Early Weekend Amusement
Work, more work, and still more work. And if that weren’t enough, there’s an additional, never-ending supply of even more work that I need to muddle my way through these days. In what little amount of time passes for “marginally free” these days, I am doing a bit of dabbling on ye olde almanac to get some of the demographics and election data loaded for the C185 plan that represents the state’s Congressional map. Slow going, but I know dang well what’s up ahead – totally new maps that will bury me in spreadsheets and Google Earth files.
Anyways, some daily amusement for my own sake … a reminder that I still need to dust off the guitar to play this good over the weekend:
The clip is of Paul Gilbert (he of Mr. Big fame and Racer X shred cred). My feeble effort from March of last year to replicate a portion of this as best as I could:
String skipping was one of those things I didn’t concern myself with back in the day. I didn’t quite grasp the musicality of some of the licks that were out there to start practicing on, so I didn’t bother. Now that I’m older, I get it in the musical sense … I just don’t have the chops to play it well. What you hear on my meager adaptation is one of the three positions that Gilbert plays it in and in a different timing.
Change I Can’t Believe In
» Chron: Astros name change? (Forget) that (Jerome Solomon)
Bad idea. Just all-out bad.
But changing the Astros name to anything would tick off true Astros fans to the highest of tickstivity. (Please note I cleaned that up for the family newspaper, though the mere mention of a possible name change compels one to use profane language.)
Stop while you are behind, Mr. Crane. Don’t change the name on the front of the jerseys; change the names on the back of the jerseys.
Dig deep into your pockets and field a team of players worthy of wearing “Astros” on their chests. Heck, while you’re at it — and I understand this might be asking a bit much — find some players for whom the stars on their jerseys might actually describe their status in baseball.
I’m not saying you can’t use cheap tricks to make fans want to want you — and you don’t have to be a band from Rockford, Ill., to know a name change is a cheap trick — but the name Astros is at the heart and soul of this franchise.
I grew up being indoctrinated in Houston and Texas history due to a temporary family move out of state in the 70s. I once successfully got out of doing chores while we lived in Euless because Nolan Ryan was pitching a no-hitter for the Astros and I had to stop everything and watch. I still remember where I was when I learned of J.R. Richard collapsing on the mound and when Jose Cruz cried over a playoff loss to the Phillies, I cried with him.
Changing the name of the Astros would be the quickest way to make me a season-ticket holder for the Skeeters. It’s truly the worst idea since John McMullen let Nolan Ryan go his merry way.
SOMEWHAT REMOTELY RELATED: Sunday games for the Coogs commence 2/19. Some schools may be changing away from the Cougar nickname, but not the University of Houston.
Oklahoma Invades Euless
» FW Star-Telegram: Trinity to play Oklahoma football powerhouses
Already planning a trip to Euless in September …
Officials with the Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Carroll school districts said Friday they have joined forces to schedule some of the Lone Star state’s best football programs against Oklahoma’s elite for eight games over the next two seasons.
The yet-to-be-named slate of games consists of Southlake Carroll, Euless Trinity, Hurst L.D. Bell, DeSoto, Tulsa (Okla.) Union, Jenks (Okla.), Midland and Midland Lee.
….
On Sept. 8 at Pennington, DeSoto takes on Jenks, a 12-time Oklahoma 6A state champion, and Trinity will host four-time defending 6A champ Tulsa Union. Trinity and DeSoto switch Oklahoma opponents in 2013 and play at Dragon Stadium.
Back-to-back games with two of the best programs out of Oklahoma. A chance to watch a frequently great DeSoto program. And, the penultimate excuse … another opportunity to see the Trojans in a big game. Oh, and I’ve never actually been to a game at Pennington. Back in my day, Pennington was a much smaller facility between an apartment complex and Central Jr. High. Now it a 1987-era palace a few miles down the highway.
Interesting that these games aren’t part of the Herbstreit Classic at Cowboy Stadium. That’s usually a series that locks in a handful of the best DFW teams and with Trinity, DeSoto, and Carroll otherwise committed, what’s left to draw the crowds at Cowboy Stadium?
Our iPhone Economy Problem
» NY Times: How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
» NY Times: Why Students Leave the Engineering Track
» MassINC: Debt crunch
There’s something in reading these three articles together that compels me to re-read Michael Porter’s “The Competitive Advantage of Nations“. And once I decide between either plunking down the $33 cost of the Kindle version or lugging the 896 page staple of the personal library around with me on commutes, maybe I will.
A taste from the first link …
Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.
A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.
“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”
Similar stories could be told about almost any electronics company — and outsourcing has also become common in hundreds of industries, including accounting, legal services, banking, auto manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
But while Apple is far from alone, it offers a window into why the success of some prominent companies has not translated into large numbers of domestic jobs. What’s more, the company’s decisions pose broader questions about what corporate America owes Americans as the global and national economies are increasingly intertwined.
The thing about reading this that typically reminds me of Porter is that any quick fixes for problems such as this really seem to be non-existant. Think about it – if you wanted to plop a tech manufacturing conglomerate in the Mississippi Delta, what do you think the odds of success would be? Probably not good. The schools (private and public) aren’t turning out top-tier technical talent; colleges aren’t geared toward supporting the industry; and there’s no ready pool of talent to start hiring from. In short: place matters.
I’m by no means fatalistic on industrial comparisons to China. At some point, the urbanization process there slows down and corporate acquiescence to the relatively militaristic working conditions balance out. But for the problems that remain on our side, namely a fast-rising cost of higher education and challenges in turning wannabe engineers into degreed engineers … well, those are problems that would hopefully get addressed sooner rather than later. Because any cries for jobs of this nature aren’t going to magically convert the average 30-something workers into light-duty engineer workers.
Lastly, I’ll note particularly interesting anecdote from the first article again.
A few years after Mr. Saragoza started his job, his bosses explained how the California plant stacked up against overseas factories: the cost, excluding the materials, of building a $1,500 computer in Elk Grove was $22 a machine. In Singapore, it was $6. In Taiwan, $4.85. Wages weren’t the major reason for the disparities. Rather it was costs like inventory and how long it took workers to finish a task.
“We were told we would have to do 12-hour days, and come in on Saturdays,” Mr. Saragoza said. “I had a family. I wanted to see my kids play soccer.”
Bottom line: $22 vs $5-6 to build a $1,500 computer isn’t that big of a deal. Whether there’s room to fix the other side of the issue is a bigger question.
Anyways, read the source material if you want to follow the mental exercise. And if you want to get really deep into it, pick up any book by Michael Porter.
Friendlier Environs (ctd)
If Evan’s laughing off the criticism of the Texas media’s ineptness in covering Perry, he’s not seeing the obviousness of the problem. Here’s this afternoon’s hard-hitting front pager on a candidate who crashed and burned after a rocket ride to front-runner status in the GOP Primary …
Perry v Perez
» SCOTUS: Perry v Perez
» Michael Li: SCOTUS rules; sends case back to San Antonio court for further proceedings
» SCOTUSBlog: Court rejects Texas maps, delays W.Va. map
The San Antonio map goes into the trash bin. But the Supreme Court turns it back to them to redraw. From my decidedly non-lawyer perspective, the biggest things I see are that the San Antonio judges now have to take into account more of the legislative intent on the map that they draw. As much as I’ll delve into the law, it appears as if SCOTUS opted to treat their Upham ruling more in line with the way the state wanted it to be viewed than the plaintiffs. That issue turns on the treatment of considering non-precleared maps in the process of drawing interim plans. That results from the Dept. of Justice telling anyone and everyone in pre-clearance limbo that interim maps could not consider non-precleared maps as they drew interim maps. It was a nearly impossible standard as communities of interest typically have some similar shapes and contours that define a fair amount of any plan. All things considered, I’m not convinced that’s a whole lot of bad. At least not yet.
The timing of knowing what the interim districts is, of course, totally screwy right now. My hunch is that we could see something late next week. But if, as Michael Li points out, the DC preclearance trial wraps up on Feb. 3, I can see the San Antonio judges being a bit more cautious this time around and waiting until the DC folks are done. I think they have enough direction (or at least, CYA) from the Supreme Court to deal with the Section 5 side of things. But since the different trials was an issue before, I wouldn’t be surprised if San Antonio takes at least two more weeks to sort things out.
As far as districts, I’m not overly concerned on that for races where our shop is working or contests where I’m rooting for candidates. The San Antonio districts (20, 23, and 34) might get unsettled, but I think the only real question is whether they try to re-attach a Doggett/East Austin wing to CD34. CD33 in Tarrant, I’m wondering if that one goes away. That district alone would be a good excuse for the San Antonio court to wait on DC for. We’re working with Team Lampson here at the day job and I’m not sure that I expect to see any change that impacts us – the state’s plan and the court’s plan had negligible difference between the two.
House races may just be a bit more dicey. Even though it sounds like southwest Houston has better-than-decent odds of having a HD137 and HD149 as it does today, the fact that it’s smaller real estate can mean that folks can find themselves out of a district even if the nature of a district they were filed for is still good for them to run in. I’d hate to think that a few move-in candidates in HD137 will have to break a lease next month. It’s a competitive district as drawn by the court and it was a point of contention for the court to address. So even minor tweaks can change the performance in that district greatly. HD144, I’m a little more comfortable thinking that one remains a Hispanic opportunity district. Whether we see 24 or 25 seats in Harris County could be an issue since the lege’s intent was for it to be 24. That could be bad news for HD144′s Legler and the four-pack of GOP candidates running in what they hope to be an open HD136. Fort Bend’s HD26 is more of a concern to watch for if it moves closer to the Charlie Howard water faucet than a district that maintains the core of Fort Bend’s Asian community of interest.
Stay tuned. And stay on Michael Li’s blog if you’re following redistricting even halfway as closely as I am.
Perry Returns to Friendlier Environs
» Politico: Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman prove media wrong
I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now. Perry’s fantasy of becoming the next President is over. One minor point to highlight in all of this now that he’s back in Texas is whether the state media will have learned anything from all of this. By Politico’s account, it might not …
In the end, Perry was undone not by any dirt that anyone had on him — the charges of crony capitalism, the unfortunately named hunting camp — but by his own unforced errors.
National reporters occasionally beat up on the Texas press for not getting the story of Perry’s weaknesses out there better.
Evan Smith, editor of the Texas Tribune, took note and laughed off the criticism.
“Interestingly, the press that irritated me most was the people on the left who used the Perry campaign as an opportunity to flog the Texas press corps as a whole for somehow not doing its job,” he said. “It’s as if we’ve all been asleep for 10 years and it took The Huffington Post to do our jobs. We watched with a mixture of amusement and irritation.”
Perry wasn’t the only one for whom those errors proved disastrous.
Ratcliffe was still finishing the details in his book contract for a book on Perry when he heard Perry’s fateful comment calling people who didn’t support granting in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants “heartless.”
“I shrieked,” Ratcliffe said. “My wife asked what he said, and I said, ‘It doesn’t really matter what he said. I think he just killed my book deal.’ I knew instantaneously how bad that was going to be in the Republican primary vote. It wasn’t just that he had a position they didn’t like. It was that he has insulted his own voters.”
Am I the only one who notices that Ratfliffe just proved the very point Evan was trying to dismiss? If news writers in the state had concerned themselves with covering a broke farmer from Haskell became a millionaire while being in public office for the past quarter century, maybe the criticism wouldn’t be valid. But the ring-kissing we’ve been treated to over that span of time are a far cry from what should be expected.
As a case in point for how the state’s media (or, if you prefer the Newtonian version: “elite” media), here’s the latest sloppy wet kiss to laugh off. Taken on back-to-back days, at that.
The very next day …
Must See Premium Cable
Via the inbox …
Governor Roemer will be a guest this Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher. Since it’s on HBO, anything can happen so expect Buddy to call out the other candidates by name and expose their ties to the special interests.
I have only two words for this: Awe. Some.
There’s absolutely zero chance in the world that I’ll be in a position to cast a vote for Buddy. But he’s definitely been an interesting candidate for President this go-round.
Almost Famous
Apparently, I’m now vaguely alluded to in testimony for a federal trial. That’s certainly better than being named outright. This is taken from my State Representative, Scott Hochberg, testifying about the redistricting process in Austin this year (from DOJ’s pre-filed testimony here) …
Q: Did waiver of the five-day posting rule affect you in any way?
A: Things moved quickly, as I’ve said. I hadn’t even picked up the fact that they split down the middle a minority apartment complex until we were on the floor and one of my constituents made me aware of it. A single apartment complex. I had no time to do a detailed analysis while the issue was still pending before us.
The split in question is seen here.
There’s more good testimony reading in all of the links provided by Michael Li. I definitely recommend a full reading of Hochberg’s testimony if you’re pressed for time and/or interest level in the arcana of redistricting law.
Along those lines … no word from the Supreme Court so far. Not sure if that’s good or bad in terms of possible outcomes. But it’s definitely irritating for those of us trying to get campaigns underway.
Another Type of Almanac Update
» FW Star-Telegram: Texas Almanac offers a challenge for state history buffs
Bob Ray Sanders does a public service by reminding us that the 2012-13 version of the Texas Almanac is out …
The latest volume includes an excellent article on the Civil War — in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the start of the War Between the States — as well as a history of the Almanac and the music icon Willie Nelson.
It also includes 2010 Census population data, county-by-county primary results, a history of professional football in Texas, and historical high school football and basketball records.
For under $20, it can’t be beat. I’ve been a fan of the books since the 80s and I keep a copy of the 2010-11 version handy, as well as an old copy (1996 to be precise) of the Barone/Ujifusa Almanac of American Politics when I try to sort out some stylistic and organization aspects of my own spin on the subject.
Let the Campaign Filings Begin (Ctd)
Some updates on yesterday’s post …
HD136 … I stand corrected on Mano DeAyala. He’s showing over $144k raised and $106k on hand. That leads the pack in a pretty strong field of candidates that at least a few people have cast a ballot for in elections past. I’d still rank him as an underdog, but he’s a very well-financed one.
HD137 … Joe Madden gets his report in and shows just over $10k on hand.
HD144 … Ken Legler gets his report in: $34k on hand.
A few more Harris County filing totals to highlight:
HD131
RAISED SPENT ON HAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Alma Allen $5,565.00 $14,542.75 $18,764.13 Wanda Adams $0.00 $4,697.82 $59,572.22
HD146
RAISED SPENT ON HAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Borris Miles $15,900 $2750.00 $6,800.08 Al Edwards $0.00 $0.00 $1,199.64
Adams’ money lead over Allen is pretty impressive. I’d probably have to peg Allen as a better campaigner in that one. We’ll see what the voters think, though. My hunch is that it gets more even in terms of resources. They should be at parity on dollars spent when it’s all said and done. The dollar figures on Miles and Edwards is a bit misleading. Miles will have whatever resources he feels he needs – he can either raise it or write the check. The question for Edwards is whether he’ll have the people driving his campaign that do all the work for him like Sylvester Turner has done in years past. If other people think Edwards is pushing it this time around, this could be the election where he becomes an afterthought. All that said, either new configuration for HD146 could show some interesting new twists.
District Attorney
RAISED SPENT ON HAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Mike Anderson $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Pat Lykos $194,598.71 $40,927.94 $320,551.54
I’m not sure what Anderson can bring to the table in terms of resources, but given the high profile of his challenge, I’m just assuming he hasn’t gotten around to holding a fundraiser yet.
Tax Assessor
RAISED SPENT ON HAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Mike Sullivan $8,200.00 $14,629.25 $53.641.89 Don Summers $0.00 $2,788.56 $3,921.11
Interesting. Just interesting.
Harris County Sheriff
RAISED SPENT ON HAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Garcia $187,726.78 $37,531.56 $302,290.00 Carl Pittman $13,039.00 $25,178.31 $28,907.02 Paul Day $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Harold Heuszel $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Louis Guthrie $96,690.00 $35,590.87 $21,641.03 Ruben Monzon $33,250.23 $18,336.49 $14,913.74
All listed here but Garcia are running in the GOP primary. I have no idea what to expect from that electorate among the crew listed on their ballot. But it’s nice to see Garcia start off with a healthy advantage.
Constable – Pct 1
RAISED SPENT ON HAND ---------------------------------------------------------- Alan Rosen $43,500.00 $5,923.87 $37,313.67 Quincy Whitaker $5,475.00 $18,260.84 $0.00 Grady Castleberry $3,741.06 $9,908.66 $4,568.00 Cindy Vara-Leija $22,765.71 $3,256.01 $15,508.37
This could become more interesting if the “caretaker” appointed to Pct. 1 decides he’s got the itch to run for election. But this is going to be an eventful field to watch since the district – and the primary electorate in particular – is a bit of a catch-all with no clear distinct tilt favoring any particular candidate. The precinct includes Acres Homes, part of Fifth Ward, Northside, and much of the Anglo Dem belt inside the loop. And you’ve got a field of candidates that appeal to every corner of that precinct.
There are a few contests that I drew the line at researching just for the interests of time and personal interest. If you’re truly interested in putting together a more thorough list or adding to this one, feel free. I need to think through some placement on the Almanac for the county races as soon as time permits. Here’s hoping that it permits sometime this year.
Let the Campaign Filings Begin
Its that time again … campaign season. The first filing period of the year has now passed and the fundraising email are already flooding the inboxes. Here’s a gaggle of Houston-area contests that may or may not happen, but have some really real money to report …
HD136 … Mike Schofield (R) and Ann Witt (R) are the only two showing money so far, but I’m sure Pam Holm (R) can put together quickly in order to be competitive. Schofield has won the Bob & Doylene Primary, picking up $10,000 from the couple. If Ann Witt hasn’t set the record for State Rep spending in this cycle, I’ll be stunned: $85k spent, roughly $30k of it on consultants and staff. Witt has a record of starting early – she had yard signs placed at polling places for the 2003 City election for her 2004 primary in HD137. But still. That’s a lot of money to drop when few people are paying attention to a race that may or may not ever happen. Mano DeAyala (R) hasn’t filed anything, but I don’t think anyone’s expecting much out of that campaign.
HD137 … Gene Wu (D) leads the pack with over $70k on hand. Jamaal Smith (D) and Sarah Winkler (D) have $2,500 and $1,378 respectively. No report spotted yet for Joe Madden (D) or M.J. Khan (R). So far, the bulk of the spending in this contest is for filing fees. Probably a smart move considering that the race may or may not ever happen. For whatever its worth in the world, outgoing State Rep. Scott Hochberg filed a report with $24k on hand. On a minor note of full disclosure: our shop is working with Gene Wu.
HD144 … Only Mary Ann Perez (D) has a report filed with dollar amounts. Kevin Risner (D) has a report filed, but it’s all zeros. And handwritten. That’s some old-school politicking. Nothing yet from Ornaldo Ybarra (D). Our shop doesn’t have a dog in this race, but I’m curious to see how well Ybarra does. His 2009 win for a Pasadena City Council district over an Anglo incumbent was a great signal on the demographic change underway in that part of the county. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him to do well in this race. Incumbent Ken Legler (R) doesn’t have a report filed yet, but had over $65k on hand as of June 30, 2011. Even if the San Antonio version of the State Rep map is the one we run on, that version of the district is close enough to competitive where Legler might be able to make it competitive. It might be less so in a Presidential year, but a close contest followed by a rematch in 2014 could be something to watch if the San Antonio version is the one in play.
HD26 … Only Vy Nguyen (D) has a report with money in it: just over $2k. Sonal Bhuchar (R) has filed a report, but with no money. From what I’m told, she should have plenty when it’s all said and done. No reports by Rick Miller (R) or Jacquie Chaumette (R). No disclosure on this one, but I’ve met Vy and there’s plenty good reason to be excited for her candidacy, particularly if the San Antonio version of the district is the one she’s running in. One particular note on Vy’s report is a $200 donation from Houston City Council Member Al Hoang.
The filings for Harris County offices are also underway. Those should be posted later today. Hopefully, we’ll see some interesting things in contested primaries in the District Attorney race as well as the Precinct 1 Constable race.
The (New) Sincerest Form of Flattery
For some reason, I found myself switching over to Channel 13 news upon finding out that Conan’s guest list was pretty lame. For some other reason, I found myself wondering why the map on Wayne Dolcefino’s “investigation” on Jack Abercia looked so familiar.
… and then see where it came from.
I’d scream “SOPA” and black out my site for 24 hours, but my version was taken from Dave’s Redistricting App – where people who do their own work roll their own maps.
Still. Absolutely no credit, guys?
——–
ADD-ON: Possible alternate blog title: “Grand Theft Cartography“.
MLK Day 2012
Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is always a great centering sort of read on this day. I usually rotate through this and a small number of other speeches each year as my means of celebrating before I bury the nose in the laptop and get to work. What I hope never ceases to amaze me is how each year, there’s a different section of each speech/letter/writing/etc… that speaks to me. This year’s point of emphasis, for instance:
There was a time when the Church was very powerful. It was during that period when the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But they went on with the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven” and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.
Things are different now. The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the Church as never before. If the Church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early Church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. I am meeting young people every day whose disappointment with the Church has risen to outright disgust.
Maybe again I have been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Maybe I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual Church, the church within the Church, as the true ecclesia and the hope of the world. But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone through the highways of the South on torturous rides for freedom. Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been kicked out of their churches and lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have gone with the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. These men have been the leaven in the lump of the race. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the Gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.
I hope the Church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. But even if the Church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America. Before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. For more than two centuries our foreparents labored in this country without wages; they made cotton “king”; and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of brutal injustice and shameful humiliation — and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.
It’s an interesting (and challenging) snippet to process alongside either Greg Boyd’s “Myth of a Christian Nation” (a book that I greatly appreciate) or any of the more Christianist tomes (… which I appreciate far less) that offer a pure counterweight to Boyd and his predecessors.
For now, food for thought. There’s also a nice datapoint in the Smithsonian mag on Roger Williams – the Massachusetts/Rhode Island “heretic”, not the car dealer hoping for a congressional district to run in.
All Good Things Must Come To An End
» Chron: Texans’ first playoff run ends with turnover-filled loss to Ravens
» Politico: Jon Huntsman to drop out, back Mitt Romney in 2012 elections
The first was obviously tougher to endure. As good fortune would have it, we piped the game into church on Sunday via DVR … slightly delayed for the opening to accommodate the ending of an 11am service, and resumed after a 1pm service. Once committed to the start of the game, there was really no leaving unless you wanted to walk out into the world where the final score was known about an hour ahead of what we knew it to be. I think it was the only church service we’ve had where threats were made against people checking the score on their phones.
Hard-Hitting Stuff …
» Chron: A year after election, Precinct 2′s Morman has ‘sea legs’
Andi Morman, the commissioner’s wife and a high school economics teacher, said her husband vents less about work these days. He’s able to solve problems in a way he couldn’t in the courtroom. “If it’s a Precinct 2 issue and it’s something that needs to be fixed, I can go out and fix or make sure it gets fixed,” he said. “That’s refreshing.”
The biggest family change in the last year, Andi Morman said, has been their schedule, though she has welcomed the chance to get more involved in community events. The Mormans’ kids, Jordan, 5, and Jack, 3, have welcomed that, too – they were thrilled to ride in parades, for instance. They are less excited by their father’s many evening and weekend phone calls.
Consider this to be either a datapoint against the “liberal media” mythology … or a suggestion that John Williams is secretly ghost-writing homilies on the elected class for other reporters at the Chronicle.
Life in the Post-Keenum World
It’s a big football weekend. Apparently, my church will be broadcasting the Texans game before and after our 1pm service. I’ve gotta be there to see that. Otherwise, Tebow-mania resumes tonight. In the interim, there’s this interesting profile of the guy who has the inside track on being the starting QB for the Houston Cougars next season …
» Chron: Heir apparent: Catching up with David Piland
In the comments, there’s discussion over whether Lamar HS QB Bram Kohlhausen might compete for the starting gig. Frankly, I’m not sure how much of that is a bit of Houston-centric homerism. I certainly do hope that he’s a strong enough competitor for the starting job, but I haven’t given up on hopes that Drew Hollingshead might have a little to show as well. Bottom line, though, is that if Piland isn’t the starter next season, then its news. The loss of senior receivers is more of a concern for the time being.
One point to tack on to all of this is the growing trend of high schools using multiple QB. What makes this particularly interesting is that this is exactly the format that Piland came out of in Southlake Carroll. So it’s not like it would be a new experience for him.
About That Immigration Slowdown …
» NY Times: The Next Immigration Challenge (Dowell Myers)
Another solid datapoint that highlights the slowdown in immigration:
The most startling evidence of the falloff is the effective disappearance of illegal border crossers from Mexico, with some experts estimating the net number of new Mexicans settling in the United States at zero. The size of the illegal-immigrant population peaked in 2007, with about 58 percent of it of Mexican origin, according to the Pew Hispanic Center; since 2008, that population has shrunk by roughly 200,000 a year. Illegal immigrants from Asia and other parts of the globe have similarly dwindled in numbers.
This new equilibrium is here to stay, in large part because Mexico’s birthrate is plunging. In 1970 a Mexican woman, on average, gave birth to 6.8 babies, and when they entered their 20s, millions journeyed north for work. Today the country’s birthrate — at 2.1 — is approaching that of the United States. That portends a shrinking pool of young adults to meet Mexico’s future labor needs, and less competition for jobs at home.
I’m still fairly skeptical of the impact that a declining birthrate will have. If anything, I’d bet on it being a negligible influence that can once more be overwhelmed if we see a good economy in America combined with a stagnant once in Mexico or elsewhere in Central America. Bottom line: the economy on both sides of the border are the biggest drivers of immigration.
The rest of the piece is worth a read in full. The results … those we’ll have to wait and see in the years ahead.
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