Unca Darrell

MAY 30 / (Bumped) How to vote against President Obama

First, vote in the Democratic primary.

Second . . .  

MAY 29 (Bumped) Tipps's sheet for Harris County judicial races

I'M GLAD we vote for our judges in Texas, but let's face it: Harris County has too many judicial races to keep up with. Few of us have the time or resources to do our own research.

Enter Stephen G. Tipps, an attorney at Baker Botts. He studies the races closely and write the best recommendations I know. With his permission, I am linking to his recommendations for the May GOP and Democratic judicial primaries. 

FEBRUARY 7 / What's wrong with this news account . . .

. . . of a trial and jury verdict?  

FEBRUARY 3 / "For the first time in my adult life . . .

. . . I'm really proud of my city."

Chronicle editorialists haven't gone that far yet,but they're promising to be proud sometime in the future, if we just keep . . .

JANUARY 2 / The Houston Chronicle editorial board celebrated . . .

. . . Christmas with an essay about that always-popular yuletide subject, untested rape kits. This keeps alive the paper's almost flawless record of refusing to acknowledge, much less participate in, the common rituals of civic life that help define American, Texan, and Houstonian culture: Christmas, the Fourth of July, and all in between. The Chronicle reserves editorials about civic holidays for truly mainstream events, such as . . . 

DECEMBER 15 / The childish calculation present in . . .

. . . Lisa Falkenberg's "human equation."

Metro has apparently decided to cancel a bus route, the No. 48, that the agency says is losing $147,917 a year.

Ms. Falkenberg rushed to Pleasantville, a "quiet, aging, historically black hamlet known for its active civic club and voting precinct" -- and found that No. 48 serves an 85-year-old widow, cancer survivor, and "former River Oaks housekeeper" who really needs the bus.

Not to mention a fellow Pleasantville resident, 75; "a worker at a Heights funeral home, a clerk for HISD, a contractor on his way to a job in Missouri City, and two home health providers who . . . care for patients in Pleasantville"; and "a minister and retired bricklayer in a plaid flannel jacket." (Lisa Falkenberg, "Human equation absent from this calculation," Houston Chronicle, December 15, 2011)

This is an interesting and legitimate story. Good for Ms. Falkenberg in doing the legwork. Government actions have real human consequences that should not be ignored. 

But . . .  

DECEMBER 14 / Toljaso

FOR AT-LARGE CITY COUNCIL runoffs, the Houston Chronicle -- no real suprise -- endorsed a nasty-spirited shouter (Jolanda Jones) and a former ACORN employee (Kristi Thibaut), both reliable tax-and-spend progressives. Unca D endorsed . . .

DECEMBER 13 / The sky is falling. Let's . . .

. . . think really, really hard about it.

The Houston Chronicle supports Obama, Occupy, virtually every proposal from the left to take more dollars from taxpayers (or borrow it from our grandchildren) and spend it on God knows what, and, of course, most all proposed new state and federal regulations. But once a month or so, the most conservative guy . . .

DECEMBER 8 / Deconstructing PKH

COLUMNIST Patricia Kilday Hart came out Wednesday against democratic, small-d, control of public money. Elected Texas authorities have decided to channel some federal taxpayer dollars to Texas community colleges rather than to an Alinskyite . . . 

DECEMBER 6 / Beyond parody

AMONG the things for which the Houston Chronicle gave thanks on November 24:

"We're grateful for our city's . . .