VicMan

I see all these hit pieces, locally and nationally, as a sign that powerful people fear the ramifications of a Perry candidacy. Successful or not, a Perry campaign will cause a great deal of collateral damage to both parties.

Has anybody written any articles about when powerful people determine that a candidate would cause damage to the status quote? About how powerful people try to persuade the voting public and/or the primary voters with op-eds? Are they journal articles that one has to download from a research service?

Well, not *every* one - maybe the most significant ones. You already mention pork as a broad category - But the big question is how to give disincentives against politicians and voting blocs spending on and supporting pork. Constituents want their representatives to fatten up their territories; that's why Alaskans like Ted Stevens. In order to stop pork one needs to find a way to put disincentives against pork.

"wasteful spending by the many federal agencies like FEMA, NASA, etc." - From my understanding "wasteful spending" from a particular agency could be a product of simply bad management rather than a need to pare down the scope of a particular agency or the federal government in general.

For instance the US government approved commercial space ventures in 1998. A CEO of a space venture company argued that NASA could remain in existence, but that it ought to focus on ventures that for profit companies would not do: http://news.cnet.com/Do-we-need-NASA/2009-11397_3-6211308.html - That is a possible argument for the scope of the federal government to change

About "Protect us from foreign invaders. Protect our borders. Etc. "

Well, there's also "protect us from fraudulent products," "protect us from prejudiced juries in state trials" (that's why the feds have federal civil rights violation trials), "protect our financial health at retirement age" (Social security)...

If your asking me to list every bit of wasteful spending ( unnecessary if you will) then it's not going to happen. Look at sites like Pork Barrel Spending or check the many reports of wasteful spending by the many federal agencies like FEMA, NASA, etc.

Protect us from foreign invaders. Protect our borders. Etc.

A flat tax would eliminate the tax loopholes that the rich use so there wouldn't be as large disparity as there is today. I would be just as happy with the Fair tax. Anything would be better then what we have now.

It's not just about being necessary or unnecessary, it's about efficiency. It's about wasteful spending. It's about being held accountable. The Federal Government should be able to protect our nation, most everything else should be handled by the States.

The best thing the Tax Reform Act advocates is a flat tax, which I also support.

IMHO I would define "wasteful spending" as unnecessary spending, which is why I used the words "necessary" and "unnecessary".

"The Federal Government should be able to protect our nation, most everything else should be handled by the States." - But protect how and from what?

"The best thing the Tax Reform Act advocates is a flat tax, which I also support." - Are you meaning a flat federal income tax? If there is nothing else to the tax code than a flat federal income tax, I don't think a flat tax would be feasible today, especially with such a large disparity in incomes existing today.

I would gladly sign that pledge.

Maybe this will help...

What aspects of the federal government do you believe are unnecessary?

Sugar land has an airport????? dear god.

Yes, and it used to take commercial flights in the 1990s (intrastate propeller flights).

There is a possibility that discount and leisure airlines like Allegiant and Spirit could try to fly to Ellington and take advantage of the Houston-area cruise ship traffic.

With elderly who clearly have little means of paying, it may help to give them maybe one warning and/or mention the elderly discount programs.

According to http://www.ridemetro.org/FareInfo/Discounted_Fare.aspx

Elderly who are 60-69 years of age get a 50% discount

Elderly who are 70+ ride for no cost

The homeless who use the train with no intention of paying in any way aren't supposed to be on the train. Getting actual money from them would be getting blood from a turnip, but it may help to expel them from the trains. This would happen in any major city.

Simply "stinging" people who get on without paying doesn't seem like an abuse to me, but it may help for the cops to at least give warnings to some people (especially elderly who are 60 or over and who may not know about the discount programs).

However the bit about demanding someone say "sorry" for jaywalking is too much - He should have said "Okay, I will give you a warning this time, but next time I see you do it, I will issue a ticket" - No need to make someone say "sorry"

"Then this other guy got off, they called him over, he was walking to Hermann Park, they told him come back, he said ok. Then I guess he didn't pay, the next thing you know they are yelling at him, he asked back, "What are you going to do, arrest me?" So they threw him down and had his face pressed. It was sick."

When both the cops and the other guy have quick tempers.. it's not good. If one thinks the cop is speaking too rudely to him or her, he/she should ask for the cop's name.

Metro police was hiding behind the wall to bust people who didn't pay as soon as the train would arrive. Literally when the train would get there, they'd pop up like gangbusters. All the people they wrote up were elderly and homeless. They made old ladies cry. Like they can afford the tickets anyway, what's the point?

Then this other guy got off, they called him over, he was walking to Hermann Park, they told him come back, he said ok. Then I guess he didn't pay, the next thing you know they are yelling at him, he asked back, "What are you going to do, arrest me?" So they threw him down and had his face pressed. It was sick.

And even when I got to the train, a Metro cop started yelilng at me. "You know I could give you a $100 ticket for jaywalking." I said "ok." He said, "Say sorry and you won't have to pay." I kind of wondered if he was serious. Then he said again "Say sorry!" So I said "sorry" and just went to the other end of the station. These guys were all roided up and on a serious power trip.

I saw some people recording. If they put it up or not, I don't know.

I was at the Hermann Park rail stop a few weeks ago, and witnessed METRO police handing out tickets to elderly and homeless. Then they arrested some other guy who was minding his business because he talked back. Talk about a power trip.

What were the elderly and homeless doing? Why did the guy talk back?

RedScare: I think what Ricco meant is that if one stumbles upon a cop, likely one would not understand all of the nuances of the involved, so "speaking up" would be unhelpful unless a blatant inappropriate action occurred.

another agreed.

while as totheskies points out, eastwood (and east end in general) isn't the most walkable place, there are convenience stores pretty much everywhere within walking distance. If I lived in eastwood proper, the kombat kroger would be walkable (as it is, it is bicyclable), there aren't any music stores in the area though, and I'm still scared to go to the kombat kroger, mostly because I have no idea how big the rats are that hide behind the cereal boxes.

I've been to Battle Kroger. It's not bad.

A relative who lived in Houston shopped there all the time. He walked from his house.

Several of the news articles analyzing the Borders collapse said that because Barnes and Noble got to work on the Kindle and an online presence sooner, B&N adapted to modern times better than Borders did.

I'm not sure how Books A Million is adapting. They had to have done something that prevented them from collapsing like Borders did.

Also Downtown and Katy Mills are Books A Million's only locations in the Houston area.

Nah, it will tank as people just sit on the couches and read the books for free and look important while they suck up the free wi-fi on their laptops.

My book buying habits have changed considerably in the last two years. Almost everything I buy goes to my kindle, but things that I use for research I keep in actual book form and keep on my shelf.

Unless they change it up the business model, the popular bookstores are going to go the way of blockbuster.

edit: damn auto correct

While $100 ($0.02 x 5000) doesn't sound like much, I think that is what Books-a-Million is paying in rent this year.

And now that Borders is going away, Books A Million may be getting more bang for its buck out of its HP location.

HISD hasn't stated what it will do with the campuses

Unlike Wilmer Hutchins, I think the NFISD campuses are in okay shape, so I think they will remain open.

This may be a blessing for Kashmere, though, as HISD could rezone Settegast to Kashmere and leave other NFISD areas zoned to NFHS.

If it were up to me I would redraw the boundaries of Kashmere, NFHS, and Furr so that some territory of NFHS goes to Kashmere and Furr- that way each school has about 1,000 students. - More or less I would rezone Settegast to Kashmere. The area around East Houston post office would remain NFHS. Dyersdale would remain NFHS. Lakewood.. it may go to NFHS, or it could go to Kashmere...

Standardized testing strikes again...

I have several friends who graduated from Forest Brook and Smiley and are successful in life as I hate to see this.....when the shift towards testing popped up in the school system it has become deadly...Humble ISD has atttracted alot of the alumni of NFISD who could've sent kids there and there isn't enough diversity to boost scores across the board.

If they close, will HISD absorb their facilities or they'll shift them to Kashmere?

But NFISD used to be predominately white at one time.....another district that has fallen victim of white flight inside the Beltway

The same Metro that had a representative tell me "You don't understand enough about transportation and urban planning for me to answer that question". I was majorly pissed to have a civil servant tell me I'm stupid.

I would say: "No, sir/ma'am, it is your job to tell me all about the transportation/urban planning stuff and THEN answer my question. It is your job to educate your constituents. A 'no' is a wrong answer, sir/madam, and I am going to ask you to answer my question."

Do you remember that representative's name?

The State of Texas has ordered North Forest ISD to shut down in 2012. The district management is trying to fight it:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8248590

It's about time that the district goes. Houston ISD will be the one picking up the territory in 2012.

The U.S. Department of Justice will have to approve of the closure. Since it approved the closures of Wilmer Hutchins ISD and Kendleton ISD (other small, mostly African-American school districts), I don't see it denying the closure of NFISD.

Lose the waterwall, no contest. I've lived here 15 years been through that area 100s of times and never once thought to get out and spend any time at it. It's in the middle of a sea of sidewalkless streets and invariably I'm being swept along in those streets in my car desperately focusing on not getting in an accident.

See if you can find a good parking lot near the waterwall and/or a good garage. With the internet one could try to put planning into getting to the Waterwall.

It's not faster for me to have to input the fruit code, since I don't know it by heart.

While AFAIK they don't have self-checkouts, HEB has PLU stickers so that checkout by human of fruit, etc. is expedited. PLU stickers would really help with self checkout.

Typically if I have a lot of produce I go human, but if I have just a few items and all are barcode, I do self.

Is the US media trying to keep away from any slipups (Obama) by spelling it Usama Instead? Or is it just a matter that Osama and Usama are interchangable and either is correct?

The US government has used "Usama" in some places. Both are correct spellings of the original Arabic name.

I feel so happy right now.

TheNiche, today's a day to celebrate - Let's have fun

I think this video says it all

Texting and driving invites disaster.

To nitpick: Why Parc?

Unless it's an acronym, that spelling should be confined to Paris or Montreal. The pretentiousness is embarrassing.

And Abidjan, New Orleans, Beirut, Casablanca, and Kinsasha too, right?

Afaik the driveway robberies happen to immigrants who keep money intheir homes

Highway6: The "Harwin" and."South Asia" areas are two distinct places, according to the Greater Sharpstown website

I have a bad feeling that Tata will never be found for decades.

It could be bad for Tata's family in Nigeria if they don't give her up. A mercenary in Houston could pay a private investigator, or worse, to forcibly find Tata

I was looking for vacation deals to Aruba and/or Noumea and some of the packages called for United flights... for which I had to PAY for my drinx whilst on the plane. UGH. Never mind. I'll stick to Funjet.com where all my alcoholic beverages were free (all inclusive) since I stepped foot on the plane.

No thanks.

Charter flights are very common with vacationgoers in Europe, but not so much with the United States

Continental hasn't been to Noumea in a long time

Delta hasn't announced plans to drop snacks yet.

To begin with, it's only 1/5 of life or 99 years.

But people can encounter bad luck (auto accident out of nowhere, terminal illness) or have bad habits or poor judgment that lead to early deaths. We can't say "I will live for 99 years and not let anything bad happen to me."

So those 20 years can be a lot more significant than one could think.

And within prison itself, people have ways of finding early demises.

Formally the district is East Downtown, but in marketing the district is nicknamed "EaDo"

There was a contest, however you didn't have to live there to participate and the name was decided upon arbitrarily--not by a vote. I think that it's unfair to characterize people that live there as pompous asses, either. After all, they have the balls to forsake Midtown and live on the "wrong" side of US 59. They're still pioneers in their own right.

In fact, I participated in the contest, strongly making the case for "East Downtown" or "East Downtown Warehouse District", which is how it was widely known. I think that the downtown connection should be played up because the only thing that has ever divided it from downtown proper is a one-block-wide freeway. That's all! And I think that the barrier should be downplayed. ...apparently they agreed with me. Unfortunately, the decider was a douche.