| Date | Subject |
|---|---|
| 2013-01-13 | Walmart, The Heights,and bribery It is becoming clear that the extensive bribery employed by Walmart to ease their entry into the Mexican market was not a localized phenomenon, but was known about, if not endorsed by upper management. If that is true, then why would this not be a standard business practice wherever Walmart ran into opposition? How confident can we be that the controversial store in The Heights was not helped along by similar practices, for example? It might be timely to investigate. |
| 2013-01-25 | Global Warming You do us all a great disservice when you publish demonstrably false letters to the editor. The earth has not been cooling since 2000, as a recent writer claimed. If you quit looking at the internet and actually read the science in peer-reviewed journals, the last decade has been the hottest decade on record. The so-called cooling trend is arrived at by carefully cherry-picking the data, and starting the fit in 1998 - an unusually hot year. Any honest statistical analysis shows that the heating has continued and in fact at a rate faster than predicted. |
| 2013-02-10 | guns and mental health The L.A. police fired Christopher Dorner for reasons that haven't been publicized, but they obviously saw something amiss in him. Universities have dismissed students who went on to become mass shooters, because they saw disturbing behavior patterns. Companies have fired employees for similar reasons, and with similar results.It occurs to me that as a society, the norm for government agencies, companies, and schools is to rid themselves of people with behavior issues, and thus make them someone else's problem. If we really wanted to try to stop mass killings, maybe we should instead try to get help for these people, instead of dismissing them to relieve ourselves of potential liability. This will take a fundamental change in societal attitudes, both about mental illness, and about our responsibilities to each other. It cannot be legislated, although there are probably laws that could make it easier. |
| 2013-02-24 | Soviet style electricity distribution I am no great fan of the Public Utilities Commission or ERCOT, but the editorial by Edward Hirs III and Paul MacAvoy is just silly. They might have some valid points in there somewhere, but so far as I am concerned they destroyed any potential credibility by their ad hominem attack with allusions to the Soviet Union. It is clear to me that the real problem is that deregulation is a total failure, that electricity is an inappropriate item for a free market and should remain in what we used to call a "natural monopoly", before ideology began to replace science and evidence. The legislature won't, but should take the hard step of re-regulating electricity in this state before we have a disastrous set of brown- and black-outs. Market incentives for maximizing profits, and maximizing efficiency, are at fundamental odds with what most of us want in our electricity production - which is reliability. Unless we start paying companies based on reliability instead of kilowatts, the current system will lead us down a road to third-world electrical reliability. |
| 2013-03-23 | FAA, sequester, and feeding children I was dead set against the sequester, and I still think it is a thorough indictment of our legislative blanch of government that they allowed this to happen. However, I can't say that I am all broken up over the closing of air traffic control towers that amount to a subsidy for private and corporate aircraft. I would much prefer to see my tax dollars going to feed poor children supper, than to subsidize airports for corporate jets. So, a bit of a silver lining for me. |
| 2013-04-11 | Fiber in Austin I find it interesting that AT&T said they will respond to Google putting fiber into Austin by doing the same. I'd like to see AT&T invest in getting the infrastructure in Houston to work right. I have AT&T DSL in the Heights, and it is pretty bad. I am sorely tempted to move to cable instead, to avoid all the outages and hiccups. |
| 2013-04-19 | Assault weapons What a strange confluence of events. The Senate shows no backbone at all by voting down very mild gun control measures supported by a clear majority of Americans. And then the Boston Marathon bombers kill and injure police officers using - assault weapons. It occurs to me that John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, because of their votes on this issue, bear a degree of responsibility for these deaths and injuries, and honestly, I believe they should be personally calling the families of every officer shot by a criminal using an assault weapon and apologizing. It is all fine and good to talk of lofty principles, but the bottom line is that real people die and get injured, and I will wager most of them and their families don't care so much about lofty principles. |
| 2013-06-29 | Hobby Lobby Let me see if I understand the argument that the 10 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals bought regarding Hobby Lobby objecting to providing access to birth control through its employees' health care plans. The owners religious beliefs are so deeply rooted that to do so would violate their conscience. By that reasoning, a deeply committed Scientologist would not have to provide psychiatric health coverage to their employees, a deeply committed Jehovah's Witness would not have to provide coverage for blood transfusions, and a deeply committed Christian Scientist would not have to provide any health coverage at all! By this reasoning, all employees are closer to being servants than employees, subject to the religious whims of their employers, and being granted the protections of Federal law only on the approval of their employer. This ruling basically says that the Federal government has no power to set health insurance standards at all. |
| 2013-06-30 | Buses along Post Oak and Ed Emmett Ed Emmett says "I think I know Houstonians enough to know they are going to want to drive". Ed has apparently not taken the bus downtown or ridden the train around rush hour. They are packed with Houstonians who do not want to drive.Whenever I can easily use public transit, I will - I despise fighting traffic and most of the people I know feel the same. Besides which, more roads is an unsustainable stance. West I-10 is already becoming as bad as it was before it was widened, what a shame there is no train planned for that corridor. |
| 2013-07-07 | Excess power capacity So the PUC is discussing giving financial incentives to power companies to build capacity that will sit idle most of the time, and will only come online in times of peak load. I have a better idea. When is peak load? During hot afternoons in summer when air conditioners are drawing maximum amounts of power. Coincidently, that would also be the best time to have solar cells contributing to the power grid, as it would be sunny. The problem is that, unlike many states, Texas does not subsidize people putting solar cell arrays on their roof, we would rather subsidize power companies to burn coal, oil, or gas to produce power during peak load times. I have looked into putting solar cells on my roof, and with a relatively small tax break, it would make good economic sense for me, it would avoid more pollution, and it would give the power grid a little more margin on hot days. |
| 2013-08-16 | Abbott fear of ID theft Greg Abbott seems to expend a lot of time, energy, and state resources focussed on stopping things, and very little on trying to do something positive. Instead of asking "what can we do to help insure the security and success of this program", he basically accuses Secretary Sebelius of incompetence and begins throwing out unsubstantiated accusations. Wouldn't it be nice if our elected officials could at least attempt to work together instead of spending all their time yelling at each other and trying to "play to the base". Let's remember who the base is. Those are the radical party members who see the other political party as evil, brook no compromise, and are willing to let the whole country go down the drain if it lets them win. It is time for politicians to actually work for the rest of us. |
| 2013-08-16 | Early to Rise One can debate the merits of the particulars of the "Early to Rise" petition, but what it does clearly demonstrate is that there is a lot of support in this county for expanding early education. Instead of arguing against the petition, I think it would make a lot more sense for our local politicians; Dan Patrick, Ed Emmett, and the County School Board, to get out in front and lead instead of obstructing. It is pretty clear the public wants something. If these folks don't like the proposal, then propose something else. Simply blocking it is ignoring the reality that the voters of Harris County feel strongly enough about this issue that a petition quickly gathered a significant number of signatures that said, in effect, "I think early childhood education is important enough that you can raise my taxes to support it". That message seems to be getting lost in the debate, but will not be forgotten by the voters. |
| 2013-10-06 | The Congress "That's a fine looking economy you have there", said Ted, as his eyes narrowed threateningly. "It would be a shame if something happened to it". Wielding an existential threat to the economy is not negotiating, it is tactic used by bullies and thugs, and I hope that the Senate holds firm. Giving in now would only encourage this sort of destructive behavior in the future. Ultimately, we need new laws governing the drawing of representative districts, that would force them to make sense and become competitive, and unsafe for the radical fringe of either party. |
| 2013-10-20 | You should be ashamed Your front page statistics on Sunday should cause you to hang your heads in shame. They are totally misleading and completely useless. How can anyone meaningfully compare the numbers you show? 25% of non-Tea Party Republicans nationally vs. 70% of Texas Republicans? And similarly for the numbers you quote for Obama, comparing overall national figures vs. Republican local figures. There is no meaningful comparison that can be made with the numbers you quote. That is statistical nonsense. You have picked and chosen numbers to try to manufacture a point, instead of showing comparable data and letting the data itself speak. That is intellectually dishonest, and quite frankly is called "lying with statistics". You cannot imagine how totally disappointed I am with your paper in this regard. To give something this appallingly poorly done front page prominence speaks volumes, and it is not good. |
| 2013-11-01 | Snowden and Google Up until now I have supported the idea that Snowden should be prosecuted for the secrets he stole and released. However, the latest revelations, about the NSA vacuuming up all of the Google and Yahoo traffic between their data centers, has changed my mind. I now believe that Snowden is a whistle-blower worthy of protection and a Presidential pardon. The wholesale capture and storage of most of the American e-mail traffic and search queries is well beyond the pale.Personally I feel like someone should be going to jail for this program. |
| 2013-12-11 | How to spell Kyiv Why do all of the news wire services, the Houston Chronicle, and the New York Times all spell the capital of Ukraine using the Russian transliteration (Kiev) instead of the Ukrainian transliteration (Kyiv)? All of my Ukrainian friends use Kyiv.In a subtle way, using the spelling Kiev shows support for the old Soviet Union and the subjugation of Ukraine by Russia. Note that the US State Department now shows the official spelling as Kyiv, http://www.state.gov/s/inr/rls/4250.htm |
| 2013-12-29 | Duck Dynasty At the risk of prolonging the discussion of Phil Robertson's comments and A&E's reaction, how is it that his remarks have been minimized to somehow be only about gay marriage? The articles in the paper and on the news seem to have completely forgotten about his comments regarding how blacks were perfectly happy before the civil rights movement - implying that segregation was great and the civil rights movement just got everyone all stirred up. It is clear to me that A&E, and Gov Bobby Jindal, have decided that supporting an anti-gay bigot is okay, and economically and politically expedient. |
| 2014-01-29 | Lieutenant Governor race So in the debates, all of the Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor said they favor teaching creationism in schools, or in other words, they are opposed to teaching science and favor supporting the teaching of dogma from selected Christian denominations. Keeping our children scientifically illiterate is a great way to prepare Texas for the future. Good job guys. |
| 2014-02-09 | Kathleen Parker and freedom of religion Kathleen Parker rails against the requirement of the Affordable Care Act that companies like Hobby Lobby cannot refuse to provide health insurance that includes contraception coverage. What I wonder, is if she would also defend a company run by, say, Christian Scientists who would refuse all medical coverage for their employees as an infringement of their religious beliefs? Or refusal of mental health coverage by a Scientologist boss? Or a Jehovah's Witness refusing to cover blood transfusions? Where would she draw the line? By accepting employment, do I agree to live by the dictates of the religion of the company's owner? I certainly hope not. |
| 2014-02-09 | Green Card red tape The article "Green card red tape keeps families apart" notes that visa approvals have taken much longer to get in the past year, and attributes that to the deferral program. However, I have another explanation - the sequester and the shutdown. From the mathematical theory of queueing, that is, the behavior of waiting in line, it is well-known that for any system that is just keeping up with demand (think of cash registers at a grocery store at 5 PM), any disruption can cause a huge and rapid increase in the line length, and unless you add more processing capacity (opening more cash registers), the lines bleed off very slowly. The sequester essentially prevents adding checkers, and the shutdown likely caused a catastrophic increase in the length of the lines. Given the intent of a significant fraction of Congress to starve the government for money, look forward to more stories like this. |
| 2014-02-28 | Uber The city needs to quit protecting the Yellow Cab monopoly. In Chicago, Uber is the safest most reliable and convenient ride in town. It is time Houston joined the group. |
| 2014-07-22 | Rick Perry and the border Rick Perry plans to send troops to the border, and plans to pay for them by taking money from healthcare, because that isn't important - I guess unless you're sick. And this is to protect us from refugee children who are fleeing violence and looking for our help. As a Christian and as a human being, this makes me physically ill. |
| 2014-08-18 | Coverage of Perry-gate I have been very disappointed in the coverage of Governor Perry's indictment by the Chronicle. Almost absent from the coverage has been the background information as to why Perry committed the acts he has been indicted for. He was under investigation for corruption surrounding the CPRIT grants, and the Travis county D.A.'s DUI arrest provided him with an excuse to defund the investigation and/or replace the DA with a friendly face. Much of the national media has picked this up, but the Chronicle has been pretty quiet about it. Perry's actions were akin to the Saturday Night Massacre, the big difference being the muted response of the media and voters in the state. |
| 2014-09-28 | State to fight EPA As a state, we have made little to no effort to cut back on CO2 emissions. One very simple approach would be to add a modest tax break for solar panel installation. Solar panels are most effective when demand is the highest (hot, sunny days). and would not only reduce the need to burn coal, but also reduce the need to have expensive standby generator capacity for peak load days during the summer months. |
| 2014-09-28 | Collaboration on the new Exxon campus I don't work for Exxon, but I have worked in cubicles, and it is a great myth that open offices and cubicles improve collaboration. For technical workers, in my experience, it kills collaboration because no one can talk to anyone for fear of disturbing those around them. Having a door that can be closed leads to a much more productive environment. In point of fact, both IBM and Microsoft have studied the issue, and have not bought into the open office myth. Support is also found in the peer-reviewed studies that have been done. |
| 2014-10-11 | furor over Wendy Davis advertisement So the Republican officials are uniform in condemning the latest ad from Wendy Davis that depicts an empty wheelchair. I don't see what is offensive about the ad - it rightly points out an apparently hypocritical set of positions Greg Abbott has taken. It would help if Abbott, Cornyn and others could be specific about what in the ad is objectionable, rather than a vague "I'm offended". |
| 2014-10-13 | Re: CDC confirms second Ebola case in Dallas 'Officials say a "breach in protocol" is what led to a hospital worker contracting Ebola.' First of all, if the protocols are that complicated and that fragile, perhaps they need to be improved to be more fool-proof. The fact that according to the CDC, in 2011, there were 721,800 hospital-acquired infections by patients, indicates to me that in general sterile protocols are *never* followed very effectively by hospitals. They are terrible at protecting patients from infection, so it should not be surprising that the confidence that was expressed that hospital workers would not get infected by Ebola because we have the protocols was sadly misplaced. |
| 2014-12-19 | Re: The Interview I find it very depressing that we immediately caved to threats from North Korea, and pulled "The Interview" from theaters. I had planned to go see it, just to spite Kim Jung Un. Home of the brave indeed. |
| 2015-02-09 | State Senator Campbell and the Alamo I for one am quite pleased that Senator Campbell is working on bills like the one she has proposed to prevent the U.N. or other foreign entities from owning or controlling the Alamo. So long as she busies herself with bills like that, she will not have time to do any real damage to the great state of Texas. |
| 2015-02-09 | State Senator Campbell and the Alamo I for one am quite pleased that Senator Campbell is working on bills like the one she has proposed to prevent the U.N. or other foreign entities from owning or controlling the Alamo. So long as she busies herself with bills like that, she will not have time to do any real damage to the great state of Texas. |
| 2015-02-27 | Homeland Security So when are our senators going to stand up and propose that Congress not get paid as long as the employees of Homeland Security work without pay? |
| 2015-04-29 | Jade Helm Governor Abbott is going to have state employees "monitor" the Jade Helm exercise. The tin hat brigade is now running the state. What an obscene waste of money. When we have so many real problems, Abbott is wasting money trying to appease the wingnuts? Any respect I might have had for him is gone. |
| 2015-05-04 | Jade Helm Re: Texas governor: Criticism to Army training order overblown The governor just doesn't get it. By his concrete actions - I don't care what pretty words he dresses it up in - he is implicitly saying that he does not trust the armed forces of the United States. Frankly, if anyone needs monitoring, it is the Texas National Guard, since their commander seems to have a seriously paranoid view of reality. |
| 2015-05-15 | Iraq war After much back and forth, Jeb Bush says that if he knew what we know today he would not have invaded Iraq. Well I for one am more interested in the real question - knowing what we knew then, would you have invaded Iraq? Frankly, it was crystal clear to me before we invaded that the reasons were largely bogus and made no sense. And that is the real test. Knowing what we know now - that it was an unmitigated disaster hyped by distortions and lies, well anyone could easily say no to that. The real test is to be able to smell the lies ahead of time, and say no when the situation is ambiguous and not nearly so clear cut. |
| 2015-07-30 | Re: Texas grid operator asks consumers to limit electricity use Why doesn't the state encourage home-owners and businesses to install solar panels, with tax breaks? At precisely those times when the grid becomes overloaded, solar panels would be producing most efficiently - and if local, would actually reduce the load on the power lines as well. Why is their solution always more coal-fired plants, and more transmission lines? This is madness. |
| 2015-08-13 | City permitting process So it is nice to hear that all the mayoral candidates want to make the business permitting process as smooth as possible. However, what I failed to read, was how they all feel about making certain that the concerns of the neighbors of businesses also get addressed in a fair and equitable way. Accelerating the permitting process without also insuring that neighborhood concerns are addressed seems to me to be a recipe for a lot of conflict, including lawsuits. Let's try to get all the parties on board. |
| 2015-08-31 | Sheriff Ron Hickman and #BlackLivesMatter Our sheriff is an embarrassment. He has taken a terrible tragedy, the brutal slaying of an innocent police officer, and turned it into something ugly and political. By his unthinking statements, he has shown himself to be part of the problem between blacks and law enforcement in this country, instead of being part of the solution. But perhaps this is not a surprise, since his first act was to clean women and people of color out of the leadership at the department, and turn it into a group of mostly white guys. |
| 2015-09-02 | Re: XTO waste water well and earthquakes As a Geophysicist, I would strongly encourage XTO to publish their results which purportedly show that their well is not linked to earthquake activity in a peer-reviewed journal, so that we can strengthen the science behind when these wells cause earthquakes and when they do not. This is still a young science, and it needs their contribution. Decisions based on data and science is a direction I believe we need to go, and they can contribute to this effort. |
| 2015-09-03 | No texting signs in school zones So the spokesman for the state transportation department said "But we don't believe that putting up a bunch of signs stops anybody from doing anything". I have a suggestion, why don't we test that hypothesis. Pick 20 schools in HISD at random, put up signs at half of them, and for a month watch the driver's behavior and see if the signs actually make a difference. Wouldn't it be nice to have some actual data instead of arguing on the basis of feelings? |
| 2015-09-16 | Ahmed Mohamed I'm anxiously awaiting for our Governor to show some leadership, and denounce the paranoid targeting of kids with the wrong name. Would any of this happened if his last name were Smith? |
| 2015-09-20 | Ahmed letters After reading the letters to the editor regarding Ahmed Mohamed, I have to say it is time we rewrote the national anthem and replaced "home of the brave" with "home of the cautious". |
| 2015-10-06 | Guns Listening to the candidates who arguably span the Republican presidential field, Trump and Bush, I was amazed at their consistent response to the latest episode of gun violence. It was basically one of resignation, of concession to a future of frequent violent acts, an all-American can't do spirit. When did we become so passive and unwilling to challenge the status quo, to take on the difficult problems? Are the GOP candidates indeed nothing but bombast, totally lacking in solutions? |
| 2015-10-09 | Ken Paxton against the death penalty? I was so pleased to see the quote from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in this morning's paper - "A society which proclaims to be just must recognize that every human life, including unborn babies, has the right to live." I can only assume that he will also fight to get rid of the death penalty and convince the governor to commute the sentences of those on death row. |
| 2015-11-05 | Re: Woman arrested after posting photos of allegedly abused porch dog So our sheriff cares so little about the First Amendment that he has a woman arrested for posting pictures on Facebook? Does the good sheriff plan on monitoring all our Facebook and Twitter activity? If he is looking for evidence of online harassment, he need look no further than the trolls who post on the Chronicle website, spewing hate and ad hominem attacks on those they disagree with. How can posting photos, which simply represent the truth, be considered illegal? |
| 2015-11-10 | Starbucks holiday cups Besides it being an embarrassment to have fellow Christians start ranting about an issue of so little consequence as the Starbucks cups not carrying Christian symbols, I find it particularly disturbing that the initial complaint was couched in terms of fighting "Political Correctness". When I hear someone complaining about political correctness, I reflexively translate that to "someone doesn't want their bigotry exposed." It truly is laughable when members of the majority pose as victims as soon as there is anything that hints they might be wrong. |
| 2015-11-14 | Editorial on open carry I will not be "getting used to" people parading about with guns. If I see someone, I will call 911. If I am shopping or eating in a restaurant, I will immediately leave, even if that means walking the check. This is an insane law, and I will not pretend that it is okay, or that it is sane and makes sense. The recent Colorado Springs shooter was called in to 911 when he was spotted with his gun, but the police dispatcher replied that it was legal and did nothing. And three people died. |
| 2015-11-16 | Greg Abbott: Syrian refugees aren't welcome in Texas. I am more than happy to welcome Syrian refugees, and to help them get settled here. Beyond that, I consider it my Christian duty to do so. Many years ago our church helped a Bosnian refugee couple who were Muslim settle here. We are called to "welcome the stranger", so I find it sad that our Governor would rather play to fear than to Christian love. |
| 2015-11-26 | Militia posts addresses of Muslims Waiting for governor Greg Abbott to get off a quick tweet condemning the actions of the militia. |
| 2015-11-30 | Re: Lawsuit threats over Syrian Refugees It seems clear to me that there is in fact a war on Christianity, instigated and supported by our very own state government, threatening to sue organizations for doing their Christian duty to support Syrian refugees. I would be very interested to hear from our local officials (and candidates) on this topic. |
| 2015-12-07 | Re: Greg Abbott tweet about no fly list Governor Abbott tweeted "A better recommendation to Congress would be to not allow people on the no-fly zone to even be in the US", which only goes to expose his ignorance. Many people on the list are US citizens, and live here. Where does he propose they go? |
| 2015-12-29 | Ozone standards I would like to see the TCEQ leadership, or Attorney General Paxton, come to Harris county and explain, face to face, to asthma suffers why their health is less important than business profits. The EPA standards are based on the best science available, and frankly should represent a minimum standard that, if we actually cared about people's health, would be a standard we would strive to exceed. |
| 2016-01-11 | Promoting an astroturf organization Regarding the letter from Jennifer Harris, "Avoid Shysters" in today's Chronicle, she neglected to note her affiliation as spokesperson for Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas. And you failed to note that this group of lawsuit organizations are astroturf organizations - claiming to be grassroots, but in fact funded by large companies. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/032003/deal.html Philip Morris itself put up $16 million in 1995 to hire a PR firm to create faux "grassroots" fronts in every state under the banner of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. https://centerjd.org/content/fact-sheet-citizens-against-lawsuit-abuse-groups If organizations are going to write a letter to the editor, they should be transparent about who they are, and you should Google for 5 minutes to enforce honesty on their part. |
| 2016-01-22 | Re: UT to spend $450 million over 30 years on Houston land With UT having so much money to spend on land acquisition in Houston, is it safe to assume that students at UT are no longer falling deeply into debt getting an education there? Is tuition now free? |
| 2016-02-03 | Re: Man in wheelchair hit, killed in street in NW Houston I would challenge Mayor Turner to take measures to make Houston a walkable city. As it stands, we lack sidewalks, and where they exist they are often broken and in poor repair; crosswalks are few and far between, and drivers generally ignore crosswalks, speeding through even when pedestrians are trying to cross. In Houston, car is king, long live the king. |
| 2016-02-09 | Re: Reducing emissions takes time Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business doesn't like the EPA's Clean Power Plan. But he twists the facts to make his point. In this country, which is all we can control, electricity generation results in 40% of our CO2 emissions. That is a big target, and given the dire consequences of global warming, going after the big target only makes sense. Bill also claims that "the science of climate change is anything but settled." That is patently untrue - the only people for whom it is unsettled are politicians and businesses who would be adversely affected by CO2 reductions. Scientists are as close to unanimous on climate change as it is possible to be. As a scientist, I find that statement both insulting and dismaying. His economic impact claims are also bogus, low natural gas prices have already, under his beloved free-market pressures, been causing the closing of coal mines and the shutdown of coal powered electricity plants. The EPA plan, in effect, simply wants to accelerate a trend that is already in progress. As far as economic effects and urgency, if all the ice on the planet melted, sea level would rise by about 250 feet. That puts all of Harris county under water. A more likely short-term scenario is a rise of 30 feet, which is about the elevation of the ship channel industries. Calculate the economic impact of that. |
| 2016-02-16 | Re: Crash leaves one dead in the Heights Minutes before the crash at Yale and 15th, my wife and I were crossing a street a few blocks away, and were nearly run over by a different wrecker driver, who blew a stop sign and turned as we were in the middle of crossing the street. He was steering with one hand and had his phone in the other. He was following yet another wreck who was speeding through the neighborhood, on their way to who knows what accident. We have had problems with wrecker drivers speeding and ignoring traffic laws for as long as I can remember. When will we address this in a serious way? |
| 2016-03-19 | Homeless downtown After reading the comments of our city council regarding the homeless population downtown, I find myself caught between sadness and anger. The whole attitude is disturbing - that these people are obstacles, an embarrassment, a problem for our image, so we need to "move" them. Why not try seeing them as troubled human beings with serious problems, and move them into housing or other places that they can get help. It is a rare homeless person who wants to live on the streets. For a variety of reasons they find themselves without shelter and a place to go. Instead of seeing them as an embarrassment, let's do something that would really boost Houston's image, and get them housing instead of trying to hide them from the visitors who come to our city. |
| 2016-03-26 | Re: Couples infected with Zika urged to postpone pregnancy It is all but certain that the Texas Gulf Coast, from Brownsville to Sabine Pass, will suffer an epidemic of Zika virus this summer. Yet our state's leaders have crippled women's healthcare, just at the point in time when the demand for contraceptives will be greatest. Our Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and legislators have all but guaranteed that following the Zika epidemic, we will then see an epidemic of abortions, legal and illegal, and of babies born with microcephaly. The train is coming down the tracks, the light is on and the horn is blaring, and we as a state will sit on our hands and feign surprise when the disaster strikes. |
| 2016-04-03 | Re: City still split As a long time Continental/United Platinum traveler, I believe that Gordon Bethune is off base. I thought he might have some good points until I read him praising Jeff Smisek, the last CEO of United. In my experience, staff morale lept ten-fold when Smisek resigned. Service on the ground and in the air improved markedly. I have been on a couple of flights that were delayed for as long as 4 hours, due to weather, but the caring treatment by the staff, post Smisek, made the experience completely bearable. I like the progress the new United has made in the past year, and I have very positive hopes that they will continue to improve and succeed. |
| 2016-04-11 | Bear Branch Elementary not allowing parents to pick up kids on foot What are the kids at Bear Branch being taught? In the midst of a chiildhood obesity epidemic, they are being taught that walking is a bad thing. They are being taught that sitting in an idling car spewing pollutants is a good thing. And they are being taught that the police can be used to intimidate parents who have a dispute with public officials. I can only wonder what else may be on the lesson plan. |
| 2016-04-11 | re: Power from Natural Gas becomes King The article notes that a big concern is how to ensure sufficient generating capacity during summer peak load times. One solution given is for ERCOT to increase the wholesale value of electricity to increase powerplant profits. What is never discussed is the possiblility for ERCOT to promote residential solar power. Summer peak loads will occur on hot sunny days. Solar power is most efficient on those same days. If ERCOT would work with the legislature to provide tax incentives, and to prevent Home Owner associations from blocking rooftop installations, we could reduce the need for more peak load powerplants, and reduce the need to build more controversial high-tension power lines. |
| 2016-05-10 | Re: Chemical contents remain a mystery Regarding the fire and subsequent chemical release at the storage facility. There is really no excuse in the 21st century for a company to not be storing key records off-site, in the cloud. For a little over $100 per year, they could have backed up everything, encrypted, continuously, and automatically in the cloud. My personal records are more secure than their business records. This is reckless, approaching criminal. The state needs to require off-site records for hazardous materials, now. |
| 2016-05-11 | Re: Wal-Mart sues Visa on PIN issue It is rare that I find myself in agreement with Wal-Mart, but this is one of those occasions. Apparently Visa and MasterCard have managed to implement their version of chip cards so poorly, that both consumers and retailers are poorly served, and only the credit card companies do well. In Europe, I have used chip and pin, and it works quickly and efficiently. Here, I have timed the wait for the chip reader to respond, and it has taken upwards of 45 seconds. And the lack of a PIN means that neither the store nor the consumer really sees improved security, but the card company gets to relieve itself of some liability. Given that we have a virtual duopoly in this business, it is going to take national legislation to force the card companies to do the right thing and go to chip and PIN. |
| 2016-05-13 | Re: Letter to the Editor regarding Lanier Middle school It has become a common meme, repeated in a letter on May 13, that "only a small percentage of Confederates owned slaves". This is an example of lying with statistics, by counting heads of households instead of families. If we look at the percentage of families that owned slaves, it is hardly small. According to "The Handbook of Texas", before the Civil War, fully a quarter of families in Texas owned slaves, which in my book is not a small percentage. |
| 2016-05-19 | Re: diversifying transit Greater walkability has been put forth as a goal, but a key enabler towards that end has not been mentioned. The law making the sidewalk the responsibility of the property owner is ridiculous. Sidewalks are a common good, no different from streets, and if we actually expect to have quality sidewalks, the city will have to pay for them. I frequently see wheelchair-bound people in the Heights travelling in the middle of the street because the sidewalks are either nonexistent or in such poor repair as to be useless. Having a good sidewalk really is a prerequisite for having a walkable city. |
| 2016-05-23 | CPRIT cancer research While I appreciate Texas Sen. Charles Schwertner being so concerned that the state not waste any money, I wonder why I have not heard him expressing concern about our continuing waste of money with on teh border, where Texsa spends money essentially accomplishing nothing. |
| 2016-05-30 | Shooting on Memorial Drive An AR-15 is a military assault weapon. By design it is an offensive weapon. It has no purpose, except to kill people. Why do we allow civilians to possess these weapons? Have we lost our collective mind? |
| 2016-06-04 | Re: Is Rebuke of "Roots" Misguided? After years of genealogical research, I have learned that I had slave-owning ancestors, and both Confederate army and Union army ancestors. That knowledge is important to me. I want to try to exorcise the demon of slave-owning from my family's past, and I also acknowledge that my family, and I have benefited from the past labor of slaves. We just returned from a trip to Germany, and the frankness of the young guides as they confronted Germany's Nazi sins was inspiring and refreshing. I can only pray that we in the US can similarly confront our historic sin of slavery. |
| 2016-06-07 | Re: Teacher says pep rally set off PTSD Why do we continue to have so much difficulty supporting our veterans, especially those with PTSD? New Caney ISD should have apologized and tried to set things right, but instead they are blaming the victim and disavowing responibility. Patriotism is not pep rallies and waving flags. It is caring for and respecting those who have defended us. |
| 2016-06-12 | Re: Angry first-time victims demand flooding solutions While it may take $26 billion to "fix" the flooding issues in the Houston area, we needn't wait for that sort of money to be available and a comprehensive plkan. There are a few obvious steps that could be taken now. Like prohibiting development in the floodplain. There is a high-rise development on White Oak bayou that flooded last month, while under construction. Why is it allowed to build new buildings perched on the edge of the bayou? |
| 2016-06-12 | Re: Walkable Centers I find it telling that the editorial titled, in part, "Walkable Centers", never actually mentioned walking. Houston is far from a walkable city, and the most walkable sections of the city have missing and poor quality sidewalks, too narrow sidewalks, sidewalks with telephone poles installed in the center of them, in short, walkability in Houston is a bad joke. When will we hear a plan to actually address walkability? |
| 2016-06-22 | Re: Flesh eating virus leaves man struggling to survive In Junior High science we learned that viruses and bacteria are fundamentally different. Please don't have your headlines contribute to the widespread ignorance of science in this country. If bacteria won't fit, use "bug". |
| 2016-06-22 | John Cornyn and guns I wrote our senator, John Cornyn, about a week ago, pleading that he do something about easy access to guns. His reply was the same, tired, false narrative that mass shootings are all about mental health issues, and he was working on that. Now he wants to require a court order to prevent a suspected terrorist from purchasing a firearm? What about requiring a court order to knock someone off the voter rolls, or is the right to vote unimportant? My reply to our senators is that I am now a single issue voter. If you cannot support real gun control, my vote and my money will go to someone who can. |
| 2016-06-24 | Zika Given the near certainty that Zika will strike Houston this summer, I thought the very brief mention of the demise of the Zika funding bill in the House was disappointing. Elsewhere I read that part of the objection to the bill was that it prohibited payment for contraception, a key fact not mentioned by the Chronicle. Our Republican representatives seem wholly lacking in compassion, driven entirely by ideological purity and primary politics. |
| 2016-06-26 | Uber threats Just a little tidbit for Mayor Turner and city council. Uber seems to be threatening every city that wants to do fingerprint checks with leaving. I am in Chicago right now, and the exact same story is playing out here. It seems to me that if Uber leaves all the largest cities in the country, they will go bankrupt. |
| 2016-06-29 | Re: Zika funding bill fails against Congress Shame on Senator John Cornyn. When Zika strikes Texas, easy access to contraception will be necessary to minimize the impact, to minimize the number of babies born brain-damaged. All that denying contraception funding for Planned Parenthood will accomplish is to increase the rate of abortion and increase the number of microcephalic babies. How is any of this even remotely "pro life"? |
| 2016-07-03 | Flood costs "We simply have no choice — people need a roof over their heads,” HUD spokeswoman Patricia Campbell said. I don't accept that. People also need to not lose their possessions every few years. This is a perfect example of how completely bankrupt our flood policies are. We desperately need to stop building in the floodplain and even remove structures that are there, and yet here we are encouraging a particularly vulnerable population to live there. The city should consider adding a flood tax to buildings in the floodplain to discourage development there, and cover the rescue costs. |
| 2016-07-08 | Re: Texas changes rules governing disposal of fetal remains As I recall, our state leaders have many times demanded that Federal Agencies take into account the economic impact of their policy changes. I have not seen such an analysis by the state health department for their proposed rule regarding disposal of fetal remains. So I will do it for them. Most authorities estimate that between 10% and 20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. In 2014 there were about 180,000 births in Texas. If I assume 15% end in miscarriage, that is about 27,000 miscarriages. A quick online search seemed to indicate that about the best deal available for cremation is $700. That gives us an economic impact of $18.9 million. Is this really where people want to spend that much money? |
| 2016-07-12 | Re: STUDY: Racial disparities not found in police shootings in Houston It is clear to me that one of the key, foundational issues regarding race and policing, is the lack of transparency and good data. What are the root causes behind the many incidents that have been reported? Without actual data we can all yell at each other, we can speculate, we can promote our favorite prejudice, but we are unlikely to fix the problem if we don't actually understand it. So kudos to former chief McClellan, for opening up our records to researchers. And shame on those who would simply dismiss the findings out of hand because they violate their own beliefs and prejudices. While being at odds with experience is a perfectly valid reason to question the study, question the methodology, question the data collection. But saying that it must be wrong because it doesn't fit my preconceptions serves no one and can only contribute to continued problems. We cannot fix what we do not understand. |
| 2016-07-15 | Re: Retention pay lawsuit by Buc-ee’s breaks mold Buc-ee's pay policy is indeed insidious. Normally a retention package only pays out if you don't leave, there is no "claw back" for salary already paid. But I am finding it difficult to distinguish this policy from indentured servitude. Appropriate for a state where individual rights and libertarian policies usually mean the right of the wealthy and powerful to do whatever they want without interference from government. |
| 2016-07-18 | Re: Rate hikes may sting individual health policy buyers In many ways the healthcare system is a zero sum game. What portion of the insurance companies' losses can be attributed to higher costs due to Texas' refusal to expand Medicare? Texas politicians have done everything in their power to cripple Obamacare in our state, which has resulted in higher healthcare costs for everyone. Instead of working to insure the welfare of all citizens, our state leaders seem to be much more focussed on scoring political points. |
| 2016-07-21 | Re: COURT TOSSES VOTER ID LAW Writing the dissenting opinion, Judge Edith Jones said thousands of pages of records “yields not a trace, much less a legitimate inference, of racial bias by the Texas Legislature.” An Appeals Court judge should do better than to set up a false straw-man argument. The legal standard in question is not whether the legislature intended to discriminate, but whether or not the law resulted in discrimination, regardless of any bias of the legislature. Of course, the judge has shown her own bias, in Jones had been accused of publicly mocking the appeals of the mentally disabled and Mexican-born defendants and of describing African-Americans and Hispanics as sadly more likely to commit crimes. (Houston Chronicle, Wednesday, October 15, 2014). |
| 2016-07-21 | Re: Lawsuit outlines ordeal of rape victim sent to jail After reading this story, I am nearly speechless. This attitude, that throwing a mentally ill victim in jail is justified to get a conviction is the same attitude that says it is okay to see people die during police chases to catch shoplifters. This is simply wrong on so many levels. I do not have the power to fire the prosecutor who drove this, but I can certainly try to fire their boss, Devon Anderson, and intend to. |
| 2016-07-22 | Re: Buc-ee’s says a copycat gator is infringing on So only Buc-ee's is allowed to have large restrooms and large gas pump islands? Or a smiling cartoon mascot? Give me a break. This is nothing more than abusing our court system to harrass a smaller competitor. I hope Choke Canyon counter-sues and wins. |
| 2016-08-01 | Re: Value of higher minimum wage doubted Slavery. Indentured servitude. Sharecropping. Sweatshops. History is littered with systems designed to squeeze profits from human labor while treating the laborer with little or no respect, and leaving them with only just enough to survive and work another day. For me, the minimum wage argument boils down to respecting the dignity of every human being, of insuring that working provides a living wage, of simple justice. It is more a moral than an economic issue. And if I have to pay a little extra for that burger or that coffee, that is fine with me. |
| 2016-08-05 | Re: County sued over voting access The Department of Justice complains about steep curb ramps, gaps in sidewalks and walkways and other “architectural barriers” . Well, if that is the case then there are probably few if any places that are satisfactory in Houston. I routinely see people in wheelchairs rolling down the street in my neighborhood, because the condition of the sidewalks is so deplorable. I have found many sidewalks that have utility poles centered in them, ramps that go nowhere, and frequent gaps or completely broken-up sidewalks. Our sidewalks, in general, are disgraceful. It is time the city took responsibility for construction and maintenance of sidewalks. They are no different than streets - why do we treat them differently? |
| 2016-08-05 | Re: Texas GOP lawmakers lambaste Obama over Zika funds I find it both infuriating and revolting that the same lawmakers who claim to be pro-life are now so busy playing politics with Zika funding that they are ignoring the needs of the unborn in Texas. It causes me to seriously question if they actually stand for any principle other than staying in power. |
| 2016-08-10 | Re: Authorities ID man killed in trench collapse Far too many workmen die each year from trenches collapsing. Installing proper shoring can prevent nearly all of these deaths, yet it isn't done. I would like to see the district attorney file manslaughter charges against the supervisor. I have a feeling that if that happened a few times, that might get the attention of these companies putting their workers at risk. |
| 2016-08-14 | Re: Abbott Unveils anti-abortion plans If our governor were truly sincere, as his spokesperson says "Gov. Abbott believes that defending the sanctity and dignity of human life is worthy of immediate action", then why does he not commute death sentences to life imprisonment? Is only some human life worth defending? Are death-row prisoners not human? And what about medical care for the poor, the sorry state of foster care in Texas? Are those children not deserving of dignity? Or does that only apply to an unborn fetus? |
| 2016-08-17 | Re: State again bucks feds on Syrians I find our state leaders rhetoric regarding Syrian refugees very disrurbing and worrisome. Words matter, and by continuing to cast the refugees as dangerous, and continuing their quixotic quest to prevent them from coming to Texas, they could be inspiring the disturbed among us to violence. |
| 2016-08-22 | Re: Pension forecasts provide reasons to worry Realistic returns should be 2-3% above inflation. Since inflation right now is essentially zero, these 8% expected returns are fantasy. People who sell impossible rates of return are called con-artists, and often land in jail. |
| 2016-09-06 | Re: Russian plot to disrupt U.S. elections probed This story raises an old complaint with the electronic voting systems. There is no way to insure their accuracy, to ensure they haven't been hacked. The code is proprietary, and there are no paper ballots generated as backup. When will our politicians take the simple step of demanding that each voter be supplied with a paper copy of their ballot results, which can be verified by them, and then deposited for safekeeping in case of the need for a recount? If Russia planted malicious code into voting machines that tilted the election, how would we know? |
| 2016-09-06 | Re: Closing private prisons could be costly The article notes that "Private facilities don't save substantially on costs". It has always puzzled me that advocates of privitization of any government function claim huge cost savings, as if some magic will happen when you add on 10% for a profit margin and try to do the same thing the government was doing. What I finally figured out was that in those cases where privitization did actually save money, the savings were done on the backs of the workers, whose pay was substantially reduced. Privitization is simply a way to trade good-paying jobs for poorly-paying ones, and provide a gravy-train for friends of politicians. It is good to see us getting away from it. |
| 2016-09-08 | Re: Texas can learn from Sooner State on quakes In 1965, a deep waste injection well near Denver at Rocky Mountain Flats started causing earthquakes. This is a well-documented and well-understood fact. Recent reservoir engineering studies have provided further details of how the process operates. By ignoring the science, the Texas Railroad Commission is likely to do much more harm to the oil industry in the long term. Fracking is getting a bad reputation, as is oil production in general, while the state tries to protect the waste disposal companies by ignoring science. In the end, the public may end up rejecting production activity in general. |
| 2016-09-09 | Re: Trump thinks the U.S. should 'take the oil' in Iraq. This sounds to me like theft, or "might makes right", clearly with no moral principle involved beyond "I want it". Presumably this reflects Trump's business strategy, a complete lack of regard for the law and for morality. |
| 2016-09-10 | Re: Judge: State violated Medicaid rules So our "pro-life" state officials are reluctant to spend money for medical care for children. One more example of the cynical hypocrisy that seems to envelope most of their decisions. |
| 2016-09-13 | Re: Ethanol poses new challenge for oil I think the real issue with adding ethanol to gasoline is not that it displaces oil, but rather that it has little to no benefit for the environment - it takes about as much energy to make ethanol as it produces, so it actually has a rather large carbon footprint. Additionally, it drives up the price of corn, and pushes farmers to take fallow land and plow it up. And the fertilizer applied to cornfields is a major contributor to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. |
| 2016-09-13 | Re: Transparency on candidates’ health urged I fully favor more transparency by the candidates - Donald Trump should start by releasing the last 5 years of tax returns. |
| 2016-09-13 | Re: Little proof of Trump’s giving as campaign aim I have a better headline for this story: "No proof offered to rebut claim Trump lied about charitable giving". |
| 2016-09-14 | Re: Congress must act to protect internet freedom Senator Cruz expresses great concern over the long-planned (since 1998) transition of control of top-level internet domain naming from the US government, to a private corporation. It is interesting to see a group of conservative Republicans opposing the privatization of a government function. It should also be noted that, rather than threatening the integrity of the internet, this could very well save it. Not too many years ago, when the US was resisting giving up control, other nations began to credibally threaten to set up a parallel internet. It is clear that the world community will not abide the status quo, especially after the Snowden revelations, so we do need to change the system. We can either do it in a measured, controlled way as has been proposed, or have it forced on us. |
| 2016-09-17 | Re: Raise wages, not trade barriers As it stands, with the minimum wage as low as it is, and with the restaurant worker exception being even below that low wage, we already subsidize many industries by paying for foodstamps and other benefit programs for their workers. Wouldn't it make more sense and help rationalize the economy if the true cost of workers, without subsidy, were reflected in prices, by paying them a living wage? If a company cannot stay in business while paying its workers a living wage, then perhaps it shouldn't stay in business. |
| 2016-09-21 | re: Mylan CEO defends EpiPen prices In her testimony the CEO of Mylan "says the company makes about $50 per pen". That statement is simply not credible. In 2007 the pens cost about $120, today the cost about $600. Was the company losing $400 every time they had a sale? Unless they now spend $400 per pen on advertising - which may be possible - this makes no sense. I hope Congress investigates her testimony, for possible perjury charges. |
| 2016-09-24 | Re: Arbitration In the story about Wells Fargo, it was noted that "A group of Senate Democrats continued to attack Wells Fargo on Friday, publicly calling on Stumpf to stop enforcing mandatory arbitration clauses in the agreements for customer accounts that were not authorized." What really needs to happen is for Congress to severely curtail the use of these clauses. It has reached the point now, where if you wish to fully participate in this economy, you are required to sign away your right to a trial, in favor of arbitration. Every study I have ever seen indicates that arbitration is heavily biased towards big business, and away from the consumer. This has removed an important check on bad behavior by large companies, and needs to be restored. |
| 2016-09-27 | re: Walking to school has become a tough course for most students There is one fundamental problem Houston must first address if we are ever to get decent sidewalks. Under the current law, sidewalks are the responsibility of the property owner. Imagine if we treated streets that way! Sidewalks are a public good, and should be treated as such. The city needs to take responsibility for building, maintaining, and upgrading sidewalks. The Heights is the most walkable area in the city, yet even there I see people with walkers, or people in wheelchairs, out in the street, because the sidewalks are in such poor condition, or missing altogether. |
| 2016-09-28 | Trump and Taxes Like most people, I am not thrilled when I see the bite that the taxman takes out of my income. However, I firmly believe that it is my patriotic duty as an American to pay every penny of the taxes that I owe. Our military, schools, roads, and many other functions of government depend on tax revenue, and depend on everyone chipping in and paying their fair share. Apparently Mr. Trump does not feel this way, since he boasts of how not paying taxes is smart. I have another word for that behavior - unAmerican. |
| 2016-09-30 | Re: Paxton sues over internet Seriously? Is our Attorney General just looking for the Federal lawsuit de jour? This will, of course, be immediately thrown out. But our AG will have wasted state resources on yet another suit trying to please the tea party and draw attention away from his own legal troubles. Why have we not heard from him regarding real problems, like the illegal setting of quoutas for special education students? That is where he should be focused. |
| 2016-09-30 | Re: Lawmakers urged to vet appraisal system I believe that we should eliminate property taxes altogether and replace them with sales tax, value-added, or income taxes. Property taxes are the most unfair tax. First of all, the tax is based on an estimate of what you could sell a property for, basically an appraiser's opinion. Secondly, if the value of your property goes up, until you sell you see no increased income, yet your taxes increase. This helps drive gentrification as fixed and low income people get driven out of neighborhoods by the tax increases they cannot afford. Finally, as the Chronicle has reported in the past, there is no transparency for commercial appraisals, and much evidence that they are manipulated so that residential properties pay more than their fair share of taxes. The fundamental problem that cannot be fixed though, is that you are taxing an illiquid asset based on an opinon of its current worth, unrelated to the ability of the owner to pay the tax. |
| 2016-10-02 | Re: Poll: 35% see voter fraud as a big issue While I fully agree that the sort of "voter fraud" our state leaders have passed laws to prevent is essentially non-existent, I have deep concerns about the overall integrity of the vote. Disenfranchisement by use of voter fraud laws is rampant, in some states polling hours and polling places have been restricted, and then there is the whole issue of using unverifiable electronic voting machines. Our voting machines are literally a black box, with no auditing of the software, as that is considered a trade secret. A recount is meaningless as it only means that the electronic total are chacked. Without a paper backup, approved by the voter, there is no true backup or recount. Am I paranoid to think that Russian president Putin would have his intelligence agencies hack into our voting machines and alter the vote? Maybe. Or maybe not. |
| 2016-10-09 | Re: Enhancing the armored cap over toxic waste can be safe, effective remedy Ken Haldin conveniently ignores the fact that the cap over the waste pits has already been breached once. I suppose that is why the talk is now of an "enhanced" cap. I think at this point the old saw applies: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." |
| 2016-10-14 | Re: Ethics panel ends long ‘dark money’ fight I find it both sad and frustrating that we cannot get so-called "dark money" out of our political process. While the donors to these sort of organizations may remain anonymous to the majority of us, you can bet that they are all too well known to the officeholders who benefit from their largesse. Without knowing who our elected officials have recieved support from, how can we fight corruption? We must pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizen's United, and excise this tumor on the body politic. |
| 2016-10-15 | Re: State warns HISD board So the Texas Education Agency has warned HISD about low performing schools in the district, and made threats about what it might do. This is the same agency that threatened school districts for trying too hard to support and educate special needs children? |
| 2016-10-17 | Re: Buffett’s no Trump, but he’s not a saint on Reading about Buffet's personal taxes, where he has made charitable contributions much larger than he can deduct, it suddenly struck me. Why in the world is the tax law written so that a billionaire can pay no taxes for decades, because they made bad deals and lost money, but someone who gives huge amounts to charity cannot deduct all of it? That is a clear example of the insanity in our tax code, that favors the wealthy, the rapacious, and inept, and penalizes the philathropic. |
| 2016-10-19 | Re: 911 operator’s tale reminds us to make some ti Lisa Falkenberg writes about the decline of empathy, our desire to isolate and insulate ourselves from people that may be unpleasant or challenging. In a recent social media thread that I followed, there was discussion about how the homeless were using city sidewalks and streets as their bathroom. Much outrage was expressed, much desire to see the city "do something", ie, move them out of sight. What I found depressing was that no one proposed building public restrooms. The reflexive response seemed to be around strategies to hide or move the problem, and the attitude seemed to be that the homeless are not people, not children of God, but a problem to be fixed or hidden away. |
| 2016-10-21 | Grace Hopper event, Artificial Intelligence and Trump supporters A recent detailed poll tried to understand what makes Trump supporters different, and while the results were somewhat murky, one result stood out for me. His supporters are very anxious about the economy, because their children, who are not well-educated, have difficulty finding a decent job. It used to be the case that there were good jobs available for those who had only a High School education or less, but those jobs have been disappearing, replaced by minimum wage service jobs. And technological progress is about to make the situation worse. In five years or so, self-driving vehicles are likely to start becoming commonplace. Driving a truck or a taxi has traditionally been a job most people are qualified for, with low but livable pay. When those jobs go away, what will be the effect on our politics? I think we need to start seriously looking at a program modeled on the WPA, where the government hires people who are unable to find low-skilled jobs, to work on our infrastructure and other items. Otherwise, we may be looking at a violent revolution. |
| 2016-10-22 | Re: CPS head seeks 800 new employees While it is true that more CPS workers are needed and that their pay is too low, there is another factor in the high turnover that was not mentioned. Like school teachers, who also are suffering from high turnover, CPS workers have become a frequent target of criticism from politicians and the public at large, with each failute magnified, and all the triumphs forgotten. When a profession endures high-pressure, low pay, and lack of support from the public and our leaders, of course they will burn out and quit. Instead of using them as a convenient whipping boy, maybe we should look a little deeper to understand the failings. |
| 2016-10-23 | Re: HOW SCHOOLS WEED OUT DISABLED KIDS, IGNORING URGENT NEEDS I find it very disturbing that not a single school district spokesperson in the article admmitted that their district had these illegal, immoral policies. What has happened to simple honesty? I also have a suggestion for saving the state money. Get rid of the Texas Education Agency. If they have time to send people to districts to harrass them for enrolling too many students with disabilities, then they have too much time on their hands. We can save that money and use it to help pay the lawsuits that the state will be losing. |
| 2016-10-26 | Re: Foster care fix to be expensive The state of Texas spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year, pointlessly, on "border security". And we beggar our children most in need, those in the foster care system, those with disabilities in our public schools, low income students in HISD. I sense a pattern. I sense a pattern of wasting money on splashy, headline grabbing actions that kowtow to a conservative base, and a lack of concern about children. These problems are not new. The headlines only confirm what many of us already knew. Compassionant conservatism is dead, long live compassionant conservatism. |
| 2016-10-27 | Walking in Houston A high School senior is struck and killed crossing the street, trying to get to school. The police chief strikes and injures a pedestrian in the crosswalk. In 2014, Houston was No. 7 among large metropolitan areas ranked "by Pedestrian Danger Index", as reported in the Chronicle. This past summer I lived in Chicago, on the near northside not far from Wrigley field. I had ample opportunity to observe how drivers there treat pedestrians, contrasted with how they treat pedestrians in Houston. With rare exception, when a driver accidently stopped too far forward and was blocking the crosswalk, they would go into reverse and back out of the way, often giving a sheepish wave as if to say "I'm sorry!". I can't say that in 40 years of living in Houston I have ever seen that happen, even once. If a car is blocking the crosswalk, you just have to step out into the traffic lanes to get around them - and hope they look and don't turn right while you are in front of them. In Chicago, if I would step off the curb into a crosswalk, 95% of the time, traffic in both directions would stop while I crossed the street. In Houston, seeing someone actually obey the law and stop for someone in a crosswalk is a rare occurrence. Most often, I find myself trapped half-way across, with no one even slowing down, waiting for a gap in the traffic. I could also talk about the vast difference in the quality and quantity of sidewalks, walk signals, painted crosswalks, and other aids to pedestrian traffic, but let me just say that there really is no comparison. Walking in Houston is a frightening, obstacle-laden experience. What could be done? I suspect that most drivers are blissfully unaware of the traffic laws regarding pedestrians. Can almost all of them really be willfully ignoring the law that requires you to stop for someone in the crosswalk? I don't expect enforcement of the law - I am trying to be realistic - but signage (stop for pedestrians, state law), and education campaigns could not hurt, and may actually help. Painting more crosswalks would help alert drivers that they need to watch for pedestrians crossing at a corner. Adding stop signs to residential streets that have become raceways would help as well. And certainly, around all of our schools, complete and high-quality sidewalks, crosswalks, and crossing lights need to be present to protect our children. It is actually quite pleasant to walk in Houston this time of year. Let's make it safe as well. We can do a lot better. |
| 2016-10-28 | Re: Fewer justices on high court? So Senator Cruz and Governor Abbott reveal their true colors - they do not believe in the will of the people, but rather believe in partisan obstruction even when a mmajority have spoken. I think it is fair to class the both of them as un-American. |
| 2016-10-29 | Re: Senators indicate quick fix for CPS not likely Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jane Nelson, ... directed its members to “take the (DFPS) budget down to zero and look at every single penny of the $2.8 billion” Why don't other programs get this sort of scrutiny? Why has the border protection program not been scrutinized? There is not even real data available as to whether it has had any effect, yet we continue to spend millions. Is a fictitious invasion by undocumented people a more serious problem than caring for our children? |
| 2016-10-31 | Re: Down-ballot races at mercy of top Personally I was happy to cast my vote for Republican down-ticket candidates who disavowed Donald Trump. But I didn't see any. |
| 2016-11-03 | Re: Agency defends benchmark policy, denies disabled children shut out Where is Governor Abbott in all of this? Why has he been so quiet? He needs to step up, and the first thing he needs to do is fire all of the leadership of the TEA and replace them with leaders who will care more about children than about saving money. The continued lies and obfuscations coming from this agency are incredible. Does anyone really believe anything they say anymore? |
| 2016-11-13 | Re: Texas takes it slower than Oklahoma on quakes The Railroad Commission is not doing Texas oil producers any favors by not tightening regulations on wastewater disposal. Inevitably, there will be a serious earthquake, and when that happens, public pressure will likely cause the state to overreact. The independent oil producers need to pressure the RR commission to get in front of the problem, not wait for it to be unavoidable. Yes, wastewater disposal causes earthquakes. That is a fact. Now let's move on to regulating and monitoring it so we can avoid them. |
| 2016-11-14 | The election It is very easy to say that we should all just put the campaign behind us, dismiss all that hateful rhetoric as political talk, and try to get along. It is easy to say that if you are a white male. But white males were never the target of Trump's hateful rhetoric. There is far too little acknowlegement of the legitimate fears of the groups which were disparaged and threatened during the campaign. Putting all that behind us is exactly the wrong approach. If we expect to move forward with any semblance of unity, a reconciliation process is called for, where the victimizers take ownership for the consequences of their words and actions. I haven't seen that. All I have seen is denial and platitudes. There is no healing there. |
| 2016-11-16 | Re: Tech distractions cited as traffic deaths rise The key word is distraction. When driving, it is not so much where your hands are, or even where your eyes are, but where your attention is focused. Some years ago I was driving in a parking garage, when a car came around the curve and headed straight for me. I stopped and watched helplessly as the other driver stared blankly ahead, deeply immersed in a phone conversation, blind to her surroundings. I laid on the horn and she saw me and stopped, hitting my bumper with a jolt. Distraction is the key. Until cars drive themselves, we need to remove distractions from drivers. |
| 2016-11-20 | Re: 'Hamilton’ cast blasted for curtain-call messa President-elect Trump has bullied, attacked, mocked, insulted, and lied about dozens of people and groups. To my knowledge, not once has he apologized. Calls for "coming together" and reconciliation in at least some cases seem to ignopre the fact that reconciliation is a two-way street. The starting point for coming together is an admission of past wrongs. Without even admitting past wrongs, how can there be atonement and reconciliation? There can't. There can only be denial. |
| 2016-11-25 | Dropping overtime rule betrays middle class People love a bargain. We like affordable smart phones, cheap stuff made in China, low-cost fast food, cheap clothing, all made possible by foreign child labor, slavery, low wages, or domestic serfdom with loose overtime rules and a low minimum wage. We have always been this way - we have enslaved whole races in the past, and now keep people in virtual slavery, to satisfy our appetites for cheap stuff. We need to look in the mirror, and call it what it is. |
| 2016-11-29 | Re: State slashing therapy funds for disabled children Penny wise and pound foolish. Many disabilities, if caught and treated early enough, can be overcome. Cutting funding for early childhood intervention simply insures that we will end up spending more money on school-age interventions and it will cost us more in the end. It certainly looks like our legislators love children a lot more before they are born. |
| 2016-11-30 | Re: Trump, Texan look at EPA job I find it interesting to read that former Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Kathleen Hartnett White, after her meeting with Trump, say that "he wants the EPA to run more carefully, to use stronger science...". I have actually read some of the TCEQ reports and evaluated them based on my geological training, and I can say that the science contained in those reports would receive a grade of "C" at best. I do hope that they do a proper economic analysis, since the cost of global warming leading to a sea-level rise that would put the ship channel industry and large parts of south-east Houston under water is guaranteed to be a large number. |
| 2016-12-06 | Re: State: Call 911 about abortion So if a woman feels threatened and coerced into *not* having an abortion, either by relatives or by protesters outside a clinic, should she also call 911 in that case? Sounds to me like the pamphlet is advising calling 911 if there is any outside pressure on the decision. |
| 2016-12-06 | Re: Editorial "Take a step" I firmly believe that one of the main barriers to sidewalks in Houston is the rather bizarre notion, fairly unique amongst cities, that sidewalks are the financial responsibility of the property owner, and not the city. A sidewalk should be treated like a street - it is a common good, used by and needed by all the people - and so it is perfectly sensible for the city to take responsibility. Until this change in the law is made, we will not have sidewalks. We will have what we have today - a patchwork of good sidewalks, ending in patches of mud and grass, and older sidewalks broken up into mini-mountain ranges of concrete. In other cities I can literally walk miles on large, high-quality sidewalks. Here, it is hard to make it a block before encountering an obstacle. |
| 2016-12-07 | Re: Trump, Taiwan call set up by Dole It is pretty clear that the president of Taiwan, with the help of his U.S. lobbying team, took advantage of Trump's refusal to attend security briefings and his general naivete to play him like a fiddle. The president of Pakistan similarly took advantage of Trump with an early phone call. I see a pattern of a president elect way out of his depth, making promises when he shouldn't and stepping on toes right and left. The only positive is that his promises are worthless, and he will renege on them as soon as they cause an issue, as he is not a man of his word. |
| 2016-12-07 | Re: Trump’s pick for education secretary could tak When I was growing up (quite a few years ago), it was well-known that there were two reasons for private schools: either you were Roman Catholic, or your parents didn't want you going to school with "those people". Now maybe things have changed in the intervening years, but then again, maybe not so much. Certainly, I think that by and large the result of private charter schools is to decrease classroom diversity in most cases. In a society that has steadfastly refused to grapple in a meaningful way with its racial past, that is not helpful. |
| 2016-12-08 | Re: Bike-sharing program gains traction with plans to expand inside Nice to see they are expanding, but I am curious as to how the sites are chosen. For example, there are currently no stations in the Heights, and on their website future plans for only 2 in the entire NW quadrant inside the loop, north of I-10, and west of I-45. It would seem like a few stations along the MKT bike trail would be a no-brainer. |
| 2016-12-09 | Re: In-flight WiFi calls on airliners considered "customers could make other travel arrangements if they feared sitting next to passengers chatting on their phones." Seriously? The DoT is basically saying if you don't want to sit next to someone talking on their phone the entire flight, you can drive or take the bus. If this is approved, I predict a new phenomenon will arise: "phone rage". |
| 2016-12-10 | Re: Transition team requests the names of Energy personnel in climate meetings I find this extraordinarily disturbing. This sounds disturbingly like preparation for a purge of personnel who have worked on climate change issues. I can only hope that most of them are protected by civil service rules. And it does not bode well for the planet, or for Houston. Some complain about the costs of mitigating global warming, but those are small compared to the costs of Texas City, Galveston, and Clear Lake going under water as sea level continues to rise. |
| 2016-12-11 | Re: Scoffing at CIA, Trump opens up intelligence rift In the story you quote Trump as saying "these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction", without qualification. But the fact of the matter is that the whole WMD story was made up by the Defence Intelligence Agency, a creature of Dick Cheney, and not the CIA. Trump's statement should be challenged - they are not the same people. |
| 2016-12-12 | Re: Special Education services denied "The TEA has vigorously defended the benchmark and said no students were denied access to services." It this the new normal from conservatives? To ignore data and deny facts as a tactic to win arguments? This tactic certainly seems rampant - if you can't win on the facts then simply lie about them in the most blatant way possible, and enough people will believe you that you can get away with it. |
| 2016-12-16 | Re: White House ties Putin to hacking I sent and e-mail message to our senator John Cornyn yesterday expressing my deep concern over the Russian interference in our electorial process. And true to form, like most of my e-mails to our senator, I was sent a reply thanking me for commenting on an entirely different topic. Is this a purposeful avoidance of the topic by his staff? An attempt to skew the constituent statistics so they can claim they did not hear much concern over this? This act by Russia is bordering on an act of war, and we seem to be trying very hard to ignore it. This is not a time for partisan politics. This is a time for a focus on our common enemy, not each other. |
| 2016-12-17 | Re: Auction for meeting with Ivanka canceled Remember back in the day all the complaints about a night in the "Lincoln Bedroom" being used as a way to reward donors? Now we move to an actual auction for gaining access - to maximize profits I suppose. I predict that in the Trump administration, the corruption will be huuuuge! |
| 2016-12-20 | Re: Electoral college politics 'Gov. Greg Abbott countered Cornyn’s statements, saying later on Twitter, “this charade is over. A bill is already filed to make these commitments binding. I look forward to signing it & ending this circus.”' I would like to ask the governor why he supports a system that dilutes the vote of Texans such that every voter in Wyoming gets 4 votes for every single vote a Texan has. It seems to me that that is the actual circus . |
| 2016-12-20 | Re: Small oil firms still struggling Every month, small companies plead with commissioners to waive fees or requirements that the firms plug old wells and clean up properties, claiming they just don’t have the money and the costs could put them out of business. I fiind this disturbing. Is this what is meant by having less government regulation ? Wells are plugged so that the water table is not contaminated by fluids from deeper in the earth - oil, gas, and brine. If an aquifer gets contaminated by an unplugged well that acquifer is permanently ruined. Permanently. The state already gets stuck with the bill for plugging abandoned wells from companies that went bankrupt, and has failed to collect enough money from producers to cover that cost. |
| 2016-12-24 | Re: Measures to control flooding falling short as area grows Hightower, of Wolff Companies, said the goal should remain the same — to ensure that new development has zero net increase on runoff. So I read this as saying that we don't need to actually improve the flooding situation - that the status quo is just fine - we need only keep things as they are? Somehow I think most people not making money off flooding someone downstream would not agree. |
| 2016-12-24 | Re: U.S. abstains as Security Council rebukes Israel Make no mistake about it, Israel, along with Russia, are colonial powers with policies of territorial acquisition and expansionism - actions we had hoped were left behind in the twentieth century. In the longer term, no good will come from these policies, either to the colonial powers or to the rest of the world. We are being the best sort of friend to Israel when we allow their behavior to be rebuked - a real friend does not shield a friend from honest criticism. |
| 2016-12-29 | Enabling personal choice “People should be able to make their own personal choices when it comes to dietary decisions,” said Daren Bakst, a research fellow in agriculture policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “Government shouldn’t be so arrogant as to think we can control their decisions, or even try to influence their decisions.” But I suppose that the billions spent by large agriculture, fast food, and prepared food companies on advertising to try to influence our decisions is okay? Government is simply trying to act as a counterbalance to the continual drumbeat from industry. Giving people more information, e.g. requiring the posting of calories on menus, enables personal choice, it does not take it away. Obesity is a public health crisis, returning control of out diets to people driven by the profit motive is not the answer. |
| 2017-01-01 | Re: Perry polishes image for role In "Perry polishes image for role" you say "fossil fuel-fired power plants ..., which scientists blame for accelerating climate change." As a scientist who has read much of the research, I would say that the phrase "blame for accelerating" is not entirely accurate. More accurately would be to say "cause". With astonishingly unanimity, scientists agree that global warming is caused by man-made CO2 emissions, accelerated by some natural positive feedback loops (melting tundra, decomposition of methane hydrates, etc.). Within the community of people who argue based on facts and evidence, there is no controversy or argument - global warming is a fact, and it is anthropogenic, it is not natural. |
| 2017-01-02 | Re: School grade plan decried Grading schools on a scale of A to F? Maybe we should start grading all our state government responsibilities on an A to F scale? Here is my crack at it: School Financing - D Tax fairness - C Gerrymandering - D CPS - F Protecting the population from pollution - C Education for the disabled - F- Overall effectiveness of state legislature - D I give them an overall unsatisfactory grade. |
| 2017-01-03 | Re: House seeks to gut ethics office It is said that the president "sets the tone" for how the government operates. I see politicians denying what they have said - even when recorded. I see open and blatant selling of access and influence, all with the primary goal of enriching themselves. I see huge ethics violations, influence peddling, selling votes, intimidation of bureaucrats trying to follow the law. I see a huge, stinking swamp, expanding and swallowing up what decency exists in Washington. Hold your nose and shield your eyes, it's going to be an ugly four years. |
| 2017-01-04 | Re: State thought mass graves, cremations would cut costs, health So an official testifies before a judge that the state was proposing the new rules for disposing of fetal tissue as a cost saving measure? I'm sorry, but that does not pass the smell test. I believe that official just committed perjury. Welcome to the new normal where denying the obvious and lying become the order of the day. |
| 2017-01-05 | Re: Trump and Assange: unlikely colleagues? Unlikely? I think not. They both have a deep disdain for honest journalism, for intelligence community proofessionals, and lest we forget, Assange is hiding in the London Ecuadorean embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape charges, so it seems they share a deep mysogyny and disdain for women. So, unlikely? Not really. |
| 2017-01-06 | Re: REP. McCAUL: Trump’s aware Russia is threat, P I'm beginning to see a pattern emerging. President-elect Trump tweets something outrageous, and then various Republicans start walking it back - "no he actually didn't mean that", "he really does understand", "you shouldn't take that literally". This is already getting tiresome. I don't want to hear his handlers try to sweep up the messes he makes. He needs to do it himself. He needs to hold press conferences, and expose himself to tough questions from reporters. He needs to stop tweeting whatever crosses his mind. Can't we all start acting like adults for a change? |
| 2017-01-09 | Re: State budget squeezed by uncertain economy An item not mentioned in the story that could have severe implications for the state budget, is the Chronicle's exposure of caps on special education. Let's face it, that was imposed for budgetary reasons, and will have to wither away in the sunlight - but it will cost money, and probably lots of it - to do for the children what we should have been doing. Property taxes will have to go up, and less of that money will be available to fill holes in the state budget. And that does not even touch on the inevitable class-action lawsuit that is sure to be filed. |
| 2017-01-09 | Re: Tough challenge for Trump: Getting more men back to work Even in the office environment, jobs have gone away due to PC's and automation. When I first started working as a professional for a multi-national in 1979, our office was awash with clerks, technicians, and secretaries. I would take hand-written notes to my secretary to be typed, clerks would do mundane tasks like folding paper, copying, etc. But with the advent of the personal computer, and the copying machine, most of those jobs gradually evaporated. Now an admin (nee secretary) is responsible for 50-100 staff, and has no time to "type" a note for anyone - you do that yourself on your workstation. Professionals do their own copying, there are almost no clerks or technicians to do mundane tasks. Those used to be good jobs for people with a high school diploma, and maybe a year or two of college. But they are gone, and they are not coming back. |
| 2017-01-11 | Re: Trump told of Russian claims - Unsubstantiated reports contain It is very clear that Russian president Putin worked very hard, through multiple venues, to influence the election and get Trump elected. What has never been very clear is why he would make such an effort, and take the risk of committing what approaches an act of war. What is the payout? There have been theories that he did it in a fit of pique at Hillary for past grievances, but that hardly fits with a calculating former KGB agent. On the other hand, possessing blackmail material on Trump is a very powerful inducement indeed. From taht standpoint, the story fits the pattern and makes a lot of sense. God save us all. |
| 2017-01-11 | Re: Action ordered on foster system “Sweeping changes to the state’s foster care system should come from state officials, not from un-elected federal judges or their appointed special masters,” Marc Rylander, spokesman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said in a statement. I would agree 100% that sweeping changes should come from state officials. But they have not. The state has swept the problems under the rug for at least 20 years. The judiciary is the final backstop against state officials refusing to do their jobs. |
| 2017-01-12 | Re: Reimbursement for border security state Rep. Dennis Bonnen had a final request of the Obama administration: reimburse Texas taxpayers $2.8 billion for funding border security initiatives that are the federal government’s responsibility. While we're at it, we should also ask for reimbursement for the cost of monitoring Jade Helm. We all know that is all that prevented federal troops from herding Texans into vacant Walmarts. |
| 2017-01-13 | Re: For VW, ending scandal was easy Is $4.3 billion enough? I don't know. However I would ask a different question. Will any compensation reach those who suffer from asthma and other breathing problems who were affected by the increased smog caused by the illegal emissions? For that I am pretty sure the answer is no. |
| 2017-01-15 | Re: Doubt cast over school finance reform "The House and Senate have their own priorities. In the upper chamber, it is to figure out how to do more with less, said Sen. Paul Bettencourt" Texas ranks 8th from bottom in education spending per student and at the bottom in teacher benefits. Somehow spending too much doesn't strike me as being the central issue with schools in Texas. From looking at the data and what other states are doing, it appears that the central issue is that we are not spending enough. We are already doing with less. And I fail to understand how privatizing can save money - private companies have similar costs and have to also make a profit. |
| 2017-01-19 | Re: Trump lashes out at approval ratings “Polling more and more is a false god,” said Ron Kaufman, a longtime Republican strategist. “We all play to it, but it’s a false god. I just think it’s no longer reliable as a judge.” I'm not sure how to interpret that statement. Is he saying that office holders should quit listening to their constituents? Not that they seem to hear very well if you don't have a checkbook in hand, but this seems to me to be justifying not listening at all. Maybe that is the case. A representative in Colorado fled out the back door rather than face a less than adoring crowd. |
| 2017-01-19 | Re: Trump’s wall likely won’t save state cash When are our states leaders going to demand real evidence, real proof that our nearly $1 billion per year expenditure on "border security" actually accomplishes anything? To me it sounds a lot more like a full employment act for DPS workers, while literally consigning our foster children to poor care, our children to poor schools, allowing our state parks to deteriorate - there are a whole host of places that money could be spent to real, tangible benefit. I challenge our legislators to demand a real accounting of the money spent, and a real measure of the actual benefits. |
| 2017-01-21 | First press conference for new Press Secretary Trump is apparently upset by news media reporting accurately, and not supporting his lies about the size of the crowds at the inaguration. Sad. |
| 2017-01-25 | POTUS difficulty with truth We all learned the story of the boy who cried wolf when we were young. The moral, of course, is that if you have a habit of lying, when it becomes important to be believed, no one will listen. As POTUS and his staff daily present "alternative facts", or as I like to call them, lies, their credibility continues to sink. What will happen when they need to be believed? And where is our senator, John Cornyn? Has he no honor? |
| 2017-01-28 | Re: Pro-Life march I only have one question for Vice President Pence and the marchers. When are you going to speak out against and march against the death penalty? |
| 2017-01-28 | Re: Abbott warns Travis sheriff of funding cuts if detainer plan kept I was struck by the statement coming from the governor's office, "considered wisdom of federal immigration authorities". What an amazing turnabout for our governor! Is he now becoming a Hamiltonian federalist, and modifying his strong state's rights stance? |
| 2017-01-28 | Re: Republicans try to undo Obama order targeting methane releases A clear majority of Americans agree that global warming is real and is the result of human activity. The only conclusion I can make is that the party in power chooses to ignore the people in favor of wealthy special interests. The results are easily predictable. If we do not halt adding greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere very soon, melting icecaps will raise sea-level tens of feet, flooding most of Florida and Louisiana, and giving people in Pasadena shoreline property. Is that what we want to leave for our children? |
| 2017-02-02 | Re: Abbott cancels Travis grants (Sen Charles) Perry said he was unmoved by those pleas because Hernandez is the one responsible for the cutoff of funding because she’s the one who decided not to follow the law. Ah, no, not really. Governor Abbot is a competent adult and he made the decision to try to bully Sheriff Sally Hernandez with a spiteful cutoff of funds to people in need. He was not forced to take this action, it was his initiative and his choice. And so we can judge the governor for his complete lack of empathy for the innocent victims of his temper tantrum. |
| 2017-02-08 | Re: Texas drafts wish list of projects Wilbur Ross, is Trump’s choice for commerce secretary and has argued for a “private sector solution,” to finding the money for needed improvements. I am reminded of a history I once read of the development of the transcontinental railroads. The corruption was epic, the wealth generated for a few was enormous, thousands of investors lost huge amounts of money, and the amount of money wasted was unheard of. This has all the signs of being a huge Republican windfall for the banks and the wealthy, at the expense of the rest of us. |
| 2017-02-08 | Re: Houston continues to build a car-centric city that is dangerous Our neighborhood has been trying for some time now to nudge the city into doing something about the spot where the heavily used MKT bike trail crosses 11th street in the Heights. Traffic on 11th routinely travels well over the speed limit, and there is wide agreement among bicyclists and pedestrians that it is a dangerous intersection. Yet the city has resisted even adding a "stop for pedestrians" candlestick in the middle of the street. I have visited and walked in many cities, and while Houston may not be the worst for pedestrians, it is certainly in the running for that sad title. |
| 2017-02-09 | Re: pedestrians A letter writer made the claim regarding pedestrians, "If they would just watch where they were going, how could they be hit?". Well I walk several miles every day, I cross streets only at corners, I don't wear earphones, I look both ways, and while I haven't been hit (yet), I have had many close calls due to inattentive drivers running stop signs, turning recklessly, or refusing to stop while I am in a crosswalk - which is in violation of state law. Let's not forget, we had a police chief hit a pedestrian who was crossing the street legally. This sort of open denial is a huge part of the problem - blaming the victims and asserting the complete dominance of our auto-centric culture. |
| 2017-02-10 | Railroad commission funding As noted by the chairwoman of the Railroad commission, funding for the Railroad Commission is not sufficient for the agency to do its job. What are the consequences for not inspecting wells and making certain they are properly abandoned? If the casing is breached in an aquifer, then essentially permanent contamination of that aquifer can take place. I do not understand why there is even a debate about preventing permanent harm to our water resources. Money can be found. We could, for example, quit using state resources to patrol the border. Our grandchildren will have to live with the consequences of our actions regarding the Railroad Commission. Let's make the right choice. |
| 2017-02-11 | School "choice" What I don't understand about the proposed voucher bills, is if my tax dollars go to support an overtly religious school (Catholic, Muslim, Evangelical, etc.), how does that not violate the US constitution? In 1947, Justice Hugo Black wrote in a decision, "No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion." It appears to me that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is spoiling for an expensive court fight. |
| 2017-02-12 | Re: Sandy Hook families hounded by ‘truthers’ "Your children never existed"? At what point do fringe conspiracy believers move from bizarre and deluded, to being considered mentally ill and committed to an institution? While some have been arrested for assault and other crimes, perhaps the criminal justice system is not the right place for them. We have a name for people suffering from and acting on paranoid delusions with no basis in fact - mentally ill. But what do we call those who use them as a political tool, and make money off them? |
| 2017-02-16 | Re: Congress moves to reverse rule on access to guns Back in July, I wrote Senator Cornyn about the problem of guns in our society. In response, I received a form letter that stated in part, This is the debate we should be having—a debate that focuses on the real root causes of mass violence, and a debate that addresses the perilous intersection of guns and mental illness. Given our senator's vote to allow people with serious and disabling mental issues to purchase guns, I guess he no longer sees that intersection as being particularly perilous. |
| 2017-02-20 | Re: Bills aim to make it harder to develop affordable housing Instead of placing study and neighborhood impact requirements on subsidized housing, why not a bill that would place those requirements on *all* high-density housing? The negative impact on a neighborhood is more due to the increased demand on local services like streets, sewers, drainage, etc. I would love to have some muscle behind slowing the apartment sprawl in the Heights. But maybe these bills aren't really about development, but about the "wrong kind of people" moving in? |
| 2017-02-20 | Senator John Cornyn I'm afraid that our Senator, "Big John" Cornyn is actually a snowflake - unwilling to meet with constituents who might disagree with him and hurt his feelings. Instead, he throws insults at them and basks in the safe glow of the Republican Women's Club. He might consider what happens to snowflakes under the bright light of press scrutiny - they melt. |
| 2017-02-24 | Re: Texas congressman leading efforts to cut funds for renewable research ... a coalition of conservative politicians led by San Antonio Rep. Lamar Smith ... is pressing to overhaul a system it says allows the government, rather than the market, to decide the future of the country’s energy industry ... It has been my observation, that by and large, business is very poor at long-range planning - publically traded companies have to satisfy their shareholders, and are largely driven by quarterly results, not looking 5 or 10 years down the road. Additionally, there are many counter-examples of programs that would never have happened without government funding - the internet, the interstate highway system, most of the really innovative drug research. Even former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson has called for a carbon tax to help fight global warming, and to help the price of hydrocarbons to better reflect their true cost by explicitly including the cost of environmental destruction in the commodity price. I'm a retired oil company guy, but I firmly believe it is time to quit protecting the oil industry and push towards the next, cleaner, energy source, before we cause too much more damage to our fragile planet. I would like to leave my children a better world. |
| 2017-02-24 | Re: Trump seeks ‘top of the pack’ nuclear domina I'm sorry, but this is utterly asinine. We have more than enough nuclear weapons to destroy most life on this planet, adding more accomplishes zero in terms of our safety, but it would move more of our economy and taxes to pointless, wasteful spending. This sounds like two boys in the restroom comparing their equipment. It is total nonsense. |
| 2017-02-25 | Re: Pension reform battle pits mayoral foes again The basic problem with pension reform is the fact that the legislature even gets a say in it. Why doesn't one of our legislators file a bill that would have the state butt out and leave it up to the city to solve our own problems? The state has no financial stake in the outcome - all they have is a license to meddle. But then I guess local control doesn't apply in this case. |
| 2017-02-26 | Re: Bills would order districts and administrators to report improper While I agree with the idea of tracking people guilty of improper relationships with students, I am shocked at the $3 million estimate. It seems to me that a spreadsheet and a person to manage it would be sufficient, and that would be a lot cheaper than $3 million. If this is how state government is being run it is no surprise that we have budget problems. |
| 2017-03-03 | Re: EPA drops request for methane data Ostrich-like, if we stuff our head in the sand and don't measure it, it never happened? This is truly insidious. Don't even gather the data needed to make science-based, rational decisions that affect the fate of the planet. We should never fear the truth - even when it may contradict our beliefs. But here we have a case where we are trying to hide the truth, so that denial of global warming and desires for short-term profits may continue. If you live less than 20 feet above sea level, you had better be very worried. |
| 2017-03-03 | Re: When federal agents are ‘bad hombres’ I'm waiting for the day when ICE agents swarm River Oaks, the Villages, and Memorial to pick up lawn crews, leaving all those gorgeous lawns half-cut and ragged. Or perhaps they are avoiding the "red" areas of town, focusing their efforts on areas that did not vote for a Republican administration. |
| 2017-03-04 | Re: Bill protects workers’ political views So a bill would "place political beliefs in the same protected category under Texas law as race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin and age." With the exception of religion, the other qualities are innate - things you cannot change. Which is nothing like a political belief, which is a choice. It would make a lot more sense to add sexual orientation and gender identification to that list, since they are similarly not chosen. I suppose too that with this law, if an employer found that their employee attended klan meetings or was a neo-nazi advocate, the employee would be protected. Or how about a daycare worker who is a member of a pedophilia rights group? This strikes me as especially poorly thought out. |
| 2017-03-06 | Re: Trump rages at leaks, setbacks, accusations So a president who peddles in innuendo and lies is upset that he has low credibility? As far as I am concerned, he has given me no reason to believe or trust him, and many reasons - all of which fit into 140 characters - to simply assume that whatever he says is a lie. Sad! |
| 2017-03-06 | Re: Leashes come off Wall Street, gun sellers, miners and more So a question for my senators. How does not requiring AT&T to take “reasonable measures” to ensure that their customers’ Social Security numbers, web browsing history and other personal information are not stolen or accidentally released. benefit me? I can see how it could help make the already wealthy even wealthier, but for the majority of us, it looks like a gift to large corporations, and more money in the pockets of the 1%. It seems to me that unleashing the economy is code for making sure the rich get richer, and maybe a little of that will trickle down to the rest of us, given that the unleashing seems to largely focus around removing regulations that protect the average citizen from corporate neglect and malfeasance. |
| 2017-03-07 | Re: GOP offers health plan It is clear that the GOP health plan is a marginal improvement over what existed before Obamacare. Does no one remember what things were like then? Overcrowded emergency rooms as people without insurance tried to get medical care, the number one reason for personal bankruptcy was medical bills, people working jobs they hated but were afraid to quit because they would lose their insurance, a child mortality rate on par with third world nations. Obamacare is not perfect, but it has progressed medical care an enormous amount. If "Obamacare is a sinking ship", the answer is not to dynamite it and make it sink faster. |
| 2017-03-09 | Re: Judges, lawmakers target cash bail It seems to me that we have a fairly fundamental choice at work here. We can strive to insure that no guilty person goes unpunished, at the cost of punishing many innocent people who lose their jobs while unable to bond out of jail (councilman Kubosh's choice). Or we can strive to create a system where we do not punishment the innocent, even if that means a few of the guilty may slip by. I vote for the latter. |
| 2017-03-09 | Republican health plans I have a simple criteria for judging healthcare bills. How will they affect the children of the poor? It is clear, from conservative Republican analysts, that Trumpcare would be a disaster for poor children, leaving many of them without decent medical care. This is unChristian, unAmerican, and unacceptable. |
| 2017-03-10 | Re: Pruitt signals major shift at EPA I would like to know on what Scott Pruitt bases his fictional beliefs that global warming is not due to greenhouse gas emissions. There is near unanimity within the scientific commmunity, and amongst the largest oil companies, that global warming is real, it is the result of emissions of carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil, and gas, and that the consequences are likely to be dire. He claims there is "tremendous disagreement", but the only people who disagree have no factual basis for their arguments, and tend to either be coal company lobbyists or politicians who receive money from them. I am a scientist. I have read hundreds of peer-reviewed papers on global warming. It is real. If we continue to pretend it is not, it will be too late to prevent catastrophic consequences. If you live near the coast, below about 20 feet above sealevel, don't plan to live there for the next 20 years. You will be under water. |
| 2017-03-12 | Re: Town hall crowd criticizes GOP health plan The story notes that the legislation cuts funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — which provides emergency response and research for illnesses such as the Zika virus. Seriously? I am a lot more fearful of being caught up in an epidemic like Zika, or any one of more than a dozen other emerging diseases, than I am of a terrorist attack, or a bad dude from Mexico. The misplaced priorities this represents are breath-taking. We want to take money away from the CDC, which protects us from real and present threats, and instead build a wall at the border to protect us from an imagined threat? Every day I feel like I have fallen down the rabbit hole. |
| 2017-03-13 | Re: Pursuit through subdivision reaches 90 mph after officer attempts The pursuit policies for police agencies in our area are in desperate need to revision. Far too many people have died when someone who is apparently guilty of only a minor offense takes off and is pursued. If the original offense is not a felony, then I think they police should not pursue - but use other tactics. It is too dangerous, especially in neighborhoods. I for one am willing to let a few bad guys let away if it prevents some of the loss of life we see in these chases. |
| 2017-03-14 | Re: Paul Bettencourt loves property taxes. Property taxes are, in my estimation, the most unfair tax of them all. The basic premise is deeply flawed - that you pay a tax based on the estimated value of your property, if you sold it today. So while the estimated value of property may go up and down, and the taxes may go up and down, your ability to actually pay the tax remains constant. It is this basic disconnect that drives gentrification - as property values increase and taxes go up, original homeowners and businesses can no longer afford to pay the taxes. It is also open to subterfuge - as has been reported in the Chronicle - the actual value of large real-estate transactions being kept secret so that appraisors undervalue large commercial properties and leave the rest of us holding the tax bag. We should be moving away from property taxes and instead towards taxes that are more transparent, more closely tied to ability to pay, and less dependent on a volatile real-estate market. |
| 2017-03-17 | Sanctuary cities I noticed that in the proposed Republican Federal budget, it cuts funding to reimburse state and local governments for costs of incarcerating certain undocumented immigrants. And our state legislators are proposing to force counties to incarcerate undocumented immigrants. So who will pay? Not the Federal government, not the State government. It will come out of our property taxes, which are capped, which will mean fewer potholes fixed, no police hired, and other cuts. |
| 2017-03-19 | Re: Culberson says funds cut; briefs show otherwise Representative Culberson said, I’m the one who’s going to make the final decisions, along with the president. No judge can compel me to release the money.” So this is not about the rule of law since, clearly, under the law a judge can indeed compel the release of money. We are also subject to laws passed by all of Congress, not just the whims of a single Representative. Seems to me that our Representative is getting a little too big for his britches. He is not the law. |
| 2017-03-19 | Re: HIGH COURT NOMINEE AWAITS FATE Judge Gorsuch says Judges should apply the law as it is, focusing backward, not forward, and looking to text, structure and history to decide what a reasonable reader at the time of the events in question would have understood the law to be.” Does this mean that the most-neglected phrase in the second amendment A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, will be applied for a change? The plain language says to me that thia amendment is all about states raising up militia to put down local revolts, mostly slave revolts, and has little or nothing to do with personal protection. Or is Originalism simply a smokescreen for apply personal, conservative beliefs? |
| 2017-03-21 | Re: Privatization of Medicaid ride program probed Yet another success story for privitization. Not. I have never understood the desire to privatize government services. Since a private company must make a profit, either the cost will rise, as in this case, or the workers will have their pay and benefits cut, which is often the case. Of course in this instance, it appears that the privatization was pursued simply to open up new opportunities for graft and corruption. It could make an interesting story to see how many privatization initiatives actually succeeded. I suspect it is a diminishingly small number. |
| 2017-03-22 | Re: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government I am completely outraged, with our senators Cornyn and Cruz. Where is their outrage? Where are their demands that this investigation be pulled well out of partisan politics and pursued vigorously with independence and all deliberate speed? Since Citizens United, since unlimited funds can be spent for and against candidate anonymously, what are the chances that some of that anonymous money illegally came from foreign interests, from billionaire Russian friends of Putin? How many in Congress might also be compromised by Russian money? |
| 2017-03-22 | Re: Officials: No new threat led to laptop limit I have flown out of Dubai, and my recollection is that I received - as did everyone else - one of the most complete and intrusive security checks I have ever experienced. I really question what may really be behind this rule that conveniently avoids impacting U.S. carriers. I'm afraid that this administration has lost all credibility with me. |
| 2017-03-23 | House Intelligence Committee It is abundantly clear that the Intelligence committee cannot be trusted to get at the truth about Russian influence in our electoral process. Representative Nunes, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is obviously trying to cover for the liar-in-chief, running to the White House with information they can use to try to fend off critics, without even sharing that with his own committee. The stench of cover-up is all but overwhelming. The time for a special prosecutor is now, since nothing the committee does will have any credibility. |
| 2017-03-28 | Re: Trump to curtail clean air rules “This policy is in keeping with President Trump’s desire to make America energy independent,” the White House official said. “The president is not going to pursue climate policy that puts the economy at risk.” Which is exactly what the president is doing. Rising sea level alone is estimated to cost about $1 trillion to the US economy this century. Add in similarly large numbers for increasingly violent weather, lost productivity in agriculture, higher air conditioning costs, and it quickly becomes clear that we could easily afford to pension off all the coal miners, shut down the mines, and be way ahead of the game. Why has global warming become a political litmus test? It is a scientific fact - and Mother Nature doesn't care what you believe. |
| 2017-03-28 | Re: Proposed federal budget cuts threaten after-school programs In explaining cuts to afterschool programs, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said there’s no evidence the targeted programs help kids. In today's new reality I have a simple rule of thumb. If a member of the administration says it, I simply assume they are lying. Sadly this seems to serve me well. How long can we as a society survive when the leadership of the country cannot be trusted to tell the truth, when nearly every word out of their mouths qualifies as fake news ? |
| 2017-03-29 | Re: County commissioners spar over bail system suit Kudos to Commissioner Rodney Ellis for shaking up the County Commissioners. It is unfathomable to me why we continue to waste tax dollars fightiing for a system we have already committed to change, a system that is clearly unconstitutional. The County Commissioners owe us an explanation of why they are continuing this fight, all the while arguing that the system is changing anyway. This really is one of the most nonsensical things I have seen government do. |
| 2017-03-29 | Future looking or mired in the past The current budget draft includes a nearly 20 percent reduction for the National Institutes of Health and a likely 9.8 percent cut for the National Science Foundation. Executive orders from the White House have started to slash environmental and global warming regulations, especially regarding coal power plants. Should we be trying to “save coal jobs” that destroy the environment and miner’s health, or support a future economy based on being the technology leader? We are on a trajectory to cede leadership in renewable energy technologies to China. We can stay mired in nineteenth century energy production, or work towards twenty-first century energy production. Which is the better idea? |
| 2017-03-31 | Re: Houston immigrant doctors given 24 hours to leave the U.S., then As someone who used to supervise many people on visas and green cards, I came to recognize the labyrinthine and often kafkaesque workings of our immigration system. Many times there were misprints, incorrect stamps, or dates entered incorrectly, and sometimes these resulted in great distress and expense while our lawyers worked it out with immigration. It is clear to me that the whole system is far too complicated, and is riddled with errors. If no one takes it too seriously, this is distressing but tolerable, but now that the Republican administration seems bent on deporting as many people as possible for any reason possible, the flaws in the whole system are revealed in sharp relief and become intolerable. I would hope that Senator Cornyn and Representative Culberson will see this incident as merely the tip of the iceberg, and an indicator of the urgency with which the whole immigration and deportation strategy must be re-addressed. |
| 2017-03-31 | Re: Despite Trump’s request, Israel set to OK West I have a suggestion for the President. If he needs a place to cut the budget, there is $3.11 billion dollars for Israel that could be better spent on domestic programs. Let's really go America First! |
| 2017-03-31 | Re: Tesla makes a new run at rules So what is so special about new cars that a dealership is required? A used car can be bought from a lot with no services except financing, or by cash from an individual. Do new cars really need all the services that dealerships provide? Or is this just a government-supported scam designed to create a privileged class of middle-men who then pass part of their profits to legislators in the form of campaign contributions? |
| 2017-04-01 | Re: In fight over water, critics say oil and money s I firmly believe that monitoring groundwater around all injection sites, and also seismically monitoring the progress of frack jobs, should always be required, and the results made public. Not because I expect a lot of problems - I retired from working in the oil industry and believe that these activities are quite safe when done properly - but because the public willingness to give oil companies a license to operate is fading, and one important way to prevent the loss of public support for the industry is to be more open and up front. People fear what they don't know, and keeping secrets breeds fear and distrust. The industry is shooting itself in the foot by not supporting monitoring. |
| 2017-04-01 | Texting and driving So will Rick Perry contact all of the grieving relatives of those who died in the bus crash, caused by a texting driver, to reassure them of the importance of not micromanaging adult behavior? Or maybe he could man up, admit that he was terribly wrong, and apologize. |
| 2017-04-02 | Re: Scientists must earn and maintain public’s tru There is no enterprise in this country as open and transparent as science, so I do not understand what Ann Kinzig is complaining about in her editorial. It is certainly long on generalities and short on specifics. She keeps hammering home that scientists move into the realm of subjectivity, but cites no evidence. That sounds pretty subjective to me. And she does draw one line - that while man-made global warming is real, all the projected consequences are speculative. That is simply contradicted by the facts. Sea level is rising - that is an objective, well-established fact. And it is hardly subjective to look at the data on year-to-year ice loss in Greenland and Antartica, and calculate how much further sea level will rise. Now in my experience as a scientist, I have noted that most scientists are very conservative, and not given to speculation or alarmist rhetoric. So my assumption is that the negative consequence of global warming are probably being underestimated. Which is a frightening prospect. |
| 2017-04-02 | Re: House approves limits on EPA data use “The American people have a right to see the data that is used to justify EPA’s costly regulations,” Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, author of the bill and chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said in a statement. “The days of ‘trust me’ science are over.” Because it would be so much better to trust politicians to do the right thing and take care that we are not poisoned? |
| 2017-04-03 | Re: Sore Losers A letter writer opines I have never seen a “sore loser” attitude displayed like the one that is going on now. Really? Fully 40% of Republican still believe that Obama was not born in the U.S. Judge Merrick Garland did not even get the courtesy of a hearing by Republicans, because with only 15% of his term left - 8 months - that was too close to the election . And now we have a president who, even some Republicans admit, was helped along in his election by Russian meddling in our electoral process. This goes much deeper than sore loser - in part it is tit-for-tat, and in part it is a reaction to the current chaos in the administration and the tainted election process. |
| 2017-04-04 | Re: Deadly bus crash triggers debate on texting I'm sure that the families of those killed in the bus crash are greatly consoled by the fact that Texas does not micromanage adult behavior. |
| 2017-04-04 | Re: Secret meeting held to boost Trump-Putin ties There has been talk of a “shadow government” lately, but it appears that the real shadow government is made up of close associates of the President who have great power and serve without Congressional approval or in conformance with ethics laws. Blackwater founder Erik Prince, for example, negotiating with the Russians. Where was our duly approved Secretary of State Rex Tillerson? Was he even consulted? Jared Kushner, negotiating with the Israelis and Palestinians. Again, is the State department being bypassed? This looks to me like a ploy to diminish the authority of Congress to vet and approve the cabinet, by emasculating members of the cabinet and using people unencumbered by ethics regulations and oversight to operate outside of congressional purview. I do not see this ending well. |
| 2017-04-06 | Re: EPA seeks to roll back programs targeting lead paint This morning I was greeted with the headline “EPA seeks to roll back programs targeting lead paint”. I was absolutely gobsmacked. There is no safe level of lead in children, and as Flint has shown, we are still being haunted by the sins of the past regarding this dangerous and insidious metal. I simply cannot fathom how anyone could think that this is a good idea. I have to say I am at a total loss to understand what sort of person could propose such a thing. Is this change being proposed so that real estate developers can save a few dollars? This is, frankly, obscene. |
| 2017-04-07 | Re: Ban on texting while driving not the solution Mark Davis wants to increase penalties for causing an accident while texting without outlawing texting itself. Let's see, we could apply that logic to DUI - if you think you can make it home in one piece you're legal. Or speeding - as long as you don't actually cause an accident, who needs speed limits? How about stopping at stop signs and red lights - as long as no one gets hurt, why make it illegal? Personally I would like to see even talking on the phone while driving made illegal. Many large companies already prohibit this behavior on pain of dismissal. I got hit once in a parking garage by someone talking on the phone, because their attention was on the conversation and they literally did not see me. Waiting for the accident to happen seems like a very poor policy to me, and unlikely to change behavior. |
| 2017-04-07 | Syria While I have to agree that there is a certain visceral pleasure in bombing a war criminal like Bashar al-Assad, I have to ask - is this nothing more than a visceral response? Or is there actually a strategy at play here? Given the wild swings in the stated policies of the administration, this seems like a one-off reaction without any strategic context or any thought given to what comes next. I think that we all, and especially our elected representatives, need to be asking just these sorts of questions. |
| 2017-04-10 | Re: Little obstacles a big drag on disabled access to Metro Who is responsible for maintaining the street in front of my house? Why the city of course - the street is a public good and used by everyone. Who is responsible for maintaining the sidewalk in front of my house? Why I am. How does that make any sense? The sidewalk is just as much a public good as the street. The city should be building and maintaining them. In most cities, that is what happens. When we spent the summer in Chicago, we could literally walk miles in any direction on well-maintained, wide, continuous sidewalks. Here, I can hardly get out my front door before encountering missing and broken sidewalks. I literally cannot go a single block in any direction on a continuous, well-maintained sidewalk. Talk about crumbling infrastructure! For the fourth largest city in the country, this is sad and embarrassing. |
| 2017-04-10 | Re: Smith takes on climate science "...Smith says he believes climate change is real and humans play some role but questions the dire forecasts of fast-rising oceans and widespread drought." The problem with U.S. Representative Smith's crusade against climate science, is that the consequences are not symmetric. Suppose the science is wrong and has overestimated the effects - I don't believe that, the evidence is that if anything the effects are being underestimated, but for the sake of argument - maybe 1% would be shaved off the GDP. Painful, but well within the normal variability. But if Smith is wrong and the science is right, then the consequences are catastrophic and the economic consequences alone would far exceed the great depression. In other words, Representative Smith is trying to save pennies by risking dollars. Is this really sound policy? I don't think so. |
| 2017-04-11 | Re: Parents want more data on vaccinations I cannot understand why the anti-vaxxers do not want to allow schools to publish the number of unvaccinated children in their population. Is it because they are afraid that if the high numbers at some schools were released, there would be a general backlash against their unwarranted priviledges? Personally I think we need to go back to the days when you could not send your child to school unless they were vaccinated, or had a medical condition that prevented them from being vaccinated. In retrospect, it is clear that the whole anti-vaxxer movement is yet another consequence of widespread "fake news" and people's willingness to be taken in by it. |
| 2017-04-11 | Re: Passenger dragged from United flight; CEO calls it 'upsetting event' The CEO Oscar Munoz said "Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this," Munoz told employees". What he should have added was "It is apparent from this incident that while our employees followed procedure and I back them for doing that, the procedures themselves are deeply flawed and need fundamental revision. This incident should not have happened, and something like this should never happen again." But he did not do that, so I sold my United stock yesterday, and as a long time Platinum flyer, am re-evaluating my travel options. |
| 2017-04-12 | Re: Marriage license exemption bill gains initial OK I find it interesting how the Texas Senate seems determined to turn Texas into a pariah state for business and sports events. But I guess things like this are an easy way to appeal to a prejudiced base, and don't involve the hard work of try to solve actual problems. |
| 2017-04-12 | Re: An edge for Texas - Fed official says rising population figures "And the country has $46 trillion in unfunded entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare" Let's be really clear. These are not entitlements. They are retirement and medical insurance programs that are underfunded because the Congress has chosen over the years to steal money from them. By repeating the mantra "entitlement" over and over again, you are making a political statement. They are insurance programs that people have paid into their entire working lives. Let's reword the quoted sentence: "And the country has $46 trillion in unfunded insurance, such as Social Security and Medicare". Sounds quite different, doesn't it? |
| 2017-04-12 | Re: SCIENTISTS FEAR CLIMATE DATA GAP AS TRUMP AIMS AT SATELLITES The president’s budget has proposed eliminating four of NASA’s climate science missions, including instruments to study clouds, small airborne particles, the flow of carbon dioxide and other elements of the atmosphere and oceans. A common complaint of “climate deniers” is that the science is too speculative. So let’s gather more data and reduce the uncertainties around climate modeling and measurement. Given the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming to the Texas Gulf coast, I would think that getting as much hard data as possible to make the best decisions possible would be a Texas Republican priority. |
| 2017-04-13 | Re: Council moves to crack down on homeless The homeless. They are human beings who have fallen on hard economic times, often coupled with mental illness, and sometimes drug abuse. As compassionate people, we should try to help them. The homeless. They are frightening and irritating, begging on the streets, sleeping on the roadside, trashing our neighborhoods and causing us a lot of discomfort. We should move them elsewhere. How we treat the "problem of the homeless" says a lot about us. |
| 2017-04-13 | Re: House panel OKs bill on heeding ICE requests So let me try to connect the dots here. One the one hand we have the legislature poised to require police to honor all ICE requests and to not prohibit officers from asking about immigration status. The effect of this policy, as is already occuring, is that undocumented immigrants will no longer call police to report crimes in their communities, which will help embolden the gangs. And now the governor, without consulting the local police or sheriff, is sending in the Texas Rangers to "deal with the gang probem". Is this creating a problem in order to solve it? Or to at least put on a big show? Not that I expect the Rangers to be effective. If the local community will not be involved, then the gang task force will fail, and we will be left worse off. |
| 2017-04-14 | Re: Health subsidies now a pawn to force talks On Maundy Thursday, the central focus is on Jesus washing his disciples feet - a compelling symbol of the Christian imperative for the powerful to serve the least, for the first to become the last. So it is particularly ironic that on a day devoted to servanthood, the president threatens to use the poor as a pawn in a power play to try to blackmail the Democrats into giving him what he wants. Sad. |
| 2017-04-18 | Re: TABC head quits amid controversy Maybe I'm dense, but I don't see the controversy. How many employees traveled to conferences? It would be pretty easy to spend $1000 per employee, and attending conferences to see what others are doing is really important. Given the lack of interest in Ag comissioner Sid Miller and his spending, I have a feeling that something else is going on here. |
| 2017-04-18 | Re: Board wades back into creationism debate The action some members of the board want to take is simply unconstitutional. The establishment clause of the First Amendment clearly prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another - which is what the creationists are trying to accomplish - to get the schools to teach a particular theology pretending to be science. |
| 2017-04-18 | Re: Planting Trees to stop global warming A letter writer wrote "Let nature work for humanity by planting trees, billions of trees. They love carbon dioxide and give us a bonus of oxygen." Sadly, detailed studies have shown that it is not that simple. While trees in the tropics slightly cool the planet, trees in temperate zones may actually warm the planet slightly. There do not appear to be any silver bullets for stopping global warming, other than the obvious - quit producing greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane. |
| 2017-04-19 | Re: DHS chief tells critics to ‘shut up’ So Homeland Security Secretary John "Snowflake" Kelly is upset about criticism of his agency. Instead of telling critics to shut up, maybe he should fix what is broken. It is clear from recent events that they have started targeting the low-hanging fruit - people whose status is in dispute and who report to ICE offices. They also seem to have lost any sense of balance in their zeal to push up their numbers at any cost. If his agency was clearly targeting "bad hombres", there would be little criticism. |
| 2017-04-19 | Re: From her new West Wing office, Ivanka watches her brand grow I do not see how it is possible for Ivanka to continue to own her company and work in the White House without there being a conflict of interest. She needs to decide to either sell the company outright, or leave the White House. If the Chinese had given her a $1000 piece of art, it would have to go to the government. But they gave her trademarks worth millions, and that is okay? Nonsense. |
| 2017-04-21 | Re: Pesticide maker is urging Trump to ignore scientists And this is precisely why I am marching on Saturday. Ignoring unpleasant facts does not make them go away. Pretending that these pesticides are not causing harm, pretending that human activity is not causing global warming, pretending that vaccines are dangerous and not life-saving - does not change the reality. Mother nature does not care what we believe. |
| 2017-04-21 | Re: Group targets hospital fast food While I am sympathetic to not wanting hospitals appear to be endorsing fast food, the reality is that many people in the hospital need to get calories of some sort in order to fuel healing, and frankly, fast food is often significantly more palatible than hospital food. Many reasons why someone may be hospitalized may affect their appetite or taste, and so the first priority should not be trying to send them a message about the evils of junk food, but getting them enough calories and protein to promote healing. I have snuck many a hamburger into someone's room when they were unable to eat the provided food. |
| 2017-04-23 | Re: TEXAS HAS A REVENUE PROBLEM, AND IT’S GROWING Kudos to Steve Brown for addressing the taboo subject of income tax in Texas. We are far too dependent on property tax, which is the most unfair tax there is - it has little relationship to ability to pay. My property taxes went up by the maximum allowed for several years, this year they will go down slightly, and yet my income and ability to pay them is essentially unchanged. That makes no sense. Fair taxes should reflect the ability to pay them, i.e. income; not some estimate of the value of illiquid property that is owned. |
| 2017-04-24 | Re: EPA cuts could worsen border pollution If one of our senators would actually have a townhall meeting, I would want to ask them "why is it so important to increase defense spending, when we already spend more than the next eight nations combined?" When is it enough? This whole notion that we need to eat sewage so that the military can have more money is absolutely crazy. We are impoverishing ourselves for no good reason, due to fear spawned by false narratives and spun by politicians trying to hold onto power. It must stop! |
| 2017-04-28 | Bad bill This bill may as well have been titled the "Destroy trust in the police and worsen public safety act", because that will be the result. If people are afraid to speak to the police - which this act will accomplish - how will the police be able to solve crimes and find criminals hiding in the community? What is worse is that this will allow a few bad apples in the department to start harrassing everyone with brown skin, and the chief will have lost the power to discipline them. This will not enhance public safety, but will accomplish the opposite. It is a truly bad bill. |
| 2017-04-28 | Re: DEFICIT: Conservatives are facing moment of truth over curtailing debt The quickest way to balloon the deficit is to cut taxes and expect economic growth to magically pick up the revenue slack. The Laffer curve has been shown to be a fiction, and this whole premise wishful thinking. But remember, the people working on this are all multi-millionaires and will see huge personal benefits from tax cuts, while sticking the rest of us and our children with the bill. |
| 2017-04-29 | Re: Federal ruling: Detaining poor for low-level crimes unconstitutional I don't understand why almost all of the judges oppose changing the bail system. While I firmly believe they are wrong, I would like to hear their argument, as it will inform my vote in the next judicial election. |
| 2017-05-02 | Re: Trump pushes for health care vote this week "The GOP will not seek a cost-and-impact estimate from the CBO." No news is good news? Is that the hope of the GOP? Or is this a shell game where they hope that when people start seeing the impact of the bill in 2018, they can blame state governments and still get re-elected? As the president himself recently noted, health care is really complicated. To propose to build a new law and pass it flying blind, not allowing a non-partisan analysis, is the height of folly, and a cynical ploy that shows no concern for people and a lot of concern for playing to the base to get re-elected. |
| 2017-05-02 | Re: President open to meeting with N. Korea leader Does anyone remember when President Obama said he was willing to meet with the president of Iran, and Republicans went crazy? |
| 2017-05-03 | Re: Visa crackdown threatens seasonal help I don't believe that "they cannot find enough Americans willing to take such jobs." I think that the truth is they cannot find enough Americans to take such jobs at something well below a living wage. We have all become addicted to exploiting foreign workers. Restaurants keep their prices low by using undocumented or temporary visa workers who get paid much less than an American would require, and we all love it. If we were serious about "America first" we would willingly pay more for restaurant meals, hotel rooms, and landscaping to support a livable wage for Americans. The first step would be to increase the minimum wage to something someone could actually live on. |
| 2017-05-04 | Re: Trump appointees offer muscular support for oil and gas "As a congressman, he (Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke) voted consistently against applying new regulations to the oil and gas industry." I spent 35 years in the industry, and one lesson I learned is that while many companies, especially most of the large players, are pretty careful - they are very concerned with their "license to operate" and with liability - having deep pockets, some of the players tend to be more fly-by-night or overly cost driven and willing to cut corners. Regulations are needed to level the playing field so that the good-intentioned companies are not put at a competitive disadvantage by the ones cutting corners. And there are many areas that still need to be regulated - waste water disposal causing earthquakes, fracking around fault zones, methane releases, bonds to ensure proper plugging and abandonment, to name a few. The Interior Secretary's focus would result in some short-term gains at the expense of leaving an environmental mess for future generations. Let's not mortgage our children's future. |
| 2017-05-05 | Re: Senate approves state’s bail reform bill "Bondsmen have said the measure would evaporate much of their bread-and-butter business in cash bonds for low-level defendants." And why is that? Precisely because these defendants are low-risk. If they were not low risk then they would not be so profitable for bail bondsmen. Which is precisely why most of them should be released on personal recognizance bonds. The system is not in place to provide a subsidized cash-cow to bondsmen. It is supposed to be a "justice system". |
| 2017-05-09 | Re: Administration hollows out EPA science board "The Trump administration will not reappoint half the expert members of a board that advises the Environmental Protection Agency on the integrity of its science." Beginning with the President and his appointees, and now reaching down to the various agencies in the Executive Branch, the Federal Government is losing all semblance of integrity and believability. When I read anything coming out of Washington now, I simply assume it is a lie. What an awful state of affairs. |
| 2017-05-10 | Re: SHAKE-UP: Surprised Washington lawmakers react with caution, alarm The foundation of any government, from democracy to monarchy, is for the governed to consent to being governed. In a democracy, that consent revolves around trust - trust that the government is legitimate, trust that the government is following the law, trust that the government is transparent. We are approaching a crisis in government in all of these areas. The time for Senator John Cornyn, majority whip in the Senate, to start leading us back to democratic ideals is long overdue. It needs to start with a Special Prosecutor being appointed to remove the stink of partisanship. Congress needs to reassert themselves and start challenging the executive branch before too much damage has been done to the Republic. |
| 2017-05-10 | Adoption Measure So let me get this straight, Republican Rep. James Frank wants part of my tax dollars to be sent to adoption agencies that discriminate against potential adoptive parents. If adoption agencies want to shut down rather than not accept state money or accept non-discrimination statutes, then I suppose providing families for chiildren in need is not one of their deeply held beliefs. That sort of dogmatic, unloving behavior is what gives religion a bad name. |
| 2017-05-11 | Re: Anti-vaccination measure added to foster care bill in Texas House How is this even a debate? Why do a large fraction of House members apparently believe they can play doctor, and tell real doctors to withhold standard care from foster children? These children have already been abused enough, they don't need our legislators abusing them further. |
| 2017-05-11 | Re: ER pricing study sparks fight The next study should compare quality of care and outcomes at free-standing ER's vs. hospital ER's. It is clear that profit motive dominates the free-standing ER's. How does that affect care? |
| 2017-05-12 | Re: CenterPoint rate requests draw doubts The regulatory dance. CenterPoint pads its rate increase request with many clearly improper items, the review identifies those, they get removed, and the rest is approved without much question. The reviewers can show how good they are, CenterPoint gets what it really wants, and the ratepayers get the booby prize. How about taking all of the obviously improper parts of the rate request, and subtracting twice that amount from the request? As it stands, there is no downside for CenterPoint trying to slip in improper items. Quit playing the game, refuse to join the dance. |
| 2017-05-12 | Re: Why you’re getting bad customer service — an I recently experienced a stellar example of this phenomenon. For years, the Sundance theater downtown has been my favorite movie theater - great service, beer, reserved seating. But they were recently purchased by AMC. The difference in employee engagment was stark and disappointing. I got the strong impression that the employees really were just waiting for their shift to end - marking time. The whole experience left me sad, grieving the great theater that used to be. And I doubt I will be back. |
| 2017-05-13 | Re: Discord may spur special session So the House "Freedom caucus", missed their nap time and had a tantrum, killing more than 120 noncontroversial bills. But it wasn't personal. What was it then? It wasn't good government. It wasn't dignified. It wasn't helpful to their constituents. Mostly it seems to be nothing more than a spiteful reaction to being incapable of getting their own hateful agenda passed. |
| 2017-05-14 | Re: Criticism mounts over pot licensing Compassion and "Texas government" are fast becoming strangers. Much of the legislative session seenmed to be consumed by struggles to restrict and punish, with bills aimed at compassion losing out. Are we becoming the big state with a small heart? |
| 2017-05-14 | Re: Cell ban nearing penalty phase Sadly the bans do not go far enough. Using hands-free mode does not significantly improve the situation. The problem is that multi-tasking is a myth. Attention is focused on one thing at a time, and if a driver is in an intense conversation, they will be driving blind, whether the phone is in their hand or not. I was hit head-on while driving in a parking garage by someone talking on their phone, and it was apparent that they literally did not see me right in front of them. |
| 2017-05-17 | Re: Sanctuary cities law won’t lead to profiling, Instead of just stating what he cannot know, why doesn't Governor Abbot at least collect data to show that he is right? Ask the DPS or some other appropriate agency to actually collect data regarding profiling, and let's see if it increases. I for one am quite tired of government by supposition, and would like to see government based on actual data. |
| 2017-05-17 | Re: Hackers who leaked NSA tools likely have U.S. insider The untold story in all of this is how the pervasiveness of the Windows ecosystem has helped lead us to this point. But there are alternatives. Especially for individuals, Apple computers, or even Linux computers can be used. With most functions now accessed through web browsers, the operating system is becoming irrelevant. Linux systems generally get automatic security updates weekly, and have free software that can work with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files. Linux is often used in corporate backrooms for servers and to do the heavy lifting. |
| 2017-05-18 | Re: President Donald Trump complained about the coverage of his administration Trump says no politician "has been treated worse or more unfairly." I would expect a teenager to play the victim, but a man his age needs to grow up and accept the consequences of his actions. Did President Obama complain about Trump refusing to believe he was born in the U.S.? No, he was bigger than that. The president's performances have me moving from embarrassment to fear to incredulity to disgust, and back again. |
| 2017-05-18 | Re: Paxton joins fight over prayer I have some advice for County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack - read Matthew 6:5-6. "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray ..." |
| 2017-05-19 | Re: Culberson defends biotech stock buy Have you ever tried to buy a stock on a foreign exchange? It is not an easy process. In fact, it is quite painful. That fact alone causes me to be suspicious of Representative Culberson's motivation. That and the fact that the offered explanation doesn't hold water. Unless it is an IPO, you don't buy stock to benefit the company - they don't see any of your money. You buy stock because to think you will make money on it. There is more to this story, it simply does not pass the smell test. |
| 2017-05-21 | Re: State targets debt lawyer Patronella said there isn’t anything he can do. So what is the point in even having judges and courts if the judge becomes a rote cipher, simply signing orders, without any ability to reject orders that on their face are illegal? I am not a lawyer, but that sounds wrong to me. The point of judges is to use judgement. |
| 2017-05-22 | Re: House passes ‘bathroom bill’ amendment I hope that the members who voted for this bill are proud of bullying 8 year-olds. This really does amount to state-sponsored child abuse. But then, with all the children's issues that were ignored this session, we shouldn't be surprised. |
| 2017-05-23 | Re: HISD may pay $60M more It seems that I am forever reading that a large part of the problem in HISD is that because of the large number of students in poverty, costs are higher than the state formula allows. Which begs the question - why is that factor not included in the school funding formula? |
| 2017-05-23 | Re: Help fight crime There’s simply no way that oficers can have eyes and ears on all of Houston, 24-7. People who have witnessed criminal acts should find a safe way to report what they���ve seen Absolutely true. And if your key witness is an undocumented alien - a maid, a landscaper, a diswasher from a restaurant - our legislature has now insured that they will never come forward to help. |
| 2017-05-26 | Re: One dead after car crash near dealership In my experrience, trucks parking on the freeway access road in front of car dealerships is pretty standard - and extremely dangerous. It really needs to stop. |
| 2017-05-27 | Bathroom Bill "Gov. Greg Abbott has said failure to reach a compromise could prompt him to call a special session..." Seriously? Discriminating against transsexuals and losing millions of dollars are so important that we'll have a special session? But education issues and children's health issues don't have sufficient merit. It is getting to the point where I hate to admit I am a Texan. |
| 2017-06-02 | Climate accord Kudos to the mayor of Pitttsburg for committing his city to follow the Paris Accords even if the U.S. as a whole will not. I look to Houston to join and do the same. This is nopt the time to ignore solid science in order to favor sunset industries. |
| 2017-06-06 | re: Trump backs privatizing air traffic control I fail to understand how giving a private company a monopoly over air traffic control could possibly result in cost savings. A private company has to make a profit, so for the same expense, the costs will have to be higher, unless they cut corners somewhere. Usually in privitization that means sticking it to the workers through lower salaries and reduced benefits. There is no magic. You get what you pay for. If you don't pay, you don't get. The only magic involved in privitization is making some investors and senior company officers wealthy at the expense of the rest of us. |
| 2017-06-06 | Re: Video clip of deadly encounter is released So two people threatened the person legally recording the video of the homicide taking place. Will they be charged with obstruction of justice? Because they should. |
| 2017-06-06 | Re: Russian hackers likely breached voting software May we please start printing a paper copy of votes that can be checked by the voter and then saved for a real recount, rather than trusting a privately programmed black-box that cannot be verified? Either that or go back to paper ballots. I don't need the results by midnight - I can wait a couple of days. |
| 2017-06-13 | Driver's License hours There are about 15 million licensed drivers in Texas. Every 10 years they must appear in person to renew their license. So, not counting new drivers or others that need to appear in person, that is 1.5 million in person visits per year. The median hourly wage is Texas is $17. An extra 1 hour waiting in line therefore translates to $25 million wasted dollars per year, a bit more than the $21 million DPS is trying to save. Republicans like to talk about the hidden costs of regulations, why aren't they talking about the hidden costs of moronic budget allocations like this? |
| 2017-06-14 | Re: Denny’s couple may face penalties So which is worse, having your daughters see a drunk unrinating in public, or having them see you kill someone? |
| 2017-06-14 | Re: Getting the government off our backs Yet another headline today "Agency stalls food-labeling reforms championed by Michelle Obama". Interviews with voters wanting less government. All of this reveals a basic misunderstanding. We are the government - the government is there so that the interests of average individuals can be protected from the interests of the wealthy and powerful. By shrinking government, we cede control over our lives to corporations and the wealthy. We get to vote for our government leaders, we have little control over the monied interests, except through government. The greatest danger for government is the now unlimited money available to corrupt our representatives. |
| 2017-06-15 | Partisanship After the shootings in Virginia, I have heard a lot said about "toning down the rhetoric", as if that was what caused the shooting to occur. I think that the partisan rhetoric is simply a symptom of something much deeper. In a democracy, the people consent to be governed on condition that the government has legitimacy, but it is this very legitimacy that is at issue. Citizens United, Russian interference, unrestrained gerrymandering, voter suppression, all of these have taken a toll on the legitimacy of government, and are leading us to a state of crisis. If the people cannot trust that elections are free and fair, then we no longer have a country. |
| 2017-06-16 | Re: Tamina Tamina was settled by freed slaves in 1871, and the impoverished community doesn’t have the healthy tax base that would make it an attractive target for annexation. As a result they have no sewer services, no fire hydrants, and marginal water services. And children died. It should not be that the only reason a city annexes an area is for economic reasons. Sometimes it should happen simply because it is the right thing to do. |
| 2017-06-16 | Re: religious refusal of gay foster parents This has nothing whatsoever to do with religious freedom. What this is, is an invitation for government contractors to discriminate against LGBTQ people. This will result in a lawsuit, it will reach the Supreme court, and it will lose. But only after the state wastes millions of dollars, and loses many more millions from the inevitable boycotts and lost business. My Christian beliefs are in no way reflected by what my state is doing. I see no love in their actions, only discrimination, fear, and hate. |
| 2017-06-17 | Re: Health leaders air concerns What will Texas look like in 20 years? What is our legislature doing to prepare us for the future? In 20 years, it is quite likely that oil will no longer be in the driver's seat, and if our economy has not diversified, we will be a very poor state indeed. Now is the time to prepare for that future by ensuring that our children are ready to carry us forward. We must invest in our children's health and in their education. And I see little progress on either front. I fear for Texas' future. |
| 2017-06-18 | Texas gold I have a simple question. Why is Texas hiding money under a mattress instead of investing it? Holding gold is not an investment strategy. As a recent column in this paper noted, "investing" in gold is a sure way to lose money over time. |
| 2017-06-19 | Re: hot prisons I was astonished when I read that "windows in the dorms are sealed shut". How could anyone in their right mind design an un-airconditioned building in Texas with sealed windows? Some might argue that the heat was not a problem in the days before airconditioning, and they might be right. But I would wager that those prisons were designed to catch breezes and cool themselves, and did not have sealed windows. Ridiculous. |
| 2017-06-19 | Re: Delta mauling puts focus on rules for ‘support It is clear to me that stricter requirements are needed for certifying emotional support animals, and for accomodating other passengers. I was on a flight last year on a small plane that had 2 people with "support" dogs, as well as a passenger who had a severe fear of dogs. The flight staff tried to accomodate her, but it was difficult, and she was in obvious serious distress. There are also many of us with allergies to dogs and cats. For some people, being seated next to an animal, or even within a few rows, could precipitate an asthma attack and force an emergency landing. This rule is extremely poorly thought out, and needs serious revision to accomodate all passengers, and eliminate the gaming of the system that is obviously taking place. |
| 2017-06-20 | Re: Finding Houston’s most dangerous intersections In the Heights, we have been begging the city to put in some sort of controls - stop light, flashing yellow light, even candlestick signs in the road - at the intersection of 11th and the bike trail. There have been many close calls here, this portion of the trail is heavily used by bicycles, runners, and walkers. At times the wait for a break in the traffic can grow frustratingly long. Add to that the fact that most drivers in Houston seem to be unaware that they have to stop for people in a crosswalk, and you have a recipe for disaster. So far the city has done a traffic study, but is opposed to doing more. We fully expect it will require someone be killed before action is taken. |
| 2017-06-20 | Re: Perry voices doubts on CO2 I have a challenge for Energy Secretary Perry. You are skeptical about anthropogenic global warming? Fine. Show me the data. Otherwise you are simply promoting fake news. |
| 2017-06-21 | Re: Prison could be cooled for $100K The TDCJ says that they can't afford to cool prisons. But I suppose they can afford to pay out millions in lawsuit judgements? |
| 2017-06-21 | Re: Perry defends research cutbacks The greatest problem with cutting back on any sort of research, is that it takes years to develop effective research teams and programs, and only minutes to destroy them. Research cannot be turned on and off like water from a faucet. If Secretary Perry has his way, our energy research will take many years to restore, and we will be using other country's developments - and paying them for them - rather than leading on our own. Will history note this as the beginning of the end of the American century? |
| 2017-06-23 | Re: America is on its way to divorce court I find it interesting how conservative commentators are all coming out of the woods to complain about the way Trump is being treated, and how we must all get along, but they never say a word about the massive abuse heaped on Obama. Forty percent of Republican voters still believe Obama was born in Kenya. Where is the outrage? Which governor has refused to shake Trump's hand, or tried to hand him a letter of grievances? The real snowflakes are Republicans who cannot belive that they are being treated the same way they treated Democrats. Reconciliation does not begin with whining. Reconciliation begins with admitting wrongs and earnestly trying to make amends. |
| 2017-06-24 | Russia Instead of wasting their time trying to cut taxes on the wealthy and destroy healthcare for the rest of us, I suggest our senators Cornyn and Cruz address a much more urgent matter - developing and requiring conformance to national standards for voting as one step to restore confidence in our electoral system. The latest bombshell about Russian interference in our election makes it clear that our current system cannot be trusted and must be fixed. If the people lose faith in the electoral system, all the jets and bombs in the world will not save us. |
| 2017-06-25 | Grammar In the story Court may alter politics in Texas , is the phrase a majority of Harris County’s four-plus-million population leans Democrat. . I believe the term should be Democratic, as in Democratic party? The phase Democrat party is a childish Republican epithet. |
| 2017-06-27 | Re: Trump scores partial victory on travel ban As I recall, the travel ban was meant to be a 6 month affair while enhanced screening rules were worked out. Since that 6 months is nearly upon us, are the rules in fact worked out? Or was that simply another lie? |
| 2017-06-27 | Re: Another bridge strike gives officials headaches How about adding an "enhanced" fine based on the estimated cost to all the people trapped in traffic. Number of cars times number if hours times minimum wage. If the pain level to the insurers and truck companies is high enough, they will ensure that their loads are safe. |
| 2017-06-27 | Re: Ethanol triggers energy battle This is a truly sad commentary on the times we live in, that the fight around ethanol in gasoline is being fought around purely economic factors - whose ox gets gored - when the real issue is one of public health and people dying from ozone pollution. |
| 2017-06-27 | Re: Texas Boys State votes in favor of secession The irony of a group sponsored by the American Legion voting in favor of an un-American, unpatriotic, and ultimately treasonous act is palpable. Do these boys really think that they can call themselves good Americans and patriots while voting for secession from the Union? This is not some game. There are those on the fringe (remember Oklahoma City) who are encouraged by news of this sort to acts of violence to try to "jump start" a revolution. Words do matter and need to be chosen very carefully. |
| 2017-06-28 | Re: Culberson stock bet turns financial risk It does not seem believable that Representative Culberson's stock purchase was "sparked by press reports". Buying stocks traded on a foreign exchange is not a simple thing - it is not like buying stocks traded on American exchanges. It is a real pain if you are a relatively small investor. Rep. Culberson had to really want to buy that stock, which implies he really thought it was a good deal - which it seems could only have come from insider knowledge. This was not a casual act. |
| 2017-06-28 | Re: WILL HEALTH-CARE BILLS HELP OR HURT TEXANS? In Secretary Price's editorial he notes Under that proposal, no American will be forced to buy health insurance they don’t want. What he fails to note is that many of the people who do not buy health insurance will be free-riders, that ultimate Republican boogeyman, because when they do get seriously ill, they will end up in an emergency room and recieve care they cannot afford or pay for. Others will get sick and end up bankrupt, unable to pay their medical bills, again free-riding on the system. I assume that actually refusing any care to the sick, and having them die in the street, is a non-starter in a Christian nation, so to eliminate the free-rider problem we must require everyone to have insurance, either as is done in Obama care, or through taxes. |
| 2017-06-30 | Re: Trump aims insults at host over Twitter Clearly the president subscribes to the maxim "if they go low, you go lower". |
| 2017-06-30 | Re: “Will civility be baked into the court’s wed Should a business be allowed to discriminate against someone on the basis of an immutable characteristic; sex, color, race, national origin, sexual preference? We have laws against such discrimination because of the sordid hostory of racism, where blacks traveling through the country often could not find a motel or a restaurant that would serve them. Are we in a post-racial, post-discrimination society that no longer needs such protections? I think current events would show that is clearly not the case. |
| 2017-07-01 | Re: Same Sex Marriage benefits Jared Woodfill says ...there’s an argument to be made at the trial court that taxpayer dollars should not be used in violation of one’s deeply held religious beliefs.” Does that mean that Jared supports me stopping payment of that portion of my income tax that supports the military? I find much of what the government does offensive to my religious convictions. I'm certain he will back me up on this. |
| 2017-07-01 | Re: Trump voting panel hit by resistance from states I for one do not want the state of Texas to release my voting information to Trump's voting panel. I simply do not trust them to treat it properly. |
| 2017-07-02 | Re: Texas to provide voter data to Federal Government Where is the Jade Helm crowd now? Why is our governor not complaining about Federal overreach? Why is our lieutenant governor not complaining about invasion of privacy? |
| 2017-07-02 | Re: County likely out $1.3M for Super Bowl costs They county got a tremendous economic benefit - so they say. All I can see if that no one sent me a check, but as a taxpayer I'll get the bill. |
| 2017-07-02 | Re: Scott Pruitt dismantling regulations at EPA Head of the EPA Scott Pruitt "... is doing all this largely without the input of the 15,000 career employees at the agency he heads". Sounds like a case of "don't confuse me with facts or science, my mind is made up." What is particularly disturbing is the fact Pruitt would like to ignore that environmental damage can happen very quickly, but recovery from it can take generations. I never saw pelicans or dolphins in Galveston Bay until about 15 years ago. They had disappeared for decades due to the pollution levels in the bay. Are we returning to those days? |
| 2017-07-02 | Mars child sex ring Given Alex Jones unnatural preoccupation with child sex rings, I have to wonder if he is involved in one himself. It does seem, far too often, that Shakespeare was on target when he wrote "(he) doth protest too much, methinks". |
| 2017-07-03 | Re: Little relief expected from property tax reforms I would argue that we do not pay enough in taxes. Our schools are underfunded, our fire and police are underfunded, we have a looming infrastructure crisis with roads and sewers needing replacement - services we take for granted need money to operate, and we have been starving them for years. That said, properrty taxes are a terrible way to fund anything. Property tax is not tied to ability to pay - like an income or sales tax - but is based on a theoretical value of your house. For those on a fixed income, their taxes can go up, but their ability to pay them remains unchanged. Gentrification drives the lower middle-class out of neighborhoods because they can no longer afford the taxes. We need higher taxes, but not higher property taxes. |
| 2017-07-05 | Optional KIPP fees This is a perfect example of a completely insincere apology. Yes we said optional fees were mandatory, but no you can't have your money back. Is that the sort of lesson KIPP is trying to teach? |
| 2017-07-06 | Re: Voter Fraud Kudos to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for finding a truly bipartisan issue. It is heartening in this divisive time to see Republicans and Democrats coming together to oppose his commission's request. While I write this tongue-in-cheek, it truly is a good sign that there are some things we can all agree on. |
| 2017-07-07 | Re: Trump visit to Poland “Everybody was 100 percent sure that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction,” Trump said. Actually, no. I thought at the time that it was a calculated lie backed by false evidence, as did many others. No one seems to remember that there were UN inspectors on the ground who were contradicting what the administration was saying. But then I'm certain that many of Trump's supporters still believe that we found WMD's. Overcoming division when we can't even agree on what is real and what is fantasy is a tall order. |
| 2017-07-07 | Re: Houston judge under fire for treatment of pretrial suspects So Judge McSpadden reasons that able-bodied defendents can get a job and hire their own attorney. Minimum wage pays about $300/week, so to get the $3000 you would need to hire an attorney, you would have to work for 10 weeks - without eating or paying rent. I'm no legal scholar, but that seems like an undue burden to me. Coupled with the required daily court appearances which would make it nearly impossible to keep a job, this sounds like a system guaranteed to fail. This is yet one more way to coerce defendents into a confession. |
| 2017-07-07 | Re: Trump and Merkel German diplomats still don’t know who to call in the State Department on serious issues, or even who their counterparts are in the White House.” How long can we survive with this level of chaos and lack of leadership? When a true crisis hits, the outcome is likely to be disasterous. I suspect we will look back with nostalgia on the days when the worst example of government ineptness was characterized by Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job . |
| 2017-07-07 | Looking forwards or backwards? In today's paper: Electricity generated by wind, solar and hydroelectric sources in March and April exceeded power provided by nuclear plants for the first time in more than 30 years No more gasoline or diesel cars sold in France by 2040 All Volvos will be hybrids or 100 percent electric beginning in 2019 President Donald Trump’s efforts to increase U.S. energy production got a boost Thursday from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who pledged to streamline permitting for oil and gas drilling and hold more frequent sales of drilling rights on federal lands Which of these is not like the others? Which are forward-looking, and which are reactionary? |
| 2017-07-09 | Re: Utility lobbyists turn up the heat on rooftop solar Of course Texas does not have net metering, because that would make too much sense. Rather than encouraging people to invest in rooftop solar panels to reduce the summer daytime load on the grid, we would rather use eminent domain to condemn huge swaths of farmland to install yet more high-tension lines to hook up yet more powerplants. If the utilities were smart, they would get into the business of selling and leasing solar panels to homeowners, rather than fighting them. |
| 2017-07-10 | Re: Tillerson talks tough on Russia in visit to Ukraine In my estimation, as long as the US government, and US news sources call the capital of Ukraine "Kiev", the Russians are winning the propaganda war. That is the transliteration of the Russian name of the city, and carries the implication of ownership. Better if we would all start calling it "Kyiv", the transliteration of the Ukranian name. |
| 2017-07-10 | Forensic Science While the Houston Forensic Science Center has done wonderful work to ensure the integrity of the forensic labs, I think the letter misses the point. The National Commission on Forensic Science examined various traditional forensic tools to determine if they were, in fact, a valid tool. It doesn't matter how carefully you do hair analysis if the basic premise is flawed. Does the HFSC do basic research on the validity of forensic procedures? |
| 2017-07-12 | Re: Cruz’s plan picks up steam on road to health c There is little question that Senator Cruz's plan would result in the total collapse of the insurance market for those with pre-existing conditions. We would be back to the days where people with diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, cancer survivors, and other common conditions would become all but uninsurable. Remember the good old days when the greatest cause of bankruptcy was medical bills? This bill represents "cruel care", a system that would allow the healthy to save a few bucks by gambling they won't have an accident or get sick, while plunging those with pre-existing conditions into financial ruin and medical chaos. |
| 2017-07-12 | Re: Language in feds’ funding bill would block Met Good. West Houston's loss will a gain for the rest of the city. While they stew in unbearable traffic, the rest of us can enjoy the benefits of a fast, modern rail system. |
| 2017-07-12 | ‘Back the Blue’ Act is a pass for street justice If Congress essentially makes it impossible for people who have been abused by police to receive justice, I think it is likely that the result will be increased violence against police, which is something we do not need. This reminds me of the poster "The beatings will continue until attitudes improve." |
| 2017-07-14 | Re: County mum on prospect of election hacking “Harris County uses a multilayer approach to cyber security with preventative, detective and corrective controls, including vulnerability management, intrusion prevention, threat management and security governance,” High said in an email. “We are constantly working proactively to enhance our security posture.” I always grow suspicious when someone lapses into jargon-land, which really only serves to obfuscate, not illuminate. It smacks of an attitude of hubris I'm smarter than you, don't question me. The real question is, when was the system last audited by a qualified outside auditor, and how well did it fare in that audit? People running a system will always believe it is secure. What is required is that separate set of eyes looking for the holes. The fact remains that without a paper copy of the vote, there is no way to ensure that the vote is correct. |
| 2017-07-14 | Re: Flood insurance costs may fall for many There are many things wrong with this picture. First of all, it should not require privitization to use more sophisticated flooding models for determining rates. Secondly, I love the bit about "Conceivably, homes that would see rate offers jump from private insurers could remain on the federal program post-reform". So what this really appears to be is a giveaway for private insurers - allow them to cream the low-risk properties and leave the government stuck with the high-risk properties , leading to the inevitable bankruptcy of the federal program. Whenever attempts have been made to reform the program so that the cost of insurance accurately reflects the risk, there has been so much pushback that it has yet again been turned into a subsidy for people living in flood-prone areas. This bill solves nothing, creates a giveaway to insurance companies, and will lead to either the collapse of the federal program or taxpayer subsidies. |
| 2017-07-14 | Re: It’s ridiculous for Trump’s team to attribut A little recognized fact from careful research is that a majority of rapes are committed by serial rapists. These are not "boys being boys" or "morning regret" incidents. A majority of rapes are committed by a small number of sexual predators. Attempting to normalize this behavior is appalling. But we seem to have entered a land of fact-free declarations in this administration, so it is not sirprising. |
| 2017-07-16 | Cruz for single payer? So senator Cruz is willing to accept direct taxpayer health care subsidies for the poor, the old and the sick - including money to help insurers cover the costs . This sounds like it is getting quite close to singler payer to me. Of course the wholle strategy of keeping the healthcare system alive by switching from the requirement that healthy people buy insurance to direct taxpayer support for insurance is simply making the costs less obvious. |
| 2017-07-19 | Re: Trump says he now wants to let Obamacare fail This is obscene. There is no other way to look at it. To destroy people's lives, cause real and permanent harm, in some cases cause peoples deaths just to score political points. I mourn deeply for our country and what we have become. The idea that we are a Christian nation has become a laughable fallacy. |
| 2017-07-19 | Re: How a warming climate will trouble air travel This article does not make sense. The density of air in Phoenix at 120 degrees is slightly higher than the density of air in Denver at 70 degrees. The reason planes were grounded in Phoenix was *not* due to the lower air density. It was because Bombadier chose not to certify their planes at a temperature that high because of the expense of doing the tests necessary for the certification. So yes, higher temperatures will cause problems for air travel, but the issue will be that manufacturers will need to certify their planes for higher temperatures. |
| 2017-07-20 | Re: Trump tells voter fraud advisory to have ‘open We will probably never know the answer to that question (if Hillary won the popular vote), because even if you could prove that a certain number of votes were cast by ineligible voters, for example, you wouldn’t know how they voted,” said Kobach (Vice chair of voter fraud commission) That sounds to me like a great example of the big lie . There are many problems with our voting system - gerrymandering and various voter suppression tactics at the top of the list - but actual voter fraud is diminishingly small. This is like a magic act - pay no attention to vote suppression, watch the shiny ball of voter fraud instead. |
| 2017-07-21 | Re: Conflicts of interest So Trump's lawyers are searching for any possible conflicts of interest within special prosecutor Mueller's team. (Campaign contributions? Really?) If it weren't so serious it would be laughable. Trump's conflicts of interest are pervasive and growing as foreign governments eagerly try to curry favor by renting his hotels and facilities. The determination to limit and shorten the investigations only indicate to me that there must be a real fire burning behind all the smoke. |
| 2017-07-22 | Re: DPS to start charging for forensic services Let me see, which makes me feel safer. Law enforcement agencies being able to solve murders using DNA and other forensic evidence at a cost of $12 million, or "helping" ICE patrol the border at a cost of $800 million? I'll go with Senator Whitmire on this one and vote for forensic testing. Especially given that the state has yet to provide any evidence that the $800 million has purchased anything of value. |
| 2017-07-23 | Taxes Senator Paul Bettencourt has the right target, but the wrong strategy. Property taxes are, by their very nature, the most unfair tax, since your ability to pay is not reflected in the value of your property. Yet in Texas we are almost totally dependent on this unfair tax for funding schools (the main beneficiary) and city services. The real answer would be to institute a state income tax, use that money to pay for schools statewide, and reduce property taxes to a shadow of their former selves. That would be a fair tax based on ability to pay and it would solve the school finance issues. |
| 2017-07-23 | Officer's car shot "The police sergeant was able to get both suspects into custody without returning fire" It is so refreshing to read that sentence. Justified or not, anyone - police included - firing a bullet, cannot be certain of where it will end up. Being able to avoid firing in a situation where it would have been justified and unquestioned shows great restraint and is deserving of praise. Kudos to the officer. |
| 2017-07-23 | Re: Coal reliability "Coal is more reliable because that fuel sits in piles at the plants whereas natural gas must be delivered by pipelines to the facilities, coal producers say." I remember unusual cold snaps where the piles of coal froze and were unable to be used. I remember when unusually hot or cold weather shut down rail lines, and when freezing weather stopped barge deliveries of coal. This argument does not hold water. One of the best arguments for natural gas is that it plays well with wind power. Installed wind power is very cheap, but depends on the wind. Natural gas can be turned on much faster than coal, making it an ideal partner for wind. Plus the combination is killing coal on price. |
| 2017-07-23 | Re: In Minneapolis, police shooting raises a familia So what is the protocol? What do I have to do to not be shot by a cop? Avoid them? Hide when they come by - even if I have called them? Given the nature of some of the shootings in recent years, it seems like any interaction can lead to death. Running away, lying on the ground, walking up to a car, hands in the air - all seem like dangerous activities. This is not a healthy environment. |
| 2017-07-24 | Re: Tree cutting In the article it notes that: the measure likely would prohibit Houston’s highly touted new tree district from taking effect. That is specifically to protect trees on Yale street from being removed by apartment builders, townhome developers, and businesses. It is all that stands between Yale being a walkable, pleasant, shaded green street, and a barren concrete wasteland. And any other neighborhood street taht is green and pleasant. So sure, let's allow the governor to destroy our neighborhoods because he is upset about being fined for cutting down a tree. |
| 2017-07-24 | Robocalls I decided that part of the problem with robocalls is that it costs almost nothing for the company to make the calls, so part of the solution is to make them more expensive. My personal contribution to that goal is to get a live person on the line and engage them for as long as possible without giving away any information. I've kept them tied up for as long as ten minutes. Usually when I get asked for some personal information I will say "hold on, there's someone at the door. Don't go away, I'm really interested..." and set the phone down. |
| 2017-07-24 | Re: Lifting minimum wage harms low-skilled First of all, the results in Seattle from raising the minimum wage are not clear, as there are conflicting studies. Secondly, I think it is outrageous that my tax dollars pay for food stamps for people working full time at WalMart or at restaurants. We are basically subsidizing those industries by allowing them to pay sub-living wages to their workers. A good economist knows that as a rule, subsidies distort economic signals and lead to inefficiencies and poor decisions in the economy. What we really are doing is allowing low wage industries to get free labor instead of competing on true costs. Finally, I think that it is morally bankrupt to expect people to work full time at wages that are not livable. It is a return to serfdom, to exploitation of the poor. |
| 2017-07-27 | Re: Robbery suspect wounded in leg in Third Ward People will probably cheer the employee who shot a robber as he was escaping, but I don't see much to cheer about. At that point they were clearly not in danger - the robber was leaving. Firing a bullet in the city - you never know where it may end up. With a slight change in aim, it could have missed the robber, crossed the street, and hit someone inside a building. And finally, if the robber had been killed, robbery is not a capital offense. We do not put people to death for robbery, and this is not the Wild West. |
| 2017-07-27 | Re: County clerk: Voting system is still secure Without a paper verification ballot, the security and veracity of the voting system cannot be assured. Malicious code could be inserted by someone at the company that programs the machines - that has happened with a state lottery - and the checks that can be done without paper receipts is limited. While I'm sure the county does what it can to test the machines, without paper receipts, their options are limited. If Volkswagons can be programmed to obey emission control laws only when being tested, the same can be done for voting machines. |
| 2017-07-28 | Re: Charlie Gard I find the "Nanny state" complaints about the Charlie Gard case sickening. They remind me of the hyperventilated complaints about "death panels" that somehow equate hospice with some terrible plot. Everyone dies. Poor Charlie was fated to die young, regardless of the self-serving actions of a Boston doctor who eventually admitted he could not help. Keeping someone alive at all costs is, to me, a bizarre and inhuman practice, and tantamount to abuse. Both my parents had hospice come in when death neared, and the experience was uniformly positive, providing them with a measure of dignity and comfort in their last days. |
| 2017-07-31 | Re: Big-city mayors still waiting to hear from Abbott It was when Governor Abbott caved to the Jade Helm conspiracy nuts that I realized that he lacks leadership capabilites and political courage. So refusing to meet with the largest opponents of his proposals is no surprise. He doesn't represent Houston, and has no interest in representing Houston. |
| 2017-08-02 | Re: Health policy rates to jump Our governor complains about Texas becoming more like California, but largely because California supported Obamacare and accepted the Medicaid expansion, the increase in insurance rates there has been much less than in Texas. The "problems" with Obamacare are largely self-inflicted by states like Texas where there was an active effort by the states to make it fail. |
| 2017-08-02 | Re: Doubt cast on arson ruling I am flabbergasted that anyone would accept that a fire is arson because "all other reasonable hypotheses were tested". That is logically fallacious. If you cannot find the cause of something, you do not dishonestly label it something you cannot demonstrate, you say "cause unknown". Not being able to demonstrate the cause only demonstrates a lack of evidence and imagination, not arson. |
| 2017-08-02 | Re: Flying ace Sully makes case against air traffic control privatization Republican's in favor of privitizing air traffic control say "They want an entity that operates more like a business." Would that be like the railroads? Private prisons? Like cable TV providers? Like Wells Fargo or Volkswagen? Businesses can provide a wealth of examples of poor planning, rapacious profit-taking, and criminal behavior. Privitization is not a panacea. |
| 2017-08-03 | Re: Senate, House hit impasse on how to fund plan for retired teachers So let me see if I understand this. Both the Texas Senate and House agree that they need to fix healthcare for retired teachers, but the Senate wants to use a bookkeeping gimmick to cover the cost (for only one year), while the House wants to tap the rainy day fund - meant for one-offs - to kick the funding can down the road one year. Texas has already spent over a billion dollars on patrolling the border - duplicating federal efforts. We have plenty of money available in the budget to pay teachers without using stupid budget tricks. We just need to stop paying for stupid things. |
| 2017-08-03 | Re: Movie theater chains flop "AMC, ..., said it planned to slash costs by cutting operating hours and staff levels" One of my recent disappointments was the buyout of the Sundance theater downtown by AMC. I saw a well-staffed, affordable theater raise it's prices and suffer a significant decline in service after the buyout. If I read this latest announcement correctly, those issues will just get worse. It looks like the age of movie theaters may be ending. |
| 2017-08-04 | Re: Bill would restrict movement of monuments 'Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe, ... argued that Texans shouldn’t “erase our history.” “We should not delete evidence of our past to comply with current political correctness,”' It is not political correctness to remove monuments that celebrate what was, quite frankly, traitorous behavior. And I say this as someone who had many ancestors who regrettably fought on the side of the Confederacy. These are monuments celebrating racism, slavery, and traitors. We can better remember history by apologizing for and trying to repair the wrongs that were propogated. |
| 2017-08-06 | Re: Study links grocers, home values Correlation is not causation. While having a nice grocery opening nearby may have a positive effect on home prices, it is also likely that grocery firms try very hard to place their stores in areas poised to show income and housing value growth. |
| 2017-08-08 | Re: Biblical law In his letter the Rev. F.N. Williams Sr. talks about Biblical law. Good Christians can and do differ on many points of Biblical law, but one point should be clear - that we love one another. In my church we celebrate, honor, and support the LGBTQ community as our brothers and sisters in Christ. God made us all to be loved: male, female, and as any biologist could tell you, some who do not fit into those neat categoties. |
| 2017-08-10 | Re: State: HISD at risk of takeover Wait a minute. Isn't this (Texas Education Agency) the same group that illegally set quotas for schools treating children with learning disorders? If any group has demonstrated not just incompetence, but actual malice rowards children, it is the TEA. If our state leaders weren't already on a trajectory to destroy education, I would say that this could never happen. |
| 2017-08-11 | Re: Kim Jong-Un After having actually read up on the history of North Korea, it is clear that the elite there are very afraid of losing power in a Libyan-style revolution. Their economy is in a shambles. The only way they can stay in power is with massive aid from China, the U.S., and South Korea. They have learned over the years that by saber rattling and using the nuclear threat, they can manipulate those three countries into providing aid. This is not "childish" behavior, or the actions of a "madman", but a carefully crafted, completely pragmatic means to retain power. That said, any war there would be disasterous, with Seoul in artillery range of the border millions could perish. As distasteful as it may be, there are no good alternatives to negotiating with North Korea. |
| 2017-08-14 | Cybersecurity and electrical grids Scott Aaronson, executive director of security and business continuity at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group. said that utilities have an economic incentive to keep hackers out of their systems. “If our equipment���s not spinning, were not making money.” Well, there are numerous examples of businesses ignoring existential threats in order to make the next quarter's numbers. BP cutting corners leading to Macondo, Wells Fargo ignoring unlawful behavior, Enron engaged in large scale fraud. I do not find his words reassuring, and in fact I find them disturbingly pollyannaish. |
| 2017-08-14 | Re: Charlottesville I hear voices saying that "this is not who we are", that the white supremacists do not represent this country. But what if that isn't true? We have a president who is unwilling to explicitly condemn neo-nazis. Black men are killed by police at a rate far higher than their numbers would justify. Forty perecent of Republicans still believe that President Obama was born in Kenya. I would claim that we have a society that is still pervaded by systematic and structural racism. The white supremacists do not operate in a vacuum, they are simply the visible extreme of a more widespread attitude. Sadly, I would say that this is who we are. |
| 2017-08-20 | Discrimination against rooftop solar So let's see if I understand this. I have rooftop solar panels. I help relieve stress on the grid during the sunniest, hottest days, and power companies want to penalize me for helping keep the grid from failing? Besides helping the environment and slowing global warming. This sounds to me much more like an attempt to maintain a monopoly on central power production, and prevent people from going off grid. |
| 2017-08-21 | Re: Reject public gun display. How is it that Houston prohibits carrying protest signs on sticks, but you can protest while carrying a semi-automatic rifle? Could I tape a sign to a rifle? |
| 2017-08-21 | Confederate statues Symbols are powerful. They can unite people behind a goal, they can divide people. Statues and memorials are not simply historical curiosities remembering people and events - they can and have in many cases become symbols, pointing to something larger than the person they represent. In the case of Confederate statues, for many people, they point to segregation and slavery. Racists revere them for this symbology, people of color despise them for the same reason. The debate should be about what symbols we as a society want to honor. Do we honor symbols of inhumanity and suppression, or do we reject those symbols and remove them from places of prominence. |
| 2017-08-24 | Re: Oil giant misled public, Harvard team says Quite some years ago, I sent a letter of complaint to the Chronicle after researching a guest editorial that strove to debunk global warming, once I determined that the "independent research group" that wrote it was nearly 100% funded by Exxon. Their claims of innocence do not hold water. |
| 2017-08-26 | Arpaio If there was any remaining doubt that President Trump supports white supremacists and pushes a racist agenda, his pardon of Joe Arpaio should remove all doubt. If Republicans do nothing, if Senator John Cornyn does nothing, then they are complicit. |
| 2017-08-29 | Re: Harvey shows change needed Harvey indeed shows change is needed. Floodways should be cleared of buildings - that is how the water gets out of the area. There need to be strict and enforced rules for adding impermeable pavements. And given that we have seen multiple 100+ year flood events in the recent past, those criteria need to be changed - they are obviously too conservative. Have the probabilities of flood events been "adjusted" to accomodate developers? Finally, we need real planning - we need zoning, before we drown like rats. |
| 2017-09-01 | Re: Seawall moment First of all, three 500 year floods in three years is a clear indication that the designation of the 500 year flood plain is simply wrong. It is heavily biased towards minimizing the estimated risk. The flood maps need to receive radical revision immediately so that they reflect reality. Secondly, based on those revised maps, we need to move aggressively to buy out and tear down homes in the 100 year floodplain, especially in the Buffalo and Brays bayou basins. The bayou needs room to expand during major storms in a way that will not inundate neighborhoods, and also protect downtown from flooding. This is indeed a seawall moment, and we need to move agressively, since global warming will only cause events like this to occur more frequently. |
| 2017-09-01 | Re: Medicaid effect on opioid epidemic debated So logically if improving medical coverage has fueled the opioid epidemic, if we start cutting all insurance coverage for everyone, then their health will improve. Congress should start by setting an example and dropping their personal coverage. |
| 2017-09-05 | Eviction notices An apartment complex sitting in 5 feet of water sends out eviction notices with a 5-day timeframe. The fact that this is legal is stunning. Clearly the law needs to be changed so that the eviction clock does not start until the apartments are "safely accessible". Encouraging people to wade back into flooded buildings is a public health and safety issue and needs to be stopped immediately. |
| 2017-09-08 | Re: Missile defense There are very good reasons why we do not have a viable missile defense, and they have very little to do with politics. They have a lot to do with basic physics and economics. The added cost of countermeasures to a missle defense system are cheap, so the costs of defense - even if you have a workable system - rise much faster than the cost of countermeasures. Additionally, the physics of the problem are working against you, it is a very hard problem. The ABM system proposed using nuclear warheads to get around the targeting problem. So we pollute the atmosphere with our nukes instead of their nukes. Only a solution Dr. Strangelove would love. |
| 2017-09-08 | Re: Equifax Everything I have read says that what Equifax is offering - free credit monitoring - is relatively useless. It doesn't prevent fraud, it only alerts you sooner that your identity has been stolen. What Equifax should do, at minimum, is pay for a security freeze on the accounts of all the affected individuals so that identity theft would be prevented. |
| 2017-09-10 | Offshore seismic exploration In the article, "Marine scientists fear fuel search", was the statement "Because the underwater blasts are louder than a Saturn V rocket launch". This is simply wrong. A Saturn V launch is 220 decibels, while a seismic airgun, converted to air equivalents, is around 140 decibels, the same as a jet engine or somewhat more than a rock concert. Note that decibels are a logarithmic scale, so a difference of 80 dB means that the rocket is 8 times as loud, not the same. |
| 2017-09-10 | Lessons from Harvey I have a simple question I have not seen addressed. Many years ago I noted that if you looked at a topographic map around Barker reservoir, there were homes inside the maximum fill line - guaranteed to flood if the reservoir filled to capacity. My questions are simple. How is that possible? How could that be allowed? Who approved such doomed development? Whatever allowed that to happen must be rooted out and changed. |
| 2017-09-13 | Equifax It is clear that Congress is going to have to act to reign in the credit agencies, since they have shown themselves to be incapable of doing it voluntarily. The one thing taht would help greatly would be for Congress to require all the agencies to freeze all of the accounts until a consumer has been contacted and explicitly given permission for them to share the consumers information. Today they charge us for this "service". It's our data. They should not be charging us for treating it carefully. |
| 2017-09-13 | Re: Big holdup for claims against for-profit schools Secretary Betsy DeVos picked Julian Schmoke, a former associate dean at DeVry University, as head of the department’s enforcement unit. Hiring foxes to guard the henhouse. The levels of corruption we will see from this administration will be huuuuge! |
| 2017-09-14 | Paying for Harvey In City takes first step toward tax hike you quote Harris County GOP chair Paul Simpson calling on council members to “reject this opportunistic Tragedy Tax.” He suggests that the city should do what the county is doing - which I assume means issuing bonds. Personally, I believe that it is much more fiscally responsible to try to pay as you go with higher taxes than to try to hide the cost by borrowing. Borrowing money by issuing bonds is simply creating an obligation for future generations, and hiding the true cost from the current tax payers and voters. The city is right. A temporary tax increase is prudent, transparent, and the right thing to do. |
| 2017-09-19 | Re: Climate change no longer a punch line While the International Panel on Climate Change report says that the number of hurricanes is not likely to be affected by global warming, there is growing and ample evidence that the size of the storms that do form will increase. Could our representatives in Washington at least agree that this issue is important enough that research budgets should be increased, and not decreased? Or are our Republican representatives too afraid of the answer? |
| 2017-09-20 | Re: Bettencourt slams local governments on recovery moves Representative Bettencourt is doing nothing but playing to his base. The proposed temporary tax increase is minimal - a couple hundred dollars for most folks - and clearly needed. If he wants to be helpful instead of being a hindrance, he could start lobbying the governor to call a special session to release rainy day fund dollars, so that Houston would not require a tax increase. But then that would not fire up his base, it would only be helpful. |
| 2017-09-21 | Re: Judicial nominee drawing scrutiny A nominee, Jeff Mateer, has been found to have given recent speeches supporting so-called "conversion therapy" for homosexuals. Studies have shown that this therapy is associated with an increase in suuicide attempts by a factor of eight. Actual data and science now clearly demonstrate that homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice", but rather is part of normal human variation and is innate. Refusal to accept this based on bad theology should be disqualifying for a Federal judgeship - but apparently our Senators do not have a problem with this. |
| 2017-09-26 | Re: County, congressmen tackle solutions to flood woes after Harvey "dropped enough water to register as a 25,000-year event according to Harris County Flood Control District meteorologist Jeff Lindner." Extrapolating existing data to define even a 100 year flood or rain event is a extraordinarily difficult task and a topic of current research into extreme value statistics. I would like to know how the limited data on rainfall was extrapolated to such an extreme, and more importantly, what are the error bars? This smacks of laying the groundwork for minimizing the significance of Harvey so that we don't have to prepare for anything similar - so we don't have to buy out homes or restrict development. |
| 2017-09-26 | Re: Turner: State to blame for tax hike What is wrong with our state officials and with Paul Bettencourt? Just exactly what are they saving the rainy day fund for? If Harvey relief does not qualify, then we need to get rid of the fund because it is useless, and we need to retire the state officials who will not spend it, as they will have proved themselves useless as well. Bettencourt should be at the forefront of demanding that the fund be utilized right now. |
| 2017-09-27 | Re: Abbott: No need to tap savings A better headline might have been "Abbot to Houston: Drop Dead". Not allowing cities to preserve trees merits a special session, but the worst flood in recorded history can wait. I am absolutely astonished at the level of political cynicism being expressed by our governor, our lieutenant governor, and by representative Paul Bettencourt. They will go to any lengths to try to smear an effective mayor because he doesn't belong to their party. Revolting. |
| 2017-09-28 | Re: GOP outlines tax reform One detail of the plan that bugs me - why reduce the number of tax brackets? I have always believed that having discrete brackets is a bad idea, because it encourages dumb behavior to try and keep what is called income in a lower bracket as the boundary is approached. A smooth, continuous progressive function would be so much more logical. Since I don't understand it, I am naturally suspicious that it is part of a scheme that will cause me and others to get screwed. |
| 2017-09-28 | Re: Southwest Airlines passenger receives apology af I have contacted one airline to ask them explicitly about their policy for accomodating passengers who have allergies to animals, and they basically replied that they have no policy. It is clear that many people are printing out fake service animal certificates to avoid paying extra fees for tranporting pets, but that does not seem to concern the airlines. It is apparent that the government is going to have to step in and require balance and accomodation, as well as cracking down on the fake service animal industry. |
| 2017-10-02 | Re: Las Vegas shooting Why are weapons that have no use other than killing people legal? These are not guns used in hunting or self defense. The only use is for mass murder. |
| 2017-10-03 | Re: Federal appeals court to rule whether county’s Let's be clear. I don't believe that the county judges and commissioners actually believe the bail system is protecting the community. I believe they are smart enough to recognize that it is discriminatory and unconstitutional. I believe they are afraid of the backlash if someone on bail commits a horrific crime, and so they are wasting our tax dollars to get the courts to rule against our bail system and provide themselves political cover. |
| 2017-10-04 | Re: Republican leaders halt action on all gun legislation I am totally disgusted by the Republican party. Nothing, no matter how horrific, can touch their humanity when it comes to guns. Even the shootings of fellow politicians holds no sway as they bow at the altar of the NRA. I grieve for America, as the dream fades and violence tears us apart while our leaders do nothing. |
| 2017-10-04 | Re: Breach blamed on single worker’s mistake This explanation is B.S. If the integrity of any system is dependent on perfect behavior, then that system will fail and is broken. A basic tenent of industrial safety is to put multiple layers of prevention in place so that when one fails, an accident is still avoided. Having the entire system vulnerable to a single software patch shows a deep lack of upper management engagement and a culture of carelessness. For example - the data should have been encrypted so that even if a breach occured, the data would be useless. Equifax was designed to fail. |
| 2017-10-05 | Re: Renew CHIP U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R- Dallas, has claimed that CHIP funding is “not dire or urgent.” He was rated 100% by the NRLC, indicating a strong anti-abortion stance, but apparently his commitment to children ends at birth. He is a stellar example of the deep hypocrisy within the Republican party, who claim to be defending babies while opposing abortion, but then turn around and refuse medical care for children. |
| 2017-10-05 | Chicago and gun control Every time there is the slightest interest in trying to control the proliferation of guns in this country, someone trots out the argument that "Chicago has strict gun control and it hasn't helped". I would just like to point out that Gary, Indiana is essentially a suburb of Chicago's south side, and Indiana's gun laws are very lax. Individual municipalities and individual states have little hope of having effective gun laws when their neighbors have none. A federal solution is required. That is the real lesson of Chicago. |
| 2017-10-06 | Re: Republican budget plans The United States currently spends more on the military than the next 7 countries combined. So let's spend more. Cutting taxes to spur growth - what George H. W. Bush called "voodoo economics" - has never actually worked, so let's do it again. The gap between the wealthy and the poor is continuing to grow, so let's accelerate it with tax cuts. Our healthcare is the most expensive in the world, and yields results that rank lower than most developed countries - so let's cut Medicaid and make the situation worse. The twentieth century will be remembered as "the American century". The twenty-first will not. |
| 2017-10-06 | Re: I used to think gun control was the answer. My research told me otherwise. The editorial by Leah Libresco asks the wrong question. She asks if removing guns from populations that already had low gun ownership rates affected gun deaths. But a simple look at gun deaths vs. gun ownership rates, both between states in the US and between different countries shows a very strong corellation. Other countries, starting from low rates of ownership, may not see much effect from tightening gun laws. But in the US we have more guns than people, and rates of gun violence an order of magnitude larger than in other countries. Her analysis is flawed and irrelevant. |
| 2017-10-08 | Re: Bond sale statements lacked flood pool warning Buying a home, or any property, is still very much buyer beware. I personally do due diligence before purchasing a home. Before buying my home in The Heights I looked at flood maps, topo maps, and fault line maps. I did not expect someone else to warn me about any of those hazards. Recently in Seattle buying a property, I checked the earthquake maps to make sure we were not in a liquifaction zone. It would be nice if people were warned before they bought. It would be better if hazardous areas were designated off-limits to development so that we didn't all end up paying when someone's neighborhood gets destroyed. |
| 2017-10-08 | Re: Bid for Amazon could be Houston’s catalyst for Houston's bid for Amazon is doomed, thanks to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's obsession with bathrooms. We desperately need to diversify further from oil, but the leadership in Austin is placing huge roadblocks on that path. |
| 2017-10-08 | Re: Student was sent home after sitting during pledge Forced participation in patriotic exercises is what happens in oppressive dictatorships. The principal at Windfern High School needs to spend some time being educated as to what constitutes good citizenship, and what constitutes blind obedience. She is setting a very poor example for all of her students. Don't think, obey. |
| 2017-10-09 | Re: Houston area flood maps based on outdated rainfall data In the article it was noted that "Scientists, however, disagree on whether so-called outlier events, whether record-shattering rains or extended droughts, should play into the analysis of precipitation records." I do not understand this. Of course the outlier events must be included. Those are exactly the events that you care the most about. We can handle normal rainfall events. But if you exclude outliers, then you are essentially denying that 100-year or 500-year events even happen, which is nonsense. |
| 2017-10-12 | Re: Governor blasts hurricane recovery bill I would encourage Governor Abbott to be careful in his criticism of Congress. If I were a Congressman from another state, I might ask why Texas needs $18.7 billion when they refuse to tap their rainy day fund. |
| 2017-10-13 | Re: San Jacinto waste pits McGinnes Industrial Maintenance has said they will fight the cleanup of the waste pits in the San Jacinto river. Perhaps it is time that local governments re-examine their relationships with the parent company, Waste Management? |
| 2017-10-14 | Re: Trump sets new conditions on Iran deal A president who, as a businessman, declared bankruptcy and walked away from contrcats leaving others holding the bag. That is not the sort of behavior that a president should employ. The word of the United States, which he represents, should mean something. We made a deal. Congress ratified the deal. Trump doesn't like it. Too bad. As a country we gave our word and we need to keep our word. |
| 2017-10-15 | Re: Conroe dam release causes flood of suits "Texas Commission on Environmental Quality discouraged the pre-releases, which officials said could have exacerbated downstream flooding during the storm." Does the TCEQ do anything well? Remember, they also deny global warming and deny that the well-documented rise in sea level is taking place. The city of Houston and Harris county have to take the lead in pollution monitoring because TCEQ does such a poor job of it. All indications are that they are a disaster as a state agency and need a major overhaul. |
| 2017-10-17 | Post oil future for Houston What will drive Houston's economy in 10 or 20 years as oil wanes? If we look at the Amazon bids as a bellweather, we hear “Amazon doesn’t want to build a place with 50,000 parking spots in it,” said Adam Ozimek, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. “That, possibly more than anything else, is going to rule out Houston.” Thank you Rep John Culberson for crippling efforts to develop better mass transit in Houston. Companies also want cities and states that welcome cultural and social diversity. Thank you Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for your bathroom bill. That will also drive many tech companies away. Companies want a highly educated workforce. Thank you Texas Education Agency for setting arbitrary limits on the number of students who can receive special education services, and for doing very little to actually improve our schools - clear from the low rank of our students nationally. I think the future looks pretty grim. We could be just another city in decline. |
| 2017-10-20 | Re: Adding lanes doesn’t reduce congestion I think the greatest problem we have regarding congestion is that we are unclear on just what our goals are. We have been taking a reactive approach - congestion is bad on road "a", we need to widen it. Where is the integrated planning process that would try to balance competing needs? People need to get to work and school, go shopping, make deliveries. People need affordable housing, which usually means living far from the city center. For people traveling to work, mass transit can work very well and has a small footprint. But our investment in trains is miniscule compared to our investment in vast swaths of flood-inducing congested concrete. TXDOT is not a transportation agency, but rather a highway agency, with no interest in alternatives to the automobile. We did not own a car when we lived in Chicago. Walking, buses, the "el", and an occasional taxi worked just fine. |
| 2017-10-21 | Re: Flap grows after video refutes Kelly’s charges Trumpeting: Lying about that which can be easily disproven by video evidence and then refusing to acknowledge the evidence. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Chief of Staff John Kelly have both become infected. Apparently it is contagious. |
| 2017-10-24 | Re: County to vote on post-Harvey buyouts Buying up homes in the floodway and in the floodplain must be a key part of the strategy to help ameliorate future flooding disasters - working with Mother Nature instead of trying to control her. But where to get the money to pay for buyouts? There is a set of free-riders in all of this - real estate developers who built and build houses in flood-prone areas, make their profits, and leaving the future mess for residents and taxpayers. It is time that we look at ways to get new development, perhaps based on proximity to the 100-year floodplain, to pay into a buyout fund, so that we can give our bayous room to flood. |
| 2017-10-26 | Re: Supporting Israel Israel apologists never mention that Israel is a colonial power. They militarily occupy Palestine, and over the years have been slowly but surely planting settlements on Palestinian land, driving the Palestinians into an ever-shrinking area, and ensuring that the Palestinians have little opportunity for economic growth, education, and a stable life. The U.S. stands alone in the international community in its support for Israel. These are simple facts, and should not be ignored or whitewashed. There is plenty of violence and injustice on both sides. |
| 2017-10-27 | Re: Caucus sees its shot at speaker I find it interesting, and disturbing, that the so-called "Freedom Caucus" is planning to change the Texas House rules in order to eliminate the input of Democrats in the Speaker election. Perhaps they should rename themselves the "Tyranny Caucus", or the "Naked Display of Power Caucus". It is apparent that they care only about power, and have no regard or respect for Texans who do not agree with them. |
| 2017-10-28 | Re: McNair draws ire for ‘inmates’ remark It seems clear to me that there is a near complete breakdown in communication in this country regarding "taking a knee". The protests themselves are trying to bring attention to racial injustice - especially regarding treatment by law enforcement. The President and others have somehow morphed this into disrespecting the military and the flag. So as is normal in these trying times, no one is listening and everyone is yelling past each other. The NFL owners would serve themselves and all of us well if they would try something radical - instead of talking to each other, why don't they sit down with their players, ask them why they are taking a knee, and actually shut up and listen for a change. |
| 2017-10-30 | Re: Districts list needs on TEA registry Let me get this straight. The Texas Education Agency has created a system where schools hit by Harvey can list their books needs, so that we can donate money to provide those books. Schools begging for books. Yet Texas has about $10 billion sitting in a "rainy day fund" that Governor Abbott refuses to distribute. I have a question for the governor. How bad would things have to be in order for you to call a special session and distibute some of those funds? Why do we even have the fund if it will apparently never get used? Who is benefiting from that money not being spent? Is htis a ploy to wait until the election is closer, and then spend it for political advantage? |
| 2017-11-01 | Re: Abbott makes Harvey plea in D.C. If I were in D.C. listening to Governor Abbott ask for 61 billion dollars, I think I would question him as to the urgency and necessity of his request, since he is sitting on a 10 billion dollar rainy day fund. It seems to me that his reluctance to touch that money destroys his credibility, and frankly violates the spirit of independence so many tea party members seem to promote. It would make much more sense if he could demonstrate that we were using that money as a down-payment for a larger project which would need federal support. We could start financing the design work for the spines, we could put a buyout group together and start that process. But he has actually done nothing but talk. |
| 2017-11-01 | Re:Changes to the mission of HHS mean family planning is under attack An even more disturbing possibility is embodied in "at every stage of life, beginning at conception." Roughly half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. If we were to truly embrace "personhood at conception", then millions of miscarriages each year would need to be investigated as potential homicides. I know some are skeptical that this would ever happen, but it already has. |
| 2017-11-02 | Re: Communism’s 100th birthday is coming up John Stossel tries to make the point that communism is bad because self-described communist regimes have been guilty of mass murder. Which is certainly true. However, by that metric, most political systems would be judged guilty. We are hardly blameless, having committed genocide against the Native Americans, not to mention our treatment of black slaves. I would have hoped he could have found a better argument. |
| 2017-11-03 | Voodoo Economics The zombie theory that never seems to die, voodoo economics is back. "Brady and other Republicans argue that the economic stimulus from business and personal tax cuts will all but pay for themselves". There is no empirical evidence that tax cuts pay for themseves, and abundant evidence that they do not. But we seem to have entered an era where wishful thinking is considered as valid as hard evidence and science. If this passes, the deficit will blow up and inflation will be ignited - for that scenario there is ample evidence from history. Tax cuts pay for themselves, global warming is a myth, Russia did not interfere in our election, coal will come back; the wishful thinking and the lies just keep pilling up. |
| 2017-11-03 | Re: Defense quits, but judge orders USS Cole case to continue “While the government has an interest in ensuring that the proceedings at Guantanamo are fair, that interest is not compelling enough” to stop the proceedings, Wiltsie said in Lamberth’s courtroom Thursday. Excuse me? I thought we were a nation of laws, governed by a constitution. Now it is okay to try a defendant who does not have legal representation? I despair for our country when we set aside the rule of law. |
| 2017-11-07 | Re: Texas attorney general urges more people to bring guns to church If our attorney general thinks bringing guns to church is such an excellent idea, then I expect him to support people bringing guns to the floor of the Texas Legislature. Or is that a problem for our representatives? |
| 2017-11-08 | Re: Cornyn wants tighter rules on reporting military crimes "Senator John Cornyn ... announced plans to introduce legislation tightening reportedly loose and confusing reporting requirements for federal agencies". Last year it was John Cornyn who tried to make it harder to prevent people with mental health issues from getting a gun by requiring a court order. |
| 2017-11-09 | Re: Equifax says it owns all its data about you it is Equifax, and not consumers, that owns all the granular data collected about them, and that consumers cannot request to exit the company’s files Senators Cornyn and Cruz, and our representatives need to fix this. In Europe, there are very strict controls over the collection, storage, security, and use of personal information. In this country, there are almost none. I do not appreciate my life and privacy being commodities that other can buy and sell for profit, leaving me no control over them or recourse for their mistakes. It is my data, not theirs. Congress needs to take it back. |
| 2017-11-11 | Re: County begins razing flood-prone homes I fully support buyouts of homes that have flooded multiple times. In fact, we need to be much more agressive in that approach. However, at the same time, we need to be much stricter with development so that we don't keep digging ourselves into a deeper hole. City council did the right thing by delaying requests to develop in the flood plain, but we need laws to prohibit such development outright. I would allso like to see a development tax, based on flooding probability (highest near the 100 year floodplain, lowest outside the 500 year floodplain), whose proceeds would be designated for flood control, including buyouts. |
| 2017-11-12 | Re: Tent city woes Until we can come up with something better, why doesn't the city set up a porta-can by the tent cities, and assign a policeman to keep order? That would help address the two greatest complaints - sanitation and violence. |
| 2017-11-13 | Re: mass shootings One of the unfathomable tragedies surrounding gun violence is the Congressional prohibition against the Centers for Diesease Control and Prevention studying the problem. If we don't study it, how can we hope to reduce it? Thankfully, other groups are trying to fill this gap, so we learn that "more than half of the mass shootings between 2009 and 2016 were related to domestic or family violence, according to a recent study from Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit". This would tend to support the growing trend of taking firearms away from domestic abusers, which could potentially save many lives. Yes, we can do something other than have everyone carry a gun. |
| 2017-11-14 | Re: City Council considers dockless bike-sharing I found the statement made by a city official, "city rules would require bikes to be parked where someone in a wheelchair still can access the sidewalk", extremely ironic. When I lived in Memorial, we had no sidewalks at all. Now, living in the Heights we mostly have sidewalks, but they are a broken and useless disaster - difficult to walk on and impossible for a wheelchair. I dream that someday Houston will get as serious about walking and biking infrastructure as we are about the automobile. |
| 2017-11-14 | Re: Whistleblower protection may go silent Will our Governor and Senators step up to protect our seashore from being fouled by oil, our offshore workers from being killed or injured, or will he remain silent and allow the first line of safety for offshore rigs to be compromised? The pressure to keep operating no matter what is tremendous on an offshore rig. Daily costs are huge, and no company wants to have a worker shut it down because something looks unsafe. Those brave souls need our protection. |
| 2017-11-17 | Re: Why ‘thoughts and prayers’ from our leaders R. Albert Mohler Jr. has it wrong in his essay, and he has it wrong by setting up a strawman argument. He tries to somehow bend the negative reaction to the 'thoughts and prayers' emanating from our leaders to casting all who complain about that as agnostics and atheists. I am an active committed Christian, and I and all my Christian friends are equally disgusted by the 'thoughts and prayers - and then back to business as normal' tactic that our elected leaders take every time there is a gun tragedy. The good pastor needs to read James - "faith without works is dead." |
| 2017-11-19 | Re: On foot or wheels, let no one die from thoughtless street design The essayist is completely on target. Houston is designed for cars, and bicyclists and pedestrians are at their mercy. In my neighborhood, I frequently see people in motorized wheelchairs or with walkers in the street, because the sidewalks are missing or impassable. There is a street neat me where in every block the sidewalk is punctuated with a telephone pole squarely in the center of the concrete, forcing pedestrians into the street. Shopping centers built next to hike and bike trail, with no access between the shopping center and the trail. Houston is fundamentally anti-biking and anti-walking. The evidence is clear. |
| 2017-11-22 | Re: widening roads “The only way for us to get more time is to expand our highways and improve our roads,” Culberson said. That statement shows a singular lack of imagination and a very narrow world-view. I spent several summers in Chicago, without a car, and I got around just fine by walking, and using the L , the elevated train system, which was cheap, quick, easy, and free from traffic issues. I always use public transport in Europe, with great ease. There are alternatives. It is only a lack of imagination that prevents us from improving our mix of alternatives. |
| 2017-11-27 | Re: True fiscal conservatives in Congress would downsize military spending Bravo to Michael Taylor for saying what needs to be said loud and clear. But why do we do it? Why do we, as a country, seem to believe that even spending as much as the next 8 countries combined is not enough? Why are we so afraid? Our modern culture is suffused with fear, and lacking in joy and love. We build fortress homes and arm ourselves, even though violent crime is falling. We spend ourselves into the poor house building an un-needed military, and get bogged down in futile nation-building exercises because of fear. It is hard to believe that many believe we are a Christian nation, when we are so driven by fear. |
| 2017-11-29 | Re: EMMETT CLASHES WITH STATE LEADERS As a proud liberal Democrat, I really appreciate Judge Ed Emmett for being a true leader, for trying to do what is best for everyone in the county, and not trying to "play to his base" and toe the doctrinaire Republican line. He is the only Republican I vote for, because he is rare breed who tries to do the right thing instead of trying to do things right. If only Austin had a few more like him, we would be much better off as a state. |
| 2017-11-30 | Re: Trump assailed for anti-Islam retweets When I heard about President Trumps retweets of faked anti-islamic videos, I felt physically ill. This action will inevitably lead to some people interpreting it as permission to attack Muslims. Where are our senators? John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, when are you going to do something about this awful, poisonous stream flowing from the head of your party? |
| 2017-12-03 | Re: Tax reform deal doesn’t add up Much has been made of "trickle-down" economics. I have come to realise that what it really means is that the wealthy get wealthier, and some of that wealth trickles down into politicians pockets, while the rest of us are left with the bill. |
| 2017-12-04 | Re: State cuts force drop in access to disability program I don't understand our state legislators. Even if they are not swayed by the moral argument to support children, I would think the economic argument would cause them to fund these programs. Allowing disabled children who could be helped instead become disabled adults, places a long-term burden on our state economy that is pointless and easily preventable. Our goal should be to try to help as many children as possible to be strong, self-supporting, productive adults. Why would we want anything else? |
| 2017-12-10 | Federal flood insurance I think it is time for the Federal government to get out opf the flood insurance business. It is a sad reality, but there are too many pressures to make it a subsidy program that serves no one but developers, and so it should be scrapped entirely. I for one am tired of paying for developers to build houses in the floodplain. Until that happens, I suggest the county and city place billboards in flood-prones areas warning everyone of the danger to life and property. |
| 2017-12-12 | Re: Will scandals make men wary of women? I have had women colleagues, staff, and bosses. I don't understand the problem. Unless you want to flirt with people at work - which I think is a bad idea - what is so hard about treating women at work like people? Why have a separate set of rules? Do you tell a male colleague "my you smell nice today"? No? Then don't say that to a female colleague. |
| 2017-12-17 | Re: CDC doublespeak “the suggested phrase is ‘CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.’ ” Translation: hurt feelings or religious belief matter more than actual facts and science. Who gets to decide what the community standards are? I'm guessing that it really means white, evangelical Republican beliefs, and has very little to do with actual community beliefs - but then determining that would also be fact-based, wouldn't it? |
| 2017-12-17 | Re: Beware standalone ER sticker shock When a standalone ER charges ten times the amount a service would cost at an Urgent Care center, it would seem to me that would be covered by the anti-price-gouging laws and could be addressed by the Attorney General under that law. |
| 2017-12-17 | Re: Builders not to blame for flooding from Harvey "New-construction policyholders pay full-risk rates and put more into the flood insurance program than they take out in claims." This directly contradicts everything I have ever read about the flood insurance program - I would like to see the reference that demonstrates that this is true. Otherwise, it appears to be a lie propagated by an industry under threat. Would it be unseemly to ask a guest columnist to back up their assertions? |
| 2017-12-19 | Re: Conservatives tout Cruz tax break If this passes, I will help fund any organization that sues to stop it. I am unalterably opposed to a single dime of my tax dollars going to support religious schools. This is an attempt to steal my money and give it to religious conservatives so they can set up their own schools. |
| 2017-12-29 | Re: Cold but warming? There is some evidence and some theoretical backing to the idea that the loss of sea-ice due to gloobal warming causes greater instability in the winter jet stream, leading to more extreme winter weather. Yes, there can be very cold and snowy events in a warming world. Welcome to the (predicted) world of extreme weather - snow, rain, drought. |
| 2018-01-02 | Re: Texas Education Agency I think that in the next legislative session, a question that really needs to be asked is "is it better to have the Texas Education Agency, or would we be better off without it?" I am unaware of positive contributions they make to education, but well aware of the multitude of negative influences. Let's save some money we can actually put directly into education and disband the agency. |
| 2018-01-03 | Re: Trump tweet taunts Kim: ‘My button is bigger t Our president demonstrates all the emotional maturity of a 12 year-old. Congress needs to seriously start hearings regarding his mental stability. A man who makes bathroom taunts about nuclear annihilation is not mentally or emotionally healthy and has no business leading this country. |
| 2018-01-05 | Re: Legalized pot now in question after AG changes policy It seems that for Republicans, state's rights only apply when they want them to. Where are the Republican voices expressing support for the states experimenting and controlling their own destiny? Where are the Republican voices bemoaning the oppressive federal government dictating to the states? Or is this just not convenient? I catch the strong odor of hypocrisy on the breeze. |
| 2018-01-08 | Re: Letters, forcing taxpayers to pay at gunpoint I find the common conservative meme that they are being forced to pay taxes at gunpoint very disturbing. I assume that the snowflakes feel like they should get to pick and choose what taxes they they pay. Well I would like to do that too - I would not pay for a bloated military that is 2 or 3 times larger than it needs to be. I would not pay for huge subsidies to agribusiness. I would not pay for an out of control privatized prison system. Sure, let's each choose where our taxes go and see how that shakes out. |
| 2018-01-09 | The antifa I find it somewhere between disturbing and hilarious that the letter writer uses the antifa - which is not an organized movement - as a counter example to Elizabeth Bruenig's column “‘Star Wars’ doesn’t understand fascism” . The antifa is a perfect example of what she was talking about, as it is the invented demon of the far right, used to justify the violence and virulent racism of the fascist elements in this country. |
| 2018-01-12 | Re: Some on Medicaid may have to work “Productive work and community engagement may improve health outcomes,” Brian Neale, the director of the federal Medicaid office, said Thursday in a letter to state Medicaid directors. “For example, higher earnings are positively correlated with longer life span.” Correlation does not imply causation. Most likely the causal connection is that people in poor health have a shorter life span and are unable to work consistently enough to receive higher pay. This is an unscientific nonsense argument, yet one more example of this administration's penchant for making purely political decisions and then wrapping them in a veneer of false or misinterpreted data. |
| 2018-01-15 | Re: Military quietly prepares for last resort Kim Jong Un is not crazy. His threats are all about maintaining the status quo, where he rules and North Korea receives aid. He has no interest in starting a war he knows he would lose. However, if we start a war, it would be a genocidal disaster for both North and South Korea. Millions of South Koreans would die in the first day. It would be the most completely senseless and destructive act we could engage in. This constant drumbeat of preparation, of trying to frighten the public into supporting the unsupportable is wrong and must be stopped. When will Senator Cornyn and Senator Cruz stand up and say "enough!". |
| 2018-01-17 | Re: Plan would widen use of nuclear weapons Using nuclear weapons to "defend the vital interests of the United States" makes no sense in my mind. You cannot win a nuclear war. Everybody loses. That was the whole rational behind M.A.D., Mutual Assured Destruction. Make certain the result is so horrifying that no one would start it. And seriously, with the worlds most expensive military, do we really need to ever resort to a nuclear attack in response to a non-nuclear provocation? We have plenty of non-nuclear resources. This is a line that should never be crossed. |
| 2018-01-17 | Re: Border wall shrinks amid DACA fight " the White House distributed a New York Post column written by author and former Hoover Institution media follow Paul Sperry arguing that 131 miles of fencing erected along the border in El Paso in 2010 dramatically reduced illegal border crossing and crime in the city." Apparently erecting a wall in 2010 was so effective that it caused to crime rate to drop 5 years before it was even put into place. Seriously - is anything this administration says not a lie? |
| 2018-01-18 | Re: Space telescopes of the next generation raise bar Our representatives Smith and Culberson write We’ll make sure Congress holds NASA responsible for any program delays or increases in cost. The agency must work tirelessly to stay on budget and schedule to keep its promises . There is just one problem with that. It shows a complete lack of understanding of how doing things that have never been done before works. I have worked in research, and while budgets matter, when you are trying to do something new, budget estimates are no more than an educated guess. It would be nice if those holding the purse-strings would acknowledge that reality. |
| 2018-01-24 | Re: Boyd gets $383,000 on his way out I found the statements by wealthy patrons of the Alley very disturbing. If you are powerful, it is easy to dismiss the very real complaints of the powerless as "small stuff". Apparently the actors and staff are not entitled to be treated with basic human dignity. By their actions and statements it is apparent that the current board will make, at most, cosmetic changes and do little to actually change the culture. And that is sad. |
| 2018-01-24 | Re: Trump evangelicals have lost their gag reflex During the Weimar Republic in Germany (between the two world wars), the church was dis-established and no longer received taxpayer dollars. When the Nazis came to power, they quickly restored payments to the church from the state, deeply compromising the church as a source for any sort of moral leadership or criticism. You can be a moral authority or you can be involved with political parties. I don't think there is a path to doing both. |
| 2018-01-26 | Re: Bail reform will prove costly and troubling Is Michael Kubosh really representing Houston voters, or is he representing his own interests as a bail bondsman? It is clear from the Chronicle's reporting that our illustrious judges are not in fact following the risk assessment tool and are setting up the new system for failure. And councilman Kubosh completely ignores the cost to county taxpayers of keeping low risk, misdemeanor suspects in jail who cannot afford bail. We pay their room and board, they lose their jobs, perhaps their cars and homes - awaiting trial. There is no presumption of innocence if you get punished by not being able to afford bail. |
| 2018-01-29 | Re: Trump’s highway plan has a huge pothole The Highway Trust Fund is funded by gasoline taxes, and the taxes are so low after years of inflation that the fund is shrinking. However, increasing the gasoline tax is not the answer - that would be a very short-sighted solution to the current problem. Over the next 10-15 years, we are likely to see a major shift in transportation to electric vehicles as batttery costs continue to plummet. Those vehicles don't pay a gas tax, but produce just as much wear and tear on the roads as any other vehicle. The fairest solution would be to work out a tax based on road usage, perhaps using the annual odometer reading at inspection time to calculate a tax bill. But in any event it is clear that fiddling with the gasoline tax is not the answer. |
| 2018-02-02 | Re: Spouses of legal foreign workers might lose right to make a living Much has been made over ending "chain immigration", where increasingly distant relatives are able to use their relationship to a citizen or visa holder to immigrate. And usually the argument is that we should move to a skills-based immigration policy - open the doors for skilled workers over relatives. Ending the spousal visa policy would seem to contradict that position. Perhaps we only want skilled workers from Norway? |
| 2018-02-03 | Trump is right President Trump got it right when he said "I think it's a disgrace what's happening in our country", however, he is the one who should be ashamed, along with Speaker Paul Ryan. The 30% who will always support Trump will feel justified, the other 70% will see this for the transparent attempt to discredit the Russia investigation that it is. |
| 2018-02-03 | Re: Developer: Harvey’s rules drive up costs Of course the new rules will increase costs for developers, and probably the costs for renters and homeowners as well. But, in the current system, developers build in a flood-prone area, make their profit, and leave - leaving the property owner holding the bag and stuck with the costs of the inevitable flooding. The new rules, besides reducing the likelihood of homes flooding, will also help the price of new development reflect it's true cost. Buying a bargain in the floodplain is no bargain. |
| 2018-02-05 | Re: Trump to withdraw climate skeptic for environmental post The pool of potential appointees is so awful that the bar has now been set to pass anyone who is not blatantly unqualified. Marginally competent and idealogically pure is the new passing grade. |
| 2018-02-09 | Re: Harvey’s ripples linger in school bus woes School districts are spending large amounts of unbudgeted money that they don't have to simply bus students to school post-Harvey. The Texas Education Agency has promised to help, but so far has not come forward with funding. And then we have the pristine, untouched, rainy day fund. I find the degree of dysfunctional behavior at the state level breath-taking. Why do we have an education agency if they cannot do their job? Why do we have a rainy day fund, if all we can do is admire it from afar? The lack of leadership and the degree of incompetence at the state level is tragic. |
| 2018-02-09 | Re: Budget deal, so close, falters “The military is not the reason we’ve got fiscal problems, it is entitlements,” according to House Speaker Paul Ryan. But that is simply not true. Social Security taxes more than pay for what is paid out each year. Medicare is about $100 billion short of being paid for by its tax, but compare that to the over $500 billion military budget, which dwarfs every other country on the planet. Importantly, defense spending is not good for the economy. Each dollar spent on defense grows the economy by about 70 cents, while, in contrast, each dollar spend on food stamps grows the economy by about $1.74. For Social Security, some have placed the multiplier as high as $2 of growth for every dollar spent. Paul Ryan's Ayn Randian worldview is a fantasy, and not tied to reality. |
| 2018-02-11 | Re: Flooding battle plans take shape Harris County leaders want a major bond issue — and a corresponding increase in property taxes — this year to pay for bayou drainage projects and, possibly, broad buyouts in flood-prone areas. Wouldn't it be more logical to place the burden on developers? Especially for buyouts? Why not impose a development tax tied to elevation above the floodplain, and use those proceeds to do buyouts? It would have the dual benefit of pushing development to higher ground, and not further burdening us with property taxes. |
| 2018-02-11 | Re: Make the password go away, please Ther author of this article is simply wrong. There is no need to memorize dozens of passwords. There are several very high quality password apps that will store all of your strong, random passwords for you, so that all you have to remember is one long and stong password. |
| 2018-02-15 | Congestion Fee In general, I am a fan of governmental fees and taxes being used to help items reflect their true costs. So a road congestion fee makes a lot of sense. However, in cities where it has been implemented, there is also excellent public transportation available, as well as high walkability. Houston, not so much. So if imposed here, it would end up being a tax on the poor, and highly regressive. We need to put in a much better public transit system, sidewalks, and bike lanes first. Then we can consider adding congestion charging. Maybe at that point we could even attract the next Amazon. |
| 2018-02-15 | Re: Anti-hunger groups protest ‘harvest box’ pro On what planet could it possibly be cheaper to deliver a physical box of food to people, than to deliver an electronic payment to a charge card? But then I read the key phrase explaining how money would be "saved". "The logistics of delivery would be largely left to the discretion of the states." So the Federal budget might save some money, but a huge unfunded burden would be placed on the states. And I thought Republicans were all about enabling the market and not micro-managing people's lives. But here, we'll tell you what you will eat. |
| 2018-02-16 | School shootings Amidst calls to station an armed guard in every school - and ignoring how effective that may or may not be in stopping school shootings - I have a modest proposal. Add a "school safety" tax to the sale of every gun and every bullet, and use that money to fund an armed guard in every school. The true costs of our gun addiction need to be born by those who buy them. |
| 2018-02-19 | Re: Anti-vaccine political action group focuses efforts on medical district I think that anti-vaxxer is such a negative, harsh term for those opposed to vaccinations. I recommend a softer, more positive moniker: pro-epidemic. |
| 2018-02-22 | School shootings President Donald Trump embraced arming educators to stop mass shootings. If this is such a good idea, why doesn't Congress save money by getting rid of their security and just arming the members of Congress? |
| 2018-02-22 | Re: Schools should not pick election winners, losers I find it very difficult to accept that Attorney General Ken Paxton has the moral standing to make judgments on what is legal behavior. |
| 2018-02-24 | Oil and gas dominance The U.S. industry is riding on a particularly high note, with headlines anticipating America’s success to “dominate” global oil and gas markets. I have to wonder if there was a similar quote regarding some company dominating the buggy whip market at the end of the 19th century? Major oil companies are all moving their bets into renewable energy - solar and wind - while Houston and Texas seem oblivious to that future. Will Houston be the next Detroit in 25 years? |
| 2018-02-25 | Ted Cruz Ted Cruz said about mass shootings: "people in the media and Democratic politicians immediately try to leap on it to advance their agenda. And their agenda is stripping the rights away from law-abiding citizens." Does Ted really believe that his opponents are motivated by "stripping away rights"? Maybe they are motivated by trying to save children's lives, and maybe he is simply a troll, trying to demonize his opponents and whip up his supporters into believing that they are under threat. In the current climate of yelling epithets pass one another and portraying opponents as less than human, maybe Ted is part of the problem. |
| 2018-02-25 | Judge McSpadden needs to resign State District Judge Michael McSpadden is quoted as saying “The young black men — and it’s primarily young black men rather than young black women — charged with felony offenses, they’re not getting good advice from their parents,” he said. “Who do they get advice from? Ragtag organizations like Black Lives Matter, which tell you, ‘Resist police,’ which is the worst thing in the world you could tell a young black man. ... They teach contempt for the police, for the whole justice system.” He has admitted to racial bias. He has essentially admitted that he treated black defendants differently, because of their race. His justification for denying bail is based on his beliefs about race, by his own admission. This is unacceptible. He needs to resign. |
| 2018-02-26 | Re: Harvey regulations leave some in limbo From FEMA's website, "Communities must regulate development in these floodways to ensure that there are no increases in upstream flood elevations." The floodway is intended to be the unobstructed channel for water to flow out of the area. Building in the floodway cannot obstruct that flow, and so cause flooding upstream. This is a rule Houston has routinely ignored, and we have paid a dear price for it. It will be painful to undo the stupid decisions that were made in the past, but we need to do that, and do it with compassion and care for those with the fewest resources. But we must undo the bad past decisions, or we will be doomed to repeat the flood disasters of the past. |
| 2018-02-26 | Re: Trump administration announces additional restrictions on H-1B visas By restricting H-1B visas, I can all but guarantee that the result will be that companies will not hire more Americans, but rather will lay off Americans and offshore work to India that used to be done here. Having worked in software, there was ever-present pressure to move work to Bangalore, and if the visas go away, that pressure will become irresistible. We live and work in a global economy. Companies think and strategize globally. If we try to pretend that the U.S. can isolate itself from the rest of the world, we will fail miserably. |
| 2018-02-26 | Our President So glad to hear president bone spurs say he would run into an active shooter situation even if he weren't armed. I feel so much better. |
| 2018-02-27 | Re: Feds may cut oil royalties from Gulf All this is likely to accomplish is to help balloon the deficit and provide a bonus to large oil companies. The lead time for new exploration opportunities in the Gulf is around 10 years, and most major oil companies are predicting falling demand for gasoline in that timeframe. With that outlook, large capital investments don't look like a great idea. Much better to invest in the onshore, where development can be quickly ramped up and down to respond to the market. |
| 2018-03-02 | Re: Putin nuke boast unlikely to shift power balance So why is Putin doing this? I can think of two reasons. First of all, it plays well at home - Russia longs for international respect, and this appeals to the "make Russia great again" crowd. Secondly, as part of Putin's continuing strategy to destabilize the Unitd States, it has the potential to push us into a ruinously expensive arms race, ruining our economy and futher exacerbating social pressures. Watch for the Russian-controlled social media to play on this in divisive ways. |
| 2018-03-02 | Re: All-of-the-above energy strategy means ethanol, too Ethanol, regardless of what Senator Chuck Grassley says, is not part of an energy strategy. The energy required to grow the grain, ferment it, and distill out the resulting alcohol is roughly equal to the energy produced by it. Ethanol is useful as an octane additive - much safer than the old tetra-ethyl lead - but for actual energy production or energy security, it is useless. It is instead a huge subsidy to Iowa corn farmers, encouraging the converson of millions of acres of land to growing corn, and increasing prices for corn and beef. It needs to end. |
| 2018-03-02 | Re: A summer bummer looms Imagine a world where on the hottest summer day in Texas, tens of thousands of homes sporting roof-top solar panels significantly cut their power usage, taking a load off the grid and stabilizing the system as a whole. Imagine a state with enough foresight that it offers tax incentives and requires power companies to pay retail rates to buy back power - driving thousands to invest in rooftop solar. Or imagine a state where an overtaxed grid struggles through the summer with brown-outs and failures. Which Texas do we want? |
| 2018-03-07 | Re: Bird Deaths from wind turbines Interior Secretar Zinke cited the approximately “750,000” birds killed by wind turbines each year. This is an oft-cited meme by those opposed to renewable energy, but the best actual data indicates that the number today, with the modern, slower moving turbine blades, is closer to perhaps 7,000. By way of comparison, feral and domestic cats kill about 130,000,000 birds each year, 16,000,000 die in powerline collisions, and almost 9 million die in collisions with vehicles. One study determined that, per gigawatt hour of power produced, fossil fuel power plants killed 15 times as many birds as wind farms. Just once could we see some intellectual honesty from this administration? |
| 2018-03-08 | Re: San Jacinto dredging can’t wait, officials say The issue regarding sand mining along the San Jacinto river is, to me, a perfect example of how we should be using tax policy to help protect our watersheds. Development and industrial activity in the floodplains should receive an extra tax burden, and that money could be dedicated to managing the watershed. We need to treat the floodplain as a valuable resource to be protected and preserved. |
| 2018-03-08 | Re: Rick Perry Rick Perry said (President Trump) wants to share America’s energy bounty with the world . If we really wanted to help developing nations, we would help them develop their indigenous resources - like wind and solar - rather than encourage them to be beholden to us for their energy supply. As it is, by denying the reality of global warming, we are ensuring that future generations will be struggling with the effects of warming - rising sealevel, stronger storms, desertification, and many more. |
| 2018-03-19 | Re: New division is bad news for HHS. In the editorial it notes that "in many small communities, a Catholic hospital or clinic may be the only facility for miles, limiting access to certain services largely relating to abortion." What that does not say is that an ectopic pregnancy is a service related to abortion. While a woman with an ectopic (or tubal) pregnancy is bleeding to death, a committee is convened to decide if it is okay to perform the life-saving abortion. This new division places ideology above humanity, religious doctrine above the universal law, love your neighbor. |
| 2018-03-20 | Re: TEA wants to increase special ed funding The article notes that the TEA included an "allocation of $65 million that school districts can use to provide compensatory services to help students previously denied special education services to make up for lost instructional help." Texas has about 5 million students. About 4% of those students were denied special education services. That is 200,000 students who notionally should be eligible for compensatory services. $65 million divided by 200,000 is only $320 per student. I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry. |
| 2018-03-21 | Re: City report backs flood plan So Ed Wolff, a Houston Association of Realtors leader, believes the city manipulated data to prove houses need to be raised 2 feet if they are in the 500 year floodplain. I believe that Houston developers are just out to make a quick buck and don't care if their developments flood after they have sold them. Houston has traditionally been the poster child for unconstrained development, and we are paying the price with long commutes, traffic, and flooding. |
| 2018-03-24 | Re: Judge deserves a hearing Tom Kennedy defends Judge McSpadden by claiming in essence that we are in a post-racial age, at least in Houston. The actual data does not back that assertion. For example, actual data shows that illicit drug use is the same for blacks and whites, but blacks are arrested at a much higher rate. Blacks are then convicted at a much higher rate than whites, and their resulting sentences are much longer. This is systemic racism - we have a justice system that is systematically biased against people of color, and Judge McSpadden is simply an obvious and ugly manifestation of that deeply ingrained bias. |
| 2018-03-26 | Re: Flood district explores tunnel idea I find the idea of boring tunnels for floodwaters exciting and creative - but I also wonder if it may be the wrong answer in most cases. To remove 10,000 homes from the 100-year floodplain, a buyout of around $2 billion would probably suffice, and we would gain park land and greenspace throughout the city. A $2 billion dollar tunnel would leave us with a maintenance headache. I can imagine tunneling to protect downtown and the Med center, but for residential areas buyouts seem like a much more efficient option. |
| 2018-03-26 | Re: Letter on 2nd amendment A writer claimed that the second amendment "means we need to be able to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government." Could we put that incorrect and tired old meme to rest? The amendment is about raising a militia. At that time, there was great opposition to having a standing army, so to protect the government, the ability to quickly raise a militia was needed. Additionally, slave revolts were common, and southern states needed to be able to raise militia to put them down. It has nothing to do with "protection from a tyrannical government". That is a paranoid fantasy on par with the Jade Helm fiasco. |
| 2018-03-26 | Re: Scattering work sites pose a commuter bus puzzle It has always been clear to me that companies rarely, if ever, consider how their employees will get to their office. In 35 years with a single company, I worked downtown, near the Atsrodome, in the energy corridor, and in Alief. When working downtown I took the bus, but for all the other locations that was never a realistic option. Perhaps we need to start rewarding companies who have a significant percentage of their employees using mass transit. Otherwise the sprawl, the wasted commuting hours, and the ever-widening ribbons of concrete will continue to grow. |
| 2018-03-29 | Police shootings “The community is afraid of police, and it appears police are afraid of black people,” said Tarsha Jackson, criminal justice director of the Texas Organizing Project I believe that Tarsha has hit upon the unlying cause of so many shootings. How much untreated PTSD is there in the department? How many officers are afraid, but won't admit it and get help because that is not done? While their are some bad apples, I believe that most of the shootings like this are a result of fear taking over when a cool head is needed. What are we doing to help our police deal with fear and PTSD? |
| 2018-03-29 | Re: Council delays a vote on proposed flood plain regulations So what happens to the water when fill is used to raise a house out of the flood plain? The water doesn't magically disappear, it goes into someone else's house, and in effect increases the size of the flood plain. Building in the flood plain is bad - adding fill dirt to the flood plain is worse. That simply moves the problem around. |
| 2018-03-30 | Re: EPA looks to roll back car emissions rules Houston is seeing an increasing number of days each summer with unhealthy ozone levels - which bring on asthma attacks and can hasten the death of those with breathing problems. This proposed change would make matters worse. If the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality were better than useless, they would fight for tougher standards. |
| 2018-04-02 | Re: Maybe it’s time to rethink what ‘walkability In the Heights, I frequently see people in wheelchairs or with walkers in the street, because the sidewalks are either missing or impassible. On Jackson Hill, for several blocks, the sidewalk is punctuated by power poles neatly impaling the sidewalk, forcing even able-bodied pedestrians to take to the street. Our city often vies for the "fattest city" title - making it hard to walk does not help us. Sidewalks, like roads, are a public good. Requiring the property owner to be responsible for their sidewalk is silly - it should be treated like the road - a city responsibility. |
| 2018-04-03 | Re: Texas woman gets 5 years in prison for casting vote while on probation I find it tremendously ironic that a woman who plausibly did not realize she was violating the law gets the book thrown at her - after causing no actual harm. Yet we have a Legislature that applies every vote suppression and gerrymandering technique known, to create actual harm to the electoral process. Politics as usual I suppose. |
| 2018-04-03 | Re: Kremlin reveals Trump has invited Putin to White House Trump berates and attacks our good friend and neighbor the south - Mexico, while inviting a despot from an enemy state that interfered in our elections and is dedicated to sowing discord around the world. What is wrong with our president? |
| 2018-04-04 | Post Harvey regulations (A) realtor ... said the city’s data show that the current rules are working because more than 70 percent of structures in the flood plain were not damaged during Harvey. Seriously? That is an unbelievably self-serving, insensitive, and ridiculous statement. 99% of the time, Takata airbags don't explode and kill someone, so we don't need a recall. This is all about greed and making money, those council people who have been seduced by the developers should be ashamed. |
| 2018-04-05 | Re: Harvey-stuffed jail looks for help The sudden increase in the jail population is most easily explained as a simple result of queueing theory. If you have people lining up at a cash register at a rate a bit slower than the checker can handle them, a line never builds up. But if people start arriving at about the same rate as the checker can handle them, not only does a line grow, but it grows at - literally - an exponential rate. This is why freeway traffic goes from 60 to stand-still so quickly. The current jail problem is almost certainly due to reduced courtroom capacity. |
| 2018-04-07 | Re: Texas Guard troops deploy to border Budgets are always limited, and how we spend our budget money reflects what we hold to be important. We are struggling to find enough money to prevent another Harvey disaster, our streets are falling apart, we have too few police for a city our size, but our priority is to send National Guard troops without arrest authority to the border to do something - what is not clear. I already feel safer. |
| 2018-04-08 | EPA Chief spending EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox cited “unprecedented” threats against Pruitt and his family. When I read that statement, I immediately think - What is this administration best known for? and the answer that springs forth is An inability to tell the truth. This administration is littered with the entitled, the privileged, all now feeding voraciously at the public trough. |
| 2018-04-08 | Re: Seafood restaurants are feeling squeezed I recently was shown the sustainable seafood resource, seafoodwatch.org, from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. I was quite discouraged that the only participants in Houston are the Houston Zoo, and Whole Foods. Where are all the restaurants? |
| 2018-04-10 | Re: Maternal deaths inflated, study finds It is well-known in the interface design community that dropdown menus are something to be largely avoided, as they are prone to error. That was the source of the Hawaii missle attack alarm as well. Making a binary selection from a dropdown is just silly. It is also disturbing that apparently the State Health Department had not done spot-checking to ensure that the data were being collected correctly. What other errors are there in their database? |
| 2018-04-10 | Re: Propelled by GOP tax cuts, U.S. deficit to top $1 trillion by 2020 When I hear people comment that the tax cut is "giving me my money back", my response is "no, unless we cut spending, you are stealing money from your children." In my book, "tax and spend" is at least fiscally responsible. Republican "borrow and spend" will eventually destroy us. |
| 2018-04-13 | James Comey's book Watching the Republicans in Congress kowtow to the president, ignoring the dangers that he poses to the Republic, is like watching people roasting marshmallows at a dumpster fire instead of calling the fire department. Any respect I may have once had for the Republican party is long gone. I simply do not understand how anyone can proudly call themselves a Republican any more. |
| 2018-04-14 | Re: Decision to rename ethnic studies class decried The power to name. Naming has always been seen as staking a claim to control and ownership. God named Adam and Eve. Adam named the animals. Bullies rename their targets with unflattering nicknames. Naming is an exercise in power and control. And State Board of Education member David Bradley's insistence on renaming Mexican-Americans is no different - it is an exercise in power and control. It is saying "No, no, you don't get to choose your own name. I will tell you what your name is." |
| 2018-04-16 | School funding "Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who sits on the Commission of Public Education Funding, said districts should expand their revenue streams to include sources other than local property taxes and the state. He pointed to Dallas ISD, which pulls in about $10 million annually from philanthropy." Because philanthropy is such a dependable source of revenue? HISD has a $2.1 billion budget. $10 million is in the noise for a budget that large. Senator Bettencourt simply cares more about cutting taxes than educating Texas children. When the oil runs out - and it will - Texas will be left with a poorly educated workforce and few options. |
| 2018-04-16 | Scooter Libby's pardon There is another interpretation of why President Trump pardoned Scooter Libby. Libby was prosecuted by then deputy Attorney General James Comey. It is entirely possibe that another motivation behind the pardon was a desire to undo the good work that James Comey had done. |
| 2018-04-18 | Re: Secret biases live within all of us Chris Tomlinson is right on target. Some years ago I began a process of self-examination and realized that I felt uneasy - probably due to watching crime dramas on TV - whenever I saw a young black man in a hoodie. I resolved to consciously act against that involuntary unease by acknowledging the young men and smiling. I may not be able to control how I feel, but I can try to control how I react. |
| 2018-04-20 | Re: Israel I assume that the writers citing Israel's long history of occupation in the Middle East as justification for pushing out the Palestinians are also in favor of all us American interlopers leaving and giving the land of the U.S. back to the Native Americans. After all, they have a much stronger claim to the land here than Israel has to their land. |
| 2018-04-21 | Adopt-a-drain Adopt-a-drain - what an excellent idea! Certainly plugged drains are a large component contributing to our flooding woes. I have another suggestion - the city could actually purchase some street sweepers to clean mud, leaves, and debris out of the gutters of the larger streets. On my regular neighborhood walks, there are areas where the mud in the gutter has grown so thick, and been in place for so long, that it is home to a thriving crop of weeds. Billion dollar projects are fun to think about, but I think there are a lot of low cost things we could be doing now that would have a big impact as well. |
| 2018-04-26 | Re: Governor demands that Farenthold pay for special election It seems to me that if, as the governor claims, having a special election is an emergency action then the governor should tap his funds, perhaps the rainy day fund, to cover the cost. Or is Governor Abbott all hot air and unwilling to actually help the Harvey devastated counties? |
| 2018-04-26 | Re: It’s best for grocery stores to sell food — Neva Cochran in her editorial notes that "there was no substantiated evidence of a difference in risks to human health between commercially available GMO and conventional crops." That is a very carefully parsed statement. What it does not say, and what is probably the most important objection to GMO crops, is the likelihood of harm to the environment. When crops are genetically modified to be immune to the weed killer Glyphosate, it tends to get used indiscriminantly, killing nearby native plants, contaminating the soil, and generally wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem. Some studies have even shown that it ends up reducing crop yields - probably because of the damage to the soil that it causes. Let's not forget that DDT was once hailed as a miracle chemical that would save the world, until the unintended consequences of its use became clear. |
| 2018-04-26 | Re: Pruitt defense strategy: Spread the blame How do we ascertain the honesty, the integrity of leaders? One key characteristic I use is whether they cast themselves as a victim, or take the position that "the buck stops here". Frankly, if you try to cast blame on those below you, you are indicating that you are incompetent as a leader, and unwilling to accept responsibility for what your department does. |
| 2018-04-27 | Re: If we want, Houston can be bike-friendly Mary E. Natoli is absolutely right that Houston is designed for automobiles, and does a very poor job of accomodating both cyclists and pedestrians. When I travel, I like to walk. And with the exception of Los Angeles, every place I have been in the U.S. and in Europe is much friendlier to cyclists and pedestrians. If we have sidewalks, they are often in disrepair. Utility poles take root in the center of sidewalks, blocking the path. Parking lots are surrounded by hedges, forcing pedestrians into traffic to access the stores. Drivers routinely ignore the law and refuse to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, turning street crossings into life or death situations. In other cities, I have seen signs "Stop for Peds, State Law" placed in crosswalks as a reminder to drivers, but here we do not do that - ever. The excuse? Drivers would just run over the signs. Until the city and county really decide that we need to encourage people to walk and bike, this will be an unfriendly and dangerous place to get out of our cars. |
| 2018-04-28 | Restorative justice Reading about domestic violence charges against chef Paul Qui being dropped, the article touches on the subject of redemption. On the one hand we have those who seem to argue that redemption and forgiveness will never happen. On the other hand, we often see perpetrators go to rehab, and then ask to return to their old positions. What is missing from both scenarios is restorative justice. While going through rehab may change the perpetrator for the better, it does nothing for the victim. Similarly, while punishment and banishment from society may satisfy some desire for revenge, it also does nothing for the victim. A path like Nelson Mandela demonstrated with his truth commissions after the end of apartheid, can lead to true change and true healing, for all parties. We need to find this third way. |
| 2018-04-28 | Israel Rabbi Scott Hausman-Weiss writes that "maligning of Israel and the Jewish people is driven by anti-Semitism." If complaining about the illegal settlement land-grab and the systematic dehumanization of the Palestinians makes me anti-semitic, so be it. But frankly I think equating opposition to Israeli policies to anti-semitism is a cynical attempt to shut down debate. Playing the victim card is a convenient way to sidetrack rational debate and justify the unjustifiable. |
| 2018-04-29 | The REINS act Regarding the REINS Act, which would require congressional approval of any new regulation that would impose more than a $100 million cost to the economy, how is "cost" defined? With many environmental regulations the total cost, after accounting for cleanup costs, health costs, loss of environmental services, etc., would actually be negative. Does the act look at total cost, or just a narrowly defined cost to corporations? A key role for government, acheived through legislation and regulation, is to take externalized costs and internalize them. For example, it used to be routine to dump chemical waste into a nearby river. The cost of that was born by the people downstream who could no longer use the water, or were harmed by it. Regulations move that cost back to the dumper where they belong. What does REINS intend to do? |
| 2018-05-03 | Re: Farenthold defiant on call to pay for election I am surprised to find myself agreeing with Blake Farenthold. But it is true that the special "emergency" election that Governor Abbott wants to hold is wholly unnecessary, and a purely political move. But then Governor Abbott has shown time and time again that he does not mind spending our tax dollars on pointless exercises to try to accrue political advantage. |
| 2018-05-04 | Re: Ex-CIA chief: Russians fueled Jade Helm fear So much of the Jade Helm fiasco was fueled by Russian "bots" spreading and amplifying mis-information and conspiracy theories. And Governor Abbott got sucked in and gave the stories credibility instead of taking a stand against them. Governor - can we expect an apology? Or at least a mea culpa? |
| 2018-05-04 | RE: Rice protesters demand improvements at crossing where 2 I walk quite a lot, and it is dangerous in all parts of the city. I have had innumerable close calls. Many drivers are apparently unaware of the laws regarding pedestrians - refusing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, turning in front of pedestrians with only a foot or two of clearance, etc. I understand we have too few police and too large an area to effectively patrol. What I woud suggest, that could be done fairly quickly and cheaply, would be to put up signage to educate drivers as to pedestrian and cyclist rights. "Stop for Peds in X-Walk - state law". "Give bicycles 3 feet clearance". Our entire focus has been on automobiles. We need to broaden that focus. |
| 2018-05-04 | Re: Tesla shares slide after Musk gets testy with analysts I worked for a very large company, and we all came to dread the quarterly analyst calls, because afterwards the company management would inevitably have us do some stupid, short-sited, pointless thing "because the analysts". We uniformly detested the analysts as greedy, short-term thinkers with limited knowledge, interested only in making a quick profit and no interest in the long-term health of the company. Kudos to Musk for not kowtowing to them. |
| 2018-05-05 | Alley Theater Managing Director Dean Gladden apparently doesn't believe in transparency. Becoming defensive when asked perfectly legitimate questions, decining to release the report, giving rather poor apologies. Not what I would expect from a leader. His responses do not inspire confidence in me. |
| 2018-05-05 | Re: Federal judge claims special counsel wants Manaf It sounds to me like Judge T.S. Ellis III is running for the Supreme Court. |
| 2018-05-08 | Re: Abbott OKs Aug. 25 vote on flood control bond Has everyone just given up on Governor Abbott releasing any money from the so-called "Rainy Day Fund"? I am completely mystified as to why we pay money into that fund, since apparently our money can never come out. Is there something going on with the management of that fund we are not supposed to know about? |
| 2018-05-09 | Re: In Katy, the answer to bullying allegations isn An abuse victim comes forward, the institution claims victim status and blames the victim. Isn't that what the #metoo movement was really about? The conspiracy of victim-blaming to protect the powerful from being held accountable for their abuse? Apparently that message has yet to reach the Katy suburbs. |
| 2018-05-09 | Voter ID I'm really tired of hearing variants of the meme "Ever since 9/11, proper ID is required for almost everything." I go the the bank without ID. I shop and use a credit card without ID. Frankly, the only time I pull out my ID is to get on an airplane. Many people do not drive or have a bank account, and never fly. For them, a "state approved id" is not necessary or required. A look at the actual facts makes it clear that voter fraud is a non-issue, the real issue is voter suppression. Perhaps I am an optimistic fool, but I like to believe that facts still matter. |
| 2018-05-09 | Re: Trump’s treaty-busting approach is terrible fo There is another issue with Trump's approach to international diplomacy. He has publicly eschewed transparency in international negotiations in favor of "keep'em guessing" and chaos. In business negotiations that may work out fine - if the other side miscalculates the wost that can happen is the deal falls through or even bankruptcy. But in international relations, miscalculation and misunderstanding can lead to broken trade, to war, or in the worst case, nuclear war. International relations are not like business negotiations, and require different tactics. The stakes are far to high to risk misunderstandings. |
| 2018-05-11 | Re: Homeland Security chief close to quitting after Trump tirade What is the worst fear that a child has? Separation from their parents. What is the most cruel thing you can do to parent? Take their child away. In that context, the statement that "president and his aides in the White House had been pushing a family separation policy" highlights a zeal for law enforcement that dehumanizes the undocumented. Laws can be enforced while still respecting the human dignity of the law breakers. Demonizing and imposing cruel conditions on them says nothing about their basic humanity - but it does speak volumes about ours. Family separation is nothing less than the tactic of a bully. |
| 2018-05-11 | Hired protesters I found the story about "people who showed up at public hearings to express enthusiastic backing for a new power plant in New Orleans were phonies hired by a private firm" especilly distressing. Is that even legal? It shouldn't be. I hope that Houston has an ordinance against that sort of deception - we have too much fake news already. That takes "astroturfing" to a whole new level. |
| 2018-05-13 | Re: Investors corner the market on Harvey-flooded homes Of course Congress set up the failure of the market and created this opportunity for investor when they got rid of the three strikes provision of the flood insurance law - for a brief period for time the government was required to offer buyouts of frequently flooded properties, and they were no longer eligible for insurance. Frankly, I don't want to pay to protect investors properties that will flood again and again. |
| 2018-05-13 | Re: Ethanol fuel standards A letter writer says that "The federal Renewable Fuel Standard is another example of federal bureaucrats and politicians interfering with free markets". I would note that the real force behind the fuel standard is large agribusiness and Midwestern corn farmers looking for easy money. Bureaucrats follow the lead of Congress, and Congress follows the lead of the lobbyists. |
| 2018-05-16 | Buc-ee’s lawsuit I like Buc-ee's, I have been there many times. But the lawsuit they are pursuing looks to me like an attempt to use the courts to bully a competitor, not a legitimate complaint about trademark infringement, and makes me want to try out the clean restrooms of their competitor. How about competing on service and price, instead of filing frivolous lawsuits? |
| 2018-05-17 | Governor Abbott and Harvey Why is Governor Abbott so protective of the "rainy day fund", refusing to release any of that money for Harvey recovery? Is he holding it back to be used to recover from the next Jade Helm massacre? Fund border patrols? What are Greg Abbott's priorities? They don't seem to include Harris county or natural disasters. |
| 2018-05-19 | School shootings Senator Cornyn. Senator Cruz. Quit praying, and DO something. |
| 2018-05-19 | Abortion clinics “We would hope that they would chose to provide health services for women and get out of the abortion industry...,” said Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life So how many health clinics does the Texas Alliance for Life run? How much time and effort do they invest in women's health services? It would be easier to believe they cared about women's health if there were actual actions to back their words. |
| 2018-05-20 | School safety Our schools are already strapped for funds, our teachers are underpaid, it would be obscene to divert what dollars we have for educating children to metal detectors and armed guards. So to pay for those extra protections, I propose a tax on guns and ammunition, with all the proceeds going to measures to protect schools from shooters. |
| 2018-06-07 | Chronicle access blocked in EU It seems odd to me that instead of adapting to the new EU privacy regulations, like other newspapers have, the Chronicle has chosen to simply block access. |
| 2018-06-09 | Re: Harvey remark walked back I see nothing in your story indicating that the President's remarks were "walked back". I only see an indication that a spokesperson ignored them and tried to change the subject. Why are you defending them? |
| 2018-06-10 | Re: Power prices jolting buyers I have rooftop solar panels I had installed a year ago. I sell power back at retail - the same price I buy it at. I have power bills of just $2 many months - just the taxes. Hot days are sunny days - perfect days for generating solar energy. I'm doing my part to help ease the power shortage. |
| 2018-06-11 | Re: Trump attacks on Trudeau deepen rift with U.S. allies What happens when you surround yourself with sycophantic incompetents? You get U.S. officials placing our closest allies in Hell, and piling on ad hominem attacks simply because our allies can't deal with a U.S. president whose currency is lies and vitriol. Red states wil be targeted in the coming trade war, so get ready. Texas is about to see a recession. |
| 2018-06-12 | Re: Quotas led to at least 500 fake infractions So supervisors have been fired - is that going to be the end of it? They need to be charged. Abusing their power, filing false reports, official oppression - there are many crimes that were committed, and they need to be held responsible for. |
| 2018-06-12 | Re: Judge regrets not checking on ‘Jenny’ Judge Stacey W. Bond has enlisted an interesting defense - the incompetence defense. She basically implies that she could not process her workload in a competent fashion. That certainly inspires me to vote for her. By fighting the charge she is implying that this is okay. Why not admit she didn't read the document and accept the sanction as an appropriate punishment? That would be the honorable course. |
| 2018-06-12 | Re: Electric car incentive in Texas? Not on Teslas And yet, Texas demands that buyers of Teslas pay the state sales tax. |
| 2018-06-13 | Picking winners and losers In a 2011 appearance on CNBC, Gov. Rick Perry said government should get out of the way and “let consumers pick winners and losers.” I guess with his recent endorsement of forcing consumers to pay higher prices to keep coal and nuclear power plants open, he has disavowed that free-market approach for a more socialist objective. Or maybe it is simply a matter of campaign contributions and the corrupting influence of money. |
| 2018-06-14 | Vaccine exemptions Granting exemptions for getting chiildren vaccinated is a failure of the state government to protect children. Parents do not aways "know what is best" for their child, and their children are not their property but independent citizens deserving of protection by the state from their parent's bad ideas. Texas supports children poorly - you need look no further than the cuts in healthcare and education - this is simply one more example where the state has abdicated its responsibility to its youngest and most vulnerable citizens. |
| 2018-06-15 | Funding school safety Representative Lyle Larson suggests spending $28 per student to fund school safety measures. In the same issue of the Chronicle, HISD trustees voted down a budget containing a $19 million deficit. That $28 per student equals $6 million for HISD. Since the state does not support the schools, I assume he means to increase the HISD deficit - after all, educating children is not a priority. |
| 2018-06-16 | Taking children from parents The administration has made it clear that separating children from their undocumented parents is a strategy to punish illegal immigration so severely that it stops. Separating children from parents suspected of a misdemeanor as a form of punishment seems cruel and unusual to me. The children are sustaining real and likely permanent harm. It is a bully's tactic, and says much about how low we have sunk as a nation. |
| 2018-06-16 | Electorial system Defenders of the electorial college system miss one key detail. Most states have perverted the original design of the system by requiring a "winner take all" system, where all the states' electors are required to vote for the popular vote winner in that state. Originally, the system awarded electors proportionally to the popular vote, and then they were free to decide who to vote for. It is this perversion of the system that has led to the electoral vote becoming badly disconnected from the popular vote. |
| 2018-06-20 | Trade border wall for humane treatment of children? If Congress caves to President Trump and funds a border wall to stop the separation of children from their parents, it will only lead to future confrontations. Never concede to a bully. Torturing parents and children is not an appropriate topic for compromise. |
| 2018-06-22 | Re: Trump seeking overhaul, merger of federal agencies Budget Director Mick Mulvaney cited the various agencies responsible for salmon as they migrate from the ocean to their spawning grounds. But that is a silly strawman argument. There is no perfect organization. It doesn't matter how any large organization is arranged, there will always be things that cross organizational boundaries. It is inevitable. So his stated justification for the proposed changes is meaningless and untrue. The real, unstated reasons are more likely to be around reducing the ability of the Federal Government to accomplish its' key role in counterbalancing the power of big business to run our lives, to allow the fat cats to run rampant and take full advantage of the rest of us. |
| 2018-06-22 | Re: Scientists told to seek permission before speaking to the media When your power rests on a foundation of falsehoods, facts become the enemy and must be eliminated. |
| 2018-06-24 | Prooftexting for Jesus carrying a gun "Radio host Doc Greene invoked the Bible. “Someone asked, ‘What would Jesus do?’ Well, we know that. We have the answer to that,” he said, before paraphrasing from the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus told his disciples to sell their cloaks and buy a sword." Funny how he ignored the verse immediately following: "Because I tell you, what has been written about me must be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the criminals.’" Nothing in there about self-defense. Sounds more like "break the law and get arrested to be more like me". |
| 2018-06-25 | Re: Delta to ban pit bull service dogs A couple of years ago, I was on a flight on a small Bombardier - three seats across, about 50 passenger capacity - that had 3 passengers on it with "emotional support" dogs. On the same flight was a woman with a dog phobia - she had apparently suffered a dog attack in the past. She got to spend the flight as an emotional wreck, on the edge of panic, probably so some people could get a free ride for their "emotional suppport" animals. Real certification of emotional support animals, and real training similar to that for service animals needs to be required. This whole situation is getting completely out of hand. |
| 2018-06-26 | Re: Perry says security trumps free market Coal plants are no more secure than natural gas plants. Not so many years ago, coal plants shut down because the piles of coal froze and could not be moved to the boilers. But let's pick winners. Besides which, the real issue is the security of most of the coastal communities of America in the face of sea level rise due to global warming. Flooding coastlines, severe drought, more intense rainfall, more energetic hurricanes - if all of these consequences of burning coal are not a security issue, then I don't know what is. |
| 2018-07-01 | Re: Separated Children "The government has insisted that it knows the location of all children in its custody and has called the process of reunification “well coordinated.” " Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Most of what comes from the president cannot be believed. This is an administration that traffics in lies - falsehood is the very air they breathe. I treat every pronouncement from Washington with complete disdain and skepticism. This one is no different. Of course they have no clue where most of the children are. Of course the process is poorly coordinated. And the lies continue unabated. |
| 2018-07-05 | Fourth Flood Sad to say, but preparing our bayous and homes to handle a 100-year flood is unlikely to be enough. Recent studies have indicated that due to global warming, what we used to call 100-year floods are more like 10-year floods, and 1000-year floods are the new 100-year floods. Welcome to the brave new world. Rains like the Fourth Flood may become annual events. |
| 2018-07-06 | Re: Reunifying migrant children and parents Health and Human Services says they will be "using DNA tests to expedite the process." How does this expedite anything? Did they do such a poor job when separating parents and children that they don't know who belongs to who? Did HHS Secretary Alex Azar lie to Congress when he testified ��There is no reason why any parent would not know where their child is located,��� claiming that he could find any parent’s child that is in the department’s care with “basic keystrokes” within “seconds.��? I think the DNA tests are a stall tactic because they have been so totally incompetent that they need to buy time while they get their act together. I have been very disappointed in the news media that no one has asked HHS how this helps and why they are doing it. DNA tests don't run in minutes like on TV. |
| 2018-07-09 | Re: U.S. threatens Ecuador, others over breast-feeding resolution I don't believe that the Republican party hates children. I don't believe they hate children of color. I just think they value money and business more highly than poor and brown children. Opposing abortion is easy - and doesn't cost any money. Supporting education, supporting food stamps, supporting the Children's Health Insurance Program, opposing the promotion of infant formula in the third world, all of these cost someone money, so they must be opposed. Consequences to the children are just collateral damage. Money must be saved. Ignore the rhetoric - look at the actions. |
| 2018-07-11 | EMS fees "We’re targeting the habitual people that call us day in and day out to move them from the bed to the wheelchair and two hours later they call us back to move them from the wheelchair to the bed,” HFD Assistant Chief Justin Wells said. Is punishment really the appropriate approach? Elsewhere in the article it notes that many of the callers can't pay the bill anyway. Might it be cheaper and more helpful for everyone involved, if the city worked with these frequent fliers to get them the help they need to move between bed and wheelchair? The city started a frequent flier program for the homeless some years ago that was quite effective. Why not apply that model to the EMS frequent fliers? Instead of imposing punishment and hoping the problem magically resolves, wouldn't it make more sense to actually try to solve the problems? |
| 2018-07-13 | Immigration "The government ... deemed another 46 “ineligible for reunification.” Of those, ... 12 parents have been deported..." Seriously? In our rush to deport the parents, we forgot the children and left them behind? This is a crime against humanity, and is completely inexcusable. All I hear from our senior senator, John Cornyn is silence. Is he okay with this? Or does he intend to actually do something? |
| 2018-07-16 | School safety and Sexual Oriented Businesses The state of Texas taxes sexually oriented businesses to fund programs that help sexual assault victims. We tax gasoline to help fund road maintenance. With calls for millions to be spent securing schools from gunmen, it is time we started funding school security with a tax on guns and ammunition. With education already under-funded, the last thing we need to do is divert precious education dollars to security. |
| 2018-07-17 | Trump and Putin This sounds like the Trump Russia Apology Tour. We are so sorry for impugning your good name, Vladimir. Senator John Cornyn, will you stand up and support our intelligence agencies? |
| 2018-07-18 | Re: black-box condo appraisals by the district are m I think that there is a deeper legal principle at work here, that will assume increasing importance over the next few years. The current exponential growth in A.I. (artificial intelligence) systems is largely due to significant improvements in neural net algorithms. By their very nature, neural nets are a "black box". They are trained on a carefully vetted dataset, "discover" hidden patterns there, and then apply those patterns to real-world data, but without any way to discern why they came up with their answers. We have already seen implicit bias (racial, sexual, etc.) get introduced into these systems due to biased training sets. As these systems get used for vetting loan applications, determining bail, picking job applicants and other uses, their black-box nature will make the results very hard to challenge. Now is the time to start developing a new legal framework to deal with these issues - they are only going to become more pervasive. |
| 2018-07-20 | Russia and Ukraine A letter writer attempts to justify the Russian takeover of the Crimea with bad history. Kyiv (the preferred transliteration of Kiev) was and is Ukranian, not Russian - attempts to change that distinction are Russian propaganda. Occupied by the Russian troops since the 1654, Kyiv became a part of the Tsardom of Russia in 1667. Ukrainian is a language distinct from Russian. Stalin promulgated a horrific genocide against Ukrainians in 1932, killing anywhere from 3 to 10 million by starvation. Russia does not "deserve" to get Ukraine back. It has always been a separate culture and resisted assimilation. |
| 2018-07-26 | Immigrant children What we need is a zero tolerance policy for reuniting immigrant children with their parents. How is it even possible that we separated parents and children, and then deported the parents without them? How is this different from government sanctioned kidnapping? |
| 2018-07-27 | Re: Perry says Europe to buy more U.S. LNG There are several components to "Europe buying more U.S. LNG" that must come together for it to become a reality. There needs to be sufficient liquefaction capacity on the U.S side, there need to be enough tankers to carry the LNG, and Europe needs to have enough re-gassification facilities to meet the demand. Currently, Europe has very few such facilities - one in the Netherlands, one in Belgium, none in Germany, and four in France. So they might buy more LNG from us, but it will be someday far in the future. |
| 2018-07-28 | Separating children from parents "A majority of them — 468 — are children whose parents were deported". Every time I read that I become sick to my stomach. That is a monsterous injustice, a crime. We have stolen children from their parents - in some cases permanently. This cannot be justified. At minimum, Congress needs to pass a law making it illegal to deport a parent without their children. This is a brutal, inhuman policy - punishing asylum seekers for crossing at the wrong spot by kidnapping their children. It needs to stop. Permanently. |
| 2018-07-31 | Re: America’s birth rate needs help. A very short-sighted editorial. It is obvious that the population cannot continue to grow indefinitely, it must stabilize at some point. This has already happened in Japan and Northern Europe. A better strategy would be to start dealing with the issues created by population stabilization rather than postponing the problem by encouraging more increases. |
| 2018-08-01 | Re: 3D-printed guns I would hope that the legislature would take up the issues surrounding plastic guns in their next session, making the possession or sale of any gun that has no serial number or is not detectable with a metal detector illegal. Putting metal detectors in schools is not of much use if people can have plastic guns. |
| 2018-08-01 | Judge pulls council fire pay video It's not really an open meeting if the records are withheld from the public who were not at the meeting. A judge has demanded the city violate the open meetings law? This is crazy. I would normally vote for a Democratic judge, but in this case I think I will have to reconsider. Perhaps the Chronicle could print a transcript of the council meeting. |
| 2018-08-05 | Re: Moscow malware Ironically, in the same issue of the Chronicle that bemoaned "Moscow Malware", was an article which said "Self-described anti-fascists — or “antifa” — have been organizing anonymously online to confront Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys in the streets." It is notable that much of the anonymous online antifa activity has been traced to Moscow. Yet here you are promoting it as fact, not Russian propaganda. |
| 2018-08-05 | Trans girl denied Mass Apparently the Pope parroted a popular attitude when he said "that people are the gender that conforms with their biological sex at birth." This is problematic on its face - what is biological sex at birth? The "equipment" you are born with? Some people are born with a set of both. Genetics? There is a syndrome that causes some "men" as defined by having X and Y chromosomes to physically appear to be female in nearly every respect. Or maybe the sex at birth is what the brain thinks it is, maybe that is what God intends, and so transexual surgery is simply helping the person conform to God's intent for them. |
| 2018-08-09 | Re: Russian election hacking "But five states still don’t even have voting machines with paper trails that can be audited." And one of those states would be Texas. Our state leaders have been so consumed with chasing after the handful of people who voted illegally, regulating where people can go to the bathroom, and making it harder for women to get an abortion, that they have completely neglected the real threat to our democracy - undetectable hacking of our voting process. Witthout a paper audit, a meaningful recount is impossible, and detection of illicit vote flipping is impossible. If they cared about vote integrity, we would have paper records, verified by the voter, and random audits of precincts using those paper records to verify that the electronic results agree with what shows up on paper. |
| 2018-08-16 | Sexual abuse in Pennsylvania The bishop stated that things have changed, and then he asked for people to forgive the church. While I hear contrition, what I am missing is any real indication of amends. Without an real attempt at amends, the bishop is asking for cheap grace. Why isn't he offering to pay for therapy for all of the victims, to help them heal from the sanctioned abuse? My reading is that little has changed, and there is little that is Christian in the church's position. |
| 2018-08-18 | Jeff Sessions attacked for doing his job? I have to repond that Jeff Sessions is not being attacked for doing his job. It is a false narrative that the law requires the government to separate parents and children, and deport the parents without their children - effectively orphaning them. This is not the law - this is a moral and humanitarian disaster - and ignoring this awful fact amounts to complicity in an action that is unconscionable. |
| 2018-08-23 | Trump "President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised his just-convicted former campaign chairman for refusing to “break” and cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, expressing appreciation for the personal loyalty of a felon found guilty of defrauding the U.S. government." How is this different from the actions of a mafia don? |
| 2018-08-25 | Senator Crus effectiveness In "Cruz-O’Rourke debates appear in jeopardy", it is noted that "Cruz’s campaign dictated aset of rigid terms to O’Rourke, insisting he agree to their plan to hold five debates without any negotiation over the details." This is precisely why Cruz is ineffective as a senator - he is unable to compromise. He may make his base feel good with his quixotic quests, but they accomplish little in the end besides increasing our national divisiveness. |
| 2018-08-26 | Drinking and health When I read the article "Safest level of alcohol consumption? None", I was struck by the note from one of the study's authors stating that for one drink per day, "a person’s risk of developing one of the 23 conditions associated with alcohol increases by 0.5 percent." That struck me as being well within the error bars, so I went to the original paper. The summary graph clearly shows that for one drink per day, the risk is the same as zero - within the error bars - and rises dramatically after that. Yet the text states that the graph shows no level of drinking is safe. Are you gonna believe me or your lyin' eyes? As a scientist I am disappointed with their stretching the interpretation. They have a story that is powerful enough without stretching it. |
| 2018-08-27 | Re: Trump / McCain antipathy The headline read, "White House flags back at full-staff after McCain death". My immediate thought was "it's not his hands that are small". |
| 2018-08-29 | Re: Voter challenges deemed invalid So when is Ann Harris Bennett, the voter registrar, going to send letters to all the people she frightened with suspension letters, telling them that they can vote without any issues? The damage is done, she needs to try to undo the damage she has caused. It's just too bad the primary is past. She needs to learn how to admit error and try to make amends. |
| 2018-08-30 | Re: Passports denied to Americans on border The administration is questioning the validity of birth certificates for Hispanics along the border and denying them passports. This is simply step one. Watch closely, the next step will be to deny them their right to vote, and claim that any who managed to vote are guilty of vote fraud. What will our state officials do? Why they will march in lock-step with the administration because winning elections is more important than human rights, justice, and the rule of law. |
| 2018-08-31 | Cartoon equating Socialism to loss of Rights The cartoon from August 31 equating socialism to losing rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is nonsensical. Socialism speaks to economic policy driven by the state as a counter to unbridled capitalism. The Bill of Rights speaks to limiting the power of the government to interfere in our lives. Consider some current "socialist" programs in the U.S. Medicare - how does medicare diminish the Bill of Rights? Social Security? Food stamps? The right to unionize? The primary negative impact of these is on tax rates, but low taxes are not a constitutional guarantee. If we want to debate the merits and failings of socialism, lets do it on the actual facts, and not make up conflicts that do not exist. |
| 2018-09-03 | H1B visas "Hospitals in particular argue that they need foreign doctors who are more willing than native-born Americans to take jobs in less glamorous and lower-paying fields, like internal and family medicine." I generally support a fairly open approach to immigration, but I have to say I am having a little difficulty with the direction of causality in this case. While internal and family medicine may be less glamorous, they are perhaps the most important specialties in terms of their effect on overall public health. So are they lower paid because of the influx of foreign doctors, or is there some other reason? I am always suspicious when businesses complain they cannot find Americans to fill their jobs, when they are paying lower wages than somewhat comparable jobs. H1B visas can be a way to short-circuit the workings of supply and demand that would increase salaries. I also am skeptical of "good for the economy" arguments, which may really mean "good for corporate profits". "What's good for General Motors is good for the USA". Maybe not. |
| 2018-09-04 | Trump vs Justice Dept The Justice Department indicts two Republican congressmen. The President tweets, complaining about the indictments, not because they are unfair, but because they may affect the midterm election. Silence implies consent, and so the deafening silence from our senators Cornyn and Cruz is most disturbing. What is their red line? |
| 2018-09-06 | Re: Judge: City destroyed evidence in jail suit This represents an excellent opportunity for mayor Turner to clean house and fire the city's lawyers for incompetence and for violating the law. We do not need lawyers who defend the city right or wrong, but rather lawyers that help the city do the right thing. We should not require lawsuits and judges to force us to act justly and obey the law, the city - all of us - should do that as a matter of course. |
| 2018-09-06 | Re: TEA broke rules in special ed contract Has the Texas Education Agency done anything positive? They seem to be the nexus for bad government and incompetence. Given Republican complaints and threats concerning the federal Departent of Education, perhaps our governor should lead the charge to aboish the state education agency. |
| 2018-09-09 | Kavanaugh I have only two words regarding opposition to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Merrick Garland. |
| 2018-09-10 | Re: Advocates challenge Bay’s water grade I found the story "Advocates challenge Bay’s water grade" quite disturbing. With the many complaints about the lack of data - even noting that some measures contained data from more than one year, "And again, it is for more than just 2017, because there’s not enough data points for those data sets to just look at one year at a time." It would be perfectly justifiable, and probably more honest intellectually, to give a grade of "unknown" rather than "A". Giving the bay a single grade, based on insufficient data, even with caveats, is a very bad idea. The grade will be quoted in the future without caveats, and used to mislead and justify doing nothing. |
| 2018-09-11 | Re: redlight cameras "Gov. Greg Abbott wants to hit the brake on red light cameras". Some studies indicate that red light cameras increase the incidence of rear-end collisions, some do not. But what is certain is that a rear-end collision is much less dangerous than being broadsided by someone gunning it to rush through a light that has just turned. And "accusing without a witness", really? A photo is a less reliable witness than someone's recollection of what they thought they saw? It would be nice if the governor would propose something to move Texas away from being the most dangerous state to drive in, instead of doubling down. |
| 2018-09-11 | Colonial powers I find it interesting that the United States is supporting the last two colonial powers on the planet. Russia is working, with some success, to take Ukraine and turn it into a Russian colony. Israel is building settlements on Palestinian land and colonizing that area. And both seem to be occuring with our full support. As former colonies who declared our independence and fought for it, we should be supporting the oppressed, not the oppressors. |
| 2018-09-13 | Insurers refuse to cover OxyContin The Drug Enforcement Administration has the data to flag people and doctors who are likely abusing OxyContin, yet that data seems to be used rarely. What is the enforceent problem? Staffing? Incompetence? Old IT systems? For a highly regulated drug, it doesn't seeem to be regulated very well. |
| 2018-09-13 | Traffic deaths I find the number of letters bemoaning the lack of police enforcement of traffic laws interesting. Yet not a single author said "I feel so strongly that I would be willing to pay more taxes so that we could hire more police." It is easy to complain about there not being a large enough police presence - which there isn't. But the answer is to hire more police, and that would require higher taxes. By the way, I am willing to pay more. |
| 2018-09-13 | Re: Don’t hate on Cruz; he gets the job done What I find especially interesting about the editorial by Benjamin First is the discontinuity between the title and the content. I was expecting to read a long list of Senator Cruz's many legislative accomplishments, but instead was greeted by a laundry list of fear, uncertainty, and doubt around Congressman Beto O'Rourke. So just what were our Senator's achievements? Besides shutting down the government, running for president, and argering most of the senators of his own party? |
| 2018-09-15 | Re: Board of Education So the Board of Education will have a "requirement that students explain how the “Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict” in the Middle East", but not require a discussion of the illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territory? That seems a bit one-sided, and not at all surprising. |
| 2018-09-17 | Re: Fix Taxes Regarding the editorial about the increasing dependence for school financing on property taxes, it may be useful to consider what constitutes a "fair" tax. I would say that a fair tax should be equitable, progressive, and tied to the ability of the taxpayer to pay it. Property taxes fail on at least two of these - they are not progressive, and as the value of a home rises and taxes increase, there is no corresponding increase in ability to pay the tax. And Chronicle reporting has indicated that commercial properties may be getting a break that homeowners cannot - so perhaps not even equitable. I would say that property taxes are the least fair tax, and we should be looking for ways to move to other tax systems. Why are our legislators opposed to fairness? |
| 2018-09-17 | Re: SpaceX plans put astronauts at risk I would take issue with Richard Hagar's editorial. It is clear to me that new approaches to space travel are needed - the Nasa approach is far too expensive, and did not have a stellar safety record - why are we flying our astronauts on Russian vehicles? Safety issues and high costs have decimated Nasa's programs - SpaceX is the primary contender in getting costs to drop significantly, which could make Nasa relevant again. Yes there is risk in load and go - firing off rockets in any form is risky. The real question is can the risks be sufficiently controlled to make it "safe". Let's remember, the Shuttle had an estimated 1 in 100 chance of losing the crew every time it flew - though in practice the actual numbers were worse. If we do not change, Nasa will be saddled with unaffordable launch costs and continue to decline in relevance. |
| 2018-09-18 | High crimes and misdemeanors "Trump orders Justice Department to declassify Russia-related materials" By interfering in the Justice Department's probe into Russian influence on the election, Trump is obstructing justice, which certainly falls into the "high crimes and misdemeanors" bucket. That is what tripped up Richard Nixon. |
| 2018-09-19 | Re: Seeking a healthier heart? Eat a big steak Is it appropriate to provide free advertising to someone who is not just a doctor, but is also building a diet book/podcast/website business? Especially without disclosing those connections? How do I judge the credibility of his editorial, when there is no disclaimer, but when I google him I discover that he is apparently building a diet business? |
| 2018-09-20 | Re: Supreme speed bump I find it sad and disturbing that all of the letters discounting Christine Ford's complaint come from men, and the lone letter of support comes from a woman. This really is the crux of the problem. Too many men have a view of women as property, a lack of understanding or sympathy for the trauma that sexual assault causes, and live in denial that this is a real and ubiquitous problem. Look no further than the recent travails of the Roman Catholic church to try to understand the dynamics at work. Assault victims have traditionally never received support, and their claims have been minimized with statements such as "boys will be boys", or "why did you drink, dress that way, act that way, etc.". Real change will not happen until men start speaking up, and quit providing cover for abusers. |
| 2018-09-26 | Kavenaugh Open letter to my senators. How many women accusing Bret Kavenaugh of sexual abuse is sufficient to believe something has happened? Apparently one is not enough. Is it two? Three? Four? Five? How many women accusers are equal to a single man defender? Constitutionally, blacks were counted as 3/4 of a white man. Does a similar rule apply to women? |
| 2018-10-04 | Republican complicity I am sad to say that for my friends who still feel compelled to support the president and the Republican party after the latest circus, I am mystified how you can look at yourself in the mirror in the morning. There has no shred of decorum, no figleaf of legitimacy in the Kavanaugh hearings. It has simply been an exercise in raw power, a grand middle finger raised to the Republic, an angry assertion of white male priviledge. I grieve for the state of the United States, the grasping for power regardless of the consequences, the unbridled greed of our political class. I fear this may be noted by future historians as the beginning of the end of the American century. |
| 2018-10-07 | Re: Houston keeps building new homes in flood plains Why do we build homes in the flood plains? Because people will buy them. Why will people buy them? Because the rest of us subsidize their food insurance. The system is designed to encourage flood plain development. Until the flood insurance program is turned into an actual insurance program, where premiums actually cover the risks, nothing will change. |
| 2018-10-10 | Re: Straight-ticket vote might result in judicial damage While I understand the pleas not to vote against judges because of their party affiliation, I would like to raise the opposing view. There is a long list of things that the Republican party has supported that I find morally repulsive. From the bathroom bill to creating orphans from refugee chldren, I am in a state of nearly continuous outrage. If a judge is running as a Republican, unless they explicitly deny it, I have to assume they support the positions taken by their party. To me, that makes them unsuitable to be a judge. Perhaps that is unfair, but if you sleep with pigs, you will get muddy. |
| 2018-10-11 | At least 1 dead in strongest storm to hit continental U.S. in 50 Strongest hurricane to hit US in 50 years. Three 500 year floods. Worst drought ever in the West, followed by the worst forest fires in history. All of this was predicted by science. Global warming is real, it is caused by CO2 and methane emissions, and this will be the new normal, until it gets even worse. Buckle up buttercup, we and our children are in for a really rough ride. |
| 2018-10-11 | Kavanaugh After reading all the letters supporting Judge Kavanaugh, I feel compelled to point out a few relevant facts. The Senate hearing was not a trial, it was a job interview. He was not entitled to the job, regardless of what he thought, and the "beyond reasonable doubt" criterion is irrelevant. The so-called FBI investigation was knee-capped from the beginning, interviewing only a small number of people, and ignoring most of the potential witnesses. There is compelling testimony, not examined by the FBI, that he lied under oath about his drinking behavior. Would I hire a job candidate that acted like he did? No way. Finally, we used to require a 2/3 majority support a Supreme Court appointee. We would all be better off if the Senate returned to that convention. |
| 2018-10-12 | Re: Saavedra back in at HISD after raucous trustee meeting Superintendent Grenita Lathan led HISD through a very difficult time when the State was threatening to take over the district, and did so successfully. Her reward is to be fired. By continuing the board chaos that has marked HISD for years, the board has now provided the State with ample reasons to take over the district. I was opposed to a State takeover, but now I am not so sure. |
| 2018-10-12 | Re: Ag boss backs ‘Rebel’ license plate I could be a "son of the Confederacy". I had ancestors in Alabama and Texas who fought for the Confederacy, as well as some who fought for the Union. One Texas ancestor had a passionate speech supporting slavery and secession recorded. I have no desire whatsoever to honor my ancestors who participated in that treason. Their actions were dishonorable, despicable, and caused enormous suffering - echos of which reverberate to this day. Now if the state would issue an "I'm sorry my ancestors were confederates" license plate, I would purchase that. |
| 2018-10-15 | Re: Kudlow, Rubio question climate change "White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday questioned the extent of human contribution to rising global temperatures." Would you go to an economist or a lawyer for advice if you had cancer? Would you go to a climate scientist for legal advice? After one of the worst hurricanes to ever hit Florida, almost certainly made significantly worse due to man-made global warming, Senator Rubio has the gall to call into question whether we can do anything about it? What sort of crime is it to put personal gain and success ahead of the welfare of millions of people? There is no controversy within the scientific community, and has not been for over a decade. The dishonesty this represents is breathtaking. |
| 2018-10-16 | Discouraging immigrants from using public assistance The administration is discouraging immigrants - and their children - from using public assistance. Leviticus 19:34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. Where is the outcry from our evangelical bretheren? |
| 2018-10-16 | Re: Discharge from oil drilling may be heading for rivers One complaint of the Environmental Defense Fund is that there is no approved testing method for the waste water from oil production. I have a suggestion. If the CEO of any company desiring to dump their waste water into a river will start drinking it and serving it to his family, then it can be dumped. Any takers? |
| 2018-10-17 | Dan Crenshaw and climate change Dan Crenshaw, by his statements, shows that he does not understand climate change, or its implications. The number of hurricanes is not predicted to increase - that is a strawman argument put forth by climate deniers. It is the intensity of hurricanes and of rain events that has already increased and is predicted to increase. 100 year floods may start occuring every 10 years. 500 year floods may start occuring every 50 years. This is why our city, county and regional flood plans are still insufficient to accomodate the new reallity. |
| 2018-10-19 | Re: Khashoggi Saudi's plan to lay blame for Khashoggi’s death on a top intelligence official. After all, all the crown prince Mohammed bin Sal-man did was to say "Will no one rid me of this troublesome journalist?" |
| 2018-10-19 | Texas and Global Warming As reported in today's paper, Texas lags well behind other states in energy efficiency. That both makes us an enormous contributer to climate change, as well as hobbling our economy with unnecessary expenditures. The world's largest oil companies are in agreement that global warming is real and is caused by human activity. They also support a carbon tax as an important step towards preventing further damage. Imagine if we could create a carbon tax, and then use the resulting revenue to help lower income people insulate their homes, pay for more efficient air conditioners, and generally improve their energy efficiency. We could improve our economy while saving the planet. Denial of the facts will only lead us to disaster. There is a path to avoid that. Are we courageous enough to take it? Are we courageous enough to vote for it? |
| 2018-10-21 | Ted Cruz "(Senator) Cruz also recalls that he spent 45 minutes during a ride on Air Force One trying to persuade the president to pull out of the Paris climate accord." The next time hundreds of homes flood due to a 500 year storm, you can thank the junior senator from Texas. |
| 2018-10-21 | HISD board dysfunction As a District 1 voter, I am still waiting for my trustee, Elizabeth Santos, to provide some explanation for why she voted the way she did. By her silence, I can only assume that she is not proud of her part in the fiasco, but if she expects my vote in the future, she needs to come clean and communicate with her constituents. That is how the system is supposed to work. |
| 2018-10-24 | Re: Property taxes key in state contest It is clear that property taxes in Texas are broken, I will grant Dan Patrick that much. Property taxes in Seattle are literally 1/3 of what they are in Houston, and Washington state does not have an income tax. Our schools, the main recipient of property tax money, are not awash in dollars - in fact they are struggling to pay for the basics. Clearly someone is not paying their fair share, but instead of attacking the actual problem, Dan wants to destroy our eduction system by cutting their taxes further. He needs to be careful - if he cuts taxes too much the state won't even be able to pay for those vouchers he is so enamored with. |
| 2018-10-24 | Caravan A letter writer describes the caravan as "a horde of invaders". 7000 people works out to 140 people in each state. Is 140 people a "horde"? Are people desperately seeking safety "invaders"? We turned away Jews fleeing Germany, which led to most of them dying. We are a nation of immigrants and refugees. Demonizing the poor, demonizing the desperate, sowing fear - this is opposed to everything I believe this country stands for, and is completely counter to my understanding of what being a Christian (or for that matter, a decent human being) demands of us. There is no limit to the ugliness that fear can create. I pray we can resist the siren calls to unreasoning fear and find compassion instead. |
| 2018-10-26 | Republican fear and divisiveness I just saw an ad on prime time network TV from the Republican party showing rioting, flag burning, and other images of chaos claiming that if you voted for "any Democrat" that would be the result. On a day when yet more Democrats received mail bombs, airing an ad calculated to inflame anger against Democrats is so far beyond the pale that I cannot find proper words to describe how horrible this is. It appears they really are trying to incite violence against Democrats. |
| 2018-10-27 | Changing votes "voters accidentally can select candidates for whom they do not intend to vote. Stanart said that happens when voters press the button for the straight ticket of their party, but move the wheel to scroll through pages before it finishes loading the straight-ticket request." That is not voter error. That is an extremely poorly designed voting machine, operating in an unexpected way to give the user an unexpected result. These machines need to be junked and replaced with machines that generate a paper record available for recounts and crosschecks. |
| 2018-10-28 | Mass shootings "Bowers had 21 guns registered to his name." A fairly common thread among mass shooters, is that they own far more guns than makes sense for anyone who is not a collector. Perhaps gun stockpilers should receive special scrutinity? |
| 2018-10-30 | Re: Being Latino in Trump era: another kind of harassment Where are our senators? Their silence when the President spouts racist and inflammatory rhetoric is consent. The "Southern Strategy" begun by Nixon after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act has always been a wink and a nod towards what is a racist core in the Republican party. The difference now is that the support for those beliefs is explicit. To every Republican I would say - silence is consent. |
| 2018-10-31 | Trump targets birthright citizenship Is there any question that the Republicans are generating fear, anger, and hatred towards brown people, no different than the Nazi's strategy towards the Jews in the 1930's? The systematic denigration of a group of people purely to try to gain and maintain political power is conjuring up evil forces that will not be easily controlled or suppressed. We are entering a dark period of our history, and I fear that the violent forces that are being unleashed will get much worse. |
| 2018-10-31 | George Soros >From the MAGA bomber to Stan Stanart, there seems to be much focus on George Soros. But who is he really? All I have ever seen is the one sentence "Hungarian Jewish refugee billionaire supporter of liberal and Democratic causes". It might be interesting to profile someone who engenders so much hatred on the right. |
| 2018-11-01 | Stan Stanart Stan Stanart says, in essence, on his campaign website that he deserves our vote because he is not a Democrat. What ever happened to running on your record? But then I guess a warehouse full of unused i-pads and voting machines that flip voter's picks would not be a thing to run on. |
| 2018-11-03 | Marc A. Thiessen column I find it interesting that some of what Marc Thiessen considers Nixon's negatives, I see as positives. Detente with the USSR - that was the beginning of the end to the disastrous spending and economic drain called the Cold War. The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was in many ways a recognition that the ABM program was (and is) doomed to failure - Richard Garvin had already shown how simple physics and economics make an ABM system a useless money pit. ABM countermeasures are cheaper than defensive measures. And he complains that Nixon pulled us out of Vietnam? My complaint is that it took him 6 years to end that horrible, pointless war that we were destined to lose anyway. Remember too that a major factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union was the economic stress of their entanglement in Afghanistan, so increasing our troops in the Middle East is not necessarily such a good thing as Marc seems to think. |
| 2018-11-03 | Re: Electric vehicle marketplace explodes Seriously? One sentence in the article has the word Tesla in it. In the US, since July when production ramped up, the Tesla 3 has been the number one selling small to midsize luxury car in the US, and the 8th most popular car in the US. The figures for Leaf sales are dominated by Norway, and Tesla 3's are not yet shipping to Europe. Tesla as a company became the first manufacturer last August to pass the 200,000 mark in EV sales, cutting the federal rebate in half beginning in January. Tesla is an amazing success story for an American car company, and this article completely ignores it. Yet all the press talks about are Elon's tweets. Why is the press opposed to writing about success stories? |
| 2018-11-04 | Pedestrians in Houston I'm not sure if there is a single block in the Heights that is fully traversed by a complete, smooth, sidewalk in good repair. Consequently I frequently see people in wheelchairs, with walkers, or on electric scooters going in the street because there is no place else to go. I have lived in both Chicago and Seattle. Both cities maintain and pay for high quality sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian signage. And Seattle property taxes are literally 1/3 of what the taxes are here, so it isn't like they are swimming in tax dollars. Under Texas state law, automobiles are required to stop if a pedestrian is in the crosswalk. Do they stop? In my experience, only about 10% stop - I assume they are from out of state. Drive friendly? |
| 2018-11-04 | Crosswalks In other cities, heavily used crosswalks will often have candlestick signs in the middle of the street displaying a message like "Stop for peds. State law." Those signs don't seem to exist in Houston. Instead, we get to choose between a few stripes of cheap paint that drivers will routinely ignore, or a very expensive traffic signal that will take years of study and design to put in. One of my neighbors was told by a city engineer that they would not put candlestick signs on 11th at the bike trail because "people would just run them down". What does that say about what drivers will do to pedestrians? |
| 2018-11-07 | Re: Iowa city officials advance measure banning toy firearms So let me get this straight. Because we won't do anything to restrict or control real guns, we are awash in guns and the police fear for their lives and will shoot if they think they see a gun, so we want to avoid the embarrassment of shooting someone with a toy gun. Isn't that just avoiding the real issue - that it is far too easy to get a gun? |
| 2018-11-08 | Senator Cruz Senator Cruz made it clear in his victory speech that he does not represent almost half of Texas voters, and does not intend to - that we are the enemy. What a great way to improve the political climate and reduce divisiveness. |
| 2018-11-09 | Following investigation, Houston Chronicle retracts eight stories Thank you for doing the right thing and for being open and honest about it. We all need this example as a model to follow. What you have done is the mark of a great paper. |
| 2018-11-09 | Blue wave in Harris County Paul Simpson, Chairman of the Harris County GOP, is mad about what he called the "Beto wave". He is in denial - it was really a wave of disgust aimed at the president. For the first time in 47 years of voting, I voted straight ticket, because I could not vote for anyone who supported the president. |
| 2018-11-12 | Building walls I find a lot of irony in the rush to approve a $25 billion dollar wall to protect us from our major source of low-cost labor which provides a boost to the economy, yet a lot of anxiety around whether or not we can get approval for a $31 billion wall to protect us from ever larger storms that will ruin the economy. At minimum our representatives need to link their vote on wall funding to getting funding for the dike. |
| 2018-11-15 | Re: Guard held after suspect, child shot How many things are wrong with this picture? A security guard shoots at a thief who is running away - trying to kill someone over a property crime? He shoots while running - recklessly endangering others by not keeping control of his weapon. And as a result, shoots a child. This is not the wild west. Guns are dangerous and the trigger should only be pulled when a life is in danger, and then only when a safe shot can be made. |
| 2018-11-18 | Re: Way to skirt birth control rule offered The administration rules state that "employers can obtain an exemption if they object to some or all forms of contraception based on their “sincerely held religious beliefs”" Does this mean that a Jehovah's Witness employer would not have to cover blood transfusions? |
| 2018-11-19 | Troops on the border It makes me ill when I read about the army reinforcing the southern border to "protect" us from desperate refugees. It is so clearly playing on fears and racism for political purposes. We can spend millions deploying troops to the border, yet a month ago there were still 250 children we separated from their parents who we seem to be unwilling to expend the effort to reunite. My country has turned into something ugly and unrecognizable. |
| 2018-11-19 | Gun Control One common argument by the NRA and it's supporters is that whatever restrictions are proposed on guns, they will not stop gun violence. That is true, but it entirely misses the point. It is arguing that if the solution cannot be perfect, then it is worthless. But if restricting assault weapons, putting limits on magazine size, requiring background checks for all gun purchases could reduce the carnage by even ten or twenty percent, wouldn't that be worthwhile? Thousands of lives saved? Of course it would. And what evidence there is indicates that indeed, these measures would help. |
| 2018-11-21 | NASA For NASA to simultaneously complain, and investigate, the safety cultures and the time estimates and delays at SpaceX and Boeing seems nonsensicle. Pressuring the companies on their schedule is the surest way to decrease the safety of their vehicles and encourage corner-cutting. NASA needs to change their mindset back to being the experimental, research organization they were, and leave the building of space busses to private industry. |
| 2018-11-21 | Ed Young and Scripture Ed Young said "as long as America — this is represented by every Democrat I know — does not believe in the sacredness of the life in the mother’s womb, God will not bless America". The abortion debate is not about whether someone is for or against killing babies - no one is in favor of that, and to make that claim is a political, not a theological, position. It is about when human life begins, on which point Scripture is silent, so devout Christians can and do differ in what they believe. However, Scripture is abundantly clear that we should treat widows, orphans, and "the foreigner in our midst" with justice and mercy. If Ed wants to start classifying people as "good" or "bad" Christians, that might form a much stronger basis. |
| 2018-11-21 | Re: Beto missed lesson from Mark White Andrew White claims Beto lost the election because he was too liberal to attract Republican voters. I think Andrew has it all wrong. Beto lost because he wasn't a Republican. In these tribal times, to win an election, you must turn out your base, get more of them to the polls, and get the independents to support you. All of this Beto did. And it was almost enough, but there are still too many reflexive Republicans who would never vote for anyone with a "D" by their name, including Andrew White. |
| 2018-11-27 | Ukraine Is it time to honor the Ukrainian government's request and use the transliteration of the Ukrainian name for their capital, Kyiv, instead of the transliteration of the Russian name for their capital, Kiev? |
| 2018-12-01 | Re: Transmission rules targeted so wind, solar firms would pay more If the state decides to assign transmission costs for electricity by distance, then they also need to create a pollution tax on electricity generators, based on their distance to population centers. The last thing we need is NRG further fouling our air and creating more summer ozone alerts. Ozone literally kills people. Economic inefficiency only costs money. |
| 2018-12-02 | Re: Trump, Xi reach truce on tariffs at G-20 Sounds to me like China agreed to specifics that cost it nothing, and left anything with a real cost ambiguous. How good a deal is that? |
| 2018-12-06 | Traffic ticket surcharges Regarding the Driver Responsibility Program fees impoverishing seom drivers, Texas could take a lead from Finland. There traffic fines are based on a person's income, leading in one case to a very wealthy individual being fined $100,000 for speeding. The basic principle is to cause equal pain with the fine, not to have fines that the well-off can pay without a second thought but will bankrupt the poor. Traffic fines are meant to change behavior, not to be ignored as a nuisance or to destroy lives. |
| 2018-12-07 | Re: DMV board rejects rebel soldier license plate I am happy that the DMV board rejected license plates honoring Texas Confederate soldiers. I certainly do not want to honor my Texas ancestors who owned slaves, spoke in favor of slavery, and committed treason by fighting to keep their slaves. Can't we just admit that our ancestors were deeply wrong and quit trying to somehow rehabilitate them as having done something honorable? Just because they fought and died does not make the cause or their sacrifice honorable. |
| 2018-12-08 | Re: Appointment of William Barr as Attorney General "Barr has expressed concerns about political donations made by prosecutors on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team" I would say that making political donations - which are generally pretty non-specific except in terms of supporting a party or individual - is a lot less concerning than having expressed opinions regarding specific issues before the Justice Department. It seems that Barr would be coming in with serious biases that would cripple his credibility. |
| 2018-12-08 | Capitalism A letter writer opines that "Capitalism ... is our sole, solitary moral economic system". While Capitalism is a highly efficient means for allocating resources and has achieved much, it is not without it's blemishes. Unregulated, unrestrained Capitalism has led to much pain and injustice - one has only to read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" to see where that leads. It is at its core an amoral system. Government can constrain it to make it a moral system. |
| 2018-12-10 | Neil Frank I find it very diappointing that Dr. Neil Frank, who should know better, chooses to ignore the science that is available on climate change. First of all, he knows that warmer air and warmer oceans lead to more moisture in the air available to rainstorms. And there are several very reputable papers in the peer-reviewed literature carefully connecting that fact to Harvey's rainfall. Secondly, he surely knows that by 1900 we had fully recovered from the Little Ice Age, but that global warming has continued to increase, and has accelerated at rates never seen. Finally, he is surely aware of the work of Arrhenius, in 1896, which first established the importance of carbon dioxide in causing the greenhouse effect. If Dr. Frank has clear evidence that anthropogenic climate change is not true, then I suggest he get it published in a peer-reviewed journal instead of stoking doubt in the editorial pages. |
| 2018-12-11 | Re: Airport deal not music to some officials’ ears SeaTac airport in Seattle has live music, and whiile I found it pleasant, it did have one big drawback. I could not hear the gate announcements over it. Great care need to be taken the any music - live or piped in - does not interfere with the announcements. |
| 2018-12-16 | What to do about ACA? For those concerned about pre-existing conditions and affordable healthcare in general, there is one key first step. Call your Senators and make certain they understand your concern. Whining to friends and neighbors will change nothing. Politics do matter. |
| 2018-12-17 | Re: Unpaid interns deal with new laws Looking at the expanse of human history, I see a common thread that we have always wated to enslave others for our own benefit. Slavery, serfdom, share cropping, sweatshops, and now unpaid interns are all schemes to take advantage of the powerless and pay them little or nothing for their labor. It represents an obscene side of our human nature and justice requires that we opppose it, not legalize and embrace it. |
| 2018-12-19 | Roman Catholic church and child abuse For their upcoming sexual abuse summit, "the Vatican said it would focus on three main areas: responsibility, accountability and transparency". I would offer that a final step they need to take is missing - making amends. Publically admitting fault is important, but taking concrete steps to actually repair the harm that has been done, going beyond admitting and apologizing, is where any actual healing can place. But then, that would be expensive. |
| 2018-12-20 | Bars serving drunk patrons In the article about the renewed emphasis on prosecuting bar workers serving underage or drunk patrons, it notes "courts and prosecutors have been mixed on imposing penalties". Is the point of the prosecution to punish or to change behavior? I think it should be the latter, so I do not see deferred adjudication as a loss for prosecutors. I see it as a strong message to someone to correct their behavior, and given a chance to do just that. |
| 2018-12-22 | Shutdown I am appalled by the "shutting down the government" tactic. The idea of forcing government employees to work without pay is obscene. If a private employer did that we would throw him in jail. Congress needs to change the law so that this particular form of legislative blackmail is no longer possible. At minimum, Congress and the President should not be paid while the shutdown continues. |
| 2018-12-22 | Socialism A letter writer opines that "History tells us this form of socialism (free public college and Medicare for all) doesn't work. I'm curious as to where they learned their history, since the U.S. has the most expensive medical system on the planet, and Canada and most of Europe have what amount to Medicare for all and free or very affordable college - which does seem to work. They are spending less and getting better results than we are. That is a history lesson worth learning. |
| 2018-12-23 | Sidewalks The idea that the property owner is responsible for building and maintaining a sidewalk is absurd on its face. A sidewalk is a public good - no different from the street that runs in front of my house. Everyone in the city benefits from my sidewalk, just as everyone benefits from the street in front of my house. The city needs to quit denying responsibility and change the charter to own responsibility for sidewalks. In my neighborhood, I frequently see people in wheelchairs or with walkers in the street, because of the poor condition of sidewalks. It is a public safety issue. |
| 2018-12-23 | Re: Climate issue divides Dems Climate change will be the defining issue of our times, and really does represent an existential threat, yet the ancients in charge of the Democratic party choose to play the lukewarm politics of appeasement. It is clear to me that there is a hunger for real leadership, for a vision that can inspire, and yet we get cautious responses, nibbling around the edges of serious problems. I find it truly sad that trying to save us from climatic disaster is seen as a radical agenda. |
| 2018-12-25 | Israel boycott I find it interesting that the letter writers conveniently ignore the elephant in the room - Israel's continued occupation and colonization of Palestinian land, which will make it nearly impossible to form any viable Palestinian state in the future. It is this sort of refusal by Israel to accept any responsibility for the current situation that confirms my own personal boycott. |
| 2018-12-29 | Cy-Fair lawsuit Why would you want to force someone to say something they don't believe in? What is the point in forcing someone to say the Pledge of Allegiance? To me that sounds like bullying. And certainly unlikely to change someone's mind - more likely to harden their attitude. |
| 2018-12-31 | Re: Truck shortage curbs recycling While I can understand that shortages of staff and trucks have caused delays in recycling, what I can't understand is the total lack of communication from the Solid Waste department. In my neighborhood, recycling cans have been sitting out for 5 days now, because no one seems to know when they might be picked up. The website is useless, and 311 has no answers. Just tell us when to put the cans out. |
| 2019-01-03 | Re: A demographic time bomb is aimed at America While it is true that one component of economic growth is due to population increase, that component is obviously unsustainable. Population cannot increase without limit. Perhaps instead of sucking the planet dry at the altar of economic growth, it would be better to start thinking about how to develop prosperity in a stable population environment? |
| 2019-01-03 | Re: Price cuts, lower sales help drive down Tesla Fact check. "Gartner analyst Michael Ramsey ... said of their limited range and the need to pay extra for a home charging unit." My Tesla model 3 has a range of 300 miles - roughly the same as my wife's Acura. And I did not pay extra for a home charging unit - I simply plug it into the wall. For someone who specializes in covering the automotive industry, Mr. Ramsey is either ignorant of how Teslas actually work, or is feeding the shorts. The headine is deceptive as well - it was "sales lower than analyst's expectations", not "lower sales". Sales were actually higher than the previous quarter. Of course the part of the story that really draws the ire of Wall Street is that Tesla is not focused on maximizing profits, they are focused on maximizing sales to precipitate change in the automotive industry to help combat climate change. |
| 2019-01-06 | Property taxes and school funding Property taxes in Seattle are about 1/3 of hat they are in Houston. Yet the roads are in good shape (better than here), police and fire departments funded well, and schools are funded. What is the difference? Washington has no income tax. The money comes from a higher sales tax, and more importantly, from a business tax. The elephant in the room in Texas is that businesses get preferential tax treatment and residential taxes bear most of the burden. Depending on oil and gas revenue, which can vary wildly year to year, would be terrible. Use that revenue to establish an endowment fund, like Finland has done, to provide income in the fuure when the oil runs out. |
| 2019-01-08 | State Budget The state’s rainy day fund is expected to reach over $15.4 billion this year. Since there apparently cannot be a day rainy enough to use it, the Legislature should convert it to an endowment fund and use the revenue to help shore up the schools, which should easily provide $500 million per year at pretty low risk. That won't solve the problems by any means, but allowing that fund to grow will eventually provide a substantial assist, without raising anyone's taxes. |
| 2019-01-08 | Re: Coal plant closure adds to ‘scary’ reserve d The hottest time of the day, when electricity demand is highest, is also when solar energy would be producing the most. Texas summers have an abundance of sunshine. Why has the state not tried to encourage installation of solar panels by requiring net metering, or with tax incentives? Even in this current unsupportive environment, with my own solar panels, I had bills last summer of a few dollars. |
| 2019-01-11 | Re: Oceans heating faster The real crisis, the real national emergency, taking place right under our nose is climte change. When I started gardening a few decades ago, all the books for gardening in Houston noted that the average date of the last freeze was March 9. When was the last time we had a freeze in March? Or even February? Yesterday I saw Monarch butterflies in our neighborhood. This is supposed to be winter, but it doesn't feel much like it. Heavier rain, more forest fires, drought and crop failures, wetter hurricanes - that is our future. This is where a declaration of emergency would make sense, not for children crossing the border. |
| 2019-01-17 | Re: Boy, 9, dies after being shot by cousin This was not "an accident". If a child wanders through an open gate into a backyard and drowns in a pool, the pool owner is liable because a pool is an "attractive nuisance". An unsecured gun is no different. Responsible gun ownership must include securing the weapon so that children cannot get access. Anything less is criminally negligent. |
| 2019-01-18 | Anti Missile Systems It has been clearly demonstrated for many years that missile defense systems are fundamentally flawed. For slow, "home-made" missiles like Israel defends against, they can be somewhat effective, but economics and physics conspire to make any other system a complete waste. It is always cheaper to add anti-missile countermeasures, than to improve the anti-missile capabilities. The only winners in such a race are the defense contractors being paid billions to build systems that will never work. |
| 2019-01-20 | Mass transit that works Tory Gattis bemoans the slow service and expense of Metro Rail. I tend to agree that it is a serious problem. However, I don't think the solutions proposed necessarily make a lot of sense. In my experience, places I have been where mass transit worked, the transit is separated from automobiles so they don't interfere with each other. The Chicago El is awesome, New York subways, even the train in Seattle goes underground for much of it's route. Having a grade separation is expensive, but it is what makes the system work by ensuring rapid, reliable service. |
| 2019-01-21 | Re: Boy killed as friend shows off weapon "Police attributed three of those deaths to accidental gunfire." The definition of accidental includes unintended, unplanned, and unforseen. While the first two may apply to these incidents, the third should not. The problem with using the word accident in these stories, is that there is an implication that nothing can be done. But there are many contributing factors that could be addressed, because these incidents would not have occurred had the children been well-educated in gun use and the guns had been securely locked up. These were "accidents waiting to happen", which are hardly accidents at all. Where are those who promote everyone owning a gun now? What are they doing to prevent these incidents? |
| 2019-01-23 | Re: New bail suit aims at felony arrests What isn't being talked about is the flip side of the coin. If bail decisions are purely mechanical, without looking at the merits of a particular case or the ability of the defendant to pay bail, then what about people being released on bail who should probably be kept in jail? If someone is likely to re-offend while on bail - multiple DUI offenses say - then they shouldn't be let out on bail just because they are wealthy. Bail decisions should be based on the seriousness of the offense, the likelihood that they will show up for trial, and their ability to pay the bail. Today I am confident that bail decisions have little to do with public safety. |
| 2019-01-23 | Seismic airguns In the arrticle, it is claimed that "Each seismic shot from the air guns is estimated to reach up to 260 decibels. Container ships, another noisemaker on the seas, make sounds up to 190 decibels. (The launch of a space shuttle, by contrast, reaches about 160 decibels for those nearby. )" This is sort-of true, but to compare sound levels in water to those in air, one must subtract 60 dB, so to compare a 260 dB airgun to the Space Shuttle, the apples-to-apples comparison would be 200 dB to 160 dB. |
| 2019-01-25 | Shutdown "President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that grocery stores and banks will give a break to the 800,000 federal workers who are without pay because of the partial government shutdown." Because, God forbid the president should do something to help. He would actually have to take responsibility for something - and he is incapable of accepting responsibility. |
| 2019-01-25 | Trash and Recycling A letter writer suggests charging for trash based on the size of the container. I think this is a great idea - one that has already been implemented in Seattle. |
| 2019-01-25 | Re: Let’s heed the cautionary tale of Canadian hea The one thing Sally Pipes ignores in her editorial about long wait times in Canadian healthcare, is the fact that in the US, a reasonable portion of the population have an infinite wait time to see a specialist, because they have no insurance and cannot afford insurance. But then I can see why she wouldn't want to average in those waits. In our system you either have good, but expensive care, or what amounts to no care at all - emergency department only. She also failed to mention Denmark, where if your wait time to see a specialist exceeds a few weeks, the government has to pay for you to see a private practitioner. These are solvable problems. |
| 2019-01-26 | 95,000 on voter lists face removal Nowhere that I can find in the article does it actually specify how the state decided these people were suspect, except in very vague terms. How can I make a judgement if their process is not explained? That should be the keystone of the story, and it is missing. |
| 2019-01-29 | Re: Local GOP blames the Holocaust on ‘leftism’ All Americans should be on guard against the dangers of ideologies that demean the value of individual human lives to the almighty dollar. |
| 2019-01-31 | Re: Bush, others call on Trump to release $4 billion So we're waiting for $4 billion in Harvey relief funds to come from the Feds. I have an idea for our state officials. Instead of sitting on their hands whinging about the Feds glacial progress, why not use the rainy day fund to loan money to Harvey relief, and repay that money whenever the Federal funds appear? I'm still trying to understand how rainy a day has to be to unlock those sacred funds. |
| 2019-01-31 | WMD's and the intelligence community A letter writer states "In the past, the intelligence community has made some serious mistakes (think weapons of mass destruction in Iraq)." I believe that is a bit of rewriting history. It was Vice-president Dick Cheney who subverted the normal intelligence channels and pushed for absurd and doctored reports. The intelligence analysts knew that there was no real evidence of WMD's, but that information was suppressed through political pressure. Let's place the blame for the Iraq war squarely where it belongs - Dick Cheney and his allies, including the current national-security adviser John Bolton. |
| 2019-01-31 | Pedestrian and bicycle safety On a whim, I searched through the City of Houston website to see if the traffic operations had a mission statement. Indeed they do, at https://www.publicworks.houstontx.gov/tdo-glance Interestingly, the mission statement is "We Serve to Keep Houston Moving!" On the whole page describing what they do, not once are pedestrians or bicycles mentioned. Crosswalks are mentioned, but not sidewalks. I take this as further proof that we are a completely automobile-centric city. It would be nice if they said something like "supporting a safe mixed car, bicycle, and pedestrian environment". This might be why they are so resistant to putting stronger measures into place to stop cars at the bike trail crossings. |
| 2019-02-01 | Re: Voter purge’s rocky rollout Perhaps the real goal of the ham-handed attempt to purge voter roles is to do things that are so poorly conceived and poorly executed that any faith or credibility in government is destroyed. I certainly don't believe anything our state or national government says anymore. Like the boy who cried wolf, our leaders have shown themselves, time and time again, to be unreliable, biased, and incompetent. Why should anyone believe anything they say? |
| 2019-02-01 | Re: Property Taxes Our state leaders have it all backwards. They have started tax and school reform with the easy bit - who doesn't like lower taxes? - and deferred the hard bit, raising more money for schools. The responsible path would be to come up with the money first, and then work on the property tax problem. The path we are headed down looks a lot like Kansas under Brownback, which turned into a complete disaster for that state. Can they stand up to the business lobby? Because that is where the money will have to come from. Business is under-taxed and residents are over-taxed. Until the vote overcomes the lobby, that is where we will remain. |
| 2019-02-03 | Voter Suppression The real tragedy of Secretary of State David Whitley's ridiculous list of "potential noncitizen voters" is that it will feed the fringe and never be forgotten, even after it is conclusively proven to be completely wrong and misguided. But then, that is the real point. I refuse to believe that his office is that blatantly incompetent. The whole point was to create an enduring meme that will energize the far right, facts and reality are unimportant. Only winning matters. Even at the cost of splintering society with hatred and discord. |
| 2019-02-03 | Migrant Children Every time I read about the continuing horror story of how we have separated many thousands of children from their parents, and are too lazy to try to reunite them, I feel physically ill. It is clear to me that the leadership in Washington do not see these children and their parent as fully human. Otherwise, how could they so casually decide to separate them from their parents, keep no records of what they did, and then blithely declare that reuniting them with their parents "could be traumatic". Where is the outrage from our senators? By not speaking up they are complicit in a massive exercise in child abuse. Instead of a wall, we need to fund whatever it takes to repair these broken families. That is our moral responsibility. |
| 2019-02-06 | Green New Deal I object to the common designation of Houston being the "energy capital of the world". Houston is the "oil and gas" capital, and that could prove to be our downfall, unless we work very hard at truly becoming the energy capital. We, as a city, need to acknowledge that oil and gas is a finite resource, and that climate change will force changes in the energy mix, probably sooner than later. We can either capitalize on those changes, or be left behind and turn into just another rust-belt city. We need to embrace change, not fight it, and quit pretending it isn't coming. |
| 2019-02-08 | Need for more prosecutors If we need more prosecutors to work through the backlog created by Harvey, then why not hire contract lawyers instead, until the backlog is whittled down? Having a backlog related to an extraordinary event does not translate into a need to increase permanent staff. |
| 2019-02-08 | Secretary of State David Whitley To not even own up to his terrible performance with the "voter purge", Secretary of State David Whitley has not only shown himself to be unapologetically incompetent, but he also points to the inabillity of Governor Greg Abbott to find and appoint competent people. For the Governor to allow this farce to continue only damages his own reputation. |
| 2019-02-11 | Pedestrian Safety I walk a lot, and from my own experience I can confidently report that a majority of Houston drivers seem to be unaware that you are supposed to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Just yesterday I was in the middle of the street, in a crosswalk, and a car blew past me at speed, fully expecting me to yield. Instead of spending millions to redesign a small number of intersections, perhaps the city should try to educate drivers by posting prominent "yield to pedestrians - state law" signs. A crosswalk has no meaning to most drivers. |
| 2019-02-12 | Bills would target alleged food stamp fraud on EBT cards So the estimate from the data for the cost of food stamp fraud is about one million dollars a year. What are the chances that the program to stop that fraud will cost at least ten times that amount? This sounds like a solution in search of a problem, and a way to harrass people on food stamps. |
| 2019-02-14 | Judge Hughes We give judges a great deal of power and latitude, but with that power needs to come irreproachable behavior. U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes fails miserably on that count. It seems clear that he is punishing the prosecutor because he got sanctioned for his treatment of her. He needs to be forced to retire before he further destroys the credibility of all judges. |
| 2019-02-14 | George Will In a rambling column taking swipes at many targets, George Will accuses Elizabeth Warren of making claims about her native American ancestry for opaque self-serving reasons. Any genealogist can tell you that family tales passed down from parent to child are often shown to have little or no factual basis when examined closely. My own mother always told me her father was 1/4 Cherokee. When I started doing genealogy, I found no evidence of this claim, and then DNA confirmed that the story was likely untrue. Family stories are often unreliable - I find that to be the most likely explanation for Elizabeth Warren's claims. |
| 2019-02-15 | Trump So can we expect El Presidente to simply start ruling by decree, or will our Senators show some backbone and assert democratic principles? |
| 2019-02-15 | Emergency Forty percent of murders in Harris county are related to domestic violence, and we have no laws to take guns away from abusers. That is much more of a national emergency than refugees trying to cross the border could ever be. |
| 2019-02-16 | Prohibiting cashless stores Philadelphia proposes prohibiting cashless stores. Not allowing the use of cash is a real problem for the poor, but the soluion is not to require stores to take cash but to provide banking services for the poor. They are charged exhorbitant fees simply to cash their paychecks, they are unable to take advantage of lower online prices, there are many reasons why the poor are left at a severe disadvantage by not being able to afford a bank account. That is the problem that needs to be addressed. |
| 2019-02-18 | Kathleen Parker Kathleen Parker writes "It is, in other words, in our national interest to support Israel." Is it really in our interest to support a state that acts like a colonizing power, developing settlements on Palestinian land, appropriating land and pushing the the rightful owners off and into poverty? Israel seems quite happy to remain an occupying power, keeping the Palestinians poor and powerless, instead of working towards a just and sustainable security solution. Supporting that sort of behavior is not in our national interest. |
| 2019-02-20 | Re: Anti-BDS laws do not impede free speech If corporations are persons and giving money to politicians is free speech, then I do not see how boycotting a foreign power is not also free speech. Unless the missing ingredient is power and money - only the wealthy and powerful get to speak? |
| 2019-02-21 | Voter purge I have a pretty simple rule for whether a public official who messes up should keep their job. They need to own their mistake and not try to deflect blame on others. Keith Ingram, director of elections, fails that test in spades by trying to blame county voter registrars for his egregious error. I am certain that there are plenty of highly competent people in Texas who would love to have his job and would perform it much better than he has. It is time to find one of them. |
| 2019-02-22 | Chid separations The fact that our government considers reuniting children it tore away from their parents to be too burdensome, because they didn't keep good records, is simply obscene. Is Senator John Cornyn in favor of not reuniting children with their parents? If not, what will he do about it? I feel like my government has failed the most basic tests of humanity and certainly made a complete mockery of the oft repeated claim that we are a "Christian nation". Reuniting families we broke apart is too hard for the most powerful nation on earth. I can't write that without being sickened. |
| 2019-02-25 | Climate Change It is good to read that at least some Republicans are beginning to stop denying the reality of climate change. For me the question we should be asking our state leaders is, "what are you going to do to prepare Texas for a post-oil world?" If we are to avoid becoming like the rust belt, we need to be nurturing industries that will replace oil and gas production. We are not the energy capital - we are the oil and gas capital. Texas installs huge numbers of wind farms, with the equipment designed and built in China and Germany. We install solar panels, designed and built in Korea. We are surrendering the future to others. |
| 2019-02-25 | Greg Abbott In separate stories it was noted that Governor Greg Abbott has received the largest amount of campaign donations, $120 million, of any governor in the US. Separately it was noted he is actively supporting bill to prohibit cities from passing laws that require sick leave. I'm not sure I have seen a better example of actual class warfare in this country. |
| 2019-02-27 | Sidewalks It is awesome that Metro is taking the lead in repairing sidewalks in the city. Hardly a week goes by that I don't see a person with a walker or in a wheelchair out in the street because the sidewalk is impassible. Which for me raises a related question. Does the city even own street sweepers? Many places in my neighborhood have gutters clogged with leaves and mud - in some cases with grass growing in the gutter - that causes the nice wheelchair cuts at the corners to end in a morass of mud and water. All it would take is some cleaning to vastly improve the accessibility. |
| 2019-03-01 | Re: Houston fails to curb pedestrian deaths I have spent a lot of time in other cities, specifically Chicago and Seattle. I also walk whenever possible. My own experience is that drivers in Houston are generally awful, and appear to be totally ignorant of the law regarding pedestrians. It is rare for a driver here to stop for someone in a crosswalk - even though the law requires it. In both Seattle and Chicago, if you even look like you are about to step into the street, people almost always stop. I think that an aggressive education campaign and signage could be effective, along with more stop signs to force drivers to slow down. |
| 2019-03-01 | Abbott blames DPS Re: Abbott defends Whitley, hits DPS. It appears that our governor needs a sign for his desk reading "The Buck Stops Somewhere Else". |
| 2019-03-05 | STARR tests As a scientist, someone who spent a lifetime gathering and interpreting data, the report on the STARR test scores raises many red flags for me, because it doesn't make sense. If the readability score is accurate and precise, then the pass rates with third grade higher than fourth makes no sense, nor does the decline Texas has seen relative to other states. My conclusion is that the readability score is not relevant, as the test scores have probably been normalized by grade level, which would remove most readability effects. |
| 2019-03-06 | TCEQ I have never been impressed by the quality of the science coming out of the TCEQ. In general they seem to be more interested in protecting industry than in doing good science and letting the chips fall where they may. But the statements from Michael Honeycutt, the director of TCEQ’s toxicology division are, to me as a scientist, a clear example of bad science. To avoid collecting data is a terrible idea. Having remote sensing data to complement and extend the ground data would have been fantastic. Good science rests on good data - and so what we are left with is spotty, limited data and speculation. |
| 2019-03-08 | Re: Countywide polling gets OK I remember an election a few years ago where I had to vote at two different polling places on election day. That sort of issue - which truly is vote suppression - doesn't seem to concern Harris County Republican Party Chair Paul Simpson who, true to form, raises the false concern of people voting twice, when he should be a lot more concerned with getting people to just vote once. I suspect his real concern is that "the wrong people" may get out and vote. |
| 2019-03-11 | Trump budget Budgets are moral documents - they describe what is seen as important. The United States has a military budget larger than the next seven nations combined, yet it is slated to increase. We are a nation of immigrants, yet there is funding for a huge wall. Huge cuts are proposed for items that affect everyone, every day. Transportation, clean air and water, health, education. I have an image of an obsessively paranoid state trying to isolate from the world, while ignoring the basic human needs of its own people. This is an ugly document. |
| 2019-03-12 | Cyclist close calls I am not surprised that David Loya, the cyclist killed by a school bus, had several close calls with cars. Anyone in Houston who walks or bikes regularly can recount close calls. Frankly, the drivers here are terrible - we need to face the fact that Houston (and perhaps Texas in general) has a culture that places the ideal of unrestrained automobile traffic well above the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. Many drivers clearly resent sharing the road with others. Until we begin to attack this attitude, pedestrians and bicyclists will continue to die. |
| 2019-03-13 | Disabled access to polling places I was struck by the sentence "The DOJ said the sites had inadequate parking, cracked and crumbling sidewalks and inaccessible or absent ramps for wheelchairs, among other required accommodations". I instantly thought "doesn't that apply to most of the city?" Hardly a week passes that I don't see someone in a wheelchair or with a walker traveling down the street because the sidewalks are either non-existent or in such poor shape that they are unusable. |
| 2019-03-15 | Car chases Six people hospitalized and one dead from two separate car chases noted in this morning's paper. When are police going to stop chasing people, leading to these sorts of tragedies? The collateral damage from chasing is not worth worth it. These are minor crimes and people, often innocent, are getting killed and maimed. |
| 2019-03-16 | Taxes Regarding complaints about increasing the sales tax. While it is true that sales taxes are regressive and respond to the economy, property taxes are much worse in many ways. Your taxes go up as the value of your home increases, but unless you actually sell your home, you don't have any more money available to pay the increased tax. The value attached to property is based on a subjective estimate, which can be gamed by the wealthy. With sales taxes, I can adjust my purchases to avoid some sales tax, and the tax itself is objective and hard to manipulate. Sales tax would be an improvement. Imperfect, but an improvement. |
| 2019-03-16 | First child flu death Considering the first child in Houston to die of the flu this year. If everyone in the city took some responsibility and got themselves vaccinated, she would probably not have caught the flu and died. No man is an island, we are all part of the greater whole, and we all bear some responsibility for the well-being of our neighbor. |
| 2019-03-16 | re: $100M urged for school safety So the legislature wants to spend $100 million to buy metal detectors for schools. I suggest they finance it with an additional tax on guns and ammunition. That only seems fair to me. Gun owners need to pay for the damage their uncompromising attitudes are causing. I don't want to pay to clean up their mess. |
| 2019-03-16 | statistics It was written "The odds of having sextuplets are estimated at 1 in 4.7 billion". This statistic only applies to "spontaneous sextuplets", i.e., without use of fertility drugs. Unclear from the article if fertility drugs were used. |
| 2019-03-18 | Ruben Navarrette Jr "Pat O’Rourke, who once told reporters he gave his son the nickname “Beto” because he thought it might help get votes if he entered politics in a border state like Texas" I spent some time googling, because this statement set off my BS detector, and all I could find were repeated references coming only from Ruben Navarrette Jr. And none of his claims have attribution beyond "a newspaper". It is an extraordinary claim that a parent would nickname their toddler to prepare them for running for political office. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Now, at the time Beto was born, having an Hispanic association was hardly a vote-getter, so this statement sounds silly on its face. I would like to see a professional fact-check, since this sounds very much like a hit job, or a joke - especially since no one else is repeating the story. |
| 2019-03-19 | Tank fire I think it is obvious that the tank farm currently burning had tanks placed too close together, and lacked sufficient fire suppression equipment to contain the fire and prevent it's spread. A fire in one tank should never spread to neighboring tanks. I will be watching to see how our county officials respond - I expect to see retrofits to be required and stronger regulations on new tank construction. We are just really lucky the weather has kept the smoke aloft this time. This is a completely unacceptible situation. |
| 2019-03-24 | Solar tax breaks There is another way to look at the property tax breaks for solar farms. Our schools have become far too dependent on property tax, which has hurt the schools and forced our property tax rates up to be some of the highest in the nation, by some measures being 3rd from the top. For example, my property in Seattle pays 1/3 the tax rate I pay here. This over-dependence on property tax distorts our state economy (a solar farm probably is much less profitable here because of it) and cannot properly feed our education system. Our tax base needs diversity. |
| 2019-03-26 | witchhunt So Trump wants to investigate who initiated the "witchhunt". What Robert Mueller determined was that the Russians spent heavily to influence the election, and that many Trump employees and associates, including family members, had multiple meetings with Russian agents. Thankfully none of them actually cooperated with the Russians, but this was no witch hunt. There was ample suspicious activity that required deep investigation. To say otherwise is a lie. We need to acknowledge that the possibility of treasonous activity was very real, be happy it did not occur, and move on. |
| 2019-03-27 | ITC fire My concern about the reaction to the ITC fire is that government officials will be too concerned with punishing ITC and not focussed enough on preventing future incidents. For example, it is clear to me that the tanks were too close together - allowing the fire to spread, and that there was not enough equipment permanently in place to drench the tanks with water to keep them cool. Tank setbacks could be required for new construction, additional permanent fire suppression equipment could be added by everyone. Given the enormous total cost of this incident, prevention should be uppermost in our leader's minds. |
| 2019-03-29 | Vaccines Rep. Briscoe Cain said “May government leaders never forget that parents know what is best for their children.” By that logic, laws against child abuse should be taken off the books. By that logic, there is no such thing as a bad parent. Most seriously, however, he completely misses the point that by not vaccinating their children, these parents are selfishly putting all of the rest of us in danger of disease. Vaccinations are not 100% effective in an individual - they depend on most people being vaccinated to be effective. Let me say it again - Briscoe Cain is advocating for allowing these parents to endanger all of the rest of us. He is pro-disease and pro-epidemic. |
| 2019-03-29 | Green New Deal Unlike most people, I actually read the "Green New Deal". While I have some issues with it, I thought that as a statement of general principles it held up well, and my question for those who oppose it is this: just exactly what parts of it are you opposed to? Protecting the environment? Reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Promoting fairness and justice? It's not the bogeyman it is made out to be. I recommend reading it. It is easy to find online. |
| 2019-03-31 | Taxes Washington County Commissioner Kirk Hanath is "hoping to recoup funds from the state to rebuild when the boom cycle ends". This summarizes an important part of Texas' tax problem. Why should the state pay to fix roads destroyed by commercial traffic instead of paying for better schools? The companies using and destroying those roads should be paying the repair costs, but business has the legislature in their pocket, so the rest of us get to subsidize business in many ways while human needs go unmet. This is not good public policy. |
| 2019-03-31 | Re: More local retailers say no to cash The real issue not addressed in this article is the high cost of banking for people of low income. Minimum balance requirements and large penalties put banking out of reach for many - even if they want to use a bank. Without a bank a person get charged huge fees to cash their paycheck, they are vulnerable to theft, and it is nearly impossible to establish credit. Stores not accepting cash is not the issue. The inaccessibility of banking services for the poor is the real issue. |
| 2019-03-31 | Re: Migrant wave overwhelms border sites I hate to say this, but I do not believe a word of what my government is saying about refugees at the border. After being continuously lied to about nearly everything for the past two years, the Federal government no longer has any credibility with me. And that is a really sad situation. |
| 2019-04-01 | Residential solar slow to catch on In "Residential solar slow to catch on" the author notes that there is no requirement in Texas for electric companies to buy back residential solar energy. Which is true. However, there are power providers who will buy back the power. I have solar panels on my roof and last summer paid as little as $2.50 for electricity some months - all of which was taxes. As I write this on a sunny morning, I am sending power back to the grid, and getting paid for it. |
| 2019-04-05 | Immigration and asylum How is it that border crossings are way down from their historic highs, yet we have a crisis at the border? Largely because people are doing what the administration asked. Instead of sneaking across the border and disappearing into the countryside, they are presenting themselves to officials at the border and asking for legal asylum status. This is a crisis of our own making - we asked people to go through legal channels, and now those channels turn out to be insufficient to meet the demand. The "emergency" is simple incompetence on our part. |
| 2019-04-05 | Pedestrian safety A pair of pedestrians is killed trying to cross North Shepherd to get to a bus stop. Every bus stop should have a crosswalk. Every. One. And we need a serious education program for drivers to teach them that when someone is in a crosswalk, you are supposed to stop. As a frequent walker I have been winded by cars while I was in a crosswalk - even with a walk signal - more times than I can count. Houston drivers give pedestrians no respect, and as a result we have one of the highest pedestrian death rates in the country. This needs to stop! |
| 2019-04-06 | Re: DPS denies licenses to reformed offenders Instead of fruitlessly trying to change the DPS to act in a reasonable, data-driven fashion, why not just take the authority to approve licenses away from them and give it to a different, more enlightened agency? |
| 2019-04-08 | Border crisis Are we being overwhelmed at the border? Can I trust anything coming from an administration that lies without compunction or apology? I don't know the truth about what is happening at the border, but calling it an emergency plays into the political strategy of this administration, so the most plausible interpretation is that they are lying and there is no actual border crisis, only a manufactured one. |
| 2019-04-08 | re: U.S. wants two years to ID migrant kids split from families Regarding "U.S. wants two years to ID migrant kids split from families", I find this appalling as a reflection of the values, or lack thereof, of this administration. They are willing to take money away from military family housing to build a pointless and useless wall, but not willing to move budget money around to hire the people necessary to reunite children with their families as soon as possible. This is simply evil. There is no other word for it. |
| 2019-04-10 | The gig economy The growth of the gig economy will eventually lead to things like universal healthcare, state funded unemployment and disability insurance, and other benefits associated with a "traditional" job. It is really rather silly that these benefits are linked to working at a traditional job, and not linked to simply "working". Some will call these paternalistic, but really they are just good public policy. Keeping people healthy and helping them avoid sliding into poverty due to circumstances beyond their control is good for society as a whole. |
| 2019-04-10 | BP using 3D seismic in Alaska I'm sorry, but this is a silly story that is mostly wrong. 3D seismic started to be used in the 1980's, and has been used extensively both onshore and offshore ever since. Vibrators were patented by Conoco in the 1950's. This story is taking an extraordinarily routine event and trying to make it sound new and different. 99% of seismic data today is 3D (sometimes 4D or 5D), and 99% of onshore data is aquired with vibrators. I would hope that editors in Houston would be more aware of real life in the oil industry. I suspect the real story is that production from Prudhoe has fallen to such a degree that it is getting difficult to keep the pipeline flowing, so BP is willing to spend the large amount of money necessary to run a 3D survey over the field to find undrained areas. The technology is not new, using it over Prudhoe may be. |
| 2019-04-11 | Tax swap The legislature is proposing to reduce property taxes and increase sales taxes to compensate. While I agree that sales tax is better than property tax, the fact that we have some of the highest property and sales taxes in the country should say something. What it says is that our state tax burden is almost entirely on residents, and not on business. Other very successful states with low unemployment tax businesses at a much higher rate than Texas, and tax residents much less. In Texas we tax the middle-class and the poor, and give a pass to the wealthy under the guise of "it's good for business". Maybe it's good for business, but it is awful for the rest of us. |
| 2019-04-12 | Electric vehicles The statement " the cars’ efficiency and environmental benefit against their relatively high price compared to gasoline-powered engines and lengthy waits for recharging" reflects incorrect perceptions and old data. The newest electric cars are priced comparably to other cars in their class (Acura, Audi, BMW, etc.), have much lower cost of ownership (no tuneups, oil changes, radiator flush, etc.), and with supercharging stations can receive a added range of 150 miles in 20 minutes. Soon the stations will be upgraded to cut that time in half. On a cost basis, for $10 in electricity you can drive 300 miles, which with gasoline at $2.50/gal would yield 75 mpg equivalent. Electric car technology is advancing rapidly, destroying old assumptions. |
| 2019-04-14 | Re: Migrant families’ rush for border overwhelms b Last year the Border Patrol lied about a 73% rise in border assaults. The administration generally seems to lie about everything without compunction. Why should we believe the reports of the system on the border being overwhelmed when the numbers come from a group of proven liars who for political reasons want to exaggerate claims about border chaos? I believe the press is being suckered into reporting fake news. |
| 2019-04-14 | electric cars A letter writer claimed regarding electric cars that "Batteries have to be recharged, and for now, that means burning fossil fuels". Well, I have an electric car, I have solar panels, and my electricity provider uses wind and solar power to generate the electricity I use. So no, it doesn't require burning fossil fuels. Additionally, by cost, I get about three times the range that a gasoline car would. |
| 2019-04-17 | Re: Buzbee and King take aim at mayor I guess if you can't attack the policy, you attack the person. |
| 2019-04-18 | Safer Streets I applaud the city for a new and long overdue emphasis on pedestrian safety, however I am deeply saddened by the reality that progress will be slow, and priorities will be based on people getting killed - to repair a dangerous intersection someone will have to die. I would hope we could find less capital-intensive solutions that could be deployed more rapidly to more places, and actually prevent pedestrian deaths. Better and more explicit signage, painted crosswalks, and driver education campaigns could help, and would not strain the budget. For example, I see much better signage in other cities than we install here - larger, more explicit (stop for pedestrians, state law). |
| 2019-04-18 | Mueller report We should be abolutely precise about what the Mueller report said. It did not find that there was "no collusion". What it did find was that there was not sufficient evidence to prove collusion beyond a reasonable doubt. Clearly there was a lot of circumstantial evidence, but no "smoking gun" was uncovered. Clearly the Trump campaign at minimum danced very close to the collusion line, but the investigation was unable to prove they crossed it. This is not so much an exoneration as it is an indication that there was an awful lot of smoke, but the fire could not be found. There was a fire, somewhere. |
| 2019-04-21 | Medical pricing The story on the completely inconsistent and opaque pricing for medical services is probably one of the best arguments for Medicare for All. When medical facilities threaten everyone with outrageous bills, even those with good insurance, a single-payer plan begins to sound a lot more attractive. |
| 2019-04-23 | Taxes The real problem with property taxes in Texas, as revealed in the story "Equity appeals shift tax burden", is that residential taxpayers shoulder all the burden, and businesses are not paying their fair share. While one solution would be to limit property appraisal appeals, I would contend that reducing the dependence on property tax - which is always based on a subjective valuation - would be better. Instead, institute a real business tax based on objective criteria like number of employees, income, or revenue and take the burden off residents. Switching to a sales tax accomplishes nothing. |
| 2019-04-23 | Road projects I see nothing in the road plans that helps me. I can drive to downtown in about 10 minutes, but if I opt to use public transit - which I would prefer - it takes close to an hour. Most streets in my neighborhood are either lacking sidewalks, or they are crumbling. We spent several summers in Chicago without a car - because it wasn't needed. With excellent sidewalks, uber, good bus service, and the ever reliable EL, a car was not needed. We could get anywhere in the city quickly and easily. All I see here is more land devoted to the automobile. Flying in last week the brown haze that surrounds the city was visible for a hundred miles. |
| 2019-04-25 | Car Dealerships Are car dealerships even needed anymore? I bought a Tesla last year over the internet, and the experience was stellar. No haggling, no hours of paperwork - just pick the options I wanted, arrange payment, and then go pick it up a couple of weeks later when it arrived. So why would I need a dealer? I wouldn't. The legislature needs to quit protecting dinosaurs and allow the future to happen. |
| 2019-04-26 | Re: City pays family in garbage truck death Too many drivers in Houston are in too much of a hurry, and neglect watching for pedestrians. I walked to the grocery store yesterday, and twice had drivers turn and almost hit me while I was in a crosswalk with a walk signal. It is no surprise to me that we have such a terrible record for pedestrian deaths and injuries. |
| 2019-04-26 | Measles outbreak "Fourteen of those infected had traveled overseas to countries including Philippines, Thailand, India and Ukraine." For years I have carried a yellow vaccination card with my passport, proving that I have been vaccinated for a large variety of diseases. But no one has ever asked to see it. It seems to me that we could significantly reduce the chances of an epidemic here if we required people to prove they were vaccinated before they could come back into the country. |
| 2019-04-28 | Rewriting history A letter writer claims president Carter "presided over the worst economic decline since the Great Depression" and did nothing to free 52 hostages from Iran. As I recall, George W. Bush presided over the Great Recession, and Ronald Reagan made under the table deals with Iran to hold the hostages until after the election, and then paid for their release with smuggled weapons. Is that the sort of behavior we really want? |
| 2019-04-30 | Renewables A bill is before the legislature to study how to tax renewables and make them less competitive. I would like to see as an addition to that study, how Texas can reduce its carbon footprint and help combat climate change. Additionally, we should be looking at how to wean the state off the oil industry, so that when it inevitably declines, we don't end up like the rust belt. |
| 2019-04-30 | Gig economy Unlike most western economies, the U.S. has a very minimal safety net, depending on employers to provide health insurance, pay social security, pay unemployment insurance, etc. As we move more workers to being "contractors", especially in the gig economy, the pressure to improve the safety net will increase. People want security. People want affordable healthcare, a pension, and unemployment protection. If employers are able to quit providing those things the pressure will be on the government to do so. Which could be a good thing - why should the quality of your health insurance depend on which company you work for? |
| 2019-05-01 | Prosecuting polluters "Houston attorney Rusty Hardin ... said prosecuting petrochemical companies is a misguided idea. He said charging executives would fail to serve as a deterrent ..." In my experience, Rusty is dead wrong. When executives at my company found they were personally liable and subject to jail time for Sarbane-Oxley violations and for Export Control violations, the response was immediate, wide-ranging, and thorough. It focussed their attention like nothing else. |
| 2019-05-02 | Guns and disasters "Phelan has said gun owners and people operating shelters would be able to decide if a firearm should be brought to a shelter". What about the people in the shelter who didn't bring a gun? Do they get a say? Why do gun owner's rights seem to always trump the rights of those who are not armed? |
| 2019-05-04 | Re: Jobless rate is lowest in 50 years It sounds like good news that the unemployment rate is reaching new lows, but before we all celebrate we should ask why it is so low. Two key factors are Baby Boomers retiring and shrinking the workforce - nothing to do with the strength of the economy - and more disturbingly, the opioid crisis removing young and middle-aged people from the workforce through death or disability. |
| 2019-05-08 | Property Taxes Property tax fairness - making certain that the big boys pay just like the rest of us - would go a long way towards reducing the tax rate. Could it be that the deafening silence on this topic emanating from Austin is a result of fat campaign contributions? A single party state, like we have become, creates an atmosphere ripe for corruption and complacency. |
| 2019-05-08 | Vaccines I believe that refusing to allow a child to be vaccinated borders on child abuse. Parents do not have unlimited control over their children - and they do not always know what is best. There are plenty of examples of abuse that should bring that notion to question. So in my mind, Rep. Jonathan Stickland is basically advocating for child abuse. He and his allies need to be held responsible for every measles death. This is serious business. |
| 2019-05-16 | Iran It is clear to me that with their poll numbers falling, the Administration and their Congressional supporters are trying to lie their way into a war with Iran to wag the dog. Spilling the blood of our soldiers for purely political purposes should be the most impeachable offense - for all involved. |
| 2019-05-16 | Guns A letter writer repeats that well-worn trope that the second amendment was meant to allow citizens to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. That is ridiculously far from the truth. The second amendment was put in place to allow people to create militias to put down slave revolts, at a time when there was no standing army. Standing armies were anathema to the founding fathers, so the ability to quickly cobble together a militia under the supervision of the state was seen as important. |
| 2019-05-18 | Going cashless So Congress is attempting to turn back the clock as "lawmakers in Congress are seeking to ban cashless stores across the country." If members of Congress actually cared about the poor - instead of the ATM lobby - they would establish a banking system for the poor that would allow them to cash paychecks and have access to affordable banking services like debit cards without needing to have ridiculously high minimum account balances. Cashless stores are the least of their problems. This is nothing but a scam promulgated by Congress. |
| 2019-05-19 | Cleaning Drains In my neighborhood, The Heights, we have many spots where dirt has collected in the gutter for so long that it is now covered in grass and weeds. After a rain, many of the ramps on the corners lead into several inch deep pools of mud. The streets don't drain, the sewers clog up, none of this helps with our flooding problems. In addition to spending billions to reshape bayous, shouldn't we consider spending a few million to buy some street sweepers to help keep our storm sewers open? |
| 2019-05-24 | Electric Car Fees I like the idea of studying what fees electric cars should pay, instead of just picking a number out of the air. It should be based on the wear and tear to roadways, offset by the savings due to reduced deaths due to air pollution. Houston is wrapped in an ugly and unhealthy brown haze for most of the summer, and the source of that smog is almost entirely automobile exhaust. Ozone action days are cause by gasoline engines. Electric cars should get some credit for not contributing to that problem. |
| 2019-05-25 | Re: HISD hit with $9.2M verdict It is abundantly clear that HISD violated copyright law, why did the trustees insist on going to trial? I'm certain that had they admitted wrongdoing they could have negotiated a much smaller payment. This is yet one more example of the arrogance of the board. |
| 2019-05-26 | Economy Big aggregate numbers (GDP, unemployment rate) indicate the economy is doing well, but big aggregate numbers can hide a lot of detail. For example, one important factor that is rarely mentioned is that the baby boomers have largely retired over the past eight years, effectively reducing the labor pool and contributing to the low unemployment rate. GDP measures capital generation in the economy as a whole, but says nothing about whose pocket the profits end up in. For most people, measures like income or wealth growth by income group, or income security, are more important. But like the Dow Jones average, GDP is an easily quotable and nearly meaningless number. |
| 2019-05-28 | Re: Tension on Trump’s Japan trip It is clear to me that at the core of Trump's behavior towards North Korean leader Kim Jon Un , Russian president Putin, Phillipine president Duarte, and other strongmen and dictators, is a complete disregard for the rule of law. He admires those who flout the law, and sees those who honor the law as weak. This should be terrifying to anyone who believes that the rule of law is fundamental to who we are as a country. We fought a civil war over the rule of law. This is a bedrock principle we cannot allow to be abandoned. |
| 2019-05-29 | Life in prison A letter writer calls life in prison "free room and board for life". I assume that they have never visited a prison. Life there is pretty awful, on many levels. |
| 2019-05-30 | Mueller and Trump The president claims that the Mueller Report showed there was no obstruction, but that is patently incorrect. The Attorney General hired by Trump made a summary of the report and he declared that there was no obstruction. In effect, the president hired someone to declare him innocent. It is time for Congress to make their own declaration. |
| 2019-05-30 | Dangerous driving Having the experience of driving and walking in Houston, Chicago, and Seattle, my own view is that a significant portion of the danger in Houston is driver attitude. Houston drivers are more aggressive, in a hurry, and often seem angrier than in the other two cities. Try to get a car to stop for you while in a crosswalk in Houston. It is usually futile. In Chicago and Seattle, cars will stop if you look like you may be about to enter the crosswalk. Houston, we have a serious attitude problem. |
| 2019-05-30 | McConnell would fill high court vacancy Of course no one actually believed Mitch McConnell when he blocked Merrick Garland from consideration by the Senate. Politics in Washington is all about power and wealth. It is rarely about what is good for the country, and certainly not about fairness or honesty. I find myself in the sad position of being unable to believe anything my government says now. I do not believe that we have a border crisis, I do not believe that Iran is a threat, I do not believe our elections are free and fair. I feel pushed away from the middle, because compromise with an untrustworthy liar is a fools errand. Lies poison the well of compromise, and Mitch McConnell has poured gallons of poison into the well. |
| 2019-06-03 | Christine Flowers Christine Flowers in an editorial bemoans that "people who long for a simpler time are called bigots". A simpler time for whom? Certainly for white men. But certainly not for LGBT people, who like everyone else long for simpler times, but achieve that by society changing, not retreating to a straight, white majority past. Maybe those who "long for a simpler time" are not bigots, maybe they are merely self-absorbed and unable to put themselves into the shoes of those who have historically been discriminated against. |
| 2019-06-12 | Medicare for all I find it interesting that the executive director for Americans for Free Choice in Medicine seems to say that tens of millions of Americans aren't getting medical care today, since they will show up at doctor's offices if they suddenly have insurance. That speaks to a desperate human need we need to meet - possibly with Medicare for all. |
| 2019-06-13 | HISD copyright violations It seems to me that the attitude of the HISDboard is all wrong. The ethical course would be to admit that "yes, we violated the law and stole your work", and then negotiate a fair settlement rather than fighting. That they chose to fight is itself an indictment of their ethical standards. But then, with this school board, I am not surprised. |
| 2019-06-14 | Iran After a continuous litany of lies and misinformation, I cannot believe this administration when it claims Iran has attacked tankers. It is clear that they want a war with Iran, and probably want a distraction from talk of impeachment. I think we are being played by our president. |
| 2019-06-18 | Pedestrian safety While I appreciate your editorial on traffic deaths, there is one important factor you left out. In my experience, in Houston, drivrs will rarely stop for someone who is in a crosswalk. I do not experience this in other cities. I would encourage the city, county, and state to advertise the fact that cars are supposed to stop for pedestrians, and encourage them to do so. Walking in Houston is scary. |
| 2019-06-21 | Iran This administration is encouraging Iran to develop nuclear weapons. First we pull out of a good pact that was working and impose sanctions, and now we threaten them militarily. What proud country would sit back and meekly accept our treatment? If I were an Iranian leader, I would feel very insecure and would want to build nuclear weapons as quickly as possible to counteract the threat from the United States. Our policy towards Iran is wrong-headed in so many ways, and our children will be paying a high price for years. |
| 2019-06-25 | Children held in horrific conditions Where are the "Right To Lifers" when children are being held in horrible, unsanitary conditions in what amount to concentration camps? Where are the evangelical preachers? Could it be they only care about other people's unborn children? |
| 2019-06-25 | Refugee children This administration seems to have little difficulty in moving funds around to pay for building a border wall - delaying the repair and construction of housing for armed services families - but pleads that they do not have enough money to properly take care of refugee children, being unable to supply them with blankets, toothbrushes, and soap. It should be obvious that it is a matter of desire, not ability. Refugee children are being intentionally punished. This administration does not care about children, but is cynically using them as political pawns. |
| 2019-06-26 | Re: Frightened Babies What would happen to the parents of a child who treated that child the same way that the children in ICE custody are being treated? They would be arrested and charged with child abuse. How is this any different? People in charge need to be arrested. I refuse to believe that the law gives them authority to abuse children. Where is CPS in all of this? Why are they not visiting the camps? Where are our state leaders who profess such concern for unborn children? |
| 2019-07-01 | Medicare for all costs Concerns that Medicare for All or a similar program will raise taxes are missing a key point - we pay for medical insurance now through taxes, payments to insurors, etc. We pay a lot - much more than European countries, and on average we get less. The real financial debate is about efficiency. How many doctor's offices have one or two staff devoted to dealing with the various insurance companies? How much of our medical expense goes into profits and advertising? Expanding Medicare means shrinking private insurance. That is where the money comes from. |
| 2019-07-02 | Leonard Pitts and Swatting I was shocked by the story about Leonard Pitts being the victim of a false 911 call - shocked that you can block your number when calling 911. It seems to me that that needs to fixed. If you call 911, your number should be given to them. Too many people have weaponized 911, sometimes with tragic results. |
| 2019-07-03 | Hemp rules Given the utter chaos that did not descend upon Colorado and Washington after pot was legalized, why would we want to spend large amounts of money testing pot for THC so we can prosecute users? Just give it up. We have much more important things to focus law enforcement on than pot users. Next session legislators can fix the problem by legalizing pot. If people are caught driving dangerously due to alcohol, pot, texting, sleepiness, or prescription drugs, ticket them for driving dangerously. The cause is immaterial. |
| 2019-07-05 | Ethanol Let's tell the truth about adding ethanol to gasoline. Adding a small amount is a good thing - it replaces tetraethyl lead as an anti-knock agent. But beyond that there is no reason to add ethanol, other than to subsidize corn farmers. The energy required to create the ethanol is about equal to the energy it produces, so it does nothing to alleviate climate change. It is more expensive than oil, so it increases the price of gasoline. Additionally, as ethanol is added to gasoline, ozone emissions increase - Houston already has a summer ozone problem, more ethanol would just make the smog worse. |
| 2019-07-07 | Clint "Moak in the end stated that Clint was in compliance with standards". I hope that Congress will call Mr. Moak to testify as to who ordered him to whitewash conditions at Clinton. He may also need to be reminded that "just following orders" is not a defense for crimes against humanity, as the US showed at Nuremberg. If this was not a Federal facility, CPS would throw everyone involved in jail for child abuse. |
| 2019-07-08 | State Board of Education Does the State Board of Education actually help our students? Or are they an idealogical entity dedicated to promoting fringe positions that ultimately hurt Texas school children? I think we would all be better off if they were simply abolished. |
| 2019-07-12 | Climate change Richard Wiles in an editorial (Cost to address rising sea levels will touch everyone) makes a case for oil companies to pay for the costs of rising sea level, since the pollutors should pay. But what about the automobile companies who made cars only able to run on gasoline or diesel? What about the people who drove them? What about the agencies that built highways to encourage the burning of gasoline? If we need to apportion blame - rarely a helpful exercise - let's blame modern society and move on to working on desperately needed solutions to climate change. Pointing fingers is a distraction from attacking this existential threat. |
| 2019-07-13 | social media summit Could it be more ironic that the "social media summit" was filled with well-known trolls and purveyors of truly fake news? I for one expect nothing but lies and completely biased positions from this administration. Falsehood has become the Republican stock in trade. When will someone with integrity stand up to what the party has become? It seems that only those not running for re-election are willing to stand up for integrity and honesty. People complain about the lack of compromise in Washington, but how do you compromise with falsehoods? |
| 2019-07-16 | Trump's racism Dear John, Our president tweets blatantly racist comments, and then doubles down on them when criticized. I am a 65 year-old white guy and I am horrified at what is coming out of the White House. As my senator, I expect more from you than I have seen. By your silence, you are complicit in enabling this unacceptible, immoral, un-American behavior, and you should be ashamed. |
| 2019-07-16 | Republican support for racism I heard that only 4 Republicans had the guts to vote to condemn the president's racist tweets, and I feel deep sadness for our country. Flags should be lowered to half-mast to reflect the tragedy that is this day. People say we need to come together, but there are lines I cannot cross or compromise on, and the Republican party is on the other side of that line. |
| 2019-07-17 | Abbot's fundraising So the governor has raised millions of campaign dollars from a small cadre of wealthy donors. Sounds like a government of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy. I fear for the future of our democracy. As the wealth gap increases, and the majority become more disenfranchised, the future looks bleak. |
| 2019-07-18 | Re: Renewable energy can’t keep A/C humming I'm curious as to why Bernard L. Weinstein says that for hot, sunny summer days "Texas needs coal, nuclear, and large gas plants" in case the wind dies, but ignores the obvious solution that a Rice University study pointed out - solar. On the hottest, sunniest days, solar will be there. Solar can be built close to the city where it is needed - or even within the city, eliminating the need for condemning farmland to build long stretches of powerlines. My own rooftop solar keeps my bills in summer very low - sometimes only a few dollars. There are other answers to his concerns. |
| 2019-07-19 | Minimum wage The primary concern with raising the minimum wage is potential job loss, but the actual data is ambiguous, with different studies producing contradictory answers. My own suspicion is that many minimum wage workers work two or three jobs, and with a pay raise could cut back the hours they work to something more reasonable. The truth is that not paying people a living wage is another form of wealth transfer from the poor to the rich, allowing those with money and power to pay less while the poor struggle to survive. It is not simply an economic issue, it is a moral issue. |
| 2019-07-20 | Distrusted Officer list I find it somewhat bizarre that the DA has a list of police officers that cannot be trusted as witnesses in court. Does the police department have a copy? I would hope that the officers have a chance to defend themselves. If indeed they are not trustworthy on the stand, then why are they still working for the department? An officer who cannot testify is not very useful. The whole situation seems like an episode of the Twilight Zone. |
| 2019-07-21 | Go back where you came from I find it interesting how some of Trump's supporters attempt to justify his racist remarks by editing them into something else. He said, "Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came". They claim he said if you don't like America, then leave it. Two very different statements. One is racist. The other is asinine. |
| 2019-07-21 | Mueller testimony What will Trump do to distract everyone from Robert Mueller's testimony? Will this be the week we start a war with Iran? The only sure thing is that he will not be quiet - he will do something to move the spotlight back to himself. |
| 2019-07-24 | Parking Council Member Greg Travis objected to the expansion of market-based parking because proponents of the measure are trying to foist a behavioral change on Houstonians. Perhaps instead proponents are proactively responding to behavioral changes that are already taking place and will likely accelerate? I see a clear move towards people wanting to reduce commutes, walk and bicycle more, move inside the loop, and make more use of ride services and public transit. Right now, it is hard to walk in Houston. The infrastructure opposes walking in many ways. In my estimation, proponents of the car culture are trying to stop cultural change. |
| 2019-07-24 | The Flag Having grown up in the Sixties in Houston, I will confess that I often get uncomfortable with displays of the American flag. Too often I unconsciously and reflexively associate flag pins with smarmy Nixonian politicians promoting cheap patriotism, flag bumper stickers with love it or leave it rednecks, and flag shirts with race-baiting Republicans. It is a sad commentary, but all of my life I have seen the flag used as a symbol and a weapon to promote divisiveness and oppose unity. It is time to reclaim it as a symbol for all of us. |
| 2019-07-25 | ERCOT rejects fixing power price spike So ERCOT receives bad pricing data from generators every day. That means that every electricity consumer in Texas is paying the wrong amount for electricity. To me that sounds like widespread fraud. It will be interesting to see ERCOT's response to the inevitable open records requests for their data on bad pricing. |
| 2019-07-27 | I-45 widening Widening I-45 to the detriment of people living inside the Beltway, for the benefit of distant suburbanites, seems like a very 20th century solution. Other solutions have yet to be seriously attempted. We do not have robust mass transit options along the north corridor, or even good connections to the train that exists. Houston is still a city dominated by the automobile, and that will continue until serious money is spent providing robust alternatives. In 15 years, the widened I-45 will be just as jammed as the current freeway - look at the Katy freeway - and we will have this conversation all over again. It would be great if the Texas Department of Transportation actually acted like a transportation agency, instead of a highway agency. |
| 2019-07-29 | Right turn on parking It is worth noting that the old requirements for restaurants and bars require more land area be dedicated to parking than is used for the facility itself. A parking space is about 150 square feet. Ten spaces are 1500 square feet, which were required for every 1000 square feet of bar space! |
| 2019-07-30 | Mold forces 200 to be moved at base in San Antonio Dorms for airmen overrun with mold. Isn't that the sort of problem the money Trump diverted to buid his wall was supposed to handle? |
| 2019-07-31 | New alert system for adults I don't object to the proliferation of alerts we now get on the highway and on our phones, but I do object to the mindless fashion they are sent out to the entire state. It is not helpful to alert people in Houston to an elderly man in El Paso being missing. Could the state please work on targeting alerts to a sensible area instead of mindlessly blasting them out to everyone? That would probably increase their effectiveness. |
| 2019-07-31 | Re: Not ready for census There may be another explanation for why the state of Texas is not going to help ensure a full census count. If the large cities spend resources improving their count, there could be a relative undercount in rural areas. Whiile that would be bad for the state as a whole, it would be good for the Republican party, because the new legislative districts drawn based on the new census data would contain uncounted Republicans. This would allow for a more sophisticated form of gerrymandering where districts that look like they are racially balanced could be drawn that actually contain uncounted white voters. |
| 2019-07-31 | Surescripts Sure-scripts says that prescription histories should be shared only with medical providers. That is my information, yet I am not allowed access? Congress has long needed to pass a law ensuring that our personal data is owned by us and not by corporations. |
| 2019-08-01 | Exxon fire Rock Owens, managing attorney for the Harris County Attorney’s environmental section, said “The way to prevent these things is a rigorous inspection program where the company is held responsible for not doing sufficient risk-management planning.” In my experience working for a large multinational, if you really want to get upper management's attention, the possibility of jail time is very effective. With executives being personally liable with potential jail time for export control violations, and for Sarbane-Oxley violations, everyone in the company received training on those topics every year. It was made extremely clear that those were viewed as important. Other topics - just as important, but not including jail time - not so much. |
| 2019-08-01 | Minimum wage Brian Hamilton makes the case that raising the minimum wage would hurt small business, driving some under. Which may very well be true. But with the minimum wage where it is - way too low to actually live on, the rest of us are subsidizing those marginal businesses as their employees qualify for food stamps, subsidized housing, subsidized medical insurance, etc. If a business can only survive if its employees get government subsidies, maybe it would be better for that business to fail in favor of those who can afford to pay a living wage. Wouldn't that be more of a capitalist solution? |
| 2019-08-03 | Ratcliffe John Ratcliffe would have been perfect for the Trump administration. A fawning sycophant, unqualified for the position, and a public liar. |
| 2019-08-04 | El Paso shooter So yet another domestic terrorist committing mass murder, no doubt influenced by the incitement of our president. In a time where inciting hate against brown people who speak Spanish has become a political strategy, this is the logical consequence. The Republican party has the blood of these victims on its hands. |
| 2019-08-05 | Assault weapons The Dayton Ohio shooter killed 9 and wounded 27 in 30 seconds. Assault weapons used to be banned in this country. They should be again. That may not prevent mass shootings, but it could very well reduce the body count. There is no legitimate reason for a civilian to own an assault weapon. |
| 2019-08-06 | Gun violence I am so tired of the standard Republican gun violence talking points, that ignore actual facts in favor of a fantasy world where it's all about mental illness, video games, and the internet. One only has to look at other countries that have the same video games, the internet, and mental illness to see that the real difference separating our high rates of gun violence from their low rates is guns. Almost half the world's guns are in the U.S. It is really hard to shoot dozens of people in 30 seconds if you don't have a gun. |
| 2019-08-09 | HISD Why are Republicans in favor of taking away Houston voter's right to select a new school board, in favor of a totalitarian regime? This is one more way that Republicans are attacking local control and taking power away from cities. I am disgusted by my trustee, and will certainly vote against her, but I want the right to do that. If any of them have violated the law, then prosecute them. But don't take away our right to vote. Right now, schools are finally showing improvement. Don't endanger that progress. |
| 2019-08-16 | Solar power As wholesale electricity prices in Texas pushed upwards towards the $9000 per megawatt hour limit, residential solar panel owners were not allowed to participate in that windfall. If the rules were changed so that residential solar panel owners could also sell their power at the going rate, I expect that could boost the industry and add extra capacity paid for by individual home owners. After all, when we are in danger of having a power shortage, it is a hot, sunny day, when solar panels will be most efficient. |
| 2019-08-20 | Re: Denials of high-skill work visas are skyrocketing I am retired from a large international company. Many of my co-workers were in the US on H-1B visas. I can easily predict the consequences of not approving H-1B visas. If companies cannot put their staff into offices in the U.S., they will expand their offices overseas and reduce their U.S. footprint. We live in an interconnected world and large companies are not held captive to national interests - they have choices. The losers in the end will be American workers. |
| 2019-08-21 | Cal Thomas Cal Thomas asks if the president can insult his way into a second term. One thing I have learned from this president is that many people like bullies - if they are not the one being bullied. Bullies in their mindless cruelty are seen as strong and masculine, ironic since bullying behavior has been shown to be symptomatic of deep insecurity. I suspect the that the bully in us is attracted to the bullies out there, including this president. |
| 2019-08-22 | The border and families The acting Secretary of Homeland Security says that a record number of families - by a factor of three - are crossing the border. He says illegally, I say seeking asylum. As the administration continues to mistreat asylum seekers, hoping to dissuade them, the numbers increase. Maybe we should try looking at why things have apparently gotten so much worse in Central America and work on the root cause, rather than abusing families and children. |
| 2019-08-22 | Urban Mobility Report I read the Urban Mobility Report, and it is pretty narrowly focussed. While it mentions public transit a few times, the data only concerns truck and automobile trips. It should be renamed the Urban Automobile report, since it only addresses that limited slice of mobility. When I lived in Memorial and worked downtown, I took the bus and the experience was great. I got some exercise walking to the bus stop, I could read or work on the bus, and the busses were frequent and reliable. I never understood my colleagues who felt like they had to drive downtown, who were somehow afraid of being separated from their car. A true urban mobility report, accounting for all the alternatives, would be welcome. |
| 2019-08-25 | Harvey flood repairs Let's not forget that our Governor did not think Harvey constituted a good enough reason to release money from the state rainy day fund, which could have arrived much sooner than the federal dollars. |
| 2019-09-03 | Robocalls The concern that new laws may block legitimate robocalls is misplaced. Due to the flood of illegal calls, many if not most people simply do not answer the phone unless it is a number they recognize. That serves the needs of no one. Frankly, if this phone spam is not controlled, it will mean of death of the telephone. |
| 2019-09-04 | Guns Dear Senator Cruz, You do yourself no credit by citing that tired old trope that gun control hasn't worked in Chicago. Thirty seconds of research would tell you that most of the guns in Chicago come from Indiana, which borders the city to the south. Chicago is at the mercy of the laws in the state of Indiana, which have almost no restrictions on gun purchases. Insteading of repeating NRA propaganda, could you please try to help? We are drowning in gun violence. |
| 2019-09-08 | I-45 Every time I fly into Houston, I am saddened and angered by the deep brown haze resting over the whole county. We have some of the worst air in the country, it is making people sick. The last thing I want to see is more lanes of stopped traffic spewing exhaust into the air I am trying to breathe. I-10 proves the futility of continuing to destroy neighborhoods by widening freeways. I have lived in Chicago without a car - with busses and the el, a car was not needed. Good mass transit can reduce the need for cars, reduce the area devoted to non-permeable concrete, reduce pollution, and for many people, save them money. |
| 2019-09-10 | Coarsening the culture My mother used to tell me that she always listened to Harry Truman's speeches, just to see how many times he would say s***. Has the culture really coarsened? Or is that a result of looking at the past through rose-colored glasses? |
| 2019-09-11 | Annexing Palestinian territory Colonialism is alive and well in the twenty-first century as Israel strives to steal Palestinian territory, and Russia does the same with Ukraine. In both cases, these actions are building deep resentments that will trouble the world for generations, and should be opposed by the world community in no uncertain terms. The fact that the US tacitly supports Israel's land-grab is deeply shameful. The Declaration of Independence supports the idea that people have a right to self-determination, and the Palestinians have been systematically denied that right for generations. |
| 2019-09-11 | Bahamanian refugees 10,000 people in the Bahamas searching for temporary housing, and our response is that they cannot come here unless they have a hard-to-get visa. No allowance being made for a tragedy of massive scope. I do not see how we can continue to claim we are a "Christian Nation". I would only ask that we meditate on "who is my neighbor?". |
| 2019-09-12 | Dorian tweet Every official involved in propagating NOAA's lie about Trump's hurricane Dorian tweet needs to be fired. The weather service responded to anxious phone calls from people misled by the president, and their reward was being contradicted by their bosses. If an official cannot stand up to the president when he is clearly in the wrong, they have no business being in government. They work for the people, not for the president. |
| 2019-09-14 | Flooding in Barker and Addicks To me, the fact that the government did not purchase all of the land in the flood pool, but instead allowed it to be turned into residential neighborhoods, in itself strongly supports the taking argument. The dams and reservoirs were designed to flood those homes. The error was in not initially buying all the flood pool property, which is really unacceptible. The government screwed up, they should admit that. |
| 2019-09-15 | Drone attack on Saudi Arabia Sadly, because of the continuous stream of lies that come from this administration, I cannot believe Secretary Pompeo when he fingers Iran as the guilty party. Given past behavior, it sounds too much like a convenient excuse for justifying further actions against Iran. |
| 2019-09-15 | Crime rates In this post-fact age we seem to be in, I have become a lot less tolerant of politicians telling lies. And let's call it what it is. Buzbee and King are lying about the crime rate to try to frighten people into voting for them. In an age when the primary strategy of a major political party is all about lying to frighten people, I think that is especially inappropriate. We don't need local candidates adding to the post-factual mess. |
| 2019-09-15 | I-45 A letter writer notes how he wouldn't want Houston to emulate New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. I have actually lived in both Chicago and Seattle, and I loved the fact that I could get where I needed to go without a car. Between trains, busses, Uber, and walking (the last a serious challenge in Houston), getting around was pretty easy. Visiting New York, I always use the subway. If people want to live in the far-flung suburbs, that is fine. But I should not have to pay the price for their commute to downtown in disrupted neighborhoods, noise and air pollution, and intractable traffic, on top of paying taxes to widen freeways that will only fill up with more cars. Let's learn from other cities and quit repeating the mistakes of the past. |
| 2019-09-17 | Attacks on Saudi Should we sacrifice our soldiers lives to defend a deeply repressive regime in Saudi Arabia and the profits of Aramco? Is Middle Eastern oil access a matter of national security? I would say that it no longer is, and it is not our circus. In April, hydroelectric dams, solar panels, and wind turbines produced more power than coal. Costs for solar and wind are now competitive with hydrocarbons. Instead of spending billions and sending soldiers to die in the Middle East, why don't we accelerate the move to renewables? That would be true energy security and good for the environment as well. |
| 2019-09-19 | Re: God-given right to own guns Would it be too much to ask the Republican Party of Texas to clarify their statement "God-given and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms”, and point out which Scripture passages they are referencing? All I recall are things like "Love thy neighbor" and "Thou shalt not kill". |
| 2019-09-19 | Beto and assault weapons I don't see how any of what Beto has said about buying back assault weapons is controversial, except perhaps his explicit language. Polls indicate that his position is supported by 75% of the American public. Are all of our elected officials still completely in the pockets of the gun manufacturers through the NRA? |
| 2019-09-19 | Middle East Oil Jim Krane writes "Vital American interests start with preventing or deterring attacks on the United States and its allies, particularly with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. After that, we are interested in uninterrupted exports of Middle Eastern oil, deterring terrorism, and preventing hostile countries from getting nuclear, chemical or biological weapons." I would propose one change to that. It is becoming clear that, for a variety of reasons, the age of oil is coming to an end. Imagine the geopolitical consequences if we seriously spent a fraction of our defense budget on accelerating the move towards renewable energy production and storage, and made Middle East oil irrelevant. How many trillions of dollars, how many lost lives have we spent on trying to maintain the flow of oil from the Middle East? Let's just say no, and take away the power those countries have over us. |
| 2019-09-22 | Ukraine To be clear, Trump is not trying to get Ukraine to "dig up dirt" on Biden. Those may be the words, but the clear unsaid message is that he is asking Ukraine to "make up dirt" on Biden. Like a mafia don - as James Comey noted - he never speaks explicitly, but his implication is clear. |
| 2019-09-22 | Child abuse Excellent article on the problem of medically diagnosing child abuse. What occurs to me is that the "system" needs two changes. It needs to acknowledge that people, including doctors will make mistakes. We should strive to minimize those, but they will happen. Secondly, the system needs to have a built-in process for making amends when those mistakes are made. Here we have a family that was emotionally scarred and financially drained, and no attempt to right those wrongs has been made? That is not justice. |
| 2019-09-25 | Sen John Cornyn Sen. John Cornyn's complaint about the impeachment inquiry, that we should get the facts first, makes no sense. The whole point of an impeachment inquiry is to get the facts. And the fact that this administration has stonewalled every non-impeachment inquiry is proof that the only way to get the facts is to make the impeachment inquiry formal, to remove any legal roadblocks to getting the facts. Big John needs to quit defending the administration and start defending the Constitution. |
| 2019-09-30 | Re: Climate change supercharged Imelda By my calculations, if we assume that we will have no more 500-year flood events for the next 490 years, the likelihood of having the four events this decade that we have already seen is about 1:124 million, or about 700 times less likely than getting struck by lightning. Obviously the 500-year flood designation is bogus, and in an era of climate change, needs serious revision. I suspect that the current 500-year flood map is really closer to a 50-year flood map. Since the maps drive development options and insurance, it is critical that they be revised as soon as possible. |
| 2019-10-02 | mising the point A letter writer completely misses the point when he says that Democrats want to impeach Trump for asking Ukraine to look into corruption. What the investigation is about is whether Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine, and then, requested indirectly mafioso style, asked them to make up corruption charges against Biden. The implied message seemed abundantly clear to me. |
| 2019-10-03 | Drag queens "Group starts petition to ban library Drag Queen Storytime". It really amazes me that liberals are derided as "snowflakes" when groups like these apparently feel threatened by a drag queen. Really? If you don't like it, don't send your kid to the story time. |
| 2019-10-08 | Kurds Instead of abandoning the Kurds to the whims of Turkey's strongman, we should be trying to broker a peace between them. As a result, we will probably be precipitating a war that may result in the formation of Kurdistan - alienated from the US and owning most of Iraq's oil assets. We are also showing ourselves to be an unreliable partner - which will be remembered worldwide for decades. The damage being done by this single tweet is incalculable. |
| 2019-10-10 | Pedestrian safety As someone who typically walks several miles every day, I think that more important than inattention by drivers is ignorance of the law. Most drivers seem to be unaware that they are supposed to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, or indeed, pedestrians crossing the street at a corner. I have been winded countless times by cars refusing to acknowledge their legal obligation. Even at traffic lights, I have had cars turn in front of me close enough that I could slap their car as it whizzed by. In other cities where I have walked - Seattle, Chicago, New York - drivers stop for pedestrians. But not here. Drive friendly indeed. |
| 2019-10-11 | Ukraine's capital Names can be a political act. I have been pleased to see that the New York Times has apparently set a policy to use transliterations from Ukrainian for cities in Ukraine (Kyiv) instead of transliterating the Russian names for Ukrainian cities (Kiev). It seems to me that using the Russian names implies support for Russian hegemony. I would encourage the Chronicle to make the same change in their policy. |
| 2019-10-13 | medical child abuse ..."a child abuse social worker at Texas Children’s Hospital, Jennifer Stansbury says that she became such an expert in spotting the subtle signs of medical child abuse that she could sometimes see it in a mother’s mannerisms." I find that statement terrifying. We want to believe that people - police, juries, nurses, doctors, evenn reporters, can pick up on subtle signs that people are lying, but the data do not support that. More likely is that the expert who believes in their ability to detect lies will get it wrong, and then bend the narrative to support their preconceived notion, instead of remaining objective and following the data. Taking a child from their parents is guaranteed to cause them lasting harm, both to the child and the parents. A child getting better when weaned off treatment is not proof of abuse - it is only proof that prescribed treatments were no longer necessary. The deep lack of science and logic in the justifications presented in this story are beyond disturbing. |
| 2019-10-15 | Police shootings "And with the body cam footage, police released a photo of a gun that had been in the house". It really ticks me off that everytime there is a police shooting, some probably irrelevant factoid trying to demean the victim is released. They had traces of drugs in their sytem, they were an ex-con, they had parking tickets. It always smells like the start of an attempted coverup. I hope that whoever thought it was a good idea to release the photo of the gun in the Fort Worth killing will be disciplined. It was not relevant, and only serves to further erode the credibility of the department there, and police everywhere. |
| 2019-10-18 | Ruth Marcus Elizabeth Warren tells a joke and Ruth Marcus has an attack of the vapors. Given that our president insults me and mine daily, and can't even make it into a joke, I don't get her point. Besides which, the story is almost certainly being promoted and kept alive on social media by Russian bots, so Marcus is playing into their narrative. Finally, would anyone care if Warren were an old white guy? Or is it only women who have to be oh so careful not to disparage anyone? |
| 2019-10-24 | Re: GOP protest disrupts inquiry I remember when the GOP used to tout themselves as the "law and order" party. Those days are obviously long past. I hope the House censures every congressperson who took part in this childish protest. These are times when it is intensely embarrassing to be an American. |
| 2019-10-26 | Re: U.S. troops, armored vehicles are headed to Syria oil fields We abandoned our loyal allies the Kurds, and are standing back while Turkey engages in ethnic cleansing, but oil fields - well those are worth risking our soldiers lives. As a nation, we are completely morally bankrupt. We are willing to protect oil fields, but not willing to protect people - not even people we allied with. We have no honor. I am disgusted beyond measure. |
| 2019-11-05 | Re: U.S. to exit the Paris climate deal By leaving the Paris climate accord, we have voted in favor of more 500-year storms and flooding, more forest fires, more coastal areas going under water, and ultimately a much harder life for our chiildren and grandchildren because of our own self-centeredness. My generation - the Baby Boomers - will not fare well in history. Some generations sacrifice for their children. Some take from their children. |
| 2019-11-07 | Re: slow vote results There are two things regarding the slow vote results that seem clear to me. First this is just a further example of how the state Republican leadership wants to punish Harris county for being blue, and secondly, the secretary of state has no understanding of secure, encrypted connections. |
| 2019-11-08 | Road deaths >From my experience i other cities, Houston's road death problem is both behavioral and structural. Many drivers are very agressive and ignore traffic laws (almost no one will stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk). And the street design is often unsafe. Even in the middle of residential neighborhoods, stop signs are sparse, making every residential street a speedway. Simply adding stop signs to slow down traffic could reduce pedestrian deaths. It wouldn't take huge expenditures to improve things. |
| 2019-11-08 | Illegal contributions Instead of returning campaign contributions to an admitted law-breaker, I would encourage politicians to instead donate it to charity. Why should a law-breaker get his money back? |
| 2019-11-10 | Homeless My understanding of Christianity is that we are called to love one another, to treat each other with respect, and certainly not demonize others and promote hatred. None of what Governor Abbot has said or done regarding the homeless is a Christian response, and is in fact the polar opposite. It seems to be predicated on the premise that if we abuse people enough, they will pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, overcome their mental diseases, and turn into middle-class homeowners. I hate to break it to the governor, but all he will get from abusing the homeless is abused people. |
| 2019-11-14 | Ukraine Recently, the *United States* Board on Geographic Names (USGS), responding to an appeal from the Ambassador of Ukraine to the *United States*, replaced "*Kiev*" with "*Kyiv*", as the correct *spelling* for that city's name. The New York Times has followed suit. I would hope that the Chronicle would do the same. |
| 2019-11-17 | TEA So let's see if I have this straight. The Texas Education Agency is taking over HISD because they can do a better job of running a school district, and yet they have been incapable of providing guidance and funding for over a year to districts on how to fix the Special Education program that they broke. Yeah, this is going to go well. |
| 2019-11-20 | Natural gas prohibition A letter writer claimed that cities prohibiting new natural gas hookups will see carbon dioxide emissions increase three-fold. I question that calculation. For Seattle, they generate about 90% of their electricity from hydro, and then generate carbon offsets for the rest of their power. So replacing the burning of natural gas with electricity in that city should reduce net CO2 emissions. |
| 2019-11-22 | EPA Re: "EPA rolls back chemical safety regulations". How many lives lost or forever altered are worth $88 million? That seems like a very small savings. One major accident could easily cost much more than that. The whole idea of not requiring root cause analysis is crazy - we should lose the opportunity to learn from incidents and prevent them in the future? |
| 2019-11-27 | Chris Tomlinson column on San Antonio development Chris Tomlinson notes "Creating private wealth is not synonymous with promoting a population’s well-being". It reminded me of how often, when I would complain about the stink of pollution, someone would reply dismissively "smells like money". My reply would be, "well it doesn't seem to be putting money into my pocket. I'm sure it's making someone else rich". |
| 2019-12-01 | Re: ICE deports ‘crucial witness’ in hotel colla How have we managed to get our national priorities so completely messed up? It is more important to deport a hard-working man who does not have legal status than it is to investigate and prosecute activity that probably amounts to at least manslaughter? We have lost all sense of proportion in the frenzy to deport, and have elevated what should be a minor offense into an obsession. |
| 2019-12-03 | Re: Judge warned over same-sex marriages I am really sick of the "sincerely held beliefs" argument for denying services to groups you don't like. That argument could be used to discriminate against anyone. Under that logic, a bakery could refuse service to anyone wearing a MAGA hat, if it violated their sincerely held beliefs. A pacifist could refuse to pay that portion of their income tax that supports the Pentagon, certainly a sincerely held belief. If performing some marriages violates a judge's basic beliefs, the proper response is to resign, because they are not able to fulfill the requirements of their office. |
| 2019-12-03 | George Will Like most conservatives, George Will chooses to ignore two glaring facts about providing healthcare to all. First fact - the total spend in the US on healthcare is significantly higher than every other country on earth, so the dollars are there, they are just being spent inefficiently and not covering everyone. Second fact - every other developed country has some form of universal healthcare, some better some worse, but the point is that it can and has been done by others. It is not impossible. In point of fact, the experience of other countries indicates that we should be able to cover everyone with good healthcare more cheaply than we do now. |
| 2019-12-16 | Impeachment trial I fully expect that our two senators will vote to acquit the president, as they have already indicated. However, they owe us a clear and talking-point free explanation of their reasoning. Do they not believe the testimony that was given? Who was lying? Or do they not think that blackmailing a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent is an impeachable offense? They owe us that much. But address the evidence and the charges, quit repeating it's political, it's partisan, it's a witchhunt. That is simply avoiding answering the question, and acting in a partisan, political manner. |
| 2019-12-18 | Welfare and Food Stamps Any government program will be imperfect. Are there people taking advantage of food stamps? Certainly. But to me the real question is: are we willing to err on the side of giving food stamps to some people who should not be getting them in order to make sure everyone who needs them is covered, or are we so obsessed with making certain that no undeserving person gets food stamps that we are willing to cut off people who really need them. It is a question of compassion and accepting the imperfect. |
| 2019-12-24 | Corps induced flooding So the Corps of Engineers has been found liable for flooding properties inside Barker and Addicks reservoirs. What next? Does the Corps reduce the future capacity of the reservoirs, accept that they will flood homes and pay for it, or start buying out properties in the flood pool? |
| 2019-12-25 | Religious exceptions A judge thinks she should not have to do her job and marry gay couples because it is against her religion, and apparently receives support from our top state officials. Why don't those officials support Quakers not paying the portion of their taxes that support the military? |
| 2020-01-03 | war with Iran We have essentially declared war on Iran. Is there anyone who doesn't believe that this is a "wag the dog" operation meant to build public support for the president? War with Iran will make the Afghanistan and Iraq wars look like walks in the park. This will destroy thousands of lives and perhaps permanently ruin our economy. This will not go well. |
| 2020-01-09 | War in the Middle East and electric vehicles According to president Trump, we have spent $6 trillion on military actions in the Middle East in recent years. Why? Ultimately because they have oil. If we no longer cared about their oil, I suspect we would no longer have a substantive military presence there. If we spent that $6 trillion subsidizing electric vehicles, we could give a $24,000 subsidy each to replace all of the roughly 250 million gasoline vehicles on our roads. Wouldn't it be nice if we no longer cared about the Middle East? There are alternatives to what we are currently doing. And some alternatives don't involve getting people killed. |
| 2020-01-12 | Incorrect data in story In the story "Electric vehicles’ weakness? Highway charging stations", it claimed that the most rapid charging available is: "The third choice, a direct current “fast charging” outlet, zaps 60-80 miles of driving into the car in only 20 minutes". Tesla opened "V3" stations in 2019, providing up to 15 miles per minute. That would be 300 miles of range in only 20 minutes. The older, more common "V2" stations can add 150 miles in 20 minutes. Honestly I have been seriously disappointed with the coverage of electric vehicles in the mainstream media. There seems to be a pervasive lack of actual knowledge among those reporting, as they frequently spread bad information or simply ignore facts that don't fit the "electric vehicles are for tree huggers who only drive around town". I own a Tesla model 3, and it is an awesome car. There is a reason that Tesla is eating BMW's lunch. |
| 2020-01-17 | W hotel proposal It is proposed to give "$43 million in property, sales and beverage tax breaks" to a W hotel at the Convention Center. This is precisely why Houston property taxes are high. We tax people, and either don't tax large businesses, or worse yet, give them money. For comparison, property taxes in Seattle are less than half what they are here, and Washington state has no income tax. But they tax business. Here the tax burden is almost entirely borne by the homeowner. If a W hotel at the Convention Center is a good idea, private funding will appear. We don't need to put a public thumb on the scale. |
| 2020-01-23 | Metal detectors in schools If we are going to take money away from our precious education budgets to buy metal detectors for schools and pay for extra security, then I propose we raise those funds with a special tax on guns and ammo. It seems only fair. |
| 2020-01-24 | Dan Patrick So let me see if I have this right. Lt. Gov Dan Patrick will try to change the senate rules if the Republicans lose seats because Texans who don't agree with him should not have a voice. Anyone who claims that the current divisive nature of politics is "both sides fault" is not paying attention. |
| 2020-01-29 | Impeachment I have always found the argument proposed by the president's defenders that he should not have been impeached because that would "overturn the election" specious. Not only is that a ridiculous argument - after all, impeachment is the constitutional remedy for a president who has abused their office - but it smacks of a sense of entitlement. I think it is that sense of entitlement - we won therefore we are entitled to whatever we can get - that bothers me the most. That is what fuels divisiveness. |
| 2020-02-01 | John Cornyn So by Senator Lamar Alexander's reasoning, if you believe it is okay for the president to blackmail foreign powers to try to get dirt on political opponents, then you should vote for Senator John Cornyn, because it is up to the voters to uphold the law and require ethical behavior, not the Senate. |
| 2020-02-10 | Log Cabin Republicans I was struck by the quote from the vice-chair, "the Bible is clear on homosexuality". I don't happen to see where the Bible is all that clear about homosexuality, but it is abundantly and repetitively clear about how we should treat immigrants and refugees. I find that most people start with their cultural bias and then look in the Bible to find their justification, instead of actually starting with Scripture. |
| 2020-02-20 | Methane The headline about the levels of methane in the atmosphere is not quite accurate. What the study showed is that the levels of methane are higher than predicted, but the where the releases are occuring was not addressed. A study a few years ago, for example, indicated that natural gas losses from Boston were huge - there are apparently many small leaks from pipelines and other aging infrastructure in the city. Methane releases are a serious problem, let's make sure we target the correct offenders. |
| 2020-02-23 | Texas economy Mark Jones of Rice University notes, correctly, that "if you ban fracking you create a massive hole in the state budget". Which says a lot about the lack of effort to diversify the state economy. Oil and gas are finite resources and will end. Climate change is accelerating that trend. We may be riding high now, but remember the rust belt? It can and will happen here unless we take agressive action now to diversify. I had 35 good years in the oil industry, but it is clearly poised to decline. Let's embrace the changes and prepare for them. |
| 2020-02-24 | Audits As a supervisor and manager in a large international oil company, I went through several audits. I dreaded the first one, but afterwards realized that it had helped uncover some issues we had missed, so later I welcomed audits and tried to encourage my staff to help the auditors and view them as valuable exercises. Given that the Narcotics Division of the HPD went 20 years without an audit, I wonder how many other groups within HPD, and within the city as a whole have slipped through the cracks and avoided being audited. We all can benefit from this best business practice. |
| 2020-02-28 | Corona virus Covid-19 There is one way in which the US is completely unprepared to slow the progression of any infectious disease, but especially corona virus COVID-19. We have no guaranteed paid sick leave. So we can beg people not to go to work sick, but if you won't get paid, or might even lose your job, people will go to work sick and pass the disease along. You can bet on it. |
| 2020-02-29 | County road spending Kudos to the county commissioners for limiting their own ability to create fiefdoms. Why should my taxes subsidize people in Jack Cagle's district who live outside the city? That sounds like a socialist wealth redistribution scheme to me. If you move out of the city to take advantage of lower taxes, you should also see a lower level of services. |
| 2020-03-04 | Electricity in Texas Thank you Chris Tomlinson for detailing how the emperor of electricity deregulation has no clothes. It is clear that amongst the private companies competing to supply power in Texas, the primary efforts to innovate are all around marketing - not lowering costs, lowering carbon footprints, or improving service. When will the Legislature admit that deregulation has been a failure? |
| 2020-03-05 | Corona Trying to follow the corona virus guidelines, I went to the restroom at a restaurant after lunch to wash my hands. That's when I realized that after I dried my hands, I was going to have to grab the doorknob to leave. So to all businesses with public spaces, please stock your restrooms with paper towels and put a trash can next to the door so people can use their paper towel to open the door. Let's all work together to get this epidemic under control. |
| 2020-03-07 | Business disruption Businesses will go under with the cancellation of SXSW. Other disruptions due to coronavirus will also drive many small businesses to bankruptcy. The Fed reducing rates will not help this.What is needed is an emergency program at the Federal level to provide loans and grants to small businesses, to help them stay afloat. Because that would be the compassionate thing to do as we deal with this impending disaster. |
| 2020-03-08 | Daylight Savings The note on page one that read in part "Clocks were pushed forward this morning, giving us another hour of sunlight" is of course wrong. We have the same amount of sunlight. But we did lose an hour of sleep, and unnecessarily give everyone in the country a case of jetlag. Here's hoping Texas will join the movement to do away with this silliness and leave the clocks alone. |
| 2020-03-08 | COVID-19 I can't believe what Dr Paul Offit, developer of the rotovirus vaccine, said about COVID-19. He should be ashamed. Comparing the number of deaths due to infuenza to the number of deaths due to COVID-19 is nonsensical. The flu has infected millions of people this year, so yes, many have died. With only 400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US, 19 deaths is a significant number. If, as is entirely possible, millions get infected, all the actual data points to the fact that the number of deaths will far exceed flu deaths. While panic is not warranted or helpful, minimizing the risks, especially with specious arguments, is also not helpful. |
| 2020-03-09 | Ted Cruz I don't often agree with Senator Ted Cruz, but I would like to publicly thank him for modeling good behavior by quarantining himself after his unfortunate exposure to COVID-19. I wish him good health and look forward to disagreeing in the future. |
| 2020-03-09 | Corporate reaction to Covid-19 I just received an e-mail from REI, based in Seattle so in the thick of the COVID-19 epidemic, where they wrote in part "We have modified our paid time off policies to ensure that our employees—including hourly retail employees—who miss work due to illness or to care for sick family members do not suffer loss of income or other benefits." I would hope this would serve as a model for many more companies. We really don't need people who are sick coming in to work to avoid missing a paycheck. |
| 2020-03-10 | Payroll tax A decrease in the payroll tax is a dumb idea and is a transparent attempt to buy votes. Cutting the payroll tax will not cause people to go buy airplane tickets, or cause event and conference organizers to reverse direction and not cancel. The economy has caught the flu - we need to accept that the economy will be bad and that cannot be prevented. However we can help those most hurt by it - people without paid sick leave, people who will be laid off, small businesses flirting with bankruptcy. That is where economic measures should be focussed. But most importantly, instead of the outsized concern for the economy, why not focus on the epidemic instead? The real issue is people getting sick and dying, not the economy. Can we please focus on what really matters? |
| 2020-03-12 | Greg Travis Houston Councilman Greg Travis said residents should decide for themselves whether to attend the rodeo, writing, “We do not need a nanny state.” That has to be the dumbest statement I have seen. This is a PUBLIC health emergency, and requires coordinated effort by everyone to get it under control. My well-being depends on what you do, and your well-being depends on what I do. Everyone "deciding for themselves" is a terrible idea, and will lead to disaster. This is not the time to make this about partisan politics, councilman. Shame on you. |
| 2020-03-12 | Travel ban There are many helpful measures to slow the COVID-19 epidemic that could be taken, but the ban on travel from Europe that the president has proposed is not one of them. Community transmission is already taking place throughout the US. The virus is no longer coming from "out there". It is here and spreading. The travel ban will do nothing to slow the spread, but will cause a lot of needless pain. It is a kneejerk, xenophobic response when what is needed are thoughtful, reality-based measures. It is very worrisome to see our leaders contradicting and ignoring the experts in the adminstration, and wasting time, money, and effort on pointless measures. |
| 2020-03-13 | Shutdowns Kudos to Mayor Turner for taking unpopular and decisive action by shutting down the rodeo. Yes, that has caused a lot of pain for many people. But I would encourage all who have derided him for that decision to read today's story about the state of hospitals in northern Italy - which may soon be true in Seattle - and ask the question, "do we want that to happen here?" |
| 2020-03-15 | Credibility I concluded two years ago that I should just assume anything President Trump says is a lie. Sadly, now that we are in a genuine crisis, it is clear his behavior has not changed. At a time when we need to be coming together, when we need real information and hard truths, I cannot trust anything coming out of Washington. And for that I mourn. |
| 2020-03-17 | Corona testing To all those complaining about the shutdowns to try to contain the corona virus, the real problem is that we have no idea how bad it is, because testing has been woefully inadequate. Everyone with cold or flu symptoms should be tested, but because of a lack of testing capacity, only those meeting strict criteria have been tested. It is absolutely certain that the virus is much more widespread than we know, but without knowing, we are forced to use blunt, agressive measures. Other countries are testing thousands each day, and we are testing dozens? Absolutely ridiculous. The Federal government has failed this one miserably. |
| 2020-03-17 | Call your doctor All the advice I read says that if you feel sick and may have Covid-19, that you should call your doctor. But what about all the people - a large fraction of the population - who do not have a doctor? What provisions are being made for those without a doctor, and ikely without insurance? The advice being given is very much from a middle-class perspective, and ignores those with limited resources. |
| 2020-03-18 | Lack of understanding of exponential growth The county judge for Brazoris county said, “If we see this get worse, and we see a huge spike in cases then we may have to be a little bit more forceful with closing bars and restaurants.” People need to understand exponential growth. If the number of cases spikes, you are too late. The doubling time for this epidemic is about 5 days. Symptoms typically show up after 3-5 days. Tests take a couple of days to get done. If you see from tests that you have 100 cases in a county, that means that you actually have at least 400 cases, because you only tested symptomatic people, and it could be a much larger number because we don't know how many people show only mild symptoms. That number could be as high as 90% (according to an Italian study). So if you think you had 100 cases 2-3 days ago, you could actually have 4000. And after 2 more weeks, 16,000. A concerted education campaign on the frightening power of exponential growth is desperately needed, especially for our leaders and decision-makers. |
| 2020-03-19 | Q&A on Covid-19 While the Q&A article was helpful, there was one glaring problem that I see over and over again. "If you experience symptoms call your doctor". Nearly 25% of adults in the US do not have a doctor to call. I have yet to see advice for them. I find it interesting how often the official advice is disconnected from many people's reality. |
| 2020-03-19 | Cornyn I am utterly disgusted by Senator John Cornyn. Now, of all times, is not the time to practice race-baiting. Does the good senator even consider that he is providing justification to people on the fringe to attack people from the Far East? How is blaming China for most recent epidemics - incorrectly - at all helpful? At a time when we desperately need to come together, the Republican leadership is sowing discord and divisiveness. |
| 2020-03-22 | the economy We need to give up on the economy - no amount of stimulus will "fix" an economy where businesses are shut down and people are isolating themselves. The focus needs to be on helping people, those who are out of work, and helping businesses stay afloat until they can reopen. While I would love to get a check from the government, I get a pension. I don't need the money. Send money to people who actually need it. We are in survival mode and need to quit pretending that we can somehow "save the economy". Save people. The economy is lost anyway. |
| 2020-03-26 | A call to local news I'd like to issue a call to our local news organizations to quit broadcasting and quoting our president. The information he gives is usually wrong, sometimes dangerous, and hardly reassuring. Personally, we just mute the TV when he appears. I would much rather listen to the adults in the room - Dr Anthony Fauci, our local leaders and health officials - people who have factual and useful things to say. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. |
| 2020-03-29 | Corona response "Now, the federal government says those shipments won’t come at all. According to Turner, the feds said any future expansions will have to be funded by local jurisdictions." Feds to Houston: Drop Dead Governor? Et tu? |
| 2020-04-01 | Church Governor Abbott is sending exactly the wrong message by relaxing social distancing requirements for churches. This is not the time to start relaxing. If anything, we may need to make the rules stricter. Without adequate testing, we are flying blind - the only certainty is that the number of cases in Texas is much larger than we think it is. Let's not squander the pain we have all gone through so far by loosening restrictions too soon. That would be tragic and disasterous. |
| 2020-04-01 | Forbearance Re: Chris Tomlinson's column on Forbearance. I have found it particularly disappointing that with all the concern some politicians have expressed for the economy, that so little has been done to protect renters who are now unemployed. If some form of rent relief is not provided, that will be a devastating blow to a post-pandemic economic recovery. Do we really want 10-20% of the population filing for bankruptcy? How will that help anyone? |
| 2020-04-04 | Covid and jail The news coming from nursing homes is tragic, and needs to serve as a lesson for all of us. The virus won't stay confined, workers and delivery people will carry it out of places with high infection rates into the community. Which especially applies to jails and prisons. We must drop bail for non-violent offenders and release them now. Consider that for the isolation orders to be relaxed, we need about 2 weeks without new cases of Covid-19. If jails become seriously infected, all of us will get to stay at home longer. We really are in this together. We are all, all of us, in this together. |
| 2020-04-04 | Mail-in ballots So many are opposed to mail-in ballots, because the poll clerk can't check your ID before you vote. But if I'm wearing my face mask, they can't check to see if my face matches my ID anyway. |
| 2020-04-05 | The governor, president, and local leaders The cry for leadership during this crisis has become increasingly fervent. But what is leadership? I have a pretty simple test. A leader is someone who is willing to make unpopular decisions early in the game based on the best evidence available. Not a leader? Someone who waffles with a finger in the air testing the wind, and makes a decision after detecting a shift in popular opinion. |
| 2020-04-06 | undercounting deaths I have been studying the deaths, and using them to estimate the number of cases, and agree completely with the article. Using reasonable assumptions about the mortality rate and the time from symptoms appearing until death, it is very difficult to match the reported number of cases, which we all agree is much lower than the actual. I believe the Harris county death numbers are easily twice what has been reported. The good news is that it appears we have passed the half-way point locally, and the growth rate for cases is beginning to abate. Deaths will likely peak locally in about 10 days. |
| 2020-04-07 | Jails We are indeed headed for a crisis from our jails and prisons. They will act like cruise ships and through the staff who work there become centers of further spread of the virus into the community. If the virus is raging inside a jail, we cannot go back to work. We are cutting off our nose to spite our face. |
| 2020-04-08 | Monica Rhor Thank you Monica Rhor. It needs to be said. |
| 2020-04-08 | Presidential lies The proper way to cover presidential news conferences, is not to cover them live, but to cover them as a "truth sandwich". Tell the truth, show the lie, retell the truth. The problem with broadcasting live and then telling the truth, is that the first thing people hear sticks, and telling them it is a lie after the fact does not work. By airing the president the way they are, news organizations are complicit in spreading his propaganda and lies. Not everything the president says is news. That is a quaint notion that opens news organizations up for unlimited abuse. |
| 2020-04-08 | Relaxing guidelines So the CDC is working to relax what has worked. Given that getting everyone back to work is Trump's number one desire, I'm afraid I can't trust the CDC. To me the new guidelines sound like a disaster waiting to happen. I fear deeply for our country, our chaotic and irrational leadership is leading us to Armageddon. |
| 2020-04-09 | Call centers States are expanding call centers for unemployment applications and other needs. But aren't call centers just a big room full of people sharing the same air and viruses? |
| 2020-04-11 | Re-opening the economy I'm sorry, but with too few tests and results from tests delayed for a week, re-opening the economy is a non-starter. The governor and the president need to be spending their energies getting the testing debacle fixed first, because without rapid, universal testing, re-opening the economy would be disasterous, both to human life and to the economy. Open too soon and we reset the clock to mid-March and start all over again. I understand that they don't want to push testing too hard because then they would have to admit that they completely botched it, but they need to grow up, admit past mistakes, and move on. |
| 2020-04-13 | Delayed aid "Cornyn said in the email. “I expect voters will remember how Democrats wasted precious time playing politics during an unprecedented crisis". And the Senate Republicans were so concerned that they took the weekend off after the bill passed the House, before they started considering it. Yes, I remember. |
| 2020-04-13 | FDA regulations FDA regulations are good and are designed to protect us in normal times. But the pandemic is not normal, and the regulations got in the way. However, from what I have read, the real issue is that because of the tremendous churn in the leadership of government agencies, the heads of both the FDA and CDC were new, not particularly well-qualified, and lacked the confidence to make the hard decision to ignore the rules and ask forgiveness later. Rules are important, but in a crisis a real leader will accept personal risk and break them. |
| 2020-04-14 | Reopening the economy The debate about who has the power to re-open the economy is a bit specious. Ultimately employers and people in general will each decide for themselves whether or not it is safe to relax social distancing rules. If there is little trust in the president, which sadly is true, then it almost doesn't matter what he says. Personally, I trust our mayor and county judge to make good, fact-based decisions. I ignore all advice from our president and governor, as I don't trust they have MY best interests at heart. They are trying to make popular decisions, not hard but necessary decisions. |
| 2020-04-15 | Slaughterhouses "one of America’s largest pork slaughterhouses shut down after more than 200 workers tested positive for the corona-virus" What does that simple statement imply about conditions at that plant? What does it say about conditions before corona-virus? We like to imagine our meat being prepared and packaged in a pristine, sterile environment, but those numbers recall Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". If corona can spread so easily there between workers, what else can spread between the workers and their product? How many workers came to work feeling sick, because they were worried about their job? |
| 2020-04-17 | Reopening I find the editorials and various calls from Republicans to "re-open the economy" disturbing, because they are implying that "medical professionals" or maybe even Democrats, don't want to open the economy. Of course they do. Everyone wants to move back towards normalcy. But it is not helpful to set this up as a conflict, because no conflict exists. If we aren't careful (extensive test and track), the disease will flare up and individuals will self-isolate, no matter what the government says. Let's expend our editorial efforts on what is important - building the infrastructure to allow re-opening. That is the enemy that needs to be targeted, not the closures themselves. |
| 2020-04-19 | Protests By my calculations, there is about a 50% chance one of the Austin protestors was infected with Covid-19. They could easily have infected around 10 other protestors, leading to 2-3 hospitalizations. We shall see. |
| 2020-04-21 | Rainy day I have heard no mention of the Governor's Rainy Day fund during this pandemic. It seems that supporting local governments who are preparing to furlough hundreds of workers due to the loss of sales tax, would be an excellent use of the fund. Of course, since Harvey was not rainy enough to claim a piece of the fund, perhaps this isn't either. If not, then I question why we bother to put money aside that can never be used. |
| 2020-04-23 | Re-opening The governor and lieutenant-governor need to work harder at getting testing working better. The governor said "counties with no COVID-19 cases don’t have the same restrictions", but I have looked at the data, and frankly the state has no idea which counties those would be. There are small counties that claim only 2 or 3 cases, but they have seen a death. The mortality rate is not 50%. The obvious conclusion is that they are seriously undercounting the number of cases. Where is the plan to put rigorous, universal testing into place? This is a disaster unfolding before our eyes. |
| 2020-04-23 | Masks I think most people are completely missing the point of wearing masks. The masks are not there to protect the person wearing them, they are there to protect other people from the person wearing it. It is not in any way, shape, or form a matter of personal liberty, any more than shooting a gun into a crowd is an expression of personal liberty. You do not have a right to spread your disease. The freedom and liberty politicians are dead wrong on this one. You not wearing a mask could kill me. You do not have that right. |
| 2020-04-23 | Bankrupt cities and states I sure that municipal bond holders are quite happy with Mitch McConnell's desire to let states and cities go bankrupt. That will likely take down pension funds as well and lead us further into the spiral of a great depression. |
| 2020-04-24 | Loans to small business "The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday and is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump soon." As I read this on a Friday, I ask myself the obvious question. "Why is it taking the president 3 or more days to simply sign a bill that is a crucial lifeline to so many people?" |
| 2020-04-24 | Some ER physicians seeing pay reductions And so the damage from leveraged buyouts continues to spread. Leveraged buyouts have always been an economic cancer, eating away at the economy by enriching a few and destroying the livelihoods of many. As the economy sinks towards depression, the highly leveraged firms will go bankrupt, making the economic decline that much worse. Very similar to how buying stocks with borrowed money amplified the great depression. |
| 2020-04-25 | Defense department So the defense secretary is hesitant to reinstate Captain Crozier because he is afraid of irritating the president. I am sick to death of the gutless appointees in this administration afraid to do the right thing, because it might irritate the thin-skinned president. Anyone who cannot bring themselves to do the right thing is unqualified to hold the office they are in. |
| 2020-04-27 | Paid sick leave There is a huge flaw in the libertarian business arguments against paid sick leave. There is an underlying assumption that each person is an island, an independent agent free to make their own decisions. The flaw is that that is simply not true. Your actions affect me, and in fact can have a devastating effect on me. If you come to work sick, and share your disease with those around you, they have had no choice in that. The axiom that your rights end at the tip of my nose has never been more true. You have no right to infect, and possibly kill me. It is as simple as that. |
| 2020-04-27 | Masks We walked to the grocery this morning. On our walk, almost no one was wearing a mask. I would estimate less than 10%. At the grocery, there was no signage or reminder asking people wear a mask, and I encountered about half a dozen people in the store who were bare-faced. This is not a good start to what might be the crucial step to allowing us to re-open the economy. Do people understand that wearing a mask is to protect me from you, not to protect you from me? |
| 2020-04-28 | Reopening An informal poll in my neighborhood shows that 85% have no intention of taking advantage of Friday's opening up. I heard no science in Governor Abbott's announcement, but I heard a lot of political pandering. I am especially angry at his canceling the mask order, as that gave me the confidence to go to places I might have been reluctant to go. I just pray that HEB and other stores will require masks on their own. I trust County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Mayor Sylvester Turner. My state and federal leaders, and the Chamber of Commerce, not so much. |
| 2020-04-28 | opening up I look forward to seeing photos of the governor attending a movie and going out to a restaurant. Lead by example. Show you actually believe it is safe. |
| 2020-04-29 | The Governor's "Plan" What Governor Greg Abbott has released is not a plan. Where are the performance goals? If the number of cases surges, what is the threshhold that would cause a reversal to shut things down? This is a roadmap that assumes everything will work. And it is internally inconsistent. It acknowledges the need for more extensive testing to enable tracing, but at the same time restricts testing to those who are obviously sick and those on the front-line. What's the plan if a movie or restaurant patron turns up sick? How will the contact tracing operate? Shouldn't those establishments keep a list of phone numbers for everyone who shows up? We quarantine people from Washington and California? I would feel safer in either state. |
| 2020-04-30 | Returning to normal The administration and the "return to normal" crowd obviously have the wrong model in their head. They need to imagine we are sitting on a landmine, we've lost circulation in one foot and the toes are turning blue. What do you do? One clue - you don't jump up because the mine will explode and kill you. |
| 2020-05-01 | Opening back up The question that Governor Abbott needs to answer is very simple. What precisely would the criteria be for re-closing the economy? What number of positive cases, what percent increase, what local change would require that? Or are we running on "if I feel like it?" |
| 2020-05-01 | Governor's advisors I've read a lot about Governor Abbott's advisory committee being dominated by big donors and business people. How many epidemiologists and public health specialists are on it? How many academic experts from UT, A&M, Rice, and elsewhere has Abbott drawn from? |
| 2020-05-02 | Corona And as predicted, people are saying that since our local health care system was not overwhelmed, the stay-at-home orders were unnecessary. Why do they not understand that our systems were not overwhelmed because we had stay-at-home orders? Do they really believe we are somehow magically immune from becoming like New York City? |
| 2020-05-03 | Re: Past the worst, let’s reopen Houston safely "... it is becoming clearer that Greater Houston has passed the peak of the virus’ spread in our community." I beg to differ. It is becoming clearer that Greater Houstons has passed _a_ peak. We are sitting on a landmine. One wrong move and it blows up. We need to reopen, but the way we are proceeding is reckless and disorganized. What are the goals, what are the metrics that will be used to dial things back when the virus resurges? How well are we measuring success and failure? We are in this for the long haul. Too many people are being given the impression that we won, it is past, and we now inexorably move back to normalcy. That is simply not true, and is dangerousy misleading. |
| 2020-05-04 | Wuhan lab The fact that president Trump and secretary of state Pompeo are blaming China for Covid-19 is the best proof that China not at fault. |
| 2020-05-04 | Vaccine I suspect that easily half the scientists developing vaccines for Covid-19 are immigrants. People uncomfortable with immigrants might want to pass on getting vaccinated. |
| 2020-05-05 | Re: Texas oil cut likely doomed I would encourage our leaders to study their economic history. Many of the disaterous policies that increased the depth and length of the Great Depression were justified as supporting the "free market". Which matters more, following some abstract "free market" principle - not in the constitution - or showing compassion and helping out actual people. Principles are important, but when following them seems to be cause living breathing people enormous pain, they need to be re-examined. |
| 2020-05-06 | Blue Angels Having a Blue Angels overflight was nice, but we could be making much better use of our military. We have world class experts in logistics. Why isn't a general in charge of getting PPE and covid-19 tests where they are needed. They know how to get it done. Instead we have a real estate investor? Insane. |
| 2020-05-07 | re-opening What Governor Abbott completely misses in his uninformed re-opening orders is that for retail to recover, people need to feel safe. People get to choose whether or not to go shopping or go to a restaurant. When this premature opening backfires and cases spike, it will destroy trust in his leadership and make it that much harder to re-open in the future. He is not doing business any favors. |
| 2020-05-07 | Underlying health issues I started to wonder how many people had the "underlying health issues" that are always quoted, really as a subtle reassurance that "I'm okay, I'm healthy". It turns out that the number at risk of dying from COVID-19 due to age or "underlying health condition" is 40%. Not especially reassuring. I would advise we quit using that phrase - it only encourages cavalier behavior. |
| 2020-05-08 | CDC recommendations So the CDC is not even allowed to make science-based recommendations? Who are we supposed to go to for trustworthy advice? Is there an English translation of the Korean guidelines? |
| 2020-05-09 | 6 foot bubble The 6 foot bubble is not magical. Length of exposure is also a key factor that is being ignored by opening restaurants and offices. Everyone should read this story: https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/mason-county-in-person-city-county-meeting-results-in-covid-19-case-spike/ |
| 2020-05-10 | I-45 rebuild must fit Houston’s needs Thank you. You are absolutely on target. |
| 2020-05-11 | Masks Governor Abbott, the White House is requiring everyone there wear a mask. Why don't you save lives and require them in Texas. Many areas in the state are already worsening. If you don't keep the numbers down, you will be forced to close the economy again. |
| 2020-05-13 | Budget gap The city is looking at an almost $200 million budget gap. Houston is about 8% of the state's population. Projecting that number to all municipalities, implies a statewide municipal gap of about $2.5 billion. But the state has about $10 billion in its rainy day fund. I'll just leave those numbers there for you to consider. |
| 2020-05-13 | Virus spikes While Dallas county may be showing the largest absolute number of new cases, Moore county in the panhandle is showing by far the greatest per capita numbers, more than double any other county. About 2% of the residents have tested positive, and the local newspaper is eerily quiet about it. Maybe the two meat-packing plants there buy a lot of ads. |
| 2020-05-18 | Marc Thiessen Marc Thiessen seems intent on blaming every bad thing that has happened on "the elites". I don't even know who that is - it sounds like the formerly ubiquitous "them". The reality is that the failures of government that are currently worsening our crisis can often be traced to too many political appointees too new in their jobs to know what to do, and to too many of those political appointees being simply incompetent - having been put in place to reward loyalty to the president, not because they had any particular expertise or skill. This trope of "smart, competent people got us into trouble" may play well with some, but I think most voters are smarter than that. |
| 2020-05-23 | Use of antibody testing distorts state data I am surprised by the apparent lack of outrage at the state for deliberately distorting the positive test numbers by including antibody tests in the denominator of the crucial percent of tests positive measurement. This is not just political games, this is a life or death issue. The legislature needs to start an investigation into who ordered this to be done and why. If I cannot trust the numbers from the state, then I cannot participate in the economy. I do not appreciate the governor risking my life so he can look good. I hate being lied to. |
| 2020-05-25 | White House orders coronavirus travel ban for Brazil So is there any actual scientific basis for the travel ban from Brazil? I hate to break it to the administration, but we have extensive community transmission in the US, so banning travel is akin to closing the barn door after the cows have left. I expect that as we consolidate our own leading position in the infection derby, countries will be banning travelers from the US. |
| 2020-05-27 | Vote by mail So let me try to parse this. According to the President, and our Lieutenant Governor, huge numbers of the mail-in ballots coming from service men and women and from seniors are fraudulent? I'm surprised they haven't moved to force nursing home residents to show up in person to vote, since there is so much fraud. Or just not allow deployed military personnel to vote, since they can't show up in person. Or maybe I'm expecting too much to look for consistency and logic. |
| 2020-06-03 | Terrorist acts by the government Since Attorney General Barr apparently ordered the National Guard to clear peaceful protestors from in front of the White House for a photo op, I suppose the Justics Department will not be investigating this egregious violation of the law. |
| 2020-06-06 | Anti-vaccine group sets sights on contact tracing Dead people have no need for rights. |
| 2020-06-06 | Republican county chairs It is good that Republican officials have demanded that various county party chairs who posted racist conspiracy theories resign. It is also sad that they stand in full support of the president, whose subtler racism has been on display for years. But then I guess county party chairs are assured of being replaced by another Republican, so that complaint is one that costs nothing. |
| 2020-06-07 | I-45 expansion Does the widening and redesign of I-45 predominantly affect people of color? I think the answer is yes. Do the benefits primarily accrue to white neighborhoods far north of town - many not even in the city limits? Again I think the answer is yes. This project sounds like a poster-boy for implicit racism in action to me. I'm sorry that people who chose to live 20 miles outside the city have a bad commute, but they made that choice. Besides, as with the Katy freeway, after a few short years, the freeway will be at capacity again. |
| 2020-06-07 | Defund the Police My initial reaction at seeing many protesters advocating "defunding the police" was "well that isn't very smart, who will enforce the law?". But as I thought about it, I realized that for the people who advocate for that position, the police in their neighborhood do not represent safety and order, as they do in mine. They represent danger and oppression. Which is really the whole point of the protests. A recent study of over 100,000 traffic stops in Texas showed that after dark, when it is hard to tell someone's race, black and hispanic drivers were significantly less likely to be pulled over than they were in daylight. This is not a bad apple problem, this is a systemic problem. |
| 2020-06-09 | TMC increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations I suppose that according to governor Abbott, the 40% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations being seen at the Texas Medical Center is all due to increased testing. It wouldn't have anything to do with re-opening too much too soon, and discouraging what now appears to be the single most effective measure we could take - wearing masks. |
| 2020-06-12 | Cornyn ". Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday compared taking down Confederate statues and renaming military bases to tearing pages out of history books." No senator, it is not like tearing pages out of history books. It is refusing to continue to honor people who were traitors and chose to violate their oaths to support the United States. It is long past time to quit pretending that confederate generals were honorable men. They were traitors to their country and deserve no respect. |
| 2020-06-12 | Defunding The police have complained for years that officers are expected to be social workers, mental health counselors, family therapists, and other roles for which they have little or no training. So why don't we listen to their complaints, fund some of those specialists, and allow the police to focus on policing? Isn't that fundamentally what the defunding cries are calling for? |
| 2020-06-13 | Economy opening Roughly 60% of the population according to recent polls is not really participating in the reopening of the economy. As cases continue to mount, that number is likely to also increase, making the reopening a futile exercise. It is a false choice between reopening the economy and controlling the spread of COVID-19. Without controlling the spread, the economy cannot really open. |
| 2020-06-18 | Abbott "Abbott said local leaders always had the power to issue such an order, and said Wolff had “finally figured that out.” What? Is this some sort of game where local officials have to guess at what the governor will allow? Does our governor have no idea how to work with local leaders? This has to be one of the most absurd statements I have ever read. |
| 2020-06-26 | Buck passing "The Texas Education Agency itself has been reluctant to provide guidelines for how to reopen campuses this fall ... Draft guidance obtained by the Chronicle, however, shows the agency considered giving districts wide discretion..." It seems to me that at every level above our local leadership, our so-called leaders are abdicating their responsibility and hoping to avoid culpability. On what planet does it make sense to expect every school district in the state to somehow develop its own expertise in epidemiology, create its own set of guidelines, and then communicate those to the parents in their district? What we are going to get is a confusing mish-mash of inconsistent and conficting guidelines, a cacaphony of different messages, and fear and anger from parents. The unwillingness to lead, the stark cowardice of those in charge is breathtaking and it is literally killing us. |
| 2020-06-26 | Election recommendations Given that I mailed my ballot in 2 weeks ago, your recommendations come a little late. |
| 2020-06-28 | TMC Some weeks back Texas Medical Center execs said that Abbott's reopening plan was probably okay. At the time I thought they couldn't actually believe that but were too gutless to buck the governor. Now they redo the ICU capacity website reporting to soft-pedal the crisis after Abbott complained. Are they serving the people of Houston, the governor, or themselves? |
| 2020-07-01 | Masks A common retort from people who don't want to be responsible and wear a mask, is that people with preexisting conditions should just stay quarantined. Given that the CDC says 40% of the population have preexisting conditions, I have a better idea. If you can't or won't wear a mask, then quarantine yourself so the rest of us can get out safely. |
| 2020-07-01 | Regrets, apologies, and amends "Philippe stopped short of issuing a formal apology" The king of Belgium falls short of issuing an apology for the truly horrific colonial behavior of Belgium in the Congo. Frankly, I'm becoming quite unimpressed with formal apologies as well. Like cheap grace, I don't see them as having much meaning or doing much more than salving the conscience of those who benefit from their ancestor's crimes. I am a lot more interested in amends. What can I (we) do to try to make up for some of the horrors and crimes our ancestors propagated and that we still benefit from? Amends are focused on the victim, apologies are focused on the perpetrator. |
| 2020-07-03 | Re: Audit of HPD draws criticism After looking at the HPD audit, I can only conclude that regular audits are something that they don't do. Working in industry, my team and I got audited every 2-3 years. I always told my team that we should welcome the auditor, because they would help us to do a better job, and see things that we were missing. Incomplete or missing paperwork cripple efforts to collect actual data and find places to improve performance. Either eliminate the paperwork or do it right. |
| 2020-07-04 | We need to live with it America. The greatest nation on earth. But unlike, say, New Zealand, we are incapable of controlling the corona virus, so give up and just learn to live with it. Or die from it. Not a proud moment for America. |
| 2020-07-04 | Black Hills The irony of the president complaining that protestors were trying to erase history is palpable. The history of the Black Hills is not generally taught. The area was guaranteed to the Sioux by treaty, then the U.S unilaterally changed that treaty, and then refused to honor even that version. It is a long history of greed and betrayal that has all but been erased. |
| 2020-07-05 | President's speech “And we will defend, protect and preserve (the) American way of life, which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America.” - President Trump. Cynically I would have to agree. Starting with Columbus, enslaving and killing people of color began in the Americas - and that seems, sadly, to be a feature of the American way of life. |
| 2020-07-07 | School openings The standard for stopping the virus spread is for anyone who has been in contact with someone who tests positive to quarantine for 2 weeks. If a student in a school tests positive, either every student would have to stay home for 2 weeks, or the school would have to be organized so that each student's circle of exposure is known and limited. That means breaking the school up into smaller units that have no face-to-face contact, even between teachers and staff. That seems pretty difficult. |
| 2020-07-09 | SCOTUS birth control decision So let's see if I have this straight. According to the Supreme Court, my employer can craft my health insurance so it doesn't pay for birth control, if they raise a religious objection. I assume that would also apply to a Jehovah's Witness employer not paying for blood transfusions, or a Christian Scientist employer paying for prayers only. Suppose an employer's religion holds that Black people have the "mark of Cain", and so are inferior? I think that court has just said that they will determine what acceptible religious belief is, and in effect have set themselves up as the arbiter of a state religion, in direct conflict with the constitution. This action will only serve to increase the political divide, not promote any sort of healing. |
| 2020-07-11 | Cornyn Senator John Cornyn said "We still don’t know whether children can get it and transmit it to others". Is it too much to ask that our political leaders shut up and let the people who actually know things get the message through? |
| 2020-07-13 | Republican convention By my calculations, looking at the likely minimum number of active COVID-19 cases in Harris County, there is about a 2% chance any person you encounter is actively infected. If 6000 people were to attend, then statistically, about 100 would be infected, and likely would each infect at least 2 other people while there. Mayor Turner is doing the Republican party a huge favor. |
| 2020-07-13 | Chiildren and school "A preliminary report from the CDC on the coronavirus in children said they are less likely to show typical symptoms of the coronavirus such as fever or cough." So I read that as saying that it is highly likely asymptomatic children will attend school, pass it along to their classmates and teachers, and many teachers will be hospitalized as a result. Teachers and students will also carry the virus home and infect their families. The only students who need to be physically present in school are those with learning issues, and those whose parents cannot stay home. Those should be kept in much smaller classes, with masks and isolation between classes. Teachers should be given the option to teach online only, especially older teachers, those with pre-existing conditions, or those with suspectible people living with them. |
| 2020-07-18 | Republican Convention The headline should have read "Federal Judge Discovers Right To Infect In Constitution". |
| 2020-07-18 | Children and COVID-19 I'm so tired of hearing officials and others say things like "very few children have had COVID, so school is safe". First of all, the studies have not been done, so there is very little data. Secondly, children have been kept out of school and I don't believe they have been to bars, so the rates would be low, for now. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. |
| 2020-07-19 | Trust “The bottom line is I have absolutely no faith in the FDA and in the Trump administration,” said Joanne Barnes, a retired fourth-grade teacher from Fairbanks, Alaska" I'm right there. I believe deeply in vaccination. I just got vaccinated for pneumonia a few weeks ago, and plan to get my annual flu shot when it is available. But this administration has so politicized the FDA and CDC that I cannot trust a COVID-19 vaccine that they promote. I will wait it out until there is a vaccine available that has been approved in Canada or Europe. |
| 2020-07-20 | Payroll Tax "Trump demands payroll tax cut in relief bill" How is a tax cut for people who are working, that also endangers the solvency of Social Security and Medicare do anything to help the economy? The goal should not be to stimulate people to go out and spend. The goal should be to keep the hard-hit sectors of the economy alive while mounting an all-out effort to control the virus. Controlling the virus is the only way to reopen and revive the economy. A payroll tax cut will encourage early opening. It is idiotic and dangerous. |
| 2020-07-23 | Mrac Thiessen Marc Thiessen writes about Joe Biden, "There have been multiple instances in which he has failed to make an intelligible point, leaving viewers with little more than an incomprehensible word salad." At first I thought he was being ironic, trying to make a joke, since that precisely describes every statement I have heard from our president. |
| 2020-07-25 | Covid We are all tired of quarantines and social distancing, but it is crucial to note that, right now in Harris county, there are more active cases of Covid than there have ever been. What that means is that the chances that that person not wearing a mask in the store is infected and spreading the virus are higher than they have ever been. If we don't treat everyone we encounter as if they were infected, we will never get this virus under control. The economy, schools, and normal life cannot function while the virus rages. First things first - get the number of active cases down to a managable level. |
| 2020-07-25 | Bosque county It is interesting that you chose Bosque county as an example of a place in Texas resistant to taking Covid seriously. By my calculations, they are having an extraordinary jump in case numbers, with a doubling time of about a week - significantly faster spread than Harris county. With 100 cases today, in a month that could easily top 1,000 cases and eventually 50 deaths. Politics and public health make deadly bedfellows. |
| 2020-07-29 | School closures "Woodfill, ... said he believes laws that delegate powers to health authorities during public health emergencies are unconstitutional and improperly applied." Well during the 1878 Yellow Fever epidemic that swept through the Mississippi basin and literally decimated Memphis, the Boards of Health in both Houston and Galveston quarantined their cities, expelling or fining those who broke quarantine, even holding mail for 2 weeks at the city limits. Is it better to have health policy determined by a politician with a law degree, or a person with a degree in Public Health who is hired to be responsible for health policy? I'll go with people who know stuff. (Both cities escaped that epidemic) |
| 2020-08-01 | Liability Shield So let's see if I have this straight. Senator John Cornyn has helped write a liability shield provision that would make it all but impossible to sue an employer, business, or school for not making reasonable accomodations to prevent the spread of coronavirus. At the same time the CDC has bowed to political pressure to water-down its guidelines so that they become relatively ineffective. We are basically setting the stage for half-measures that will ultimately prove ineffective, destroy what is left of the economy, and kill thousands of people. The craven self-interest of those in power, overriding any concern for the common good, is breathtaking. |
| 2020-08-01 | Health authorities cannot close schools If the law says health authorities cannot close schools then the law needs to be changed. Why would you not give the authority to make health decisions to those best equipped to make them? In the past, health authorities have had broad powers to protect the public. If that has been eroded, then it needs to change. The power and authority to make unpopular decisions is fundamental to maintaining public health. To those who derisively complain about their lives being restricted by "experts", I ask why you would want to have your life and safety governed by amateurs? |
| 2020-08-02 | Traffic stops "officers must report how often they knew the race of a driver prior to a stop. In 2019, the task force interdiction members reported they did in 1 percent of their stops — a figure profiling experts called deeply improbable given their records." That is called falsifying a government document, which is a crime. And statistical proof is used all the time in court - DNA profiling and most forensic evidence. |
| 2020-08-04 | Schools opening I certainly hope that with some school districts reopening in-person instruction soon, that public health authorities take advantage of the experiment they are about to run and track COVID-19 infection rates by school district. |
| 2020-08-04 | Bettencourt “Mayor Turner, where is the problem?” Bettencourt said. Let me explain. The current number of active infections is very high. We are no longer growing cases rapidly, but because of the large number of active infections, one false step and we could see the growth explode again. We are one big party away from a large spike. |
| 2020-08-08 | FDA aims to reassure Americans on vaccine I am a vaccine advocate. I have in my life been vaccinated against yellow fever, meningitis, flu, measles, polio, smallpox, and more. But the current desperation and politicizing of vaccine development for COVID-19 have me very worried, especially pushing a new and unproven technology to the front of the line. If the government wants my support for a vaccine, then they should work with the European Union to get approval there as well. That I would find reassuring. Otherwise, I may just keep avoiding restaurants and gatherings a while longer. |
| 2020-08-09 | War on Drugs No knock warrants. Racial profiling. More prisons. All of these are consequences of the War on Drugs. Why don't we just declare victory and move on to a model where we treat addiction like the disease that it is? The cartels will lobby hard against that idea, but if we are resolute we can change. Treatment is likely to save taxpayer dollars as well. |
| 2020-08-09 | Belgian hospitals denied care for elderly In "Belgian hospitals denied care for elderly" an incident is cited where paramedics gave an elderly person morphine instead of taking them to the hospital. Administering morphine to someone in respiratory distress is not comforting them, it is actively killing them. This goes way beyond denying care. |
| 2020-08-19 | oleandrin If the FDA caves-in to pressure from the White House and approves oleandrin for treating COVID-19, there is no way I could trust a COVID vaccine approved by them. It is as simple as that. I'd rather continue to isolate. |
| 2020-08-20 | Cargo Cults I'm going to say something controversial that may upset people. There is very little evidence that deep-cleaning and sanitizing surfaces has any impact on COVID-19 transmission. It has become clear that by far the dominant mode of transmission is through airborn droplets. So the obsession with cleaning is simply a cargo cult exercise to placate nervous people, when what is really needed is masks, avoiding crowds indoors, and giving people at least 6 feet of distance. Let's quit wasting money with obsessive cleaning, and instead enforce mask-wearing. And cover your nose! |
| 2020-08-22 | Testing So testing is about to become useless. The FDA has been told to approve all tests. Anyone can invent a covid test and sell it, with no requirement that the FDA insure it works. This is a complete disaster. |
| 2020-08-23 | USPS 'In testimony before the Senate on Friday, DeJoy reiterated that pledge and said ensuring successful mail-in voting would be the agency’s No. 1 priority.” ' So where does that leave rent payments, social security checks, and medication? |
| 2020-08-24 | re-opening "Abbott has based decisions on whether to shutdown businesses and public activity based on the positivity rate throughout the pandemic and has said that a sustained rate below 10 percent could prompt further reopenings." In Washington state, there is a list of about a dozen criteria and goals to be met for various re-opening stages, per county. The testing positivity goal is "under 2%". Ten pecent positives seems very high, and a very weak goal. The number of active cases is still very high, much higher than it was in May, so the potential for a huge growth spike is still large. |
| 2020-08-27 | CDC The CDC is now officially politically compromised. I cannot trust the CDC or the FDA. I cannot trust the FDA approval of a covid-19 vaccine. And that is really sad. |
| 2020-08-28 | Law and Order What frightens me is the specter of 17 year-olds with assault rifles, men in fatigues with high-powered weapons, none of whom being challenged by the police. That is not law and order. |
| 2020-08-28 | The Fed So the Fed is planning to sacrifice retired folk on fixed incomes by allowing inflation to eat away at their income, while the president wants to destabilize Social Security by cutting it's source of funding, the payroll tax. Add to this the calls to reopen the economy too quickly - because after all the virus only kills old people - and it really begins to feel like an assault on the older population. |
| 2020-08-29 | Police shooting So according to the police union in Kenosha, "Based on the inability to gain compliance and control after using verbal, physical and less-lethal means, the officers drew their firearms,” Matthews said. “Mr. Blake continued to ignore the officers’ commands, even with the threat of lethal force now present.” So not following orders from a cop is sufficient reason to be shot. Funny, I thought that the cop had to feel like they were in danger. |
| 2020-08-29 | Storm surge A letter writer doubts any hurricane could push 15-20 feet of water up the ship channel. Many years ago I worked at Phillips Petroleum on the ship channel. In their warehouse by the docks there was a mark on one of the columns showing where the water came to during hurricane Carla. By my recollection, it was easily 12 feet off the ground. Yes, storm surge could easily push 15-20 feet of water up the ship channel. |
| 2020-09-01 | mail in balloting Regarding mail-in ballots, recent papers from the CDC note that somewhere in the vicinity of 40% of the population have a pre-existing condition that increases their risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19. Since very few of those are under 18, easily half of all voters are at risk. Half. |
| 2020-09-02 | Police clear jogger in case Maybe I'm naive, but it seems to me that when you have a case like this - a report of an ex-husband having assaulted his former wife - an alternative to picking up a random black man jogging in the neighborhood would be to pick him up at home or work. You know who he is, why risk picking up the wrong person? |
| 2020-09-03 | Re: CDC tells states to get ready for vaccine I always get vaccinated when it is available. I already received my flu shot this year. Twice I have participated in clinical trials, because as a scientist I want to help progress science. But I have no trust in the FDA regarding the COVID-19 vaccines. Fast-tracking an unproven and novel technology under enormous poitical pressure to do so just seems like a recipe for disaster to me. I don't like social distancing and wearing a mask all the time, but I can continue doing that for quite some time if the alternative is to be a politically-inspired guinea pig. |
| 2020-09-06 | Chinese spying and WHO I'm sorry, but the story about the Chinese using WHO to help gather intelligence about COVID-19 vaccine development sounds to me very much like a planted story to justify the US leaving WHO by pointing fingers at the Chinese boogeyman. It is much too "on brand" for this administration, and much too convenient for them. I simply think it is yet another lie propagated by the Trump administration. |
| 2020-09-11 | 4 HPD cops fired over fatal shooting Re: 4 HPD cops fired over fatal shooting When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail. When all you have is a gun... |
| 2020-09-14 | Re: Cruz trying to block Putin’s pipeline While I'm happy to see Senator Cruz making trouble for President Putin, it would be nice if he and his colleagues could expend that sort of energy and show that sense of urgency around the pandemic. By delaying a return to extra unemployment benefits, the desperation to re-open the economy too soon will build, and we will spark another infection/death spike. We have at least another 6-9 months before a return to a semblance of normal, and only Congress has the power to cushion the impact of that time on our lives. |
| 2020-09-16 | Pandemic It is clear to me that if every HHS appointee resigned and let the career bureaucrats run FDA, CDC, and other agencies, we would all be better off. Everyone the president has appointed is an unqualified hack. |
| 2020-09-16 | Bad reporting of test data Why has it taken the state six months to figure out that posting COVID-19 test results on the day they are received instead of the day the test was given is a problem? I've been complaining about this since April. I have tried to use the state data many times, and frankly, much of it is almost useless. In the early days of the epidemic, problems are expected and understandable, but 6 months in we should not be still making major revisions in how the data are treated. Fighting the epidemic depends on good data. Has the governor neglected the state health department? It really makes no sense to me. |
| 2020-09-22 | CDC I read scientific papers, and in my judgement the CDC retraction of their advice that covid-19 can spread through aerosol transmission is nothing but a political decision, and they no longer represent a trustworthy source of advice. I recommend people follow the advice from the Canadians and Europeans. |
| 2020-09-22 | Crenshaw I would like to point out to Congressman Crenshaw that there is no such thing as the "Democrat party". The name he is searching for is the Democratic party. Intentionally mangling the name of your opponents is a truly childish and petty act, and does nothing to reduce devisiveness. Is it really that hard to use the correct name? |
| 2020-09-29 | Rapid COVID tests The rapid COVID tests are good news, but there are other uses for hem beyond schools. They could save the airline industry by making it much safer to fly. |
| 2020-10-06 | Covid, quarantine, and liability Given the refusal of both the White House and the Senate to follow CDC recommendations on quarantining people exposed to COVID-19 and isolating people who have tested positive, it is no wonder that Republicans want to include a liability waiver for employers in the stimulus bill. They are seriously endangering employee's lives, and want a "get out of jail free" card. |
| 2020-10-07 | Stimulus So it has come to this. The president, like a mafia don, is holding a stimulus package hostage, trying to blackmail desperate people into voting for him. And with the support of the Republicans in Congress, he can do it. Retaining power trumps people's lives and livelihood. |
| 2020-10-08 | Quarantine vs Isolate It is a quibble, but quarantine is what you do when you have been exposed to the virus. Isolate is what you do when you test positive. "El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz is quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the Catholic Diocese of El Paso." |
| 2020-10-09 | Paxton "Though two of the subpoenas issued by Cammack say he’s a “special prosecutor for the office of the attorney general,” Paxton’s office calls Cammack an “outside counsel,” and his contract shows no power to prosecute or even indict anyone." Doesn't that imply that the felony "knowingy making a false entry in an official document" has been committed? Asking for a friend. |
| 2020-10-09 | Bars "Abbott announced Wednesday that bars could reopen on Oct. 14 in counties with low coronavirus hospitalization rates," I think that the useful criteria for reopening bars may as well be the availability of mortuary capacity. Using low hospitalization rates as a metric implies that you expect the re-opening to sicken a lot of people and send them to the hospital. How is that a good idea? |
| 2020-10-11 | Police searches Police Union president Griffith, discussing traffic searches said: To me, if I know I didn’t do anything wrong, it’s nothing more than a minor annoyance.” I'm really curious. How many times has Officer Griffith been pulled over and searched? Or is he simply speaking theoretically? I think being falsely accused - which is what a search amounts to - is a huge annoyance. And that difference in attitude reflects much of what is behind our current issues around law enforcement. |
| 2020-10-11 | semi-annual legislature The current tussle between the governor and the courts is a good example of why Texas needs a full-time legislature. We have had a governor running our state by decree, with the only check on his power being the courts. That is an unhealthy situation for both the governor's office and the courts. The legislature needs to be part of this story, to provide the proper balance to government. |
| 2020-10-14 | Herd Immunity There is not a single example of herd immunity occuring without a vaccine. Not one. There is no reason to expect COVID-19 to be different from every other human disease. This is a policy driven by greedy businesses who want to profit regardless of the human cost. |
| 2020-10-17 | Voters The headline "2.6M Texans have voted; few are new so far" makes no sense. In the article it notes that about 10% of the votes so far are new voters. Since 2016, there have been about 10% new voters registered. So newly registered voters are voting at about the same rate as other voters. "few are new so far" is simply wrong. |
| 2020-10-19 | Personal responsibility "Wearing a mask should be a personal decision" Your mask protects me from you. That is not a matter of personal responsibility, that is a matter of social responsibility. If we can justify not requiring masks, then we should quit enforcing laws against speeding, running stop signs, and shooting guns into the air. Your behavior could kill me. That makes it my business. |
| 2020-10-20 | Voting "Court rules no early notification needed if mail ballots are rejected" Clearly there is no constitutional right to vote, based on this and other court rulings. We need to amend the constitution to make it clear that there is indeed a right to vote. As for me, I will reluctantly turn in my mail-in ballot at the polling place and vote in person on an old, obsolete, hackable machine with no paper trail or backup. |
| 2020-10-22 | Court Packing Kathleen Parker completely misses the point. The court is already compromised, like the Senate is. There are 24 states less populous than Harris county - 48 senators - who control who gets on the Supreme Court. The increasing imbalance between population and Senate representation is reflected in the makeup of the court. Like the electoral college, we are becoming less and less a representative democracy. That does not bode well for the future legitimacy of any federal institution. |
| 2020-10-24 | Not voting by mail Let me assure the Republicans in Texas. I will be turning in my ballot and voting in person because it is clear that they don't want me to vote, and with the ability of officials to silently reject a mail-in ballot for a signature match, I feel like I have no choice. I will remember this fiasco in future elections. Every Republican is complicit in trying to prevent me from voting. |
| 2020-10-25 | Herd Immunity In the story "Vaccines will have to overcome distrust" herd immunity is cited as an ugly alternative to vaccinating. The problem is that herd immunity has never happened, except with a vaccine. Where is the herd immunity to the common cold - a relative of COVID-19? Where is herd immunity to measles, chicken pox, small pox, and on and on? It has never happened. Please stop reporting as if it is even an alternative. It is not. The alternative is a never-end series of waves of infection and death as immunity fades and people catch the virus again. |
| 2020-10-25 | Mark Meadows So the president's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is waving the white flag on coronavirus, saying "We are not going to control the pandemic". Which I guess is true enough, if you refuse to even try. There are many things we could do that would lessen the impact, but our so-called leadership is unwilling and incapable of doing them. All they are willing to push are silver bullet solutions when the real answer is hard work. Testing, tracking, isolating, masks, and distancing. Hard work. Or just wait for the magic pill that may never come, or the vaccine that won't really be widely available until the middle of next year, and even then may only provide limited protection. I am thoroughly disgusted with this administration and every person who supports them. |
| 2020-10-29 | Oil "A Biden win would, in our current view, likely result in continued negative pressure on crude prices in the short term, while a Trump win might halt the bearish winds,” Rystad said." This is nonsensical. If we change administrations trends will continue, but if we keep the same administration trends will reverse? How does that work? I'm reminded of a popular definition of insanity: if I keep doing the same thing, I expect the results will be different. |
| 2020-11-05 | Virus or economy? "exit polls showed that Americans casting votes Tuesday ranked the state of the economy as a more pressing concern than the pandemic" I was truly astonished to read this. The state of the economy is largely dependent on controlling the pandemic. It isn't an either/or choice. I fear we are doomed to live with an out of control pandemic and a bad economy because of this attitude. |
| 2020-11-06 | Construction and COVID "COVID-19 is rampant among construction workers" In Washington state, they actually shut down construction for 2 months, and then required masks even outside. They have not seen a similar spike in COVID-19 cases. We know how to control the spread of this virus. What we lack is the leadership and the will to do what has been shown to work. And that lack of leadership has and will cost lives. |
| 2020-11-06 | Trump unrepentant ""He's in fighting mode," one source close to the President said. "He thinks it's in his benefit to fight." Of course he only thinks about what might benefit him, not what might benefit the country. Forever the unrepentant narcissist. |
| 2020-11-07 | Election “What we’re seeing tonight, what we’ve been seeing the last three days, is outrageous,” Cruz said. For once I have to agree with Senator Cruz. It is outrageous that the president and his supporters - like the senator - are actively trying to subvert public confidence in the election process for their own personal gain. |
| 2020-11-08 | Vote fraud Given the propensity for this administration to project their own failings on others, I'm beginning to seriously wonder if all the sturm and drang over vote fraud implies that they are guilty of fraud themselves. After all, there is some reason the polls failed. |
| 2020-11-09 | TEXAS MARKS 20 YEARS OF DAILY ROAD DEATHS Regarding Texas road deaths, every time I drive on I-45 north, I find myself being passed by a large number of vehicles - and I'm doing 75 in a 60 zone just trying to keep up with the traffic flow. Enforcement appears to be non-existent. Cars are averaging 15 mph over the limit, and many are driving 25-30 mph over the limit. It really is insane. The miracle is that more people aren't killed. Where is the DPS? |
| 2020-11-09 | Gloating "Democrats reduce the gloating in their celebrations" I'm sorry but I'm getting that exact same message from several snowflake Trump supporters, and it just pisses me off. I think ending a fascist regime is a cause for celebration, and being oh so sensitive to the delicate feelings of people who supported Trump in the face of the obscene acts he promulgated, the deaths and suffering he bears responsibility for, is nonsense. You are allowing them, yet one more time, to control the narrative. Just stop it. |
| 2020-11-15 | Re: Digging Buffalo Bayou deeper? Channelizing and cutting bayous deeper has worked so well let's do more of it! Walking along the White Oak Bayou bike trail I am impressed by how sterile and lifeless the concrete embankments make it. And how awful the water looks - green, slimy, algae-choked. We have multiple issues that need to be addressed: recreation, flooding, water quality, esthetics - and the Corps is ignoring all but flooding and appealing to 50 year-old ideas for that. Let's buy out buildings in flood-prone areas and turn those into wetlands that can slow and filter runoff. We need to quit viewing nature as the enemy to be conquered, and work to make nature our partner. |
| 2020-11-15 | Editorial on taxes I was reading the editorial on taxes and thinking it sounded a bit odd, and then realized that it was written by Grover Norquist. All possible credibility out the window - clearly a propoganda piece and a waste of space in the paper. |
| 2020-11-17 | Vaccine I don't find Senator John Cornyn's statement that it is not necessary for President-elect Biden to be brought in to the vaccine distribution plan at all reassuring. If anything is clear, it is that the people in charge in this administration were all chosen for loyalty instead of competence, so I fully expect the initial stages of the vaccine distribution to be a complete fiasco. We are still struggling with PPE and masks at this late date. Why would the vaccine be any different? |
| 2020-11-17 | Re: States vow extra scrutiny of coronavirus vaccine I welcome the extra scrutiny many states will provide for the coronavirus vaccines. I have always been an advocate for vaccination, and have been vaccinated against easily a dozen different diseases. But I do not trust this administration, and without extra outside scrutiny would be reluctant to get vaccinated with a new, unproven technology. |
| 2020-11-18 | Raffensperger Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should receive a Congressional Medal of Honor. He has defined what it means to be honorable. To stand up for the truth even when your own party is pressuring you not to. We have a few Texas politicians who could learn a lot from his example. |
| 2020-11-20 | Abbott sending drug to hot spots The drugs Governor Abbott is so proud of sending to viral hotspots are not a silver bullet. The improvement they show is marginal at best, and they will not significantly alter the shape of the epidemic. What could alter the epidemic, what is the nearest thing to a silver bullet, is to get everyone to wear a mask, and to shut down indoor dining and bars. Those simple actions could save thousands of lives. But we live in a leadership void, and so nothing happens. |
| 2020-11-20 | Letters A letter write notes that "We can’t blame our senators for personal actions people take." True enough, however we can blame them for discouraging people from taking proper actions - like wearing masks and avoiding bars. I have not seen our senators pushing their constituents to take the measures we know ae effective. Telling people that it is their choice to wear a mask is not enough. They need to lay it on the line. If you refuse to wear a mask you are being selfish and endangering others. It is not okay. It is akin to driving drunk. |
| 2020-11-30 | Coronavirus tests "A Pennsylvania state senator abruptly left a West Wing meeting with President Donald Trump after being informed he had tested positive for the coronavirus" Apparently a key message has gotten lost. If you get tested for the virus, until you get the test results back, you should act as if you are positive and quarantine yourself. But then many messages regarding the virus are getting lost. We should be flooding the airwaves with PSA's on wearing masks and avoiding crowds. |
| 2020-12-01 | Trumpism Regarding the editorial "Learn From Him", I agree fully with the point that neither party has really grappled with the issue of how to help workers transition from dying industries. It seems that "retraining" often consists of a 1 week class in Excel and resume writing, and then nothing. On the dark side, however, I fully expect that Mitch McConnell will be fuly prepared to sacrifice the economy to make Biden look bad. It is clear that the raw exercise of power has trumped concern for the common good. |
| 2020-12-02 | Barr Re: Texas Republicans press Barr on Trump’s claims Does the Chronicle still think it was a good idea to endorse Rep. Dan Crenshaw? How high on the unacceptable scale does destroying public confidence in elections and government for partisan political gain rank? |
| 2020-12-02 | Covid relief It seems clear to me that Democrats are negotiating the relief bill at a disadvantage, since it seems that Senate Republicans are much more willing to let people die. |
| 2020-12-03 | Climate change Frankly, it looks to this geophysicist like we are at a tipping point where oil and gas demand will plateau and decline regardless of what the government does. The most useful thing our leaders from both parties could do would be to prepare Texas for that inevitable transition by diversifying the economy and setting up systems for retraining all the people who will be laid off. Denying reality will not help anyone. |
| 2020-12-05 | Re: Socially Distant Santa There have been a multitude of studies showing that face shields are almost completely ineffective as a form of protection against COVID. By showing Santa wearing only a faceshield you are contributing to confusion and to the mistaken belief that the shield offers protection. A large fraction, perhaps the largest fraction, of transmission occurs via aerosol, which can only be stopped by a high-quality, properly worn mask. |
| 2020-12-06 | Victor Davis Hanson editorial Victor Davis Hanson in their editorial is guilty of the same crime as Dr. Scott Atlas, confirming my opinion that the Hoover Institute is no longer concerned with facts. Scott Atlas was "hounded from office" because he promoted demonstrably wrong and dangerous positions at odds with science. When challenged he took data out of context and stated falsehoods. Hanson, in his defense of Atlas, is similarly guilty. He is clearly promoting the victimhood story that energizes the Trumpist right-wing, cherry-picking a few statements from a handful of liberals and using them to smear the left in general. The editorial says a lot more about him than it does anyone else. |
| 2020-12-13 | GOP So GOP Chairman Allen West is suggesting that states should pick up their marbles and leave because Trump lost the election. The leader of the Texas GOP is proposing treason. Apparently being poor losers is not enough, now the stakes are raised all the way to treason. |
| 2020-12-13 | Bill Whalen editorial Why do you even bother publishing editorials from members of the Hoover Institute? After their refusal to sanction Dr. Scott Atlas for spreading dangerous misinformation about COVID-19, I for one cannot trust any supposed facts that a member promotes. They have zero credibility, and have become just one more partisan shill. It would be nice if you would take a stand that facts matter, that integrity matters and is earned. |
| 2020-12-17 | Pedestrian deaths In my neighborhood, the Heights, there are very few blocks that have a useable sidewalk from corner to corner. As a result, I often see people with walkers, in wheelchairs, or pushing baby carriages out in the street. With the new proposal only funding 50 miles of sidewalk per year, interim measures are badly needed. I suggest that every block without a complete, useable sidewalk have stop signs placed at each corner, to at least slow traffic down and reduce the danger. |
| 2020-12-20 | Houston I vote for "Houston, Be Someone". |
| 2020-12-20 | Musk The recent editorial about Elon Musk moving to Texas, while a fun read, was riddled with inaccuracies and half-truths. For example, it was not a Falcon 9 rocket that crashed recently, it was a prototype of the new rocket that they are designing - and which Musk gave only a 30% chance of being fully successful. Tesla does get significant income by selling carbon credits, but it would be profitable without that income stream. The subsidies it used to receive are also received by Ford, GM, and every other automobile company. And I could go on. |
| 2020-12-23 | Restaurants and Covid James Clark, president of the Galveston Chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association, claims that there is no scientific evidence that COVID-19 is spread in restaurants. That is simply untrue. There are multiple, peer-reviewed papers in reputable journals demonstrating conclusively that in fact restaurants are one of the most common places for the virus to spread. As a foodie I am dismayed by the loss of so many resaurants, but the right answer is for the government to provide support to restaurants and their employees so they can remain closed, not open them up so the virus can spread more efficiently. |
| 2020-12-23 | Surprise Ambulance Billing Regarding surprise billing from ambulances, as a consumer I'm not sure what I should do if I think I need an ambulance. Take out a second mortgage, or call an Uber instead? |
| 2020-12-30 | Councilmember Greg Travis Apparently Councilmember Greg Travis does not realise that he was born with an important factor in his own success - being a white man. That is not an opinion. That is what the data tells us. |
| 2021-01-01 | Re: Confusion abounds in Texas’ rollout So apparently to cover for the lack of a coherent plan, the state's response is to fling blame at pharmacies. I've looked at the state website for the vaccine, and it is basically useless. For example, what is the definition of a pre-existing condition? How will the vaccine provider verify you have a pre-existing condition? Will it be the honor system or will you need a prescription? I predict that cheating the system will be rife, and confusion wil continue to reign. Dropping this into the lap of an underfunded, overworked state health department is a recipe for confusion. We spend trillions at the defence department. Why are we not utilizing the quartermaster corp to organize this? |
| 2021-01-03 | Cruz We have a seditious senator in Ted Cruz. He is an embarrassment to the state of Texas. |
| 2021-01-04 | Ted Cruz It is time to seriously look at impeaching Ted Cruz. |
| 2021-01-04 | Vaccine "State officials have created an online map for searching vaccine providers, urging residents to call the listed organizations for more information on shot availability." And vaccine providers have urged residents not to call because the lines are overwhelmed. Total lack of coordination at every level, reflecting incompetence from the top down. The state is incompetent, the city has no money - what happened to the rainy day fund? Why is that not being used to help distribute vaccine? |
| 2021-01-06 | Senator Cruz What Senator Cruz is doing by cynically questioning the presidential election results on the basis of no evidence is encouraging the substantial number of voters who believe that the election was rigged, and thus encouraging and promoting discord and division. If any doubt remains as to the source of the toxic and destructive divisiveness in our country, we need look no further than Senator Cruz and his ilk - politicians willing to sell out the Republic for personal political advantage. |
| 2021-01-07 | Capital violence Every congressperson who helped incite this violence must be ejected from the Senate and House by their colleagues. This is beyond unacceptable. This is treason. |
| 2021-01-07 | Attempted coup Fascism is characterized by extreme nationalism coupled with racism and cult-like worship of a dictatorial leader. Let's be crystal clear. There is indeed a fascist wing of the Republican party, and our junior senator has aligned himself with that wing. The Republican party is at a crossroads. It can reject the fascists in it's ranks, or it can go on pretending that they are very fine people. It is up to them. Fascism is by it's nature anti-democratic, and cannot peacefully co-exist with democracy. |
| 2021-01-07 | Words matter The captions on the pictures in "Pro-Trump mob storms U.S. Capitol" are shameful. Vandal? Protesters? Trespassers? This was an attempted coup by violent, armed insurrectionists. Why are you using language to minimize what happened? Our elected representatives were cowering under their desks, wearing gas masks while the "vandals" and "trespassers" roamed the capitol building. You need to print an apology for this egregious misuse of language. Words matter. Word choices matter. |
| 2021-01-09 | Re: No prison for white man who drove into protesters Headline: No prison for white man who drove into protesters. "...when white people say 'Justice,' they mean 'Just Us'." - Charles Mills |
| 2021-01-11 | Texas GOP targets more voting restrictions Re: "Texas GOP targets more voting restrictions" I think that recent events have confirmed what has been apparent for some time. That Republicans are willing to cheat, and sometimes even resort to violence, to win and retain power. Calls for unity ring hollow when there is no contrition, only a continuation of bad behavior. No we cannot just make up and move on. Not until our Republican officials show the barest spark of actual patriotism. Wearing a flag lapel pin and trying to cheat people out of voting does not make you a patriot. |
| 2021-01-12 | Homeland Security "the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, announced Monday he would be resigning later that day. " I would like to know how Chad Wolf can justify increasing the uncertainty and disruption in the government at a time when stability and certainty are desperately needed. Has he no sense of duty? |
| 2021-01-12 | March on Capitols So I see that the Texas State Capitol is surrounded by people protecting it from Republicans. |
| 2021-01-13 | half in Senate refuse to wear masks Re: "half in Senate refuse to wear masks" - Science clearly demonstrates that wearing masks is the single most effective measure for slowing the spread of COVID-19. - The most fundamental tenant of Christianity is to love one's neighbor, to protect them and respect them. - True leadership leads by example, and a systemic failure of leadership has led to 1/2 million deaths in this country. Draw your own conclusions. |
| 2021-01-15 | Re: Fee for electric, hybrid vehicles good for Texas roads Instead of penalizing electric cars with a fee that is ridiculously high, why not drop the gasoline tax to zero, and charge the same flat fee to every car? Wouldn't that be equitable and make more sense? |
| 2021-01-16 | Gov Abbott We are in the midst of the worst health crisis in a century, with national and state responses flailing. Unemployment is spiking, the state's major business - the oil industry - is in danger of collapse, right-wing insurrectionists are attempting a violent takeover of the country, and our governor "said one of his major goals for the legislative session that began Tuesday is “to make it fiscally impossible” for a city to slash funding of police." Way to pick a hill to die on Governor. |
| 2021-01-17 | Vaccine I am in group 1B for getting vaccinated, and would very much like to get the vaccine; however, I am more than happy to be put behind essential workers like teachers. Why has Governor Abbott not put teachers on the list of essential workers? We need them to be safe so that school can be safely reopened. |
| 2021-01-19 | Pedestrian killed "The man was not in a crosswalk when he was hit around 10:30 p.m. along North Shepherd Drive, near Thornton Street, police said." The Chronicle completely missed the real story here. I went onto Google streetview, and as far as I could see, there is no crosswalk for at least a mile in either direction from that intersection. Even a block away where there are bus-stops on both sides of Shepherd, no crosswalk. Just how is someone supposed to cross Shepherd safely there? |
| 2021-01-21 | Inaugural and Lies The most significant words in Biden's inaugural address "There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders -- leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation — to defend the truth and to defeat the lies." Forty percent of Republicans *today* believe that Obama was born in Kenya. Why? Because they were lied to by Fox News, and by Republican leaders. Even when Republican leaders denied that lie, they did so quietly, when they should have been defending the truth vigorously. And so we inexorably slid into the era of Big Lies, where the absurd, the ridiculous, were all promoted as long as they could help politicians retain power. And then the Gollum of lies that they gave life to finally came for them as well. |
| 2021-01-23 | Texas AG I have a suggestion. Instead of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tilting at windmills and wasting our tax dollars with frivolous and pointless lawsuits against the Federal government, maybe he could expend some of that energy going after the phone spammers and con artists that call me about 10 times every day. It would be really nice to see him do something useful that would actually improve my life. |
| 2021-01-24 | RR commission Christi Craddick, chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, writes an editorial pleading for saving the oil and gas industry. But in that editorial she never once mentions global warming, except in a back-handed quoted phrase "climate risk", implying that catastrophic global warming is both simply a risk and questionable. If the chairman wants to help the industry, she needs to face up to the reality of global warming and offer solutions rather than whining. Highlighting issues is important, but ignoring the underlying problem and not offering solutions is unhelpful. |
| 2021-01-25 | Dr Scott Atlas "Trump’s chief adviser in the fall instead became Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford radiologist who supported the benefits of pursuing herd immunity" This should actually read "supported unrestrained propagation of the virus and a huge number of deaths in a misguided bid to reach herd immunity in a complete denial of actual science." The way it was reported implies that what Dr. Atlas pushed was a viable strategy, which it was not. |
| 2021-01-28 | Guest Editorial In a guest editorial, Justin Louis Pitcock notes that "Fiscal responsibility, the sanctity of life and principled American leadership around the globe are important cornerstones of what it means to be a conservative in America." I would certainly question whether fiscal responsibility is a conservative cornerstone. The actual data on deficit spending contradicts that viewpoint. It seems to me that conservatives are in thrall to the magical thinking behind the Laffer Curve, promising something for nothing. The day conservatives promote higher taxes or cutting bloated defense budgets as ways to attack the deficit is the day I will view them as fiscally responsible. |
| 2021-01-30 | Re: GOP is working to keep Trump in the fold Alex Conant, a Republican strategist said "the Republican Party became the Trump Party for four years". I don't like saying it, but the dictionary definition of fascism revolves around leader worship and scapegoating minorities, both of which the Republican party is embracing. This is not over by any means. A majority of Republican voters are sympathetic to a man who dreams of becoming a dictator and has no respect for truth or the rule of law. The United States is still in grave danger. |
| 2021-02-03 | Cruz Senator Cruz compares Democrats policies to genocide. Why was the senator silent when Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick suggested that old people should just die from COVID-19 to save the economy, or Trump advisor Scott Atlas promoted allowing the pandemic rip through the population unchecked to reach "herd immunity" at the cost of millions of lives? Pushing for breathable air and drinkable water really don't seem to compare to the Republican horror show that the senator seems happy to support or at least ignore. |
| 2021-02-03 | Houston-area Reps. Kevin Brady and Dan Crenshaw Houston-area Reps. Kevin Brady and Dan Crenshaw used refineries as a backdrop to highlight their denial of climate change. Funny how refrigerated trucks full of COVID-19 victims don't get used as a backdrop. Clearly refineries are more important than people's lives in their worldview. |
| 2021-02-05 | Election integrity "(Rep) Cain, R-Deer Park, was one of several lawyers who volunteered for the Trump campaign’s failed effort to throw out the election results in Pennsylvania, ... He declined Thursday to say whether he believes the federal election results were legitimate..." Any lawmaker who cannot stand up and state clearly that the election was legitimate and fair, is simply an insurrection apologist and should not be in government at all, much less have a say in how we run elections. This is unacceptable. |
| 2021-02-05 | Megan McArdle editorial Megan McArdle editorial "What if the coronavirus pandemic never really ends?" has a few problems with basic science. Herd immunity in human populations has never been achieved by widespread infection, only by vaccination. For COVID-19, the immune response engineered by the vaccine appears to be much stronger than the immunity generated by infection. The only pathogens that have been completely eliminated as a threat are those with no animal reservoir - which is clearly not true of COVID-19. Bats, minks, perhaps dogs and cats, all seem to be capable of harboring the virus. So yes, COVID-19 is almost certainly going to be with us forever. The answer is more vaccination to reduce the lethality and spread, and reducing the opportunities for mutation. And masking and public hygiene need to become more common and ingrained in society. The one thing that is clear is that it will not "magically go away". |
| 2021-02-07 | FUD In the story "VEHICLES: Shift to electric picking up new speed", it is stated "One of the questions that has long plagued automobile executives was whether motorists — after a century of pulling into gasoline stations for a near instant fill up — would be willing to switch to electric vehicles typically requiring hourslong charges." This is completely inaccurate FUD (fear-uncertainty-doubt) promoted by automobile dealers afraid of losing their business model. At a Tesla V3 supercharger station, 250 miles worth of charge can be had in 20 minutes. That doesn't sound like hours to me. At home my charge rate is 20 miles per hour, which is fine for overnight. |
| 2021-02-11 | Masking The CDC advice that people should double mask, to preserve N-95 masks for healthcare workers infuriates me. We have had an entire year to fix this problem. And apparently are incapable as a country of solving this problem. Certainly I see nothing coming from our senators to address this. I guess people dying isn't that important. |
| 2021-02-12 | Opening schools Are pediatricians pushing to reopen schools the best source for understanding the risks for a 60 year-old teacher with a pre-existing condition? All I have read are statements about the risks to the students, but very little about the risks to teachers. It seems to me that much more detail and nuance is desperately needed to have any hope of resolving this conflict. Blanket statements that it is safe are not at all reassuring, when clearly people have caught and died from Covid transmitted in a school environment. |
| 2021-02-16 | Legislative priorities As Texas becomes a national laughing-stock for our inability to keep our fossil-fuel powered power plants running, our governor has declared as emergencies expanding broadband internet, punishing local governments that “defund the police”, changing the bail system, ensuring ���election integrity”, and providing civil liability protections for businesses that were open during the pandemic. If that is the best our government can do, they might as well call it a day and return home. I would wager that people freezing in their dark homes don't care about any of those "emergencies". Clearly the state has allowed power generators to cut corners and prioritize profits over resilience, putting us all at serious risk. |
| 2021-02-17 | Power How are farmers pouring milk down the drain when store shelves are empty the same as the energy capital of the world freezing in the dark? Efficiency and resilience trade off against one another. To prepare for unusual events requires spare capacity, contingency plans, backups, all of which require spending money and decreasing efficiency and profits. A free market will always choose profits and efficiency. If freezing in the dark is not acceptable, then we cannot continue with a free market for electricity. This is a failure to regulate, and the buck stops squarely at the feet of the Texas legislature. |
| 2021-02-21 | ERCOT One of the more discouraging, or even frightening aspects of the blackout is that our governor, by scapegoating ERCOT, has indicated that he doesn't understand how our electricity system works. If our elected officials don't understand the current system, there is no hope that they will understand how to fix it. It is clear to me that ERCOT performed very well in a crisis situation that it had no control over, and actually minimized the potential damage. The lack of regulations requiring winterizing of power production was the proximate cause, and the responsible party is the legislature, with an assist from the PUC. |
| 2021-02-21 | Price gouging Riddle me this. If a package store starts selling bottled water at three times the normal price, they break the law against price gouging. But if a power plant sells electricity for 20 times the normal price, they are just being savvy businessmen. "No one is exempt from price gouging laws in Texas. Any person selling goods, necessities, or services at an exorbitant price will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Paxton said. Does that mean electricity is not a necessity? |
| 2021-02-28 | Freeze "Energy and water must weatherize for all extremes, not just winter storms" I have been struck by the design problem inherent in the simple act that would have saved many from busted pipes. Turn off the water at the meter and drain the pipes. The problem is that a special tool is needed to turn off the water. We had some neighbors advertising that they had the tool, but really, why are our water systems designed to make it difficult for a homeowner to turn off the water? To prevent loss of water pressure due to dripping faucets and broken pipes, maybe the city should offer the tool at cost to everyone and encourage people to shut off water for a freeze instead of running their faucets. |
| 2021-03-03 | Masks So Governor Abbott has declared the pandemic is over. I am deeply disappointed in our governor. I was looking forward to returning to a somewhat more normal life, breaking out of my isolation, but now I am reluctant to go out, knowing that many will not be wearing a mask. And I am fully vaccinated - but not against the newest strains, of course. I fear we lack the patience to actually finish this race to crush the virus before it mutates sufficiently that we start this whole ugly scene over again. |
| 2021-03-04 | Masking Sentor John Cornyn said "...the government needs to quit making arbitrary rules that do not have any demonstrable connection with the public health." I agree completely, government rules need to reflect science and reality, not partisanship. Which is exactly why Governor Abbott removing the mask mandate is such an astonishingly bad decision. |
| 2021-03-09 | Freeway expansion First I-45 and now I-10. Why do inner loop residents have to sacrifice their quiet, their land, and their air quality to enable people in Katy to commute to downtown? The idea that we must accomodate people who have freely chosen a long commute to work is simply crazy. We need better public transit, but more lanes on I-10 is a losing wager. Adding more lanes never solves the traffic problem - it is always only temporary. But the damage done is permanent. |
| 2021-03-11 | Masking It's pretty simple really. I don't take medical advice from Governor Abbott. |
| 2021-03-13 | Power bills The solution to power consumers being faced with having to pay the enormous bills that the PUC and ERCOT refuse to deal with is simple. Every power utility should file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maybe a judge would be willing to do the right thing. |
| 2021-03-14 | Re: FAILURES OF POWER It seems clear to me that the aging power infrastructure and lack of investment is a direct result of the lottery system our legislature implemented. If a power generator has to rely on a few days of obscenely high power costs for all their profits, what bank would provide them money on that sort of model? That is almost like lending someone money to buy lottery tickets. Thoughtful investment requires a predictable revenue stream. |
| 2021-03-18 | Power So let me see if I have this right. The majority of the power loss during the freeze was not so much due to power producers failing to winterize as it was due to lack of natural gas supply. If that is true, then the whole idea promoted by our legislature that $9,000 per megawatt hour prices during a freeze will incentivize power producers is a complete farce and is simply a huge giveaway to the power companies. But then we've known for years that the deregulation framework the legislature developed is nonsensical and headed towards failure. They need to admit their failure and start over. |
| 2021-03-20 | Dreamers “Unfortunately, what’s happening at the border right now is going to inflame people’s emotions a lot and I think make anything harder to do, which I think is very regrettable,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters this week. I'm sorry John, I didn't realize you ran on a platform of doing the easy stuff. Maybe we need a different senator, one willing to take on the hard stuff? |
| 2021-03-20 | Guns A mentally ill, delusional man purchases an assault rifle and almost 300 rounds of ammunition. Even Republicans say that people like this should not have guns. Why is this happening? |
| 2021-03-24 | speed limits “Anything that slows down Texas traffic even more … just doesn’t make sense to us,” said Terri Hall, executive director Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom. The difference driving 10 blocks at 30 mph vs. 25 mph is 12 seconds. Is saving 12 seconds worth doubling the risk that a pedestrian will be killed? Has Terri never had a kid dart out in front of their car? I find the selfishness of this perspective appalling. |
| 2021-03-25 | Restaurant employees "That meant fewer tips and lower earnings for servers, bartenders and other employees who depend on tips." I for one would be very happy to see restaurants pay their workers a living wage, raise their prices by 20%, and get rid of tipping. What is the mentality that says restaurant workers must grovel for a tip from each customer instead of being treated like professionals and respected as human beings? Tipping really is a rather disgusting use of power. |
| 2021-03-27 | Voting I find it ironic that under the guise of "Stop the Steal", a slogan of insurrectionists who would promote a coup, the Republican party is striving mightily to steal elections going forwards by preventing people from voting. Let's not be afraid to name this for what it is. This is the exercise of raw power attempting to establish a fascist regime in the US. This did not end with the election. |
| 2021-03-30 | Re: Texas takes aim at solar, wind with new fees All I have to say to Texas Repubicans is that three 500 year storms in three years were not caused by wind farms or solar power. The same cannot be said of coal and natural gas power plants. The hydrocarbon industry is dying. We need to accept that and adapt, not fight a losing battle. I don't want to see Texas turn into the next rust belt. |
| 2021-04-01 | TxDOT So TxDOT can't understand why a 16 year-old plan should be rethought from scratch? Right now we don't even know if people will go back to work in offices. Houston was a much different place 16 years ago, and will be different in another ten. Being wedded to an old vision makes no sense whatsoever. The first thing that needs to be done is for the legislature to change TxDOT's charter to being responsible for moving PEOPLE, not just moving cars. |
| 2021-04-04 | Vaccine passports The controversy over vaccine passports is a great to-do over nothing. I have carried an official vaccine passport tucked into my US passport for 40 years, showing that I am up to date on yellow fever vaccine, as well as others. This is not a new, radical idea. It continually amazes me that some perceive the tiniest inconvenience to be more important than not killing people. Snowflake indeed. |
| 2021-04-05 | Taxes Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker said ... the 2017 tax cuts were “a plan that worked” . They certainly worked to increase company profits and executive pay. However, much of that money was used by corporations to buy back their own stock, and very little went into capital investment or hiring. Trickle-down economics is just a repackaged Laffer curve, and as George Bush aptly said, it is voodoo economics. |
| 2021-04-07 | Transit subsidies I just want to note for those who complain that mass transit doesn't pay its own way but receives subsidies, that highway construction is no different. It also does not pay its own way, but receives substantial subsidies. It seems to me that for those who want to drive, they should welcome mass transit getting other people off the road. |
| 2021-04-07 | Masks and apologies I don't think Governor Abbott was right in removing the mask requirements. The decline in COVID-19 cases in Texas has stalled, and a lot of ill-will has been created. I do not go to a lot of places still, because I am tired of calling ahead and asking them if they enforce a mask policy. Since I am vaccinated, I would go places and spend money if we still had a statewide mask mandate. So good job governor. You created more divisiveness, increased the rate of infection, and hurt the economy - a trifecta. |
| 2021-04-16 | Bettencourt Does State Senator Paul Bettencourt really not understand that free speech does not include libel? Or does he just like beating up on liberal college professors to please his base? So Paul, instead of having a little personal crusade, why don't you work on something important - like making sure we don't freeze in the dark again? |
| 2021-04-18 | Water system Seems to me that one problem we always have during freeze is too many people dripping their faucets. The city always tells folks not to do it, plumbers encourage people to do it, and the water pressure falls to near zero. Instead of begging people to not drip their faucets, what if the city supplied everyone with the tool to turn off their water at the meter and instructions on how to do it? That is a much better way to ensure that your pipes don't freeze and burst, and it would preserve water pressure in the mains. Clearly what we have been doing doesn't work. Let's try something different. |
| 2021-04-18 | Katy ISD to end mask rule on June 1 One school athelete dies from a heart defect, and all the schools install defibrillators. A deadly disease is carried largely asymptomatically by students, infects their parents and kills some, yet masking is ended before most of the students can be vaccinated. This makes no sense to me. But then, many things KISD does make no sense to me. |
| 2021-04-19 | Water Wars Pulling water from an aquifer faster than it can be replenished causes permanent damage to the aquifer. Once an aquifer has compacted and subsided, it cannot return to its former state. Pulling too much water from the ground is mining a non-renewable resource and leaving future generations with no well water and increased flooding from subsidence. This is the very essence of stealing from future generations. |
| 2021-04-22 | "Driverless crash" As the owner of 2 Teslas, this whole story makes no sense to me. The car is very finicky about making certain your hands are on the wheel, and also has to have someone sitting in the driver's seat. There is something funny going on here, because what has been reported by the Constable simply makes no sense. Were they wearing seatbelts? Could there have been a third person in the car? While the safety measures can be circumvented, it is hard to do so. |
| 2021-04-25 | Constitutional Carry Maybe I just don't understand, but it seems to me that Constitutional Carry would mean that you have to be a member of a well-regulated militia in order to pack your heat. Isn't that what it says? |
| 2021-04-28 | Re: U.S. truck boom shows comeback of oil here to stay Given that there are a number of companies prototyping electric semi's, including Tesla and GM, this seems like an odd and wishful headline. Additionally, Amazon has already announced purchasing 10,000 electric delivery vans. Oil is here to stay? Really? |
| 2021-05-04 | Child separation In Republican Bizarro world, having your child wear a mask to protect them from a potentially deadly disease is abuse, but taking away their parent and shipping them to another country is just policy. |
| 2021-05-04 | Sidewalk kiosks It is already hard enough to navigate the sidewalks in Houston without adding obnoxious monoliths blocking pedestrian traffic. Sidewalks are for people to walk on, they are not for art, for advertising, or for parking. There are already too many spots downtown and throughout the city where obstructions narrow the sidewalk. |
| 2021-05-06 | Open Carry Regarding "open carry". My assumption is that anyone openly carrying a gun in the city is up to no good, and I will call 911. There is an implicit threat contained in the act of open carry. |
| 2021-05-07 | Critical Race Theory I was taught in school the fiction that evil Northern carpet-baggers flooded the South after the Civil War to cheat and take advantage of the poor Southerners. Not a word about how they came down to help newly freed slaves learn to read and write, learn to stand up for their rights, and teach them what those rights were. And I was never taught a single word about Jim Crow or the KKK. But then, when I was growing up in Pasadena, the KKK and the local Nazi Party headquarters were both in that city. Some people are afraid of the truth. |
| 2021-05-10 | Re: Knocking COVID-19 out of the park The irony of having a vaccine clinic at Minutemaid Park is palpable. At Sunday's game there was no social distancing, and zero enforcement of mask-wearing. Literally 99% of the crowd was unmasked, and during the 7th inning stretch were encouraged to join in singing - a well-documented mechanism for spreading the virus. We may be finished with the virus, but the virus is hardly finished with us. |
| 2021-05-16 | Prison A/C The decision to air condition prisons seems pretty simple to me. We may not like what people in prison did, but they are still human beings and beloved children of God. By putting them in prison we are explicitly accepting responsibility for their welfare while they are there. If we don't want to spend the money to keep them in humane conditions, then we shouldn't put them in prison. |
| 2021-05-17 | Power "Other reforms are percolating, such as Sen. Kelly Hancock’s bill that would create a special set of fees on solar and wind power because they are not as reliable in winter storms." Why is the Chronicle reporting that solar is not as reliable in winter storms as if that were a fact? Just how does that work? Shouldn't it read "the spurious claim that they are not as reliable"? |
| 2021-05-19 | Mask anti-mandate After governor Abbott's anti-mask announcement, don't bother calling me for jury duty. I won't be there. |
| 2021-05-23 | Cost/Benefits Flood control, housing, pollution, freeze damage mitigation - disbursement of funds for these and other items is often guided by cost/benefit analysis. But I would argue that cost/benefit is an economic neutron bomb. It destroys people leaving structures unharmed. Benefits should be measured by how many people are helped, not by the value of buildings. Do we care about people's lives, or about property? Let's change how we evaluate and prioritize projects to focus on people. |
| 2021-05-26 | Masks, face shields, and the courts The photo accompanying the story "Officer’s testimony rocks Baylor trial" shows an attorney wearing a face shield, but unmasked. To me this is completely indicative of the deep ignorance of science that pervades our courts. Face shields are all but useless in preventing the spread of COVID, and have been explicitly condemned by the CDC. But our judges know better? |
| 2021-05-26 | National Anthem There is a huge difference between choosing to play the National Anthem and being forced to. Requiring the anthem be played is both shameful and tyrannical. I will no longer be standing or participating in what will now be a perfunctory imitation of patriotism performed under duress. |
| 2021-05-29 | Methodist Hospital employees suing Re: "Health workers sue over shot mandate" I think at this point someone insisting on coming to work unvaccinated can reasonably be accused of promoting a hostile work environment. I would be very uncomfortable working beside someone who would not get vaxed. |
| 2021-05-29 | Fentanyl "Abbott sends troopers, Guard to border" So far this year 4 ounces of fentanyl have been seized. According to the DEA, most fentanyl is sent through the mail, not smuggled, and mostly from China and India. This is nothing more than expensive political theater, protecting us from the scary Mexicans. |
| 2021-06-10 | Feds vow to defend LGBTQ exemption for religious schools I am confused by the story "Feds vow to defend LGBTQ exemption for religious schools". Does this mean that religious schools can also discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, or disability - things over which people also have no control over and have not chosen? |
| 2021-06-13 | Re: Wealthy should pay taxes like the rest of us In Chris Tomlinson's column, "Wealthy should pay taxes like the rest of us", he points out how little the wealthy pay in taxes, relative to both their wealth and income. What I find interesting is how stocks are treated differently from other property. I get to pay a tax on my real estate - my home - every year based on its value, but until I sell my stocks I never pay a penny in tax. So we, in effect, have a wealth tax but only on real estate. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. |
| 2021-06-16 | ERCOT et al It is becoming increasingly obvious to everyone except our governor that there really isn't an electric power reserve capacity of significance, and frankly there is no reason for the market to supply it. Baseload power under the current free-market incentives is probably not profitable, so no one is going to build more. The much-lauded invisible hand has left the building. The market cares only about profit. Keeping the lights (and A/C!) on is not really a concern unless it affects profits. If the goal is reliable power, then we have to regulate power generation to require that. |
| 2021-06-17 | Jury trials I'm happy to show up to be on a jury if either everyone is required to be masked, or everyone is required to be vaccinated. Otherwise, sorry, won't be there. |
| 2021-06-17 | Re: Abbott signs bill on ‘critical race theory’ I assume that nothing in the new law on avoiding discussing race will prevent teachers from leading a robust discussion on the legislature's desire to infringe the First Amendment. |
| 2021-07-01 | Re: Fired doctor cleared in vaccine theft case I voted for Kim Ogg, but her apparent inflexibility, her inability to admit error and let go, have me seriously re-evaluating my support for her. When the facts of Dr. Gokal's case became clear, it seemed obvious that no crime had been committed and we should all just move on. |
| 2021-07-02 | Catholic Bishops Of course Catholic Bishops have a perfect right to target individual politicians for what they believe are doctrinal lapses. However, the tax-exempt status of churches is a privilege, not a right, and is predicated on churches not targeting individual politicians, but restricting themselves to broader statements of policy. |
| 2021-07-03 | Re: Army sergeant is charged in ’20 killing of pro So a cop can feel threatened by someone's cell phone or someone "moving their hand towards their waistband", but normal citizens are not allowed to feel threatened by someone openly carrying an assault rifle? Bizarro world has nothing on reality in Texas. |
| 2021-07-04 | Common enemies Has dealing with a common enemy ever actually brought us together? Or has it simply been a vehicle, an excuse to stifle dissent and tell those who have grievances that they need to be patient and wait until things return to normal? When was a common enemy ever used as an excuse to really focus on dealing with the root causes of dissent, as opposed to papering over them? Those who benefit from the status quo will always find reasons to delay changing. |
| 2021-07-05 | CRT All of the sturm und drang over Critical Race Theory simply proves to me that Jim Crow is alive and well, and that white supremacy is a power still to be reckoned with. |
| 2021-07-13 | Vaccine hesitancy I have noticed that the new meme being promoted is that people are reluctant to get vaccinated because Biden expressed concern that the vaccine would be approved before the November election for political reasons. Given the deep-seated corruption, the stream of lies, and the intense politicization of government agencies like the CDC and FDA, I was also very hesitant at that time. Until I had an opportunity to see the open process that was used for approval, read the documents, and heard the testimony of trusted experts, the toxic atmosphere surrounding Trump had me afraid of the vaccine. But then I'm sure that if Joe Biden had not expressed concern, Trump voters would be flocking to get vaccinated. I also have a bridge in Brooklyn I could sell you. |
| 2021-07-15 | Roadblocks to vaccination I find official roadblocks to vaccination being set up in a number of states to be obscene. Officials who are complicit in discouraging vaccination are guilty of genocide. In a just world they would be thrown in jail. |
| 2021-07-17 | Vaccine Regarding vaccine hesitancy, let's talk about children under 12 who cannot yet get vaccinated. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that around 0.5% of those children will be hospitalized if they catch COVID. With 50 million children in this country, that is a quarter of a million hospitalized because some people have bought in to the lies surrounding the vaccine. If for no other reason, get vaccinated for those children. |
| 2021-07-21 | Billionaire spacemen I find the current popular meme - even expressed in a Chronicle guest editorial - that the space billionaires should be spending their money helping people, to be disingenuous. It is so easy to point fingers and say what others should do. But we, all of us, voted our representatives into office, and they have decided that the U.S. having a military budget larger than the next 7 nations combined is more important than attacking poverty and other social ills. I suggest we all look in the mirror, and then point that finger. |
| 2021-07-29 | Re: New CDC mask rule might slow economy’s rise Let me rewrite the headline "New CDC mask rule might slow economy’s rise" for you. It should read "Those refusing to be vaccinated or masked might slow economy's rise". Blaming the CDC is idiotic. Let's place the blame squarely where it belongs - those who have been hoodwinked by craven politicians into risking their own health and those around them by pretending that the virus is no big deal. |
| 2021-07-30 | Personal Responsibility Republican's concept of personal responsibility is to let everyone, no matter how irresponsible they may be, to walk around unvaccinated, unmasked, and carrying a loaded gun. Why do we have any laws? Why do we not allow people to pick a responsible speed limit for themseves? I have an idea - let's depend on everyone being personably responsible to pay taxes. |
| 2021-08-02 | Fentanyl "In 2015, lawmakers tried to pass good Samaritan laws that would protect people who call 911 during drug overdoses, even if they are in possession of illegal substances. Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed the legislation..." Allowing people to die so that he can score political points just seems to be very on brand for Governor Abbott. Drug overdoses, COVID, freezing in the dark - consistent. |
| 2021-08-02 | COVID and the border Counties along the Rio Grande have some of the highest vaccination rates in the state, but restaurants and hotels are filling up with Texas National Guard members and other law enforcement from states like Florida where COVID is raging. How well vaccinated are these visitors? Are they going to undermine the efforts of these counties to escape COVID through vaccination? |
| 2021-08-04 | Covid I don't agree that if Governor Abbott cared about people he would allow counties and schools to mandate masks. If the governor cared about people more than his own ambition, he would himself order a mask mandate. It's really almost too late. Cases and deaths will continue to surge for at least the next 2-3 weeks no matter what is done. People are already infected and don't know it. |
| 2021-08-06 | HISD and masking I pray that all our local government officials present a direct challenge to His Royal Highness Abbott's insane prohibition of mask mandates. I find the rate of increase in cases to be terrifying - because I actually understand math and exponential growth. We are driving full speed straight into a disaster. |
| 2021-08-06 | TEA "“Given the data from 2020-21 showing very low COVID-19 transmission rates in a classroom setting and data demonstrating lower transmission rates among children than adults, school systems are not required to conduct COVID-19 contact tracing,” the TEA said in a release announcing the guidelines." Has the TEA been asleep? The COVID now circulating - the delta variant - is not the same as the COVID that was circulating in the last school year. And masking was required in most classrooms. That data is irrelevant. Delta is 10-20 times as infectious as the original strain and requiring masks is prohibited. This is willful ignorance that will cost lives of both adults and children. Our entire state government seems hellbent on trying to kill as many of us as possible. |
| 2021-08-09 | Jury duty It is a simple decision for me. If called for jury duty where masks are not required, I will follow governor Abbott's directive, take personal responsibility for my health, and refuse to appear. |
| 2021-08-11 | Infrastructure So our senators voted against the infrastructure plan because "it adds too much to the deficit". What happened to that new-found concern when they voted for the Trump tax cuts? The CBO estimated in 2018 that the tax cut would increase deficits by about $1.9 trillion over 11 years. I think their opposition is purely political. |
| 2021-08-15 | Afghanistan and Haiti People are complaining that we are leaving Afghanistan after spending 2 trillion dollars, and have nothing to show for it. I have an idea. Let's spend that sort of money in Haiti. They desperately need the help, and I suspect no one will shoot at us. |
| 2021-08-15 | Mask Mandates I just wish the fight was over vaccine passports. I can't imagine going to a restaurant now that doesn't require all guests to be vaccinated. And clearly that isn't going to happen. I don't think most people have any idea how dire the situation with Delta is. Cases are continuing to rise even as hospitals fill. And yet we are fighting over masks. I don't know how to talk to people who live in an alternate reality. But I am really tired of accomodating their craziness. |
| 2021-08-21 | Re: Patrick falsely blames Black Texans for COVID surge I have personally looked closely at the COVID vaccination rate data for Texas, and I can assure Lieutenant Governor Patrick that by far the tightest correllation is with political party. Republican dominated counties have a vaccination rate half that of Democratic dominated counties. Without exception. It is clear that the main factor governing vaccination rates is the blizzard of misinformation coming from Republican officials and their surrogates. People like Dan Patrick. |
| 2021-08-28 | Texas Bullion Depository I find it interesting that while the state complains that cities and counties spend too much (on police, fire, flood control, sewage treatment, and other essentials), the state wastes huge sums on project it has no business being involved in: Bullion depository, arresting refugees, building border walls. When is the state going to actually work on things that matter in our day-to-day lives? |
| 2021-08-29 | Climate change As a scientist who has worked in a research lab, I'd like to pass along a little secret. In general, scientists are very conservative, in that they are very reluctant to go beyond the data and speculate. My concern, knowing how scientists think, is that they are underestimating the impacts of global warming. Scientists are not given to exaggeration. Just the opposite. I guarantee there will be global warming consequences that will surprise us, because no one has thought of the connection yet. We can only estimate the likelihood of consequences we have thought of. |
| 2021-09-13 | Re: Brady eyes his last tax fight It has become clear to me over the past 30 years that we have two approaches to fiscal policy: "tax and spend" Democrats, and "borrow and spend" Republicans. Which is more responsible? |
| 2021-09-13 | Mask mandates 'There’s a “healthy tension” in conservative thought between local control and individual freedom, said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican political consultant' When I read that all I can think of is that there is a tension between prohibiting people from peeing in the pool, and allowing them the individual freedom to do it. It really is no different. |
| 2021-09-14 | Can something good come out of COVID? When I was a young man, I had a summer job on the ship channel, working for one of the largest construction companies in the world. One of my fellow workers didn’t show for two days. When he came back, he told us he had been sick, and had been fired as a result. He said he had called in sick every day, and brought a note from his doctor when he returned, but that didn���t matter. So what message was being sent by the world’s largest construction company? Come to work sick and spread your germs around or we will fire you. In Elementary school, they often give out “Perfect Attendance ��� awards at the end of the year. But what do those awards really mean? They mean that either you were lucky enough to not get sick, or that you were determined enough to come to school while sick (and spread your germs to your classmates). So what message are we sending here? That it’s all about you, don’t consider how you might spread a disease, and go to school sick. Every winter, the drug companies start their “cold and flu season” advertising. And what do they promote? Take our magic formula and you too can go to work or to school sick and endanger all those around you with a potentially deadly virus. Historically, some 30,000 people die each year from influenza. Over half a million are dead from COVID-19. Somehow we have determined that that is an acceptable cost to society. Suppose we didn’t? What would have to change? Hourly workers often get no sick days, and even salaried workers can often convert unused sick days into vacation days. What message does that send? It says that if you stay home when you are sick, we will penalize you. So come to work and make your co-workers sick as well. Clearly, if we wanted people to stay home when they get sick, we would need to pay them. Many people cannot afford to stay home when they are sick. Additionally, people with children often cannot afford to keep them home from school when the child is sick, because they cannot miss work to take care of a sick child. Sick pay should not be a perk that can be converted to normal time off ��� but should be guaranteed for the use intended. Will some people abuse this? Of course. But the rest of us should not be punished because a few try to game the system. I think that we as a society are so afraid that someone might stay home when they are not sick, that we are willing to sacrifice thousands of lives every year by forcing sick people to come to work or school and spread their germs around. The real sickness is in our society and the prevalence of that attitude. I am hopeful that the disaster of COVID-19 will cause more of us to examine how our social norms have contributed to this pandemic, and maybe, just maybe, we can start to change. |
| 2021-09-19 | Masks Am I the only one who thinks it is insane that a school district will not mandate masks to protect its students and staff, but will provide counselors when one dies? |
| 2021-10-06 | Katy ISD Reflexively banning a book and disinviting a speaker because of spurious claims of Marxism and Critical Race Theory is ironically the perfect example of the sort of oppressive culture that Critical Race Theory tries to expose. |
| 2021-10-08 | Voting I've got an idea. Instead of making it a felony to vote illegally, which affects only a handful of votes, let's go after the real threat to democracy and make it a felony to gerrymander the voting districts. |
| 2021-10-12 | Re: Abbott flips, aims to bar private businesses from requiring vaccines Frankly I have no interest in dealing with a business that does not mandate vaccinations. Why should I risk my health so some anti-vaxer can keep their job? |
| 2021-10-14 | Vaccine mandates The governor says that vaccines should never be forced, but no one is being forced to get vaccinated. They are being given a choice - vaccine or job. What the governor is doing is changing that choice to "endanger your own life by working alongside unvaccinated people or quit your job". The governor could choose to support those of us who are trying to stop the pandemic, or he can support those who are trying to keep it going. He has chosen the pandemic over people. |
| 2021-10-14 | Individual rights I think there is a fine line between supporting individual rights / personal choice and indulging nacissistic behavior. Unvaccinated people are a danger to everyone around them. And instead of admitting that simple fact, we have politicians who want to indulge them and put the rest of us at risk. |
| 2021-10-16 | Katy Katy ISD has so little regard for their librarians that they have a "guilty until proved innocent" policy for library books. So much controversy and bad press could have been avoided if they assumed that their librarians were honorable and diligent, and assumed that the books were innocent until proven guilty. But they chose to listen to some random parents instead of their experts. |
| 2021-10-17 | CRT In the editorial by Brooke L. Rollins, she denounces the teaching of Critical Race Theory in Texas schools, but she never even attempts to make a case for why that would be a bad thing. Frankly I think she is wrong, CRT is not being taught in Texas schools, and that is too bad. There is overwhelming data that supports the reality of deep-seated structural racism in our country, and CRT opponents want to simply deny that reality. But then this seems to be the age where denying facts and spinning ficticious narratives is all the rage. |
| 2021-10-22 | Tesla crash So, regarding the NTSB report that the infamous Tesla crash driver was actually buckled into his seat, will someone now investigate why the constable saw fit to lie about it? |
| 2021-10-31 | San Marcos Given the police non-response to the threats against the Biden campaign bus in San Marcos, it is clear to me that it is not a safe place for anyone who is not a Trump supporter. I for one, will steer clear. They don't want me? I don't want them. |
| 2021-11-04 | Re: All-new voting apparatus, old delays Time out! Why is it important to get near-instant voting results? Isn't it much more important to carefully vet the results and insure that they are accurate? This is a completely spurious controversy with no discernable merit. Faster does not imply better, and in fact may indicate just the opposite. |
| 2021-11-06 | Headline rewrite Re: "Cruz files bill to block shot mandates for kids". Let me rewrite that headline for you. "Cruz files bill to block safe learning environment for kids". There. That's better. |
| 2021-11-09 | Home generators Re: Americans’ demand for standby generators still surging It used to be that one distinguishing characteristic of third world countries was that the well-off could afford the necessary backup generator for their home since power was so unreliable. I guess that distinction no longer holds. |
| 2021-11-10 | Re: GOP letter calls on feds to restart I-45 project What the article fails to mention is that the direct impact of the project, in homes and businesses torn down and increased pollution and noise, would not affect any of the districts those congressmen represent. Their letter is basically saying they don't care what happens to the people living where the widening would occur, because they would like to cut 5 minutes off peoples commute. Freeways have destroyed the cores of a lot of cities in the US. We would be better off if they were built around cities instead. Flattening neighborhoods so that people can live 10-20 miles outside the city and commute is crazy. |
| 2021-11-16 | Immigration 'John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas signed a letter to Biden Nov. 1 accusing the administration of “seeking to financially reward aliens who broke our laws.” ' What do our illustrious senators propose to do about Trump administration officials who broke the law in how they treated the asylum seekers? Or are they serious about the rule of law only when it is politically expedient? |
| 2021-11-18 | Re: Thanksgiving Letter 2021 Every morning I try to think of three things that happened the day before that I am grateful for. It is a habit that helps me stay grounded and wards off despair. This Thanksgiving I am grateful that my children, my wife, and all my close friends are fully vaccinated and boosted. I am deeply grateful for my granddaughter, who really is the sweetest and cutest child on the planet. I am grateful for it being the best season in Houston - Fall - a time for long, soul-renewing walks through the neighborhood. I am grateful for some of the changes the pandemic has wrought - online meetings that allow distant participation, converting streets into outdoor dining, a renewed appreciation for many of life's simple pleasures. But mostly I am grateful to be alive, to be healthy, and to be surrounded by good friends. |
| 2021-11-21 | Business subsidies The city paid for Kroger's sidewalks? That's nice, I like sidewalks. Could the city please pay for some sidewalks on my street? We have people in wheelchairs and people pushing baby carriages out in the street because the sidewalks are in such poor condition, or missing entirely. Where do I apply? |
| 2021-11-21 | Tax subsidies Texas has some of the highest residential property taxes in the country. For comparison, residential tax rates in Seattle are less than half what they are in Houston - and Washington has no income tax. I think this story reveals a large part of the answer. Large corporations are not paying their fair share, and are forcing small businesses and residential property owners to shoulder most of the tax burden. Business friendly indeed! |
| 2021-11-21 | Full Forensic Audit A "Full Forensic Audit" does not restore my faith in our voting system, it destroys it. A show audit pushed on us by a former president who fomented a violent insurrection and refuses to admit he lost the election only serves to convince me that our state officials are searching for ways to cancel out my vote. I do not trust the propogators of the election lies, and why should I? They have shown over and over again that they care not a whit for the integrity of the vote or democratic processes - they care only about their own pursuit of power. |
| 2021-11-22 | Tax rebates for companies The argument is always "if we didn't give a rebate they would locate elsewhere". Is this such a terrible state for businesses to locate in we have to bribe companies to stay? Maybe if instead we focussed on ensuring reliable power, an educated and healthy workforce, and first rate infrastructure, that would be enough? |
| 2021-11-24 | GLO slams city’s Harvey housing program I really don't know what to think about this. I have a very low trust level with the GLO, so I have to have serious doubts as to whether any of this is warranted, or is just political posturing. And that is really sad. |
| 2021-11-26 | re: The car key of the future (is still in your pocket) "Tesla drivers recently punched up the smartphone app they use to unlock and start their cars. The app was not responding, as a server had gone down. The Tesla key “card” would work — Tesla��s version of a fob — but drivers who depended on their phones were stuck." This is simply incorrect. The only thing that failed was remote communication from the phone. If you were close enough for bluetooth access, the phone worked just fine as a car key. This is just another example of anti-Tesla FUD with fiction propagated as fact. |
| 2021-12-01 | Fauci and Cruz "...he’s been dishonest,” Cruz said. “He’s been political. He’s been partisan" Projection is a real psychological phenomenon and Senator Cruz is a perfect example. Which senator is more partisan, more political, and more dishonest? |
| 2021-12-02 | Deportation "Tipton, who held the Biden administration’s priorities to be illegal, was appointed to the bench by the Trump administration, the policy of which made everyone in the country illegally a priority for deportation." This statement is nonsensical. Making everyone a priority is more accurately stated as having no prioritization at all. |
| 2021-12-04 | Re: Half who died of COVID here had diabetes I would be extremely careful about drawing any causal relationships here. COVID deaths were higher in multigenerational households - more likely to be Hispanic. Exposure to COVID is more likely for those unable to work from home - often African American and Hispanic. Poorly controlled diabetes is more likely among those with poor access to healthcare and fresh food - again tied to lower incomes and color. The implication that there are biological factors at play too easily lets the very real social factors off the hook. The reality is that race is a social, not biological, construct, and genetic studies (according to the NIH) have not found a genetic basis for diabetes tied to race. |
| 2021-12-08 | Abortion law So let me let this straight. Under Texas law, a fetus which is brain-dead (acephalic) but has a heartbeat is considered alive, but a baby who is brain-dead would be considered dead and removed from life-support? |
| 2021-12-09 | PUC So the PUC moved at “lightning speed” to change the requirements for power producers. In 10 months, a lightning bolt could reach the planet Neptune. What, exactly has the PUC done? Tweak a few regulations? Saddle Texans with higher bills for the next 20 years? Ensure that gouging people during an emergency remains a viable business model? Inquiring minds want to know. |
| 2021-12-12 | Kiev vs Kyiv In "UK seeks unity at G7 summit over Russia’s ‘malign behavior’", the capital of Ukraine is transliterated from the Russian (Kiev) instead of Ukrainian (Kyiv). I have noticed that the Chronicle is one of the holdouts still using the Russian name for Ukraine's capital, Kiev, instead of the Ukrainian name, Kyiv. The name Kyiv instead of Kiev is used by the BBC, The Guardian, Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, Financial Times, The Economist, The Daily Telegraph, The New York Times and others. In June 2019, at the request of the United States Department of State, the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States, and Ukrainian organizations in America, the name Kyiv was officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the only correct one, which resulted in the federal government of the United States using only the new name. The Wikipedia article, KyivNotKiev, has a good history of this change. It would be nice if the Chronicle got with the program. |
| 2021-12-19 | Language matters In a story about a school bus crash, the event is described as "The standard-size school bus over-corrected and spun out of control," which is interesting, since it gives agency to an inanimate object. Wasn't it the driver of the bus who over-corrected and caused the vehicle to spin out of control? Language like this carries an implication that these events are unavoidable acts of God, instead of preventable errors by human beings. |
| 2021-12-19 | Masks on planes Let's just say that if the mask mandate in airports and planes is dropped too soon, and now is way too soon, this Platinum flyer will be canceling a few tickets. |
| 2021-12-21 | Bike lanes "One of those residents, an ExxonMobil boss who spoke through Zoom from the driver's seat of her car..." Unbelievable. Where I worked, use of a phone while driving could lead to immediate dismissal. |
| 2021-12-22 | DWI One example of our schizophrenic approach to DWI - why do planning codes require parking minimums for bars? Shouldn't we encourage bar patrons to taxi/uber to the bar so they won't be able to drive away from the bar? |
| 2021-12-25 | Dallas Fed and Electric Cars I'm sorry, I had no idea that the Dallas Fed had the engineering expertise to make pronouncements on the future of electric vehicles. While only 2% of new cars in the US are electric, Europe is much different with Norway now over 50%, and other countries not far behind. To me it sounds more like the Dallas Fed is trying to shill for the oil industry. |
| 2021-12-29 | Minor traffic stops take deadly turns Just yesterday we were terrified by drivers weaving in and out of traffic on Beltway 8 at what must have been 100 mph. I have never been terrified of a driver because their registration had expired. |
| 2021-12-29 | ShotSpotter Houston City Council is preparing to vote on a large contract for ShotSpotter, a technology that claims to detect and locate gunshots. In August, the Chicago Inspector General issued a report on Chicago's experience wih ShotSpotter, and noted "OIG concluded from its analysis that CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts rarely produce documented evidence of a gun-related crime, investigatory stop, or recovery of a firearm." A number of cities have cancelled their contracts with ShotSpotter, citing a number of problems with the technoogy. I seriously question why Houston is even considering this. |
| 2022-01-01 | Shortage of monoclonal antibodies "when certain states with high infection rates used an outsize portion of the nation’s supply." ... led by Republican governors who downplayed vaccines and block mask mandates. |
| 2022-01-03 | New Laws Reading the Chronicle story about new laws in tha state of Texas I am struck by how many carve out new exemptions to property taxes. Each one by itself is a noble cause, but such measures surely contribute to Texas being the highest property tax state in the union. If this continues, when the music stops, there will be only one taxpayer left! |
| 2022-01-05 | Head Start mask mandate "(Judge) Hendrix wrote that the process by which the Biden administration implemented the mask and vaccine rules was in violation of federal law because such rules could only be put in place through a detailed process or with the authorization of Congress." So is Judge Hendrix declaring that COVID is not an emergency, or worse yet, is he implying that the government is powerless to act quickly in an emergency because a potentially years-long process must be followed? Either choice shows a deep disconnect from reality. |
| 2022-01-13 | Covid and Republicans I would just like one of our senators to explain to me why Republicans and so-called conservatives are trying to kill me and those I love by allowing a deadly disease to spread without limit. |
| 2022-01-14 | Justices halt vaccine rule for businesses Since the Supreme Court ruled that OSHA cannot enforce COVID rules, which provided for vaccination or frequent testing, and essentially called sticking a swab up your nose an invasive medical procedure, I guess drug test requirements after accidents are now off the table as well. |
| 2022-01-18 | Terrorists and guns I keep hearing on the news "How could a guy who just flew in from the UK and living in a homeless shelter buy a gun?" I want to yell, "This is Texas! Our idiots in charge have made it trivial for anyone to get a gun!" |
| 2022-01-23 | TCEQ and Ethylene Oxide Having no background in toxicology, I can't evaluate the TCEQ report on Ethylene Oxide myself (I did read through it). But some years ago I read a report they did on Trinity Bay, and the geology in the report was terrible. It was at that point that they lost all credibility in my eyes, as it was clear that they were completely politicized and simply providing a scientific veneer to justify the desires of business political interests. |
| 2022-01-29 | TCEQ An official of the TCEQ says that after a bad storm, “We could do a more targeted approach and focus exactly where there may be issues”. Which reminds me of a story. A police officer sees a drunk intently searching the ground near a lamppost and asks what he is doing. The drunk replies that he is looking for his keys, and the officer helps for a few minutes without success. He then asks whether the man is certain that he dropped the keys near the lamppost. “No,” is the reply, “I lost the keys somewhere across the street.” “Why look here?” asks the officer. “The light is much better here,” the drunk replies. |
| 2022-02-02 | Offensive What is offensive is the fact that Ted Cruz is my senator. |
| 2022-02-07 | Re: Elderly man dies after being struck on road at night "woman was driving west in the 3400 block of FM 1960 when she hit the elderly man in the lane nearest the sidewalk, according to Lt. K.R. Benoit of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office." I took a quick look on StreetView, and so far as I could tell, there is no sidewalk, only grass and a ditch. |
| 2022-02-09 | Nehls says criticism put him on Capitol Police’s l Re: "Nehls says criticism put him on Capitol Police’s list". Thou dost protest too much, methinks. |
| 2022-02-12 | Re: Time to weigh all options to win war against Big Tech So, according to the Heritage Foundation, "Big Tech" is the latest boogieman to be worried about. There is a problem, but it not a conspiracy and it is not limited to "Big Tech". Having retired from a large, international company, I recognized that the global economy presents a particular challenge to national interests. Multinational corporations care little about provincial national interests except for how they affect business objectives. These corporations are, like any good capitalist, engaged in profit maximization - a goal the Heritage Foundation supports - and look at it from a global perspective. This is sometimes conflicts with local, national interests. It is hard to imagine how this can be changed by the actions of any single nation. The problem is much deeper and broader than the editorial supposes. |
| 2022-02-15 | Ukraine, Russia, and Hearst I find it increasingly jarring reading stories in the Chronicle regarding Ukraine, that the Chronicle seems to be the only holdout that insists on referring to the capital of Ukraine in Russian (Kiev), instead of the Ukrainian transliteration Kyiv. The US State Department, AP, New York Times, Washinton Post, and most TV networks use the Ukrainian word. Why the holdout? Why the subtle, implicit support for Russian hegemony? |
| 2022-02-16 | Sea level rise Some of us remember an editorial in the October 20, 2011 Houston Chronicle about the deep climate denialism within the TCEQ: "Now, without any explanation, it (TCEQ) has deleted references to climate change and its impact on rising water levels in Galveston Bay from a scientific article written for a TCEQ report." The approach of the TCEQ to ostrich-like stick it's head into the sand in denial of anything that might affect near-term industrial profits will, in the end, be the ruin of us all. Rising sea level combined with more energetic storms and minimal preparation by an industry consumed by short-term profit goals will assuredly result in a future catastrophe. |
| 2022-02-16 | HGAC It may be time for Houston to withdraw from the HGAC. It is clearly not working. |
| 2022-02-18 | School vaccinations 'Cruz called vaccine mandates in schools ... an “absolute abuse of power”' Okay, I think I know what Senator Cruz is against. But what I would like to hear from him is what a parent with an immune-compromised or asthmatic child is supposed to do if their school is full of unvaccinated children? What he is proposing is that we return to the 19th century when horrible epidemics swept through the country, sometimes killing as much as 10% of the population in some cities. Is that the world he wants us to return to? |
| 2022-02-19 | CRT I jusy finished a wonderful 10 session class on white privilege and the history of racism in America developed by my church. I guess that means that our Lieutenant Governor considers my church to be Marxist - since anything Trumpists don't like is smeared with that epithet. Personally I think we are just trying to be faithful to the Gospel. |
| 2022-02-22 | Lifestyle choices A letter writer claims that "High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, drug addiction" are all a result lifestyle choices. That is simply not true. They may be exacerbated by lifestyle choices, but there is ample evidence that they are in part genetic, and in part culturally driven - for example by the aptly acronymed Standard American Diet (SAD). However, there is no genetic component to choosing not to be vaccinated. That is a pure expression of free will. |
| 2022-02-26 | Leadership and Abbott So Governor Abbott sent an aide to tell ERCOT to get the power back on. A real leader would have first of all appointed people he had full confidence in (did he really think they weren't doing their utmost to restore power?), and the proper message from a real leader to be delivered in a time of crisis is not "do your job", but rather "what can I do to help?". If you build a good team, they are doing their job. |
| 2022-03-06 | Ukraine and Gasoline I'm anxiously waiting for TxDoT to put up a message on their freeway signs like "drive slower to boycott Russian oil". There is no magic valve that anyone can turn to instantly increase the oil supply, the only immediate action that can lower gasoline prices is using less. The easiest way to use less is to slow down and drive the speed limit. Or maybe adding a few minutes to a trip is too big a sacrifice for democracy. |
| 2022-03-11 | Bond vote I am very disappointed that one of the judges I voted for skipped out on the minimum bond vote. I have noted the names, and will hold my nose and vote for their opponents. That sort of cowardly behavior has no place in an elected office. |
| 2022-03-11 | Sex and Abbott Let's see, Governor Abbott is trying to weaponize CPS against families trying to do what is best for their trans children, but at the same time an agency under his control allows girls rescued from sex-trafficking to be abused at a state facility. The level of incompetence is epic. Everything Abbott is in charge of: ERCOT, CPS, and the National Guard, are used simply as weapons to further his political career while they collapse into disarray. |
| 2022-03-11 | Oil supplies Kay Bailey Hutchinson's solution to the current oil shortage is to open up the North Slope and ignore the looming disaster of climate change. I spent 35 years in the industry, including working Alaska, and if we opened up the North Slope tomorrow, it would be many years before a single drop of new oil flowed. By which time it may well be irrelevant. It took less than 10 years to convert the nation from horse-and-buggy to automobiles. We can wean ourselves off oil at least as quickly as we can develop new oil reserves, if we have the will to do so. And then we will no longer be beholden to Russia or the Middle East. Wouldn't that be nice? Let's accelerate forward motion instead of regressing back to a disappearing past. |
| 2022-03-18 | Re: Delivery drivers slammed by rising gasoline prices A few months back we were visiting Brooklyn, and I noticed that nearly all the food deliveries were being done by people on electric bicycles. New York has spent heavily adding bike lanes and generally making the city much more bike friendly, with the result that the use of bikes, especially electric bike, has exploded. Becoming more resistant to oil shocks is just lagniappe. |
| 2022-03-24 | Sen Cornyn “In plain English,” Cornyn asked, “when you accuse someone of a crime are you accusing them of being a criminal?” Senator, would you call a mother stealing food to feed her child a criminal? Would you call a teenager who took an apple off someone's tree a criminal? Would you call someone who rolled through a stop sign or drove 10 miles over the limit on I-45 a criminal? Would you call a congressman who incited people to attack the capital criminals? |
| 2022-04-02 | Property taxes All this talk about lowering property taxes is a great hoodwink by state politicians. The reality is that Texas has some of the highest residential property taxes in the nation, and it is not because we don't have an income tax. Washington state has no income tax, and yet Seattle property taxes are less than half those in Houston. So what makes the difference? We don't tax business. The entire tax burden of this state is assumed by the people, and big companies largely avoid paying their share. Yes, residential property taxes should be cut, but by taxing businesses to get them to contribute their fair share. |
| 2022-04-03 | TCEQ "TCEQ’s mission is dedicated to first, economic development and then the protection of the environment and the health of the public." I'm sorry, but that is nuts. The way I read that is that the TCEQ's very charter says that they can protect the environment and the public only if it is convenient for industry. Having an agency named "Environmental Quality" charged with protecting industry from environmentalists is like having "Right to Work" laws protecting the right of employers to fire workers without cause. It is a total sham. |
| 2022-04-05 | COVID relief package So Congress is set to pull $5 billion out of the coronavirus aid package to end global vaccination efforts. What is wrong with these people? Do they really not get it? Without vaccinating the world, the virus will continue to mutate into forms that will likely be more infectious, and possibly more deadly. The pandemic will not be ended by wishful thinking. It will end when we vaccinate the world and get the mutation rate down to something manageable. |
| 2022-04-10 | Concrete Dumb question, but why can't concrete plants send the trucks out dry and add water at the job site? Then they wouldn't have to site the plants in the city. |
| 2022-04-27 | Paper plates The continuing fiasco of paper license plates which has been festering for years with, until now, little to no action on the part of the DMV, can be easily explained. Pure incompetence. "The nine-member Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) Board is appointed by the governor with the advice of the senate, who also designates one board member to serve as chair." Everything Governor Abbott touches seems to suffer. |
| 2022-05-14 | Abbott and formula What do you call our governor complaining that babies of refugees who have crossed the border get provided with formula? I don't think it can be called pro-life. I don't think you would publish what I would call it. |
| 2022-05-16 | Shooting in Buffalo So maybe a "good guy with a gun" person can explain to me why civilians are allowed to buy body armor? It seems to me that there is no legitimate use for body armor. |
| 2022-06-13 | 11h street I think that the debate over 11th street in the Heights is actually pretty simple. Traffic calming measures like reducing it to 2 lanes will happen. The only question is: will they happen before or after someone is killed? |
| 2022-07-02 | Re: More I-10 lanes on way I find it truly sad that our freeways are continuing to be expanded. Expanding freeways does not improve traffic - it is well-known that they simply induce more demand, encourage people to live further from the city, and endure longer commutes. I recently flew into IAH and once again saw that nasty brown haze that hovers over our region, a toxic emblem of our car culture. When will we learn? |
| 2022-07-04 | Keeping Cool To beat the heat we take our lead from Sen. Ted Cruz – fly someplace cooler. |
| 2022-07-06 | Guns I guess we need to wear both masks and body armor now to go out. |
| 2022-07-19 | Drought There was a photo in Tuesday's paper whose caption read in part "a circle of cotton north of Hondo", which I found very interesting since cotton is one of the thirstiest crops, just below rice in its' water requirements. It seems like there must be another story lurking here. |
| 2022-08-05 | Wolf in sheeps clothing The cartoon in today's paper, showing the wolf of tax increases in the sheep's clothing of the Inflation Reduction Act is pretty disingenuous. The tax increases involve a minimum corporate tax rate to prevent huge multinationals from avoiding paying any tax as they have done for years, and closing a well-used tax loophole used by hedge-fund managers. It also increases funding for the IRS - long overdue - so they will have the resources to audit the wealthy who in many cases are illlegally avoiding taxes. This is all increasing tax fairness. The rest of us will not see a tax increase. |
| 2022-08-07 | Erasing Chinatown Why do we have freeways cutting through the middle of the city? Do we want a liveable, viable city? Highways are for people passing through the city and should go around, not through. We are destroying inner city neighborhoods for the convenience of the suburbs. |
| 2022-08-10 | Monkey Pox graphics The Monkey Pox graphics are nice but I would strongly encourage the map to be revised to show the rate of infection, not absolute numbers. The rate can give you a quick estimate of your likelihood to encounter someone who is infected, and more importantly, using the absolute numbers will always make the more rural areas look safer - even when they aren't. |
| 2022-08-12 | HISD militarization Why in the world does the HISD police force need to buy ballistic shields? Wouldn't it make more sense to turn a school shooter scene over to the Houston PD? It is inappropriate for a school police force to take on a swat role. Students are not inmates. |
| 2022-08-16 | Tax and Spend Regarding the cartoon labeled "Tax and Spend". I think that is a lot more responsible approach than "Borrow and Spend", which seems to be the alternative. |
| 2022-08-21 | Re: Woodlands wary of road projects, traffic More power to the Woodlands for trying to retain their neighborhood and community character. Why do we prioritize the needs of long distance commuters at the expense of chopping up neighborhoods with thoroughfares? The people who benefit from sprawl are real estate developers and contractors. For the rest of us, sprawl leads to higher taxes, creates long mind-numbing commutes, generates more pollution, and breaks apart neighborhoods - bisecting them with highways. It is time we all took a stand to protect our local communities like the Woodlands is doing. |
| 2022-08-27 | Hurricane Harvey Anniversary We escaped most of Harvey's wrath ourselves, but had many people who we knew well who were devastated. Our dear friend and yogi had water up to the ceiling of her apartment - we gave her spare stuff to help her rebuild her household. And some dear friends who had their house flooded were able to stay in a mutual friend's house, and then we were able to help them find a rental. I fear we as a city have not learned well enough from the experience though. I believe that we need to find a way to remove people from the flood plain, but at the same time do so without destroying the communities that have been built in those areas. Nature will have her say, and we need sufficient humility to admit that and get out of her way. |
| 2022-08-27 | Re: Harris County Bonds I question the statement in the article that growth is good. Not all growth is good. Growth that encourages more traffic, more flooding, and more pollution is not good. Unrestricted growth driven by developer profits is not something we should subsidize. Count me as one of the skeptics. |
| 2022-08-29 | College loans For those of my (boomer) generation who worked their way through college: college costs have been rising much faster than inflation for decades, in part because colleges have been losing government subsidies that they had when we went to school. In the past 30 years, wages have stagnated and college has become more expensive. What was reasonable 30 years ago (work your way through school) is much, much harder today. |
| 2022-08-30 | Rev Young What Ed Young calls "wokeness", I would call showing Christian love and respect for those who are different. I feel very sorry for those whose worldview is so fragile that they cannot abide anyone who is different. |
| 2022-09-10 | tax breaks It is well-known that you shouldn't do deals with hostage-takers and blackmailers because it just encourages them. So why is our legisature insisting on tryng to revive tax breaks for large companies - which is plainly driven by blackmail? One reason Texas leads in residential property taxes is that too many large companies get a free ride and don't pay their fair share. To attract business we should make sure we have a reliable grid, a healthy and well-educated workforce, and dynamic and livable cities. Cutting taxes as an incentive is a fool's errand. |
| 2022-09-10 | Israel So Rabbi Brian Strauss conflates boycotting Iraeli with antisemitism. What he also fails to mention are the continuing (and internationally sanctioned) Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and the discriminatory treatment Palestinians in Israel face. There is plenty of bad behavior and ugly rhetoric on both sides of this conflict. I don't see how Texas paying a premium for borrowing money benefits anyone. |
| 2022-09-11 | I-45 The Greater Houston Partnership supports widening I-45 but gets one claim wrong - it will not relieve congestion, at least for very long. It has been demonstrated time and time again that widening freeways only puts money into developers pockets and encourages sprawl and after a short respite, traffic and congestion return to where they were. More concrete is not the answer, and pretending that it is is simply a waste of money. TXDoT is badly mis-named. It is not a transportation agency - it is a highway building agency, and when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. |
| 2022-09-17 | Harris county bonds My main question about the upcoming bond vote in Harris county is how much of the money will be spent within the city of Houston, as opposed to the unincorporated parts of the county? I am not particularly inclined to subsidize people who move out to the edges of the county to avoid city taxes. The county says part of the money will be for sidewalks. Will they build some sidewalks in the Heights? |
| 2022-10-05 | Carbon storage Re: RRC seeks OK to authorize carbon storage Having spent some time in my career looking at CO2 sequestration, I have a lot of concerns around the RRC regulating CO2 storage. How will they monitor the storage to insure that it is not leaking - that is a very challenging problem. And while the use of old oil-fields sounds like a good idea, old oil-fields are full of holes - called wells - that are all potential leak points. The dirty little secret is that cement plugs in old wells are too frequently lacking in integrity. The RRC is far to close to the industry they regulate to be trusted. |
| 2022-10-10 | Re: New telemedicine limits may affect care One more disappointment in the post-acute COVID era. We learned during COVID that many activities (not all!) can usefully be done remotely, which saves time, money, and gasoline, but now we are backtracking. I had hoped that some good was coming out of the horror we went through, but it feels like we are squandering that opportunity. In our hurry to "get back to normal", we are jettisoning some of the good things we have learned. |
| 2022-10-10 | Centerpoint Centerpoint wants to increase its rates to pay for mobile generators. They could also fix their slow approval process for residential solar panels and batteries. I am waiting for approval right now, and once received, can contribute electricity back to the grid in an emergency - and it didn't cost them a cent. |
| 2022-10-13 | Hidalgo For me the singular event that puts me firmly into Lina Hidalgo's camp is when she cancelled the rodeo in 2020. That was clearly the right thing to do given what we knew and didn't know at the time, and represents a truly rare commodity amongst poiticians, courage. I trust her commitment to trying to do the right thing, even at the cost of criticism and hurting her political chances. In a universe of political weasels, Lina stands out. |
| 2022-10-18 | County functions Former county commissioner Steve Radack opines that expanding county functions beyond the meat & potatoes would be fine if flooding and crime were under control and there was extra money available, but it was Radack who built some of the earliest hike and bike trails in the county - and I applaud him for that. Frankly crime and flooding will never be "solved". While we struggle with those difficult issues, we can also do other stuff that makes life here better. |
| 2022-10-20 | Ozone The first rule for getting out of a hole is to quit digging. TxDOT is one of the largest contributors to ozone pollution in Houston, simply because they insist on building more freeways and more lanes. They truly are misnamed - they have very little to do with transportation and a whole lot to do with automobiles. Encouraging sprawl, encouraging long commutes, encouraging more automobile traffic all lead to more pollution and higher ozone levels. Until TxDOT becomes more interested in transportation than on cars, we will continue to live in an unhealthy brown haze. |
| 2022-10-21 | Election I usually spend a lot of time studying all the candidates to decide who to vote for, but for this election I have a single, non-negotiable requirement. The candidate must publicly and unambiguously say that Trump lost, and declare that they will work to save the Republican party from the insurrectionists and others trying to destroy our democracy. I don't think that asking for courage and integrity is too much. |
| 2022-11-01 | CenterPoint Regarding CenterPoint's propane storage facility: have they done modeling to show what could happen in the worst-case scenario of a huge leak and ignition? I suspect that would show near total destruction well outside the facility. Additionally, in case of a large leak, people downwind cannot evacuate, because starting a car could ignite the vapor cloud. There are many unanswered questions here that need clarity. |
| 2022-11-10 | Voting Harris county extending the time the polls are open is bad, Bell county doing the same is good. Just one more example of attempts to deny people the right to vote. Gerrymandering, pointless identification requirements, nit-picking registration details, all of these are attempts to skew votes. It is clear to me that we need a constitutional amendment that truly guarantees voting as a universal right, and guarantees that all the various district lines are drawn in a fair and non-partisan way. It is clear that the courts don't see those as fundamental rights. Trust in the voting process is fundamental to trust in the government and without that, we are all in trouble. |
| 2022-11-13 | Fewer voting locations About 8% of Houston residents do not have a car. Reducing the number of voting locations has the very real potential to disenfranchise a significant number of people, primarily lower income. This sounds like something our Republican state officials would like, as it would likely cut into the Democratic vote. |
| 2022-11-14 | Moving away from gas Wow. I really have to admire the chutzpa here, of artfully shifting blame to moving to renewables when the problem is that Europe was dependent on Russian gas... "Kim Greene, CEO of Southern Co. Gas, ... arguing the United States could face the same huge spikes in energy prices currently sustained by European countries if leaders here try to force a rapid shift away from natural gas." |
| 2022-11-15 | Bus lanes To the writer complaining about bus lanes: Counting number of cars vs. number of buses is the wrong comparison. One public bus replaces around 4 to 6 blocks of cars in one lane, giving buses priority lanes helps them stay on schedule and so encourages more bus use. It has been shown that an efficient and effective mass transit system can actually also improve traffic flow, because there are so many fewer cars. We can't add lanes to downtown streets, we have to increase the capacity with buses. |
| 2022-11-25 | Thanksgiving Letter For me this has been a year of loss - dear friends passing on, other friends afflicted with terminal or debilitating disease. But in the midst of the loss and the pain, there are still reasons for hope and celebration. To see all the lives touched in positive ways by a wonderful woman who I was privileged to call a friend was reason to celebrate. To see friends struggling with disease, yet unbowed and determined to really live with whatever they have, there is hope and celebration. For all this I am grateful on this day of thankgiving. |
| 2022-11-25 | ESG Some legislators want to get lawyers disbarred for advising clients on environmental issues? If anyone should be disbarred, it is legislator lawyers who have publicly supported the January 6 insurrection. |
| 2022-11-26 | Plenty of parking If there is plenty of parking on the busiest shopping day of the year, what does that imply? Space devoted to parking is largely wasted space. It sheds water - contributing to flooding. It hurts the tax base - taxes for a building on that space would bring in much more revenue. It is based on a model that says people will drive many miles to shop, when clearly most people are happy to shop online. Turning parking lots into high density residential would allow more people to access shopping by walking, make it easier to build efficient mass transit, and reduce pollution from automobiles. Let's take this opportunity to re-examine our priorities and see if they still make sense. |
| 2022-11-29 | Boil water communication My issue with the tardy boil water notice (in addition to what your editorial enumerated), is how on social media the city gave out a link to a website that immediately got overwhelmed and became unusable, so that no one could tell if they were affected or not. I pled with them to just post a list of affected zipcodes instead of relying on a link that became unusable, but to no avail. I hope that the city communications group takes their multiple failures in this incident as inspiration to do some serious introspection and revision. |
| 2022-12-02 | sick leave Why do some companies want sick employees coming to work, spreading their disease to others? I can't believe it actually makes economic sense. Besides being dehumanizing and cruel. It is more than workers who are sick - it is we as a society. |
| 2022-12-06 | City Council Regarding LULAC suing the city over at-large council seats, I think the fundmental problem is that we have far too few seats to begin with. Houston has 88 Super Neighborhoods and 16 council seats. While I like my councilperson, she is responsible for far too large an area. I would favor eliminating at-large seats and doubling the total number of councilpersons to make it easier for the council to start truly representing local interests. |
| 2022-12-09 | EV Sales There is a lot of unfounded range anxiety. We drove our EV from Seattle to Houston with no issues. We've even started leasing EV's when traveling. It did take a little planning, and there are trips that are still difficult in an EV, but it is getting easier every day. Plus the cost of charging is about equivalent to paying $1.50 for gasoline. |
| 2022-12-18 | Russia "Russia cripples Ukraine heating systems". When will we formally declare Russia a terrorist state? |
| 2022-12-19 | Felons TEA wants to change its rules after an ex-felon appeared in it's trainer database. Why? Is punishment for felons a lifetime of rejection and restriction? Whatever happened to "paid his debt to society"? Do we refuse to believe in redemption? That people can learn and change? Or do we now believe that "once a felon, always a felon"? |
| 2022-12-22 | Cal Thomas I am surprised and dismayed that you would give a public platform to Cal Thomas' editorial promoting the racist trope of "Replacement Theory". That is the theory that has energized the KKK, the Proud Boys, and several mass shooters (Buffalo, El Paso). This would have been an appropriate space at minimum for dueling editorials. |
| 2022-12-24 | Huffman ISD So let me get this straight. The county builds the Grand Parkway, which encourages developers to build large exurban subdivisions, which leads to major increases in school enrollment, leading to untenable tax levels for the current residents. The current Huffman residents lose, the future residents lose, Harris county taxpayers paid for it, and the developers walk away with a tidy profit. Sounds like the way it has always been. Government by, for, and of the real estate developers. |
| 2022-12-27 | Fever medicine scarce So many children are coming down with the flu, RSV, or COVID that fever medicines are in short supply. What is not in short supply are vaccines for the flu and COVID. Children can (and should) be vaccinated starting at 6 months. But the steady drumbeat of anti-vax disinformation has cut vaccination rates. This is a completely avoidable crisis of our own making. |
| 2022-12-28 | Electric cars A letter writer asked about electric cars and an unstable grid. It is easy to schedule when a car charges at home so that it happens late at night when power is normally cheap due to low demand. If there is a blackout, the cars cannot be charged, but gas cannot be pumped either, so there is no electric disadvantage there. And as far as freezing weather when the climate is warming, on average freezes are becoming less frequent, but global warming also destabilizes the Arctic vortex which can cause extremely cold air to dip much further south than normal. |
| 2022-12-28 | Title 42 Using Title 42 to send people back to Mexico implies that the pandemic is still a big public health problem, so we should reinstitute mandatory masking on airplanes. That would be consistent. I expect governor Abbott to lobby for new pandemic restrictions. |
| 2023-01-06 | Re: Senators want site to track vaccines I am really sick to death of our elected officials wasting our tax dollars on political stunts. Instead of trying to save Texans from dying or permanently becoming disabled, they are still trying to score political points and discouraging people from getting vaccinated. Since the vaccines became avaiilable, my calculations indicate that excess deaths in heavily Republican areas are over double what is seen in heavily Democratic areas. These stunts have lasting real-world consequences. |
| 2023-01-07 | Election challenges So Republicans are commemorating an attempted coup by filing asinine challenges to the election. How any patriot could stay in the party is beyond me. |
| 2023-01-07 | The vote After years of Republican efforts at the state level to suppress Democratic voters, Harris county Republicans have the chutzpah to claim discrimination? I am so far beyond disgusted with the Republican party that this old white guy cannot ever imagine supporting anyone willing to claim that name for themselves, or any of the wealthy businesses that fund their insanity. |
| 2023-01-08 | Viewpoints So have you just quit publishing letters? |
| 2023-01-19 | Budget surplus Spending a budget surplus on what amounts to operating costs is a truly dumb idea. The surplus will not last forever, and when it runs out taxes will have to be increased. A budget surplus should either be used to invest in capital improvements, or to create something like Norway's sovereign wealth fund that would generate cash for future capital projects or allow long-term tax relief. Smart people invest. I guess our legislature will spend instead. |
| 2023-01-24 | Asylum Chip Roy wants to create more pain for asylum seekers, claiming that by doing so it will have a large effect. “The flow will stop,” Roy said. “It will dwindle to a small number of people who are truly fearful for their lives.” But in recent years between 30% and 50% of asylum claims have been accepted as legitimate, which hardly qualifies in my mind to "the flow will stop" and "dwindle to a small number". It is a nonsensical plan. |
| 2023-01-31 | Galveston raid Galveston police raid and trash the wrong house and the response of the city is "we have filed with our insurance"? The city should have had contractors out there immediately to start repairing the damage, and filed with their insurance to reimburse the city. The words arrogant, privileged, uncaring, and imperious come to mind. Who is serving who here? |
| 2023-02-05 | Carbon capture Regarding carbon capture: who audits and monitors the reservoirs used to sequester CO2 to make sure they aren't leaking? Doing that sort of monitoring is neither simple or cheap. And all the talk of using abandoned oil fields as storage has always seemed like a bad idea to me. By definition, an old oil field has been poked full of holes - we call them abandoned wells - and counting on the cement jobs in every abandoned well to have been done properly is a risky proposition. And finally, how long will the sequestered CO2 need to be monitored? Unlike nuclear waste, it doesn't decay and eventually become harmless, it remains a threat forever. What happens in 30 years when an oil company that had been sequestering CO2 goes bankrupt? Who picks up the monitoring tab then? |
| 2023-02-10 | Walkability Walkability index is a misnomer - what the number really represents is proximity to services. The missing factor is sidewalks. There are areas with a high walkability score that have no sidewalks, or poor sidewalks. In my very walkable neighborhood (score over 16), I frequently see people in wheelchairs, using walkers, or pushing baby carriages out in the street, because the sidewalks are missing or in terrible shape. Houston should be a world-class city, but it will take some work to get there. |
| 2023-02-10 | Oil forecasting Energy consultant Kevin Book noted that only 6% of US new car sales are electric, and opined that it will be very difficult to phase out oil being used in transportation. I would counter that it is hard if you don't try. Last year 80% of new car sales in Norway were electric. The difference is that Norway has developed incentives to push that transition. The naysayers of course recast Biden's comments into "no oil in 10 years", which is not what he said. The real question they left unaddressed would be "substantial reduction of oil use in ten years". |
| 2023-02-10 | Paxton So our AG Ken Paxton has agreed to pay the whistleblowers he fired $3.3 million of OUR tax dollars. I want to hear why he isn't being impeached. The stink coming from Austin is becoming intolerable. |
| 2023-02-14 | Texas taxes A story claiming that business in Texas are overly burdened by taxes and that residents get a great deal, consisted mostly of quotes from a business funded group, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association. I would note that in Washington state, residential property taxes are literally half what they are in Texas, and the state also has no income tax. There are only 6 states with higher property taxes. It is obvious to me that this story is an attempt by a business organization to astroturf support for lowering business taxes at the expense of residents. |
| 2023-02-16 | Michigan shooting Critically injured victims of the latest mass shooting are starting go-fund-me sites to pay for the months of rehab. Which is an indictment of our inadequate health care system. I would like to see a tax on guns and ammunition for funding care for victims of gun violence. Seems fair to me. |
| 2023-02-16 | School "Choice" Parents are not "helpless" as Governor Abbott claims, and they already have school choice. That choice is called voting. We vote for our local school board members, our county school board members, our state school board members. Really this is just another Republican scheme to promote factionalism and separatism. |
| 2023-02-16 | Biden snub "Gov. Greg Abbott says he was all too happy to snub President Joe Biden". I don't want to hear the governor complain about divisive politics unless he wishes to apologize for his role in them. |
| 2023-02-18 | Crosby and Abbott The Crosby ISD is considering going to a 4-day week to attract teachers because they can't afford to raise pay. Gov. Abbott's plan is to further gut their finances by draining money from their budget to support a few religious schools. This does not end well. |
| 2023-02-19 | 2nd amendment "A well regulated Militia". Clearly that was part of the original intent, and has been completely lost. Does original intent mean that to own a gun one would need to be prepared to join a well regulated militia? |
| 2023-02-23 | voting I look forward to Mattress Mack opposing the recently filed bill that would prohibit polling places on college campuses. After all, as he said, We want to make the election process fair for everybody..." |
| 2023-02-24 | Norfolk Southern I found it interesting that preliminary comments from experts are that everything done before the disasterous derailment of the Norfolk Southern train was within standard practice. What that implies to me is that buried in the standards is an assumption that a certain number of disasterous derailments is an acceptible price to pay to save a bit of money. That tradeoff needs to be made very clear. |
| 2023-03-01 | Shotspotter I have a few questions I hope my councilperson will ask regarding Shotspotter. The HPD spokesperson said as partial justification that "Because residents do not always call 911 to report every gunshot" as part of the justification for Shotspotter. But of the 5,450 alerts, how many were also called into 911? What was the cost of fruitless responses to alerts that were likely false positives? Has the data been analyzed by a disinterested third party? There are many statistical problems that could crop up here, from selection bias to anecdotal evidence. ("...I think, has resulted in a lot of those arrests that we made.") As a tech guy, I like technology, but I also have enough knowledge and experience to be very suspicious of the latest shiny thing, especially when emotions are involved. |
| 2023-03-03 | Ban on Chinese purchases It seems to me that the proposed bill that would try to prevent the Chinese (and other) government from buying land in Texas has it backwards. The Chinese government owning assets in Texas threatens them, not us. If things really go south, it places their investments in a tenuous situation, subject to confiscation. We should welcome them investing here. |
| 2023-03-05 | Schools and funding The irony is palpable. In one story on Sunday, the Chronicle reports on efforts to cut corporate property taxes in Texas, and in another story details how far short funding for schools falls in Texas. The bottom line is that property taxes are largely a school tax, and cutting property tax revenue will simply increase the funding gap further. There are days when it seems that there is a concerted effort to destroy our public school system. This is one of those days. |
| 2023-03-07 | Privatizing water I have never understood the enthusiasm for privatizing public functions. I don't believe that private companies are necessarily more efficient - in my experience what often happens is that the workers receive a pay cut, most of that savings goes to profits, and the cost to the public remains almost the same. In theory, privatizing should increase the costs since a company has to add on a profit. Instead of privatizing, the city should focus on ensuring the facilities are well-managed. |
| 2023-03-09 | Republican budget quandry Republicans are in a quandry of their own making. They cut taxes on the rich based on a long disproven theory that it would grow the economy, when all it does is explode deficits, and they are backed into a budgetary corner. Now they want everyone who is down on their luck due to illness or other unfortunate circumstance to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. I remember how the homeless population exploded under Reagan. Cruelty is not a Christian virtue. |
| 2023-03-09 | Dispatchable power So ERCOT says that batteries cannot be dispatchable power because our population is growing too fast? That makes zero sense, and tells me that ERCOT has no actual interest in improving grid reliabiity unless it gives large profits to the traditional power plant owners. |
| 2023-03-11 | Cartoon Seems to me that the proper counterpoint to Saturday's cartoon showing Biden sitting in the basket of a lead budget balloon with the "Tax and Spend" banner would be a Republican captioned with "Borrow and Spend". Taxing to spend is responsible government. Borrowing to spend is what explodes the deficit, which has happened under every Republican administration since Reagan. |
| 2023-03-12 | Crypto So Senator Cruz is a fan of cryptocurrency. So far as I can tell, most crypto is basically a Ponzi scheme, and the only uses for crypto are money laundering, purchasing weapons and drugs, and avoiding taxes. Good to see where our Senator stands. |
| 2023-03-16 | Mifepristone It is so reassuring that Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is being asked to make medical decisions regarding the use of mifepristone. I always go to a judge for medical advice. |
| 2023-03-17 | Harold Dutton "If it (the takeover) stopped now, he said, Houston ISD would be rewarded despite losing its lawsuit." State Rep Harold Dutton seems more interested in punishing HISD than in doing what is right for the children within the district. If his goal was to improve Wheatley High School, that goal seems to be making real progress. This sounds more like a vendetta to me. |
| 2023-03-17 | Texit Yet another Texas secession bill is being filed. Given that the state government hates Harris county, and the population of the county is greater than 25 states, why doesn't Harris County seceed from Texas and become the 51st state? That could be a win-win. |
| 2023-03-17 | CenterPoint The Texas electricity free market is a lie. I have no choice but to hook up to a provider through CenterPoint, and with solar panels and batteries, the majority of my electricity bill will be fixed base costs unrelated to how much power I draw from the grid. It is particularly galling that CenterPoint is being allowed to make adding generating capacity part of their fixed cost. When will we as a state give up on this failed experiment and treat utilities like public utilities instead of piggy banks for wealthy investors? |
| 2023-03-21 | Trump I am so disgusted by Republicans who seem to be interested only in power and not in the rule of law. This old white guy will probably never again vote for anyone with an R after their name. |
| 2023-03-28 | Mayor's race As a baby boomer myself, I think it's okay for me to say that the boomers running for mayor need to bow out and let the younger generations have a shot. It's time for us to let go. |
| 2023-03-29 | TEA I have a suggestion for TEA head Mike Morath, if he wants to help establish credibility for the Board of Managers that will replace the School Board. Disqualify any candidate who made more than a nominal contribution to Governor Abbott's campaign. Although, to be frank, I expect that most of the appointees will be in the large contributor category. |
| 2023-04-05 | Annual car inspections I understand the argument that annual car inspections are no longer necessary, but I think there may be an exception. As the owner of an electric car, one of the great things is that it almost never needs maintenance. No oil change, no tune-up, no brake job, no radiator fluid. But because of that, a mechanic never looks at the car to catch any problems before they become serious. Since the automobile fleet is electrifying, it might not be such a bad idea to have annual inspections. |
| 2023-04-06 | Water bills I do not understand the explanation for the water bill increase. How does population growth translate into needing more revenue per capita? A larger population implies more people paying water bills. That explanation is completely inadequate. |
| 2023-04-07 | Clarence Thomas So Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas says that he was never required to report receiving extravagant gifts. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't evaluate how true that may be. But I do know that he has made a complete mockery of the court. Whether true or not, it very much looks like the court is up for purchase. |
| 2023-04-10 | Gov Abbott It seems to me that Governor Abbott's interpretation of the stand your ground law implies that it is okay to shoot anyone open carrying, because they might pose a threat. |
| 2023-04-17 | Texas economic incentives The president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership bemoans the lack of tax incentives to attract investment in Texas, but fails to mention what may be the greatest barriers. Punative abortion laws, waning support for higher education, state-sponsored discrimination against the LGBTQ community, book banning - all these impede a company's ability to recruit or transfer employees here. Let's look at the whole picture, companies will. |
| 2023-04-24 | Election shenanigans So the lawyer for Alexandra del Moral Mealer admits that closing a traditional polling place has a large impact on people actually voting. Which is directly opposed to the argument Republicans have been making that closing polling places (for example, those on college campuses) has no effect. A great example of selectively twisting facts to support a position. |
| 2023-04-28 | Bathroom bills Regarding bills requiring people to use the public restroom for their sex at birth. I don't understand. Do legislators really want a fully transitioned man with a beard using the women's restroom? How exactly does that help anyone? Given the absurdity of the scenarios required by law, the only logical conclusion is that these laws are designed to create conflict and punish people who are different. |
| 2023-05-05 | Clarence Thomas Shouldn't part of the gifts that Clarence Thomas received have been declared as income? If someone paid my son's private school tuition I suspect that the IRS might want to know. |
| 2023-05-08 | Mass shooting du jour So governor Abbott believes that a neo-Nazi shooter is mentally ill? It seems to me that a neo-Nazi is evil, whether they shoot people or not. The governor needs to quit defending guns and admit that there are people who are not mentally ill and should not have a gun. |
| 2023-05-15 | Speeding around high schools In the story "School zone crossing divides city, state leaders", it is noted that "In front of North Forest, Mesa Road has a speed limit of 35 mph, but drivers regularly ignore the signs." I would like to point out that Texas has prohibited the use of speed cameras, which means we can either ignore people breaking the law and speeding, or we can station an expensive and valuable police officer there to write tickets. Seems to me that speed cameras would be a lot cheaper and more effective. But then in Texas, interfering with the right to drive badly is seen as a hanging offence. |
| 2023-05-21 | Driveway proposal Developers are claiming that cars parked on the street are a hazard to pedestrians? As someone who walks every day, one the the greatest hazards I run into is people who park in their driveway blocking the sidewalk, forcing me into the street. Cars parked on the street are not a pedestrian hazard. |
| 2023-05-26 | Heritage foundation I had to laugh that you published an editorial from the Heritage Foundation. As far as I am concerned, nothing that comes from that institution can be trusted. They propagated transparent lies about COVID and vaccines, so I refuse to waste my time reading anything they write. My assumption is that it is all garbage. |
| 2023-06-03 | Property taxes Our leaders in Austin are right about one thing - property taxes are too high. Residential property taxes in Texas are among the highest in the country. For example, in Seattle, property taxes are less than half what they are in Houston. And Washington has no income tax. Texas is far too dependent on residential property taxes, and the real answer is not to fiddle with how property taxes are calculated, but to revise our taxation system to broaden the base beyond ordinary people and start having realistic business taxes. Businesses get to play games with their appraisals, as well as get huge tax breaks, so that they don't pay their fair share of taxes. Of course part of those savings get funneled into the campaigns of their lapdogs in Austin, preserving the status quo. Personally I expect to see little or no change in my taxes, no matter what the legislature passes. |
| 2023-06-08 | Ukrainian Dam It should be obvious that Russia bears full responsibility for the dam collapse in Ukraine. Most of their statements throughout this war have been lies, and they were in control of the dam. They are a terrorist state, and the sanctions that have been imposed are nowhere near severe enough. Putin's imperial ambitions must be stopped. |
| 2023-06-09 | Mowing the lawn The recent editorial "Mowing the lawn is like making your bed in public" caught my eye because I have just eliminated my lawn. It is all flowerbeds, vegetables, and gravel. As a result, I don't wash algae-inducing fertilizer down the sewer. I don't pollute the air with mower exhaust (30 minutes of mowing is like driving 50 miles). I don't fill the neighborhood with the raucous roar of a leaf-blower. Instead I have a butterfly and bee habitat that even provides part of supper. |
| 2023-06-17 | Climate change and fossil fuels "The head of the United Nations launched a tirade against fossil fuel companies" I fully support decarbonizing the economy and recognize the reality of climate change, but attacking oil companies for catering to the demand for their product is silly. If there is demand, someone will supply it. This makes as much sense as the war on drugs trying to go after the cartels. How is that working out? |
| 2023-06-22 | SCOTUS I am beyond disgusted with our Supreme Court justices. When I was working, I had to report any gift from another company of over $50, which to me seemed entirely reasonable. But these privileged babies on the court feel like they are above the law and are beholden to no one. The stench of corruption emanating from the court has become eye-watering. |
| 2023-06-29 | Water breaks I was more than a little bemused at the letter writers who claimed that water break rules were not needed because of course contractors would give their people water breaks, it would be counter-productive not to. I'm sure that for most contractors that is true, but I am also certain that there are a significant number who will not. Around 20 people die every year while working in trenches that are not properly shored up. There are contractors who treat their workers as expendable. |
| 2023-06-30 | Affirmative Action Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that affirmative action actually made racial tensions worse because it “highlights our racial differences with pernicious effect,” prolonging “the asserted need for racial discrimination.” So Justice Thomas believes that if we just ignore systemic racism long and hard enough, it will go away? There is ample evidence that deeply embedded racism negatively affects nearly every aspect of life for people of color, even now. Denying it won't make it go away. |
| 2023-07-07 | Merit There seems to be a lot of crowing about the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action contending that admissions to college should be only on merit. But what is merit, and how do you measure it? Is it test scores? Grades? Or is it overcoming years of discrimination? By and large, black students live in poorer neighborhoods, often food deserts, with higher pollution levels, and parents working multiple low-paying jobs. Are test scores unaffected by those circumstances? I don't think so. Trying to deny that racial discrimination still exists doesn't make it go away. |
| 2023-07-10 | Irony The irony of having two stories juxtaposed, "Houston’s ‘heat islands’" and "Third lane along northern part of Grand Parkway faces delay" is palpable. Increasingly unbearable heat waves caused by CO2 emissions from automobiles and exacerbated by many square miles of heat-absorbing concrete, and yet we continue to lay down more concrete, build more roads. Could we at least add a few trees for each square mile of concrete we add? Otherwise we are just making matters worse. |
| 2023-07-16 | Hogtying lawsuit I was astonished by the sentence in 'Lawsuit accuses HPD of hogtying suspect': "Ramos is accused of “hiding” and “sweating profusely” when officers arrived." If sweating profusely in Houston in July violates the law, then clearly that law needs to be changed! |
| 2023-07-18 | Re: Officers told to push kids in river What law gives the DPS the authority to assault women and children? Or has the rule of law been replaced with the rule of Abbott? The officer who sent out the order to push people back into the river should be arrested and charged. I feel much more threatened by people like him than I do by nursing mothers trying to claim asylum. |
| 2023-07-25 | Abbott I just don't understand why governor Abbott is so frightened by pregnant mothers and children trying to escape repressive governments by coming to the US. |
| 2023-08-02 | Dan Patrick So according to Dan Patrick, an employee of the state loses the free speech right to disparage elected officials. I have found it truly ironic - and example of projection I guess - that the very people who accuse liberals of being snowflakes seem to melt most quickly in the sun. |
| 2023-08-08 | Texas A&M So Kathleen McElroy will be paid a million dollars of taxpayer money because the regents and some unnamed billionaires are terrified of a black woman. The regents should either write that check on their own accounts or resign. I'm sick to death of the wealthy making me pay for their bad decisions. |
| 2023-08-11 | Annual Vision Zero report The summary of the Vision Zero report was mostly self-congratulatory over the lower number of car crashes, but completely ignored the 10% increase in both pedestrian fatalities and injuries. And the report noted that 6 miles of sidewalks were added over the year. Seriously? Pedestrian fatalities went from 106 to 115 and we added 6 miles of sidewalks? Trying to walk in Houston is much llike being a live participant in Frogger, and the city is not seriously helping. |
| 2023-08-12 | HISD In an editorial, Regina Lankenau writes "Who will be held accountable for that taxpayer money?" It is becoming increasingly clear that for Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles, taxpayer money is not a concern. It is also clear that his hand-picked school board is only there to nod approvingly and do whatever he asks. If there is one thing Ihave learned in my many years it is this: power without accountability always ends badly. |
| 2023-08-18 | Re: Texas officials OK record $100B road spending plan I'm just so pleased that TXDoT is planning to spend billions to make it easier for people who live in the exurbs to drive through my neighborhood on highways, but not spend a dime making it easier for me to walk to the grocery store. Since when does T stand for Automobile instead of Transportation? |
| 2023-08-20 | Re: Here’s how to keep bugs out of your home In the story on how to keep bugs out, it sugested closing weep holes. That is an astoundingly bad suggestion. Weep holes serve a purpose - they are there to let moisture get out of the house. Closing them can lead to serious structural damage. Some years back, as part of an energy saving campaign, Stratford High School in Spring Branch closed all its weepholes. A decade or so later, the school had to close for a year to have all the brick veneer replaced as the metal straps holding the brick up had corroded away. Don't close weep holes - better to live with a few bugs. |
| 2023-08-21 | Nickle and Cobalt In "Shortage of minerals ahead for U.S.", based on a report from S&P Global, it was claimed that we are approaching a serious shortage ofnickle and cobalt, so U.S. mining permitting needs to be loosened up. However, that came consultancy published a report last year titled "Almost half of Tesla EVs produced in Q1 had no nickel, cobalt in battery". Battery technology is advancing rapidly. Extrapolating current trends is likely to be wrong. Always be suspicious of people promoting that we must loosen environmental laws to escape some looming crisis. |
| 2023-08-24 | centerpoint Re: 3 Texas utilities rank low for efficiency In 2021, Centerpoint CEO David Lesar received the second highest compensation for utility executives in the country at $37.8 million. It takes weeks to months for Centerpoint to approve residential solar panels, as opposed to days by Oncor. Is this symptomatic of the PUC being more interested in protecting corporate interests than in doing their job - protecting the public? |
| 2023-08-27 | Senator Cruz So Senator Cruz apparently believes that politicians are immune from prosecution - that garnering votes rather than winning at trial should be the determining factor in judging their wrong doing. An interesting legal theory, and completely at odds with tradition, the Constitution, and the basic principle that we are all equal before the law. It causes me to wonder if there is something Ted doesn't want us to know about. |
| 2023-08-31 | Medicaid Approximately 400,000 Texas children have lost their Medicaid coverage, which seems to confirm that the state government only wants to protect children before they are born, and cares but little about them after birth. |
| 2023-09-06 | Re: customers to cut energy usage. Utilities won't even pay for individuals to put power back onto the grid. I have batteries. I would be happy to sell some power back to the grid. |
| 2023-09-17 | 311 A writer asks "If someone has the magic formula for getting through to this service (311) I would love to hear about it." They have a website, and there is an app. Download Houston 311 onto your phone. |
| 2023-09-21 | Re: front-facing driveways As someone who walks 4-5 miles every day, it is not so much the proliferation of driveways that cause issues, as people parking their huge trucks in the drive, blocking the sidewalk. The driveways for these new, narrow homes are usually too short to allow people to legally park a car in the driveway, and I guess their garage is full of stuff. Blocking the sidewalk is a violation of state law, so maybe front-facing driveways should be allowed only if they are long enough. |
| 2023-09-23 | Book Bans It appears that the Baby Blues comic strip in today's Chronicle renders the paper illegal in many school districts. If a crayon's butt is unacceptible, then clearly a toddler's is also. |
| 2023-09-25 | Incorrect statement in story In "Battery storage projects get U.S. funding" it states that "The new funding is for “longterm” storage, meaning options that can last for longer than the four hours typical of lithium ion batteries. This is not correct. Lithium Ion batteries can discharge *at their maximum rate* for four hours. By lowering the discharge rate, they can last as long as you want. For a more accurate description, see https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/solar-plus-storage-101 |
| 2023-09-27 | Katy schools So the Katy schoolboard is so sorry that their new rules caused so many books to be removed from the shelves that shouldn't have been. But it wasn't their fault, it was a committee? I have a suggestion. Quit trying to micromanage, and actually trust the experts you have hired (librarians) to make nuanced and informed decisions. And show a little backbone. The book-banning activists are a small but loud minority. Instead of kowtowing to them, challenge them. |
| 2023-10-02 | Judge Hidalgo My only thought regarding the multiple attempts to remove Judge Hidalgo from office since the election is that the people leading these efforts must have missed that Kindergarten lesson on how not to be a sore loser. |
| 2023-10-05 | Re: U.S. shouldn’t let a lizard stand in the way o I worked as an explorationist for 35 years. Several points. - The reserves available in the lizard's habitat will not have a significant impact on U.S. security, only on the bottom lines of a few companies that no doubt contribute heavily to poitical campaigns. - Any benefit from hydrocarbons there would be for only a decade or so, exterminating the lizards is forever. - Real energy security will come from developing renewable energy resources, not from mining a declining and finite resource. |
| 2023-10-08 | Re: Prop B would mess up Houston-area transportation I assume that by "mess up" the HGAC supporters mean that it would prevent more bulldozing of Houston neighborhoods to widen highways, prevent more pollution from cars in Houston neighborhoods, and make it harder for people living in the distant suburbs to speed through my neighborhood. The HGAC views Houston more as an inconvenience than a partner. I fully support the proposition. |
| 2023-11-05 | Re: SCARRED FOR LIFE IN 3 MINUTES All I could think of while reading the article about police chases with bad endings was that implicitly, we value property (a stolen car) above human lives. Our priorities are terribly, terribly wrong. |
| 2023-11-15 | Textbooks I am a retired oil company geophysicist and I get a pension from that company, but I am also a scientist, and the evidence for climate change driven by human activity - especially burning hydrocarbons - is unassailable. If we teach school children something else, then we are not teaching science - we are teaching fantasy. I am absolutely fed up with politicians trying to protect businesses from the truth. If the truth hurts the GDP, so be it. Trying to deny it will only worsen the consequences. Truth has a funny way of winning in the end. |
| 2023-12-01 | Paxton and Pfizer So our AG, Ken Paxton is suing Pfizer over the COVID-19 vaccine. It is already a fact that, probably due to politicizing a public health emergency, many more Republicans in Texas died from COVID than Democrats, and apparently to pursue selfish political ends, Paxton wants to reinforce and continue that legacy. I am continually in awe at the level of venal self-interest shown by some of our leaders in this state. |
| 2023-12-07 | Re: EV's remain a tough sell in Texas There is fundamental contradiction between polling results on how people feel about EV's, and the actual sales figures. The number of electric vehicles registered with the state grew from 140,014 in August 2022 to 218,889 this August — a 56% increase. Which does not sound like a failure to me. What I have noticed recently is a flurry of stories claiming that EV sales are failing, which causes me to suspect that what is actually happening is that car dealerships - who hate EV's because they require so little maintenance - are funding studies to provide negative narratives. Now that would be something to investigate. |
| 2023-12-21 | Re: No-fly zone ordered over W. Texas well So they checked the box for gas leak because there isn't a box for "we want to hide what is happening"? And wouldn't that constitute lying on a government document? |