A Word About Public Servants

Unfair Park's Jim Schutze, scourge of Dallas city government, made a confession last week:

like most reporters who cover local government over time, I have developed a totally grudging, unwilling, unexpected and, frankly, awkward admiration for people drawn to public service.

I sure as hell ain't gonna do it. And couldn't. Wouldn't be any good at it. Few of us would. But some people just are, and our system of government and civic politics is very good at recruiting those few among us who do have the gift.

The thing you do not get from media coverage -- sure as hell not from me very often -- is how good the good ones are and how rare is the gift.

Source: Unfair Park.

After the jump, my own confession.

Lake Highlands 34, Plano West 19

From 2012 09 07 Plano West vs LHHS

The Lake Highlands Wildcats defeated the Plano West Wolves 34-19 Friday night in non-district action at Wildcat-Ram Stadium. Both schools are now 1-1 on the season.

More photos after the jump.

The H-Bomb of this Election

From former President Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention:

But it gets worse. They also want to block grant Medicaid and cut it by a third over the coming decade. Of course, that will hurt poor kids, but that's not all. Almost two-thirds of Medicaid is spent on nursing home care for seniors and on people with disabilities, including kids from middle class families, with special needs like, Down syndrome or autism. I don't know how those families are going to deal with it. We can't let it happen.

Source: President Bill Clinton.

David Frum, former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, says, "The nursing home argument is the H-bomb of this election."

After the jump, how H-bombs are not precision weapons.

Of Buffaloes and Polar Bears

I'm reading a biography of Teddy Roosevelt. I'll have more to say about that when I write my review (maybe like how it's completely understandable that a political party might deny evolution when it's own history descends from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to George W. Bush). For now, I want to talk about one item of Teddy Roosevelt's biography - his reputation as a big game hunter. One offhand comment by Roosevelt in earning that reputation caused me to question one of my fundamental beliefs about society: "Roosevelt wistfully remarked that he would like to shoot a buffalo 'while there were still buffalo left to shoot.'"

After the jump, why I was so discouraged about this sentence ... and what it has to to with polar bears.

Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Amazon

From The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce

Harold felt winded. If he moved so much as a limb, a muscle, he was afraid it would trigger an abundance of feeling he was doing his best to contain. Why had he left twenty years pass without trying to find Queenie Hennessy?"

After the jump, my review.

OTBR: A Wheat Field in the UK

Latitude: N 52° 18.702
Longitude: E 000° 19.710
A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

Repeat Tweets: Lyin' Ryan

Repeat tweets from August, 2012:

• 2012 08 06 - I wish Richardson would spend a tenth of the effort keeping residents informed about redevelopment plans as it does about mosquito spraying.
  
• 2012 08 06 - The Second Amendment was our Founding Fathers' biggest Fail, except for that whole thing about Slavery. #no-one-is-perfect
  
• 2012 08 08 - Life of Super-Earths, by Dimitry Sasselov: Surprising pairing of alien worlds and the origin of life. Easy read on the latest science. C+
  
• 2012 08 09 - "Nancy Brinker’s Komen shakeup too little and way too late" http://t.co/z0UcBcX7
  
• 2012 08 09 - Headline: "July Set Mark as U.S.’s Hottest Month" Weather isn't climate blah, blah, blah. OK, expect lots more weather like this. http://t.co/kI3nmPGv
  
• 2012 08 09 - Breaking: Greenhouse gases lead to global warming leads to extreme weather. ... Breaking news from 1997, that is.
  
• 2012 08 11 - Romney/Rand 2012: Bold VP pick by Romney -- a woman and an atheist for VP. But how is that possible? Isn't Ayn Rand dead? ... oh, nevermind.
  
• 2012 08 11 - McCain/Palin 2008. Romney/Ryan 2012. Why does the GOP keep putting their preferred candidate in the second slot of the ticket?
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.