bachanon

difference noted. sorry.

we had one HGO performance this summer. we have REAL biker bars in magnolia. i know of one unitarian congregation (in grogan's mill i think). we still have a ways to go with the jazz scene (we did have a spring/summer jazz series at market street on thursday nights). the line up included several well known jazz artists who play in houston regularly. as far as i know there aren't any gay or drag bars here. OH, you mean biker/leather bars?

* bach blushes and kicks the floor* awe shucks

i'm disappointed to hear that will "changed" his views. i'm wondering if there weren't some transitional articles as things have unfolded. i doubt he did a 180 without some serious thought.

thanks for the compliment. i feel that george will is a great thinker (imo). it is difficult for him to consolidate his thoughts in a few paragraphs. i do chuckle at the thought of him being pompous and being chosen last in class (as was i), perhaps because i wish i was as smart as he is and hope i don't come across that way.

the "thing" is (imho) a world view contrary to one's own. the world view that produces george will's ideology is the thing, conservative thinking if you will. i agree with george will's perception of things. yet, i see his hand wringing no different than the people pointing fingers at the current administration and fema. solutions to follow on "the second page" would be refreshing indeed. your posts, redscare and (your second one) nmainguy provide a tone easier to discuss the subjects mr. will brings up (for me, anyway). "He offers no solutions-just statistics and frustration." is an objective statement. This makes me question my immediate agreement with his op-ed. "Mr. Will got off to a great start mentioning Sen. Landrieu's poor beach house, but forgot Mr. Bush's lament about ONE of Sen. Lott's houses. He pointed to Louisiana's $540 million in pork, but then left out Alaska's $240 million bridge to nowhere. He conveniently forgot to mention which party controls BOTH houses of Congress that passed the pork bill." provides additional information (again, for me personally) worth considering.

Sept. 12, 2005, 8:21PM $1 million grant boosts creek project Greenway takes shape along border of counties By BETH KUHLES Chronicle Correspondent The Spring Creek Greenway project, a linear regional park that will meander along the border between Harris and Montgomery counties, has received a $1 million boost from the state to help acquire up to 630 acres of land. The joint county project is expected to preserve up to 12,000 acres along Spring Creek from FM 2978 in Spring to U.S. 59 in Humble. link to full story

thanks for the bio, katydidit. i understand you better now. i too, at times, wish for restaurants without tons of families or a quiet hole in the wall where i can visit with a friend or read a book. none of that out here. i plan to check out the new wine bar "cru" at market street. i'm hoping for a more adult environment there.

name calling generally comes from those who are threatened by a thing rather than those who are objective readers. "....George F. Will's pompous-ass writing style..." "While Mr. Will feels as comfortable about drowning illegitimate babies as he would a litter of unwanted kittens...." "Will will always be a pompous whiner. He's the kid in school no one wanted on their team-too high maintenance for his worth." the relevence of pork barrel projects (republican or democrat) IS significant when discussing why new orleans and the state of louisiana have not lobbied for something so important (preserving new orleans) when they have lobbied for far less urgently needed items. the issue of poverty cannot be resolved by only reducing unwed mothers or boys with out positive male figures, but it does make a difference (imho). consequently, the system of welfare (wic, medicaid, ss, etc) makes funds available, more so, to single mothers rather than to whole families in need. i believe there is evidence to support this. to reduce george will to a sad sack school boy or simply a pompous ass is unfortunate and makes it difficult to objectively discuss issues from different political perspectives. sorry the article offended you so much.

A Poverty of Thought By George F. Will Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A27 It took exactly one month -- until the president's prime-time news conference of Oct. 11, 2001 -- to refute the notion that Sept. 11 "changed everything." When a reporter said, "You haven't called for any sacrifices from the American people," he replied, "Well, you know, I think the American people are sacrificing now. I think they're waiting in airport lines longer than they've ever had before." And that was before the sacrificing became really hellacious with the requirement that passengers remove their shoes at security checkpoints. The idea that Hurricane Katrina would change the only thing that matters -- thinking -- perished even more quickly, at about the time Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, a suitable symbol of congressional narcissism, dramatized the severity of the tragedy by taking a television interviewer on a helicopter flight over her destroyed beach house. "Washington rolled the dice and Louisiana lost," she said in a speech on the Senate floor that moved some senators to tears. You can no more embarrass a senator than you can a sofa, so the tears were not accompanied by blushing about having just passed a transportation bill whose 6,371 pork projects cost $24 billion, about 10 times more than the price of the levee New Orleans needed. Louisiana's congressional delegation larded the bill with $540,580,200 worth of earmarks, one-fifth the price of a capable levee. complete article

redscare said: the mark of a true giver.

that's a great quote.

check out the www.buffalobayou.org website. the plan is incremental. it is a master plan that may or may not be implemented. fortunately, there is work ongoing fronting downtown.

how can you be bored? do you run/walk/bike? the symphony has free lawn seats this friday, buy a bottle of wine and enjoy the breeze while the sun sets behind the trees. or how about a concert at north shore park, the fall series begins this weekend or next. have you tried the mojitos at tommy bahamas? yum. do you like kids? there are school plays and sports events almost every night of the week. it can be fun if you have the right attitude. there is a new yoga center open to the public in town center if you're into that. do you read the villager? the diversions section has all kinds of local community type events. once again, it requires a certain attitude. also, houstonian light should be opening this fall in the marriott. treat yourself to a spa day. if you have the means, do it every week. there are cooking classes, hell, there are hundreds of interesting non credit classes through north harris montgomery. do you go to church? churches like fellowship of the woodlands have very non sermon like "presentations". also, they are short and sweet. there are so many more things to do here i'd have to be unemployed to do everything i want to do. i truly wish you were enjoying the woodlands more katydidit.

Westchase District by Rives Taylor, AIA PROJECT Westchase District Long Range Plan CLIENT Westchase Municipal Management District ARCHITECT Powers Brown Architecture with SWA Group CONSULTANTS Robert Charles Lesser & Co. LLC (real estate); Spillette Consulting (urban development); Walter P. Moore (infractructure); Knudson & Associates (economic development) DESIGN TEAM Powers Brown Architecture: Jeffrey Brown, AIA; Baldemar Gonzalez; John Cadenhead; SWA: Scott Slaney; James Vick; Kinder Baumgardner At twice the size of downtown, the 4.2-square mile Westchase District is one of the aging "edge city fragments" from the 1970s and '80s that now compose the milieu of Houston's rapidly multiplying town center precincts. This area, fairly indistinguishable from the city's other car-centric suburbs, encompasses the typical mix of boulevard strip shopping centers, two-story apartment complexes, and mid-rise offices buildings (with more than 17.5 million square feet of commercial space). Local landowners ultimately decided to organize and consider how the west-side district's prospects could be made more attractive to re-investment. What was missing, they realized, was a distinctive identity for the district that would induce development over the next 20 years. link to full article

seeing people suffer, live on television, moves us greatly. knowing it's within our national borders makes us REALLY want to go take care of business. knowing that we have the resources to help and not seeing it happen immediately distresses us. it is unfortunate what occurred. i do not think anything good or bad of fema. i believe that what we are witnessing is our national conscience at work. blaming a bureaucracy for a tragedy that would've occurred regardless of it's presence is knee-jerk. examining our bureaucracy after rebuilding has resumed, people are fed and housed, etc. is our responsibility. if conservatives are attacking fema and the administration i feel that they too are jumping on the emotional bandwagon.

so distasteful, yet funny.

FEMA and the feds went through the exact same processes that are required of them for every disaster I can remember since I've been a newshound. It takes 3-5 days to get mobilized and see where the need is most dire. The first responders tell the feds where to go. The first responders were not there to do their jobs in many cases. The feds did not know where to begin. Getting into New Orleans is/was a logistical nighmare. There are tens of thousands of square miles to cover in the disaster area. Blaming FEMA and the feds at this point is a media contrived perception issue. To cast blame at this point on a federal entity is premature. Knowing of buses that were to be used to move people out of NO were parked in place, unused and blaming the NO authorities is another matter.

for instance, one firm will work on infrastructure, one on planning, one on interior, etc.

i really don't want to get in the middle of this one. however, it must be said that there are people who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances/in need and behave in a manner respectful of public property with consideration of others and there are those who do not. i believe saigon is the former and cannot understand why others are not the same. it is true that we must show compassion regardless of the behavior or lack of appreciation of those we show compassion to. the greeks called it agape love. we know it as unconditional love. lighten up on saigon. let me be more specific. i meant to "lighten up" on the issue saigon had with trash throwing evacuees. some of the other posts i've read from saigon are indeed inflammatory.

isn't it true that you can carry your home phone/land line number to a cell phone now? wouldn't it have been advantageous to everyone concerned if the phone companies had offered new cell phone service with the home phone numbers of displaced persons? maybe they are doing this already. it seems that it would've made it easier for families to contact each other and allowed one element of "sameness".

i wonder if kohl's entry into the texas market had any effect on mervyn's position in this region?

This happened because of a hurricane.

lisa ling did a segment for the oprah show today. she wondered that if it were white neighborhoods would the rescues have happened sooner. unbelievable. i can't believe that people actually think that that is an issue. over 50% of NO is african american and a large part of the population is below the poverty level. the circumstances are unfortunate. trying to place blame is counterproductive at this point.