The missus and I were seated at dinner with a bunch of Hillwood guys. It was loud in that tent. But not so loud that they couldn’t hear me when I broke the ice by asking, “So what’s the deal, anyway, with Victory? You guys defaulted to the Germans, right?” One tablemate was kind enough to tell me all about the current state of affairs at Victory, but his comments were off the record. (Jealous?) Finally, Kent Rathbun catered. If I’m not mistaken, he’s lost weight. Looking good. And the short ribs were scrumptious.

2. Some people would say that the appearance of the word “some” in a headline is a sure sign of a newspaper covering for a thin local angle on a national story.

3. If a fire breaks out in east Fort Worth, and NBC5 isn’t there to provide “team coverage,” does anybody care?

Here’s what “the GOP’s Most Powerful Nobody” said:

“Pre-funding the fund would lead to more bailouts because the fund would be sitting and available to be used,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. “If you build it they will come, it will create an expectation that the fund would be used.”

The president has pressed so hard on health care–and on other initiatives like climate-change legislation–because he knows that, with next year’s elections looming, it’s now or never, the newsman said. So, “what will President Obama do if he and his party suffer major losses next year?” Hume asked. He doubts the “quite liberal” president will move to the right, as Bill Clinton did after Democrats were rousted in the 1994 elections, but “that’s a decision [Obama] will face,” he said. Hume was guest speaker at the Salvation Army’s annual Doing the Most Good luncheon at the Anatole.

633 Direct seeks slightly obsessive, but non-psycho sales rep. We are seeking two sales reps who will relentlessly pursue new business like contestants on Survivor pursue food. We’d rather you not be totally nuts — we’ve had reps like that, and it didn’t work out so well — but slightly obsessive is okay with us.

2. Last week, I told you Texans were optimistic, saving more, and spending less. I also maybe brought up the whole war on Christmas thing. But let’s not argue about that. Instead, let’s talk about this survey, which tells us Texans are ready for the holidays. Based on a report by Deloitte, Texans will be spending more money on this year’s holidays than people in other parts of the country. Most of that money will be spent on entertainment. So start throwing some parties.

3. Another publication folded yesterday as J.C. Penney announced this year would be its last “big book” as people would rather order online than from a catalog. But don’t worry, journalism students. An old Dallas Morning News with JFK’s signature went for $39,000 at an auction recently. So, see, newspapers are worth something. And my education was not a waste.

Its Shanghai corporate office prominently displays maxims of founder Mary Kay Ash, in both Mandarin and English. Here’s a noteworthy tidbit:

The uplifting talk and homilies strike a lot of Americans as hokey. But in Shanghai, aspirational phrases are part of the lingua franca. We heard the motto for Shanghai’s upcoming Expo 2010 repeated for us several times yesterday: “Better Life, Better City.”

So there’s something that Shanghai and Dallas have in common: Aspirational phrases are part of the lingua franca here too: “Live Large. Think Big,” anyone?