A Veneer of Certainty

Bruce Hotze, spear carrier for the anti-Proposition G crowd from a couple of years ago, has suffered yet another setback. His quasi-Libertarian attempt to shoot down Prop G in the courts was denied.

Prop G made a lot of sense by its exclusion of "enterprise funds" (i.e., airport, convention center) revenue from rollover into the city's general fund when it exceeds the cap set by Proposition 2.

I'm as worried about governmental bloat as the next taxpayer - maybe more so - but voted in favor of Prop G since the revenues it affected were not tied to property tax rates (always a sore spot). At the time, there was concern that Prop G amounted to a subsidizing of airlines but so far there aren't any signs of that. The ongoing construction at IAH speaks of growth of the infrastructure rather than Continental's bottom line.

While I respect Hotze's interest in good government, using the court system in an attempt to enforce his view of it seems misplaced. It also smacks of the same kind of manipulation that the far right/left uses when commissioners, FEMA directors and tort reform, for example, are ensconced because of political fealty rather than basic competence or being good for all as opposed to some.

Now this is my kinda congressional progress. The suprising part - for me, at least - was the continued inclusion of tax hikes on tobacco products, since that's typically been a deal breaker before.

I look forward to seeing if Bush vetoes it out of "principle", as he claimed before. Tony Snow is gonna have his hands full defending his boss on this one.

Seen this week in downtown Houston: A homeless man on a street corner, ranting vulgarities...

...into a Bluetooth headset.

Today is Day 5 of my keeping lonely vigil at my mailbox, hoping for a jury duty summons calling me to serve on the panel that will hear the case of the local joyriding punk-ass moron. The Turd Bobby Davis was at the wheel of a stolen vehicle that smacked into a train parked astride a crossing. But as it often does these days, things have taken a turn for the surreal.

BlogHouston has a great writeup on the city's continuing effort to push the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation out of their digs. The city council has forced the sale of the land tract to the Center.

It is galling enough that the city would declare the Center's lease invalid under the pretext that the lease duration violated city statutes, but to then turn around and extort cash out of an organization that clearly performs a public good is disgusting. It smacks of an attempt to build a revenue stream at the expense of those least able to combat it.

Top 5 Phrases Never Spoken in Bobby Davis' Home

1. "Checkmate."
2. "No."
3. "Sorry, my fault."
4. "Damn, Bobby! Honor roll AGAIN??"
5. "Boy, when you roll the dice you take what you get."

Houston's recent oppression of the sex industry has me thinking about a topic that's cracked me up for a few years: "stripper names" on kid's toys, more specifically My Little Pony.

With the details in the recent bust of another gay Republican congressman, I have to wonder how many guys - straight or not - are getting paranoid about their restroom behavior, wondering what harmless gesture will be interpreted as a come-on. I'm keeping to the timeless protocol of no eye contact and as little sound as possible.

UPDATE: No, I am not suggesting that Craig's action(s) was misinterpreted by the police officer. By all accounts, the cop in question is on the vice squad and probably knows the general antics to look for. My point was that clueless guys like me might second guess our own actions in anticipation of sending the wrong signals.