Articles for September, 2009
Tincy Miller Apologizes for Religion Remarks
Dallas’ Tincy Miller, a member of the State Board of Education, asked a perfectly reasonable question about some of Texas’s new social studies books. Why, she wanted to know, would they have deleted information about Christmas and Rosh Hashanah in favor of discussing other global holidays like “Diwali”? (Drawing a blank? It’s the Hindu Holiday of Lights.) When Miller called Diwali little-known and lacking much “substance” on KERA-FM, the arbiters of political correctness leaped quickly into action. The upshot: Miller has now apologized for her remarks. Even so, I doubt she’ll be on anybody’s Diwali-card list this year.
Leading Off (9/24/09)
1. STOP. All of you who are driving the wrong way on the Tollway, just stop. It’s not like this is a new request. Those 30 new signs didn’t work. Logic didn’t work. So now sensors, which will alert officials when a vehicle is going the wrong way, are going to be installed. The thought is the sensors will give enough warning so officials can get to the vehicle to prevent an accident (hopefully).
2. YIELD. Well, not everyone has to yield, just the lawyer who was running to the nearest car dealership with the $1 million he received after his client was exonerated last year. His client, Steven Charles Phillips, said he didn’t provide any services. The lawyer said, “You’re free, aren’t you?” (At least, that’s what I’m assuming the lawyer would say.)
3.GO. And take Fido with you. But not without this nifty, new pet carrier designed specifically to fit underneath all the chairs on all the planes that American Airlines fly. The mesh sides let pets see what’s going on. Which is important, you know, so they can judge the shoes of those around them.
Win 10 Free Football Movies from Blockbuster on “FrontBurner Football Movie Contest Friday”
Let’s do this. Friday at precisely 10:30, I will post on FrontBurner some football trivia questions. I’m calling it “FrontBurner Football Movie Contest Friday.” Catchy, no? First person to provide me with the correct answers to the questions wins a free copy of each of the top 10 football movies of all time (according to Blockbuster). Plus, you’ll get a free 30-day subscription to Blockbuster by mail. So consider this your heads-up. See you Friday at 10:30. Here’s hoping everyone plays hard and gives 110 percent.
Local Music Blog We Shot JR to Become National Music Blog We Shot JR
That’s the plan, anyway. If you’re a regular visitor to the site, and I am, you may have noticed a distinct lack of founder Stoned Ranger. He explains his absence here (spoiler: he moved, to a location which, appropriately for someone generally only known by the handle Stoned Ranger, is unnamed for now), as well as rather vaguely laying out the future of the site — which I have adroitly encapsulated in the headline above. In short, soon-ish, We Shot JR will not only cover Dallas/Denton/Fort Worth, but a handful of other cities, too. Based on the list he gave me — but isn’t willing to share just yet — We Shot JR will be even more must-read. More TK.
Wylie’s Patrick Witt Leaves University of Nebraska to Be an Actual Student-Athlete at Yale
Good column here from ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel about Patrick Witt’s decision to leave behind potential glory as the starting quarterback at football-mad Nebraska in favor of Yale and potential glory years after his playing career is over. A snippet:
Witt arrived at Nebraska in 2007 with 15 AP credits. He found a locker room, he said, where he heard the refrain “C’s get degrees.” He saw Nebraska players who graduated in 2008 struggle to find the kind of job that might appeal to him. He knew his brother Jeff, a quarterback whose Harvard career ended in 2006 with a shoulder injury, would graduate in the spring and head to a job in the financial sector in New York. …
What Witt wanted is the vibrant academic atmosphere he has found at Yale in classes such as “Political Philosophy of Abraham Lincoln” and “Comparative Welfare Policy in Developing Countries.” He wanted a locker room where the level of humor rose above towel-snapping. Girls are a topic of conversation, but so is health care.
“People would look at me as if I had three heads if I brought that up in the locker room out there,” Witt said of the latter. “And it’s not like we’re discussing these things all the time in the Yale locker room. … You can be talking about football one minute and launch into a debate about politics the next.”
Hewlett-Packard Completes Its Humiliation of EDS
After buying Plano-based Electronic Data Systems last year, Hewlett-Packard cut the EDS work force, slashed its employees’ salaries, and stuffed its top execs into tiny cubicles. Now the California company is delivering the coup de grace: getting rid of the EDS name. For sprout-eaters, those Golden Staters sure play rough.
Party Over the Trinity on Friday
This Friday evening, the Trinity Trust Foundation is throwing what it’s calling a “bridge fair” on the Continental Bridge to celebrate the progress being made on the Marget Hunt Hill Bridge (full release after the jump). Santiago Calatrava will be in attendance. The band Boys Named Sue will play, and the foundation promises other “delectable delights.” Tickets cost $150, a price point established, I believe, to keep Jim Schutze from attending. D Magazine is a media sponsor, so I’ll be there. Look for me wherever the delectable delights are located.
Leading Off (9/23/09)
1. T. Boone Pickens has endorsed Rick Perry in the gubernatorial race. To make the announcement, Pickens held a press conference at his BP Capital headquarters, located in a fortress buried deep under an active volcano. When a reporter asked about his poor decision to side with Perry, Pickens simply stroked a white Persian cat sitting in his lap and said, “I have my reasons.”
2. The plot thickens in the lawsuit over the Bush library site. The judge who was presiding over the case has suddenly recused himself, for reasons that are unclear — though one leading theory has it that Dick Cheney became aware that the judge was set to rule against SMU, so he kidnapped the judge’s wife and locked her in an underground dungeon in the woods where he keeps several maidens chained up in a labyrinth of holding cells.
3. Why, God, have you foresaken us?! How can this be? No! First Dallas’ reputation was permanently stained by the Kennedy assassination, and now we’ve lost to Atlanta in a bid to lure the College Football Hall of Fame to our city. Please, Mary Suhm, put Mayor Leppert on suicide watch. Either that, or hit him with a dose of gamma radiation that will enable him to transform into a raging beast that can exact our revenge on Atlanta.
British Lawmaker Lauds Texas, Texans
Daniel Hannan, a journalist and member of the European Parliament, is no fan of big government. Speaking in Dallas today at a National Center for Policy Analysis luncheon, Hannan (pictured) likened President Obama’s policies, including on health care, to failed European ones. Then he proceeded to give a major shout-out to the Lone Star State. “Texas is the distillation of all I admire most about the U.S.,” he said. “It’s the most independent-minded of all the states, yet the purest manifestation of the virtues that built” America. Hannan, who became an Internet superstar for his crisp denunciation of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, went on to laud the “freedom, enterprise and boundless optimism” found in Texas. He also complimented the “sturdy, independent citizens [here] who look to themselves for solutions, rather than to the government.” That may have been true in 1909, I couldn’t help thinking, but who knows if it’s the case today?
Southlake Developer: Downtown Dallas Has No Soul
Frank Bliss is executive vice president of Cooper & Stebbins, which developed the phenomenally successful Southlake Town Square. Even as large as that project already is — the size of downtown Fort Worth in terms of acreage — Bliss said they’re still only about 35% finished with their vision. In particular, they have more office and residential offerings in mind.
When I asked his thoughts about Downtown Dallas, he was quick to answer: “Downtown Dallas has no soul … Dallas never planned for a soul.”
To reclaim its soul it needs a true center. As do many others, he cites the construction of the tunnels years ago as one major mistake, sucking away the street life. (more…)
Franks: Afghan Retreat Would Unleash the Rooster
While President Obama ponders a new report about the U.S. war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, some critics are questioning the wisdom of sending more troops there, while others are advocating a timetable for withdrawal. But retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the U.S. attack on Afghanistan and Iraq in the wake of Sept. 11, has a warning for the cut-and-run crowd. “If we bail out, the rooster will come home in a way that will make 9/11 look like a warm-up exercise,” Franks said today in Dallas. He made the comment leaving a luncheon hosted by the National Center for Policy Analysis, where he’s a board member.
Cowboys Stadium World’s Greatest Erector Set
Two days after losing the first regular-season game at their new home, the Dallas Cowboys have dismantled the field. Jerry Jones, who skipped yesterday’s presentation with the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, was the keynote speaker at today’s North Texas Commission membership luncheon at Cowboys Stadium.
As he got under way, he explained the presence of the big crane, as well as the welders who sent sparks flying from catwalks high above what is usually the field. He said there were about 300 workers in the building finishing up the 5% of construction that remains to be completed.
Obviously, Cowboys Stadium is a complicated project. He reminded us that the much-discussed digital screens above the field cost more to build than the entirety of Texas Stadium.
Faith Hill, Sting to Play Super Bowl Concerts
Roger Staubach, chairman of the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, broke the news about the talent to the crowd at the North Texas Commission annual membership luncheon at Cowboys Stadium this afternoon. As part of the year-long run-up to the February 2011 game, a three-concert series is being planned.
Faith Hill will kick off the Kick-off Series with a concert at Bass Hall in Fort Worth in March. “I’m picking her up from the airport,” Staubach joked (I think.)
Sting will play the Winspear Opera House in Dallas in May. The third act, for a concert at Cowboys Stadium next September, hasn’t been signed yet, Staubach said.
Better picks than Diana Ross?
WSJ Takes a Look at Perot Family, Ctd.
Just wanted to add a little fuel to the fire sale: A little over a week ago it came to our attention that Ross Perot Jr., had likely bought a sizable Highland Park lot that was once the spot of Bum Bright’s home. The land was purchased in June and is valued at $9,388,790 by DCAD. It’s a beautiful piece of land in a gorgeous neighborhood. No signs of construction yet, but I’m guessing that’s only a matter of time now.
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