Open Mike Night: Goals

The Visitors Section of the Richardson City Council meeting sometimes is the best part of the show. Sometimes that is because of the amusement it offers, but sometimes because of the thoughtful and thought-provoking ideas offered. Monday night's lineup included some of the latter.

Andrew Laska offered his suggestions for the Statement of Goals for the 2011-2013 council term. You know the routine for such documents -- Vision, Mission, Priorities, Goals and Action Items liberally sprinkled throughout with Snooze. Even the best of these efforts are often painful to read. Worse, Richardson's past efforts weren't among the best of these efforts.

After the jump, my own rant about Richardson's past efforts and Andrew Laska's recommendations.

The Queen of Rage

Newsweek is catching a lot of criticism for its cover photo of Michele Bachmann. Some think it's an unflattering angle (true enough). Some say it shows her with crazy eyes (maybe, but crazy is in the eye of the beholder, no?). The caption, "The Queen of Rage," has made some ... how should I put this, crazy with rage? And some predict that the Newsweek publicity will end up working to the advantage of both the magazine (buzz) and candidate (sympathy).

Bachmann herself seems unperturbed. "Aha. Well, we'll have to take a look at that, won't we?" she said when a follower told her about the cover. Her reaction was described as being thoughtful and serious and "hopeful," even.

Hope. I've heard that word before somewhere. Maureen Dowd says Bachmann is stealing Obama's mantra, quoting her as saying at one campaign stop in Iowa, "The power behind our campaign is hope and a future. That's all I believe in."

Fair enough. Keeping all this in mind, I know how Bachmann can exploit this advantage throughout the campaign. Think Newsweek meets "Obama 2008." After the jump, the "Bachmann 2012" campaign poster.

Wrestling Card From Ames, Iowa

Tonight's GOP Presidential forum was more fun than a professional wrestling match. The big winner? Probably President Barack Obama. The Republicans were too busy trying to take each other down to land many blows on the man in the White House.

After the jump, my quick takeaways on each candidate.

Cool Enough For You?

The streak of consecutive 100-degree days is over at 40, two days shy of the all-time record set in 1980. The Twitterverse is filled with Dallasites who are disappointed. It seems like I'm the only one who is happy. Today is more comfortable than any day since sometime in June. The threat of brownouts is lessened. We'll get to talk about something other than the weather again.

Was it just me or did anyone else find it unseemly to be cheering for the streak to continue? Was there also open cheering for the Mississippi River to rise just another few inches to top the sandbags? I wanted to say, "Hello?!? Do you know people are dying from heat stroke?"

All for an arbitrary record. If, like the whole rest of the world, we measured temperature on the Celsius scale instead of Fahrenheit, we'd have a whole different set of streaks to compare to. Does anyone even know what the longest streak of days over 40 degrees C is? Is anyone even aware that if we used the weather station at Love Field instead of DFW Airport for the "official" statistics, this streak would have been broken in mid-July? Who spent the last 40 days all at DFW Airport anyway?

On the other hand, the streak did give me one good memory. That was a tweet from a forgotten wag who said, "The last time the Heat was this bad in Dallas was during the NBA Finals." It warms my heart recalling that.

Credit Crisis Creeps Closer

Last week, I spoke too soon when I breathed a sigh of relief and said,

"Now that the federal government has raised the debt ceiling, the risk to Richardson is lessened. The city's Aaa credit rating appears to be safe, at least until the next crisis in Washington."

That didn't take long. Crises in Washington come fast nowadays. Moody's may have reaffirmed the US's Aaa credit rating, but Standard & Poor's went ahead and downgraded its rating of US debt from AAA to AA+.

There are legitimate reasons to question the competency of S&P, but that's not my topic today. I want to focus on the collateral damage being inflicted. After the jump, S&P's spreading damage and the risk to Richardson.

You Can Water on the Twelfth of Never

1916. That's even. That means I can water on even-numbered days, right? That's what the city's announcements said. But not more than once every three days. Huh? Is the combination of those two rules the same thing as once every four days? What's that, you say? Ignore all that? New rules? Now, because of my even address, I can water only on Tuesdays and Saturdays? That's straight from the city, you say? Who am I supposed to believe? The city or the city?

For the record, water conservation is important, despite the impression given by how the city may be bungling its rollout of Stage 2 water restrictions. The latest word on restrictions, which I believe the city will stick with, is that odd addresses can water on Wednesdays and Sundays. Even addresses can water on Tuesdays and Saturdays. No watering is allowed between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

If confusion still leads you to get one of those $150 citations, be sure to tell your lawyer about the city's mixed messages during the rollout of these new restrictions. It might help.

Two-a-Days: A Game Plan for Trouble

Let's take our eyes off the roller coaster stock ticker for a minute and talk about something else that can make your heart stop -- literally. Surely you know that Texas is in the midst of a killer heat wave. That's why I was left chilled when Lake Highlands Today (@LHToday) tweeted:

"With the start of two-a-days, the 2011 Wildcat football campaign is now officially underway. GO 'CATS! bit.ly/npcuVZ"

The excitement is misguided. Football two-a-day drills are a relic of an age when abusing your body was considered proof that you were tough enough for football. And what is more abusive than to overwork a body in extreme summer heat, then do it a second time the same day, before the body has time to recover?

After the jump, a new look at the unsafe practice of summer two-a-days.