You don't have to be an Einstein to know something is the matter with politics. Politics is frustrating to anyone with any training in, say, business or science or engineering. British economist Tim Harford, in an interview with The Washington Post's Ezra Klein, pinpoints a key difference between politics and these other human endeavors.
After the jump, risk analysis.
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| From 2010 03 High Five |
Texas is on pace to have the first road building project to feature a road wider than it is long. OK, maybe that's exaggerated, but it has the ring of truthiness.
After the jump, the evil genius scheme behind Texas's road building plans.
"Jeers: To CBS 11's chief weather guy, Larry Mowry, for being the new 'Chicken Little.' He keeps interrupting the TV programs to bring us a weather update every time a clap of thunder occurs."
-- Harlan Wood, Grapevine, in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 14, 2011
Just ten days ago, Fort Worth Star-Telegram panned Channel 11 for taking thunderstorms in Tornado Alley seriously, worthy of informing its viewers about. Since then, at least 120 people were killed in a tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Just Tuesday night, 8 more people were killed in a tornado in Oklahoma City and several more in Kansas and Arkansas. Let's never get blasé about them, OK?
After the jump, north Texas's turn to duck and cover!
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| From 2011 03 16 Xian |
Let's build a wall. Not at the Mexican border. Around Dallas. At Loop 12. Or maybe at IH635. I dunno. Ask Jim Schutze.
First, it was Patrick Kennedy lobbying to tear out the downtown freeways in Dallas. He still tolerates freeways between cities and mass transit solutions like DART inside cities. Just not freeways inside cities. A daring suggestion, but not without precedent.
After the jump, The Dallas Observer's Jim Schutze raises the bet.
Last night, while most Richardson residents were home watching the Dallas Mavericks play the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of their NBA Western Conference Championship series, a large number of civic-minded citizens were waiting in the Richardson City Council chambers like expectant fathers. They passed the time by relaying the basketball score while waiting for news of the arrival of Richardson's next mayor.
Richardson has an unusual way of choosing its Mayor. The voters don't do it. The voters elect seven members of the City Council. After being sworn in, the first act of the new council is to elect one of themselves Mayor and another Mayor Pro Tem. The official vote is done in open session, but it's preceded by a closed executive session during which the new council deliberates.
Earlier, I discussed the pros and cons of having the City Council select the Mayor as opposed of having the voters do it. Here, I want to discuss the pros and cons of the City Council doing it in a closed, executive session.
After the jump, is this a good idea?