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October 31, 2007
Mayor White's L.A. moment
Houston Mayor Bill White is capriciously manipulating local governmental power to sidetrack development of a condominium project (nicknamed the "Ashby high-rise") in a neighborhood where he raises a substantial political campaign funds. The incident has received some national e_email/SB119257756005161262-lMyQjAxMDE3OTIyNTUyNzU3Wj.html">this Wall Street Journal ($) article, which somehow su as been in spite of -- rather than because of -- the city's lack of zoning and liberal land use policies.
At any rate, it's really a sad reflection of the state of political discourse in Houston that the Mayor has been given a pass on undermining a project for the benefit of his campaign war chest. The property was valued and sold to the present owners on the assumption that a large-scale redevelopment would be built there and the owners followed all the city's rules and regulations in obtaining the necessary permits to proceed with construction. When a few wealthy neighbors of the development pulled Mayor White's chain, he blithely ordered one of the city's approvals to be revised to delay the development and now is attempting to ramrod two ordinances through city council to stop the project altogether.
In short, the developers invested a substantial amount of money in buying the property and followed the laws in preparing the large-scale redevelopment, dozens of which dot Houston's landscape. Mayor White and his friends don't like the development, so White is changing the laws. And this is political leadership?
At any rate, all of this reminded me of this excellent Virginia Postrel/Atlantic.com article that compares the radically different land use policies of Los Angeles, on one hand, and Dallas (which are quite similar to Houston's), on the other. Suffice it to say that the likes of Mayor White favor the Los Angeles approach over that of Dallas and Houston. Think about that the next time you vote for mayor.
Update: The website for the group opposing the project is here. A copy of the proposed "emergency" ordinance is here.
Update 2: A recent West U Examiner article on the project is here.
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"A rusted-out battleship in a spruced up port"
Amazingly, the silly notion that it might be economically feasible to convert the Astrodome into a Gaylord Texan-type convention hotel has been making the local rounds for over three years now.
Maybe the combination of the Texans and the Rodeo coming out against the proposal will finally put the nonsense to rest. As the Chron article notes, even County Judge Ed Emmett is skeptical about the merits of the proposal:
County Judge Ed Emmett signaled in September that he isn't convinced the project is viable. While attending the Texans' home opener in September, he said the Astrodome struck him as an aging, rusted-out battleship that remains in a spruced-up port.
It occurs to me that the Astrodome hotel promoters decision to obtain a financing commitment for the project before getting the consent of the Reliant Park tenants to the project put a very large cart before the horse. Sort of like Oilers' owner Bud Adams unveiling a model of a proposed new downtown football/basketball stadium back in the mid-1990's without telling Rockets owner Les Alexander and Mayor Bob Lanier about it first. And we all know what happened after that imbroglio.
All of these machinations over what to do with the Dome would be relatively harmless except for the fact that the Dome continues to "eat" -- that is, it costs Harris County a hefty sum (probably at least $3 million or so annually) just to mothball the Dome. Hopefully, the opposition of the main tenants at Reliant Park to the hotel redevelopment plan will finally lead to the Dome property being used for the best land use, which is probably parking. That's not as sexy as a big hotel, but it provides something that is actually needed and will generate some revenue.
By the way, a good sign that a project is almost kaput is that its supporters become delusional. According to the Chron article, that's already happening to certain promoters of the Astrodome hotel project:
Willie Loston, director of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., said the county attorney's office is researching whether the county could approve the project over the objections of the Texans and the rodeo if the sports corporation determined the development would not hurt their operations.
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The booming Texas Triangle
Clear Thinkers favorite Tory Gattis does the calculations and concludes in this post that the Texas Triangle Megalopolis -- the area between Houston on the southeast edge to Dallas-Ft Worth on the northern tip down through Austin and to San Antoinio on the southwest edge -- is the 10th largest economic mega-region in the world (and fifth largest in the U.S.) with $700 billion in GDP (based on 2000 numbers).
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October 30, 2007
Coach Fran's nightmare worsens?
Just when it seemed as if Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione's season couldn't get much worse, it looks as if it just might.
As noted in previous posts over the past two years here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, Coach Fran's tenure at A&M has been on the thinnest of ice for quite some time. The latest thud in Coach Fran's reign in Aggieland was the thorough trouncing that the Kansas Jayhawks laid on A&M this past Saturday night in front of 85,000 demoralized Aggie faithful.
But that game against Kansas may look positively pleasant in comparison to what faces the Aggies next Saturday night on ABC -- playing the sixth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.
Now, playing OU in Norman is never a picnic. But the subplot to this particular game is that Coach Fran inexplicably gave OU extra motivation with a preseason jab against the Sooners. In speaking to the Houston Touchdown Club in early August, Franchione said he wasn’t sure who would be the Sooners’ starting quarterback, but "that may be the only question mark they have . . . other than what jobs they are going to work this year. That is a joke. I couldn’t resist." Coach Fran was making light of OU’s recent NCAA violations involving players receiving unearned compensation from a Norman automobile dealership.
Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops -- who already strikes fear in at least one other Texas big-time college football coach -- was asked yesterday during the Big 12 weekly coaches' news conference if he plans to remind his players this week about Coach Fran's preseason comments:
"We don’t need to do that,” Stoops said.
Yeah. Right.
Franchione is 0-5 all-time against Stoops-coached teams (four of which have been while at A&M), including the worst lost in A&M history, a 77-0 debacle in 2003.
Things could get very ugly on Saturday night in Norman.
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"A glorified club championship?"
The first run of the PGA Tour's Fed Ex Cup did not exactly transfix golf fans. However, this Bob Harig/ESPN.com article makes the Fed Ex Cup look like the Masters in comparison to the PGA Tour's initial Fall Series:
Dubbed the Fall Series, the final seven events on the PGA Tour schedule will mercifully come to an end next week in Orlando, where the biggest stories will revolve around players losing their full-time status (despite making $700,000 this year) or secure veterans who try to fit in golf around visits to the Disney theme parks."There were 100 people following the final group last Sunday in Scottsdale," said PGA Tour veteran Steve Flesch. "It's like a glorified club championship. I don't think that's what the tour intended. And I think they need to address it."
Ah, the ever-widening Tiger chasm.
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The Brits get it
The New York Giants beat the winless Miami Dolphins in London on Sunday in the National Football League's first regular season game played outside the United States. And based on this Tom Lutz/Guardian Unlimited op-ed on the game, it looks as if the English sports reporters are already catching on to the style of their American brethren:
"Some Dolphins fans have complained that they've been deprived of a home game, but judging by their team's inept performance, the NFL has done them a favour."
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October 29, 2007
2007 Weekly local football review
(AP photo by Mark J. Terrill/prior weekly reviews are here)
No change from last week's analysis in regard to the Texans (3-5), including continued fawning local mainstream media treatment of Coach Kubiak (well, perhaps a little less fawning). The game was not as close as hte score indicates. By the way, would somebody arrange a reception so that the Texans' secondary could be introduced to Chargers TE Antonio Gates? The Texans play at Oakland (2-5) next Sunday before a badly-needed bye week. It is becoming increasingly clear with each passing week that Coach Kubiak has some difficult personnel decisions to make, both with regard to the players and assistant coaches. The Texans were a poorly-prepared football team for the second week in a row.
The Coach Fran Death March continues as the Aggies (6-3/3-2) were dominated in this one by Kansas, which managed to keep the score closer than it should have by missing three makeable field goals and having a TD run called back by a penalty. At least Aggie angst over the situation has mellowed to the point where it is producing hugely entertaining YouTube videos. The Aggies are looking forward to next week's ABC-televised Saturday night game at Oklahoma (7-1/3-1) about as much as hemorrhoid surgery.
Texas Longhorns 28 Nebraska 25
Through three quarters of this game, the Horns (7-2/3-2) were looking to be embarrassed by the undermanned Cornhuskers (4-5/1-4). Then, Longhorn RB Jamaal Charles went Anthony Alridge on Nebraska during the 4th quarter. Charles ended up with 290 yards rushing on 33 carries in the game, including 216 yards and 3 TD runs (25, 86 and 40 yards) in the 4th quarter alone (key tip to Nebraska defense -- blitzs can backfire on running plays, too). The Horns travel to Stillwater next Saturday to face the suddnely famous Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State Cowboys (5-3/3-1) before finishing up the regular season against Texas Tech (6-3/2-3) in Austin and A&M at College Station.
Ho-hum, another game, another double-digit deficit, another 520 yard offensive performance, and another comeback win. The increasingly red-hot Coogs (5-3/3-1) were led by star RB Anthony Alridge (204 yards on a career-high 27 carries) and redshirt freshman QB, Case Keenum (13/20 passing for 116 yds/ 72 yds rushing on 10 carries). The Coogs host SMU (1-7/0-4) next Sunday night in a televised game and then head to Tulsa (5-3/3-2) for the game that will probably determine the C-USA Western Division champion.
Key tip of the week to the Owls (1-7/1-3) -- it's hard to come back from a 24 point deficit, even to previously winless Marshall (1-7/1-3). The Owls host UTEP (4-4/2-2) next Saturday.
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A special Houstonian
I criticized Craig Biggio for the way in which he ended his playing career with the Stros, but I have never questioned that he and Jeff Bagwell are the best players ever to have played for the Stros.
Bidg is also a wonderful ambassador for Houston, his adopted hometown. Over the weekend, Chevrolet named Bidg the 2007 recipient of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award for his tireless work on behalf of the Sunshine Kids.
It is a well-deserved honor for a very special Houstonian. Congratulations on a job well done.
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Ben Stein's nightmare multiplies
This post from last week noted how Felix Salmon had become NY Times business columnist Ben Stein's worst nightmare, sort of how Larry Ribstein had been to Steins' fellow columnist, Gretchen Morgenson.
Now, Stein's nightmare is multiplying exponentially. On the heels of Stein's latest Sunday Times column, Salmon, Yves Smith, and Dean Baker have already pointed out the vacuity of Stein's analysis.
Do the Times business editors even notice that Stein has become a laughing stock?
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October 28, 2007
O'Neal walking the plank
Merrill Lynch's announcement this past week of a third-quarter loss of $2.3 billion and a $8.4 billion charge for failed credit and mortgage-related investments generated a large number of comments from around the blogosphere on the future of Merrill's CEO, E. Stanley O'Neal, none of which were better than this one from The Epicurean Dealmaker:
I cannot speculate what will happen next at Mother Merrill, but I can guarantee you O'Neal's days at the helm are numbered. Being a CEO at an investment bank is not unlike crowd surfing at a mosh pit: it's a pretty cool way to move around quickly, you are supported entirely by other peoples' efforts, and everyone tries to get a piece of you. Unfortunately, when the crowd loses interest in supporting you, you tend to fall fast, hard, and painfully. In addition, after dropping you lots of your former investment banking subordinates—both friend and foe—have the added charming tendency to skewer you repeatedly with long knives. Et tu, Brute?
Read the entire piece.
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October 27, 2007
Judge Kent transferred to Houston
In the ongoing saga of Galveston-based U.S. District Judge Sam Kent (previous posts here), the Executive Session of Judges of the Southern District of Texas issued a couple of administrative orders (here and here) transferring the duty station of Judge Kent from Galveston to Houston and delegating the handling of the Galveston docket to other U.S. District Judges of the Southern District. A related Chronicle article is here.
The order transferring Judge Kent's duty station to Houston does not say when, if ever, Kent would be reassigned to Galveston. David Bradley, chief deputy clerk for the Southern District, told the Chronicle that Judge Kent will remain in Houston until a new order is issued to return him to Galveston. One of the above orders does put Judge Kent back into the case assignment rotation as he will receive 20% of the civil cases filed in the Houston Division. However, Judge Kent will not be assigned any criminal cases through Dec. 31, probably because he remains on leave until January, 8, 2008.
Posted by Tom at 12:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
October 26, 2007
My concierge health care experience
Bill Lent is one of Houston's finest internists. How do I know this? Well, because I know who trained him (my late father) and he has been my personal physician for the past 15 years or so. Having been blessed with good health, the only medical service that I buy from Dr. Lent in most years is my annual physical, which I generally schedule for about this time each year. I always enjoy catching up with Dr. Lent, who provides me with "on the front line" information regarding the horrific cost of health care regulations, which are literally strangling the market for primary care physicians in the U.S.
It's been particularly interesting watching the evolution over the years of Dr. Lent's internal medicine practice, from one in which Dr. Lent provided an unusually high level of personal care to his patients (something my father emphasized in his teaching) to a high volume, impersonal practice that virtually all primary care practices have been required to adopt to remain even marginally profitable under the present U.S. health care finance system. Over the past ten years or so, Dr. Lent has continually confided to me during our annual visits that he was uncomfortable with the direction of his practice.
So, I was pleased to learn when I scheduled my physical a couple of weeks ago that Dr. Lent is doing something about it. Starting next month, Dr. Lent is commencing a concierge health care practice, administered by MDVIP out of Boca Raton, in which he is limiting his practice to about 600 patients who will pay Dr. Lent $1,500 annually for the benefit of receiving his personalized style of service. Coincidentally, this Wall Street Journal ($) article earlier this week described the proliferation of pre-paid health care plans, which is sort of a lower-priced form of what Dr. Lent is doing. The WSJ article essentially describes how many primary care physicians are simply dropping out of insurance plans -- both public and private -- in favor of prepaid plans that offer unlimited access to basic health care for set monthly fees.
Inasmuch as the employer-based health insurance system typically offers low-copays and deductibles for the vast majority of health care services, a substantial amount of the American health care finance system is basically prepaid health care already. In order to maintain profitability in a highly-regulated market, insurance companies compensate for these low usage fees by charging higher monthly premiums, lowballing doctors' fees, and challenging claims continually. The result has been the evolution of a primary care system that is incredibly bureaucratic (have you ever tried to figure out how your insurance pays claims?) and literally breaking down.
The MDVIP model treats primary care service similar to a health club membership. The model focuses on the delivery of relatively inexpensive, protocol-driven care than can be offered at a relatively low cost while still providing patients more overall access. MDVIP's model is relatively expensive, so low-income patients will have a difficult time affording the fee. However, providing a tax deduction for individual health insurance would make such pre-paid plans more affordable for low-income patients, while providing Medicaid patients with vouchers for prepaid health care would have a similar impact.
Who will be threatened from the proliferation of these plans under the current health care finance system? Well, it's a bit early to speculate, but my sense is that insurance companies with big stakes in employer-based health insurance will not enjoy the competition from MDVIP-type practices. Similarly, speciality providers who depend on state regulatory mandates in comprehensive insurance plans to subsidize their practices will also feel the competitive pressure if these types of plans catch on in a big way.
So, I'm going to enjoy learning about how Dr. Lent's practice changes over the next year under the MDVIP structure. If it is successful, as I suspect it will be, it makes you wonder -- if such entrepreneurial spirit can be generated even in the current highly-regulated health care finance system, then imagine what could happen if we unleashed the power of the marketplace to reform the delivery of health care and the health care finance system?
Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Free the Koz
Dan Ackman provides this cogent WSJ ($) op-ed that calls for the reversal of the convictions of former Tyco International executives Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz:
Kozlowski wasn't convicted for overspending, nor for defrauding investors -- the most common charges leveled against corrupt CEOs. He was convicted instead of grand larceny, that is, of stealing his bonuses, which were certainly oversized. But even if you believe the worst about Kozlowski and his co-defendant former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz, they were paid according to a contract, and that is not stealing. [. . .]. . . There is no question that Kozlowski was paid according to the incentive compensation plans that were duly approved by the Tyco board in 1994 and again in 1997. The plans rewarded the CEO and CFO with bonuses based on improvements in company earnings, cash flow and earnings per share. Excessive? That's an understatement. But though the record-keeping was careless, nothing was secret: The contract and the payments were all on the books.
In short, Kozlowski and Swartz were convicted of being greedy, which, the last time I looked, is still not a crime. As Larry Ribstein notes:
Kozlowski and Swartz are headed to Riker’s Island, where they’ll mingle with people who did stuff that seems more obviously bad. And they may get 30-year sentences. I wonder what they would have gotten for a first offense selling heroin to schoolkids. . .[T]he shareholder suits are still pending. These suits aren’t ideal (lots of money to lawyers) but they can sweep in all the people involved, including the directors who approved the wrongful payments. Unless, of course, the shareholders contracted to indemnify them against liability, in which case we’re back to wondering whether this is wrong.
What was done to Kozlowski and Swartz is quite similar to the equally vacuous prosecution of Conrad Black. But this was even worse.
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Comfort Inn's nightmare
Key tip to Comfort Inn: don't ever -- ever -- take Megan McArdle's room reservation and then don't provide her with a room.
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October 25, 2007
Goin' Tex-Mex
This NY Times article does a nice job of explaining the special place of Tex-Mex food within Texan culture. But I have one question. How does one write an article about Tex-Mex in Houston and not mention Ninfa's on Navigation? Alison Cook comments along the same lines.
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The big-time college football arms race
Inasmuch as the NCAA prohibits direct monetary compensation of the professional athletes who provide entertainment for us by engaging in big-time college football, one of the ways in which universities provide indirect compensation for the athletes is by building luxurious "spa facilities" for the athletes to enjoy while providing their services for the benefit of the universities. This means of indirect compensation has resulted in an "arm's race" of such spa facilities between various big-time college football programs. The latest institution to jump into the arm's race is Oklahoma State University, which is riding the crest of the Boone Pickens' $250 million contribution to the institution's athletic programs. Check out this video depicting the new facilities that will result from Pickens' contribution.
And this isn't professional football?
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Sizing up the 2007-08 Rockets
The beginning of the National Basketball Association's regular season is about a week away yawn, so Dave Berri provides this excellent statistically-based evaluation of the 2007-08 Houston Rockets. Despite the local mainstream media hype, Berri's evaluation of this edition of the Rockets is the same as mine -- probably quite good and better than last season's good team, but likely still not good enough to beat any of the the top three teams in the Western Conference, Dallas, San Antonio and Phoenix.
For the record, it's been over a decade since the Rockets won a playoff series.
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A special moment at the sports book
Anyone who has placed a bet or two at one of the sports books in various Las Vegas casinos can relate to the hysteria that was generated by the end of last Saturday's Florida-Kentucky game:
A new, but obscure college football rule caused some confusion and uproar in Las Vegas on Saturday after Florida defeated Kentucky, 45-37, barely covering the seven-point spread.Kentucky scored a touchdown on the game's final play, yet rather than attempt an extra point, the Wildcats, following an NCAA rule put in play last season, walked off the field while the Gators celebrated.
The rule states that "if a touchdown is scored during a down in which time in the fourth period expires, the try shall not be attempted unless the point(s) would affect the outcome of the game."
Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay said Kentucky backers thought they were going to get a push, and Florida supporters started to deflate.
"That all quickly changed when the crowd began to realize the rule," Kornegay told the Associated Press.
"The reversal of fortune happened within just a few seconds. It was priceless."
Kornegay said the game was probably one of the more heavily bet games of the day and most football fans don't know the rule.
At the MGM Mirage, people went "nuts," sports book manager Jeff Stonebeck said.
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October 23, 2007
Tiger's peer effect
All those PGA Tour players who have folded like limp dish rags while paired with Tiger Woods over the years will be a bit skeptical of the conclusions of this recent study (H/T to Tim Harford):
This paper uses the random assignment of playing partners in professional golf tournaments to test for peer effects in the workplace. We find no evidence that the ability of playing partners affects the performance of professional golfers, contrary to recent evidence on peer effects in the workplace from laboratory experiments, grocery scanners, and soft-fruit pickers. . . . We offer several explanations for our contrasting findings: that workers seek to avoid responding to social incentives when financial incentives are strong; that there is heterogeneity in how susceptible individuals are to social effects and that those who are able to avoid them are more likely to advance to elite professional labor markets; and that workers learn with professional experience not to be affected by social forces.
In other words, PGA Tour pros do not generally suffer from peer effects. Except while playing with Tiger Woods, that is. ;^)
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Ben Stein's worst nightmare
First, Larry Ribstein became NY Times business columnist Gretchen Morgenson's worst nightmare by exposing the vacuous nature of her columns.
Now, Felix Salmon has become part-time NY Times business columnist Ben Stein's worst nightmare (see also here) in much the same way:
Stein's main point is that reality is fine; it's just the media which is making things look bad. "Newspapers (which often sell on fear, not on fact) talk frequently about a mortgage freeze," he says. Although if you do a Google News search on "mortgage freeze", you find exactly one newspaper article: this one, by Stein. Meanwhile, he says, and I swear I am not making this up, "there is still a long waiting list for Bentleys in Beverly Hills". Well in that case there couldn't possibly be a housing crisis!"This country does not look like a country in economic trouble," concludes Stein. Well, maybe if you live in Beverly Hills and you have lots of money invested in the stock market, then that might seem to be the case. But Stein doesn't seem to consider that most Americans might not fall into that category.
Read the entire post. Do the Times editors even review Stein's blather before publishing it?
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Sizing up the 2007 World Series
That northern breeze you felt in Houston yesterday was actually a huge sigh of relief heaved by Major League Baseball and network television executives on Sunday night as the Boston Red Sox beat the Indians in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to advance to the 2007 World Series against the National League champion Colorado Rockies. Nothing against Cleveland, but the TV ratings of a Cleveland-Colorado World Series would have been about the same as a non-major PGA Tour event.
A few tidbits about this year's series:
The opening day payroll for 25-man roster of Colorado Rockies was $54,424,000, while the opening day payroll for the Red Sox was $143,026,214. The highest paid Red Sox player is LF Manny Ramirez at $18 million per year, while the Rockies' highest paid player is 1B Todd Helton at $16.6 million annually.The Rockies have played only two series at Fenway, one in 2002 and one this past June during interleague play. Colorado outscored Boston 20-5 in winning two of three during during that latter series.
The Rockies have won 10 straight games and have won 21 of 22, but the eight days they have had off in-between postseason games is the longest such break in the history of Major League Baseball. The Rockies’ 10-game winning streak entering the World Series is also impressive, but not the longest streak coming into a World Series. The 1960 Yankees had a 15-game streak and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles had a 14-game streak. The Rockies are the ninth different team to represent the National League in the World Series over the past 10 seasons, and the seventh wild-card pennant winner over all in the past six years.
Red Sox hitters scored 61 more runs than an average American League club would have using the same number of outs (RCAA, explained here) and Red Sox pitchers saved 163 more runs than an average American League pitching staff would have saved in the same number of innings (RSAA, explained here). In comparison, Rockies hitters generated a solid 41 RCAA and the club's pitchers produced a respectable 78 RSAA. Thus, based on regular season statistics, the Red Sox are the clearly superior club, but Colorado has the advantage of being hot when it counts, although one has to wonder how much of the Rockies' winning edge wore off during that eight day layoff. A pdf of the player statistics for the two clubs is here.
Finally, for disappointed Indians fans, this insightful Russell Roberts post reminds us that failure -- even in baseball markets -- is often a necessary precursor of success.
Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
October 22, 2007
2007 Weekly local football review
(AP Photo/Dave Einsel; previous weekly reviews here)
The local mainstream media view of the Texans (3-4) -- most recently reflected by Richard Justice's Sunday column of yesterday (see also this earlier column) -- is that the team has improved dramatically under second year coach Gary Kubiak and that it's just a matter of time before the team becomes a playoff contender. As noted in my annual preview, I'm not so sure.When Texans owner Bob McNair decided to fire original Texans General Manager Charlie Casserly and head coach Dom Capers after the team bottomed out with a 2-14 record during Year Four (2005), he changed the management model of the team from its original "strong GM" model to the "strong head coach" model that the Broncos have used during the Shanahan era. Inasmuch as Kubiak had no head coaching experience when McNair hired him to lead the Texans' strong coach model, I thought the decision at the time was certainly open to question.
Through seven games of Kubiak's second season, the decision remains open to question. Kubiak had a pass during his first season (6-10) last year and probably has another one this season as he incorporates a new QB into his system. The team's personnel has certainly improved, but that would have happened under virtually any competent coach that McNair would have hired. The Texans' offense -- Kubiak's supposed speciality -- remains generally awful as Kubiak overpaid for an aging and marginally productive running back this past off-season rather than upgrading the chronically deficient offensive line, which has become hazardous to the health of Texans QB's.
So, the clock will be ticking quite loudly next season unless the Texans begin to show dramatic improvement (even Justice is starting to question Kubiak). After losing four of their last five and with a West Coast swing against the Chargers (3-3) and the Raiders (2-4) coming up over the next two weeks before the Texans' bye week, the under bet on my pre-season over/under number for Texans' victories (7) is starting to look pretty good.
The Ags (6-2/3-1) trampled the outmanned Cornhuskers (4-4/1-3) into submission in the Buyout Bowl. Unfortunately for the Aggies, each of the Aggies' remaining opponents have the ability to slow down A&M's rushing attack. And we know what happens when the Ags have to utilize such modern innovations as the forward pass. The Ags host Big 12 surprise team Kansas (7-0/3-0) at Kyle Field next Saturday.
The Horns (6-2/2-2) allowed Baylor (3-4/0-3) to hang around for most of the game and almost paid for it. The Horns have struggling Nebraska (4-4/1-3) at home next Saturday before closing at Okie State (5-3/3-1), home against Tech (6-2/2-2) and at A&M (6-2/3-1). Incredibly, a BCS Bowl game is not out of the question if the Longhorns win out.
Houston Cougars 49 Alabama-Birmingham 10
This one was over before halftime as the explosive Coogs (4-3/3-1) finally put together a complete game against the overmatched Blazers (2-5/1-2) at a nearly deserted Legion Field (holds around 75,000 or so) in Birmingham. The Cougars have generated over 1,200 yards in total offense and 15 touchdowns in the past two games. The Cougars will likely have a considerably tougher game next Saturday in El Paso against UTEP (4-3/2-1), though.
The Owls (1-6/1-2) generated over 500 yards to total offense and lost because their injury-plagued defense cannot stop a hard-chargin' marching band, much less a reasonably competent offense. The game was played before less than 10,000 fans at Rice Stadium, which holds over 70,000. Isn't Conference USA football great? The Owls have a winnable game next Saturday against winless Marshall (0-6/0-2).
Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Continuing to rationalize a boondoggle
The big transit news in these parts last week was the announcement that the Metropolitan Transit Authority's board Metro's board approved the final route for the east-west University line and decided to deploy the much more expensive light rail rather than bus rapid transit in four other transit corridors. Kevin Whited, Lou Minatti and Tory Gattis were among the local bloggers commenting on this development.
What is perhaps most galling about all of this is the sheer lack of any perspective from the local mainstream media regarding the dubious nature of Metro's urban economics. The Chronicle article on Metro's announcement is typical of the vacuity of media coverage of Metro -- the fact that light rail systems are notoriously uneconomic and underused relative to cost is not even mentioned. Meanwhile, Metro continues to insist upon investing billions of tax proceeds in an inflexible light rail system that will cost millions in additional annual tax proceeds to subsidize. To make matters worse, the money that Metro is throwing away on what will be a underutilized and expensive light rail system would go a long ways toward dramatically ameliorating the Houston area's flood control problems and traffic hotspots, two public works projects that would provide far more benefit for far more Houston area residents than the light rail project. In short, wasting huge amounts of public funds on a boondoggle simply does not occur in a vacuum. Such waste will negatively impact more pressing public works projects in Houston for decades.
Transit expert Randall O'Toole recently published this Cato Insitute policy analysis, Debunking Portland (related blog posts here and here), on the failures of Portland’s light rail system, which was built in a far more densely-populated area than Houston and is often touted by light rail advocates as an example of one of the rare successful systems. As O'Toole points out, the Portland system has not been a success. 9.8% of Portland-area commuters took transit to work before the region built its light rail system, while today, just just 7.6% of the area commuters use the system. The fact that Portland’s light rail system led to billions of dollars in economic development is largely a ruse -- such development received billions of dollars in subsidies and, before the city started offering those subsidies, not a single transit-oriented development was built along the Portland light rail line. Finally, light rail cost overruns forced Portland to raise bus fares and reduce bus service.
As O'Toole observes, that’s considered a success?
Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Now even deer hunting regulations are running amok
As deer hunting season approaches, check out what regulations you have to follow simply to bag a deer in Texas these days:
When state game wardens hit the woods and fields in the wake of Texas' Nov. 3 opening of the general deer season, those 500 or so officers can pretty much predict the violations they're most likely to encounter."Tagging is the No. 1 (deer hunting-related) violation we see," said Maj. David Sinclair of TPWD's law enforcement division. [. . .]
In most cases, a hunter taking a deer in Texas must, immediately upon taking possession of the animal, attach to it the appropriate tag from the hunter's license. [. . .]
Deciding which tag to use isn't all that daunting. Five detachable tags valid for tagging whitetails are attached to the perimeter of a Texas hunting license. . . . Three of those whitetail tags are valid for tagging a buck or an antlerless deer, and two are valid only for tagging an antlerless deer.
It's a simple thing to detach the correct tag — a buck tag for a buck whitetail and antlerless tag for a doe.
But then some people drop the ball.
To legally tag a deer, the hunter must fill out, in ink, the requested information on the back of the tag — the name of the ranch or lease on which the deer was taken and the county in which that hunting area is located.
Also, the month and date the deer was taken has to be cut out of the tag. Cut out. Not marked with a pen. Cut out. [. . .]
But the most common deer-related violation was failure to complete the white-tailed deer log on the back of the hunting license.
The deer log was created this decade when the state seemed to be moving away from requiring tags be attached to deer. The log, printed on the back of the license, was seen as a way to keep track of how many deer, buck and doe, a hunter had taken, where they were taken and when.
The move to do away with deer tags has lost momentum. But the deer log remains. And it's surprising how many deer hunters don't know about the log requirement, forget to complete it or ignore it.
This past year, TPWD game wardens issued more than 500 citations for failing to complete the deer log.
As with the other tagging-related violations, hunters charged with not completing the deer log face a Class C misdemeanor. Conviction brings a fine of as much as $500.
Sheesh! Let's hope the regulators don't start piling on similar rules for hunting these.
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October 21, 2007
The 15 Greatest Catches
As you settle in for an afternoon of watching NFL football games, check out this entertaining post providing videos of the 15 greatest football catches of all-time. Some of the comments are pretty clever, too, such as the one relating to the catch of Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman that made the list:
"[The catch] was even more impressive because that catch was made under the enormous pressure that comes with playing in the Independence Bowl."
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October 20, 2007
The benefits of going batshit
As noted in the review of the Texas-Iowa State game earlier this week, big-time college football coaching is a wacky way to make a living.
Take, for example, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy. When he went famously batshit during a post-game press conference earlier this season, I figured that it was just a matter of time before Boone Pickens and the university athletic director carted Coach Gundy off to a padded cell and replaced him with another coach. I mean, it's not as if Okie State (4-3, 2-1) is having all that great a season this year.
But now, according to this New York Times article, Coach Gundy's decision to go nuclear may have saved his job:
The incident was one of YouTube’s most-watched videos last month and has been spoofed by a Norman, Okla., car dealership in a television commercial.It led to a Web site called mikegundyismadatyou.com, which features e-cards from his tirade, prompted an Australian magazine to call it “American football brain explosion” and inspired wildly popular “I’m a man! I’m 40!” T-shirts. [. . .]
Gundy has seemingly benefited on and off the field. Since the incident, Oklahoma State (4-3, 2-1 Big 12) is 2-1, including the Cowboys’ first victory at Nebraska since 1960.
Gundy . . . is now more recognizable nationally, according to marketing experts, and recruits say his defense of Reid makes them more interested in playing for him. Gundy said he was surprised at the attention that the incident sparked, but he insisted he had no regrets.
“Over a period of time, it should make an impact on our program in a positive way,” he said in an e-mail message sent through a university spokesman.
Jordan Bazant, a partner of The Agency Sports Management, said Gundy’s response was already paying off for him from a marketing perspective.
“It’s ultimately going to come down to performance on the field, but people that saw that saw an honest person,” Bazant said in a telephone interview.
He added: “It was really an honest outburst. That’s what people are attracted to. They want to be associated with someone that they view has the same values.”
Bazant said he could not estimate the value in advertising dollars that Gundy received.
“It’s millions upon millions of dollars,” he said. “It would be impossible to get that. You couldn’t even buy that much. You really couldn’t even from a practical standpoint.”
Cyrus Gray, a senior at DeSoto High School and the top uncommitted tailback in Texas, said Gundy’s response to Carlson made Oklahoma State more appealing. [. . .]
“I like that in a coach,” he said in a telephone interview. “He stood up for his players. He cares for them and not just himself.” [. . .]
Kevin Klintworth, the Oklahoma State director of athletic media relations, said that less than 5 percent of the 3,000 e-mail messages the athletic department received about Gundy were negative.
“It was just so overwhelming,” Klintworth said in a telephone interview. “I think some of the people weren’t so much supportive of Mike as they were in support of someone standing up to the media a little bit.”
Of course, after Gundy's outburst, it was just a matter of time before the following spoof Bud Light beer commercial turned up, but it's still pretty clever:
And the recent Saturday Night Live spoof NBC commercial for Notre Dame football isn't bad, either:
Hat tip to Jay Christensen for both of the above videos.
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October 19, 2007
The Futility Bowls
Oh, how far the mighty have fallen!
In Lincoln, Nebraska tomorrow, the Texas A&M Aggies take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in what has been dubbed "the Buyout Bowl," because of the tenuous hold that Aggie coach Dennis Franchione and NU coach Bill Callahan currently have on their jobs. In trying to handicap the game, Wann Smith can't figure out who to favor:
Texas A&M at Nebraska (-2). This game is a real poser. Since someone has to win, we'll pick Nebraska at home. But wait…Nebraska's home field advantage has been a joke this season hasn't it? So, I guess we'll take the Aggies and the points. Just a minute…hold the bus…Franchione has somehow managed to blow both of his road games this season, and by a ton of points each time. Hang on a sec… I'd better consult the Magic 8 Ball. The 8 Ball, when asked if Nebraska would win replied… 'Hazy Now, Ask Again Later.' When asked whether Texas A&M would win, it replied 'Ask VIP Connection.' We tried that but our link was directed instead to firedennisfranchione.com.Aggies by 3
Meanwhile, over in Florida, nostalgic thoughts about when the annual game between Florida State and Miami actually meant something on the national stage prompted Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel to observe the following about this year's FSU-Miami game, the first in which both foes are unranked since 1977:
This is like showing up at your 25-year reunion and finding out that the couple voted “Best Looking” in the high school yearbook has somehow turned into Paul Shaffer and Yoko Ono.
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Do as the NY Times says, but not as it does?
Larry Ribstein notes the sweet irony of the New York Times management not being quite, as the Times business columnists might say, adequately responsive to its own shareholders.
I'm sure that Gretchen and Ben will be right on top of this development.
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The risk of witch doctors
It never fails to amaze me that seemingly rational people continue to seek out witch doctor treatments for anything more complicated than a massage:
On the same shift I saw two very sick patients, both of whom were under the care of chiropractors before they decided to pay us a visit in the Emergency Department. The first was an old woman with a one week history of dyspnea, chest pain, and a cough. Her chiropractor had diagnosed her with a “displaced rib,” and had been dilligently popping it back into place every day for the previous week. After a simple set of vital signs revealing low blood pressure, a slow heart rate, and a slightly low temperature, not to mention a chest x-ray which showed a huge unilateral pleural effusion, it was not hard to come up with the diagnosis of pneumonia with sepsis.“He [the chiropractor] said she didn’t have a fever and she wasn’t coughing anything up,” said the sister. [. . .]
The second patient was a 70-year-old man who finally came in after a week of ineffectual adjustments for “muscle aches” and general malaise which had evolved, by the time we saw him, into a vague intermittant chest pain related to exertion but which the chiropractor insisted, apparently, was some kind of subluxation. The EKG told the true story, an evolving myocardial infarction. My patient would have probably died if his son hadn’t raised the alarm and insisted his father see some real doctors.
Meanwhile, this article reports that researchers have determined that acupuncture works. But the same research study concluded that fake acupuncture, where the needles are inserted shallowly and in the wrong places, also works:
The results suggest that both acupuncture and sham acupuncture act as powerful versions of the placebo effect, providing relief from symptoms as a result of the convictions that they engender in patients.
My conclusion: On one hand, if you stick pins in people who are complaining about something, then some of them will eventually quit complaining. On the other hand, if you take pins out of some people who were previously complaining, then some of them will also stop complaining.
Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
October 18, 2007
The end of socialized medicine
Peter Huber is a Manhattan Institute senior fellow, an MIT-trained engineer and a lawyer who has authored several books, including Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists and Galileo’s Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom. In this provocative City Journal article, Huber observes that the complexity of modern diseases virtually assures that a "one-size-fits-all" socialized medical system will fail:
That is the real crisis in health care—not medicine that’s too expensive for the poor but medicine that’s too expensive for the rich, too expensive ever to get to market at all. Human-ity is still waiting for countless more Lipitors to treat incurable cancers, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and a heartbreakingly long list of other dreadful but less common afflictions. Each new billion-dollar Lipitor will be delivered—if at all—by the lure of a multibillion-dollar patent. The only way to get three-cent pills to the poor is first to sell three-dollar pills to the rich.With almost $30 trillion under management, Wall Street could easily double the couple of trillion it currently has invested in molecular medicine. The fastest way for Washington to deliver more health, more cheaply, to more people would be to unleash that capital by reaffirming patents and stepping out of the way.
On the other side of the pill, molecular medicine can only be propelled by the informed, disciplined consumer. Any scheme to weaken his role will end up doing more harm than good. Foggy promises of one-size, universal care maintain the illusion that the authorities will take good care of everyone. They reaffirm the obsolete and false view that health care begins somewhere out there, not somewhere in here.
Neither Pfizer nor Washington can ever stuff health itself into a one-price uniform, One America box—not when health is as personal as ice cream, genes, and pregnancy, not when every mother controls her personal consumption of carbs, cholesterol, Flintstones, and Lipitor. But the thought that government authority can get more bodies in better chemical balance than free markets and free people is more preposterous than anything found in Das Kapital. Freedom is now pursuing a pharmacopoeia as varied, ingenious, complex, flexible, fecund, and personal as life itself, and the pursuit will continue for as long as lifestyles change and marriages mix and match. Given time, efficient markets will deliver a glut of cheap Lipitor for every glut of cheap cholesterol. And given time, free people will find their way to a better mix.
Read the entire article here.
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The insecurity of big-time college coaches
The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington observes that the NCAA's the absurdly-high salaries of big-time college football coaches has a high price:
Football coaches at most Top 25 programs draw salaries equivalent to Fortune 500 CEOs, but they don't generate similar revenues.How do they rate their paydays then? Coaches simply benefit from an arms-race mentality in college sports. You can't compete without an indoor practice facility, luxury suites, a weight room the size of a football field or a head coach drawing less than seven figures.
As noted in previous posts here, here and here, big-time college coaches benefit from the NCAA's regulation of compensation for players. Inasmuch as the NCAA does not allow direct compensation of the players for the money being generated, the money has to go somewhere -- i.e., into the wallets of the coaches. However, if the players were paid market compensation for the income that they generate, then the money paid to the players would not be available for the coaches. In all likelihood, the compensation of coaches would decrease.
As I've noted on several occasions, big-time college sports is an entertaining form of corruption. But if the institutions want to continue competing at that level, treating big-time college sports as a true business and compensating the players for the income they generate sure seems like a more honest way to approach it.
Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Kling on GMU Economics
Arnold Kling provides this interesting TCS Daily op-ed on the innovative George Mason University Economics Department, whose members have done a remarkable job over the past several years promoting the understanding of economics issues through the blogosphere. As Kling noted earlier here:
I like to put it his way: at [the University of] Chicago, they say "Markets work well. Let's use markets." At MIT, they say "Markets fail. Let's use government." At GMU, they say "Markets fail. Let's use markets."
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October 17, 2007
The Chronicle's vacuum of baseball analysis
It may be football season, but that doesn't stop Chronicle sports columnists from continuing to bludgeon us with their seemingly insatiable capacity to analyze the Stros and matters relating to Major League Baseball badly.
First, there is this blog post from the inimitable Jose de Jesus Ortiz, who already has quite a legacy of poor analysis of the sport that he covers for the Chroicle:
Willy Taveras, who holds the Astros franchise record for consecutive games with a hit, has been a difference maker for the Colorado Rockies heading into the third game of the National League Championship Series.The Rockies obviously valued his speed and defense, which is why he was added to the NLCS roster even though he hadn't played in three weeks because of an injury.
In Game 2, he was the player of the game after making an awesome game-saving catch in the seventh inning and then driving in the game-winning run with an RBI walk. Oh, he also had doubled and scored a run in a game that was 2-2 heading into extra innings. [. . .]
General manager Tim Purpura and Phil Garner weren't fired until August, but they hurt the franchise tremendously by never understanding the true value of Willy Taveras. They valued Chris Burke out of position over Taveras at his natural position. Because of this mistake, the Astros' pitching staff suffered.
It's pathetic to see Taveras starring elsewhere when he should have been playing here. Cecil Cooper and Jose Cruz saw something special in Taveras and kept working with him in 2006. Unfortunately, Cooper wasn't the manager then.
Do you miss Taveras?
In this prior post, I explained why Ortiz is simply wrong about Taveras' value as a Major League player. But in his latest blog post, how can Ortiz overlook that Taveras had a pathetic .250 on-base average and an even worse .222 slugging percentage during the National League Championship Series? Or that the Rockies won 17 out of their last 18 games to get into the NLCS without any contribution from Taveras, who sat out those games with a hamstring injury?
What Ortiz simply does not understand is that anecdotal flashy plays do not prove that a player is a good Major Leaguer. It only proves that the player is capable of making a good play every once in awhile. To be a good Major Leaguer, a player has to be able to generate more runs consistently for his team than what the team's alternatives would likely generate using the same number of outs as the player. Not only is it far from clear that Taveras did that this season for the Rockies (and the Rockies' late season streak without him suggests that he did not), the fact o ess and the editor of the blog Medical Progress Today. In this Washington Post op-ed, Howard addresses the potential danger to public health of indulging in the current wave of trendy skepticism toward vaccinations:
Sadly, too many parents have lost faith in vaccines. Partly, this is because of a "generation gap." In 1940, U.S. infant mortality rates stood at 40 deaths per 1,000 live births. Tens of thousands more children would go on to be killed or maimed by measles, polio and chicken pox. Today, infant mortality averages about 7 deaths per 1,000 live births, and those other diseases have been largely vanquished by vaccines. A childhood free of serious illness is now taken for granted.When mysterious disorders like autism strike seemingly healthy children -- at about the same age when childhood vaccines are typically administered -- frustrated parents lash out at doctors and pharmaceutical companies. And today's vaccine inventors must contend with a powerful force that had yet to arise when Jonas Salk created his revolutionary polio vaccine -- mass litigation.
The birth of "liability without fault" in pharmaceutical litigation in 1958 -- captured in Dr. Paul Offit's riveting book The Cutter Incident -- set the dangerous precedent that vaccine companies would be held liable for side effects even when their products were made using the best available science and according to government regulations. [. . .]
The debate over vaccine litigation has thus shifted from a presumption of innocence to a presumption of guilt. While the number of major studies that have failed to find any substantive link between vaccines and developmental disorders or autism is now in the double-digits (including a September 27th CDC study in the New England Journal), critics are effectively demanding that scientists prove that thimerosal does not cause illness -- an impossible standard.
The very success of vaccines has become their downfall. As Dr. Offit writes in Vaccinated, "When [vaccines] work, absolutely nothing happens. Parents go on with their lives, not once thinking that their child was saved."
The entire op-ed is here. This earlier post addresses the devastating impact that the Cutter Incident had on the production of vaccines and public health.
Posted by Tom at 12:04 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Dyer dissects Judge Kent's case
Folks are finding it pretty easy these days to pile on Galveston U.S. District Judge Sam Kent over the recent reprimand that he received from the Judicial Council of the Fifth Circuit (previous posts here). As regular readers of this blog know, I'm wary of the mobs and simple morality plays that tend to form around such matters, so I was pleased to learn that Bill Dyer had decided to pass along some thoughts on Judge Kent's case.
I perceive to have been a serious campaign of distortion in other publicity about Judge Kent by people who do, or at least should, know better. They say Congress ought to commence an impeachment investigation — but they're not telling you something very important that you ought to know in forming your own opinion on that subject.
Check out the entire insightful post.
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October 16, 2007
Anthony Alridge does it all
In several of my weekly local football reports over the past two seasons, I have been regularly touting the feats of Houston Cougar running back, Anthony Alridge. Alridge is the most exciting UH running back since the consensus All-American Chuck Weatherspoon back in the Run 'N Shoot days of the early 1990's.
Alridge is listed as 5'9" tall and 175 lbs, but my bet is that he is closer to 5'7" and 160 lbs wringing wet. After toiling in relative obscurity as a slot receiver for his first couple of years at Houston, Cougars head coach Art Briles began to use Alridge as a RB midway through last season and the results have been astonishing. Combining blinding sprinter's speed, incredible shiftiness and surprising power for a player his size, Alridge quickly became one of the nation's top running backs. During the Cougars 2006 championship season, Alridge rushed for 959 rushing yards on only 95 attempts, resulting in an NCAA Division 1-A leading rushing average of 10.1 yards per attempt.
Alridge has picked up this season where he left off last season. As noted here yesterday, he was extraordinary in Houston's win over Rice last Saturday, scoring 4 touchdowns while rushing for 205 yards on 24 carries, including 111 yards and 2 TD's in the 4th quarter alone. ESPN ranked Alridge's incredible 50-yard TD run that put away Saturday's game as No. 4 on its top-10 Plays of last Saturdey. Here is the Barry Sanders-type run:
Even after that performance, the video below reflects that the effervescent Alridge still had enough energy after the game to do a pretty darn good job of directing the Spirit of Houston Marching Band, much to the delight of the band members:
Posted by Tom at 12:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
First it was the moldy roof, now this!
At this rate, Drayton McLane is going to make a full-time living out of suing subcontractors who were involved in the construction of Minute Maid Park.
McLane's latest lawsuit, reported in this Houston Business Journal ($) article, seeks to recover the cost of repairing improper insulation of the pipe system that pumps chilled water for the air conditioning system at Minute Maid Park. Minute Maid Park is cooled by a chilled water system that pumps water through miles of conduits to create chilled air. Insulation is needed to prevent moisture buildup, corrosion, leaking and possible failure of the complex system.
However, as a result of the improper insulation, condensation has developed at various points in the system which, if left unrepaired, would eventually lead to even bigger problems. Inasmuch as retrofitting the pipe system with new insulation could require major infrastructure construction work at Minute Maid, the cost of the repair job could run as much as $70 million.
From the nature of the lawsuit, it appears reasonably clear that the Stros will not be left holding the bag for the repair bill and that it's just a matter of the responsible parties figuring out how to allocate the cost of repair equitably among them. The four defendants are Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc (HOK), M-E Engineers Inc., Way Engineering Co. Ltd., and Performance Contracting Inc. Inasmuch as the repair work needs to be done now, the Stros are proceeding with the repairs and will recover the financing costs related to the repair cost as additional damages in the lawsuit.
Longtime Houston plaintiffs' lawyer Wayne Fisher, who is a lifelong friend of McLane, is representing the Stros in the litigation, just as he did in the litigation with Connecticut General over the disability policy on former Stros star, Jeff Bagwell. That lawsuit has since been settled.
Posted by Tom at 12:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The faux Enron whistleblowers
First, it was Sherron Watkins portraying herself for profit on the rubber-chicken circuit as a whistleblower of wrongdoing at Enron when, in fact, she was no such thing.
Now, this USA Today article raises substantial questions regarding the credibility and veracity of self-proclaimed Enron whistleblower and "corporate integrity" author Lynn Brewer:
Within the world of business ethics, Brewer is considered a star. She is a founding member of the Open Compliance and Ethics Group. She delivered the keynote address at a Sarbanes-Oxley conference hosted by the New York Stock Exchange in 2003 (there are video clips of it on her website, www.lynnbrewer.info). She has spoken in Great Britain, India, Venezuela, Italy, Canada, Malaysia and New Zealand, and given keynote addresses at dozens of other gatherings in the USA. She's also a regular speaker at universities, where she lectures students on the impor -3) game this weekend at Jacksonville (4-1) was that the Texans' lagging rushing attack would be revived by the return of injured RB Ahman Green. Well, after Green ran for a total of 44 yards on 16 carries and failed to get in the end zone twice from the 2 yard line on the Texans' opening drive of the game, so much for that theory.As noted earlier here and here, despite the local media's love affair with Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, there is actually much to question regarding the direction of his team, particularly the offense. Green appears to be an overpaid, fragile has-been and the play of the offensive line has not been substantially upgraded since Kubiak's arrival as head coach. Moreover, even though Texans QB Matt Schuab is a decided improvement over former QB David Carr (faint praise, given the latter's incompetence), Schaub failed to get the Texans in the end zone against the Jags after doing it only once against a bad Miami team last week, he had a fumble returned by the Jags for a touchdown and he threw an interception that set up another Jags' TD.
The Texans face former UT star QB Vince Young (injured Sunday, so he may not play) and the Titans (3-2) next week at Reliant before heading on a West Coast swing with games against the Chargers (3-3) and Raiders (2-3) in the following two weeks heading into the team's off week. After a 2-0 start, it's looking as if an above .500 record as of the open week is a longshot for the Texans.
As noted in several previous weekly football reviews, Houston Cougar games are simply different from typical college football games.This one was actually three different games in one. Over the 1st quarter, the Coogs dominated the game and led 28-14. But then, from the beginning of the 2nd quarter through about five minutes or so of the 3rd quarter, the Owls pasted the Coogs, 26-0. Finally, the Cougars regrouped behind the phenomenal waterbug RB Allen Alridge and a couple of Rice turnovers to win the latter part of the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter, 28-8, to pull out the victory.
Although the Cougars rolled up 748 yards total offense, this one was closer than it should have been because of five Cougar turnovers and the Houston defense's inability to stop Rice QB Chase Clement, who threw for a career high 355 yards on 24 of 44 passes. But Alridge (4 TD's, 205 yds on 24 carries, with 111 of those yards and two of the TD's coming in the 4th quarter) and WR Donnie Avery (a record setting 427 total yards, including 346 receiving) were simply too much for the injury-depleted Owl defense to overcome.
The Cougars (3-3/2-1) now go on the road for games against UAB (2-4/1-1) and UTEP (4-3/2-1) over the next two weeks, while the Owls (1-5/1-1) attempt to regroup at home against Memphis (2-4/1-1). Houston's success in its remaining games will likely be related directly to the team's ability to control its turnovers, while I'm mildly optimistic that Rice's improving offense will be able to compensate for the Owls' porous defense by outscoring several foes during the second half of the season.
The only question remaining after this debacle is whether A&M (5-2/2-1) head coach Dennis Franchione will actually make it through the rest of the season. Based on the Aggies' sorry performance against Tech, don't bet on it.Remarkably, the Aggies took a 7-0 lead in this one on an opening drive entirely on the ground and were driving for a second TD in Tech territory when the Red Raiders coaching staff decided to stick nine defensive players in the box to slow down the Ags' rushing attack. In an incredible display of coaching incompetence, the Aggies' passing game was so insipid that QB Stephen McGee could not force the Raiders' defenders to take the forward pass seriously. Tech's high-powered offense finally got untracked and the Raiders pulled away to win easily. The Franchione Termination March next travels to Nebraska (4-3/1-2), which is going through a similar meltdown to what the Aggies are experiencing. NU may just be the Aggies' best chance for a victory in their final five games of the season.
Texas Longhorns 56 Iowa State 3
As you may recall, I questioned (here and here) the wisdom of Iowa State's (1-6/0-3) decision at the end of last season to replace my friend Dan McCarney with former UT defensive coordinator Gene Chizik as the Cyclones' head coach. Chizik's first ISU team looked utterly rudderless against the Horns (5-2/1-2), who have another scrimmage next week against Baylor (3-4/0-3).Meanwhile, my friend is making a substantial contribution to the nation's new no. 2 ranked team.
Big-time college coaching is a wacky business.
Posted by Tom at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
What is Joel Osteen's message?
The Chronicle's Tara Dooley is breathless in this Sunday Chronicle article on the ever-expanding financial empire of Joel Osteen, pastor of Houston megachurch, Lakewood Church (previous posts here):
Osteen and Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will release the pastor's second book, Become a Better You on Monday. It debuts with at least 2.5 million copies, the largest first run in Free Press's more than 60-year history.With an initial printing of 136,000, Osteen's first book, Your Best Life Now, attracted an audience just waking up to Osteen and his growing Houston church. The book, which came out in 2004, eventually sold about 5 million copies in the United States and was translated into 25 languages.
Become a Better You meets a public that has grown accustomed to Osteen's face. Taking his place with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006 — according to Barbara Walters — Osteen's national profile has made him an A-list Christian celebrity.
"I'm starting to realize it," Osteen said in an interview. "It wasn't until about a year or so ago that I thought, 'This is something unusual and God has given us a lot of favor.' Sometimes you think it's just people flattering you, but I think it's starting to hit home."
But on Sunday night's segment of 60 Minutes, Michael S. Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, raised substantial questions regarding the theological substance -- or lack thereof -- of Osteen's basic message:
In the Wal-Mart era of religion and spirituality, every particular creed and any denominational distinctives get watered down. We don’t hear (at least explicitly) about our being “little gods,” “part and parcel of God,” or the blood of Christ as a talisman for healing and prosperity. The strange teachings of his father’s generation, still regularly heard on TBN, are not explored in any depth. In fact, nothing is explored in any depth. Osteen still uses the telltale lingo of the health-and-wealth evangelists: “Declare it,” “speak it,” “claim it,” and so forth, but there are no dramatic, made-for-TV healing lines. The pastor of Lakewood Church . . . does not come across as a flashy evangelist with jets and yachts, but as a charming next-door-neighbor who always has something nice to say.Although remarkably gifted at the social psychology of television, Joel Osteen is hardly unique. In fact, his explicit drumbeat of prosperity (word-faith) teaching is communicated in the terms and the ambiance that might be difficult to distinguish from most megachurches. Joel Osteen is the next generation of the health-and-wealth gospel. This time, it’s mainstream. [. . .]
This is what we might call the false gospel of “God-Loves-You-Anyway.” . . . God is our buddy. He just wants us to be happy, and the Bible gives us the roadmap.
I have no reason to doubt the sincere motivation to reach non-Christians with a relevant message. My concern, however, is that the way this message comes out actually trivializes the faith at its best and contradicts it at its worst. In a way, it sounds like atheism: Imagine there is no heaven above us or hell below us, no necessary expectation that Christ “will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead” and establish perfect peace in the world. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find anything in this message that would be offensive to a Unitarian, Buddhist, or cultural Christians who are used to a diet of gospel-as-American-Dream. Disney’s Jiminy Cricket expresses this sentiment: “If you wish upon a star, all your dreams will come true.”
To be clear, I’m not saying that it is atheism, but that it sounds oddly like it in this sense: that it is so bound to a this-worldly focus that we really do not hear anything about God himself—his character and works in creation, redemption, or the resurrection of the body and the age to come. . . . Despite the cut-aways of an enthralled audience with Bibles opened, I have yet to hear a single biblical passage actually preached. Is it possible to have evangelism without the evangel? Christian outreach without a Christian message? [. . .]
. . . “How can I be right with God?” is no longer a question when my happiness rather than God’s holiness is the main issue. My concern is that Joel Osteen is simply the latest in a long line of self-help evangelists who appeal to the native American obsession with pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Salvation is not a matter of divine rescue from the judgment that is coming on the world, but a matter of self-improvement in order to have your best life now.
Horton's collection of essays on Joel Osteen's ministry is here and Tim Challies provides this critical review of Osteen's new book.
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Governor Perry annoys John Daly?
Regular readers of this blog know about the rich Texas legacy in golf (for example, see here, here, here, here, and here). However, it doesn't look as if Texas Governor Rick Perry is doing much to facilitate that grand heritage. Seems that Governor Perry played golf last week in the PGA Tour's Frys.com Open in Las Vegas, where he was the amateur partner of John Daly during the first round. Apparently, "Long John" was not particularly pleased with the pairing:
Daly favors the softer Maxfli Fire but says he has been receiving a much harder ball, which he attributed to a first-round 3-over-par 74 at TPC at The Canyons.(It was either that or the fact Daly continued losing focus waiting for amateur Rick Perry to reach the green in a timely fashion on most holes. I'm pretty convinced Texas today is by far our nation's most efficiently run state, because it's impossible to believe its governor spends much time playing golf.
Perry did, however, bring along a security contingent complete with those Secret Service-type ear pieces, which would have been interesting if it wasn't so laughable given the only thing most knew about him was that he was the guy you backed up 20 yards from each time he addressed a shot.)
Ouch! H/t to Bogey McDuff.
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October 14, 2007
For your Sunday enjoyment . . .
First, the somewhat geeky but very funny Yoram Bauman, the Standup Economist:
And clarifying the differences between Persians and Arabs, the quite clever Maz Jobrani:
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October 13, 2007
Mistrial declared in the Slade case
The criminal trial of former Texas Southern University president Priscilla Slade (previous posts here) ended in a mistrial Friday afternoon after four days of jury deliberations could not break a deadlocked jury that was essentially evenly split. The trial had lasted a little over a month and a half.
The mistrial was a remarkable achievement for Slade defense attorneys Mike DeGeurin and Paul Nugent, who probably concluded that a hung jury was their best shot at avoiding a conviction of their client after they decided not to allow Ms. Slade to testify in her own defense.
The mistrial increases the likelihood that the venue of the retrial will be changed from Harris County. The defense will hoping for a venue change to a location such as Austin or the Rio Grande Valley, but definitely not New Braunfels or San Angelo. Prosecutors and defense counsel are scheduled to appear before District Judge Brock Thomas on Friday to determine details of the retrial.
Meanwhile, the chronic problem of what to do about TSU continues unaddressed. So it goes.
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October 12, 2007
As the Aggie Football World Turns
What is it about Texas A&M University that the institution cannot fire a football coach correctly?
The slowly disintegrating status of A&M head football coach Dennis Franchione has been a frequent topic on this blog for almost two years now (see previous posts here, here, here, and here). Although yesterday's development in the saga was bizarre -- A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne holding a press conference to announce in the middle of the football season essentially that Coach Fran is kaput as A&M's head coach after this season -- it was not particularly unusual in view of A&M's rather dubious tradition in dealing with its football coaches.
Take what happened in 1978, for example. A&M head coach Emory Bellard, the originator of the Wishbone offense while serving as Darrell Royal's offensive coordinator at Texas in the late 1960's, had been hired by the Ags in 1972 to resurrect the flagging Aggie football program. Bellard had led the Aggies to three straight bowl games by the 1978 season, and the Aggies seemed poised to become a national power that season.
By week five of the 1978 season, Bellard's Aggies were rolling at 4-0 and were rated no. 6 in the Associated Press Top 20 poll. Bellard was reaching the pinnacle of his popularity at A&M as the Ags prepared to face Houston, which had not been particularly impressive and had lost in their first game of the season to a Memphis State team that the Ags had crushed at home 58-0 a couple of weeks earlier. Moreover, the week before, the Coogs had barely beaten winless Baylor, 20-18. Thousands of Aggies descended on Houston's Astrodome fully expecting the Aggies to continue their winning ways over the underdog Cougars.
Unfortunately for the Ags, Houston head coach Bill Yeoman, one of the best and most unheralded football coaches of his time, had put together a brilliant game plan for this particular game. Taking advantage of the Aggies unbridled over-aggressiveness, Yeoman devised a series of traps, draw plays and screen passes to supplement his famous Veer option attack that utterly befuddled the Aggies. In the meantime, an aroused Cougar defense stuffed the vaunted Aggie Wishbone and never allowed it to get untracked. By halftime, the unranked Coogs led the no. 6 team in the country 33-0 and the large Aggie contingent in the Astrodome was absolutely stunned. Neither team scored in the 2nd half and the game ended, Houston 33 Texas A&M 0.
Back in those days, most head coaches supplemented their salaries by conducting a show the day after the game in which they went over the film highlights of the previous game. Bellard's show the Sunday after the Houston upset was absolutely brutal. Bellard addressed the camera by himself with no studio host to toss him some softball questions to defuse the anxiety of the humbling defeat. With literally no highlights of Aggie plays from the debacle, Coach Bellard was left to reviewing various Houston highlights from the game and explaining what the Aggie players did wrong in allowing the Cougar players to perform such feats. Coach Bellard looked haggard and utterly demoralized.
After watching the show with me, my late father turned to me and observed: "I hope Mrs. Bellard has removed all guns and sharp objects from their home for awhile."
At any rate, the Ags dropped to no. 12 after the Houston game and began preparations for an 0-5 Baylor team that had played one of the toughest schedules in the country. In arguably one of the worst games in the history of Kyle Field, that winless Baylor squad hammered the listless Aggies 24-6, as a previously unheralded freshman running back named Walter Abercrombie ran over and through the Aggies for 207 yards. In the span of two weeks, what had been the no. 6 team in the land had been outscored 57-6.
Coach Bellard resigned the next day under intense pressure (one large sign hanging from an A&M dorm window at the time urged "Make Emory a Memory"). In only two weeks, he had gone from being the King of Aggieland to quitting the job that he had always coveted. To this day, Bellard's demise and Texas A&M's reaction to it over those two weeks is one of the more fascinating sociological events that I have witnessed during 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.
However, even more troublesome than the illusion that A will get top-flight service from B when C is forced by government to pay the bills, who is going to provide the health care under such a system?
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Thinking about think tanks
On the announcement of his retirement next year as president of the American Enterprise Institute, Chistopher DeMuth provides a large dose of common sense in this OpinionJournal op-ed:
Think tanks are identified in the public mind as agents of a particular political viewpoint. It is sometimes suggested that this compromises the integrity of their work. Yet their real secret is not that they take orders from, or give orders to, the Bush administration or anyone else. Rather, they have discovered new methods for organizing intellectual activity--superior in many respects (by no means all) to those of traditional research universities.To be sure, think tanks--at least those on the right--do not attempt to disguise their political affinities in the manner of the (invariably left-leaning) universities. We are "schools" in the old sense of the term: groups of scholars who share a set of philosophical premises and take them as far as we can in empirical research, persuasive writing, and arguments among ourselves and with those of other schools.
This has proven highly productive. It is a great advantage, when working on practical problems, not to be constantly doubling back to first principles. We know our foundations and concentrate on the specifics of the problem at hand. We like to work on hard problems, and there are many fertile disagreements in our halls over bioethics, school reform, the rise of China, constitutional interpretation and what to do about Korea and Iran.
Think tanks aim to produce good research not only for its own sake but to improve the world. We are organized in ways that depart sharply from university organization. Think-tank scholars do not have tenure, make faculty appointments, allocate budgets or offices or sit on administrative committees. These matters are consigned to management, leaving the scholars free to focus on what they do best. Management promotes the scholars' output with an alacrity that would make many university administrators uncomfortable.
And we pay careful attention to the craft of good speaking and writing. Many AEI scholars do technical research for academic journals, but all write for a wider audience as well. When new arrivals from academia ask me whom they should write for, I tell them: for your Mom. That is, for an interested, sympathetic reader who may not know beans about the technical aspects of your work but wants to know what you've discovered and why it makes a difference.
Read the entire piece.
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October 11, 2007
Justice Thomas on oral argument
Jan Greenburg passes along a portion of an interview with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in which Justice Thomas explains why, unlike some of his colleagues, he chooses not to participate much during Supreme Court oral arguments. He thinks they are largely overrated:
There's a way that we do business and it is very methodical, and it's something that I've done over the past 16 years.I have four law clerks. We work through the case, as I read the briefs, I read what they've written, I read all of the cases underlying, the court of appeals, the district court. There might be something from the magistrate judge or the bankruptcy judge. You read the record.
And then we sit and we discuss it, that's with my law clerks. So by the time I go on the bench, we have an outline of our thinking on the case. So I know what I think without having heard argument or anything else. Argument is really not a critical part of the process, the oral argument.
The real work is in the documents, the submissions that we get from counsel. And when you do your work in going through that, it makes the oral argument sort of almost an afterthought.
Oral argument is stimulating and fun, but you've probably already lost the appeal by the time of oral argument unless you have won the battle of the briefs.
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Texas' inexhaustible supply of hog
Anyone who has spent any time in rural Texas understands the havoc that the burgeoning feral hog population (previous posts here) has caused in almost every area of Texas. Chronicle outdoors columnist Shannon Tompkins has been studying the problem for quite some time and, in this article from this past weekend, he puts the hog problem in perspective:
Texas is awash in a rising tide of feral hogs. And Texans appear as impotent as King Canute in stopping that tide from climbing up the beach. [. . .]Texas has about half as many feral hogs as it does white-tailed deer — perhaps 2 million hogs and about 4 million deer. [But] almost all the growth in the hog population has occurred over the past 20 years. Once limited to a few thousand pigs in small pockets of East and South Texas, feral hogs infest all but a half-dozen or so of Texas' 254 counties.
This is an incredible rate of expansion. And with it has come millions of dollars of damage to agriculture, land, water and native wildlife.
What's behind the expansion?
We Texans did this to ourselves. People hauled live-trapped feral hogs all over the state and released them, thinking they would create good hunting opportunities.
Those infections spread.
Also, changing land-use practices — everything from what grows on land, who owns it, average size of tracts, who has access to that land and what they do there — gave feral hogs the conditions they needed to become established and thrive.
Will feral hogs become more populous in Texas than whitetails?
Could happen. Texas' deer population is stable, and deer live on just about every acre that can support them; the herd isn't going to grow.
But the feral hog population continues mushrooming as the animals pioneer into new corners and herds expand to fill the newly infested habitat.
Feral hogs can outcompete and outreproduce deer.
Hogs are omnivores. Deer are browsers. Deer depend on a small suite of plants for food. Hogs can live on almost anything, and in places that will not support deer.
A doe deer doesn't breed until she's a year old, then produces one fawn most years and twins in really good years. On average, half those fawns survive to their first birthday.
A sow feral hog can breed for the first time when she's 8 months old or so, and throw litters of four to eight piglets twice a year, and almost all survive.
Do the math.
It appears impossible to eradicate feral hogs once they have become established at the level we have them in Texas.
Yes, extreme methods — intense trapping, aerial gunning — can clear an area of feral hogs. But it's expensive, time-consuming and only a temporary solution. If intense control is not maintained — constant trapping, brutally efficient gunning over a large area — new hogs migrate to fill the vacuum.
Look; Texas has the most liberal hog-killing regulations in the nation. Feral hogs can be killed by any method other than poisoning. They can be shot from the air or ground. They can be trapped. They can be run down by packs of hounds. Day and night. No limits.
No one has a dependable estimate of how many feral hogs are killed in Texas each year. But it has to be in the neighborhood of a quarter-million or more. Heck, the state's two commercial processing plants that butcher feral hogs for the retail market are annually handling an estimated 100,000 wild swine. Maybe twice that many are taken by recreational hunters and trappers.
Still, the pig population climbs.
Feral hogs are the four-legged equivalent of fire ants, tallow trees, salt cedar, water hyacinth and all the other non-native, invasive species that are damaging Texas' biota. Their only positive qualities are that they provide hunting opportunity, and they are great on the table.
I kill feral hogs whenever I can, even though I understand that assassinating one every now and again from a deer stand or even trapping a dozen or two a year from the deer lease has the same impact as trying to dip out the ocean using a coffee cup.
It's not particularly satisfying work. But I like to think the deer and the quail, squirrel and turkey and every other native creature in the woods appreciates the effort.
Feral hogs have even been seen roaming in parts of Houston's Memorial Park near Buffalo Bayou. And markets are developing for feral hog meat. But the population continues to grow steadily. Any ideas?
Posted by Tom at 12:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
A clever Kiss Cam
I can easily do without the Kiss Cam, which is one of the ubiquitous fan participation entertainment segments that most Major League Baseball ballparks run between innings these days. Former President and Mrs. Bush good-naturedly participate whenever they attend Stros games, which always raises a cheer from the crowd. But as much as I generally dislike the Kiss Cam, the one below that ran in Phoenix during the recent Diamondbacks-Cubs National League Divisional Series is a clever reminder of a couple of the mythical reasons for the Cubs' failure to win the World Series since 1908:
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October 10, 2007
Did Joe Pa go "Gundy"?
What is in the water that big-time college football coaches are drinking this season?
First, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy went famously batshit over a newspaper article that was critical of one of his team's professional -- er. I mean, "amateur" -- players.
And now Jay Christensen reports that Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is the primary suspect in a road rage incident.
It almost makes you wonder: "What would Woody Hayes do?"
Update: Paterno provides his side of the story.
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Michael Milken on the housing markets
You can usually count on Michael Milken making an interesting observation or two whenever interviewed about markets, particualarly the housing market:
"The idea that any loan against real estate is a good loan has never been a rational thought."
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Thinking about improving the NBA
With the opening of the NBA pre-season tonight ("yawn"), Clear Thinkers favorite Bill James (previous posts here) provides this interesting article on how the study of professional leagues has lagged behind the study of professional teams and how the lack of competitive balance may ultimately undermine a league such as the NBA. David Berri provides this blog post analyzing James' article in which he suggests that the NBA's lack of competitive balance is not really that much of a problem after all. Skip Sauer makes the same point here.
At any rate, regardless of the competitive balance issue, here are my suggestions for improving the NBA, which is often unwatchable before the playoffs:
1. Limit the regular season to 50 games and begin play during or right after the Thanksgiving holiday. Who watches basketball before then anyway?2. Use the regular season to seed the playoffs and to determine home court advantage.
3. All teams make the initial round of the playoffs and all playoff series are best of seven games except for the first round, which would be the best of nine.
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October 9, 2007
Jamie Olis seeks another chance
A little over a month after I started this blog back in early 2004, former Dynegy executive Jamie Olis was sentenced to over 24 years in prison for allegedly cooking Dynegy's books. That shocking sentence aroused my interest in the Olis case, so I have followed Olis' ordeal closely for going on four years. The tremors from the Olis sentence have been enormous, not the least of which was its impact on various defendants who entered into plea bargains in the Enron-related criminal cases rather than risk a similar quasi-life sentence.
Despite my interest in the Olis case, I have been somewhat frustrated over the years by the lack of available public information regarding the evidence of Olis' alleged criminal acts. Olis had already been convicted before I even found out about his case, so I didn't follow his trial and don't know much about what was presented during it. However, I do know that the structured finance transaction that was the basis of the charges against Olis -- nicknamed "Project Alpha" -- was not a particularly unusual transaction for a large company such as Dynegy at the time. I also knew that the transaction had been approved by dozens of accountants and lawyers both inside and outside of Dynegy.
From my experience in defending several former Enron executives, I also knew that government prosecutors neither understood nor cared much to understand the complex structured finance transactions in which companies such as Enron and Dynegy commonly engaged. Rather, prosecutors knew that obtaining a conviction against business executives in the aftermath of Enron was like shooting fish in a barrel, so it became common for them to criminalize legitimate business transactions (for example, see here, here and here) where it was far from clear that anything was wrong with the transaction in the first place. To the extent such transactions should have been subject to litigation at all, they should have been subject solely to civil litigation where the liability for the alleged wrongdoing could be allocated fairly among the dozens of individuals or companies commonly involved in approving such transactions.
So it was with great interest that I read this memorandum in support of a motion to set aside Olis' conviction that a new group of lawyers (including, interestingly, Houston plaintiffs' lawyer, John O'Quinn) representing Olis filed late last week with U.S. District Judge Sim Lake (Chronicle business columnis Loren Steffy published the memorandum in a blog post over the weekend and Chronicle legal columnist Mary Flood followed up with a Monday blog post here).
The memorandum is the first document that has been filed in the Olis case that lucidly explains how -- as I've long suspected -- it was far from clear that there was anything wrong with Project Alpha and even farther from clear that Olis had anything to do with any alleged criminal conduct. Knowing this, the prosecution veered away from its original charges against Olis and ultimately prosecuted him at trial over a "hide the real deal" theory that was entirely different from the one contained in the Olis indictment. As it turns out, Olis didn't really hide anything and there is substantial evidence to support his disclosures. However, the Olis' defense at trial was limited when Dynegy quit funding it as a result of the government's threat "to go Arthur Andersen" on the company. Thus, Olis' defense counsel was overwhelmed and did not find the exculpatory evidence, which the Olis team did not discover until Olis' lawyer sued Dynegy and recovered a substantial money judgment for failing to fulfill its obligation to fund the Olis criminal defense. The ordeal that Olis and his family have suffered over the past four years is the result of this travesty.
Credit Steffy for getting it right in his blog post calling for Olis' release from prison (related column here). However, Steffy's call for justice in the Olis case is ironic in that he bears a substantial portion of the responsibility for flaming the poisonous anti-business climate in Houston that led to brutal injustices such as the Olis case in the first place. Let's remember that the next time someone starts inciting an angry mob.
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Kolata on Good Calories, Bad Calories
NY Times nutrition columnist Gina Kolata (previous posts here) reviews Gary Taubes' new book, Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control and Disease (Knopf September, 2007), which was previewed earlier here. Kolata observes:
His thesis, first introduced in a much-debated article in The New York Times Magazine in 2002 challenging the low-fat diet orthodoxy, is that nutrition and public health research and policy have been driven by poor science and a sort of pigheaded insistence on failed hypotheses. As a result, people are confused and misinformed about the relationship between what they eat and their risk of growing fat. He expands that thesis in the new book, arguing that the same confused reasoning and poor science has led to misconceptions about the relation between diet and heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, dementia, diabetes and, again, obesity. When it comes to determining the ideal diet, he says, we have to “confront the strong possibility that much of what we’ve come to believe is wrong.” [. . .]Taubes convincingly shows that much of what is believed about nutrition and health is based on the flimsiest science. To cite one minor example, there’s the notion that a tiny bit of extra food, 50 or 100 calories a day — a few bites of a hamburger, say — can gradually make you fat, and that eating a tiny bit less each day, or doing something as simple as walking a mile, can make the weight slowly disappear. This idea is based on a hypothesis put forth in a single scientific paper, published in 2003. And even then it was qualified, Taubes reports, by the statement that it was “theoretical and involves several assumptions” and that it “remains to be empirically tested.” Nonetheless, it has now become the basis for an official federal recommendation for obesity prevention.
But the problem with a book like this one, which goes on and on in great detail about experiments new and old in areas ranging from heart disease to cancer to diabetes, is that it can be hard to know what has been left out. [. . .[
. . . I kept wondering how he would deal with an obvious question. If low-carbohydrate diets are so wonderful, why is anyone fat? Most people who struggle with their weight have tried these diets and nearly all have regained everything they lost, as they do with other diets. What is the problem?
On Page 446, he finally tells us. Carbohydrates, he says, are addictive, and we’ve all gotten hooked. Those who try to break the habit start to crave them, just as an alcoholic craves a drink or a smoker craves a cigarette. But, he adds, if they are addictive, that “implies that the addiction can be overcome with sufficient time, effort and motivation.”
I’m sorry, but I’m not convinced.
John Tierney comments, too.
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An interesting variation on the Nigerian email scam
I've had my email address for a long time, so I get a receive a lot of spam, which I ignore.
However, I thought I'd already seen every possible variation of the Nigeriam email scam imaginable, but I have to admit the one below that I received a few days ago is more imaginative than most:
From: rebzxxxxxxxxxxxx@peoplepc.comLuciano Pavarotti (Next Of Kin)
Dear Sir,
My writing to you should be surprising but it’s not a mistake because I believe that I could confide in you on this business deal which would be highly beneficial to both of us only that you should promise me that you would not disappoint me at the conclusion of this deal. The main reason why I am contacting you today is to seek your assistance but firstly let me introduce myself before proceeding to the purpose of this letter.
I am Graham Robson Wallace from London in the United Kingdom and I worked as a personal assistant and attorney to one Luciano Pavarotti who died of pancreatic cancer on the September 06, 2007. I was so close to him that on the 27th of June 2005, before his untimely death, he deposited the sum of Thirty-Seven Million Dollars (US$37M) in the custody of a Security Company in London and Holland and this deposit was made known to me alone. The problem now is that these Security Company has written to me few days ago requesting that I provide the beneficiary and next of kin to the deposited fund hence the real depositor is dead.
I would have claimed the money but the company already knows me as the late Luciano Pavarotti's attorney and personal assistant. So that is why I am contacting you just to present you as the bonafide beneficiary and next of kin to the said fund and I would provide all necessary documents to back up the claim but you must promise me that you won’t disappear into tin air by the time the fund is remitted into you account and also bare in mind that you would be entitled to 35% of the said fund, though the percentage sharing is negotiable.
Please signify your interest by providing me the following: This is to enable me commence immediate preparation of all legal document that will back up our claim.
1. Full Name :
2. Your Telephone Number and Fax Number
3. Your Contact Address.Your urgent response will be highly appreciated.
Best regards,
Mr. Graham R. Wallace
Based on this earlier post about the late Pavarotti, it doesn't sound as if he had $37 million laying around to give to Mr. Wallace. ;^)
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October 8, 2007
2007 Weekly local football review
(AP photo/Mike Stone)
Oklahoma 28 Texas Longhorns 21
In an entertaining revival of the Red River Rivalry (previous weekly summaries here), the Sooners (5-1) edged the Longhorns (4-2) by taking advantage of two 2nd half turnovers by Texas RB Jamaal Charles. One of Charles' two turnovers was technically an interception, but he allowed the ball to bounce off his hands, so he should have had it. My sense is that Horns head coach Mack Brown should be about at the end of his rope with the turnover-prone Charles, who was clearly the difference between these closely-matched teams. The Horns go on the road next weekend to play Iowa State (1-5), which is coached by former Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik.
Texans' (3-2) kicker Kris Brown's career day (five FG's of 54, 43, 54, 20 and the game winner of 57) pulls out the win over Miami (0-5), which may be the NFL's worst team. Not much to say after the Texans struggle to secure a victory at home over a winless team that was using a backup quarterback. The Texans take their non-existent running game on the road next weekend at division rival Jacksonville (3-1).
Texas Aggies 24 Oklahoma State 23
Coach Fran's job was hanging by a thread from the top deck of Kyle Field in this one as the listless Aggies (5-1) trailed the Cowboys (3-3) 17-0 at halftime. But 275 lbs RB Jorvorskie Lane bulled in for a couple of TD's, threw a 50 yard pass to set up another and caught a TD pass to bring the Aggies back in the second half. Despite the thrilling win, I see little that makes me believe that the Aggies will be able to slow down Texas Tech's (5-1) high-powered offense next Saturday in Lubbock. Tech's defense is in disarray, though, so who knows? The game at Tech begins a brutal stretch for the Ags in whcih they will play Texas Tech, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri on the road as Coach Fran's job hangs in the balance.
The Coogs (2-3) looked dead in the water after the 1st quarter in this one, but then dominated Alabama over the final three quarters and were within a final pass play into the end zone of pulling the major upset over the Crimson Tide (4-2). The Cougars now must regroup after two straight close losses before taking on crosstown rival and well-rested Rice (1-4) at Robertson Stadium next Saturday.
With just over 12 minutes left in the game, the Owls (1-4) were driving for another score while cruising with a surprising 31-7 lead over the Eagles (2-3). But then, the Owls missed a chip shot FG and less than ten minutes later, they had to stop a two-point conversion to salvage the win. The Owls take on Houston (2-3) Saturday at Robertson Stadium in their annual crosstown rivalry.
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Stros 2007 Review, Part Ten: Season Recap and Report Card
It’s been a week now since the Craig Biggio Farewell Tour drew to a close during the final eighth of the Stros’ disappointing 2007 season. With the end of the season, the tremendously successful Biggio-Bagwell era in the history of the Stros has officially ended. Accordingly, it’s a good time to step back and assess where the Stros are and where they are going.
The final eighth of the season reflected the modest improvement in the play of the club over the final third or so of the season. The Stros (73-89) had an 11-10 record over their final 21 games to finish with only their second losing season during the Biggio-Bagwell era and since Drayton McLane acquired the club in 1993. They continued their season trend of being a National League-average hitting team with a far below National League-average pitching staff. The Stros hitters finished the season generating a precisely National League-average number of runs, (RCAA, explained here), which was tied for 8th among the 16 National League teams. On the other hand, the pitching staff gave up an atrocious 79 more runs than an average National League pitching staff would have given up in the same number of innings (RSAA, explained here), which was 15th and better only than the Pirates’ sorry staff among National League teams.
The club’s record during each of this season’s eight segments are below with a brief description of the segment (the first and final segments each covered 21 games due to the MLB 162-game schedule):
Season Preview — A downturn looks likely.
1st: 9-12 — Stros lose 5 of first 6, win 8 of next 9, then lose next 6.
2nd: 11-9 — Rookie sensation Hunter Pence bursts on the scene.
3rd: 6-14 — Oh my. Stros lose 10 straight while being outscored 72-20.
4th: 8-12 — Poor pitching becomes the norm as Bidg gets his 3,000th.
5th: 10-10 — It’s time to preserve and develop assets for the future.
6th: 10-10 — Treading water.
7th: 8-12 — The future doesn’t look as bad as this season.
8th: 11-10 — As the Biggio-Bagwell era ends, the club prepares for the future.
The downturn in the Stros’ pitching this season was a bitter disappointment for McLane, who ended up cleaning house as a result of that downturn and the gradual deterioration of the Stros farm system over the past 10 years. As the chart below reflects, a club can generally compete with above-average pitching and below-average hitting, but the opposite is generally not the case:
Despite the bottoming out of the Stros this season, I have been surprised of the widespread criticism of McLane’s stewardship of the club. He has been the best owner that the Stros have ever had and the club has been one of the most consistently above-average teams in Major League Baseball during his 14 year ownership tenure. Although he bears a part of the responsibility for the deterioration of the farm system over the past 10 years, McLane wasn’t the one selecting the players. After logically promoting from within at the end of the successful tenure of former general manager Gerry Hunsicker, McLane quite reasonably decided to clean house and bring in a new GM from outside the organization when it became clear during this season that the club had bottomed out, the Jason Jennings trade had been mishandled, and the 2007 draft was pretty much an unmitigated disaster.
As for McLane’s hiring of former Phillies GM Ed Wade as the new Stros GM, my sense is that it was a reasonable move. Wade is about the same age as Hunsicker and has basically the same experience in management of an MLB club as the former Stros GM. Wade’s track record with the Phillies was that he drafted reasonably well, but didn’t trade as well as he drafted young players. He developed a solid nucleus at Philadelphia that has become the best offensive team in the National League this past season (139 RCAA!), but he generally struggled to add the necessary supporting pieces — particularly on the pitching staff — to put the Phillies over the hump in the NL East against both the Braves and the Mets. Ironically, one of Wade’s first tasks with the Stros (in addition to overhauling the scouting system) will be to do what he struggled to accomplish with the Phillies — patch up the Stros’ broken-down pitching staff.
As noted earlier here, the Stros are not as far away from returning to contention in the NL Central as their record this season indicates. As I recommended at mid-season, Stros management used the second half of the season to preserve and develop the club’s assets. A nucleus of above-average hitters finally exists that has the potential next season to generate the first above National League-average hitting club since the 2004 team. The club appears to have a reasonably solid group of veteran and young pitchers to compete for the no. 3 through 5 spots in the rotation behind the club’s ace, Roy Oswalt. As was the case before the 2007 season, the Stros primary need for the 2008 season is to come up with at least one and preferably two veterans to compete for the no. 2 spot in the pitching rotation. Inasmuch as the Cubs won the NL Central with a pitching-dominant 60 net RCAA/RSAA score (118 RSAA/-58 RCAA), the fastest way for the Stros (-79 net RCAA/RSSA score) can begin making up that 139 run deficit is to shore up the club’s pitching staff.
The following is my report card for each of the Stros this season, which you may want to compare with the report card from last season. Full season statistics follow the report card and the Stros’ 40-man roster is here with a hyperlink to each player’s statistics and other information:
The A’s
Hunter Pence: A. The irrepressible outfielder was the most pleasant surprise of the season. His hitting statistics were among the best of any rookie (108 games/24 RCAA/.360 OBA/.899 OPS/17 HR’s/11-16 SB’s) in Stros history and are quite comparable to Lance Berkman’s rookie season (114/21/.388/.561/.949/21 HR’s). Pence’s OPS was the best on the club and he played reasonably well defensively in both CF and RF. I’d like to see him be more patient at the plate (only 26 walks in est in the National League. Once again, he pitched over 200 inni efensively in LF. here.
Brad Ausmus: D. How is -16 RCAA/.318 OBA/.324 SLG/.642 OPS not an F? Because it is better than the -38 RCAA/.308 OBA/.285 SLG/.593 OPS that Ausmus laid on the Stros last season. The mainstream media and Stros management always touts Ausmus’ “intangibles” with the pitching staff as one of the reasons why he is important to have around. Well, those intangibles certainly didn’t help much the pitching staff this past season. One of Wade’s first moves as GM was to announce that he had offered Ausmus a one year deal to return in 2008 at the league average for catchers, assuring that Ausmus will fleece the Stros for at least one more season. Meanwhile, Ausmus retains his stranglehold on the top spot as the worst hitter in Stros history:
Mark Loretta: D-. The cluelessness of some of the mainstream media that cover the Stros was exemplified again by their suggestion that the Stros should re-sign Loretta to take over for Biggio at 2B next season. After a reasonably strong first couple of months of the season, the ruse of small sample sizes wore off and Loretta’s declining hitting skills were exposed (-9 RCAA/.352 OBA/.372 SLG/.724 OPS/4 HR). To put how bad he was for most of the season in perspective, he had only 7 more extra base hits than Ausm with Carlos Lee, Everett was having one of the worst seasons of he uncharacteristically committed 8 errors; he had 7 in 149 gam is lost. Everett is one of those nice guys who you desperately w G/.545 OPS), which grizzled veterans of Stros history know is no an F. Biggio should have retired after the 2005 Wor bject failure. In 1632 career plate appearances, former Stros CF Willy Taveras has hit -30 RCAA/.338 OBA/.350 SLG/.688 OPS/6 HR. Many of the same mainstream media pundits consider Taveras a great prize that former GM Tim Purpura gave away in a terrible trade. Go figure.
Orlando Palmeiro: F. Why is an aged singles hitting, career pinch-hitter taking up a roster spot on a club than needs to be developing younger players who can contribute regularly? Palmeiro had a bad season (-5/.342 OBA/.262 SLG/.604 OPS/0 HR) and would serve no useful purpose for the club next season.
Matt Albers: F. One of the troika of Stros starters who were among the worst in the National League this season, Albers deserves the most slack of the three because he should have been pitching at AAA Round Rock this season and then trying to make the club in 2008. Thrown to the wolves a season early, the 24 year-old mostly struggled (-20 RSAA/5.86 ERA/18 HR in 118⅔ IP). Despite the rough start, he occasionally flashed sufficient talent that he will probably compete for the 4th or 5th starter role next spring.
Woody Williams. F-. I had doubts about the Williams deal when it was struck, but even I didn’t think it would turn out this bad (-22 RSAA/5.27 ERA/35 HR in 188 IP). He is signed for another season and might compete for a backend starter’s role next season, but he is better suited for mop-up duty and bullpen advice at this stage of his career. Beware of giving fly-ball pitchers in their early 40's an opportunity to pitch a substantial number of innings at Minute Maid Park.
Jason Jennings: F-. The poster boy for everything that went wrong for the Stros in 2007. The Stros traded their best young starting pitcher for Jennings and then failed to discover during due diligence on the deal the extent of Jennings’ tendonitis that ended his season prematurely and resulted in surgery. That failure was likely the straw that broke the camel’s back in prompting McLane to fire former GM Tim Purpura. If Jennings can recover from the surgery in time for the 2007 season, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a flyer on him for the 2008 seasons for the right price — heck, he was a workhorse at Colorado before coming to the Stros. But there may be too much water under the bridge between Jennings and the Stros to make that work.
The Incompletes
Brandon Backe: I. Backe came back from Tommy John surgery on his elbow and pitched reasonably well in 28⅔ IP (1 RSAA/3.77 ERA). If the Stros are going to contend next season, Backe turning into a solid no. 3 starter would be a big factor in propelling them to that goal.
Troy Patton: I. Patton is a case study in the fragile nature of young pitchers. Although he has just turned 22, Patton has been among the Stros top pitching prospects since being signed out of Tomball High School in 2004. Due to the Stros’ poor pitching this season, Patton was jet-streamed though AA and AAA and on to the big league club in August (1 RSAA/3.55 ERA/ 12⅔ IP). However, that whirlwind resulted in him pitching 163 IP this season, which was much more than he had ever pitched before. Moreover, over a third of those innings were at the higher stress levels of AAA and MLB. As a result, he was shut down with a case of bicep tendonitis in September. Patton is probably in the mix for the 4th or 5th starter role next season, but in developing him, here’s hoping that the Stros take note of the sad legacy of such overworked young starters as Mark Pryor and Kerry Wood.
J.R. Towles: I. Towles emerged this season as the Stros’ first top catching prospect in years. The 23 year old Crosby naive began the season in high A ball and ended up having a nice stretch of 14 games with the big league club in September (4 RCAA/.432 OBA/.575 SLG/1.007 OPS). Although he will be given a shot at a big league roster spot during spring training, don’t be surprised if needs more seasoning at AAA before he comes a regular at the MLB level.
Juan Gutierrez and Felipe Paulino: I. Two pitchers who are graduates of the Stros’ Venezuelan academy, Guiterrez and Paulino (whose full last name is actually “Paulino del Guidice”) both figure to be in the mix next spring for a roster spot. Gutierrez is a 23 year old who was the workhorse of the AAA Round Rock staff this season. He looked a bit overmatched in his cup of coffee this season with the Stros (-4 RSAA/ 5.91 ERA in 21⅓ IP), but he held up under the stress of pitching over 175 IP this season. He looks as if he could develop into a decent mid-rotation starter. The 23 year old Paulino has a nice heater, but he looks better suited to be a reliever than a starter to me. The 131 IP that he pitched at AA Corpus and with the Stros this season (-6 RSAA/ 7.11 ERA in 19 IP) were the most that he has ever pitched in his career.
Dennis Sarfate: I. A late-season waiver wire pickup from the Brewers (they had to let him go because they were out of minor league options on him), Sarfate is 26 year old, one-pitch fireball reliever who has struggled with control (sound familar?) throughout his career. He pitched well in a small sample size with the Stros (3 RSAA/1.08 ERA in 8⅓ IP) , but it is far from certain that he can be a consistent contributor in the bullpen.
Josh Anderson and Cody Ransom: I. Beware of small sample sizes. Anderson is a 24 year old CF and Willy Taveras clone. His small sample size with the Stros (4 RCAA/.413 OBA/.403 SLG/.816 OPS in 21 games) was far better than he generated in full seasons at either AA or AAA. He is not considered a top prospect and it would not be prudent to play him in CF and Pence in RF regularly rather than Pence in CF and Luke Scott in RF. Ransom is a 31 year old, career minor leaguer (or a AAAA prospect, so they say) who fielded better than Loretta and Bruntlett during his stint with the big league club in September. It is not a good sign if he is a prospect to make the club’s roster next season.
The 2007 season statistics for the Stros are below, 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. The Stros 40 man roster is here with links to each individual player's statistics:
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More on the Kent case
Chronicle reporters Lise Olsen and Harvey Rice follow up on their previous coverage of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reprimand of U.S. District Judge Sam Kent with this Sunday Chronicle article, which includes the following tidbits:
The episodes of alleged abuse began a decade ago and involved at least three employees, according to interviews with two women and with attorney Rusty Hardin, who represents the third.In the most recent incident, the judge was accused of inappropriately touching a female case manager in his chambers in March. [. . .]
As the only federal district judge in Galveston, Kent is the ranking federal official in a small fiefdom. The power of his lifetime appointment is reflected by the fear of attorneys and former court employees, who generally declined comment.
The Volokh Conspiracy's Ilya Somin, who once clerked at the Fifth Circuit and has been following the Kent matter closely, has some interesting observations about the latest Chronicle article.
The Galveston Daily News also provides this special section on the Kent matter, and the Wikipedia site on Judge Kent has also become a good source of information.
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October 7, 2007
A good Sunday story
One of my many beautiful and talented nieces passes along this delightful story carrying on my family's legacy in medicine. Enjoy.
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October 6, 2007
Rosett on the Wyatt trial
Claudia Rosett is a journalist in residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who has written extensively about the U.S. Oil-for-Food program and resulting scandal that recently snared the plea bargain conviction of longtime Houston oilman, Oscar S. Wyatt, Jr. (previous posts here). Rosett attended Wyatt's trial in New York and this Wall Street Journal op-ed on the aftermath of Wyatt's plea bargain pretty much confirms my earlier speculation that Wyatt cut a good deal for himself under the circumstances:
Star witnesses facing Wyatt from the stand included two former Iraqi officials, Mubdir Al-Khudair and Yacoub Y. Yacoub. They have never before been questioned in a public setting, and were relocated to the U.S. by federal authorities this past year to protect them against retaliation in Iraq for cooperating in this probe.Messrs. Khudair and Yacoub described a system corrupt to the core. Their duties inside Saddam Hussein's bureaucracy consisted largely, and officially, of handling and keeping track of kickbacks. That included who had paid and how much, and via which front companies. When Saddam's regime systematized its Oil for Food kickback demands across the board in 2000, keeping track of the graft flowing into Saddam's secret coffers became a job so extensive that the marketing arm of Iraq's Ministry of Oil, known as SOMO (State Oil Marketing Organization) developed an electronic database to track the flow of the "surcharges," as they were called.
To show how this worked, prosecutors last week produced a silver laptop onto which Saddam's entire oil kickback database had been downloaded by Mr. Yacoub, from backup copies he made just before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. With the laptop display projected onto a big screen before the jury, Mr. Yacoub booted up the system and into a query box typed "Coastal," the name of Wyatt's former oil company. Up came itemized lists of millions of dollars worth of surcharges he testified that Wyatt's company, or affiliated fronts, had paid to the Iraqi regime. These were broken down not only chronologically, but according to which front companies Mr. Yacoub said had channeled the money.
Read the entire piece. Brett Clanton of the Chronicle adds this report on how the Wyatt case highlights the perils of doing business in foreign hotspots. Interesting stuff.
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October 5, 2007
Slade elects not to testify
The defense rested Thursday in the criminal trial of former Texas Southern University president Priscilla Slade (previous posts here) without the defendant taking the stand in her own defense. Slade told the Chronicle that she felt "wonderful" about the conclusion of her defense, while defense counsel Mike DeGeurin explained on the courthouse steps that "the defendant never testifies if the state has not proven their case. That's just a given rule."
Maybe so, but as noted here and here in connection with a couple of other high profile cases, the decision not to testify in white collar criminal cases is risky. Juries in white collar cases expect to hear from the defendant, and when they don't, they commonly hold against the defendant. That's not it's supposed to work, but that's the reality. As the late Edward Bennett Williams used to advise his white collar criminal clients, "If you elect not to testify, then you better bring your toothbrush with you to the courthouse."
The prosecution finished its rebuttal portion of its case on Thursday. The jury is off on Friday as the judge and lawyers finalize the jury instructions. Final arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday.
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Primers for Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta
Oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court will take place next Monday on one of the most important business cases of our time -- the Stoneridge Investment Partners v. Scientific-Atlanta case involving the issue of secondary liability for companies that do business with a company that commits securities fraud (previous posts here). As usual, Larry Ribstein lucidly explains the importance this case, which could have a material impact on the creation of wealth and jobs in America. This OpinionJournal editorial also does an excellent job of explaining the background of the case.
In anticipation of the oral argument, a couple of excellent webcasts of conferences are taking place this morning discussing the public policy and legal issues invovled in this important case. The Federalist Society and Case Western Reserve Law are sponsoring a conference at Case Western in Cleveland, which will include UCLA Law corporate law expert Stephen Bainbridge and Jim Copland, the director of the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute.
Meanwhile, at 9 a.m. EDT, the American Enterprise Institute Legal Center for the Public Interest in Washington is hosting its own Stoneridge conference that will include as panelists former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt and AEI Legal Center director, Ted Frank.
If you are at all involved or interested in business law, there won't be many better opportunites to earn CLE credit than watching one or both of these panel discussions.
Update: Point of Law.com provides this eight minute podcast of Jim Copland interviewing Richard Epstein on Stoneridge.
Update: The transcript of the oral argument is here and Case Western has provided this handy Stoneridge resource page providing a ton of useful information on the case.
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Longhorn trepidation on the eve of Texas-OU Weekend
It's the annual Texas-OU Weekend in Dallas and with two straight Red River rivalry victories under their belt, one would think that the Texas Longhorns would be feeling reasonably confident coming into this year's game.
Don't count on it.
As noted in last week's local football report, the Horns were manhandled by Kansas State at home after looking unimpressive through the first four games of the season. The loss hurled the Horns out of the Top 10 of the polls, although UT did retain a spot in at least this Top 10 poll.
Meanwhile, Longhorn fan Ida Mae Crimpton reports from her front porch in Elgin that all is not well in the Longhorn nation after the Kansas State debacle:
Well, things were so bad after last weekend's loss to Kansas State that Mack didn't even come out of his office to talk with the team after the game was over. So defensive coordinator Duane Akina took over for him. Coach Akina told the guys he was real proud of them except for "that first quarter Kansas State touchdown pass that Marcus (Griffin) should have stopped…and that 41 yard interception return for a touchdown that anybody on offense could have prevented…and the 85 yard kick return that the punter should have stopped…and the 89 yard punt return that my grandmother could have stopped…and the 2 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter…and, oh yeah, those two field goals that nobody even tried to block…" Then, I guess the lecture sort of snowballed because you could tell coach Akina was getting madder and madder because that knobby fat area on the back of his neck was swelling up and getting real red.Then he asked Colt if he planned to play professional sports after graduation and when Colt said "yeah" coach Akina suggested that he might consider women's professional soccer. Next, he turned to Jamaal who had been fiddling with his cell phone and asked him if he was having any personal problems or trouble with his studies (which brought a few snickers from the back of the team…). Jamaal said "no sir" so coach Akina asked him why he was running like he was wearing flip-flops? At that point coach Akina asked if coach Davis had anything he'd like to say to the team, but he said he didn't, or at least that's what he might have said because it was hard to hear him over the sobbing coming from behind Mack's office door.
Could all of this augur for a return to the days of Mack Brown's Stoops Curse?
Tune in tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., CDT on ABC to find out.
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October 4, 2007
The NACDL's amicus brief in the Skilling appeal
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has requested permission from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to be allowed to file a friend of the court brief (you can download a copy here) in the appeal of former Enron executive Jeff Skilling.
The NACDL brief is excellent and focuses on the controversial decision of U.S. District Judge Sim Lake to grant the Enron Task Force's request for a "deliberate ignorance" jury instruction against Skilling. Judge Lake's allowed that instruction despite the fact that the prosecution didn't allege that Skilling was deliberately ignorant of anything until just before the end of the evidentiary phase of the trial. Moreover, Skilling defended the case on the basis that he was a highly-involved executive of a company where there was no evidence of widespread criminal wrongdoing. Skilling never claimed that he even attempted to turn a blind eye toward alleged wrongdoing.
The NACDL's brief comes out of the box smoking:
This case highlights a recurring problem in federal criminal cases: the indiscriminate use of the deliberate ignorance instruction. As we describe below, the deliberate ignorance doctrine has grave flaws that raise serious constitutional concerns. Left uncorrected, these defects will undermine the mens rea requirements that distinguish criminal and civil liability and perpetuate the status of deliberate ignorance as the new "darling" ofthe prosecutor's nursery.To mitigate the constitutional concerns with the deliberate ignorance instruction, the Court should restrict the instruction to narrow, clearly defined circumstances consistent with its purposes--circumstances that plainly do not exist here. At the first opportunity to consider the instruction en banc, the Court should eliminate it entirely, leaving to Congress the decision whether, and in what circumstances, deliberate ignorance is sufficiently culpable to warrant criminal sanction.
The NACDL notes that the indiscriminate use of the instruction is particularly troubling in corporate fraud cases, where jurors are already predisposed to believe that the defendant has done something wrong:
That danger is particularly great in the context of a fraud charged against an executive of a large corporation. Potential jurors, like the public generally, may hold the view that such executives should be aware of fraud in the organizations they lead, even if they are not. In such cases, therefore, the deliberate ignorance instruction may encourage jurors to indulge their own notions of culpability, in disregard of statutes and instructions requiring that the defendant act "knowingly." The post-verdict remarks of the jurors in this case suggest that some of them may have blurred the critical line between knowledge and intent on one hand and recklessness or negligence on the other. . . . The deliberate ignorance instruction may well have encouraged that conflation of knowledge with less culpable mental states.In the context of alleged corporate fraud, the deliberate ignorance instruction also raises the specter of the improper imposition of criminal liability based on the civil doctrine of respondeat superior. Jurors may well view the deliberate ignorance instruction as an appropriate imposition of supervisory responsibility (moral or otherwise), particularly when, as here, they may view the consequences of the alleged fraud to the corporation and its investors as severe and irremediable. [. . .]
If the Court affirms Skilling's conviction on this record, district courts and prosecutors will rightly view the ruling as the final abandonment of any limit on the use of the deliberate ignorance instruction. Deliberate ignorance will have become the default basis for "knowledge" in corporate criminal prosecutions. In our view, this is the wrong message for the Court to send, at a time when the deliberate ignorance doctrine faces withering criticism and is ripe for reconsideration. The Court should find that the evidence did not warrant a deliberate ignorance instruction, reject any contention that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt,8 and--in accordance with Ojebode and cases from other Circuits--reverse Skilling's conviction.
And for good measure, the NACDL brief concludes by taking dead aim at Judge Lake's equally questionable decisions not to transfer venue of the trial and the way in which he empaneled the jury:
In og.kir.com/archives/2007_10.asp#004388" dc:subject="News - Houston Local" dc:description="Well, you certainly don't see this everyday: The June fire that destroyed the Spring home of Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina was intentionally set, the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office ruled Wednesday. Investigators would not comment on a motive..." dc:creator="" dc:date="2007-10-04T00:00:55-06:00" /> -->Justice Medina's big problem
Well, you certainly don't see this everyday:
The June fire that destroyed the Spring home of Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina was intentionally set, the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office ruled Wednesday.Investigators would not comment on a motive for the arson, which destroyed a neighboring house and damaged a third, chief investigator Dan Given said Wednesday afternoon.
"At this time, we're not going to release any more information," Given said.
Earlier Wednesday, the office issued a statement saying investigators ruled out an accidental cause and no charges were currently pending. [. . .]
Investigators have identified six "people of interest," all family members or friends of the judge. Investigators have also said a canine detected an accelerant in the fire.
The three homes are in Olde Oaks subdivision in northwest Harris County. Damage for all three has been estimated at $900,000.
Officials said Wednesday that Medina family members questioned about the June 28 blaze have been cooperative. The judge's wife, Francisca Medina, and one of their children were home the night of the fire, officials said.
Investigators have subpoenaed cell phone and financial records of family and friends.
If a charge is filed, it would be arson of a habitation, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment ranging from probation to 20 years in prison, lead investigator Nathan Green said Tuesday. [. . .]
While officials would not discuss possible motives, Green has said a "red flag" was a foreclosure filed on the property in June 2006 that apparently was resolved that December.
The Medinas' insurance policy had lapsed because premiums weren't paid, Green has said. Medina was surprised to learn the 5,000-square-foot house in the 3500 block of Highfalls wasn't covered.
The Medina family moved to Austin after the fire, Green said.
They still owe nearly $2,000 in homeowners association fees, according to Pam Bailey, owner of Chaparrel Management, which manages the Olde Oaks Community Improvement Association.
Bailey said the fees are two years past due.
The house wasn't insured and Justice Medina didn't realize it? In an earlier Chronicle article on the fire, Justice Medina, who was appointed to the high court by Govenor Perry in 2004, said he was unaware that investigators had identified six people of interest, including family members and friends.
"I was not aware. ... That's quite startling," Medina said, later adding that he had "no idea" if he knew anyone who might have set the house on fire.He then said, "I'm not going to comment further."
That latter comment is a very good idea.
October 15, 2007 Update: Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal announces that Justice Medina is not a suspect in the arson investigation:
Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina is not a suspect in a June arson that destroyed his Spring home, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal confirmed Thursday.The revelation came during a telephone conversation in which Rosenthal alerted the judge that he was being called to testify before the grand jurors as they discuss whether to charge anyone in the June 28 blaze.
"Because in Harris County, we don't sneak up on people. I said: 'You are not considered a suspect,' " Rosenthal said late Thursday.
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The genesis of bad regulations
I'm not an advocate of using cell phones indiscrimately while driving. In fact, I try to avoid it as much as possible. But every few months or so, some media outlet passes along another superficial story (see also here) on the latest study or tragic story that supposedly suggests that use of cell phones while driving leads to accidents and, thus, should be outlawed.
Cell phones are a distraction while driving. No question about that. But so are conversations with passengers. Are we going to outlaw those, too? Granted, much cell phone use is trivial and unnecessary, but cell phones have unquestionably been a tremendous improvement in communications. Wouldn't it be prudent at least to perform some cost-benefit analysis of the probable impact of outlawing a valuable improvement in communications before foisting yet another regulation on the public? Posted by Tom at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
"We eat what we kill"
Big-time college football is big business. Maybe not as big business as the NFL, but definitely big enough that major universities really ought to dump the obsolescent and hypocritical NCAA regulatory system and form a for-profit system that would pay players market-based compensation similar to minor league baseball.
That such reform makes sense is underscored by the first part of a two part Austin-American Statesman series on the University of Texas athletic department's finances. Not only has the $100 million UT athletic department budget doubled in the past six years, athletics expenses at UT have grown twice as fast as the university’s overall spending during the same time frame.
Moreover, because of the NCAA's regulation of player compensation, UT (as with other big-time programs) funnels compensation to players in the form of "resort privileges." For example, just since UT's football team won the national title in 2005, the football program has spent more than $200,000 renovating its players’ lounge and $155,000 purchasing a hydrotherapy room to help soothe its players’ sore limbs. That hydrotherapy room probably came in handy for Texas QB Colt McCoy after the licking he took during the Longhorns 41-21 loss to Kansas State last Saturday.
Likewise, the amount of money the university spends per athletehas almost doubled over the past four years, from $113,000 in 2003 to $210,000 this year. That’s 10 times the average of all Division I and II colleges, and eight times what UT spends educating each of its non-athlete students. When questioned about that discrepancy, the UT athletic department's CFO replied that the difference is largely meaningless because of the self-supporting nature of the UT athletic program. “We eat what we kill,” the CFO told the Statesman.
Which reminds me of the thought that I had when I saw the now popular video of Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy going batshit at a newspaper reporter over an article that she had written that was critical of one of his players. Gundy wasn't wrong in going haywire. He simply went wacko at the wrong target. The target should have the feckless university leaders who perpetuate the facade of intercollegiate football at the expense of the players. It's high time that the universities engaging in big-time college football start treating it for what it really is -- a big business that should pay market compensation to the professional athletes who are responsible for generating most of the income for the enterprise.
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Hersh on the plan for Iran
In this New Yorker article, Seymour Hersh lays out his theory on the Bush Administration's plans for neutralizing Iran. As with most of Hersh's work, it is a fascinating read. He concludes with the following story about tensions between Allied forces:
Another recent incident, in Afghanistan, reflects the tension over intelligence. In July, the London Telegraph reported that what appeared to be an SA-7 shoulder-launched missile was fired at an American C-130 Hercules aircraft. The missile missed its mark. Months earlier, British commandos had intercepted a few truckloads of weapons, including one containing a working SA-7 missile, coming across the Iranian border. But there was no way of determining whether the missile fired at the C-130 had come from Iran—especially since SA-7s are available through black-market arms dealers.Vincent Cannistraro, a retired C.I.A. officer who has worked closely with his counterparts in Britain, added to the story: “The Brits told me that they were afraid at first to tell us about the incident—in fear that Cheney would use it as a reason to attack Iran.” The intelligence subsequently was forwarded, he said.
The retired four-star general confirmed that British intelligence “was worried” about passing the information along. “The Brits don’t trust the Iranians,” the retired general said, “but they also don’t trust Bush and Cheney.”
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October 2, 2007
Oscar Wyatt cops a plea
83 year old Houston oilman Oscar S. Wyatt, Jr. ended an ordeal that could have resulted in a life prison sentence yesterday when he agreed to plead guilty (Chron stories here and here) to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the middle of his ongoing trial in New York City. Wyatt was on trial over charges that he corrupted the United Nation’s oil-for-food program by paying paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2001 (prior posts here).
Wyatt faces a probable prison sentence of between 18 and 24 months on the one count and he also agreed to forfeit $11 million. The four charges that were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea included conducting financial transactions with an enemy nation (Iraq) and violating a United States embargo on Iraq. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 27.
My sense is that Wyatt cut a reasonably good deal under the circumstances, or at least as good as any deal can be that likely will require a prison sentence. The government had already cut deals with a series of witnesses who had agreed to testify against Wyatt and -- let's face it -- it's hard to think of a less popular criminal defendant in New York City than a wealthy Texas oilman who openly criticized the U.S. State Department's traditional Middle Eastern policy of supporting Israel. Moreover, although dozens of companies and individuals were cited in the Volcker Report on the scandal-ridden oil-for-food program, it was clear that the Department of Justice was going to make Wyatt the poster boy for the corrupt U.N. program. As Jeff Skilling discovered (see here, here and here), it's tough enough fighting against the government's overwhelming prosecutorial power. It's virtually impossible to defend criminal charges effectively when the government overlays the prosecution with demonization of the defendant.
Ellen Podgor provides insight on the dynamics that may have triggered the deal.
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The Tiger Chasm swallows the Texas Open
This earlier post noted how the PGA Tour has forsaken the four Texas Tour events that contribute more to charity than virtually any other Tour events. Just to reaffirm that trend, get a load of the following update on the field for this week's Valero Texas Open at the Westin LaCantera Resort in San Antonio:
By the 5 p.m. deadline for players to officially commit to next week's PGA Tour event, they saw one of today's headline attractions, Presidents Cup representative K.J. Choi, withdraw from the field.[. . .]The exit of Choi, the world's 10th-ranked player, for undisclosed reasons leaves [Stephen] Ames, the 2006 Players Championship titlist, as the highest-rated player in the field. At No. 42, he will be the only top-50 competitor on hand.
One top-50 player? The venerable Texas Open -- one of the oldest Tour events -- has been relegated to a glorified Nationwide Tour event.
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$1,200 for that?
As noted in the weekly football report, the water cooler conversation in these psrts over the past several days has inevitably turned to what on earth was embattled Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione thinking when he sold a secret newsletter entitled "VIP Connection" to a dozen or so wealthy Aggies for $1,200 a pop (Franchione rakes in over $2 million annually).
The Dallas Morning News' Brian Davis came up with a few of the newsletters and passes along some of their content:
The Dallas Morning News obtained several "VIP" newsletters written by McKenzie since December 2004. Most have a positive tone. . . . others talk about what plays A&M will run, the team's travel schedule and generally harmless fluff. [. . .]Last November, [the newsletter] outlined A&M's game plan prior to the Texas game. The Aggies wanted to take shots deep, use gadget plays and "hardball running plays."
"Lane on power, and then [Mike] Goodson on a zone read that goes toward a different place in the defensive set than usual [they've never seen it run this way]."
And people wonder why A&M's offense lacks imagination? ;^)
Update: The DMN provides even more from the newsletters.
And Ray Melick makes a good point at the end of this column:
[W]hen the guys who were once willing to buy everything you were selling, including your secret newsletter at $1,200 a year, begin to turn on you.It's usually a pretty good indication that it's time to start looking for a comfortable place to fall.
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October 1, 2007
2007 Weekly local football review
(AP Photo/John Amise)(previous weekly summaries here)
Falcons 26 Texans 16Don't christen Gary Kubiak as the next great NFL coach just yet.After a sprightly start of the season, the Texans (2-2) lost to a mediocre Atlanta (1-3) team that is precisely the type of team that the Texans have to be beat in order to become an average NFL team, much less a good one. Although you won't hear it much from local media that covers the team, the Texans continue to have huge problems, particularly on offense where their best WR (Andre Johnson) is hurt and the "rushing" attack (more like a walking attack) revolves around two over-the-hill and oft-injured RB's and a mediocre offensive line. Meanwhile, the defense, while improving, still has gaping holes in the secondary and remains inconsistent in putting heat on the opposing team's QB. The Texans take on a bad Miami Dolphins (0-4) team next Sunday at Reliant Stadium. Don't be surprised if the Texans serve up the Dolphins' first victory of the season.
Kansas State 41 Texas Longhorns 21
The shallowness of the Longhorns' (4-1/0-1) undefeated record was exposed with a bang in Austin as Kansas State (3-1/1-0) took advantage of two kick returns for touchdowns and four interceptions by Colt McCoy to cruise to an easy 41-21 victory. It was the worst home loss for the Horns in 10 years under coach Mack Brown. Texas as the Wildcats pummelled McCoy with multiple blitz packages that the Horns' offensive line rarely picked up. The Horns -- who have been susceptible to blitz packages during the Brown era except for the 2005 National Championship team led by the elusive QB Vince Young -- now must figure out quickly how to overcome an even better blitzing team in Oklahoma (4-1/0-1) next weekend in Dallas or else UT will be facing the daunting prospect of an 0-2 start in Big 12 conference play.The Aggie nation heaved a huge sigh of relief as the Ags (4-1/1-0) methodically pounded the Bears (3-2/0-1) into submission at College Station. After last week's debacle at South Beach and this week's revelations of Coach Fran's stupefyingly stupid secret newsletter, a loss against the Bears could well have prompted the type of meltdown in Aggieland not seen since the infamous firing of Aggie head coach Emory Bellard back in 1978. The Ags used their tried and true ball-control offense to overwhelm the Bears, but it remains to be seen whether the Aggies can consistently beat teams with equal or better personnel while playing offense in a phone booth. The Aggies host resurgent Oklahoma State (3-2/1-0) for first place in the Big 12 South (first place in the Big 12 South is on the line next week at Kyle Field, not the Cotton Bowl?!) before their high-anxiety trip to the plains to meet Tech (4-1/0-1) in two weeks.East Carolina 37 Houston Cougars 35
The Coogs (3-2/1-1) had their annual shoot-self-in-the-foot game when an awful kicking game and poor run defense combined to allow a mediocre East Carolina (2-3/1-0) to pull out the close win at Robertson Stadium. The Coogs now must travel to face a tough game next Saturday at Alabama (3-2) before returning home in two weeks for their annual crosstown rivalry game with Rice (0-4).The Rice Owls (0-4) were idle this past weekend, but play Southern Miss (2-2) in a rare Wednesday night game this week before returning home to face Houston on October 13.
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"Just comes naturally?"
I used to think that former Texans QB David Carr is a nice fellow who just doesn't have the gumption to be a top-flight NFL QB. But now I'm wondering if he is simply a nice fellow who isn't very bright.
This earlier post chronicled the increasingly testy exchanges between Carr and his former teammates after the Texan's unceremonious canning of Carr last summer. Carr followed those brickbats up with the following recent observations reported in John McClain's Sunday NFL Notebook:
David Carr is starting his first game for Carolina today. After coming off the bench to help Carolina defeat Atlanta last week, Carr replaces quarterback Jake Delhomme, who has a strained right elbow and missed practice last week, against visiting Tampa Bay."Honestly, I do feel better on this team," Carr said comparing the Panthers to the Texans. "I'm more relaxed. I'm not being pressed to do things I don't need to be doing.
"I feel like I can go out with my mechanics and all that and just throwing the football in general, I feel like that just comes naturally, and I don't have to think about it. That's freeing as far as playing quarterback. Now, it's just completing balls and throwing to the right guy."
Carr's stat line for yesterday's game against Tampa Bay: 10-41 for 137 net yards passing, 1 TD and 1 interception.
Just comes naturally, I guess.
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I spoke too soon
As soon as I acknowledge one of Chronicle NFL columnist John McClain's rare good columns in the previous post, he serves this blog post entitled "Texans should be embarrassed after 26-16 defeat" in response to the Texans' loss yesterday at Atlanta.
Embarrassing? McClain thinks that the Texans' performance was embarrassing? How about this performance? Or this one?
And for more Chronicle sunshine reporting, compare this Richard Justice puff piece from today's paper with this one during the latter stages of the Texans' disastrous 2-14 seasons in 2005.
Now, that is embarrassing!
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