RedScare

How many people have you not been able to help because they were unconscious?

Here's one report on it. http://www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-03-03-23038.pdf If one considers that an employer who does not withhold taxes and SS/Medicare is himself liable for those payments, it is not hard to imagine that two-thirds of working illegals are paying these taxes, albeit, perhaps involuntarily. The point of the article is that arguments made that illegals are collecting benefits while not paying for them, tend to ignore that benefits are NOT payed, and further ignore that many illegals ARE paying taxes. As for whether there is a net surplus or deficit, I have seen attempts to answer this question that show both.

MY opinion is, any show with a subtitle of, "Save the cheerleader, save the world", doesn't earn the energy it would take me to click the remote. But, hey, that's just me.

No sweat, bach. I heart you, too. BTW, I disagree with your first paragraph, as well...only for different reasons. I am more on board with gwilson.

The problem with your response bachanon, is that the entire second paragraph resorts to unsophisticated name calling, which adds absolutely nothing to the debate.

I assume you mean sans land cost. The latest that I am hearing for new home construction on a small scale is that it is tough to get under $80 psf for a plain house. Materials are still very expensive. For instance, concrete is upwards of $90 a yard, where it was near $60 just a year or two ago. Lumber is also expensive. Musicman posted on another thread that copper is four times what it cost two or three years ago.

Aside from wondering what a "cohesive unit" is as it relates to a city, one might ask if ANY big city functions as one cohesive unit, as opposed to dozens of villages governed by an umbrella government. Since everyone's favorite big city is New York, let us start there. Is a city comprised of five separate counties a cohesive unit? Is a city that consist of three islands and one peninsula a cohesive unit? Even Manhattan, a 23 mile long island that takes an hour to traverse, does not qualify. Moving on to Chicago, the North Side and the South Side are two separate and distinct worlds. Can it be called a cohesive unit? Do we even want to attempt to quantify Los Angeles? Even Dallas, a city half the size of Houston has its North Side and South Side (and even a West Side) and never the two shall meet. All big cities are a collection of neighborhoods, each with its own dynamic. The Heights marches to a different drum than Montrose, which in turn is different from Greenway, the Galleria, TMC or Downtown. Yet, all are within several miles of each other. The city limits are merely the government boundaries. The "cohesive unit" in any large city is much smaller than the city limits, regardless of how dense or sprawling that city may be.

Yup.

Compared to what?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4344338.html

This could explain Fort Worth's "going" problem.

Of course it has a future. Shelly Sekula Gibbs is working on it as we speak...at least, when she is not beung mean to Tom Delay's staff.

Exactly! The Woodlands will be building replicas of this store in Market Street (with actors playing the bums, of course) to give it a more authentic feel. Of course, the Woodlands moms will tell their kids not to go near it, because it's "dangerous"....just to add to the authentic feel, though...not because it really IS dangerous or anything.

I'm with Coog and Cap'n. The massive hanging flags are cheezy and overdone. Reminds me of a car dealership, using the flag as advertisement. Then again, with a used car salesman residing at the Capitol, what did we expect?

Yup. I drove by there an hour ago. There are two huge hole in the north side of the building. Looks like currently they are salvaging steel from inside the building. There is also a crane onsite. Get your pictures quick.

Actually, yes, some are going back. See VicMan's HISD thread about school population losses. Also, I have ready anecdotal stories of Thugs heading back to New Orleans to re-establish turf, and not particularly caring for Harris County's no-nonsense approach to crime. While none of this can really be proved from statistics, each may have an incremental effect. I think the methodical arresting of criminals as they are commit their crimest eventually thins the herd as well. I have always thought this would be a temporary spike, though it is WAY to early to say that yet. EDIT: Niche, the City Planning Department compiles its own estimates. As of Jan. 1, 2006, they estimated the population at 2,198,000. I think the estimate in the article is a typo. HPD does not estimate population. The UCR rates use the Census estimates.

Way overrated, though having the drinking age at 18 made it bearable. Got my first taste of a rigged election at Klein in 1978. Virtually the entire school voted for AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell' for Class Song, but mysteriously, 'Dust In The Wind' was announced as the winner. Been an Anarchist ever since.

He is among the league leaders in assists at 6.4 per game, so...umm...no, I don't think that way.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/4341630.html The rate of violent crime, which includes murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, was down from 2004, after a spike last year. Nonviolent crimes, such as burglaries and car thefts, were down for the second straight year, according to the UCR. Gerstner credits the success to an overtime program that began Aug. 28.

The studies I have read suggest that illegals commit NO crimes in disproportionate numbers. But, the number I gave for total crime includes violent crime (23,000 per year) and property crime (125,000 per year). Drug offenses are not included in the total. BTW, of course the analysis is oversimplified. We are taking one number given by a city councilwoman trying to make a political point, and trying to figure out if the number means anything. The "analysis", if we can even call it that, was my stab at the subject. Feel free to go at it from another angle.

Just how many tenants have signed on to Victory anyway? I know Haynes & Boone is the only tenant in Victory Tower. WFAA is moving from it's downtown digs. Obviously, The Mavericks and Stars left downtown. But, there is not much other office space out there right now, is there? So, all of this talk is really speculative, since only a couple of tenants have even signed. Am I right on this?

30,000 seems like a lot until you consider that there are 150,000 crimes committed in the City of Houston each year. So, 30,000 in 18 months amounts to just 13.3 percent of the total of 225,000. Some estimates of the number of illegals in Houston are as high as 400,000, or 20% of the population. If so, then illegals account for a smaller percentage of Houston crime than the natives. There are several studies that suggest that, because they are illegal, immigrants try not to attract attention, therefore, they commit fewer crimes. However, their American born children do not seem to have the same fears, so their crime rates are higher.

McKinney?

You're on!

To be fair, Niche, Pigskin named Harris County in one post, then said Houston MSA in the next. Nmainguy is correct on his answer, but Pigskin is right on the MSA percentage.