Articles for November, 2011
Mark Cuban: Why Corporate Taxes Have Nothing to Do With Job Creation
Mark Cuban appeared on CNBC yesterday to talk about Warren Buffett talking about taxes. Right off the bat he said that the notion that cutting corporate taxes would lead to more hiring is “nonsense.” He said arguing for lower corporate taxes is “the right thing for [CEOs] to say,” but that in reality, taxes are “far down the list” of considerations large corporations make in hiring. His thinking: it’s much more about market positioning and competition.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Nov. 15
I’ve been craving a clay pot from Mai’s since I woke up yesterday morning. Tonight was the night. But you know what? It’s hot outside. I made the mistake of going there in late July. Two minutes into his curry, my friend Mark was dripping sweat and grumbling about how “it feels like actual Vietnam in here.” No a/c = no clay pot for me. Curses.
It’s okay, though, because as Sarah mentioned on SideDish some days ago, it’s Dallas Beer Week. Tuesday is as good a day as any to celebrate the cold hoppy stuff, but that leaves the question of where, exactly, to go. I was lured in by the Plano Ginger Man’s Brooklyn pint night advertisement because, um, Buffy pint glasses. Sadly, the fine print tells me that the picture does not coincide with the actual glasses that will be given away tonight, “though you’ve always wanted a Buffy the Vampire Slayer pint glass collection and you know it.” This could not be more true. The person who wrote that already knows me so well.
Meanwhile, The Common Table has their usual BrewsDay Tuesday special, tapping four Lagunitas kegs: Wet Hopped Maximus, cask conditioned Imperial Russian Stout, Fusion VII, and Farmhouse Saison. The brewery’s Lauren Young will be there. And finally, because I’m a sucker for the fried goat cheese, Holy Grail Pub in Plano is pouring a bunch of pumpkin ales.
For those not yet recovered from the Rangers’ very sad loss and/or bemoaning this NBA kerfuffle I know very little about, options for overcoming your sadness include supporting the other long-suffering local sports team that plays at the AAC. The Dallas Stars take on the Florida Panthers this evening (and it’s Brenden Morrow Bobblehead Night!). Eschewing athletics altogether? The free weekly lecture at the Modern in Fort Worth sounds like a good one— the special guest is CUNY art history professor Katy Siegel, discussing her latest book on contemporary criticism. This event also offers the opportunity to dine at Café Modern, by far my favorite museum eatery.
For more to do tonight, go here.
Rais Bhuiyan Named One of Esquire’s “Americans of the Year”
As you’ll recall, Rais Bhuiyan is the Dallas man who, earlier this year, sued the state of Texas to stop the execution of Mark Stroman, the guy who in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks went on a killing spree and shot Bhuiyan in the face. I wrote about Bhuiyan for the October issue of D Magazine. This week Esquire named Bhuiyan, an immigrant from Bangladesh, to their list of Americans of the Year. Other people on the list include Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Warren, Warren Buffett, Paul Ryan, and Andrew Sullivan. Esquire’s story about Bhuiyan, written by Mike Sager, winner of last year’s National Magazine Award for profile writing, isn’t online yet, but it’s quite moving.
A Few Thoughts On the NBA Lockout/My Worst Nightmare
Tim Cowlishaw has a column in today’s Morning News [reg. req.] about the continuing NBA lockout. His thesis statement:
There is only one set of “bad guys,” and those are the owners represented by Commissioner David Stern. I don’t see the players as bad guys in this deal. There’s another word for it.
I believe it’s called “idiots.”
Hm.
Meet Ruby, a Diabetic Alert Dog
Ruby is alerting Faith that her blood sugar is not within the 100-180 range. Photo by Type 1 Diabetes Foundation
Often, while in the middle of a deep sleep, I start dreaming about food—sandwiches, doughnuts, steak, peanut butter cups, gnocchi. It doesn’t matter what it is, I dream about it all. Slowly, I start to wake up. And that’s when I realize my blood sugar is low. I stumble into the kitchen, and in a half-conscious state, dig through the pantry and eat. The next morning, I go back to the kitchen and am ashamed of what happened during my “midnight feeding.” It’s amazing what combinations of food seem like a good idea when I’m half-awake. (Apparently, peanut butter goes with everything.)
This is just what life’s like for me, a type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed when I was 3. Two-year-old Faith Wilson was diagnosed when she was 9-months-old. She doesn’t dream about food when she’s low. She doesn’t wake up. Life for her, her siblings, and her parents has been a nightmare. But things got just a bit easier a year ago when the Wilsons got Ruby, a British Lab.
Leading Off (11/15/11)
Another Writer Embedded With Occupy Dallas. First a writer for the Morning News spent a day at the Occupy Dallas encampment. Now Pegasus News publishes a report from inside the tents. And that anonymous writer’s conclusion? “These people are simply people. They are you and I. And together, right now, we are all the sad, culminating, multi-generational product of our own undoing.” Does that clear everything up for you?
Child Abuse in Dallas Is Up. On balance, crime is down in Dallas. But a new report out of UTD finds that child abuse and neglect in Dallas County is up nearly 40 percent. One doc at Children’s Medical Center says he sees two to three devastating head injuries to a child every week due to child abuse.
Jason Terry on NBA Situation: “It sucks.” Interesting tidbit in this ESPN post about the players’ union disbanding. His kids go the same private school that Mark Cuban’s and Rick Carlisle’s kids attend. I imagine a very tense carpool dropoff line.
Report: Richard Rainwater Fighting for His Life
The new Fortune magazine has a remarkable story about the self-made Fort Worth billionaire, Richard Rainwater. Seems the deal-making legend who’s touched everyone from T. Boone and W to David Bonderman and Mort Meyerson is suffering from a degenerative brain disease for which there’s no treatment and no cure.
WFAA’s Ron Corning: Who is He and Why is He ‘Taking Over The Morning?’
Ron Corning
You may know him as the guy from the corny, I mean, Corning billboards and WFAA promos around the city. (You know the ones— “Good Morning, Texas” with the “m” crossed out?) He’s the latest addition to the anchor team of WFAA Daybreak and Midday News. D Magazine intern Bailey Powell sat down with the new leading man.
Random Photo From Tom Leppert’s Facebook Page of the Day (11/14/11)
From the November 4 issue of Inside Radio: "97.1 The Eagle (KEGL-FM, Dallas) is proud to announce the hiring of its new morning team, TOMCAT AND THE BACK ALLEY BUNCH. Hosted by erstwhile senate candidate Tom "Tomcat" Leppert, and featuring his longtime sidekick, Meredith "Virgin Mary" McKool, TOMCAT AND THE BACK ALLEY BUNCH is fresh from a three-year stint working morning drive in San Angelo, Texas. Known for its conservative take on the day's news, THE BACK ALLEY BUNCH will be bringing its beloved stable of characters along with it, including B'Suck O-Bomb-A, the job-destroying street thug; local call girl Pancy Nelosi; and Bill O'Reilly. TOMCAT AND THE BACK ALLEY BUNCH debuts November 21."
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Nov. 14
It is a rare day when Things To Do and FrontRow ticket giveaways match up. I love those days.
The Blind Boys of Alabama have made a lot of music since forming their band at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. Fans of The Wire might recognize their cover of Tom Waits’ “Way Down In The Hole;” fans of Lost might remember the spiritual “I Shall Not Walk Alone” in the Sawyer-centric episode Confidence Man. The band is best known, even legendary, for gospel and blues, but their newest album, Take the High Road, finds them performing alongside county greats like Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, and Lee Ann Womack. Bluegrass fiddler Sara Watkins will open tonight’s more countrified show at the Kessler in Oak Cliff. If you want to go, head over to FrontRow and enter to win a pair of tickets.
Also tonight, the Dallas Museum of Art hosts ace biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, authors of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Jackson Pollock, for an event that has nothing to do with the newly-opened John Paul Gaultier exhibit. Naifeh and Smith will discuss their latest publication, Van Gogh: The Life, and talk about what the notoriously troubled, ear-less genius and the polarizing abstract painter have in common. Unfortunately, seating in Horchow Auditorium has sold out. Don’t get confused by the website— there’s still an option to purchase tickets in the main room, but it’s misleading. Ultra-cheap tickets to the simulcast, on C3, are still available.
For more to do tonight, go here.
Trial in the Murder of Richard Hernandez Starts Today
The 2008 murder of Richard Hernandez, a gay man living in Far North Dallas, drew national headlines. The case appeared on the A&E show “The First 48.” Though Hernandez was never found, there was plenty of gruesome evidence (including a bloody sword) that led police to Seth Winder, a diagnosed schizophrenic who had a relationship with Hernandez. Winder was originally deemed incompetent to stand trial. His family published a book about him “slipping into madness.” Now he’s charged with first-degree murder. The trial is scheduled to begin today.
Leading Off (11/14/11)
Trinity River Ground Zero in Texas Drought: The first in a promised series of articles about Texas water in the Houston Chronicle kicks off on the Trinity River which, the piece points out, does not share the history or mystique of some of the state’s more well-known rivers, such as the Rio Grande, Brazos, Neches, Red, or Guadalupe. But the Trinity is Texas’s “hydraulic heart,” and in the current drought, it is nearly tapped.
Father Shoots Wife, Holds Kids During Three Hour Police Standoff: Two four-year-old boys survived a horrific shootout and standoff with police yesterday, as their father shot their mother six times and then barricaded himself in his apartment in West Dallas with the children for three hours before he finally surrendered. Though Martinez is in critical condition at Methodist Hospital, remarkably, she stumbled to her mother’s house after the incident to call for help.
Highland Park School District Hits $1 Billion Robin Hood Milestone: The outflow of tax dollars from Highland Park Independent School District to other Texas public school districts has hit the $1 billion mark.
Stephen King: ‘Follow the Gun’ to Prove Oswald’s Guilt
Stephen King
As Carol reported earlier, Stephen King showed up at the Majestic last night for a chat with Lee Cullum about his new novel involving the JFK assassination, called 11-22-63. At a press conference before his talk benefiting The Sixth Floor Museum, the best-selling author said assassination-conspiracy theorists are unlikely to be fans of the book, which portrays Lee Harvey Oswald as solely responsible for the president’s murder.
“I have no bone to pick with conspiracy theorists, but they’ll have a bone to pick with me,” King said. Riffing on Deep Throat’s Watergate advice to “Follow the money,” King said Oswald’s guilt is evident when you “follow the gun” that was used to kill Kennedy. Oswald ordered the Italian rifle, King said, picked it up at the Post Office, was photographed with it in his backyard, used it to shoot at Army Gen. Edwin Walker here, took it to the book depository that fateful day, and shot Dallas police officer J.D. Tippitt with it. [See Update below.]
Said King of the skeptics: “It’s difficult to believe that one unimportant man can step forward and change the course of history.” He added later that, in contrast to Dallas’s image as a “hateful place,” he’s met only friendly people here who’ve been eager to help him. While the city was surely scarred by the assassination, King said, “my impression is Dallas has dealt with that issue, and pretty much put it to bed.”
UPDATE: Mea culpa, FrontBurner nation. Thanks to the commenters below, I cleaned out my ears and went back and reviewed a tape of King’s press conference. Sure enough, he mentioned that Oswald hid the rifle in the depository before later shooting Tippit. That part was pretty hard to hear, causing me and a journalist for another outlet to misinterpret and mis-report what was said. My apologies for the screw-up.
Video Shows Occupy Dallas Protester Pushed Before Arrest
There are already a few thousand hits on YouTube. Scott Goldstein has something about it here. (UPDATE: Brantley Hargrove politely pointed out that he had something up hours earlier, here. And his post includes a photo.) You can’t see what happened before, but you can clearly see Stephen Benavides being pushed off the planter by a man in uniform. Benavides was later arrested for felony assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. The police have, until now, claimed that there were no indications Benavides was pushed. The confrontation and subsequent arrests, of course, sparked the more-excited-than-usual demonstration that later got seven more protesters arrested for completely misusing the sidewalk.
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