"These steps we've taken over the last two years may have broken the back of this recession, but to win the future, we'll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making."
-- President Barack Obama, January 25, 2011
What "breaking the back of this recession" looks like in graphic form:
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| Brick Row |
"I will admit: it is fun to watch a city council rake a developer over the coals"
-- RT @imccanntx on Twitter
The city council is Richardson's. The developer is David Gleeson, representative for Richardson's Brick Row development. The fun is, perhaps, a guilty pleasure that Richardson may pay for later.
The city council turned down a request by the developers to change the mix of residential units in Brick Row, eliminating condos that won't sell and increasing the number of apartments that have a better chance of attracting tenants. Ian McCann has the details in The Dallas Morning News Richardson blog.
After the jump, looking at this from different angles.
"The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday -- but never jam today."Just like the White Queen, politicians have a way of insisting on one set of behaviors yesterday, and maybe tomorrow, but not necessarily today. Washington politicians are particularly adept at this.
--The White Queen, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
For example, take the scripted GOP talking point all through 2009 and early 2010 that the Democrats were wrong to "waste time" on health care reform when the sick economy was what needed the country's full attention. So, what does the GOP do as their first priority when they take control of Congress? Well, waste time with a symbolic vote to repeal health care reform, of course. Jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but not today. That even they realized how hypocritical it was is evidenced by them putting "job-killing" into the title of the bill, "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act."
After the jump, changing the menu in Richardson depending on what day it is.
Does anyone have an extra ticket or two to give away? It doesn't hurt to ask, right?!? That's how I got to see the Ice Bowl game for the 1967 NFL championship.
That Super Bowl XLV is being played in Arlington is only one local connection to the game. Another one, even closer to home, my Richardson school district home, is that Lake Highlands High School grad and Green Bay Packers rookie Marshall Newhouse is headed to the Super Bowl. The Advocate has the story.
Judging by the graphic above from the Green Bay Press Gazette, the mood in Green Bay is ebullient. Meanwhile, the mood in Chicago is black. Here, for example, is ESPNChicago.com's Michael Wilbon:
"Perhaps never has there been more despair in Chicago over quarterback incompetence than in the wake of the loss to the Packers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. Forbidding the mention of the name Jay Cutler may be the best way to cope with winter. Only a Bears quarterback could stink out the joint and then get worse while sitting on the sideline."Ouch.
Jeffrey Weiss of The Dallas Morning News asked readers for their opinion of the newspaper's website redesign. That's easy. The old site was cluttered and navigation a nightmare. The new look is cleaner and more consistent throughout. That's good.
There are still some rough edges. Most annoying: headlines that serve as links to stories don't have dates associated with them. It's impossible to tell if a story is an hour old or several months old. For example, the fourth headline in "Top Stories" for Richardson Berkner sports is "Richardson Berkner 37, Samuell 6." It turns out that's a football score from last November. Hardly a "top story" anymore. A date would help readers know that.
After the jump, why website design is largely irrelevant anyway and the more important issue, the new pay wall at The Dallas Morning News.
In his farewell address to the nation on January 11, 1989, President Ronald Reagan turned one last time to an image he frequently referred to over his long career in public office:
"I've spoken of the 'shining city [upon a hill]' all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still."
I was reminded of President Reagan's farewell address when reading about the draconian state budget proposed by Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie), Chairman of the Texas House Appropriations Committee.
After the jump, how we've lost sight of Reagan's vision.
"We have billions in surplus."
-- Governor Rick Perry, February 8th, 2010 in a TV advertisement
"Public education in Texas faces massive cuts"
-- Headline, January 19, 2011, in The Austin American Statesman.
After the jump, wrapping my head around the contradiction.