30 April 2007
daily Fred Thompson
A smattering of Fred Thompson news:
1. First, the quote of the day:
Thompson also has begun inoculating himself against potential attacks from rivals. During a question-and-answer session with House members on April 18, Thompson was asked about his colorful dating history from 1985 to 2002, while he was divorced.Awesome."I was single for a long time, and, yep, I chased a lot of women," Thompson replied, chuckling, according to an attendee who took notes. "And a lot of women chased me. And those that chased me tended to catch me."
The rest of the article talks about trying to run a different sort of presidential campaign. That might actually fly this year, because of the condensed primary calendar. Plus, Fred's the kind of guy that could get away with doing things a different way; he was, after all, drafted. Indeed in 1994, he revitalized a flagging campaign by buying a red pickup and driving it around Tennessee. Some derided it as a gimmick, but it worked because it was authentic. Fred kept driving the pickup after the campaign.
2. Stu Rothenberg:
I'll admit that I have had a hard time warming to the idea that former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), whom I first saw as minority counsel during the Senate Watergate hearings and whose TV and movie credits include "Die Hard 2," "The Hunt for Red October" and "Law & Order," would run for president. And it seemed, at least initially, even more difficult to imagine him as the Republican nominee next year.One of the reasons I tend to shy away from doing too much predicting about Democratic primaries is that I understand my lack of insight. Rothenberg is basically admitting to this.
Regardless of whether it is deserved, Thompson earned a reputation around the nation's capital as someone who didn't like to raise money and who didn't have a high energy level in the Senate. When he had the chance to be handed a second full term, he turned it down, choosing instead to return to his acting career.Thompson is a leader; the Senate is a difficult place for leaders. The money thing is certainly an issue, but will alleviate when Republican money men and women realize that the grassroots strongly support Fred. Quite a few of the folks donating to McCain and Giuliani are doing so because they look(ed) like winners.Obviously, there is a world of difference between an executive position such as president and a legislative one, and if he does enter the GOP contest, Thompson could say that he's a "doer," not a "talker," who would feel more comfortable in an executive post.
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, who now chairs the Virginia GOP, recently told me that criticism of Thompson is not always on the mark, and some of it is reminiscent of criticism aimed at former President Ronald Reagan.
3. Land Commish Jerry Patterson, Railroad Commish Victor Carrillo, four state senators, and almost 60 House members have signed on to encourage Fred to run for president.
Patterson will be surprisingly strong in a statewide primary.
Posted by Evan @ 04/30/07 11:52 PM | Comments (1)
Bloomberg
I've been surprised at the recent lack of speculation over whether Michael Bloomberg will run for president as an independent. It seems to me that he very well might.
First, let's consider it from his perspective. Bloomberg is a guy who thinks he should be president. He's tacitly encouraged the presidential speculation in the past. Unlike the other candidates, he can write a $500 million check to finance his entire campaign and it won't materially change his financial situation. So he won't have to grub for money on the phone. Moreover, he's got only a year left of being mayor...why not give it a shot?
Furthermore, there's a certain degree of similarity to 1992: an unpopular President Bush, a dissatisfied public (26/67% right track/wrong track in a recent Harris poll), a relatively lackluster crop of presidential candidates. Even enviro issues are high-profile again, like they were in the early 90s. And while the war was over in 92, it was still on people's mind.
Bloomberg is much like Ross Perot. Social moderate-to-liberal, budget hawk, self-made billionaire. A little eccentric with some occasional faux populism. Although he runs on the Republican line in New York City, Bloomberg is no Republican. He was a lifelong Democrat who switched parties so he could easily run for mayor. Like Perot, he can run against the two-party system as a reformer who can't be bought.
So will he run? I'd put the odds somewhere a little over 35% (or if you will, 2 to 1). The odds go up a little if Giuliani isn't going to be the Republican nominee, because two Yankee mayors running for president might be just a little too much...especially if Hillary is the Democrats' nominee.
Posted by Evan @ 04/30/07 11:23 PM | Comments (1)
Happy Tax Freedom Day!
Today is Tax Freedom Day. After working solely just to pay taxes, you can now start earning for something other than the government. Sweet.
Posted by Evan @ 04/30/07 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
29 April 2007
Quixote
Wait, I thought some other trial lawer bloke was going to be the sacrificial lamb senatorial candidate.
Nick Lampson has a difficult decision to make: quixotic bid for re-election or quixotic bid to unseat Cornyn?
Well, he's got a huge fundraising list from last cycle.Lampson's camp is being somewhat coy about the Senate race, as might be expected at this point.
"He has been getting a lot of calls from lots of friends and supporters around the state asking him to look into it," said Mike Lykes, who just traded in his job as Lampson's chief of staff to become his campaign finance director. "He is just trying to concentrate right now on getting better and getting back up to D.C."
The calculus is fairly simple, several Democratic strategists say: Lampson faces a battle to hold on to his House seat, and, since he'll have to raise millions of dollars anyway, he might as well go for the brass ring.
Wow, I just checked. Scratch that last sentence. Lampson only has $260k in the bank, as of 3/31/07. He spent $3.5 million in '06 in a race he couldn't have possibly lost. That's...amazing. Truly remarkable. Will Democratic donors donate again to such a spendthrift?
Sounds like the consultants will want him to run. Unless, that is, the trial lawyer is willing to blow through some cash.
Posted by Evan @ 04/29/07 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
Chat[tering]
This blog's namesake was in Pittsburgh for a Boy Scouts convention/speech. While there, he stopped in and chatted with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Perry has to enjoy knowing that it will get the Austin chattering class...chattering. Stopping by a newspaper board in a key swing state just to...chat. [The Tribune-Review is generally the more rightward-leaning paper in the area, while the Post-Gazette leans leftward.]
The transportation issues facing Texas Gov. Rick Perry earlier this decade were so severe that it was faster to take back roads from San Antonio to Dallas than Interstate 35.
That's akin to taking Route 60 to Pittsburgh International Airport from Downtown to avoid the Parkway West.Perry pushed through a package of highway construction projects driven by public-private partnerships, similar to the long-term lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike sought by Gov. Ed Rendell.
Texas' decision to turn to private companies to build and maintain 4,000 miles of highways in key corridors was in response to a business and population boom. Highways were clogged and air pollution worsened.
...
Perry likes Rendell's turnpike plan, as long as revenue is directed only to transportation projects.
"If Pennsylvania needs new infrastructure, new lane miles, and if all the money stays in the world of Pennsylvania transportation, then that's worth having," he said.
Considering that Rendell's plan calls for taxing oil company profits, that's a little bit of a surprising thing for the governor of Texas to say to the Tribune-Review editorial board. Although I imagine that Perry was probably chatting about this in the context of talking about his own Trans-Texas Corridor plans.
Posted by Evan @ 04/29/07 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
Uh, who?
SAEN, Scott Stroud:
Mikal Watts, a trial lawyer who moved to San Antonio from Corpus Christi in August so his daughter could attend TMI — the Episcopal School of Texas held a fundraiser at his Dominion home a week ago for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.Who?
If you expect 150 people, book a room that has 100 people.Informally, the event was viewed as a test of Watts' ability to raise money for the party and, perhaps, carry its banner as a candidate next year. Given a goal of $150,000, Watts hauled in $1,077,000 — so we're pretty sure he passed the fundraising test.
Schumer is trying to make sure the GOP doesn't get any free passes, so he can suck up some GOP money in Texas. Schumer is smart, but he must be disappointed he can't do any better in Texas.Watts hasn't declared as a candidate and won't for a while. He said he was asked to run by several people in Washington, including Schumer, who has stayed on at the helm of the DSCC to try to build on its 2006 successes.
Please, oh please don't run a trial lawyer! Or throw me into the briar patch.
Posted by Evan @ 04/29/07 01:40 AM | Comments (0)
28 April 2007
Fred Thompson's unannounced candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination will go to Stamford, Conn., May 24 for the Connecticut GOP's annual Prescott Bush dinner.Thompson's support is remarkably strong in the grassroots."We're obviously excited out of our minds about it," the party's state chairman, Robert M. Duncan, told this column. He was delighted that Connecticut had gotten the popular actor-politician ahead of Virginia's June 2 party fundraiser.
A footnote: Without announcing his candidacy, Thompson has won straw polls at the Oklahoma Republican convention, the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, the California Republican Assembly and Georgia's 9th Congressional District party convention.
May 8 was being talked about as the announcement date, but perhaps that's been pushed off.
Posted by Evan @ 04/28/07 02:02 PM | Comments (1)
27 April 2007
No foul? No way!
Selby, today's Statesman:
Smith didn't find a foul? This is precedent setting!It's not every day a legislator travels overseas while voting in the Texas House.
Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Williamson County, was in London on Thursday while his votes on about 30 pieces of legislation were cast on the House floor.
...
In the meantime, Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, could be seen punching in votes for Krusee on routine final approvals of legislation.
...
Krusee paid for the trip from his own pocket, Delisi said, making the expenditure distinct from lobby-funded travel cited in a report issued this week by Texans for Public Justice.
Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office, saw no foul in a legislator taking a personal trip not funded by a special interest.
The job of legislator in Texas is historically viewed as a part-time occupation. Members usually have jobs.
"And you know, I'm prone to finding fouls," Smith said.
Posted by Evan @ 04/27/07 04:00 PM | Comments (0)
26 April 2007
Dewhurst
Here's a thought about Dewhurst.
Up until now, Dewhurst has been the candidate with establishment support, but relatively shallow grassroots support.
This session, Dewhurst found a populist issue, but has at least partly alienated some of the establishment.
He's sorta like the John McCain of Texas politics in that way.
Posted by Evan @ 04/26/07 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
AG rumors on JC and AG
There's rumors flying about that suggest John Cornyn will be appointed the new AG when Alberto Gonzales resigns.
I've never been convinced that Gonzales was going to resign, and I think right now that the odds are slightly in favor of Gonzales sticking around.
Bush isn't the sort of president who is going to dump one of his longest serving and favorite aides. If he does so, he's encouraging Democrats to go after other targets. Plus, ramming through confirmation of the next Attorney General would just be a huge distraction. This news story can't stay alive forever, despite the best efforts of the Senate [as Michael Barone notes, the whole flap is best viewed as a power struggle between different branches of government.]
And as for the rumors that Perry steps down in order to become Senator? Who makes this stuff up? [And why did Harvey publish it?] Maybe I misread Perry, but I see precious little to indicate that he's the kind of guy who wants to go hang around DC in the Senate.
Posted by Evan @ 04/26/07 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
Comparable worth = Yikes.
Like many people, I find Barack Obama's personal story quite compelling. His public posture and candor are refreshing. Were I a voter who didn't care about issues, I'd probably vote for him.
However, I do care about issues, and Obama is essentially a socialist on economics. To wit, Obama has basically endorsed "comparable worth."
Mickey Kaus takes that down:
Obama has apparently just endorsed one of the worst ideas of Carter era liberalism, "comparable worth," which would have lawyers and judges deciding what every job is "worth" according to some bureaucratic, non-market criteria that would inevitably punish "unskilled" manual work--i.e, the very workers who are screwed the most by globalization. Are truckdrivers really paid too much?
Meanwhile, Michael Barone piles on.
In case you don't know what comparable worth is, it's an idea concocted by feminists in the 1970s or early 1980s. They said that jobs typically held by women pay less than jobs typically held by men. To eliminate this inequity, somebody–the courts, maybe, or some administrative agency, presumably with appeals to the courts–should decide what those jobs were really worth, based on some sort of convoluted criteria. So that it could be possible to prove that secretaries were of comparable worth to truck drivers and should be paid the same wages.Earth to Obama: There's something out there called the labor market. Employers are setting wages to get the kind of workers they need. Employees volunteer to work at those wages–or seek better-paying work elsewhere. Listening to Fox News on satellite radio, I hear commercials run by truck companies seeking drivers and bragging about how much they pay. That's the labor market at work. The companies have jobs to fill, and they're offering more money to attract workers, presumably many of them working for other truck companies. I suppose many truck drivers have satellite radio (which proves they're paid well above the minimum wage) and that the companies think running ads on satellite radio homes in on the kind of workers they're seeking.
Comparable worth would subject the private-sector economy to the equivalent of the federal civil service system. Bureaucrats would have to classify every job, with their classifications subject to administrative and judicial review.
The best thing you can say about Obama's policy is that he has Austan Goolsbee advising him right now. Faint praise.
Posted by Evan @ 04/26/07 10:40 PM | Comments (0)
The Case for Fred Thompson
I've been drafting an op-ed column -- "The Case for Drafting Fred Thompson" -- that I plan to try to get published.
I have a bit of a unique point of view, in that I was one of the first people to suggest that we should draft Fred Thompson to run for president. Evidently, since I first blogged about it on October 26th, plenty of other people feel the same.
My tone is rather Peggy Noonan-ish, or at least it feels like it to me. That's certainly a change for me; I tend towards the tight, structured essays rather than conversational exposition. I didn't plan it that way, so the column might be terrible. It's also probably a bit harder to get published with a conversational tone as an unknown writer. But sometimes it writes itself.
Update: My dad likes my column!
Posted by Evan @ 04/26/07 10:19 PM | Comments (0)
23 April 2007
Yikes.
Worst sentence I've read in the Wall Street Journal in a long time:
Immigrants also are starting to move in big numbers into the Deep South, where they could upend longtime Republican strongholds.That lacks historical perspective, to put it mildly.Posted by Evan @ 04/23/07 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
Reason interviews Rauch
Reason Editor Nick Gillespie interviewed National Journal writer Jonathan Rauch. It's a great read, plus it contains a phrase I really wish I'd written:
In a world in which political discourse tends to veer from insane overstatement (think Ann Coulter) to plodding conventionalism (David Broder) to barely disguised partisanship (Paul Krugman)Genius.Plus, there's this:
I suppose you could also simply allow people to be lawyers if they pass the bar, rather than requiring law school.reason: You have a favorite bit of advice to younger people, don't you?
Rauch: Don't go to law school unless you want to be a lawyer.
reason: That would thin the herd pretty quickly, wouldn't it?
Rauch: Yeah, it sure would.
reason: That might be the most powerful reform idea that you have.
Rauch: I was going to say you could probably dump the whole rest of the interview and just print that.
Posted by Evan @ 04/23/07 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
19 April 2007
Brooks on Talton
DMN's Karen Brooks profiles Rep. Talton:
Mr. Talton is a 14-year lawmaker from his native Pasadena. A lawyer with a history in family law and criminal defense, he was once a House leader who worked to help put Mr. Craddick into the speaker's seat.When he was elected in 1992, he was the first GOP representative in a district that had been historically Democratic. He has designs on Tom DeLay's old congressional seat, though he hasn't decided if he's going to run for it.
Mr. Talton is one of the Democrats' most valuable players this session, a self-appointed enforcer in the wake of the divisive fight to unseat Mr. Craddick. He has delayed and crippled bills by at least four House committee chairmen – Democrats loyal to Mr. Craddick – and has hammered a couple of GOP chairmen as well. He acknowledges that he's got a hit list, and the thought makes him smile.
If Talton thinks he's going to win a congressional seat by aligning himself with Dunnam and Burnam, I think he's mistaken. Truth be told, he was never really a front runner, but less so now. He might want to stick to running for re-election in his relatively swing district in Pasadena.
Posted by Evan @ 04/19/07 02:44 AM | Comments (2)
Follow the money: 77010, 77046, and 77056
One of the big donor zip code -- 77056, and a couple of the smaller ones. The big one I still haven't done is 77024, which is Memorial.
77010 is a downtown Houston zipcode.
James Bryan -- 2300 Giuliani, indie oil exploration.
James and Molly Crownover -- each maxed to Romney. he's chair of the Rice University Board of Trustees and former McKinsey partner.
Courtney and Robert Hopson -- Fayez Sarofim Co., wealth management
Arthur Nathan -- 2300 McCain. Haynes and Boone lawyer
Ed Rhyne -- 2100 Romney. Haynes and Boone lawyer.
Fayez Sarofim -- 2100 to Romney, 2300 to Giuliani. He works for -- you guessed it -- Fayez Sarofim Co.
Ralph Thomas -- 2300 McCain, Fayez Sarofim.77046 is Greenway Plaza.
Gary Rosenthal -- 2100 Romney, Sterling Group, a private equity fund.
Mike Rutherford -- 2100 Giuliani, indie oilman
Doug Schnitzer -- 2100 Giuliani, Senterra Real Estate
Neil Tofsky -- 1000 Bill Richardson, Senterra
Gene and Astrid Van Dyke -- he's an indie oil man, Vanco Energy
Ed Wulfe -- 2100 McCain. real estate developer, major light rail proponent.77056 -- Galleria and Tanglewood
Daryl Anderson -- 2300 Romney, Fulbright partner.
Thomas Allen -- double maxout to Hillary. lawyer.
Kathy Bracewell -- 2100 Giuliani. I assume that's a Bracewell and Giuliani connection.
Carole Bailey -- double max out to Hillary. wife of trial lawyer.
Chester and Margaret Benge -- both max to McCain. he's head of a drilling rig co.
Lloyd Bentsen -- 2300 Hillary. presumably this is III.
Ed Cummins -- 2000 Giuliani. real estate broker.
Michael Capellas -- 2300 Obama former Compaq/MCI CEO
Don Clark -- 2300 Edwards. trial lawyer
Jay Comeaux -- 2300 McCain, head of Stanford Group Houston office; wealth management.
Denis Debakey -- 2300 Giuliani, New York Life
Jonathan Godshall -- 2000 Richardson, renewable energy
Mark and Debra Grierson -- 2100 each Giuliani; he's in employee benefits consulting
James Glanville -- 2300 McCain, real estate broker
Sylvia and Titus Harris -- both double maxed out to Giuliani. he's in investment, she in sales training.
Charles Herder -- max to Romney. real estate broker.
Patrick Haines -- 2300 Edwards. trial lawyer
Bruce Hotze -- 1000 Brownback. one of the Hotze brothers.
David Jones -- 2300 Romney. Dini Partners; fundraising consultants.
Walter and Yvonne Johnson -- both maxed to Romney. he's at Amegy Bank.
John and Jennifer Ligums -- both maxed to Giuliani. he's at Centaurus Energy, the hedge fund started by former Enron star trader John Arnold.
Kase Lawal -- 2300 Hillary. energy services company
Ralph Mcelvenney -- double max out to Giuliani. appears to be indie oil man.
Gary and Elizabeth Peterson -- both double maxed out Giuliani; he's in energy private equity.
Raymond Plank, 2300 Giuliani, chairman of Apache Corp.
Dan Pickering -- 2300 Romney. energy analyst
James and Beverly Postl -- 2300 to Hillary, Obama, and Edwards. he's former Pennzoil CEO.
Joseph Pyne -- 2300 Hillary. oil barge company
Gordon Quan -- immigration lawyer and former Houston City Councilman gave $500 to Hillary.
Thomas, Michelle, John, James, Anna, Isla, and Margaret Reckling -- this family did lots of maxing out to Giuliani.
David Saperstein -- 2100 to Romney and Giuliani, investment firm Five S Capital.
Robert and Elizabeth Snell -- each maxed to Romney. he's with Spinnaker Exploration
Robert Sonfeld -- max to Giuliani. lawyer.
Richard Stone -- 2300 Romney. Homebuilder.
Diana Strassmann -- 2300 Hillary. She's a feminist economist at Rice.
Dick and Kathy Vermillion -- 2100 each to Giuliani. he's in oilfield services.
Ann Witt -- 500 Tancredo. Former HD137 candidate.
Robin Young -- 2300 Edwards.Posted by Evan @ 04/19/07 02:18 AM | Comments (1)
Follow the money: 77005
Paul Burka (and contributors) have a series running over at BurkaBlog detailing the 08 Texas presidential donors. I'm going to add to it.
Mimi Swartz covers Houston zip codes 77002 (main downtown), 77019 (River Oaks), 77006 (Montrose, area south of east part of River Oaks) and 77027 (north of 59, east of 610, west of Greenway plaza, south of bayou. yes, that's the best description of it I can come up with).
Let me add some ZIP codes worthy of mentioning: 77005 (West University, Rice, Southampton. Has been the biggest Dem donor ZIP code in the state in some recent cycles), 77024 (Memorial), 77056 (Galleria), 77057 (Tanglewood), 77010 (other downtown), 77046 (Greenway Plaza), 77401 (Bellaire), 77079 (farther west Memorial; Energy Corridor).
77005 (note, max out = 2300. double max out = 4600, meaning that they maxed out for both the primary and general)
Sufi Ahmad -- 2300 John Edwards. trial lawyer.
Edward Allen -- $4600 Obama, double maxout. mutual fund manager.
David Baldwin -- $2300 Romney. energy investor; SCF Partners
Paul Bragg -- $2100 Giuliani, former Pride CEO; energy.
Peter Brown -- 1000 Giuliani, 500 Romney, 500 McCain, 2300 Obama. Interesting donations from the liberal Houston city council member. wife Anne maxed out to Obama.
Shane Battier -- $2300 Obama. New Rockets forward is one of the most underrated players in the NBA.
Lou Black -- $2100 Edwards, trial lawyer.
James Blackburn -- $2300 Obama, lawyer.
Christina Bryan -- 2300 Obama. Looks like she went to Harvard Law with the first black editor of Harvard Law Review (Obama).
Hunter and Cameron Kraft -- each $2100 to Edwards. trial law
Josh and Stephanie Davis -- each maxed to Romney. investment banking.
Bradley Dodson -- oil services. 2300 Romney.
Marcela Donadio -- 2300 Giuliani, Ernst and Young energy acct.
Mark Dannenbaum -- double maxout to McCain. radiologist.
Charles and Monica Eskridge -- both maxed to Giuliani. he's a SusmanGodfrey lawyer.
Kristan and Robert Gauntt -- 2100 each to Giuliani. he's in wealth management for Avalon Advisers.
David and Windi Grimes -- 2100 each to Giuliani. he's an indie oilman.
Sandra Godrey -- 2300 Hillary.
Charles Harris -- 2300 Giuliani -- investment banker.
Stephen King -- ran for CD25 in 2004 as a Dem. double maxout to Obama.
Kevin Lilly -- maxed to Giuliani. wealth management for Avalon Advisers.
Sylvia Mayer -- Weil Gotshal. double max out to Giuliani.
David Matthiesen -- 2300 Obama. lawyer
James Moriarty -- double max Hillary, 1k John Edwards. lawyer
Anthony and Cynthia Petrello -- 2100 Giuliani, 2100 Romney each. he's the COO at Nabors -- drilling rigs.
James Robertson -- 2300 Obama. lawyer
Amie and Jeff Springmeyer -- he owns a geographic seismic data company. each maxed to Romney.
Larry and Celia Veselka -- he's a lawyer. 2300 each Hillary.
Scott Wulfe -- 2300 Romney. Vinson and Elkins lawyer.
Jimmy Williamson -- 2300 Edwards. lawyer
John Wisneski -- 2300 Edwards. lawyer
Mark Yzaguirre -- 2300 Hillary. lawyer
Adam Zylman -- 2300 Romney; energy investor
Steven Zager -- max out Obama. AkinGump lawyer.Posted by Evan @ 04/19/07 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
18 April 2007
Hizzoner's prizoblem
Pollster David Hill:
Crime has been creeping back into the public consciousness for the past year or so, a fact that Gallup acknowledged in the same discussion that discounted the issue's relevance for 2008. The nation's most visible pollsters observed that "over the last two years, Americans have become more pessimistic about the level of crime in the United States."
That's some bad news for Bill White's political ambitions.
Posted by Evan @ 04/18/07 02:51 PM | Comments (0)
15 April 2007
Friedman: What's happening to Imus isn't right
Kinky Friedman pens a defense of his friend Imus in the New York Post.
Political correctness, a term first used by Joseph Stalin, has trivialized, sanitized and homogenized America, transforming us into a nation of chain establishments and chain people.Where was the "de-wussification of New York" phrase? I was definitely hoping to see that.Take heart, Imus. You're merely joining a long and legendary laundry list of individuals who were summarily sacrificed in the name of society's sanctimonious soul: Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, Joan of Arc, Mozart and Mark Twain, who was decried as a racist until the day he died for using the N-word rather prolifically in "Huckleberry Finn."
Posted by Evan @ 04/15/07 05:16 PM | Comments (1)
11 April 2007
Sweet
WSJ:
In skyscraper-crazy Dubai, tall isn't enough. In a design to be unveiled today in the oil-rich emirate, David Fisher, an Italian-Israeli architect, has dreamed up a 68-story combination hotel, apartment and office tower where the floors would rotate 360 degrees. Each floor would rotate independently, creating a constantly changing architectural form.I have a feeling lots more people would want to live in urban lofts if they got a 360 degree view of things.Each story of the tower would be shaped like a doughnut and be attached to a center core housing elevators, emergency stairs and other utilities. Wind turbines placed in gaps between the doughnuts would generate electricity.
The doughnuts won't rotate fast enough to give guests upset stomachs. A single rotation would take around 90 minutes. "It's quite slow," says Mr. Fisher.
Posted by Evan @ 04/11/07 04:01 PM | Comments (2)
10 April 2007
No.
Sarah Needleman in the WSJ today
I shudder to think that anyone judges me on either quality based on this blog. The writing quality is generally not so good, which is to be expected when it's usually last priority -- if it makes it on the list at all -- in my multi-tasking. And I definitely don't discuss most of my interests.Ryan Loken, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recruitment manager, says he spends one to two hours a week searching through blogs for new talent or additional information about the candidates he has interviewed. "Blogs are a tool in the tool kit," he says. Since he joined the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant three years ago, Mr. Logen estimates that Web journals have helped him fill 125 corporate jobs. Most of the recruits were referred to him by bloggers and blog contributors, and some were the writers themselves.
The blogosphere has become a virtual career center for job hunters seeking advice. See what job seekers can gain from blogs about recruiting.In addition to blogs that focus on their industry or field of interest, recruiters say they check candidates' blogs about noncareer-related topics for evidence of writing skills and clues to how well rounded they are. (emphasis mine)
Posted by Evan @ 04/10/07 04:56 PM | Comments (0)
09 April 2007
Someone should fall on their sword
This anti-Obama RNC press release might be one of the least effective press releases I've ever seen.
I'm not sure I think any of their 10 points are credible...in any way. And by attacking wildly, they only strengthen Obama.
Just a crazy thought here, but how about attacking Obama for the fact that he's an uber-leftist cloaking himself with nice words instead of baseless allegations? I know, it's nuts to think that politics should be about issues and all. [/end last sentence sarcasm]
Posted by Evan @ 04/09/07 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
07 April 2007
It's 42 degrees
This must be a record low for Houston. Unbelievable.
Did Al Gore visit recently or something?
Posted by Evan @ 04/07/07 03:35 PM | Comments (3)
02 April 2007
Less time than it takes for a child to be born
Rodriguez, who defeated incumbent Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, in a special election last December, already has raised nearly $250,000 for his 2008 campaign.Lyle Larson, a Bexar County commissioner, is eyeing a race for the Republican nomination to challenge Rodriguez.
Larson has said he will make a decision by next fall.
Retired business executive James McGrody, announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination just days after Rodriguez defeated Bonilla, who has since been tapped by President Bush to serve as ambassador to the Organization of American States.
Also considering a GOP campaign for the congressional seat is Francisco "Quico" Canseco, a San Antonio lawyer, who made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2002 in the neighboring 28th district.
That filing deadline is only nine months away.
Posted by Evan @ 04/02/07 09:46 PM | Comments (1)
Dowd: I don't really want to run for office
Remember those rumors that '04 Bush strategistMatt Dowd was going to come back to Texas and run for office? Comptroller perhaps. He even mentioned the idea publicly.
I think we can put that idea to rest. After reading his non-defense of President Bush in last month's Texas Monthly, it was pretty obvious that Dowd wasn't going to run for office. This NYTimes piece pretty much seals it.
Of course, maybe the fact that he's not so deadset on running means that we should want him to run.
Posted by Evan @ 04/02/07 11:20 AM | Comments (1)