Electing a Mayor

[Life] is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Source: William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

One election down. Next up: a mayoral election in May, 2013, because voters in Richardson chose overwhelmingly to amend the City Charter to have a direct election of the mayor. No surprise there. Now the handicapping of the May mayoral race begins. After the jump, my early, wild speculation, unsupported by any evidence, just because I'm addicted to the horses.

Did Sandy Tip Election to Obama?

Did Hurricane Sandy, the October surprise, tip the election to President Obama? Perhaps. The disaster did give the president the opportunity to display leadership, a trait that Mitt Romney claimed the president lacked. If Sandy gets the blame for Romney's loss, it is in part due to it exposing a dubious claim at the heart of the Romney campaign. Call it nature's way of fact-checking a politician.

In any case, Hurricane Sandy was just the last of a long string of reasons, most of them self-inflicted wounds, that contributed to Romney's loss. After the jump, the rundown.

OTBR: A Rainbow in Utah

Latitude: N 39° 20.946
Longitude: W 111° 55.656
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".

The Wheel's Voters Guide

Local: Vote for doing the right things. Vote against doing things the wrong way.

State: Vote for public schools, for health care, for water supplies, for women, for voting rights, for paying for government, for science and fact-based government.

Federal: Vote for jobs, for Medicare and Medicaid, for health care reform, for Social Security, for paying for government, for a carbon tax, for financial regulation, for civil rights, for the environment, for immigration reform, for Keynesian economics, for science and fact-based government.

Most importantly, vote, while they'll still let you. ;-)

Playoff Bound: Richardson 47, Berkner 35

From 2012 11 02 Richardson vs Berkner

In a game with playoff implications, the Richardson Eagles defeated the Berkner Rams 47-35 Friday night at Wildcat-Ram Stadium. With the win, Richardson secured the fourth and final playoff spot in District 9-5A, while the Rams will finish in fifth place.

The Mighty Ram Band put on their UIL competition show at halftime as a final warmup before heading to San Antonio for the state marching competition in the Alamodome on November 6. Good luck, band.

More photos after the jump.

S2L77: "Caught Smuggling"

Singapore is commonly described as a "fine city" -- you are fined for dozens of small offenses: jaywalking, chewing gum, carrying durian on public transport (that fine is well deserved), driving in forbidden zones without a permit.

Singapore is where I first encountered the idea of relieving traffic congestion by requiring drivers to purchase permits to drive in the central business district. What struck me in 1977 as novel and a little draconian, I now view as a sensible way to keep automobiles from clogging our cities. Maybe it's not surprising that it was the people of the "fine city" of Singapore who gave such a practical policy a chance to demonstrate its effectiveness.

From 1977 01 29 Singapore

"The Good-For-Nothing Rich Man's Son Caught Smuggling"

After the jump, a place that reveals the puritanism behind the "fine city."

Repeat Tweets: Election Edition

Repeat tweets from October, 2012:

• 1 Oct 2012: Libertarian candidate upset by treatment by WFAA. Complains to government for help. Can you say irony? http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/10/libertarian_senate_candidate_j_1.php
  
• 1 Oct 2012: Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell. Intrigue. Treachery. Smart dialog. Rich characters. A-
  
• 2 Oct 2012: Romney sounded like a moderate Dem. I wonder how his answers would have gone over at GOP primary debate.
  
• 3 Oct 2012: Romney's for good things in Obamacare, and good things in Wall St regulations, and against tax cuts. He's a closet Democrat!
  
• 3 Oct 2012: Romney promised tax rate cuts, no education cuts, bigger military, more Medicare spending, reduced deficits. But no plan how.
  
• 3 Oct 2012: My previous tweets focused on substance. But let's get real. Many people care only about style. Stylistically, Romney won.
  
• 3 Oct 2012: "I'm not going to say I've done a poor job." -- Jim Lehrer. Sadly, not the biggest lie told on that stage in debate full of them.
  
• 3 Oct 2012: "Richard Nixon is a no good, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time." -- Harry Truman. Listen up, Obama.
  

After the jump, more repeat tweets.