicks Sports Group. While the entities share a name, they aren’t the same thing. Just to be clear. Right? Anyway, on the heels of a Dallas Business Journal story about Hicks Sports Group’s creditors looking to take control of the Stars, Randy Galloway is reporting that MLB is now in control of the Rangers, preventing the team from signing its No. 1 pick. Again, though, Tom Hicks, the man, is fine. It’s just HSG that’s floundering.
Dallas Woman’s Lost Pet Found in Florida
Seriously. Her dog turned up in Miami.And she doesn’t know how or why.
Where I Would Be Tonight Only If I Had Access To a Helicopter, or Possibly a Jetpack: Arlington
Between Pudge Rodriguez’s return to the Temple and Paul McCartney’s concert at Cowboys Stadium, I would imagine the road rage that would overcome me in the ensuing traffic snarl would make me look something like this:
I'm not called Captain Furious as some sort of opposite nickname.
University Park to Citizens: Shut Up
OK, my headline is the New York Post version of the story. There’s a bit more nuance to the issue, and it’s pretty much a toothless policy change, more of a suggestion really.
But I’ve been to a lot of city council meetings in about a dozen different municipalities in the state of Texas, and I’ve never heard of a city as interested in discouraging public comments as the city of University Park.
Sarah Scott of Park Cities People has the story, part of her continuing coverage.
Confessed and Convicted Killer Apparently Wants To Be An Architect, Ctd.
A solid-plan-having FBvian has this solid plan:
Here’s an idea. Instead of making license plates, he could design the new convention center hotel. Just think of how much the city would save by farming the whole project to prison labor!
CC: Jack Matthews.
The Dumbest Threatening Email of the Month, Ctd.
Wow, I didn’t see that coming. Happy, though, to be the one keeping us from casting aspersions.
The Dumbest Threatening Email of the Month, Ctd.
Wow. Please, please. Quiet down out there. Just because I let C. Bruce Willis have the last word does not mean that I was acquiescing to him. I was merely being polite. Perhaps that is such rare behavior on my part that I was misapprehended. So, to satisfy all you journalism- and law-practicing FrontBurnervians who have written in outrage at Mr. Willis’s arguments, here are your rebuttals (necessarily consolidated):
File Under “Who Cares?”: Confessed and Convicted Killer Apparently Wants To Be An Architect
They’ve reached the punishment phase of James Broadnax’s trial, with jurors deciding between the death penalty and life in prison. Last week he was convicted of killing two Christian music producers in June 2008 as they left their Garland studio. His family, in a witness stand Hail Mary, is now portraying Broadnax as George Costanza:
Defense attorneys called several more relatives who testified, as others have previously, that Broadnax is a nonviolent young man who was physically and verbally abused as a youngster. They also said that, though he dropped out of high school, Broadnax aspires to a career in architecture.
Yeah, not sure that’s going to pan out for him. But who knows?
A Modest Rx, Ctd.
A law-knowing FBvian explains why race has long been a factor in the awarding of contracts at Dallas City Hall:
The problem arises partly because of the “disparate impact” provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provide that a person in a protected class can win a discrimination claim based on statistics, rather than proof of actual discrimination. …
Unless an employer can prove that the demands of the work require the use of a hiring scheme that results in fewer minority jobs than would be statistically expected in that job market, the failure to hire the expected number of minority applicants is deemed to be discrimination. The result has been that employers end up being pressured to ensure that a certain number of jobs are awarded to the protected groups to avoid claims that the numbers don’t add up.
Deciding to hire someone is a complicated business. … But, under the disparate impact provisions of the Civil Rights Act, if an employer hires fewer minorities than would be expected (and figuring out what’s “expected” is a whole other kettle of fish), all of those subjective judgments are assumed to be discriminatory, and, therefore, against the law.
This law has done a lot of good. It has prevented real bigots from lying. They can’t say, “I just hire the folks I think are best for the job — race has nothing to do with it” when, in fact, race has everything to do with it. But, just like every law that attempts to legislate good behavior, it also has had unintended evil consequences.
Bottom line: The folks who’ve made good dough manipulating this system probably needn’t fear losing their gigs anytime soon.
Countdown Begins in Favorite R.E. Blog Contest
OK, so Candy Evans’ DallasDirt is in the finals to be named the favorite real estate blog in Texas. The winner will be named next Tuesday. Hit this link to check out the competition–scroll down to the last item–and then follow the instructions and vote. For Candy, of course.
A Modest Rx for (Alleged) City Hall Corruption: Forget Race in Awarding Development Contracts
As The Wall Street Journal notes this morning via Unfair Park, defendants in the Dallas City Hall corruption trial say what they did was basically OK because, historically, not enough “minority contractors” have been tapped for development work. Which leads to the admittedly naive question: Why the hell should skin color play any role at all in who pours your concrete and bangs in your nails? If jobs were awarded instead based on two fair simple criteria–who can do the best job, for the best price–wouldn’t all these (alleged) opportunities to game the system dry up?
The Dumbest Threatening Email of the Month, Ctd.
Several FrontBurnervians have sent me the Facebook photo (left) of Aircorp General Counsel C. Bruce Willis II, accompanied 
by various snarky remarks. Let us desist from these sorts of ad hominems. A magazine that serves the 5th largest metro area in the United States is not in a good position to cast aspersions on others’ maturity when its executive editor runs a Facebook photo in a wig.
So let’s get back to the issue. As one might expect, Mr. Willis disagrees with my arguments yesterday, which is fine. However, he still seems to be incapable of making a point without making a threat. But let’s just mark that down to an overly aggressive law instructor and let him have the final word:
Mike Judge at Angelika Tonight
The Austin-based animator and film director will take some questions at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas after a special 7:30 p.m. screening of his new movie, Extract. Which of his fan bases do you think is more likely to show up: people who ask him to sign TPS reports and Swingline staplers or those who worship these idiots?
Belo Succeeds Where Others Fail: Squeezing Money Out of “Old” GM
There’s one bankruptcy attorney out there who deserves a bonus. Belo was owed $2.5 million for advertising from the “old” GM (the remnant company still in receivership). In a recent filing, Belo announced the matter been settled. Meanwhile. other media companies are still standing outside the courthouse door with their hats out.
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