Articles for March, 2010
Seriously. What are Bill White’s Chances?
The folks over at Time are prognosticating on Bill White’s chances of beating Gov. Rick Perry, and they’ve asked University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray and local go-to political question-answerer person Cal Jillson of SMU to assess the race.
In short, Murray’s got a bit of a rosier outlook, pointing to White’s fluency in Spanish, his deep-pocketed donors and his base in Houston. Jillson is less convinced, pointing to Texas’ historical tendency to vote Republican by as much as a 10 point margin.
As I’ve said before elsewhere, Perry is beatable. He’s got plenty to be confronted about, and he’s also lost the thing that helped him win over Kay Bailey Hutchison – Washington. Without being able to pin his opponent to Washington, and subsequently blame for every evil thing, Perry may have to do a little more nimble dancing to avoid being pinned as the governor that was in office when the state faced a potential $11B budget shortfall, who probably should’ve let Todd Willingham have a new trial, and whose universally-reviled legacy project – the Trans Texas Corridor – has bit the dust.
I mean, sure, he can and already has tried to paint White as an Obama advisor and Washington insider, but it’s going to be a little harder to really pound those dots like it was with Hutchison.
So … does White stand a chance?
Washington, Texas Ranger For Now, Tests Positive For Cocaine
According to SI.com, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine following the 2009 All Star Break last July. Washington told Sports Illustrated that he called the commissioner’s office as soon as he thought he failed the test. He also said he apologized to the Rangers organization and that the incident was a “one-time transgression.”
MLB started drug testing managers, coaches, and clubhouse personnel in 2008 on recommendation from George Mitchell.
Washington has already been through outpatient substance abuse counseling for the past nine months and first time offenders are not usually subjected to punitive measures, per MLB regulations as told by SI. Their names are also withheld from the public.
Now that the cat is out of the bag it looks like either Nolan Ryan or Jon Daniels will have to publicly explain their decision not to fire the manager of a team with at least one recreational drug addict already on the roster, while they were sporting a 48-39 record that put them 1.5 games behind the Angels for first place in the AL West.
UPDATE: Evan Grant, while on 1310 The Ticket’s BAD radio show, said the Rangers organization could have fired Washington last year without fear of facing any sort of legal repurcussions.
UPDATE 2: Tip O’ The Hat to commenter SDM for pointing us to an ESPN Dallas chat with Nolan Ryan where he shared his reaction to the news:
Chris Smith (Dallas)
What was your first reaction when you learned of Washington positive test?
Nolan Ryan
(3:43 PM)I was in total shock. Then I was mad. Then I was very disappointed. I went through an array of emotions.
Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete Set
The complete DVD collection is now available. Mason Currey at Slate tries to explain the show’s appeal:
Walker is a run-of-the-mill action show that is constantly veering off into the bizarre. This is partly the result of crappy production values, but it’s also the product of what appears to be a genuine naiveté on the part of the show’s creators. Unlike many contemporary crime dramas, Walker never seems slick or calculating. It’s trying; it really is. And the gap between the show’s relatively humble aspirations (Walker recognizes the face of the murdered boy) and its ham-fisted execution (we are treated to a series of long, slow zooms as Walker stares at a garishly-painted dummy head) is strangely charming.
Why Must The South Rise Again in Granbury?
Over on the Startlegram, columnist Bud Kennedy has a piece outlining what is shaping up to be a very interesting flag day in Granbury.
In summary, the Sons of Confederate Veterans are planning to march around the Hood County Courthouse with Confederate battle flags at noon Saturday during the annual Confederate Gen. Hiram Granbury’s Birthday parade. Marching with the flags in the Granbury Birthday parade isn’t unusual for the group, but it’s their reason for this year’s marching location that is.
Seems this remark Granbury Mayor David Southern made about the Confederate battle flag has the group all hot and bothered: (more…)
What Two Humans Do You Mash Together to Make Dirk?
From the boys at Ball Don’t Lie. And, that’s pretty good.
Apparently, Holes in the Sky are Bad, Or Something
File this under “Things I Did Not Know,” and under, “Brand New Thing Going on my Google Reader.”
Don’t ask me how I found this missive from Monday entitled, “Strange holes in the clouds over Dallas, Texas, USA.” Apparently, “1 or thousands” saw a hole in the sky along Northwest Highway that followed him around. Or something.
I pulled a Steve Blow and Googled “contrails.” I got this, which seems benign, and this, which decidedly does not.
But my question is this: If I can’t operate a cell phone while driving through most of my commute to and from work, how is it OK that this guy was apparently looking at the sky the entire drive? And what should we worry about more – contrails and holes in the sky, or guys looking at contrails and holes in the sky while driving?
Discuss.
UPDATE: How awesome are Frontburnervians? Kevin Selle, a meteorologist over at Texas Cable News informs me that what the guy saw was likely something called a “fallstreak hole” or a “hole punch cloud.” The explanation is here, and pictures are here.
So now we just have to worry about this guy hitting us while he looks up at them.
Re: Dallas Observer Parent Company Defaults on $80 Million Loan
A couple of comments to this post worried this might affect Big Bob Wilonsky and the merry muckrakers at the Observer. Fret not. At least, I don’t think you have to fret anytime soon. The Observer is still one of the strongest papers in the Village Voice Media chain. Like all print media, it has its challenges, but the chain has an online classified cash cow in backpage.com, and its websites are now bringing in pretty good revenue, according to trust-y-able sources.
Now, is “strongest in the chain” weak praise? Hard to say. According to this report from the PEW Project for Excellence in Journalism, at least three of the papers in the VVM chain (San Fran, Broward (Miami), and Houston) had rough years. And, as noted, the prospects for print journalism as a whole is not what one would call “robust.” But you can’t kill Big Bob. Have you seen how big and hairy he is? Like trying to kill the Yeti.
Update: Great story from The Stranger on the entire lawsuit and its origins.
Before he was Fonzie, Henry Winkler was a “Dumb Dog”
In town for The Destiny Awards Luncheon, Yale graduate and Happy Days lead Henry “The Fonz” Winkler (pictured) revealed who called him a “dumb dog.”
Super Bowl Gives Highway New Name
I know you all love hearing Super Bowl updates whenever we get them (lookin’ at you, Mike), so here’s another one brought to us by the Star-Telegram. Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments made an announcement last night that Interstate 30 between Dallas and Fort Worth will be renamed the Tom Landry Super Bowl Highway. The change isn’t official yet. Morris wants to run it by the NFL. I’m not sure when the change may take place, but what I want to know is whether or not the highway will go back to its original name after the game. And, also, how costly will this project be? (Wait before you say I’m not a journalist because I didn’t do any investigating. I have a call in to Morris to ask these questions. He’s just busy.)
Leading Off (3/17/10)
Since Tim’s off spring breaking, I’m going to try to channel him for this Leading Off (growing mustache on face, throwing out back, losing the hair on the top of my head…). Actually. If I really wanted to channel Tim, I would know that he wouldn’t be in the office on St. Patty’s Day, so forget it, on to the Leading Off.
1. I have nothing to add to the tease to this article: “A Dallas County jail guard is fired for allegedly making racist and anti-gay remarks, as well as unorthodox comments about dinosaurs. …”
2. So the boss of whoever missed the 123 bags of drugs in a police locker can view this situation one of two ways: with humor and a “glass half-full approach,” or with disdain and a “whoever missed this is so fired” approach. I go for humor.
3. One day, a bus driver got mad at three little girls for eating Oreos on the bus. So he allegedly pulled out a knife and told them if they didn’t tell him who ate the Oreos, he would cut off their wrists. But it’s cool, because it was all a joke, see? He says the same thing to his kids. (He says now that he doesn’t make that joke as often as he did two years ago.) I think we can all learn something from this. Don’t eat Oreos on a bus. Don’t threaten to cut off kids’ fingers.
[Standing, Clapping] Bethany Is Back!
Longtime readers of FrontBurner will know the name Bethany Anderson (or, simply, Bethany). Back before we shut off comments, she was the most commenterest of all commenters (in my estimation). She left us for several reasons, one of which was the vitriol in our comments section. That vitriol led us to shut down our comments — and now moderate them.
I don’t know why this took us so long. But we finally up and invited Bethany to be a regular contributor. Her first post went up a few hours ago. Please join me in welcoming her.
Fred Baron’s Payments to Rielle Hunter “A Gift”
If you haven’t read the GQ interview with former presidential candidate John Edwards mistress Rielle Hunter, meh, not that illuminating. But the interview does bring up the late Fred Baron once again, since she explains the vast amounts of cash she received from him as “a gift.”
Says Hunter:
It was never hush money. Ever. Fred gave me the money as a gift with no strings attached. And Johnny always said to me I could talk to the media whenever I wanted, and whatever I did would never affect his relationship with Quinn. Me not talking to the press was my own personal choice based on what I felt was best for me and my daughter and based upon my feelings for how the media operates.
Fred was a very kind and generous man. He even paid for a security guard when he was concerned about our safety. And in May ‘08, Fred and Lisa [Blue, his wife] came to visit me in Santa Barbara and to meet Quinn, and Fred just flat out asked me, “How can I help you, and what do you need?” because Fred knew I needed to get away from the Youngs. I’d just given birth to a baby, the tabloids were stalking me, and he wanted to help.
But now for a public service announcement: Until they make a Silkwood shower for your brain, for the love of God don’t go read the description of the sex tape found on The Daily Beast.
Dallas Observer Parent Company Defaults on $80 Million Loan
Was talking to some alt-weekly industry bigwigs yesterday, and they kind of saw this coming. (No doubt because of stories like this, which you’ll want to read for background.) Long story short: Village Voice Media, which owns the Dallas Observer and the SF Weekly in San Francisco, was sued by its competitor, the Bay Guardian, for predatory pricing. The Bay Guardian won. The case is on appeal, but in the meantime, because VVM couldn’t pay a $25 million note (spare me the legal details, I know I’m skimming), the judge has ordered that the BG can start taking half of SF Weekly’s advertising revenue. Meanwhile, back in Montreal, the bank that in effect owns VVM says, “WAIHT! ZEES MONEY EEZ OURS!” and has … well, just read the stories. It’s incredibly juicy media catfight kinda stuff.
Two footnotes: One, you’ll want to read VVM’s official take here, which explains this was legally necessary but they’re in no danger of going under, and two, yes, I used to work at the Observer and even interviewed to be its editor a few years ago (and was told, um, that will never happen), but if those circumstances kept me from commenting on local media companies, I’d have to stop altogether.
A Few Programming Notes
Since Tim is splitting for spring break (whooooooooo!) and I’ll be headed down to Austin for SXSW tomorrow, posting will be on the light side over the next few days. And, as you can see, it already is, since we’re preparing to skedaddle.
I will, however, be posting about SXSW on FrontRow, as well as on my Twitter feed. Or you can just take the rest of the week off. Whatever. No pressure.
Win $150 in D Magazine March Madness Bracket Craziness
You’ll find our group, called The Kunklers, right here. Winner gets a $150 gift certificate to Ocean Prime. Here are my favorite bracket names thus far:
Chalking to the Sky
Squirrel Chaser
Ghost of Adam McGill
You guys can do better. Last year’s bracket craziness, it seems, featured funnier names. Get to it.
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