Recently in Houston Category

Here is a posting offered up two nights ago by Harris County, Texas Judge Executive Ed Emmett on his campaign related Facebook page----"Early voting starts in just 9 weeks. Bev Kaufman, our County Clerk, and her staff are doing a great job responding to the disaster of losing our voting machines in a fire. Too bad some folks are trying to play politics with the situation." (I added the link for this blog post.)Here is the reply...

Rival press conferences were held last Friday in Downtown Houston as details continue to emerge about what appears to be a campaign of suppression and intimidation against poor and minority voters by conservatives in Houston and Harris County, Texas.One press conference was held by the non-partisan voter registration group Houston Votes, while the other was conducted by a right-wing group called the Liberty Institute and a local tea party outfit. I attended both events.(Above--Houston Votes...

As I wrote yesterday, Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez is harassing the Houston Votes voter registration drive so that many among the poor, the young, and in our Hispanic community may be denied the right to vote.Mr. Vasquez is working in tandem with local Tea Party groups. This despite the fact that Mr. Vasquez was defeated in the Republican primary earlier this year. At the time of his defeat, Mr. Vasquez said he felt that one...

Outgoing Harris County Republican Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez is harassing the Houston Votes voter registration drive. Mr. Vasquez is responsible for voter registration in Harris County.Houston votes is seeking to register thousands of new voters in Harris County for the 2010 election. The goal is to encourage voting by the poor, by Hispanics, and by the young in Harris County.This is work that should have been done years ago by the Harris County Democratic Party...

At this point in our weekend forecast, even the waterfowl have to be saying ENOUGH with all the rain we've had for the past several days, and it's supposed to continue!If you were lucky enough to be able to leave work early yesterday for the start of the holiday weekend, you probably experienced the flash flooding and poor visibility in various parts of the city. You may have driven by the bayous and seen for...

Today, Houston stalwart, oil man, and all-around good guy, Bob Mosbacher, died at MD Anderson after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer.  He had sworn to fight the disease to the last and he certainly did that with grace, dignity, and the style for which he had always been known.  I knew Bob socially and through our businesses, and I respected him  greatly.  He was a real renaissance man, loving sailing, politics, and, of course,...

Okay, it's a pathetic attempt to garner some attention via Bobby Flay's popular show, but the challenge is real nonetheless.When you watch the video below, bear in mind that this is a 16-y-o boy who is willing to give up a big chunk of time on a Saturday and who gets nothing in return except quality time with his mom ;-), the undying gratitude of a committed but overburdened staff at the Arthritis Foundation, and...

December 20, 2009   Representative John Culberson, 7th District514 Longworth Building Washington DC 20515-4307   10000 Memorial Drive, Suite 620 Houston, TX  77024-3490   Dear Representative Culberson:   Thank you for your response to my letter expressing my opinion on health care reform with another of your empty, partisan, form letters written by someone on your staff. I truly appreciate the time it took one of your minions to add me to the distribution...

Not being a resident of the city of Houston, but having been born there and having lived there until 4 years ago, I was an interested observer of yesterday's run-off election for mayor. Reading 2 accounts of the results, one in the New York Times and one in the Houston Chronicle, the opening paragraph in the Chronicle puts the election in much better context, in my opinion. The NYT:"Houston became the largest city in the...

***Updated December 7, 2009   Please note this blog describes events and behaviors that could be disturbing to some.  The headline is the truth.  Today, Senator Al Franken took to the Senate floor to introduce an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill preventing funding companies that do not offer their employees recourse against companies for condoning, hiding, and threatening rape victims.  You probably remember the story of Jamie Leigh Jones, the 19 year old...