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October 31, 2006

Sugar Land SWAT

After the questionable police conduct during the incident at Walter's, I noticed this ABC-13 news blurb from last week, but have seen no follow-up news report since the incident:

A Sugar Land woman says police went too far when they burst into her home and arrested her boyfriend and son on drug charges. The raid left her dog dead and caused thousands of dollars in damage.

"It was bang, bang, bang, then there was a boom as they broke the door in, threw the fire grenade, and then shot the dog," said homeowner Margot Allen. "This all happened in anywhere from five to fifteen seconds."

That's how Allen's son and boyfriend describe what happened that day. Sugar Land police acted on a tip. They say they found traces of marijuana and cocaine in her trash after a month-long investigation.

"There's no crack done in my house," she said. "There's occasional marijuana in my house. I don't do it because I don't happen to like it."

Based on the evidence in the trash, a regional SWAT team arrived at the home. Police say they knocked, waited 30 seconds, and then broke in with guns and a concussion grenade. The house suffered $5,000 damage and one officer shot and killed Margot's golden lab, Shadow, when police say it charged toward one of the officers. What did officers find inside?

"A joint half the size of my pinky fingernail and then one about this big," she said, showing a length on her finger. "And not anywhere near this big around."

Let's see here. A SWAT team is deployed to a citizen's house because "traces of marijuana and cocaine" were found in the trash after a month-long investigation? Then, the citizen's house is heavily damaged and the citizen's dog is killed in the process of arresting a couple of fellows who enjoy smoking a joint in their home? Although a couple of potheads do not generally evoke a great deal of sympathy, is this what the citizens of Sugar Land truly want from a new police growth industry?

Posted by Tom at 4:58 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Big Tuna's World

In this NY Sunday Times article, Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame profiles Dallas Cowboy Head Coach Misérables, Bill Parcells:

Right now he is living alone in what amounts to a hotel room in Irving, Tex., whose sole virtue is that it is a 10-minute drive to both the Cowboys’ practice facility and Texas Stadium. It’s just him and whatever it is that keeps him in the game. For the longest time he pretended that he didn’t need it. He walked out of two jobs without having another in hand, and he has played hard-to-get with N.F.L. owners more times than any coach in N.F.L. history. After he quit the Jets, in 1999, he said at a press conference: “I’ve coached my last football game. You can write that on your little chalkboard. This is it. It’s over.” Now, even as his job appears to be making him sick, he has abandoned the pose. “As you get older,” he says, pointing to a screen, where the play is frozen, “your needs diminish. They don’t increase. They diminish. I need less money. I need less sex. But this — this doesn’t change.”

What this is, he can’t — or won’t — specify. But when your life has been defined by the pressure of competition and your response to it, there’s a feeling you get, and it’s hard to shake. You wake up each morning knowing the next game is all that matters. If you fail in it, nothing you’ve done with your life counts. By your very nature you always have to start all over again, fresh. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, but it’s nonetheless addictive. Even if you have millions in the bank and everyone around you tells you that you’re a success, you seek out that uncomfortable place. And if you don’t, you’re on the wrong side of the thin curtain that separates Cyclone Hart from Vito Antuofermo. “It’s a cloistered, narrow existence that I’m not proud of,” says Parcells. “I don’t know what’s going on in the world. And I don’t have time to find out. All I think about is football and winning. But hey — ” He sweeps his hand over his desk and points to the office that scarcely registers his presence. “Who’s got it better than me?”

I'm convinced that a part of the fascination with Parcells is similar to the enchantment that some folks have in going to auto races in anticipation of a spectacular wreck -- they just want to be there when he finally blows his stack. Based on Lewis' article, it probably won't be too much longer until Parcells does.

Posted by Tom at 4:31 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Calorie restriction and longevity

All the rage these days in longevity circles is calorie restriction, so this Julian Dibbell/New Yorker article reports on Dibbell's two-month test on the the ultra-extreme Calorie Restriction Diet -- an 1,800 calorie daily diet:

I’ve been starving for the past two months, actually, and that’s precisely what the party is about: My dinner guests—five successful urban professionals who for years have subsisted on a caloric intake the average sub-Saharan African would find austere—have been at it much, much longer, and I’ve invited them here to show me how it’s done. They are master practitioners of Calorie Restriction, a diet whose central, radical premise is that the less you eat, the longer you’ll live. Having taken this diet for a nine-week test drive, I’m hoping now for an up-close glimpse of what it means to go all the way. I want to find out what it looks, feels, and tastes like to commit to the ultimate in dietary trade-offs: a lifetime lived as close to the brink of starvation as your body can stand, in exchange for the promise of a life span longer than any human has ever known.

Seat belts, vaccines, clean tap water, and other modern miracles have dramatically boosted average life expectancies, to be sure—reducing annually the percentage of people who die before reaching the maximum life span—but CR alone demonstrably raises the maximum itself. In lab studies going back to the thirties, mice on severely limited diets have consistently lived as much as 50 percent longer than the oldest of their well-fed peers—the rodent equivalent of a human life stretched past the age of 160. And it isn’t just a mouse thing: Yeast cells, spiders, vinegar worms, rhesus monkeys—by now a veritable menagerie of species has been shown to benefit from CR’s life-extending effects.

The WSJ chimes in with this article ($), which focuses on a group of scientists who are attempting to mimic calorie restriction's antiaging effects with medicines. At the same time, this NY Times article reports on a Wisconsin-based research project that indicates that rhesus monkeys on a calorie restricted diet are much healthier than their counterparts that are eating a normal diet. Meanwhile, this NY Times article reports on a researcher's work that indicates that the 65% or so of Americans who are overweight or obese got that way, in part, because they didn’t realize how much they were eating.

After all this, please excuse me while I go get a gelato. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 4:12 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 30, 2006

Markets are the darndest things

Over the past two decades, feral hogs have been a hugely destructive force in rural Texas as they relentlessly tear up productive farm and ranch land. Moreover, with few predators, the hogs have multiplied exponentionally to the point where they are now commonly seen in suburban areas around Texas' large cities. So, what's the solution to controlling these feisty beasts?

According to this NY Times article, it's markets -- namely demand for feral hog meat in restaurants -- that offers the most promising solution yet:

[Feral hog meat] has also become lucrative as Europeans and an increasing number of Americans clamor for wild boar. Mr. Richardson [a hunter of hogs] said he made $28,000 last year selling live feral hogs.

“I think it’s a great health-conscious niche market,” said Dick Koehler, one of Mr. Richardson’s customers and the vice president of Frontier Meats, based in Fort Worth. “It has real potential for growth.”

Mr. Koehler said that about 60 percent of the processed hog meat from his plant ended up on the tables of fancy restaurants in Europe, but that its popularity was growing in the United States. Each year, his company ships more and more hog meat to American restaurants and specialty supermarkets to feed the demands for organic food, Mr. Koehler said.

A certain nephew of mine is going to be very interested in this news.

Posted by Tom at 4:40 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

The insolvency of big-time college athletics

My son Cody and I enjoyed a splendid Texas autumn afternoon on Saturday while attending the University of Houston's football game against Central Florida. But only about 13,000 other folks showed up for the highly-entertaining game in an enjoyable on-campus environment, and that's sadly an all-too-common experience for UH.

UH is a member of Conference USA, which was formed a decade or so ago by about a dozen universities that were not offered membership in one of the Bowl Championship Series conferences. As a result of its creation by necessity rather than design, few of the C-USA members have natural rivalries with other members and virtually all of the members struggle to attract fans to their games. UH's situation is particularly difficult because UH competes in a market that offers NFL football and two effectively local universities (A&M and Texas) that compete in a BCS conference (the Big 12) with many traditional rivals. And that does not even include the competition represented by Texas' hugely popular high school football scene.

With that backdrop, this Vic Matheson post over at the Sports Economist is the most cogent analysis that I've seen in some time of the underlying instability of the present structure of big-time college football. Using Florida International University's recent foray into major college football as an example, Matheson concludes as follows:

Big-time college athletics is an lure that many schools find difficult to resist. The reality is, however, that even revenue sports such as football and men’s basketball are money losers for most programs. Certainly FIU must be rethinking their decision to step onto the football field.

Despite a storied history in intercollegiate athletics and excellent on-campus facilities, the University of Houston is facing the same problems as Florida International in attempting to finance a big-time intercollegiate athletic program without the infrastructure of a BCS conference affiliation. Moreover, virtually every other non-BCS conference university -- and even a number of the universities in BCS conferences -- are experiencing the same dilemma. Although a model exists for the reorganization of big-time college football and basketball into a true adjunct to the academic experience rather than minor league professional enterprises, my sense is that the current instability in the structure of college football will more likely trigger the development of three or four super conferences comprised of member institutions that are willing to pay the price -- both financially and morally -- to compete at the highest levels of minor league professional football and basketball.

Although such a development may be the natural evolution of big-time intercollegiate football and basketball, I can't help but think that something valuable -- such as the old Southwest Conference and UH's intense rivalries with UT and A&M -- is lost from the fabric of the most university communities as intercollegiate football and basketball mimic professional sports franchises.

Posted by Tom at 4:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

2006 Weekly local football review

Titans 28 Texans 22

The Texans (2-5) returned to earth with a thud after last week's unlikely victory over the Jaguars as Titans and former Longhorn hero Vince Young threw and rushed for a TD in a game that the Texans could have easily won if QB David Carr had shown up to play. In a curious relapse to his play for most of the past four seasons, Carr reverted to his deer-in-the-headlights look as he coughed up a couple of fumbles (one for a Titans' TD) and an easy interception, so Coach Kubiak replaced him early in the 2nd half after the second of his fumbles. Carr's performance on the field was bad, but my sense is that his demeanor on the sideline is even more telling regarding whether the Texans should continue hitching their wagon to him as the franchise QB.

Carr essentially looked aloof and somewhat clueless on the sideline after each incident of his poor performance. There is certainly nothing wrong with not getting overly down on oneself for making demoralizing mistakes that hurt your team and Carr certainly said all the right things after the game. But appearing not to give a damn about those mistakes during the game on the sidelines -- or worse, acting as if the mistakes were not primarily his fault -- is a good way to lose your teammates' respect fast. In arguably the most important development of this game, the Texans seemed to respond to backup QB Sage Rosenfels much better than Carr, which -- as John Lopez notes -- is an ominous sign for Carr's future in Houston. The Texans really needed to win this game because they don't have much of a chance in their next two, at the Giants and at the Jaguars. Look for the Texans to be 2-7 when they have their next realistic chance for a win in Week 11 at home against the Bills.

Texas Longhorns 35 Texas Tech 31

This was the tale of two games as the Red Raiders sprinted to a 21-0 first quarter lead and then the Horns (8-1, 5-0) methodically hammered the Raiders 35-10 over the final three quarters. Although Longhorn QB Colt McCoy's 325 yds total offense (256 yds on 21-31-1 passing and 68 yds rushing on 9 carries) was the Horns' offensive star, this game was really decided by the Longhorns' defensive adjustments at halftime that allowed the Horns' defense to pitch a shutout against the high-powered Tech offense in the second half. Of course, two key 4th quarter, fourth down spot calls by the referees that went in the Longhorns' favor were huge breaks for Texas. The Horns have a good chance of continuing to climb the BCS poll (Texas remained seventh in the latest BCS standings released Sunday, but with only .023 points separating the fourth through seventh spots) as they face Oklahoma State (5-3, 2-2) at home and Kansas State (5-4, 2-3) on the road before ending the season at home against A&M (8-1, 4-1) and then either Missouri (7-2, 3-2) or Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) in Kansas City's Big 12 title game in early December.

Texas Aggies 31 Baylor 21

The surprising Aggies (8-1, 4-1; No. 21 in the BCS standings) continued their effective balanced, ball-control offense with no turnovers and threw in true freshman RB Michael Goodson's electrifying 64 yard TD run to break open a tied game in the 4th quarter. I don't think that the Ags will beat both Oklahoma (6-2, 3-1) and Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) in their next two games before their annual showdown with Texas. However, the Ags just might, particularly if they can continue their exceptional characteristic of not turning the ball over.

Houston Cougars 51 Central Florida 31

My son Cody and I enjoyed a perfect Texas autumn afternoon while taking in this game, and we certainly came away entertained. The Cougars (6-3, 4-1) play a different type of game, combining a high-powered, idiosyncratic offense with a defense that couldn't stop a hard-chargin' marching band to provide an exciting -- if at times frustrating to watch -- brand of football. In this game, the Coogs burst out of the gate to take 10-0 and 17-7 first half leads, only to take a nap in the 2nd quarter to allow UCF to take a 21-17 halftime lead. Then, in the 2nd half, Houston's offense essentially became unstoppable and, when the Cougars defense finally got a couple of stops on UCF early in the 4th quarter, the Coogs cruised to victory. Houston plays for the C-USA West Division lead next week at home against Tulsa (7-1, 4-0), and then finishes out the season against SMU (4-4,2-2) and Memphis (1-7, 0-4) on the road. One would think that the latter two games would be sure wins for the Cougars, but UH's defense is so porous that no game is a sure win.

The Rice Owls (3-5. 2-2) were off this week before hitting the road to play UTEP (4-4, 2-2) and Tulsa over the next two weekends.

Posted by Tom at 4:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 29, 2006

That lovable Elk

Houston's Steve Elkington is not only an outstanding professional golfer, but he is witty and outspoken. So, it was no real surprise that this Age article contains the following observation by the acerbic Elk from this week's Chrysler Championship at Florida's venerable Innisbrook Golf Club:

"This is just a good course, one of the better ones we play," said the battle-hardened veteran, who trailed American leader Brian Gay by three strokes at demanding Innisbrook.

"Some of the crap we play on is ridiculous. As big as the tour is, you'd think we could play some better courses."

H'mm. I wonder if "some of the crap" he is referring to is this one?

Posted by Tom at 4:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 28, 2006

Joe Niekro, R.I.P.

Former Stros pitcher Joe Niekro died yesterday at the age of 61 in Tampa, Florida, reportedly of a brain aneurysm. Niekro pitching in 22 Major league seasons from 1967 through 1988 with seven teams, including the Stros, the Cubs, the Padres, the Tigers, the Braves, the Yankees and the Twins. Neil Hohlfeld's Chronicle article on Niekro's death is here, the NY Times obituary is here and don't miss former teammate Larry Dierker's heartfelt reflections on Niekro here.

Niekro and his Hall of Fame brother Phil were two of the best knuckleball pitchers of that era and still hold the Major League record for total wins by brothers with 539 (Joe accounted for 221 of those, 144 with the Stros). Although both Niekros relied on the knuckleball as their out pitch, Joe actually threw a variety of pitches in addition to the knuckler while Phil threw the knuckleball exclusively.

For his career, Niekro ended up being a below-average National League pitcher -- he had a -42 career runs saved against average (RSAA, explained here). However, the Stros were fortunate to have Niekro playing for the club during 11 of his best seasons. Niekro pitched for the Stros from 1975-85, and he was a workhorse on the Stros pitching staffs (along with Nolan Ryan and J.R. Richard) of the first Stros teams that were serious playoff contenders in the 1979-81 seasons.

Niekro secured his place in Stros lore during the 1979 and 1980 seasons. In 1979, Niekro was named to the National League All-Star team, but was not allowed to play in the game by the NL manager, Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda. During the ensuing pennant race between the Stros and the Dodgers, Stros fans never let Lasorda forget his All-Star snub of Niekro.

Then, during the 1980 season, when the emerging star Richard was struck down by a tragic stroke at mid-season, Niekro stepped up and pitched brilliantly in the Stros' 7-1 win over the Dodgers in their one-game playoff after the Stros had blown a three-game lead by being swept by the Dodgers in the last series of the regular season. That win catapulted the Stros into their first post-season playoff series ever, where Niekro put together another incredible performance by pitching a record 10 shutout innings in a 1-0, 11 inning Stros victory in the third game of the classic 1980 League Championship Series against the eventual World Champion Phillies. In three postseason games with the Astros and Twins, Niekro worked 20 innings and allowed no earned runs.

Although Niekro won 21 and 20 games for the Stros in the 1979 and 1980 seasons, his best season for the Stros was actually 1982, when he was 17-12 and saved 33 more runs than an average National League pitcher that season. That was by far his best RSAA during any season in his career. Niekro has more wins than any pitcher in Stros history, but other than his career 1982 season, Niekro never had another RSAA greater than 8 while pitching for the Stros and he had a negative RSAA (reflecting below-average performance) in five of his 11 seasons with the Stros. As a result, Niekro is only 21st on the career RSAA list among Stros pitchers:

However, Niekro is a solid sixth in lowest earned run average for Stros' pitchers who have pitched at least 1,000 innings for the Stros:

Finally, as noted above, Niekro has won more games for the Stros than any other Stros pitcher:

Niekro had a colorful career, including inadvertently helping Bruce Sutter make the Hall of Fame, drawing a suspension for being caught with a nail file on the pitching mound while pitching for the Twins in the 1987 American League pennant race, and finally appearing in the 1987 World Series a Major League record 19 years' and 138 days' service (over the course of 21 seasons) after beginning his Major League Baseball career. Since retiring from Major League Baseball in 1988, Niekro has been enjoying watching the development of his son, Lance Niekro, who currently plays first base for the San Francisco Giants.

Niekro's career statistics are below (hit the time permalink below to review the all columns of the stats, a couple of which are cut off on the right below). A pdf of his stats is here and a pdf with explanations for the statistical abbreviations is here:

Posted by Tom at 4:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 27, 2006

More trouble across the border

Following up from this post from a year ago regarding the increased drug-related violence along the Texas-Mexico border, this NY Times article reports on a particularly gruesome uptick in the violence -- beheadings of rival gang members:

An underworld war between drug gangs is raging in Mexico, medieval in its barbarity, its foot soldiers operating with little fear of interference from the police, its scope and brutality unprecedented, even in a country accustomed to high levels of drug violence.

In recent months the violence has included a total of two dozen beheadings, a raid on a local police station by men with grenades and a bazooka, and daytime kidnappings of top law enforcement officials. At least 123 law enforcement officials, among them 2 judges and 3 prosecutors, have been gunned down or tortured to death. Five police officers were among those beheaded.

In all, the violence has claimed more than 1,700 civilian lives this year, and federal officials say the killings are on course to top the estimated 1,800 underworld killings last year. Those death tolls compare with 1,304 in 2004 and 1,080 in 2001, these officials say.

By the way, a fence will not stop this particular problem from spilling over the border.

Posted by Tom at 4:49 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Scarcity rents and oil prices

Clear Thinkers favorite James Hamilton is thinking about oil prices again, and that's always a good thing. This time, Professor Hamilton examines the impact that scarcity rents are having on oil prices as the markets increasingly adjust for the risk of resource exhaustion:

My own view is that, for most of the past century, Dave [Cohen']s inference is exactly correct -- the resource exhaustion was judged to be sufficiently far off as to be ignored. However, unlike those whom Dave terms the Cornucopians, I do not infer that the next decade will necessarily be like the previous century. Certainly declining production from U.S. oil reservoirs set in long ago. And if one asks, why are we counting on seemingly geopolitically unreliable sources such as Iraq, Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, and Russia for future supplies, and transferring vast sums of wealth to countries that are covertly or openly hostile to our interests, the answer appears to me to be, because we have no choice. Resource scarcity in this sense has already been with us for some time, and sooner or later the geological realities that governed U.S. oil production are also going to rule the day for the rest of the world's oil producing countries. My expectation has accordingly been that, although scarcity rents for oil were irrelevant for most of my father's lifetime, they would start to become manifest some time within mine. And I have been very interested in the question of when.

Read the entire post, and then try to resist calling your commodities broker. ;^)

Posted by Tom at 4:47 AM

Marble Slab and the ice cream wars

Houston-based Marble Slab Creamery, a premium ice-cream franchisor, is featured along with a couple of competitors in this NY Times article that describes their battle as the fight to become ice cream's equivalent of Starbucks -- "a ubiquitous chain offering a high-priced, high-quality version of a relatively mundane product."

Marble Slab opened its first store in Houston in 1983 and now has 371 franchises in the United States, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, and another 220 under development. The company estimates this year’s sales will from $75 to $90 million, with sales at established stores increasing by 3 percent. Its main competitor is Phoenix-based Cold Stone Creamery, which has expanded to 1,400 units over the past five years, but which has suffered sales erosion both of the past two years.

By the way, Marble Slab's ice cream is better than Cold Stone's, too.

Posted by Tom at 4:46 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

October 26, 2006

The Godfather of Microcredit

Don't miss this Connie Bruck/New Yorker article on Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladesh banker and economist who was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his development of microcredit, which is simply the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans (a recent WSJ ($) op-ed by Yunus is here). Interestingly, an unexpected force is competing with microcredit:

[Microcredit promoters] say that the biggest obstacle to commercialization of the sector is philanthropic capital. They say that it distorts the market—not only by filling channels that might otherwise draw commercial investors but also by keeping unsustainable programs alive.

On the other hand, philanthropy is also a key source of capital for microcredit:

The idea of reaching billions of the poor by achieving “scale”—a word invoked ceaselessly in the microfinance community—has enticed foundations, rich individuals, even investors into channelling millions into microfinance. The $1.2-billion Michael and Susan Dell Foundation—established by the founder of one of the world’s largest computer manufacturers—has begun making grants to microfinance institutions in India, a country of 1.1 billion people, most of whom have no access to financial services. In October, 2005, Google established a philanthropic entity called Google.org, with seed money of about a billion dollars, to fight disease, global warming, and poverty; microfinance is expected to be a key component of its poverty portfolio. And last April the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would devote an undisclosed amount of money to expanding financial services for the poor in developing countries. Dr. Rajiv Shah, who oversees the new Gates program, said of microfinance, “This can reach hundreds of millions of people, and do so in a way that helps them move out of poverty and that sustains over time.”

Hat tip to Tyler Cowen for the link to the New Yorker article.

Posted by Tom at 4:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

A Wonder of West Texas

The New York Times discovers one of the many remarkable features of Texas -- the oasis in the West Texas desert known as Balmorhea. 200 miles from El Paso near Pecos, Balmorhea has a remarkable 3.5 million gallon, spring-fed pool that supports a varied aquatic ecosystem, including tiny tetra fish, huge catfish and rare pupfish. Scuba divers say that the water clarity is unparalleled, but the remote location of the park means that the park is never crowded. Read the entire article and learn about one of Texas' treasures that even many Texans know nothing about.

Posted by Tom at 4:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Now, this is pressure

Canadian Press golf writer Doug Ferguson sets up the Chrysler Championship that begins today at Innisbrook in Florida, a mostly forgettable affair except that it incongruously generates some of the most intense pressure of the entire PGA Tour season. It's the final full-field PGA Tour event of the year and, thus, is the last chance for Tour players to earn enough money to achieve full exempt status for next year's PGA Tour events:

This week is mostly about money. The Chrysler Championship is . . . a time for players to pay more attention to dollars and cents than birdies and bogeys. The bottom 120 spots on the money list will be determined, with significant stops down the ladder at No. 30 (Tour Championship), No. 40 (Masters invitation), No. 125 (full status next year) and No. 150 (conditional status).

The top 125 can participate in any PGA Tour event that they choose. Conditional status players -- those Tour players who finish between No. 126 and No. 150 -- comes in behind those players who earn their PGA Tour cards through the PGA Qualifying School Tournament or the Nationwide Tour. Although not as secure as fully exempt status, most conditional status players can at least get into enough events to have a shot at earning enough to get into the top 125. However, if a player finishes outside the top 150, then it's either back to the second stage of Q-school, spend the following year playing in a lot of pro-ams and begging for sponsor exemptions into tournaments, or trying to eke out a living on the Nationwide Tour.

There is also competition this week to finish in the the top 40 (to qualify for The Masters) and the top 30 (to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship tournament), but the competition for those spots is between successful players trying to become a bit more successful. On the other hand, the competition to land in either the top 125 or the top 150 is more compelling because it often involves players who are literally fighting for their livelihood. Ferguson passes along the experience of Tour veteran Paul Azinger from a couple of years ago:

In his 25 years on the PGA Tour, money and prestige are the only things that ever made Paul Azinger choke.[. . .]

Two years ago, he was No. 123 on the money list and seemingly in good shape until a bogey on his 17th hole and a three-putt bogey on his final hole that caused him to miss the cut by one shot. He screamed in disgust as he walked off the course, and the real agony set in two days later when he wound up at No. 126.

Zinger is on the brink again this season, just $22,000 ahead of the 125th player on the money list. Longtime Tour players John Cook and Mark Calcavecchia are two of the players just below the 125th place on the money list and will be among those grinding away at the tournament.

Posted by Tom at 4:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 25, 2006

The media's mistreatment of Jeff Skilling

As noted here, here, here and several other times on this blog over the past couple of years, the mainstream media's coverage of the Enron-related criminal trials has been spotty at best, shameful at its worst, particularly as it embraced and perpetrated the Enron Myth in reporting on the trial and sentencing of Jeff Skilling. Thus, this Ayn Rand Institute press release of yesterday caught my attention:

The Media's Mistreatment of Jeff Skilling

Irvine, CA--Upon hearing the news that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was sentenced to 24 years, most Americans, trusting the newspaper articles and books they have read on Enron, think that justice has been served. But, said Alex Epstein, a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, "Jeff Skilling has not gotten justice, and the media bear a major portion of the blame.

"Few Americans know that during Skilling's trial, the prosecution came nowhere near proving its central allegation that Jeff Skilling engineered a conspiracy to defraud investors. Few know that Skilling, upon leaving Enron five months before its collapse, destroyed no documents, nor did anything else resembling a criminal cover-up. Few know that the prosecution, unable to prove a conspiracy, spent huge swaths of the trial taking pot-shots at Skilling with issues not even mentioned in the indictment, such as the failure of Skilling, a multi-millionaire many times over, to disclose a failed $50,000 investment to Enron's board.

"The media's misportrayal of the case against Skilling long predates the trial. Ever since the fall of Enron, most of the media have treated as fact every conceivable smear against Skilling made by ax-grinding prosecutors or ex-Enron employees, while treating as absurd Skilling's claim that he neither engineered a conspiracy nor lied to investors.

"There can be no doubt that the media's treatment of Skilling contributed to his conviction for a phantom conspiracy--and to the outrageous 24-year sentence that he has now received. And the mistreatment of Skilling is part of a broader trend: the trend of treating businessmen as guilty until proven innocent. Our journalists and intellectuals, accepting the idea that the pursuit of profit is morally tainted, assume that whenever anything goes wrong in business, it is the result of crooked behavior by greedy, rich CEOs--and slant their coverage accordingly. This practice is putting numerous innocent men in jail, and instilling terror throughout corporate America.

"During Skilling's appeal, let us call for the media to start treating Skilling--and all businessmen--fairly."

The mainstream media's slanted coverage of Enron in general and Skilling in particular is a subject that is ripe for examination. We have not heard the last of this issue.

Posted by Tom at 4:31 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

A fascinating peek at the descent into Alzheimer’s

When he learned in 1995 that he had Alzheimer’s disease, William Utermohlen, an American artist based in London, began his final project -- drawing self-portraits during his descent into dementia and ultimately Alzheimer's. This NY Times article reports that Utermohlen's work is being exhibited this week by the Alzheimer's Association at the New York Academy of Medicine in Manhattan:

The paintings starkly reveal the artist’s descent into dementia, as his world began to tilt, perspectives flattened and details melted away. His wife and his doctors said he seemed aware at times that technical flaws had crept into his work, but he could not figure out how to correct them.

“The spatial sense kept slipping, and I think he knew,” Professor [Patricia] Utermohlen [William Utermohlen's wife] said. A psychoanalyst wrote that the paintings depicted sadness, anxiety, resignation and feelings of feebleness and shame. [. . .]

Mr. Utermohlen, 73, is now in a nursing home. He no longer paints.

His work has been exhibited in several cities, and more shows are planned. The interest in his paintings as a chronicle of illness is bittersweet, his wife said, because it has outstripped the recognition he received even at the height of his career.

Colleen Carroll Campbell, who has written extensively about Alzheimer's, observes that the disease "embodies everything we fear most about aging -- weakness and dependence, humiliation and oblivion." Nearly half of Americans over the age of 35 know someone personally who is at some stage of dementia, and as Americans are living longer, Alzheimer's is claiming more victims. About 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's today, which is more than double the number who had the disease just 25 years ago. Utermohlen's paintings provide us with an important perspective on this insidious disease as we confront the difficult issues that result from it.

Posted by Tom at 4:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Litmus test run amok

Earlier in the week, it was the Democrats making silly. But today, this Washington Post editorial reports that a Republican senator from Kansas is one-upping the Democrats in the absurdity department:

IF YOU THOUGHT that fights over judicial nominations couldn't get any worse, consider the case of Janet T. Neff, whom President Bush has nominated to a federal district judgeship in Michigan. Judge Neff, who serves on the Michigan Court of Appeals, is part of a multi-judge deal between the White House and Michigan's two Democratic senators resolving a long-standing fight over federal court nominees from that state. Yet in reaching an accommodation with the home-state senators, Mr. Bush finds himself with another problem. For Judge Neff, it turns out, once attended a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple -- and that has Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (R) reaching for the smelling salts and blocking the nomination.

Mr. Brownback has said he wants to satisfy himself that the judge was not presiding over an "illegal marriage ceremony" in Pittsfield, Mass., in 2002 -- before the state legalized same-sex marriage. He has written to Judge Neff asking for an explanation, his spokesman says, and will hold up her nomination until he learns the nature of the ceremony and its legality. . . . An administration official says Judge Neff has told Mr. Brownback that she didn't preside [over the ceremony].

Blocking a long-delayed judicial nomination by your party's President because the nominee attended a commitment ceremony between a couple of gay friends? Even had the judge "presided" over the non-binding, symbolic ceremony, what difference does that make? What on earth is Brownback thinking?

President Bush has got to be thinking that his Crawford ranch is looking better every day.

Posted by Tom at 4:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 24, 2006

What Skilling was really sentenced for

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was sentenced on Monday to spend most of the rest of his life in prison for causing Enron's bankruptcy and resulting loss to investors. However, Skilling was neither prosecuted nor convicted for that crime.

Skilling began working at Enron in 1990 as the sole employee and head of a wholesale division, was made president and chief operating officer of Enron in 1997, and was eventually elevated to CEO in February 2001. During his tenure, Enron grew into an international, multi-billion dollar corporation with earnings that rose from a couple of hundred million dollars in 1990 to $1.6 billion in 1998, of which his trading division produced over half. By 2000, Enron's revenue had risen to $100 billion and, as of August 23, 2000, Enron’s stock price peaked at $90 per share. Skilling resigned about a year later, by which point the stock had declined 51% in a troubled post-bubble market for energy and broadband companies. From January 1999 until he resigned in August 2001, Skilling increased his stock holdings in Enron by over 250%

After listening to Enron’s October 23, 2001 conference call with market analysts, Skilling called Enron chairman Ken Lay and asked to return to the company. On the heels of revelations about former CFO Andy Fastow's embezzlement of millions from the company, Enron was caught in the beginning stages of losing the trust of the marketplace, and Skilling believed that his return would send a strong signal to the market of his confidence in the strength of the company. The company declined Skilling's offer, at which time Skilling attempted to arrange a liquidity infusion -- including most of his net worth -- to stem the company's death spiral. The efforts failed and Enron filed a chapter 11 case on December 2, 2001.

So, if Skilling wasn't convicted of causing Enron's failure, then what is it that he is being thrown in jail for until he is in his mid-to-late 70's? For allegedly lying about Enron's financial condition (and one throw-in count of insider trading). But even though Skilling's alleged lies may have changed the identity of the investors who ended up holding the bag when Enron failed (a group that included himself, by the way), they did not cause Enron's failure. And it goes without saying that Skilling was given no credit whatsoever during his sentencing for contributing to the creation of enormous wealth for investors in many valuable markets.

So, make no mistake about it -- Jeff Skilling was not sentenced yesterday in regard to the crime for which he was prosecuted and convicted. Rather, he was sentenced for causing Enron's failure. There is a big difference between those two crimes, and a quasi-life sentence for Skilling fails to distinguish between them.

Posted by Tom at 4:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

October 23, 2006

The worst political ad of the year

I've been a tad hard on the Republican Party recently (here, here and here).

But it's not as if the Democratic Party is distinguishing itself during this political season. Take a look at the political ad below, which is surely the worst political ad of the year, courtesy of the Democratic Party.

Posted by Tom at 4:50 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Justice Hecht cleared in Miers flap

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan L. Hecht, who was the subject of a public admonition by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for his public support of former US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, was cleared by a three-judge Special Court of Review that heard Justice Hecht’s appeal of the sanction, which carries no civil or criminal penalty. The ruling, which had been expected, noted that the ethics rules under which Justice Hecht was sanctioned were impermissably vague and did not apply to his public reply to questions regarding his relationship of Ms. Miers. One of the members of the special court concluded that Justice Hecht had violated the rules, but that the rules were unconstitutional because they limited his freedom of speech. This Chronicle article on the ruling includes pdfs of the special court's opinions, but if you want them, move quickly -- the Chronicle's links do not always last long.

Posted by Tom at 4:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 27 Jaguars 7

Where on earth did that come from?

In a game in which no one gave them much of a chance of staying close, much less winning, the Texans (2-4) played the Jaguars to a standstill for the better part of three quarters and then put them away with by capitalizing on a couple of 2nd half fumbles. Rookie RB Wali Lundy gave the Texans their first presence this season in the running game with 93 yards on 19 carries and QB David Carr was efficient in the passing game while throwing TD passes (to WR Andre Johnson and rookie TE Owen Daniels) with no interceptions. With a winnable game next week at 1-5 Tennessee, the Texans could be 3-4, the first time that they have sniffed the .500 mark since the final game of the 2004 season.

The Jaguars came into this game off of a bye week after creaming the Jets 41-0. They were looking at the Texans game as being a nice scrimmage before next week's showdown with the Eagles. It didn't turn out that way. Coaching an NFL football team must be a very trying experience.

Texas Longhorns 22 Nebraska 20

On walk-on, second-string kicker Ryan Bailey's 22-yard field goal with 27 seconds to go, Texas (7-1, 4-0) turned back improving Nebraska (6-2, 3-1) and reinforced its throne atop the Big 12. Poised redshirt freshman Colt McCoy was 25 of 39 passing for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns, while his favorite target -- junior wide receiver Limas Sweed -- had 8 catches for 120 yards, including a 55-yard TD. But make no doubt about it, this was another rock'em, sock'em defensive battle that ultimately turned on the Texas defense forcing a fumble in Nebraska territory with just over two minutes to go. The Horns have now won a team-record 16 consecutive road games and 28 of their past 29. They travel to Lubbock next weekend to play the up-and-down Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-3, 2-2).

Texas Aggies 34 Oklahoma State 33

Facing a 4th and 13 situation with less than 3 minutes to go and behind 27-20, Aggie QB Stephen McGee completed a short pass to 275 lbs Aggie RF Jovorskie Lane, who lumbered 17 yards for a first down that kept A&M's tying TD drive alive. Then, McGee completed another short pass for a TD as time was expiring and massive Aggie DT Red Bryant blocked OSU's PAT kick in overtime to secure the victory for the Aggies (7-1, 3-1), who are certainly one of the most entertaining teams in college football this season. The improving McGee -- who is a redshirt sophomore -- had another solid game, completing 17-of-26 for 192 yards with 2 TDs, no interceptions to go along with 85 yards rushing on 17 carries. The Aggies face another potential close game next Saturday at Waco against Baylor (4-4, 3-1), but they finally appear to be turning the corner.

Houston Cougars 34 UTEP 17

The Cougars (5-3, 3-1) are difficult to pin down. After starting the season in promising fashion with four straight wins, they lost three straight and were down 14-3 after the first quarter of their game Saturday night against a decent UTEP (4-3, 2-1) team. Then, right when the season appeared to be teetering on the brink, the Coogs pummeled the Miners 31-3 over the final three quarters of the game to win going away. The Cougars are dinged up on the offensive line, but when QB Kevin Kolb and crew get rolling, they are a formidable unit. Nevertheless, the defense remains shaky, which means that none of the Coogs' remaining games are a lock. The Cougars play a reeling Central Florida (2-5, 1-2) team next week at home.

Rice 40 Central Florida 29

The feisty Owls (3-5, 2-2) are making my earlier predictions of success for the team look good. QB Chase Clement had another good game (16-29 for 170 yds, 2 TD's 0 INT's, 14 carries for 67 yds), but the star of this game for the Owls was RB Quinton Smith, who sliced his way through UCF's defense for 183 yards on 21 carries. Rice stays on the road against UTEP next week and then Tulsa the week after that before closing the season at home against East Carolina and SMU. The Owls could still win a couple more games, which would be a tremendous accomplishment for first year coach Todd Graham and his staff.

Posted by Tom at 4:01 AM

October 22, 2006

The Skilling sentencing hearing

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling's sentencing hearing is Monday afternoon, so it's a good time to provide some links that will provide a basis for an objective evaluation of Skilling's case as a counterbalance to what the mainstream media typically serves up.

By now, we all know the myth -- Enron was merely an elaborate financial house of cards that a massive conspiracy led by the greedy and lying Skilling and the late Enron chairman Ken Lay hid from innocent and unsuspecting investors and employees. The Enron Myth is so thoroughly accepted that otherwise intelligent people reject any notion of ambiguity or fair-minded analysis in addressing facts and issues that call the morality play into question. The primary dynamics by which the myth is perpetuated are scapegoating and resentment, which are common themes of almost every mainstream media report on Skilling and Enron.

The power of the Enron Myth and the real presumption in the criminal case against Skilling are such that an objective jury probably could not have been found in Houston and the jurors who did serve dispensed with critical thinking skills when confronted with the biggest business conspiracy even alleged in the history of federal prosecutions. Given the power of the Enron Myth, the jurors were content with a prosecution that cast Skilling as a liar about Photofete and his one sale of Enron stock after he left the company, and ignored the paucity of evidence of any massive conspiracy or even the true reasons why Enron collapsed. That same view has been readily embraced by a wide-range of societal forces, such as publicity-seeking politicians who don't allow facts to get in the way of demonizing unpopular entreprenuers for political gain, government prosecutors who improperly expand the reach of criminal laws to further their careers, supposedly "objective" journalists who work literally hand-in-hand with the Enron Task Force or who simply perpetuate the myth in spite of the facts, competing businesspeople and lawyers seeking to profit from Enron's demise, and a general public that finds it easy to resent wealthy businesspeople, particularly after the bursting of a stock market bubble. The myth is so pervasive and accepted -- why bother with the truth?

The carnage of the Enron Myth is now piled high -- the destruction of Arthur Andersen, the death of Ken Lay, the outrageous prosecution and imprisonment of the four Merrill Lynch executives in the Nigerian Barge case, Richard Causey, Kevin Howard, Christopher Calger, the NatWest Three -- the list goes on and on. In the wake of such destruction of careers and lives, the public is even less willing to confront the vacuity of the myth and the destructive dynamics by which it is perpetrated. In fact, any challenge to the myth is now commonly met with derision and appeals to even more resentment over the Enron failure.

As noted originally here and in many subsequent blog posts, it is far more likely that the truth about Enron is that no massive conspiracy existed, that Skilling and Lay were not intending to mislead anyone and that the company was simply a highly-leveraged, trust-based business with a relatively low credit rating and a booming trading operation. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with such a business model, it turned out it to be the wrong one to survive amidst choppy post-bubble, post-9/11 market conditions when the markets were spooked by revelations of the embezzlement of millions of dollars by the company's CFO and his relative few minions.

That Jeff Skilling did not predict that Enron would fail under those conditions does not make him a criminal. Unlike his main accusers Andy Fastow and Ben Glisan, Skilling didn't embezzle a dime from Enron. Did he tirelessly advocate this highly-leveraged but innovative company that was dealing with difficult post-bubble market conditions during 2001? Sure, but since when is it a crime for a CEO to be optimistic -- even overly-optimistic -- about his company? Beyond the shattered lives and families, the real tragedy here is that the demonization of Skilling has distracted us from examining the tougher issues of what really caused Enron's demise and understanding the how such a company can be structured to survive in even the worst market conditions. It's a lot easier just to throw a good and decent man such as Jeff Skilling in jail and throw away the keys, but examining objectively what really occurred at Enron is far more likely to result in real justice.

Here are some links to prepare you for the Skilling sentencing hearing:

Peter Henning analyzes the Skilling sentencing issues here, while Doug Berman provides a handy archive on Enron-related sentencing issues;

The trial penalty issue in the Skilling sentencing is explained here and in this Ellen Podgor post (also here), while this post previews the Skilling appeal issues;

Larry Ribstein places the Skilling sentencing in the perspective of the government's purchase of testimony with pleas and questions the legitimacy of this policy;

Skilling's fascinating testimony during his trial is summarized here and here, and this post analyzes the immediate aftermath of the jury verdict against him; and

Finally, Skilling's legacy of beneficial risk-taking, an interesting letter to Judge Lake, and what might have been had Ken Lay made a different decision in 1997.

Posted by Tom at 4:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 21, 2006

Boom-Boom, those feuding Jones boys and other fall golf notes

Yeah, I know it's football season in Texas and no other sport really matters, but I've been wanting to pass along a few interesting tidbits from the golf world.

John Hawkins reports that Fred Couples, a fan favorite in Houston from his playing days at the University of Houston, has had a rough year, including enduring a potentially dangerous blood clot in his arm a month ago;

Dallas-based Hank Haney, who has the good fortune to be Tiger Woods' current swing guru, isn't as lucky in a real estate deal;

Those golf course designing brothers -- Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Rees Jones, the latter of whom designed Houston's Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club -- conduct most of their communications between each other through their lawyers. The article notes a comment from a reporter who has tracked the brothers' careers:

Bradley Klein, who has tracked the brothers' careers as Golfweek's architecture editor, said Rees and Robert Jr., who goes by Bobby, probably began trying to one-up each other "in the crib."

"They hate each other," he said. "They are rivals in every way."

By the way, did you notice who is currently 192nd on the PGA Tour money list? Oh well, he still has the best golf picture of the year; and

Finally, In more of the Ryder Cup post-mortem (earlier posts here, here and here), Jeff Rude makes the case that the top-125 all-exempt Tour has bred complacency and mediocrity among most of the young US players:

American golf has sunk to this new low: Not only can't the country come close to winning Ryder Cups and Palmer Cups and various other containers you can drink out of, but only two U.S. players under 30 have won more than one PGA Tour title: Ben Curtis, 29, once thought of as a one-shot wonder after winning the 2003 British Open out of nowhere, has three victories, and Jonathan Byrd, 28, has two, including a B.C. Open the same week the big boys were at the British. [. . .]

Chris DiMarco has never won a tournament in golf's prime season – March through August – but has made $18.7 million in official Tour earnings. There are plenty others besides three-time winner DiMarco who haven't won many tournaments and yet have broken the bank. Consider that these four-time winners have all earned more than $13.6 million: Stewart Cink ($18.4M), Scott Verplank ($17.9M), Bob Estes ($15.5M) and Tim Herron ($13.6M). And you can win only twice and bag $14.3 million, as Jerry Kelly has proved.

Not to pick on these fine players, but the point is: One could wonder about the incentive to win, grind, dig deep and dig dirt if you can live like Jed Clampett without collecting many trophies.

Posted by Tom at 4:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 20, 2006

Great Coach tirades

By now, you have probably seen Arizona Cardinals' head coach Denny Green's meltdown after his team blew a 20 point lead to the Bears over the final 17 minutes of the Monday Night game earlier this week. Even Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was impressed. "That was one of the best ones I've ever seen," Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle. "I loved that. It was great. I could feel his passion. I could feel the sting, too."

Although Green's tirade was entertaining, it really wasn't one of the best coach rants of all-time. For example, Green's performance is rank amateurism in comparison to the following:

The King of Tirades, former Indiana University and current Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight, has a classic halftime speech here as well this collection of ten of his best tirades. And don't miss this hilarious commercial that Coach Knight did for Minute Maid.

Not exactly a tirade, but no collection of coaching meltdowns is complete without former Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes going nuclear on a Clemson linebacker at the end of his final game as Ohio State's head coach.

Former Colts coach Jim Mora's famous tirade after his team lost a game by turning the ball over five times -- "Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. You kiddin' me? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game."

This video includes a nice collection of tirades by former Raiders coach and current Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, former Jets coach Herm Edwards and former Saints coach Mike Ditka, among others.

Finally, one of the best ever, former Cubs manager Lee Elia's tirade in 1983 over his club's 5-14 start that season. Incredibly, Elia lasted several more months that season before being fired.

Posted by Tom at 4:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Big DOJ initiative against bankruptcy fraud

Peter Henning over at the White Collar Crime Prof Blog notes this Justice Department press release the other day announcing a wide-ranging crackdown on bankruptcy fraud, although none of the cases appear to have been landed in Houston:

United States Attorneys have filed criminal charges against 78 individuals in 69 separate prosecutions in 36 judicial districts on a variety of federal bankruptcy fraud and related counts, including 18 cases charged Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, announced today. The announcement is the culmination of “Operation Truth or Consequences,” a nationwide sweep that demonstrates the breadth of enforcement actions taken by the Department of Justice to combat bankruptcy fraud and protect the integrity of the bankruptcy system. [. . .]

Collectively, the Operation Truth or Consequences bankruptcy fraud sweep includes charges filed against nine attorneys, two bankruptcy petition preparers, and one former law enforcement officer; alleged concealment of more than $3 million in assets; use of false Social Security numbers and false identities; submission of forged documents and use of false statements; defrauding of individuals whose homes were in foreclosure; fraudulent receipt of government loans and benefits; and various other unlawful acts.

I have no idea whether the DOJ's initiative is justified. But bankruptcy is strong medicine with serious side effects, and the exposure to criminal liability in bankruptcy is often underestimated by debtors and their counsel. It shouldn't be.

Posted by Tom at 4:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Texas Children's huge expansion

Texas Children's Hospital -- already the largest pediatric hospital in the country -- announced a massive $1.5 billion expansion earlier this week that calls for 2 million square foot expansion, including construction of a maternity center, a neurological research institute and a satellite hospital in west Houston. Texas Children's is one of the largest employers in the Medical Center and expects to create an additional 2,500-3,000 jobs in connection with the expansion. The Chronicle's Todd Ackerman has story here.

Juxaposed between earlier posts here and here on the struggles of Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch to define their future in the troubled waters of America's health care system, Texas Children's bold expansion is a reminder of the strong influence that Houston's Texas Medical Center and vibrant medical community will have on this key domestic policy and economic issues facing American society.

Posted by Tom at 4:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 19, 2006

Fifth Circuit raps the Enron Task Force's knuckles again

This news just in -- the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the Enron Task Force's petition for en banc review of a Fifth Circuit panel's decision (previous posts here, here and here) that struck down the wire fraud and conspiracy convictions of four Merrill Lynch executives involved in the controversial Enron-related Nigerian Barge case. The docket of the case reflects that the Court has issued an order and mandate, so I will post a copy when I get ahold of one.

The Fifth Circuit's now final decision in the Nigerian Barge case calls into question a number of convictions obtained by the Task Force during its reign of terror over the past five years (see earlier posts here and here), not the least of which is the conviction of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling (prior post here), who is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.

Regardless of the impact of the Fifth Circuit's decision in the Nigerian Barge appeal on the other Enron-related cases, here's hoping that the Fifth Circuit's decision of today puts a nail in the coffin of the Task Force's case against the four Merrill Lynch executives, three of whom are subject to a retrial as a result of the Fifth Circuit panel's decision (one Merrill defendant, William Fuhs, had his conviction reversed and is not subject to retrial). The damage to justice and the rule of law that has resulted from the Task Force's pursuit of this abomination of a case is bad enough. But the damage that has been done to the careers and families of these men alone calls for this sordid chapter in the criminalization of business in the post-Enron era to be closed.

Posted by Tom at 2:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A big hurdle to health care finance reform

Don Boudreaux, chairman of the economics department at George Mason University and the driver of Cafe Hayek, authored this Christian Science Monitor op-ed that addresses a fundamental problem with reforming the American health care finance system -- the expectation of most Americans that health care is a basic human right and entitlement. Boudreaux explains the fallacy of that attitude:

But not everything that is highly desirable is a right. Most rights simply oblige us to respect one another's freedoms; they do not oblige us to pay for others to exercise these freedoms. Respecting rights such as freedom of speech and of worship does not impose huge demands upon taxpayers.

Healthcare, although highly desirable, differs fundamentally from these rights. Because providing healthcare takes scarce resources, offering it free at the point of delivery would raise its cost and reduce its availability. [. . ]

Medicare, Medicaid, and tax-deductibility of employer-provided health insurance created a system in which patients at the point of delivery now pay only a small fraction of their medical bills out of pocket.

This situation leads to monstrously inefficient consumption of healthcare. Some people consume too much, while many others with more pressing needs do without.

Because the wasteful consumption caused by heavily subsidized access drives up healthcare costs, taxpayers must pay more and more to fund Medicare and Medicaid, while private insurers must continually raise premiums. The sad and perverse result is that increasing numbers of people go without health insurance.

Employer-based health insurance -- which proliferated as a means to attract scarce labor during the wage and price controls of World War II -- triggered the societal shift in attitude regarding payment of health care costs. Milton Friedman summed up the basic problem during an interview several years ago:

There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you're doing, and you try to get the most for your money.

Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I'm not so careful about the content of the present, but I'm very careful about the cost.

Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else's money on myself, then I'm sure going to have a good lunch!

Finally, I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it is, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government. And that's close to 40% of our national income.

Posted by Tom at 4:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Stunning ignorance

Jeff Stein, the national security editor at Congressional Quarterly, reports on in this NY Times article some questions he has been asking folks in Washington recently:

For the past several months, I’ve been wrapping up lengthy interviews with Washington counterterrorism officials with a fundamental question: “Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?” [. . .]

. . . so far, most American officials I’ve interviewed don’t have a clue. That includes not just intelligence and law enforcement officials, but also members of Congress who have important roles overseeing our spy agencies. How can they do their jobs without knowing the basics? [. . .]

Take Representative Terry Everett, a seven-term Alabama Republican who is vice chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence.

“Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?” I asked him a few weeks ago.

Mr. Everett responded with a low chuckle. He thought for a moment: “One’s in one location, another’s in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don’t know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something.”

That's the vice-chairman of a House intelligence subcommittee? And he doesn't even make this top 10 list of the dumbest members of Congress.

God save us.

By the way, while on matters religious, don't miss this NY Times article that reports on the hardships faced by Iraq's dwindling Christian population.

Posted by Tom at 4:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

HPD's Friday Night Lights

Suffice it to say that the video below of the incident first noted here will not be linked to from the Houston Chamber of Commerce website.

What on earth was Officer Rodriguez thinking? The Chronicle has a follow-up article here, focusing on the effect that publicity over the incident may have on the live-music club scene in Houston. Houstoned has more, too.

Posted by Tom at 3:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 18, 2006

Hanging out at Rice University

Ruth Samuelson, an intern with the Houston Press, and a senior at Rice University, reports on David Jovani Vanegas, a 20-year old fellow who showed up about a year ago at Rice as a student and hung out for a year. However, it turns out that he was never actually enrolled at Rice as a student:

On September 13, Rice police arrested Vanegas for criminal trespass. Turns out he wasn't an actual Rice student but a 20-year-old impersonator. Starting last September, Vanegas began eating in Rice's dining halls, hanging out with students and attending classes. Some nights, he crashed in friends' dorm rooms when he was too tired to go home. [. . .]

. . . Within the next few weeks, campus administrators alleged that Vanegas had taken close to $3,700 worth of food from Rice cafeterias. On September 28, the district attorney's office filed felony charges for aggregate theft. Bail was set at $2,000. [. . .]

So why did Vanegas keep coming day after day for three semesters? He told police officers that he hadn't gotten into Rice, but it would have broken his mother's heart for him not to attend. Attempts to reach Vanegas were unsuccessful.

Read about the entire bizarre episode. There is a Marching Owl Band skit in this story somewhere.

Posted by Tom at 4:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Profiting from business prosecutions

So, now it's Debra Wong Yang, U.S. Attorney for California's central district, is resigning to take a job with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP where she will serve as co-chair of the firm's crisis management practice group. Sounds sort of like a legal SWAT unit, don't you think?

At any rate, Yang -- like Arthur Andersen-slayer Andrew Weissman before her -- is moving on to greener pastures after spearheading the indictment of the Milberg Weiss law firm. Larry Ribstein -- who just used Yang's pursuit of Milberg Weiss in his recent talk on arranging key witness testimony -- is wondrous about this development:

The WSJ reports that Debra Wong Yang, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, has parlayed her prosecution of Milberg into a plum partnership at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Bruce Kobayashi and I recently discussed Ms Yang's handiwork: the irony of an indictment alleging that Milberg bought witness cooperation supported by a government plea deal with a leading witness. Now Ms Yang will earn big bucks to defend clients against similar government tactics. Is this a great country or what?

Posted by Tom at 4:28 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

A better ranking than the BCS?

The usual hue and cry met this week's first Bowl Championship Series rankings of the 2006 college football season. I must admit that it's pretty difficult to understand how Auburn, which was plastered at home a couple of weeks ago by 13th-ranked Arkansas, could be ranked fourth, five places ahead of Texas, which has manhandled 22nd-ranked Oklahoma and lost only to top-ranked Ohio State.

At any rate, there is a better way. Las Vegas Sports Consultants is the leading consultant for Nevada sports books and, last year, they began publishing their own OddsMakers Top 25. Inasmuch as the firm's four college football oddsmakers were already preparing ratings for all 119 Division I-A teams, they decided to submit ballots and calculate the results for use in their radio shows. They rank teams based on such criteria as injuries, performance, skill and game location, not on won-loss record and not on which teams will draw the greatest or least betting action (that's for the bookies) Their poll is gaining traction in betting markets and is now published every Monday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

For my money, this ranking -- which is based on the profit motive (LVSC is attempting to attract betting customers through the accuracy of its research) -- is a more accurate way to rank teams than the way in which voters of widely-varying interest rank teams in the more traditional polls. The following is this week's Oddsmakers Top 25 poll with the team record and BCS ranking in parentheses.

1. Ohio State (7-0) (1)
2. Texas (6-1) (9)
3. Michigan (7-0) (3)
4. California (6-1) (10)
5. Louisiana State (5-2) (18)
6. Southern Cal (6-0) (2)
7. Florida (6-1) (6)
8. Tennessee (5-1) (11)
9. Louisville (6-0) (7)
10. Notre Dame (5-1) (8)
11. Clemson (6-1) (12)
12. Wisconsin (6-1) (21)
13. Oregon (5-1) (14)
14. West Virginia (6-0) (5)
15. Auburn (6-1) (4)
16. Nebraska (6-1) (17)
17. Oklahoma (4-2) (22)
18. Boise State (7-0) (15)
19. Georgia Tech (5-1) (19)
20. Miami (4-2) (NR)
21. Pittsburgh (6-1) (NR)
22. Penn State (4-3) (NR)
23. Arkansas (5-1) (13)
24. Florida State (4-2) (NR)
25. Missouri (6-1) (24)

My sense is that Horns' fans are already sold on this poll over the BCS ranking.

Posted by Tom at 4:19 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

October 17, 2006

Judge Lake dismisses the indictment against Ken Lay

US District Judge Sim Lake has overruled the Enron Task Force's dubious opposition and dismissed the indictment against the late Enron chairman, Kenneth Lay. Judge Lake's memorandum opinion is here, and his conclusion pretty well says it all:

Since the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has adopted the abatement rule, and since . . . the United States . . . has raised any legal basis for denying the rule’s application in this case, the court concludes that Lay’s conviction must be vacated and that this action against him must be dismissed. Accordingly, the Motion of the Estate of Kenneth L. Lay to Vacate His Conviction and Dismiss the Indictment (Docket Entry No. 1082) is GRANTED, . . . The indictment against Kenneth L. Lay is DISMISSED.

As noted earlier here, here and here, I don't believe Ken Lay was guilty of anything other than making some bad business decisions (among many good ones, too). Dismissing the charges against his legacy is not only the right thing to do legally, but also morally.

Posted by Tom at 3:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Trials and tribulations at UTMB

Baylor College of Medicine's struggle to define its future in the choppy waters of America's health care finance system has been a frequent topic on this blog. But Baylor is far from the only medical school that is struggling with such problems. This Kevin Moran/Houston Chronicle article reports on the recent troubles at Texas' oldest medical school, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Those troubles were alluded to in this earlier post.

In a year when this island city has avoided even the threat of a major natural storm, its largest and oldest employer — the University of Texas Medical Branch — is experiencing an unprecedented financial, employment and political tempest.

Facing a $20 million deficit and aiming to cut $130 million in spending in 2007, the 13,000-employee medical center started the year by hiring a consulting firm to heavily reduce expenses.

Faculty and staff feared that any solution involved a massive layoff. Morale dropped precipitously when UTMB announced in June it would cut 1,000 jobs. Next came a storm of dissatisfaction when administrators unveiled plans to cut salaries of tenured faculty, physicians, researchers and others.

The article goes on to report on how UTMB's initiatives to generate more income is being opposed by competing physicians and how little of UTMB's professional services are compensated through proceeds of health insurance. Although somewhat different from Baylor's problems because UTMB operates its own hospital in Galveston, UTMB's difficulties are another reflection of the cascading problems that are resulting from the federal and state governments' failure to address America's broken health care finance system. The risks of that broken system are a decline in the quality of physician training and medical care, which is something that should concern us all.

Posted by Tom at 6:40 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Two Houston docs convicted in Medicare-wheelchair scam

Two Houston doctors -- Charles Frank Skripka Jr., 65, and Jayshree Patel, 62, -- were among four local men who were convicted by a jury this past Friday afternoon in federal court on charges related to accepting kickbacks in a scheme that allegedly defrauded Medicare of more than $21 million. The other two men convicted were James Ekiko, 43, the owner of a medical equipment supply company, and David Dennis Brown, 47, who recruited patients into the scam.The Justice Department's press release on the convictions is here.

The jury convicted all four men of health fraud in connection with a scheme to prescribe motorized wheelchairs to people who didn't need them. Skripka, Ekiko and Brown also were convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud Medicare, while Skripka and Ekiko were also convicted of money laundering. Prosecutors contended that recruiters such as Brown would pay prospective patients $50 each to see the doctors, who would then prescribe motorized wheelchairs. The medical supply company would bill Medicare $4,200 for the wheelchairs that cost $1,600, pay the doctors $200 per prescription, and then pocket the balance as profit. At the height of the scam, the doctors were writing as many as 80 prescriptions a day!

Posted by Tom at 6:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Arnie's Houston farewell

I've been remiss in not mentioning Arnold Palmer's announcement this past Friday during a round in a Champion's Tour event at Houston's Augusta Pines Golf Club that the round would be his last competitive round of golf. Steve Campbell's article is here.

That Arnie would finally call it quits at a not particularly notable Houston course in a largely-ignored Champions Tour event (it's football season in Texas, you know) seemed somewhat out of place. Arnie has actually been saying good-bye for quite awhile, first at Augusta National (his final major appearance) and then at his tournament, the Bay Hill Invitational, which was his final PGA Tour event. Suffice it to say the Augusta Pines is not anywhere near as dramatic a venue as either of those courses for Arnie to bid farewell to his fellow senior golfers. Too bad that the tournament couldn't have been played a few miles south at Champions Golf Club, a venerable championship layout where Ben Hogan played his last competitive round about 40 years ago.

Palmer's impact on golf and sports is so pervasive that it is difficult to put it in perspective. Suffice to say that there would be no Tiger Woods -- at least in the larger-than-life sense that we know him -- had not Arnold Palmer literally pulled the PGA Tour by its bootstraps into the forefront of televised sporting events around the world. Heck, Arnie even created the modern sports promotion business by hiring his old college chum, the late Mark McCormack, as the first real sports agent back in the late 1950's. Scott Michaux, a columnist for AugustaChronicle.com, does as good a job as I've seen in this article (reg. req) of conveying Palmer's special nature. Noting that Palmer withdrew from his last tournament on the fourth hole, but continued to play the remainder of the round for the benefit of his fans, Michaux observes as follows:

That's what made Palmer the most beloved player in the history of golf. He was not its greatest champion and didn't possess the finest swing, but nobody before or since has ever had the charisma that Palmer holds in spades. Whether it's on the golf course, in the clubhouse or on the dance floor, Palmer oozes with the magnetism that has drawn his Army of fans for every step of the ride.

That the ride is finally over is as traumatic to his fans as it is to him. That Palmer never won a major championship in my lifetime didn't stop him from being as giant a figure to my generation as he was to his own. That it has been 18 years since I witnessed him win his last tournament at the senior Crestar Classic in Richmond, Va., hasn't made every sighting since any less thrilling.[ . . .]

Now we can only wish that Palmer will take the stage that late greats Byron Nelson, San Snead and Gene Sarazen took before him on the first tee of the Augusta National Golf Club for an honorary start to the Masters. With no other places to get a glimpse of the King, it is our last hope.

Palmer understands that no matter how awkward it might be to stand up in front of the world trying to give it that good shot, just a fix of his radiance is all we want.

Posted by Tom at 4:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 16, 2006

Spitzer: Populist Warrior or Reckless Business Foe?

In this New York Sunday Times article, Mike McIntire explores the above question regarding the true nature of future New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer.

I could have saved McIntire a lot of time. Seriously. A lot of time.

Spitzer and his ilk -- whom we have seen on display in numerous business-related prosecutions in the post-Enron era -- remind me of what Ayn Rand observed about socialists:

"[T]he truth about their souls is worse than the obscene excuse you have allowed them, the excuse that the end justifies the means and that the horrors they practice are means to nobler ends. The truth is that those horrors are their ends."

Posted by Tom at 4:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

What to do about North Korea?

With last week's confirmation that North Korea had tested a nuclear device, The Atlantic Monthly has put online Robert D. Kaplan's cover article from the October print edition, When North Korea Falls, a stark analysis of the disaster that could occur when the fragile North Korean society finally collapses. Kaplan sums up the problem that North Korea's inevitable collapse presents to the US:

Middle- and upper-middle-level U.S. officers based in South Korea and Japan are planning for a meltdown of North Korea that, within days or even hours of its occurrence, could present the world—meaning, really, the American military—with the greatest stabilization operation since the end of World War II. “It could be the mother of all humanitarian relief operations,” Army Special Forces Colonel David Maxwell told me. On one day, a semi-starving population of 23 million people would be Kim Jong Il’s responsibility; on the next, it would be the U.S. military’s, which would have to work out an arrangement with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (among others) about how to manage the crisis.

Read the entire article, which is essential reading for understanding the motivations of North Korea's current nuclear brinksmanship. Which, by the way, generated the best crack of last week, from David Letterman:

"The North Koreans are starting to gloat a little bit. The test was a big success, and to celebrate, today Kim Jong-il is wearing his hair in the shape of a mushroom cloud."

Posted by Tom at 4:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

2006 Weekly local football review

Cowboys 34 Texans 6

As expected, it was men against boys as the Texans (1-4) went down without so much as a whimper against the Pokes (3-2). The Texans defense played well for a half as Houston actually led 6-3 at the half. However, the utter incompetence of the Texans' offense wore the defense down in the second half as the Texans committed all seven of their penalties and turned the ball over three times on two David Carr interceptions and a fumble by kickoff returner Edell Shepherd. With the Texans facing the Jaguars twice as well as the Giants and the Titans over the next month, the best that Houston can realistically hope for is a 2-7 record when the schedule gets a bit easier in late November and early December when the Texans play the Bills, the Jets, the Raiders and the Titans again in consecutive games. This is a brutally bad football team.

Texas Aggies 25 Missouri 19

The Aggies (6-1; 2-1) finally got their first quality win of the season, beating a Missouri (6-1; 2-1) team that has achieved a good record to date by mirroring A&M's approach of scheduling weak non-conference opponents. Nevertheless, the win was a good one for the Ags, who used a balanced attack to dominate the second half after the teams finished the first half tied at 17. The Aggies are not a real good team yet, but they can be reasonably effective when they do not turn the ball over, force a few from the other team (Mizzou had three, including one while a receiver was about to score a TD) and control time of possession (41:30 to 18:30 in this game) by hammering their one-two tailback punch of 275 lbs Javorskie Lane and burner Michael Goodson. QB Stephen McGee also had his best passing game to date, going 20-24 for about 185 yards. And it was a nice touch that the same Aggie cornerback who got torched on the late TD play in the Tech game made the play to cause the fumble by the Mizzou WR who was going into the end zone. The Ags -- who remain unranked in the first BCS rankings -- now go on the road to play Oklahoma State (4-2; 1-1) and Baylor (3-4; 2-1), both of which are capable of beating the Aggies. The Ags then close out the season against Oklahoma (4-2; 1-1) and Nebraska (3-0; 6-1) at home and Texas at Austin.

Texas 63 Baylor 31

After essentially sleep-walking through a first quarter in which they allowed Baylor to take a 10-0 lead, the Longhorns (6-1; 3-0) woke up and pounded the Bears over the next three quarters to win easily as QB Colt McCoy set a Texas record with six TD passes. The 9th-ranked BCS-rated Horns now face their toughest test of the season next week as they travel to Lincoln to face Nebraska (6-1; 3-0). Although the Horns will be favored, there is cause for concern -- they are getting dinged with injuries to several key players, something that Texas was able to avoid during last season's magical ride to the National Championship. This next game could be where the Horns stub their toe during the Big 12 season.

Rice 34 UAB 33

How 'bout them Owls (2-5; 1-2)? Given a repreive from a game-ending interception by a fumbled return, savvy Rice QB Chase Clement (over 330 yards total offense) found stud WR Jarett Dillard on a 9-yard fade route for a TD with 3 seconds left to pull the win out for the feisty Owls. Rice now has a rough road trip against Central Florida, UTEP and Tulsa before returning home to close out the season against East Carolina and SMU. But don't be surprised if the Owls win another 2-3 games down the stretch. Both Clement and Dillard are the real deal.

Southern Miss 31 Houston 27

The Cougars (4-3; 2-1) once-promising season continues to go by the wayside as another shoddy defensive effort, poor special teams play and an anemic rushing attack combined to cause the Coogs to lose their third straight game. The Cougars still have a chance of turning their season around as they play their next three, tough C-USA games at home (UTEP, Central Florida and Tulsa), but the increasingly-mediocre defensive and offensive line play indicates that the Cougars will muddle through the remainder of their season.

Posted by Tom at 4:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 15, 2006

Crimefighting in Houston run amok

Now, let me get this straight.

Someone calls police on Friday night and complains about the noise level of the music at a local club that is well-known for featuring live bands. The club's crowd is comprised mostly of college kids.

An officer responds and, when the band doesn't reduce its noise level to the officer's satisfaction, the officer climbs onstage, shines a flashlight in the lead singer's face and yells "Stop!"

What happened next is subject to conflicting accounts. However, it appears to be undisputed that the lead singer said something and then the officer grabbed him by the neck and forced him to the ground. A melee involving the officer and several members of the audience broke out, prompting the officer to Taser the lead singer, a 14-year-old audience member and a University of Houston sociology student doing a "field paper on the music scene." At least four people were arrested, the bass player's guitar got smashed and six HPD squad cars ended up at the scene.

The lead singer, who was not one of those arrested, commented afterward to a Houston Chronicle reporter that the officer was "out of control." "He was extremely violent form the start," said the lead singer. "It was frightening."

On the other hand, a police spokesman told the Chronicle that the officer's approach "was commendable" and that it was "fortunate that he used a Taser instead of a weapon."

"Fortunate that he used a Taser instead of a weapon?" To tone down the music level at a club that is in the business of playing loud music?

Irresponsible use of force by local police is an offshoot of the growing problem that Cato Insitute fellow Radley Balko has chronicled with regard to overuse of local police SWAT units. I guess we're fortunate that HPD didn't send in its SWAT team to deal with this situation, but doesn't HPD have better things to be doing on a Friday night than Tasering a bunch of college kids who enjoy listening to loud music at a club?

Posted by Tom at 5:27 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

October 14, 2006

The trial penalty issue in the Skilling case

One of the many troubling aspects of the Enron Task Force's prosecution of former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling is the "trial penalty" that Skilling faces in connection with his sentencing (which is next Monday, October 23rd) -- that is, the additional time that Skililng faces in prison because he chose to assert his Constitutional right to defend himself against the government's charges in comparison to similarly-situated defendants, such as former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow (six years) -- who copped a plea under a cooperation agreement with the Task Force -- or former Enron chief accountant Richard Causey (no more than seven years), whose deal with the Task Force does not include an obligation to cooperate in other cases.

Exhibiting the same professional integrity that Joseph Grundfest recently displayed in the sad case of Jamie Olis, University of Illinois law professor and criminal law expert Margareth Etienne has filed this amicus curie brief in connection with the October 23rd Skilling sentencing hearing. Professor Etienne bears down on the key issue (citations are omitted):

[A] plea discount must be differentiated from a trial penalty. A plea discount--or a limited reduction such as acceptance of responsibility that takes into account factors such as a guilty plea--have been deemed constitutional; but a trial penalty--a punishment for exercising Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights--would clearly be unconstitutional insofar as it would violate the "unconstitutional conditions" doctrine. The "unconstitutional conditions" doctrine simply states that the imposition of a penalty for exercising a constitutional right creates an unconstitutional condition. Imposing a sentence on Mr. Skilling that is several times that of the sentences faced by his co-defendants--when the only material distinction between their cases appears to be Mr. Skilling's decision to go to trial--strongly suggests that Mr. Skilling is being penalized for exercising his constitutional rights. This is particularly true in a determinate sentencing (or guideline) regime where the potential benefits bestowed on co-defendants for acceptance of responsibility (and cooperation with the government, when applicable) are easily quantifiable.

Accordingly, the question for sentencing courts is whether there is a point at which a permissible plea discount becomes an impermissible and unconstitutional trial penalty. At the very least, when the disparity in sentences between similarly situated defendants can no longer be attributed to easing the government's burden by entering a resource-saving guilty plea, such a disparity risks being an unconstitutional trial penalty. Such an unjustified disparity, when it violates norms of fundamental fairness and proportionality, may also rise to the level of a Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment violation.

Not only is the trial penalty a horrifying injustice for individuals such as Skilling, it is also a substantial factor in the great waste of the government's dubious regulation of business-through-criminalization policy.

Posted by Tom at 7:49 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)

October 13, 2006

Gender stereotyping in the executive suite

As noted earlier here, I am troubled by the recent indictment of former HP chairperson Patricia Dunn. I am equally troubled by what happened to Martha Stewart (see here and here). How much of Dunn and Stewart's troubles are attributable to the fact that they are powerful women in a male-dominated corporate world?

Well, it would appear quite a bit. Earlier this week, the WSJ's Alan Murray wrote this column ($) entitled Why Gender Plays A Role in H-P Drama in which Murray makes the rather preposterous assertion that Dunn and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina's actions at HP were the products of gender -- the column suggests that the fact that both executives are women made them less likely to resign gracefully or take responsibility for the actions of others.

What gibberish. Thankfully, Christine Hurt over at the Congomerate takes Murray down a notch or two:

Why do we have to criticize women's actions not as their individual actions but as actions that reflect badly on their gender? Did [former HP director] Tom Perkins' actions as a rogue director and mediocre romance novelist reflect badly on his gender? On the venture capital industry? Why would we expect Fiorina and Dunn to be any more supportive of each other than [HP CEO Mark] Hurd and Perkins?

A related question: Was Martha Stewart skewered in the media -- and then prosecuted for protesting her innocence about a crime that the prosecution could not prove -- at least in part because she is perceived as a hard-knuckled female executive?

Posted by Tom at 5:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

How did Drayton not think of this?

The standard start time for Chicago White Sox home games next season is going to be -- you guessed it -- 7:11 pm

The price for that accomodation: $500,000.

I generally prefer earlier start times for evening games (most of the Stros' games begin at 7:05 pm, which is fine). But KTRH 740 is the Stros flagship radio station . . .

Posted by Tom at 4:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

What happened behind closed doors in regard to the Fastow sentence?

As noted earlier here, the six-year prison sentence handed down earlier last month to former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow was surprising on several levels, not the least of which was that the Enron Task Force elicited extensive testimony from Fastow during the Lay-Skilling trial that his minimum sentence would be ten years. The purpose of that testimony was to make Fastow appear to be more credible to the Lay-Skilling jury -- he was going to do at least ten years, so he supposedly didn't have any incentive to lie in order to reduce his sentence.

Thus, it was somewhat surprising that, in the run-up to the Fastow sentencing hearing, Fastow's attorneys requested a sentence of less than ten years and there was nary a peep from the Task Force objecting to the request. Then, at the sentencing hearing, the Task Force prosecutors at least tacitly supported the less-than-ten-year sentence by not objecting to Fastow counsel's requests for leniency to U.S. District Judge Ken Hoyt and even extolling Fastow's "cooperation" with the Task Force in regard to the Lay-Skilling trial. Indeed, one of the most surprising aspects of the Fastow sentencing hearing is that neither the Task Force prosecutors nor Fastow attorneys disclosed to Judge Hoyt during the sentencing hearing about Fastow's contrary testimony during the Lay-Skilling trial.

Or did they? According to this Tom Fowler/Houston Chronicle article, Task Force prosecutors and Fastow's attorneys met with Judge Hoyt in chambers during a transcribed meeting the afternoon before Fastow's sentencing. The transcript of that meeting has not been made public and none of the participants is talking about what was discussed. The Chronicle has filed a motion to unseal the transcript (download a copy here) and neither Fastow nor the Task Force is really opposing the Chronicle's motion (Fastow has requested that matters regarding his personal medical condition be redacted from the transcript).

But what is really odd about all this is that Fowler reports that the Task Force, in a recent filing that is not yet publicly available, states that it wants to review the transcript of the closed-door meeting because "[t]he government is currently assessing whether to file a notice of appeal of the sentence imposed on Mr. Fastow, and it cannot make that determination without a copy of the transcript of the pre-sentencing hearing."

Note to Task Force -- it's hard to appeal rulings successfully when you do not object to the ruling in the first place.

Posted by Tom at 4:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 12, 2006

Previewing the Skilling appeal

Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling filed a motion for bail pending appeal earlier in the week (download a copy here; Carrie Johnson's WaPo article on the motion is here) and, in so doing, previews the major issues that he will emphasize in his upcoming appeal of his conviction on conspiracy, securities fraud and insider trading charges: the "deliberate ignorance" jury instruction; the Task Force's application of the "deprivation of honest services" theory upon which most of the conviction is based; failure to transfer the venue of the trial and related jury bias issues; and the Task Force's prosecutorial misconduct, particularly in effectively precluding witnesses with exculpatory testimony for Skilling from testifying during the trial by threatening those witnesses with prosecution if they were to do so. The motion is compelling, and its introduction sums up Skilling's position well:

Jeff Skilling should remain on bail pending appeal. He presents no flight risk, nor is he a threat to society; his appeal is not being pursued to delay; and his appeal will raise substantial issues of law that, if resolved in his favor, will likely result in the reversal of his convictions. See 18 U.S.C. § 3143(b) (elements defendant must establish to obtain bail pending appeal); United States v. Clark, 917 F.2d 177, 179 (5th Cir. 1990) (same). Only the last of these elements should be in dispute, and Skilling satisfies them. His appeal challenges all the counts of conviction and presents enough of a “close,” or “substantial,” question to warrant bail pending its resolution. United States v. Valera-Elizondo, 761 F.2d 1020, 1024 (5th Cir. 1985).

One of the strongest arguments Skilling will have on appeal is that a “deliberate ignorance” instruction should not have been given in this case. Whether to give such an instruction always presents a “close question.” United States v. Tunick, No. S3 98 CR 1238 (SAS), 2001 U.S. Dist Lexis 2911, at *8 n.5 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 22, 2001). The question was especially close here for at least four reasons:

• Such instructions are disfavored, see United States v. Ojebode, 957 F.2d 1218, 1229 (5th Cir. 1992);

• Skilling never asserted an “ostrich” defense, a usual prerequisite to issuing the instruction, see United States v. Lara-Velasquez, 919 F.2d 946, 951 (5th Cir. 1990);

• Skilling never purposefully blinded himself to any allegedly criminal facts, another prerequisite, see United States v. Posada-Rios, 158 F.3d 832, 875 (5th Cir. 1998); and,

• Finally, the Task Force all but conceded that the instruction should apply only to Lay, yet the Court refused to give an instruction informing the jury that the deliberate ignorance theory could apply only to one, and not to both, defendants, cf. 2001 Fifth Circuit Criminal Jury Instruction 1.37 (approving such clarification; citing United States v. Reissig, 186 F.3d 617 (5th Cir. 1999)).

Courts in three recent, white-collar cases (one involving WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers) released defendants pending appeal based solely on a disputed deliberate ignorance instruction. See United States v. Kaplan, No. 02 CR. 883 (DAB), 2005 WL 3148060, at *1-2 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 22, 2005); United States v. Ebbers, No. S4 02 Cr. 1144 (BSJ) (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 7, 2005) (attached as Ex. 1); Tunick, 2001 U.S. Dist Lexis 2911, at *8-10. In granting bail pending appeal, these courts did not endorse defendants’ arguments and, in fact, the court in Ebbers stated its strong disagreement with Ebbers’ claim that it had erred. See Ebbers, No. S4 02 Cr. 1144 (BSJ) at 4. Importantly, however, these courts recognized that “bail pending appeal is not conditioned on the [District] Court’s ‘finding that its own judgment is likely to be reversed on appeal.’” Id. As is the rule in the Fifth Circuit, for bail to be warranted, the appeal must only present a “substantial question” that likely impacts all the counts of conviction. Id.; see also United States v. Valera-Elizondo, 761 F.2d 1020, 1022 (5th Cir. 1985).

As in Ebbers, Kaplan, and Tunick, this Court need only look at this one appellate issue— deliberate ignorance—to find a substantial question exists and to grant Skilling’s motion. This instruction applied to all the counts, it was argued by the Task Force in closing, and if it were improperly given, then reversal of all of Skilling’s counts of conviction is likely. Here, we submit, is where the Court’s inquiry on this bail motion may begin and end.

If the Court is not convinced that this one appellate argument warrants granting bail pending appeal, other “substantial questions” exist. For example:

• Jury bias impacted every count of the verdict. If the appellate courts apply the correct, current, more nuanced tests to measure prejudice, reversal is likely.

• Moreover, this case, like no other recent case of note, tests the boundaries of prosecutors’ discovery obligations and defense access to witnesses. The Task Force’s approach to discovery, witnesses access, and the trial should be grounds for reversal, if not outright dismissal, as recent developments, especially in the KPMG case, establish.

Separately, but especially together, these various appellate issues warrant granting Skilling bailvpending appeal. Again, we do not expect the Court to “certify” that Skilling’s convictionsvshould be reversed. United States v. Randell, 761 F.2d 122, 125 (2d Cir. 1985). That is not the standard. The Court need only find that the appeal is not taken for delay and the issues raised are substantial, and, if decided in Skilling’s favor, likely will result in a reversal. See id.

Skilling meets this test and exceeds it. Given its track record on appeal, the Task Force will be hard pressed to argue otherwise. Appellate courts have tested two sets of convictions the Task Force secured at trial. The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the first conviction in the Arthur Andersen case. It did so because the Task Force, as here, successfully argued for mens rea instructions that allowed the jury to convict the firm for conduct that arguably was innocent, or at worst negligent. See Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States, 544 U.S. 696, 704-06 (2005). Courts in the Fifth Circuit have made clear that an improperly given deliberate ignorance instruction poses this precise risk: “[T]he deliberate ignorance instruction poses the risk that a jury might convict the defendant on a lesser negligence standard—the defendant should have been aware of the illegal conduct.” Lara-Velasquez, 919 F.2d at 951 (italics added). This risk was realized in this case, and was only compounded by the Court’s refusals to (a) sever Skilling’s and Lay’s trials, and (b) give an instruction, to which the Task Force had agreed, that the deliberate ignorance theory may not apply to both defendants, but only one.

The Task Force’s second appellate reversal further compels the relief Skilling seeks. In United States v. Brown, 459 F.3d 509, 522-23, 524 (5th Cir. 2006) (en banc petition pending), the Fifth Circuit reversed each of defendants’ conspiracy convictions either for insufficient evidence or because the Task Force’s conspiracy charge was premised on an overly expansive and improper theory of “honest services” wire fraud. Over defendants’ objections, that same honest services theory of wire fraud conspiracy was charged and instructed in this case. The Task Force relied heavily on this improper theory in cross-examining Skilling and in its closing argument to the jury. In light of Brown, Skilling’s Count One conspiracy conviction cannot stand. In addition, because the conspiracy count was the foundation of the Task Force’s case, Brown will likely require the reversal of every count on which Skilling was convicted. For example, Pinkerton instructions were given on the securities fraud counts (Counts 2, 14, 16-20, and 22-26), tying the faulty conspiracy charge to these substantive offenses. Similarly, the Task Force said both before and during trial that the conspiracy was the inside information on which Skilling traded, thereby linking the erroneous Count One to the insider trading conviction in Count 51.

Given the presence of so many appellate issues, granting Skilling bail pending appeal is appropriate.

Posted by Tom at 5:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

So, what's the big deal about paying key witnesses?

If you're in Baltimore on Friday, you should make a point to drop in on Larry Ribstein and Bruce Kobayashi's presentation at the University of Maryland's 2006 Business Law Conference of their paper entitled What's So Bad About Paying Plaintiffs?

In this related blog post, Larry highlights the issues addressed in the paper by juxaposing the treatment of a couple of plaintiff-types who are currently signing like canaries, Enron's Andy Fastow and Howard Vogel, the main accuser of Milberg, Weiss:

We explore the basic policies at stake in the related issues of paying off plaintiffs and witnesses involved in the Milberg indictment. We ask, what's the difference between Andy Fastow and Howard Vogel? [. . .]

Both cases involve paying somebody for the effort and other costs involved in bringing facts to a court to establish claims that society thinks are worth bringing. [. . .]

As for paying witnesses, note that the law specifically allows payments to expert witnesses, recognizing the need to reward effort. But lay witnesses expend effort as well as risking social stigma and punishment. To be sure, the law has means other than payment of compelling appearance by fact witnesses. But the law has to identify relevant fact witnesses before it can compel their appearance. And while paying lay witnesses can encourage bad conduct, such as lying, the same is true for expert witnesses and for witnesses such as Fastow. Again, why distinguish these situations?

This question of how to distinguish the "payment" to somebody like Fastow and payments like those to Vogel arose in U.S. v. Singleton, 165 F.3d 1297 (10th Cir. 1999), which ultimately determined, en banc, that government lawyers weren't a "whoever" prohibited from giving "anything of value" for testimony. Why not? The least persuasive argument is that we can trust the government. Oh yeah? Anybody who thinks that should check with Judge Kaplan. [. . .]

Many people have focused on the outrage of Milberg suing for kickbacks while paying its own kickbacks to plaintiffs. There is truth in that outrage, but it's not the whole truth. While the government was prosecuting Milberg for making payments, it was making its own payoff in the form of the plea deal with Vogel. Of course the government's conduct wasn't illegal. But, again, why is one form of conduct legal while the other is not?

This is no mere technical pursuit of logical purity. Unless we can soundly distinguish between legal and illegal conduct, we risk undercutting the very conduct norms the criminal justice system is supposed to be creating.

Read the entire post and the related presentation. And then think about the prejudicial impact on defendants of the system that Ribstein and Kobayashi describe, particularly where the government also effectively precludes exculpatory testimony by threatening other witnesses with prosecution.

Posted by Tom at 4:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Fortune Global 500

Tory Gattis over at Houston Strategies has the lowdown on this year's Fortune Global 500 corporate rankings and, as usual, Houston fares quite well, ranking 10th globally with over $326 billion in Global 500 revenues.

Interestingly, the top four cities -- Tokyo, Paris, London, and New York -- have over a trillion dollars in Global 500 revenues. Houston ranks third in the U.S. with six Global 500 companies headquartered here. A quick glance at the list indicates that the DFW metroplex has five, although both Ft. Worth and Irving have more Global 500 companies (two) than Dallas (one).

Update: Tory follows his first post up with this one about Houston leading the list of cities with the fastest-growing companies.

Posted by Tom at 4:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 11, 2006

Criminalizing the information markets

As noted earlier here, here and here, the federal govenment's crackdown on Internet gambling is a a wasteful exercise in nanny-state futility, but also damaging to important American markets. Following up on that theme, University of Texas finance professor Paul Tetlock and Robert Hahn, director of the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Joint Center, pen this NY Times op-ed appropriately entitled "Short Odds for Ignorance" in which they make the point that the Internet gambling ban will likely shut down important and productive information markets such as TradeSports:

The bigger economic story is how this act, by effectively prohibiting Internet betting, could unintentionally slow the emergence of new tools that have the potential to improve the productivity of the private sector and the government. Sadly, this is an aspect of the measure that both its supporters and its opponents seem to have overlooked. [. . .]

For instance, we now have markets for predicting political and economic events, where you can wager on the monthly unemployment rate or the outcome of the presidential race. (If you visit TradeSports.com, you can bet on Hillary Clinton’s chances of becoming the next president: a contract purchased for $1.91 would yield $10 if she wins — implying that the senator has about a 1 in 5 chance of winning.)

Why should we care? Because information markets, which essentially reflect the collective wisdom of savvy bettors, can help us make more accurate forecasts. Information markets have outperformed experts in a number of areas, whether it’s predicting point spreads in football games or elections or printer sales. There are more than 20 Web sites that offer information-market securities, including those run by Goldman Sachs and the University of Iowa.

These markets work for several reasons: first, almost anyone can participate; second, people think hard when they have to back up their predictions with money — buy the right presidential contract and you win, buy the wrong one and you lose; third, the profit motive encourages people to look for better information.

Many academics across the political spectrum believe that information markets could be critical in improving decision making by governments, nonprofit organizations and the private sector. Yet, because of current regulatory restrictions, the Iowa market is the only place in the United States dedicated to improving our understanding of these markets. Also, those information markets whose purpose is to make money have generally based themselves offshore, partly in reaction to existing state and federal restrictions on Internet gambling.

You may recall that, a couple of years after the 9/11 attacks, the Pentagon floated the idea of setting up information markets for predicting terrorist attacks. Those plans were scuttled because of the misdirected public outcry by those who could not bear the thought of someone profiting off of predicting something that could result in human suffering. Now, Congress is preventing Americans from access to other important information tools because of a misguided desire to impose a paternalistic law outlawing something that is not even a significant problem.

And these legislators are working for us?

Posted by Tom at 6:21 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

They play for keeps in the SEC

Year in and year out, the Southeastern Conference is the most competitive of the major college football conferences.

Reflecting that intense competition, you may recall this item from earlier this year in which an Auburn University professor charged that another university professor and the Auburn athletic department had engaged in academic fraud for the purpose of ensuring the eligibility of a large number of Auburn football players.

Those competitive fires boiled over again a couple of weeks ago when an Auburn football team laptop containing the team's confidential playbook turned up missing the week before Auburn played South Carolina in a big game. Although Auburn initially feared that South Carolina would end up with the missing playbook, it turned out that a homeless man had lifted the computer and it was returned to the Auburn team.

All of that leads to this Onion article that reports that the playbook was actually returned in, might we say, slightly altered form.

And, just to emphasize that truth is often stranger than fiction in the SEC, this State.com article reports that South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier dressed down one of his assistant coaches during the post-game press conference after the Gamecocks won this past week against Kentucky. Spurrier followed up that dressing-down with this apology. At least I think that's an apology.

Posted by Tom at 5:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Richard Justice goes batty again

As noted here and here earlier, Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice comes uncorked at the darndest times.

Take Justice's recent blog post on why the Stros should not make a play for disgruntled New York Yankees star, Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez is the same age as Stros slugger Lance Berkman and has substantially better career hitting statistics than Berkman, but Justice engages in vacuous blathering about how Rodriguez would not be a "good fit" for the Stros despite the fact that it is clear that the Stros' main need is a hitter of Rodriguez's quality.

Well, Justice's subjective analysis would normally not even merit a comment, except that he ends it with the following salvo:

A-Rod may be the kind of guy [Stros GM] Tim Purpura would want, but I'm guessing the best GMs--Billy Beane, Gerry Hunsicker, Pat Gillick, etc.--wouldn't touch him.

What a cheap shot at Purpura. Although it's fine to think that Rodriguez would not be welcome in the Stros clubhouse, it's silly to suggest that exploring a trade for a hitter of his caliber reflects poor judgment by the Stros GM. And though Justice apparently doesn't want to admit it, his old buddy Hunsicker is such a good general manager that he couldn't even land a GM job at all after leaving the Stros last year and ended up working this past season as an aide to the GM at Tampa Bay, not exactly on the upper-crust of Major League Baseball.

Richard Justice needs to remove his nose from Gerry Hunsicker's rear end.

Posted by Tom at 5:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 10, 2006

Stros 2006 Review, Part Ten: Season Recap and Report Card

With the League Championship Series matchups now set, it's time to put the Stros 2006 season to rest. At least the Stros' late season surge was fun while it lasted, but it ended in the same manner as too many of this club's games (previous reviews here) -- with a whimper in Atlanta as the Stros failed to make the playoffs for the first time in three seasons and for the only the fourth time in the past 10 seasons. This tenth and final review of the season will provide a report card on the Stros, hopefully without the subjective blather that we endure from much of the mainstream media that covers the club.

The Stros played well down the stretch as they posted an 11-6 record in the final 1/10th of the season (including their magical nine game winning streak), which means that they were a solid 21-12 over the final 20% of the season. However, inasmuch as the Stros were 19-13 during the first 20% of the season, that means that the club was an abysmal 42-55 during the middle 60% of the season. That latter record is reflective of the club's poor hitting, while the 40-25 record during the first and final 20% segments of the season reflect the club's strong pitching. The combination of the two means that the Stros are about a National League-average team, which is proved by the club's 82-80 final record.

The Stros late-season run was fueled by outstanding pitching, which has been the foundation of the club's success throughout the Biggio-Bagwell era. After a slow start this season, the Stros pitching staff really picked it up over the second half of the season, finishing by saving an outstanding 78 more runs than a National League-average pitching staff would have saved in the same number of innings (RSAA, explained here). That was the best of any pitching staff in the National League this season.

Nevertheless, as has been the case over the past six seasons, the Stros' overall hitting declined again this season. The club's hitters generated a poor 47 runs fewer runs than a National League-average team would have created using the same number of outs (RCAA, explained here), which was only 11th among the 16 National League teams.

Thus, while this season was clearly not disastrous, my main concern is that the club's fast finish will distract management from recognizing and addressing the festering problem with the club's hitting that -- if not rectified -- will prevent the Stros from being a perennial playoff contender during the Berkman-Oswalt era. The initial management move -- firing pitching coach Jim Hickey while retaining manager Phil Garner and hitting coach Sean Berry -- is not particularly encouraging, although it must be conceded that young, back-end rotation starters Taylor Buchholz and Wandy Rodriguez struggled this season. That probably sealed Hickey's fate.

But as my grades for the Stros players reflect, the Stros have far bigger issues than their pitching coach. The club's model of emphasizing pitching remains sound, so the club doesn't need to become even an above-average National League-hitting team to return to serious playoff contention. In fact, adding merely one above-average hitting corner outfielder may be enough to do the trick so long as the pitching continues to excel. But whatever deals Stros management make, the club clearly does not need to make wholesale changes during the off-season to return to serious playoff contention in the 2007 season. Indeed, the $40 million or so in payroll that will be freed up with the expiration of the Bagwell, Clemens and Pettitte contracts will provide Stros management with some much-needed flexibility in consummating a deal or two.

My report card for the Stros follows the final season statistics below. Pdf's of the final hitting stats are here and the final pitching stats are here), courtesy of Lee Sinins' sabermetric Complete Baseball Encyclopedia. The abbreviations for the hitting stats are defined here and the same for the pitching stats are here:

Now for the grades. First, the A-team:

Lance Berkman: A+ The Big Puma, Fat Elvis, or whatever you want to call him, Berkman has developed into one of the best sluggers in Major League Baseball. His 64 RCAA was third in the National League behind only Philly's Ryan Howard (82 RCAA) and the Cards' Albert Pujols (76 RCAA), and he was also was third home runs with 45, third in on-base average, slugging percentage and OPS (on-base average + slugging percentage). As noted earlier here, he overtook Biggio as the second-best hitter in the Stros franchise history and is the only current player who has a chance of overtaking Bagwell as the best hitter in Stros history. His 2006 season was the 8th best season by any Stros player, and he now has three of the top Stros top 10 seasons:

Berkman is now solidly the second-best hitter behind Jeff Bagwell in Stros history:

Berkman's OPS (on-base average + slugging percentage) this season is fourth best in Stros history:

Berkman's 136 RBI's this season set a new Stros record:

Berkman's 45 home runs this season are the second-best in Stros history:

Berkman's 45 home runs also tied for the best ever in a season by a switch-hitter in National League history:

In addition to his superlative hitting, Berkman provided flexibility for the team by playing multiple positions and playing each one of them reasonably well. He remains an adventure every once and awhile on the basepaths, but that's small potatoes in comparison to everything else that he brings to the table. Berkman -- along with Roy O -- is now clearly the leader of the Stros and a bonafide Hall-of-Fame candidate if he can maintain his current level of productivity over the next seven seasons or so.

Roy Oswalt: A+ Already the best pitcher in Stros history, Roy O added to his legacy with another excellent season, finishing with an outstanding 2.98 ERA and a superlative 39 RSAA, good for second in the National League. His season was a personal best and tied for sixth best in Stros history:

Oswalt is already far and away the best pitcher in Stros history:

The club awarded Oswalt with the most lucrative contract in franchise history. Barring injury, Roy O is another legitimate, home-grown Hall-of-Fame candidate for the Stros franchise.

Roger Clemens: A+ What more can be said about the Rocket? He is legitimately one of the three best pitchers ever to play the game and continues to increase his career (since 1900) RSAA record. Even if the 19th century is included, only Cy Young saved more runs than Clemens over his career:

Clemens had a 29 RSAA and a 2.30 ERA in 2006 in less than half the season, which is nevertheless the 13th best season in Stros history. If he were to offer to play 40% of the season next year, the Stros would be foolish not to accomodate him. Truly, Clemens is one for the ages.

Luke Scott: A The 28 year-old journeyman minor leaguer and throw-in from Cleveland in the Jeroime Robertson trade a couple of seasons ago, Scott was one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball over the final 65 games of the season as he accumulated a 29 RCAA, 10 taters, a .426 on-base average, a .621 slugging percentage and an 1.047 OPS. His performance probably ensures him a starting berth in left field for next season, but the question remains whether Scott is simply a late-bloomer or a career AAAA-hitter who had the one-time hitting streak of his life during the final 65 games of the 2006 season.

Next are the B grades:

Dan Wheeler: B+ For the third straight season, Wheeler (2.52 ERA/16 RSAA) was a quiet and efficient reliever for the Stros and took over the closer role late in the season. Few people realize it, but Wheeler's 35 RSAA over the past three seasons is better than Lidge's 34 RSAA. Manager Garner's stubborn slowness in replacing Lidge with Wheeler as the club's closer could well have cost the Stros more than the 1.5 games that they finished behind the Cards in the NL Central standings.

Mike Lamb: B- Lamb rebounded from a subpar 2005 season with one of his most productive seasons (5 RCAA/.361 OBA/.475 SLG/.836 OPS) while contributing at several different positions. He is a handy player to have around.

As you would expect from an average team, the C grade group is larger than the above-average group:

Chris Burke: C+ Burke was average offensively (0 RCAA/.347 OBA/.418 SLG/.765 OPS), but gets a plus score because of his ability to contribute defensively at multiple positions. His development continues to be stunted by the Stros' continued reliance on the declining Biggio, one of the substantial costs of that indulgence.

Chad Qualls C+ Qualls' season (3.76 ERA/8 RSAA) mirrored that of the pitching staff overall -- started slow over the first half of the season, but was increasingly effective as the season wore on. Likely to be Wheeler's setup man next season.

Trever Miller C+ Miller has a career 4.41 ERA. Somehow, he patched together a 3.02 ERA/9 RSAA season as the Stros lefthanded specialist out of the bullpen. Just don't count on it happening again.

Russ Springer C+ Career 4.94 ERA reliever has a 3.47 ERA/7 RSAA season. See Miller analysis above.

Morgan Ensberg C Ensberg had a great 2005 season, then got hurt and faded at the end of the season. He started off like a house afire this season (20 RSAA/.403 OBA/.627 SLG/1.030 OPS as of May 26), then hurt his shoulder and was slightly below-average over the rest of the season (16/.396/.463/.859). Despite that, he was still the third most-productive hitter on the Stros after Berkman and Scott. My sense is that Ensberg just needs to be left alone at third base and that he has been mishandled by Garner and, before him, even more so by Jimy Williams. Inasmuch as the Stros have far larger problems than Ensberg, here's hoping that he has an injury-free 2007 season.

Andy Pettitte: C After having the best season of his career in 2005, Pettitte had a miserable first 2/3rd's of the season before pulling it together in the final two months to salvage an average season (4.20 ERA/9 RSAA). All in all, the Stros did not get their money's worth from Pettitte in regard to the high-priced three-year contract the club gave him. However, the deal was worth it if it helped draw Clemens into the fold. Pettitte's left elbow is chronically sore these days, so there's no telling whether he'll even play next season. If he does, then it will be for much less than the $16.5 million he received for this past season.

Fernando Nieve: C One of the Stros contingent of promising young pitchers, Nieve (4.20 ERA/4 RSAA) began the season as a starter, but moved to the bullpen in the middle of the season and was reasonably effective. A decent bet to assume Qualls' spot as the setup man for Qualls and Wheeler next season.

Aubrey Huff: C Huff (O RSAA/.341 OBA/.478 SLG/.819 OPS) was a decent mid-season acquisition, but really proved to be basically Mike Lamb with a tad more power but less defensive acumen (which is not good because Lamb is no magician with the glove). The Stros gave up a promising minor league pitcher (Mitch Talbot) and a speculative shortstop prospect (Ben Zobrist) to get Huff, so the club probably came out ahead on the trade. Because Lamb already provides basically what Huff brings to the table, my sense is that the free agent Huff is a longshot to stay with the Stros.

Jason Hirsh, Matt Albers and Chris Sampson: C- None of these rookie pitchers set the league on fire, but Hirsh (6.04 ERA/-7 RSAA) and Albers (6.00 ERA/-4 RSAA) are young and showed flashes of MLB-starter ability, and the older Sampson (2.12 ERA/9 RSAA) looks as if he could be effective as a long reliever and spot starter.

Finally, the below-average, of which there are quite a few:

Willy Taveras: D But for his continued improvement as a defensive player and his speed, Taveras' (-17 RCAA/.333 OBA/.338 SLG/.671 OPS) grade would be an F. Taveras should be trade bait this off-season for an MLB team that is willing to sacrifice offense for defense in centerfield. Taveras is not a good fit for the hitting-deprived Stros.

Adam Everett: D Although one of the best defensive shortstops in Major League Baseball, Everett's offensive limitations (-31 RSAA/.290 OBA/.352 SLG/.642 OPS) render him a below-average National League player. Nevertheless, he is less expendable than Taveras because the Stros do not have any replacement for him within the organization at this time.

Jason Lane: D Lane was a big disappointment for the Stros this season. After a promising 2005 season as a first-time starter, Lane regressed this season (-12 RSAA/.318 OBA/.392 SLG/.710 OPS). Even as bad as Lane was, what's frightening is that the Stros might just have won the NL Central had Garner given a substantial number of Taveras and Preston Wilson's at-bats to Lane.

Eric Bruntlett: D Bruntlett (-3 RCAA/.351 OBA/.345 SLG/.696 OPS) fulfilled his role of being a useful utilityman who can play most any position. But a .345 slugging percentage?

Orlando Palmeiro: D- As with Pettitte, Palmeiro (-8 RSAA/.294 OBA/.319 SLG/ .613 OPS) was poor for most of the season before catching fire down the stretch and contributing to the Stros' late season surge. But a .613 OPS is not going to cut it as a club's prime pinch-hitter.

Manager Phil Garner: D- Baseball managers have far less of an effect on games than either football or basketball coaches. However, a manager can make a difference in a close race, and Garner most certainly cost the Stros more than the 1.5 games that the club finished behind the Cardinals for the NL Central title. From his stubborn insistence on keeping the ineffective Lidge in the closer role far too long, to his cluelessness in giving Biggio, Taveras, Preston Wilson and Ausmus extra at-bats when better alternatives existed, to stupid moves such as this, Garner's limitations as a manager were exposed this season. The past two seasons may have given Garner a pass for this season, but his poor performance this season certainly did not deserve the extension of his contract that Stros management gave him after the season. That Stros management rewards such a dubious performance is somewhat worrisome.

Craig Biggio: F The bottom fell out this season for the 40 year-old Stros icon (-20 RCAA/.306 OBA/.422 SLG/.728 OPS). In addition to having by far his worst season at the plate, Bidg has become a severe defensive liability to boot. Bidg will require between 350-400 plate appearances next season to generate the 70 hits he needs to reach 3,000. In the meantime, Burke's development will continue to be stunted, as was Lane's before him during the Biggio outfield experiment. Owner Drayton McLane will indulge Bidg's quest for 3,000 hits by bringing him back next season, but it would be better for the Stros if Bidg were to call it a career and retire. Electing to help his team by quitting just short of reaching 3,000 hits won't affect his certain Hall-of-Fame credentials one bit.

Brad Lidge: F Lidge (5.28 ERA/-6 RSAA) was one of the worst pitchers on the Stros pitching staff this season. It's not difficult to understand why -- he simply has lost his ability to throw his devastating slider for strikes consistently. As a result, hitters are laying off Lidge's slider and laying into his fastball, which Lidge does not locate well. Ever since his breakout performance in 2004 (26 RSAA), Lidge has been trending steadily downward (only an 8 RSAA over the past two seasons). The more consistent Wheeler now has a better RSAA than Lidge over the past three seasons and should be the closer going into the 2007 season. Although his trade value has plummeted over the past year, the Stros should definitely listen to reasonable offers for Lidge. It is looking less likely with each passing season that he will ever regain his dominating 2004 level of performance.

Taylor Buchholz: F Another big disappointment, Buchholz (5.89 ERA/-17 RSAA) had a couple of good outings early in the season, wilted as the season wore on and then regressed even further when he was demoted to AAA Round Rock. The kid has good stuff, but he still needs to figure out how to pitch. Probably begins next season behind Hirsh and Albers.

Wandy Rodriguez F One of the worst Major League starters over the past two seasons, it will not be a good sign for 2007 if Rodriguez (5.64 ERA/-16 RSAA) is on the Stros' staff.

Brad Ausmus: F Ausmus (-38 RCAA/.308 OBA/.285 SLG/.593 OPS) took his level of poor play to new depths during the 2006 season as he had the worst season of hitting in Stros history:

Ausmus is far and away the worst hitter in Stros history:

Given that Ausmus is not even a particularly good defensive player anymore (his arm is no longer strong enough to throw out basestealers consistently), there is no justification for Ausmus remaining a regular Major League player. The only reason he received an F rather than an F- is that he blocks pitches well.

Brandon Backe: Incomplete. Here's hoping that the quintessential battler is able to overcome Tommy John surgery and return to the Stros rotation. See you in 2008, Brandon!

So, that's it for the 2006 season. Certainly a disappointment after the successful playoff runs of the past two seasons, but there is hope on the horizon -- this is not a club that needs radical changes to return to serious playoff contender status. Although GM Purpura's moves this past off-season (remember Preston Wilson?) were uninspiring, missing the playoffs this season and more payroll flexibility should motivate him to make the changes during this off-season that are necessary to reverse the Stros' downward hitting trend. Stay tuned, because my sense is that this off-season is going to be quite interesting.

Posted by Tom at 4:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Amish Way

The first two paragraphs of Rod Dreher's op-ed in the Dallas Morning News says it all:

Is there any place on earth that more bespeaks peace, restfulness and sanctuary from the demons of modern life than a one-room Amish schoolhouse? That fact is no doubt why so many of us felt so defiled – there is no more precise word – by news of the mass murders that took place there this week. If you're not safe in an Amish schoolhouse ... And yet, as unspeakable as those killings were, they were not the most shocking news to come out of Lancaster County this week.

No, that would be the revelation that the Amish community, which buried five of its little girls this week, is collecting money to help the widow and children of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the man who executed their own children before taking his own life. A serene Amish midwife told NBC News on Tuesday that this is normal for them. It's what Jesus would have them do.

Read the entire piece. What a magnificent expression of true faith.

Posted by Tom at 4:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Project Posner

Not just any judge has one of these. But it's a darn good idea. The following is the website's description:

The purpose of this site is to make freely and easily available to the public Richard Posner's largest and greatest body of work — his judicial opinions. The database contains opinions from 1981 to 2006. It will not contain the most recent opinions.

Why this site? While Posner's books and popular writings are easily available to the public, his opinions are difficult or expensive for the public to access, let alone search. This site, for the first time, collects almost all of his opinions in a single searchable and easily readable database.

For lawyers and those interested in law, Posner's opinions have a particular substantive value. One thing that distinguishes the opinions is the effort to try and get at why a given law actually exists, and an effort to try and make sense of the law. That can make them more useful than most case reports.

In addition, the opinions often develop the American general and state common law. Posner is among the judges who feels free to take the rule of Erie as more suggestion than injunction.

Finally, some of the opinions are funny.

I wonder whether Judge Easterbrook will get one, too?

Posted by Tom at 4:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 9, 2006

The talented Mr. Munitz skates free

Almost lost amidst the media firestorm over California Attorney General Bill Lochyer's decision to prosecute former Hewlett Packard board chairperson Patricia Dunn was this news item that Lochyer's office has decided not to sue or prosecute former Getty Trust president and former University of Houston president Barry Munitz (prior posts here).

Lochyer's office had been investigating Munitz over misuse of trust money for his wife’s travel, using employees for personal errands and making improper payments to a graduate student from trust funds. Lochyer's office concluded that no legal action was advisable because Munitz's actions were authorized by the Getty board and that his settlement with the Getty Trust when he resigned exceeded the value of what the state could recover from Munitz in a civil action or a prosecution.

In other words, Lochyer concluded that there was no need to prosecute Munitz because he had done the right thing in settling up with the Getty Trust. That decision in regard to Munitz makes his decision to prosecute Ms. Dunn all the more curious. Perhaps Ms. Dunn should have done lunch with Lochyer?

Posted by Tom at 5:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The NY Times on James Baker's new book

Former White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of State and Secretary of Treasury James Baker, III, who spends his time these days at the Baker Institute at Rice University, has written a new book entitled “Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics!” Adventures and Lessons From an Unexpected Public Life." The title of the book is the legendary advice of Baker's grandfather, James Addison Baker, who was one of the founders of the venerable Houston law firm, Baker & Botts.

This NY Times review of Baker's new book belittles the current Bush Administration, even though the book does no such thing. That passes for a book review in the NY Times these days.

Posted by Tom at 5:03 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

More on that energy price conspiracy

A couple of weeks ago, this post noted the news stories about some pundits were floating the theory that the recent slide in energy prices was a dark conspiracy of powerful political forces that were attempting to ensure the victory of the evil capitalist roaders in the upcoming mid-term elections. Bill O'Reilly was probably pleased with these reports.

Subsequently, a week or so ago, Clear Thinkers favorite James Hamilton shot down a similar report that Goldman Sachs was really behind the price decline.

But absurd conspiracy theories do not die easily in American society. Last Friday, this Washington Post article again channels the conspiracy theory, this time pointing toward a new bogeyman, Saudi Arabia:

According to this theory, the Saudi government is doing Bush a favor by trying to bring down prices before the election. The evidence? Some say the Saudi government has a long-standing relationship with the Bush family. They also cite the 2004 book by author and Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, "Plan of Attack," which said that then-Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, promised to keep oil production high enough to moderate fuel prices and bolster the U.S. economy during the presidential election year.

Professor Hamilton dutifully tries to keep up with the latest conspiracy theories:

So let me see if I've got this straight-- the evidence is that (1) Bob Woodward says that somebody told him that the Saudis made a promise in 2004 and (2) the Saudis could have reduced production by even more than they already have, if they really wanted to keep prices from falling. As for (1), the Saudis have made plenty of promises -- publicly, for all the world to see-- that came to nothing. And as for (2), what sort of economic theory is this? That the Saudis have been decreasing production over the last year is indisputable. If an even bigger production cut than the Saudis have already made would have been necessary in order to keep prices from falling, doesn't that prove rather conclusively that the cause of the price drop must be something other than what the Saudis have done?

Meanwhile, following up on a thought from this earlier post, Don Boudreaux over at Cafe Hayek chimes in with the following letter to the editor that responds to an earlier letter by an advocate of the energy price conspiracy:

Dear Editor:

Alleging that today's falling gasoline prices result from a fiendish plot to keep the GOP in power, Kenneth Jones is certain that "gasoline prices will go right back up to $2.75-plus after the [November] election" (Letters, October 2).

If Mr. Jones is correct, he can make a financial killing. All he need do is to invest all of his assets going long in gasoline futures (which are today about 30 percent lower than they were in late July). Indeed, he ought even to cash out all the equity in his house, max out on his credit cards, and borrow heavily from his brother-in-law so that he can invest as much as possible in these futures.

He can then contribute his post-election financial bounty to the Democratic National Committee.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

Keeping up with nutty conspiracy theories regarding fluctuation in energy prices is a full-time job.

Posted by Tom at 4:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 8, 2006

2006 Weekly local football review

Texas Longhorns 28 Oklahoma 10

As noted in last week's review, my recent up-close exposure to this Texas team led me to conclude that the Sooners would have their hands full with the Longhorns (5-1, 2-0), and that was certainly the case during the second half of the annual Red River Shootout in Dallas on Saturday. The Horns dominated the Sooners 21-0 in the second half on their way to a convincing 28-10 victory in what really amounted to a rock'em, sock'em defensive battle that was won by the team with the fewer turnovers. Texas QB Colt McCoy had a couple of nice TD passes during that second half and Longhorn CB Aaron Ross was all over the field, icing the game with an alert scoop-up of a lateral pass in the 4th quarter. Texas' current 17-game winning streak in Big 12 games is the longest in conference history, surpassing Kansas State's 15-game winning streak from 1997-98. The Longhorns have surprising Baylor (3-3, 2-0) at home next week before facing the toughest part of their schedule -- consecutive road games at Nebraska (5-1, 2-0) and Texas Tech (4-2, 1-1).

Texas Aggies 21 Kansas 18

About the time late in the 4th quarter that the Aggie faithful were ready to go Emory Bellard on current Aggie coach Dennis Franchione, the Ags (5-1, 1-1) dug deep and drove 80 yards for the game-winning TD. Although the Aggie defense pretty well shut down KU's offense in the second half, the Aggie offense is still not hitting on all cylinders under QB Stephen McGee. The Ags have surprising Missouri (6-0, 2-0) at home next week and then travel to Baylor and Oklahoma State before facing their crushing final month of the season against OU, Nebraska and Texas.

Louisiana-Lafayette 31 Houston 28

Note to Coogs (4-2, 2-0) -- when you are trying to build credibility on the national scene and within your community, it's a good thing not to lose to a team called "La-La," particularly after building a 21-0 first half lead. The Cougars' once-promising season now hangs in the balance as it faces tough games at Southern Miss and at home against UTEP, Central Florida and Tulsa in their next four games.

Tulane 38 Rice 24

The Owls (1-5, 0-2) struggled on defense all day as a mediocre Tulane team ran up almost 500 yards total offense. The Owls play UAB at home next week before taking on a tough stretch of their season on the road against Central Florida, UTEP, and Tulsa.

The Texans (1-3) are off this week before going to Dallas next week to be hammered by the Cowboys.

Posted by Tom at 8:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 7, 2006

M.D. Andersen patients get a nice Friday surprise

The University of Texas M.D. Andersen Cancer Center in Houston's Texas Medical Center is one of the nation's leading cancer hospitals and research centers. It is a place where difficult issues relating to life and death are confronted on a daily basis, yet the M.D. Andersen professionals work hard to encourage a culture of hope and optimism. It is truly one of Houston's most remarkable places.

Consistent with that remarkable nature, look at who M.D. Andersen patients and workers were able to stumble across yesterday over the lunch hour:

On her way to Friday night's concert in The Woodlands, Sheryl Crow made a detour for a smaller, kindred audience: women with breast cancer.

Six months after her own breast cancer made headlines, the Grammy-winning rocker stopped by the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to mingle with and play for patients and survivors of the disease.

"After I was diagnosed Feb. 22, everything screeched to a halt," Crow told about 200 women who gathered at the hospital's Nellie B. Connally Breast Center for the intimate mini-concert. "I'm on a new path now: I don't want to spend any time doing anything I don't want to do."

Crow, 44, who had surgery and then reconstruction, joked that "breasts are everything" in her business. She said she's been given a clean bill of health, and called her bout with cancer as "life-changing" for her mostly male crew as for her.

Introduced as a "self-described schoolteacher from Missouri who's built a second career as a singer-songwriter," Crow didn't grant media interviews.

An M.D. Anderson spokesperson said her staff had contacted the center to say that Crow wanted to visit and play a few songs for patients.

Wearing jeans, a white vest and heels, Crow sang Soak Up the Sun and Every Day Is A Winding Road to an appreciative audience that packed the center's lobby even though M.D. Anderson gave no official notice of the event. Cell phone cameras clicked away as she played. [. . .]

Crow made the M.D. Anderson appearance as she winds down a national tour with John Mayer.

The tour had been postponed after surgery she's described as "minimally invasive" and follow-up radiation treatment. . .

She made no in-depth references to the ordeal Friday, sticking to music and intimate conversations with patients.

"This brightened everyone's spirits," said Cory Hanson, a Richmond woman with Stage 3 breast cancer. "I'd been a little upset because I'd wanted to get tickets to The Woodlands show, but decided not to because I wouldn't have the energy after today's treatment. But this was a pretty good substitute. At The Woodlands, I wouldn't have sat up front or gotten a hug."

By the way, my teenage daughter reports that the Crow-Mayer concert at The Woodlands Cynthia Mitchell Pavilion was a "10."

Posted by Tom at 7:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 6, 2006

Scorsese scores again

It's always worth noting when Martin Scorsese produces a film, and his newest one -- The Departed -- with Jack Nicholson, Leanardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and an outstanding supporting cast opens today. The initial reviews indicate that it's another Scorsese masterpiece:

NY Times;

Richard Roeper (Chicago Sun-Times);

Joe Morgenstern (WSJ $); and

reviews via Google.

Posted by Tom at 6:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

The tax ruse of big-time college sports

As the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma prepare to reap millions this weekend during their annual shootout in Dallas, the National Collegiate Athletic Administration is preparing a response to a possible federal challenge to the tax policy that facilitates the universities' financial windfall.

This Indy Star.com article reports that the House Ways and Means Committee has delivered an eight-page letter to NCAA President Myles Brand demanding that the NCAA justify why the multi-billion dollar business of big-time college sports deserves its education-based tax exemption (related Miami Hawk Talk post here; also see this Sports Law Blog post). The letter observes in part:

"Educational organizations comprise one of the largest segments of the tax-exempt sector, and most of the activities undertaken by educational organizations clearly further their exempt purpose. The exempt purpose of intercollegiate athletics, however, is less apparent, particularly in the context of major college football and men's basketball programs." [. . .]

"To be tax-exempt . . . the activity itself must contribute to the accomplishment of the university's educational purpose (other than through the production of income). How does playing major college football or men's basketball in a highly commercialized, profit-seeking, entertainment environment further the educational purpose of your member institutions?"

As noted here (see also here and here), NCAA member institutions sold out long ago to the owners of professional sports franchises by effectively agreeing to subsidize minor league systems in football and basketball for the owners. The education-based tax break fuels the raising of funds necessary to capitalize that system, and directly benefits the owners of professional sports franchises who do not need to allocate capital to development of minor league systems because of the NCAA members' cooperation in doing it for them. The contrast between college baseball -- a thriving but relatively small economic model that competes for players with a well-developed minor league professional system -- and college football -- a booming industry (at least for a relative few universities) that does not compete with a minor league for players -- reflects the high stakes involved for everyone involved in the current system.

My sense is that nothing will come of this current Congressional inquiry because -- as one of Larry Ribstein's colleagues points out in the article -- politicians from states that thrive on big-time college sports would probably never allow the gravy train to end. Moreover, foreign professional leagues in basketball are creating a minor-league system in that sport that is changing the nature of college basketball for the better, so arguably markets will eventually work to mitigate the hypocrisy of the current system, anyway. But given the extraordinary run-up in the value of National Football League franchises over the past couple of decades, don't you think it's about time that universities quit subsidizing a part of that growth?

Posted by Tom at 5:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Garrison Keillor's Dallas adventure

Well, it doesn't look as if Garrison Keillor will be placing Dallas on his travel itinerary again anytime soon.

According to this Jacquielynn Floyd/Dallas Morning News column, the author, humorist, syndicated columnist and creator of National Public Radio's venerable Prairie Home Companion show visited Dallas a week ago to promote his latest book, Homegrown Democrat. Highland Park United Methodist Church near the Southern Methodist University campus sponsored Keillor's visit, and over 1,000 of Keillor's adoring fans showed up for his hour-long lecture. The evening apparently went quite well -- the audience laughed and applauded throughout Keillor's talk and he even stuck around afterward to chat and sign a few copies of his book.

But Keillor apparently had a different view of how his trip to Dallas went. The following is what he wrote at the end of his Chicago Tribune column this week:

. . . our country has taken a step toward totalitarianism. If the government can round up someone and never be required to explain why, then it's no longer the United States as you and I always understood it. Our enemies have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They have made us become like them.

I got some insight last week into who supports torture when I went down to Dallas to speak at Highland Park Methodist Church. It was spooky. I walked in, was met by two burly security men with walkie-talkies, and within 10 minutes was told by three people that this was the Bushes' church and that it would be better if I didn't talk about politics. I was there on a book tour for "Homegrown Democrat," but they thought it better if I didn't mention it. So I tried to make light of it: I told the audience, "I don't need to talk politics. I have no need even to be interested in politics--I'm a citizen, I have plenty of money and my grandsons are at least 12 years away from being eligible for military service." And the audience applauded! Those were their sentiments exactly. We've got ours, and who cares?

The Methodists of Dallas can be fairly sure that none of them will be snatched off the streets, flown to Guantanamo Bay, stripped naked, forced to stand for 48 hours in a freezing room with deafening noise. So why should they worry? It's only the Jews who are in danger, and the homosexuals and gypsies. The Christians are doing fine. If you can't trust a Methodist with absolute power to arrest people and not have to say why, then whom can you trust?

Dallas Methodists are the same as German appeasers of Nazi genocide? As Floyd's column relates, Keillor is probably at least exaggerating about what occurred during his visit.

Posted by Tom at 4:35 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

October 5, 2006

Runnin' with the Dogs at Texas-OU Weekend

The greatest annual rivalry game in college football is renewed this Saturday in Dallas as the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners strap it on at the Cotton Bowl, and this year's game is highlighted by a new book about the game, Mike Shropshire's Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football Wars (William Morrow 2006).

Shropshire's book is rollicking fun, focusing on the classic 1967 game, which is the first game of the series that he covered. However, the author also vividly develops the culture of the game, which involves a blow-out weekend in Dallas each year during which wild-eyed fans of each team continually confront one another. Legendary coaches such as Darrell Royal, Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer are a big part of the book, as are current stellar coaches, OU's Bob Stoops and UT's Mack Brown. In this recent Wall Street Journal ($) review of the book, Texas Monthly's Skip Hollandsworth observes the following about the game's unique setting:

[T]he atmosphere is so combustible that it really makes no sense to play the game in the hometown of either team. So it's played at a neutral site: the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Which means that on the Friday before the game, Interstate 35 coming south from Oklahoma and north from Austin is jammed with frenzied fans, their cars, SUVs and pickups decorated with either red Boomer Sooner or orange Longhorn flags and their back windows covered with semi-obscene slogans decrying their rival's ineptitude and lack of -- how to put it? -- manhood and legitimate parentage.

By the time these fans hit the city limits, horns are blowing and beer cans are flying out the windows. The fans either check into hotels (which are booked months in advance) or they barge into the homes of friends and relatives who have ill-advisedly agreed to let them stay. Soon they're out again on Dallas's streets, resuming the horn-blowing and can-tossing. I have some Dallas friends who are so determined to avoid the Texas-OU madness that they don't just leave town; they leave the state.

When the game finally begins, few of these fans have had any sleep. They're bellowing at the enemy and clutching the flasks of margaritas that they smuggled into the stadium -- and those are just the grandparents. As Mr. Shropshire writes in his very entertaining history of the rivalry: "You'll find audiences more genteel and reserved at cock fights."

And Hollandsworth passes along one of his favorite anecdotes about the annual rivalry:

In 1976, Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer and Texas coach Darrell Royal were standing with President Gerald Ford right before the pre-game coin toss. An Oklahoma fan, standing nearby, suddenly yelled: "Hey, who are those assholes with Switzer?"

Who can't love a game that has included players named Wahoo McDaniel (who later became popular on the pro wrestling circuit), the appropriately-named Joe Don Looney (what was the name of that remote island where he ended up?) and the majestically-named Duke Carlisle? Kick-off is at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Posted by Tom at 5:05 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Getting off cheap

The Houston Rockets are off to Austin for pre-season training camp and, although the basketball team hasn't achieved much lately, Rockets owner Les Alexander recently joined for the first time fellow Houston professional sports franchise owners Bob McNair (the Texans) and Drayton McLane (the Stros) on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list. Alexander came in at no. 322 on the list with an estimated net worth of $750 mil.

Thus, some eyebrows were raised recently when this Palm Beach Post article revealed that Alexander had gotten out of his 30-year plus marriage to former wife Nanci in 2003 for a mere $150 million. That information is just now coming to light because Alexander had his attorneys obtain an improper sealing of the court records at the time of the divorce settlement.

Looks as if Alexander has done quite a bit better than the Rockets over the past few years.

Posted by Tom at 4:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Dunn indictment

So, let's see if I've got this straight.

Patricia Dunn, who was probably a bit over her head in her role as chairperson of the Hewlett-Packard board of directors, uses bad judgment in authorizing an investigation into fellow board members over leaks of confidential company information. Although dubious, her judgment to proceed with the investigation is ratified by both in-house and outside counsel of the company, as well as the CEO of the company.

After it is revealed that the investigation went over-the-top in examining phone records of various folks who may have been involved in the leaks, Dunn does the right thing by owning up in public statements and before Congress regarding her role in the matter, apologizes for her lapse in judgment and resigns from the board.

Subsequently, Dunn is indicted on felony charges stemming from the affair by this bird, whose judgment is questionable, to say the least. By the way, Dunn is scheduled to start six months of chemotherapy for recurrent ovarian cancer tomorrow.

Meanwhile, with the exception of a few bloggers, the key corporate issues driving the HP affair -- such as preservation of confidential company information in board deliberations and the impact of a dysfunctional board on a company -- are largely ignored.

So, a question for you. Based on the foregoing, why should any businessperson in the future, who gets embroiled in a similar lapse in judgment as Dunn here, try to do the right thing or be particularly concerned about the leaking of confidential company information? What policies are the Dunn indictment supposed to encourage? Not having lapses in judgment? Not much chance of that. Perhaps it would be better to encourage people to do the right thing, such as Dunn did. But then, we wouldn't have a need for an indictment, would we?

Posted by Tom at 3:51 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)

October 4, 2006

Faldo in, Wadkins out

Three-time Masters champ and former co-lead ABC golf analyst Nick Faldo will replace Lanny Wadkins next year as the lead golf analyst on CBS (SI story here). Wadkins declined to accept a lesser role with the network and will thus play more on the Champions Tour next season, as well as see more of his family.

Peter McCleery thinks its a good move for CBS:

Faldo trades places with Lanny Wadkins, who replaced the "legendary" Ken Venturi four years ago. While I initially welcomed a change after 29 years of Kenny and his well-worn repertoire, Wadkins ultimately disappointed us. He was, quite simply, too repetitve with his own overused and unnecessary phrases, like "that is well done!" and "at this point in time," among others, all of which he should have been told to retire before they grated on so many viewers' nerves and ears.

When Wadkins joined CBS a well-versed TV person predicted there was little room for improvement there. What you saw is what you were gonna get. This is also, largely the fault of the producers and directors he worked with for not properly "coaching" their people on how to get better, something any armchair critic could have done with Wadkins.[. . .]

CBS' golf became duller with [Wadkins] as its lead voice.

McCleery also notes the rather amazing transformation of Faldo from his days as a PGA Tour player:

Faldo's hire and emergence as Mr. Golf on TV continues his amazing transformation from an aloof/loner/player who was famous for saying NOTHING to his fellow competitors before or during his rounds, making more enemies than friends along the way. Now, it's as if a totally different person has come out--funny, likable, a little unpredictable at times but rarely dull. He seems to recognize the power and value of the ole telly as few players have. He dresses very well, too.

Posted by Tom at 5:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A Democratic Party statesman?

This post from yesterday noted the failed leadership of the Republican Party as we approach this fall's elections. In the interests of balance, however, I pass along this delicious post from Victor Davis Hanson in which he takes stock of the current state of the Democratic Party, including one of its standard-bearers, former President Jimmy Carter (earlier post here):

Jimmy Carter . . . almost immediately was back in the news claiming that the United States was one of the world’s great abusers of civil rights (I wonder how our internecine body count in Plains, Georgia stacks up with that in Rwanda, Kosovo, or Dafur?). He adds that all Presidents—except the current one—have been supporters of human rights.

In his dotage, Carter is proving once again that he is as malicious and mean-spirited a public figure as he is historically ignorant. And for all his sanctimonious Christian veneer, and fly-fishing, ‘aw shucks' blue-jeans image, he can’t hide an essentially ungracious and unkind soul.

Does he have any idea of Lincoln and Andrew Johnson suspending habeas corpus and shutting down newspapers, Woodrow Wilson jailing political dissidents, FDR interning American citizens and executing German agents in secret military tribunals? Do we have currently a Nixon’s enemies list? And can Carter point to just one aspect of current American life where civil liberties are materially curtailed, in which an American can’t do what he wants? Getting on a plane without shampoo doesn’t count—or not having your family at the gate when you land either: all thanks to al Qaeda, not George Bush. [. . .]

There is another disturbing element to Cartesian maliciousness. He asks us to forget all the dilemmas of being President, the necessity of making bad choices when the alternative is usually worse. And, of course, he seems to have amnesia about his own failings that put this country in grave jeopardy. He sanctimoniously lectured us on our Cold War fixation on communism—and got a murderous Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He talked of a post-Vietnam reappraisal in the midst of the Cambodian Holocaust. “Human Rights” was an admirable banner, but did not include any such audit of Sandinista Communists.

He wept for the middle class, but adopted policies that led to double-digit interest rates and inflation, ensuring that only the upscale could borrow for a house or ensure their salaries would keep up with the cost of living. No need to mention his energy policy or gas lines.

Carter’s Waterloo, of course was the Iranian hostage crisis. It was not just that his gutting of the military helped to explain the rescue disaster. Far more importantly, we can chart the rise of radical political Islam with the storming of the American embassy in Teheran and the impotent response of Jimmy Carter.

Long before George Bush was elected to anything, crowds in Teheran gave us the genesis of the Great Satan and “Death to Carter”. Does he remember that so great was the Iranian Islamist hatred of him, that Iran deliberately delayed the brokered release of the hostages until he was out of office—a lesson that appeasement wins contempt as the additional wage of its failure.

There's more, so read the whole thing. Then try to figure out the lesser of two bad choices.

Posted by Tom at 5:24 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Part of the problem

From time to time, most recently here, I've noted the abysmal condition and chronically overcrowded nature of the Harris County Jail. It is shameful that we allow the Harris County Commissioners to continue to tolerate this mess.

As Scott Henson has noted on his fine series on the problems with the Harris County Jail, one of the main reasons why the jail is overcrowded is that local judges assess jail time to low-risk persons who have been convicted of victimless or petty crimes.

With that backdrop, this Chronicle article reports that State District Judge Brian Rains of the 176th District Criminal Court was recently recused from the case of a teenager accused of possessing a small amount of cocaine and marijuana because Rains requires jail time for any defendant convicted of a drug offense, no matter how inconsequential. Rains' stance is so far out of kilter that the district attorney's prosecutor did not even bother to oppose the recusal. The vice president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association speculates in the article that the recusal of Rains in this case will prompt many similar recusal motions.

I'm sure Rains' "tough" stance on requiring jail time for all drug offenders plays well on the campaign trail. But it sure stinks as a matter of justice and Harris County jail administration. Here's hoping that the local criminal defense bar continues to recuse him in drug cases and that a political opponent emerges to call him out on the short-sighted nature of his policy.

Posted by Tom at 4:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 3, 2006

Surviving a collision at 37,000 feet

Don't miss this extraordinary report by NY Times columnist Joe Sharkey of his experience on the Embraer Legacy 600 corporate jet that collided with a Brazilian Boeing 737 airliner at 37,000 feet this past weekend. The airliner crashed in the Amazon jungle, killing all 155 people on board. Miraculously, the corporate jet -- although heavily damaged -- was able to make an emergency landing on a military base runway in the jungle, allowing Sharkey and his fellow travelers to survive.

Update: The two American pilots of the corporate jet have been detained in Brazil in connection with the investigation into the crash.

Posted by Tom at 7:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The story of Skidboot

Texas is a land of many different cultures, one of the most endearing of which is that of West Texas. Many of the qualities that make West Texas such a special place shine through in this nine-minute video about a remarkable dog and his master. When you have ten minutes, watch the video and appreciate a wonderful part of this always intriguing state.

Posted by Tom at 4:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

GOP cruising for a bruising?

I'm certainly no political prognosticator, but a couple of matters caught my eye over the past week or so that indicate to me that the Republican Party has become dangerously concerned with maintaining power rather than providing leadership.

The first thing that caught my attention was the political wrangling that occurred in regard to the silly GOP initiative to ban Internet gambling, a ban that leads to absurd abuses of power such as this. Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist was criticized last month for attempting to attach the Internet gambling ban on to a defense appropriations bill, so what does he do? Senator Frist attaches the Internet gambling ban to a port security bill at the last minute to ensure that there would be no debate over the ban and also to make sure that anyone who voted against the port security bill because of such shenanigans would be labeled as being soft on port security. In short, Frist crammed a needless and paternalistic law down our throats while stifling debate on the measure and not allowing for an honest and straightforward vote on the ban.

Elsewhere, over in the scandal sheets, it was bad enough that Florida Republican House member Mark Foley liked to send salacious emails to 16-year old House pages, now it appears that House Republican leadership hoped Foley’s indiscretions could be covered up until after the upcoming election. John Miller at The Corner sums the lurid affair up pretty well:

Foley could become the new Jack Abramoff. Except that whereas the details of Abramoff’s were always a bit complicated for the public to follow closely, the accusations now leveled at Foley are much simpler and more appalling. Foley is on the verge of becoming the poster child of a party that is concerned about little more than preserving its power.

By the way, Foley championed child predator laws as a representative, so there is at least a reasonable chance that he will be prosecuted under the same law that he sponsored. Meanwhile, the NY Times' John Tierney also chimes in ($) on the affair with a sound understanding of the economics of political power:

The justification for the page program is that it gives teenagers an insider’s glimpse of how Congress works. But why disillusion them at such a tender age? If they stayed in school, they could maintain their innocence by reading the old step-by-step textbook version of how a bill becomes law. By going to Capitol Hill, they see how the process has changed:

1. A bill is introduced to build highways.

2. A congressman receives a donation from a constituent who wants to open a go-kart track.

3. The congressman persuades his committee chairman to slip in a $350 million “earmark” for an “alternative sustainable transportation research facility” in his district.

4. The chairman quietly adds similar earmarks for all members of the committee.

5. The bill is passed unanimously.

6. The president complains about the “wasteful spending” but signs it into law anyway.

7. The congressman attends a fund-raiser at the new go-kart track.

What lesson has the page learned? That Congress is the closest thing in modern America to a medieval court: an enclave governed by arcane ancient rules of seniority, a gathering of nobles who spend their days accepting praise and dispensing favors to supplicants.

They’re so secure in their jobs, and so used to being surrounded by groveling minions, that they assume the privileges of feudal lords when dealing with pages and other lieges. Which is why, on occasion, they try to exercise the droit du seigneur.

And the foregoing doesn't even include the Bush Administration's failure to put a stop to the Justice Department's policy of criminalizing unpopular business interests during the post-Enron era, an unsupervised regulatory scheme that has cost U.S. communities billions of dollars in losses and tens of thousands of jobs. Not to mention that badly-needed health care finance reform has been largely ignored, nothing has been done about income tax simplification, wasteful farm subsidies have been increased, inefficient tariffs have been placed on various products (including steel, lumber, and even shrimp), a massive new prescription drug governmental subsidy has been created, poorly-conceived amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code were touted and then enacted, and airline security was nationalized into a huge and ineffectual bureaucracy.

Frankly, the most troubling thing about all this is that the Democratic Party is so unfocused that they are not routing these guys.

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Ryder Cup redux

Following on his earlier comments about the abysmal American Ryder Cup team's performance noted here, Golf Digest and Golf World European correspondent John Huggan is continuing to have a lot of fun at the expense of the American squad members. Among Huggan's ten ways to give the American squad a chance in the next Ryder Cup matches are the following:

5) COMPULSORY YEAR ON THE EUROPEAN TOUR

The sea of sameness that is the PGA Tour is producing - apart from Tiger and maybe Furyk - wave after wave of players who are basically indistinguishable. Yes, they can all hit good shots. But those shots are the same good shots, time after tedious time.

And why is this? Week after week, the courses in the US are presented in the same unimaginative way, making a wide range of shot-making unnecessary and, increasingly, obsolete. A year spent experiencing a wider variety of conditions, food and travel would do the likes of Zach Johnson the world of good and, by extension, help out the Ryder Cup. He might even learn some good jokes.

Then there is the amount of money involved in the PGA Tour. The American side arrived at the K Club having picked up close to $38m among them this year. Mostly for finishing tied for seventh. No wonder they, Woods apart, can't handle it when they are suddenly asked to beat someone. That's a foreign concept or, in this case, a concept embraced only by foreigners.

6) COMPULSORY MATCH-PLAY RULES/ ETIQUETTE SEMINAR FOR ALL US PLAYERS

Hey, DiMarco! Yes, this one is for you. Next time you hole a putt from 20 feet to keep a completely-meaningless match alive, let's make do without the obnoxious fist-pumping, okay? And, on the 18th, with your opponent one up and on the green for two shots and you about to play four from the edge of a lake into which you have just deposited a shiny new ball, walk over and shake hands like a proper golfer - one who has mastered simple arithmetic.

8) STOP YAKKING ON ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF CAPTAINCY

Let's face it, this is a job anyone can do. Look at the captains: one team were skippered by a man who seemed to have every eventuality covered; the other side had a leader whose next coherent thought will be his first. And guess who won?

10) GIVE THE US TEAM A SIX-POINT START

Hey, at least that would keep things pretty close beyond the end of the second day.

Ouch! I don't know about you, but I really hope the 2008 American squad kicks the Euro team's ass. This is really getting old.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

October 2, 2006

More ripples from the Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision

Amidst the publicity on the Andy Fastow sentence and the upcoming sentencing hearing of Jeff Skilling, the legal wrangling related to the conviction of former Enron Broadband executive Kevin Howard (previous posts here) has been flying somewhat under the radar screen. Howard is currently scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on October 30.

You will recall that Judge Gilmore inexplicably decided to try Howard and his fellow former Enron Broadband executive Michael Krautz on wire fraud, falsifying books and records and conspiracy charges just down the hall from the intensive media glare of the final weeks of the Lay-Skilling criminal trial (previous posts on the case are here, including this one on the closing arguments of the Howard trial). As noted in this prior post, the jury in the Howard case deliberated at the same time as the Lay-Skilling jury was deliberating in an adjacent conference room! Not only that, the Howard jurors saw first hand the media firestorm at the federal courthouse on the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend when the Lay-Skilling verdict was announced and, not surprisingly, the Howard jury returned a split verdict the following Tuesday convicting the "boss" Howard and acquitting the subordinate Krautz.

Now, however, it appears that the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in the Enron-related Nigerian Barge appeal (see also here) may be Howard's ticket to reversing the outrage represented by his conviction. Based on this motion filed late last week, Howard's attorneys persuasively argue that the Fifth Circuit's decision in the Nigerian Barge appeal requires that Howard's conviction be vacated because -- just as with the convictions of the four Merrill Lynch executives in the Barge case -- the Task Force improperly placed the round peg of Howard's actions on behalf of Enron Broadband into the square hole of depriving an employer of "honest services" under 18 U.S.C. § 1346:

The [Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision] holds that an employee deprives his employer of "honest services" under 18 U.S.C. § 1346 only when the employee seeks to promote his own interests instead of the interests of the employer. Conversely, conduct -- even otherwise illegal conduct -- does not violate Seciton 1346 where it is "associated with and concomitant to the employer's own immediate interest." . . . The Government's allegations against Mr. Howard describe this exact scenario. . . . Whatever elese one may say about the Braveheart transation, it was designed, in whole or in part, to promote the interests of Enron Broadband Services and not purely the interests of Kevin Howard. Under [the Fifth Circuit's Nigerian Barge decision], such conduct does not fun afoul of Section 1346.

Howard's lawyers go on to explain that the Enron Task Force's case against Howard was precisely the same as the Task Force's odious case against the four Merrill Lynch executives -- taking a risky but legitimate transaction and criminalizing it through assertion of a "deprivation of honest services" violation that is meant to apply in cases involving bribes, kickbacks or related self-dealing between a corporate employee and a third party. This is precisely the point that U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes made during the hearing over a year ago to accept the plea bargain of former Enron executive Christopher Calger, a plea bargain that Calger is now attempting to disavow.

In short, Howard's motion reiterates the reality that the true criminal activity in regard to the Enron -- such as the embezzlement of funds by Fastow and a few of his close associates, such as Ben Glisan and Michael Kopper -- was actually limited to a few individuals. The Task Force has obtained the convictions of many others largely through bludgeoning of plea bargains or appealing to jurors' resentment of wealthy businesspersons while asserting dubious applications of criminal law, such as the "honest services" violations alleged against Howard.

A mainstream media and general public largely satisfied with demonizing Enron executives are not concerned that the awesome force of the government's prosecutorial power is being wielded irresponsibly against Howard, the four Merrill Lynch executives, Calger, Jeff Skilling and many other former Enron executives who have copped pleas out of fear of long prison sentences. Here's hoping that the judiciary -- the most important check on the Executive Branch's prosecutorial power -- is not as comfortable with the Task Force's abuse of that power.

Posted by Tom at 4:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Have we got a bomb shelter for you

This Wall Street Journal article reports on the decision of Continental Airlines and several other local companies to lease as an emergency control center one of the most bizarre sites in the Houston area -- a 38,000 square foot, 70-foot deep bomb shelter designed to house 1,500 people for 90 days in the case of a nuclear attack.

The shelter -- which has been a topic of conversation for years in these parts -- is located adjacent to a four-story office building just up the road on Highway 105 in Montgomery near Conroe on Houston's far north side. The office building and bomb shelter were built during the early 1980s by a Ling-Chieh "Louis" Kung, the nephew of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, the former first lady of Taiwan and the wife of Mao Tse Tung's foremost domestic enemy during the Communist revolution in China. Kung died in Houston in 1996 also claimed to be a direct descendant of Confucius, so he seemed to be pretty well-connected.

The shelter is an absurdly over-the-top facility. It contains a 27-inch concrete roof with rebar for protection and has gun turrets that line its pagoda entrances. When Kung finally lost control of the property, the new owners found information on nuclear weapons and procedures that indicated that Kung suspected China or Russia would bomb the United States in the early 1980s. The bunker contained chemical showers that would ensure a person was not contaminated before being allowed to enter, and was equipped with a full hospital, complete with medical supplies, an X-ray machine, an operating room and a morgue. Not leaving anything to chance, the bunker also contained 14 sound-proofed conjugal rooms.

The bunker had been mostly vacant over the past fifteen years or so until an outfit named Westlin Technology bought it and retrofitted it as a data center. That was a relief to curious local residents, who had to endure constant rumors about various eccentrics buying the property. About ten years or so ago, Republic of Texas separatists -- whose members contend that Texas was never legally annexed by the United States -- reportedly were interested in making it the new Capitol of Texas if they ever achieved their goal of overthrowing the Texas state government.

Here is a bit more information on the bunker, including diagrams of the bunker's layout here and here.

Posted by Tom at 4:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

2006 Weekly local football review

Texans 17 Dolphins 15

Well now, that's a relief!

In an entertaining but not particularly well-played game, the Texans (1-3) won for only the third time in the past 21 games as the Dolphins (1-3) could not convert a questionable play call on a two-point conversion attempt late in the 4th quarter. The Texans defense finally showed a long-awaited pass rush, sacking the immobile Dolphin QB Dante Culpepper five times and hurrying him at least another dozen times or so. The Texans offense was mediocre, but QB David Carr and WR Andre Johnson were able to put the Texans in a position to score a couple of TD's, which was enough to get the job done against a Dolphins team that is dragged down by a rather pedestrian offense. The Texans have a bye in Week Five and then go to Dallas to be smoked by the Cowboys (2-1) in Week Six before returning home to face the Jaguars (3-1) in Week Seven. Although the win against the Dolphins was refreshing, this team has no NFL-average running back, is soft in the defensive secondary, tackles poorly overall and continues to have problems protecting the QB. Thus, my sense is that the Texans will be 1-5 when they have their next realistic chance for a victory in Week Eight against the Titans in Nashville.

Tech 31 Texas Aggies 27

"We may have lost, but I got'em with the strawberries . . ."

Whether A&M Coach Franchione is currently doing his best imitation of Capt. Queeg in The Caine Mutiny is anyone's guess. However, the heat in the Texas A&M football kitchen increased considerably over the weekend as the Ags (4-1; 0-1) lost in the last minute to Texas Tech (4-1; 1-0) in both teams' Big 12 Conference opener. Tech should have put the game away in the first half, but led by only 24-14 after giving A&M a kickoff return TD and fumbling away another TD at the goal line. Then, in the second half, the Aggies mounted a comeback by controlling the clock (the Ags had the ball over 20 of the 30 second half minutes) and keeping the potent Tech offense off the field. Alas, after taking the a 27-24 lead with just over two minutes left, the Aggies gave up a perfectly-thrown bomb for a Tech TD to allow the Raiders to pull out the win. As I've been harping all season, A&M's cupcake non-conference schedule ill-prepared the Ags for Big 12-caliber competition and it doesn't get much easier for the Ags next week as they travel to Lawrence to take on a 3-2 Kansas team that lost to Nebraska in overtime at Lincoln on Saturday. Get it goin' quickly, Coach Fran, or start calling the real estate agents.

Miami 14 Houston Cougars 13

The Coogs (4-1), who were 16-point underdogs, played the Hurricanes (2-2) off their feet in Miami and probably would have won the game but for a second half fumble on the Miami 10-yard line and an awful first half call nullifying a Houston fumble recovery deep in Miami territory. This is the worst Miami team in recent memory, but the Hurricanes still have excellent talent and the Coogs' effort in almost pulling off the win in the Orange Bowl is probably the Coogs' second most-impressive performance of the season to date (the win over Oklahoma State being the most impressive). The Coogs have 2-2 La-La (a/k/a University of Louisiana-Lafayette) at home before taking on tough Southern Miss (3-1) on the road and high-scoring UTEP (2-2) at home the following week, so there is no rest for the weary at UH.

Rice 48 Army 14

Let's see here. A&M barely beat Army with a home field advantage, Baylor lost to Army with on its home field, and Rice routed the Cadets at West Point. So, how would Rice fare against A&M and Baylor?

Comparing scores is risky undertaking, but this was still an impressive win for a Rice team that was playing with extra emotion after the sudden death last week of one of their freshman players, Dale Lloyd, a former Houston high school star. The Owls dominated Army behind first team QB Chase Clement, who had to sit out the past three games with a thumb injury suffered in the closing minutes of Rice's first game this season against Houston. The Owls have no one who can operate their spread offense even close to as efficiently as Clement does, so losing him for the past three games was a real blow to the Owls. However, it may have been a blessing in disguise because the Owls really didn't have a chance of winning any of those three games and Clement avoided being injured even more severely. As I've noted earlier, this Rice team is capable of winning several games this season with Clement at the controls. Next up for the Owls is Tulane (1-3) at New Orleans before returning home to face Alabama-Birmingham the following Saturday.

Texas Longhorns 56 Sam Houston State 3

The Longhorns (4-1) warmed up for Texas-OU Weekend next Saturday in Dallas by participating in what amounted to a scrimmage against a team comprised of players who probably could not bust the Longhorn three-deep roster. OU (3-1) had a bye this week, so it will be interesting to see which team is sharper next Saturday. As I noted earlier here, this Longhorn team is big, strong, fast and deep, and very well could be better overall than last season's national championship team except for the QB position. Thus, OU will have its hands full on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.

Posted by Tom at 4:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 1, 2006

Ripples from the Grimsley Affair reach the Stros

Now that it looks as if the Stros late-season push for the playoffs is all for naught, it appears that the Stros may well be dealing with more than just the disappointment of missing the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

Remember the Jason Grimsley Affair that broke this past June?

Then, remember that Cardinals' slugger, Albert Pujols, was was one of the first Major League Baseball players implicated in the affair?

Well now, the ripples of the affair have reached the Stros, as the names of both Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte have been implicated in the affair (LA Times story here). Clemens and Pettitte deny any involvement with Grimsley or in using performance-enhancing drugs. Lawyers are being consulted.

As predicted earlier, this is going to get rather ugly. Unfortunately, the level of discussion will probably descend into scapegoating rather than a productive debate regarding the use of performence-enhancing drugs in professional sports.

Posted by Tom at 7:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)