Articles for November, 2010
Things to Do in Dallas Tonight: Nov. 8
I’d like to thank coffee and chocolate for making this post possible today. Hurray for stimulants! Anyway, if today is your birthday (happy birthday, Dad) you are a Scorpio, and your horoscope is as follows:
“Try not to worry too much about how abstract principles are affecting the nuts and bolts of your life — you need to just go along with it all and make sure that you’re more or less where you want to be.” “Where you want to be” – that just happens to be my purview, brothers and sisters. Jump with me to learn more.
Nashville Chilly to Gay Singer Chely Wright
Chely Wright, who this year became the first prominent C&W artist to openly declare her homosexuality, says public reaction to her decision by the Nashville establishment has been muted at best. A number of country performers “supported me immediately in private, but only two have come forward publicly: Mary Chapin Carpenter and SHeDAISY,” Wright said at a reception Saturday at Dallas’ Black Tie Dinner, a big annual gay fundraiser where she was given the Media Award. “Nevertheless, I’m happy. It was a good decision for me.”
The 40-year-old Wright (pictured in photo by Jeanne Prejean) said she’d known she was a lesbian since she was 9. But she dated guys including C&W star Brad Paisley and scored a big hit called “Single White Female” (”Lookin’ for a Man Like You”) before coming out in May. She blamed Nashville’s reticence about her announcement on the record-label bosses–and she’s probably right. If so, though, you have to wonder whether the “suits” aren’t badly misreading the willingness of country fans to accept gay artists, especially those fans in their teens, 20s and 30s.
Christina McLarty Weds Joe “Girls Gone Wild” Francis
I report (or I link, anyway). You decide.
Dallas: Behind the Times When It Comes to Urban Planning
Last week I attended the Metromorphosis conference staged by the Dallas Planning Council. The theme for the all-day affair was “Dallas’ Post-Recession Renaissance.” There was a lot of talk about what Dallas needs to do to become a world-class city (cough, cough). I meant to put up a post about my thoughts on all that, but the end of the week got away from me, and now I’m glad I didn’t. Because I couldn’t have said it better than Tamar Wilner, a writer I met at the gig. Tamar came to our fair shores from London. She writes about urban planning and renewable energy. She doesn’t have a driver’s license (or a car). And she wasn’t terribly impressed with where Dallas is in its march toward becoming — COUGH, SPUTTER — a world-class city.
Just Who the Heck Does Patrick Kennedy Think He Is Anyway?, Ctd.
I don’t have the entire list in front of me — as Tim likely burned it immediately, and with good reason — but before we settled on Urban Affairs (which, to be fair, I do believe he came up with), one of the titles Tim wrote down for serious consideration was: We Built This City.
Zac and Tim’s Plan to Save the Cowboys’ Season
It’s simple, really. And it’s brilliant: Jerry Jones should fire Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett today. Then he should coach the team himself. We’re not kidding. Listen, no coach would take this team mid-season. Besides which fact, Jerry doesn’t want to hire an expensive coach because there likely won’t be football next season, and he doesn’t want to waste the money. So he should do it himself. The team isn’t going to perform worse, right? And the move would be the talk of the NFL for the remainder of the season. I mean, what if Jerry stepped in — all dudded up in NFL gear on the sidelines, wearing the headset — and actually won a game? Can you imagine the media tsunami that would create? People would tune in to watch that. They’d buy tickets.
Jerry, please. It’s time.
Just Who the Heck Does Patrick Kennedy Think He Is, Anyway?
Careful readers of the magazine noticed that we debuted a new columnist in our November issue. The column is called Urban Affairs, and a fellow named Patrick Kennedy writes it. In his first installment, Patrick tackled Dallas’ parking problem. I’ve heard from a couple people who’ve asked who, exactly, Patrick is. I can’t answer that question. I’ve only known him for a few months. But I can tell you approximately who he is. Patrick runs a blog called Walkable DFW. He’s semi-famous for not owning a car. And, besides that, he is a partner in the planning and design firm Space Between Design Studio, where he is Director of Development Quality and Livability Consulting. He is on the board of directors of the North Texas chapter of the Congress of New Urbanism. So there.
Joe Biden Visited Cleburne Saturday
Alternate Headline: Two Things That Happened in Cleburne Over the Weekend That Are Probably Not Related
Vice President Joe Biden came to Cleburne by surprise Saturday, to attend the nuptials of a staffer. Then Sunday, this happened. Like I said, probably not related. Probably. I mean, nobody’s checked for sure on the correlation of seismic activity and surprise vice presidential travel. It could just be that Biden was too much for Cleburne, and he made the earth move for every single person there. Conversely, it could also be that the earth was trembling in relief that he left.
But just in case, maybe we should do a story on seismic activity and surprise vice presidential travel. But I call not it.
Cowboys’ Wheels Shoot Off on the Field and Online
The Cowboys got their website back in working order, but here’s what it looked like earlier this morning. A deeply troubled organization.
Pete Sessions Outmaneuvered for Majority Whip
You’d think after a huge victory the guy nominally in charge of it — in this case, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee — would be rewarded. Not this time. Sessions made noises about going for majority whip, but Andy McCarthy of California lined up the votes before he could actually announce. Are Republican congressmen an ungrateful lot? Maybe the key word above is “nominally” — his colleagues seem not to think he was responsible for the sweep. Or maybe members thought Sessions ought to stay off camera. They apparently have not forgotten this or this or this.
Michelle Bachmann vs. Jeb Hensarling
The Tea Party darling says she’ll run against Dallas’ own Jeb Hensarling for the #4 spot in the GOP Congressional leadership because America needs a “constitutional conservative” in the post.
Odd, that. Hensarling is one of the top fiscal watchdogs in the Republican majority:
Citizens Against Government Waste, a spending watchdog group, rates him higher than Bachmann. The group gives him a lifetime rating of 96 to her 91. Club for Growth gives Bachmann an 88, compared with Hensarling, who is tied for No. 1 with the top score of 100.
Here’s a post I wrote in 2009 about Hensarling’s battle to save the GOP from itself. Jacob Sullum, over at Reason, asks, “If the Tea Party prefers Bachmann to Hensarling, what good is it?” He notes that Hensarling has a stronger record on spending than Bachmann does — and gives a little poke at the agricultural subsidies her family has enjoyed over the years.
Why Republicans Lost Dallas County
The state-wide GOP tsunami broke at the borders of Dallas County, with the party losing every county race, in one case by a margin of just .05 percent. The reason for the oh-so-close wipeout? “The top of the ticket,” says one Republican leader. In other words: Rick Perry.
So many Republicans voted against Perry that he trailed every other Republican candidate on the ballot. Danny Clancy led him, Wade Emmert led him, and even at the very bottom of the ticket, candidate for County Probate Court #2 Lori Peters led him. Perry garnered only 180,000 votes, losing the county by a margin of 15 percent. Even Lori Peters got 197,000 votes.
By contrast, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst carried the county with 206,000 votes, and the GOP swept eight of eight legislative races.
Leading Off (11/8/10)
1. In 2008, the natural gas drilling company XTO Energy paid $33.4 million to the City of Dallas for leases on city land where it hoped to drill, money the city used to fund budget shortfalls and police officers. Now, thanks to a recent swell in public opposition to drilling for gas (fueled, in part, by the movie Gasland), the City Plan Commission has voted against approving specific-use permits for XTO to drill. The City Council is in a bind. Do they follow the commission and vote against the drilling permits on the very land which they were paid millions to lease for the purpose of natural gas drilling?
How XTO would respond to paying millions of dollars for a lease then failing to win the permit to exercise it is unclear. The company agreed to a number of restrictions on drilling – including submitting to the permit process – when it signed its lease.
2. For the second time in two weeks we learn that ambiguous hand gestures are punishable by death in Oak Cliff. Yesterday morning, a 32-year-old man asked residents living in an area on West Davis to call the police for him. When the police arrived, they shot and killed him.
3. Great weekend in local sports: Dallas’ football team continued its run of success, advancing to the league conference finals.
WSJ on the Rangers’ Mental Coach
The Wall Street Journal brings us an interesting story this morning about Fran Pirozzolo, the Rangers’ “mental skills” specialist who was hired by Nolan Ryan to toughen up the team.
Bob Schieffer to Pay Tribute to the Late Phil Record
Just learned about longtime Star-Telegram editor Phil Record’s death Sunday. CBS newsman/anchor Bob Schieffer, who considered Phil his mentor when Bob was a young cub at the Startlegram, will pay tribute to his old friend on this Sunday’s Face the Nation, according to FWST’s Robert Philpot.
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