Another voice on health insurance

These sound like words I muttered just a couple of days ago: "I can think of no other American industry that more closely resembles a criminal shakedown of the public than the health insurers. "

Racism is alive and well in Lake Highlands

I remember when AMC wanted to locate its very first theater in Dallas. The site chosen (actually chosen for AMC by former Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett and other city officials) was the strip mall located at Forest Lane and Inwood that's now occupied mostly by a Lowe's. Back then it was a long-ago-abandoned K-Mart.

Residents in the area were in a uproar and protested mightily. I remember being at the center one day and talking to the one of the sign-carrying protesters and asking him what he had against locating a movie theater there.

"It attracts the wrong kind of people," he said.

"What kind?" I wanted to know.

"You, know," he said as if I should be aware of the conspiracy. "Those kind."

"You mean movie-going kind of people?" I said, getting agitated by his overt racial overtones. "You mean people like me, because I love to go to the movies."

"Oh, no, no," he replied. "Not you. Those kind."

To make a long story somewhat shorter, those white racists won the battle -- the city illegally denied AMC a permit to locate its theater there -- although AMC won the war: It sued the city over the decision and was awarded many millions of tax dollars in a judgment. So Dallas taxpayers must pay for their racist attitudes, but it doesn't stop them.

Look at what's going on now in Lake Highlands. DART is planning a rail station on its Dallas-to-Garland Blue Line route. The station is to be located on the Northwest Corner of Walnut Hill and White Rock Trail. Anyone familiar with his area realizes the entrance to the station needs to be on White Rock Trail because locating it on Walnut would create a traffic nightmare on that thoroughfare. But, as you can see, the locals are mounting an AMC-like protest against the sensible option because it could mean those kind infiltrating their neighborhoods. Except this time around, the code word is not those, but criminals.

Rick Gosselin ranks the NFL teams

I respect Rick Gosselin, the NFL beat reporter for the Dallas Morning News, not only because he is a fellow former Unipresser, but because I know he's forgotten more about the league than I or most other casual observers will ever know. So I have absolutely no reason to question him when he ranks the Dallas Cowboys as the third best team in the NFL East, behind the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. But when he says the Pokes are not even the best professional football team in Texas, I gotta reply: "Hold on there, you Northeast lovin' (he has the Patriots ranked No. 1), Yankee-leaning, football expert, you. Them there is fighting words!"

Does anyone else see a judicial discrepancy here?

In sentencing an 18-year-old with "profound mental disabilities" to 100 years in prison for fondling his 6-year-old neighbor, the Lamar County (Paris) judge in the case allegedly said: “In the state of Texas, there isn’t a whole lot you can do with somebody like him.” I guess this Dallas County jury, which gave no jail time to an 18-year-old with no mental disabilities who held a gun to a 17-year-old girl's head and forced her to perform oral sex on him, hadn't heard "In the state of Texas, there isn’t a whole lot you can do with somebody like him.”

San Francisco ups the recycling ante

Within days after a newly elected member of the Dallas City Council wanted to know what the effects would be on raising rates to the McCommas Bluff Landfill, the city of San Francisco is adopting measures to divert all waste from its landfills.

San Francisco is going to be giving its residents three mandatory garbage bins, one for trash, another for recylables (like many [I'm an exception, much to my chagrin] residents in Dallas receive) and a third for compost. Not only that, if residents don't separate correctly, they could be fined, although fines are being suspended until 2011 until residents learn how to separate.

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors (its city council) passed this new ordinance Tuesday night on a 9-2 vote. The goal is to be sending zero waste to landfills by the year 2020. The city already diverts an amazing 72 percent of its residential waste away from landfills and into recycling and composting programs.

Who is this Leticia Van de Putte anyway?

She is a state senator from San Antonio and is someone you might be hearing a lot more about in the coming months. Right now, a lot of Democrats are none too happy over the two persons who have announced they are running for the party's gubernatorial nomination in 2010. First, there's Tom Scheiffer, who many (including me) identify too closely with George W. Bush (they were partners together in the Texas Rangers baseball club and Schieffer was a Bush appointee as an ambassador). Second, there's Kinky Friedman who, for some reason, is taking all the fun of out his last campaign to try his hand as a serious (read that "dull, predictable") candidate. So the name many Democrats are floating around right now is that of Leticia Van de Putte.

And what is her reaction to all this? Well, she certainly isn't trying to curtail the talk. In fact, according to this story that appeared earlier this year, she should be announcing her intentions just about anytime now.

100 Best Movie Lines in 200 Seconds

I guess this speaks for itself, but if this is what we call examples of great writing, I think we're in trouble.

Happy 28th, Natalie

Cleburne's quakes

The New York Times thinks the earthquakes recorded last week in Cleburne are little more than a cute "novelty," while the Dallas Morning News reports that the quakes may keep coming as long as the drilling in the Barnett Shale continues. I wonder what this guy has to say about all this.

Our system of health insurance is a disaster

One of the major arguments for health insurance reform is that we need to cover adequately all those millions who, for one reason or another, are excluded from health insurance today. Oh, if that were really true. Let's be accurate here: the current system of health insurance -- the system that requires it be provided by private insurance companies -- is an unmitigated disaster even for those who are offered it and can afford to pay its premiums. In fact, if we could find a way to cover all the excluded with private health insurance, it would actually make the problem worse, not better.

If you want proof of this, check out a study that will be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine reporting that 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in the United States last year are the result of unaffordable medical bills and, what's more, 75 percent of those people filing had health insurance. Not only that, the problem is getting worse. Only 46 percent of the bankruptcies filed in 2001 were because of medical bills.

Here's the issue: As long as greedy, profit-driven private insurance companies control payments, there is more of an incentive on their parts not to pay for medical procedures than to pay for them. Agents who find ways to deny the most claims are rewarded with bonuses. Our own insurance companies kill more Americans each year than Iraqi insurgents simply by refusing to pay for life-saving medical treatments.

The major argument the insurance companies always mount to counter demands for a government-operated single-payer health insurance system is this: "Would you rather have a doctor deciding your medical treatment or a government bureaucrat?" What a load of crap. For one thing, doctors have always and will always decide on the best medical treatment. Almost every industrialized nation in the world currently has a government-run single-payer health insurance system and in every single one of those, doctors make all the medical decisions. The problem with our current system is that you have some yokel (a bureaucrat) sitting in an insurance company deciding whether that company will pay for the treatment the doctor has recommended. Under a government-run program, that treatment will be far less expensive because one major cost layer has been removed -- the profits of the insurance company.

Not only that, most insurance companies don't even let you chose the doctor you would prefer. I would like to be able to afford to be treated by the doctor I choose and not to have payments for those treatments denied because it could eliminate the bonus to some greedy insurance executive.

A couple of days ago, I addressed the cost of such a system in tax dollars. But this cost is minimal compared to the alternative of pressing personal debts and bankruptcy.

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Crossing Over (2009) *½ The latticework of social meaning that makes up this film is ultimately a flimsy structure that pays lip service to liberal values while only occasionally inventing anything of dramatic significance. If writer-director Wayne Kramer’s outrage felt honest, his film would be easier to respect. But time and again, he undermines his own righteousness by pumping up the violence and stripping down his talent.

Fired Up (2009) * It’s like being trapped for an hour-and-a-half in a pound full of yappy puppies.

Gran Torino (2008) *** This is not a masterpiece, but it is a fun character drama that features a knowing but winning final performance by Clint Eastwood and just enough commentary to make it worth discussing. Until it starts rumbling headlong toward its tone-deaf, self-serious ending it is often enjoyable, satisfying and funny.

The International (2009) ** An action thriller with some decent action and a few thrills, but all embedded in a yarn so hopelessly tangled that even the loose threads have knots. I couldn’t help feeling that it was stuck in second gear, like it couldn’t decide whether to be fun or meaningful and so settled for being neither. It’s almost worth seeing, though, for the incredible action set piece at the center.

Spinning Into Butter (2009) ½* Approaches its ideas of reverse racism and the hypocrisies of tolerance with a heavy hand and odious moralizing. Less a movie than an essay.

The case for prison reform

Consider:

• The United States has only 5 percent of the world's population, but house 25 percent of the world's prisoners.
• The United States incarcerates 756 out of every 100,000 people -- five times the world average.
• One in every 31 adults in the United States is in prison, in jail or on supervised release.
• The United States spends $70 billion per year on corrections -- a rise of 40 percent in the last 20 years.
• About 16 percent of adult inmates are mentally ill (and the rate is higher in juvenile institutions).
• About 60 percent of those serving a drug sentence have no history of violence.
• About 80 percent of drug arrests are for possession -- not sales.
• African-Americans make up 14 percent of drug-users, but 56 percent of drug inmates.

I discovered these statistics in an informative Newsweek article written by Dahlia Lithwick who goes on to say "If Americans actually have the conversation about our disastrous prison policies, we'll understand the trends all move in very dangerous directions: we lock up more people, for less violent crime, at ever greater expense, breeding more dangerous criminals who often come out unemployable, violent and isolated."

She also says Sen. James Webb, D-Va., is launching "an ambitious effort to reform U.S. prisons. In addition to proposing a massive 18-month review of the prison system, Webb wants to work toward reducing the overall incarceration rate while refocusing efforts toward locking up truly dangerous criminals and gang leaders, decreasing prison violence, establishing meaningful reentry programs for ex-offenders, reforming the nation's drug policies and improving treatment of the mentally ill."

It's a start, although I fear in "law and order" Texas, most folks just want to "lock e'm up and forget 'em, unless we execute 'em first."

The cost of universal health coverage

I received an e-mail today from the mother of my son in which she writes:

"Guys, I rarely send emails asking my friends to think about supporting something political, but this time I am compelled to. The next two months are likely to see the Obama administration’s full court press for meaningful health care reform. ... If you, like me, have ever experienced a time when you’ve had to try to find individual health care insurance, or held your breath while people you loved went uninsured, or had friends with pre-existing conditions that locked them out of the health care system ... Then you can understand my passion. ... It will take EVERYONE calling their U.S. Senator’s office and STAYING ON TOP of the issue to get something this controversial passed. "

Actually, it will take a lot more than that. It will take money. Lots of money. More money than we have available now. The most conservative estimates I have seen is that the cost will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, folks, that's going to mean a tax increase.

President Obama has already said he is not going to use the George W. Bush approach. The preceding president paid for his tax cuts for the wealthy by simply letting the federal deficit grow larger. Obama is insisting that the cost for universal health coverage must be deficit neutral.

The President has already earmarked more $300 billion in savings in Medicare and Medicaid by eliminating unjustified subsidies to private insurers and by reducing payments to home health care providers, drug companies and hospitals. He has also promised to work with the Senate to find up to another $300 billion in cuts. But more must be done. Here are some suggestions:

Limit the itemized deductions the most wealthy taxpayers now enjoy (this is an idea that will meet with stiff opposition from Republicans and both of Texas' senators are Republicans, so lobbying them will not accomplish anything.)
Increase taxes on sugared drinks, alcohol, tobacco and other products acknowledged to be bad for one's health.
And the big, most controversial one: Limit the tax exclusion for the value of the health insurance provided by an employer. It is the nation’s costliest tax subsidy, and some experts believe it encourages overuse of medical services.

Yes, universal health coverage is a desired outcome. But like many desired outcomes, it comes with a hefty price tag.

Council committee to hear proposed budget cuts

In the entry that follows this one, I talk about a budget recommendation City Manager Mary Suhm will preview to tomorrow's meeting of the Dallas City Council's Quality of Life & Government Services Committee that is way overdue. However, there are plenty of others that may be necessary (I'm not going to debate that fact here), but I can guarantee many members of the Council won't want to hear.

The way I interpret this presentation is this: If an item is "above the line," it is funded, but perhaps at a reduced level. If it is "below the line with an asterisk," it is not funded unless additional monies are found and even then it will probably be funded at a reduced level. If it is "below the line without an asterisk," that service is eliminated.

Now, if that interpretation is correct, that means:

• At best, only a third of the city's 21 swimming pools and the Bahama Beach Aquatic Park will operate in 2010 and only then if an additional $2.35 million in revenues can be found. If not, they will all be closed next summer.
• Terminating the contract under which the city maintains the sub-surface pedestrian way at Thanksgiving Square.
• Eliminating 19 of the positions required to operate and maintain the proposed 10-acre African Savannah Exhibit at the Dallas Zoo, the place where Jenny and at least five other elephants (as well as 10 giraffes, 10 ostriches, seven lions and other species) were supposed to roam. This could revive the entire "where should Jenny spend her final days" debate.
• The operating hours at 36 recreational centers will be reduced from 55 to 40 hours a week and at six others from 40 to 30 hours a week.
• Branch libraries would be closed on Sundays and 23 branch libraries would be closed one additional weekday.
• The operating hours at the Central Library will be reduced from 68 to 60 hours per week.
• Eliminating the $38,672 contract with the Senior Citizens of Greater Dallas which provides career services to us old folks.
• The elimination of visitor and media parking spaces in the underground Dallas City Hall parking garage.
• The city calendar and "Dallas Delivers" appears to be history as is the Loving My Community program that provided matching grants to neighborhood and community groups that assisted the city in collaborating on community projects.
• City employees will no longer receive DART bus passes.

There may be some good news in all these budget cuts

The Dallas City Council's Quality of Life & Government Services Committee will hear recommendations tomorrow that I'm betting committee members are not going to like. It involves severe cuts in current city services.

One thing that may be accomplished, however, is that the city may take the first steps to creating a city television station that is on a par with all the other city-owned stations around the country and not the laughing stock it is now. The reason why Dallas has such a deplorable TV station goes back 30 years now to when the city granted its first cable television franchise to an outfit that was then called Warner Qube Cable Company. Now the way every single municipal-cable company franchise in the nation works is this: The franchisee pays the city X number of cents per subscriber to that municipal government each month. That "X" can range from 25 to 50 cents, depending on the franchise agreement. The city then uses that money to operate its cable television station.

When I was the Public Information Officer in Dallas, I spent significant time researching Dallas deficiencies in this area and one of the things I learned was that City of Los Angeles, to use just one example, collected about $16 million per year which it used to finance its television operations. It had a first-class TV studio, great 24/7 programming and a top-notch staff to operate it. It was a first-class operation and was one of the more popular TV stations Los Angeles cable offered. Compare that to Dallas. How often does anyone watch Cable Channel 16 around here? Then Mayor Ron Kirk used to ask me all the time "Why does every other city have a great city cable channel and we have such a rotten (paraphrasing there) one?" Before I had a chance to present a full report to him, however, he had resigned to run for the U.S. Senate. I still regret I missed that golden opportunity to change things.

Look at the programming offered on Fort Worth's cable channel, on Denton's. Why does Plano's city cable television run theatrical movies on its cable television channel while Dallas has programs in which City Council members try and fail to imitate penetrating talk show hosts? It's because when that first contract was signed with Warner Qube, Dallas made a policy decision "not to be in the television business." As a result, it created this monster -- an independent supposedly non-profit corporation designed to operate all the community's cable outlets and it was this corporation which gets those monthly franchise fees. Not only that, the city supplemented this giveaway with additional moneys from the General Fund. The city was (and continues to do so) giving away millions of dollars a year and getting absolutely nothing in return.

Whenever I made a fuss about it during my time as the city's PIO, the non-profit would make this grand gesture toward Channel 16, which was really no gesture at all. The result of their overtures would have meant throwing even more money its way.

The outfit has operated under a number of different names. It used to be called DCTC and now calls itself iMedia. Look at its Web site, and tell me where you find a listing of Dallas' city TV channel. You won't find it because iMedia doesn't give a damn about the city's channel, only the ones it created. It is using all this money -- the franchise fees plus another $363,546 annual "gift" from the city that is supposed to operate the city's television station for its own selfish operations.

What you will find on the site however is a plea to attend the city's town hall budget meetings to make sure this $363,546 keeps coming iMedia's way. You see, the city manager's proposed budget for FY 2009-2010 cuts this money. And it's about damn time, too. I know I could have created and operated a superb TV station on just the money collected from the franchise fees alone. These clowns at iMedia (DCTV) who have been stealing from the taxpayers for years and giving us nothing in return (except to allow some of their closest friends to "rent the barn and put on a show") should be able to do the same. If not, let it go out of business so those franchise fees can stay with the city where they have belonged all along.

I remember attending a statewide convention of municipal public information officers and most of the forums had to do with municipal cable television stations because they were the principle means of communicating with their respective public. That convention was divided: 15 percent of those attending genuinely felt sorry for Dallas because our hands were tied by DCTV and 85 percent considered Dallas a laughingstock. It's probably way too late to change this, but eliminating this funding is a necessary first step.

Happy 42nd, Paul

Favorites to win the Tonys tomorrow

Best Play: Gods of Carnage
Best Musical: Billy Elliot
Best Play Revival: The Norman Conquests
Best Musical Revival: Hair
Best Actor Play, Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
Best Actress, Play: Marcia Gay Harden, Gods of Carnage
Best Actor, Musical: David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish, Billy Elliot
Best Actress, Musical: Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Best Featured Actor, Play: Roger Robinson, Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Best Featured Actress, Play: Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit
Best Featured Actor, Musical: Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliot
Best Featured Actress, Musical: Karen Olivo, West Side Story
Best Director, Play: Matthew Warchus, The Norman Conquests
Best Director, Musical: Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot
Best Book, Musical: Lee Hall, Billy Elliot
Best Original Score, Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal

Perhaps those hallucinogens I took 40-odd years ago are just now taking effect

I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a Rolls Royce cruising a Dallas thoroughfare and for the life of me I can't. I remember seeing a flock of them the last time I was in Southern California, say 20 years ago, and a couple more in Europe 10 years ago or so. But Dallas? I know I've seen one or two moving around here but, dangit, I can't recall when.

Well now I've seen one each of the last two days and they were two different ones. I mean, what's going on here? We're supposed to be in a recession. Gas prices are going up. And you fools are breaking out the Rolls? What gives?

This weekend's box-office forecast

1. Up $40 million
2. The Hangover $25 million
3. Land of the Lost $23 million
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $12 million
5. Drag Me to Hell $8 million

Good night, David

Happy 34th, Angie

Reflections on today's news

• You can do more damage with a bottle of milk and a knife than you can with just a bottle of milk.
• For whom the bells toll, make sure they are not too loud.
• Sometimes even Texas Sen. John Cornyn can be portrayed as a statesman.
• The NBA Finals begin tonight so I might as well stick my neck out again: Lakers in 6

Another publication bites the dust

This is not going to mean that much to those outside the industry, but this news is a devastating blow to those involved with radio and music. Radio & Records was a regular read for me for more than 35 years and I'm going to miss it.

A quick look at the just completed legislative session

Failures:

• A bill that would have provided health insurance to 80,000 Texas children died because of political gamesmanship.
• No action was taken to lower utility rates.
• Texas homeowners pay the highest insurance premiums in the country and nothing was done to change that fact.
• The failure to kill the Trans Texas Corridor.
• The failure to place caps on skyrocketing tuitions at Texas universities, a failure that particularly hurts middle income families.
• The refusal to accept $500 million in federal dollars to help unemployed Texans. Now that money must be raised by raising taxes on Texas businesses. Everyone loses in this scenario.

Successes:

• Federal stimulus funds allowed the Lege to craft a pass a budget that did not cut state services and, in the words of many legislators, contained "a little something for everyone."
• Voter ID, a bill that would have disenfranchised thousands of Texans, died.
• With the help of a major lobbying effort by college students who opposed the measure, a bill allowing the carrying of handguns on college campuses never even made it to the House floor for a vote.
• With the help of federal stimulus funds, the Lege passed decent school finance legislation that guaranteed teachers a minimum $800 pay hike.

Texas' new license plate

Whaddya think?

Reflections on today's local news

• Let me see if I understand this: Teachers are supposed to infuse our students with some levels of basic knowledge so that these students can hopefully make their way in the world. But, if I read this correctly, if the teachers fail in that endeavor, that's OK.
• Area pawnshop operators: Be on the alert for someone walking into your shop with what looks like brand spanking new Nikon cameras and/or lenses.
• This could put a damper on 24-hour room service.
• Something tells me we haven't heard the last about this -- at least, I hope we haven't. I dunno, there's just something about this guy being a bank official combined with the current state of the economy, home foreclosures, etc., that makes me think there's much more to this.
• It wouldn't break my heart if the state Transportation Department did go out of business. This outfit is not now nor has it ever been concerned with transportation in Texas. It has been obsessed with one thing and one thing only -- highways. The ideal solution to this would be for the governor to call a special legislative session that charges lawmakers with creating a new agency that deals with all forms of transportation. But with Gov. Hair presiding in Austin, the chances of acting like we're actually in the 21st century, are nil.
• While most folks around here are discussing the environmental impact studies associated with constructing a high-speed tollroad in a floodway, this study could have an even more significant impact on our area. It directly concerns both the air we breathe and the entire economy of Midlothian.

One of my mentors is gone

I came to Dallas 41 years ago to work for an outfit called United Press International. These days there are plenty of folks (my 31-year-old son being among them) who have never heard of UPI, but at one time it and the AP were the main resources newspapers, radio and television stations had for news outside their immediate areas (and for many radio stations, news within their areas as well).

There were a couple of other comparatively young, but incredibly talented, whippersnappers working for UPI at the time -- the two best being a great newswriter named David Weissler and one incredible sports writer named Mike Rabun. There were, of course, the old legends. One of them, Ed Fite, was the Southwest Division sports editor whom I will always remember for writing Southwest Conference football roundup stories in which he said Arkansas would be playing in "neutral" Little Rock and actually believed he could cover sports working the 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift. Then there was the radio editor, Judd Dixon, who protected his radio fiefdom like a knight his castle.

But the man I respected the most, the one I learned the most from was a fellow named Preston McGraw, or Mac, as we called him. I came home tonight, began sorting through my e-mail and the one letting me know that Mac had died last week stopped me cold. Mac was simply one helluva newsman, possibly the best I ever worked with and I've had the opportunity to work with some of the best (Right after Mac on my list comes Jimmy Breslin. If you're not familiar with that name, Google him.). Mac never tried to be a teacher to young guys like me (Mac was 53 when I came to work at UPI, I was 26), but I learned just from watching him. I learned a lot just from watching him. I learned more from watching Preston McGraw than I did in four years at journalism school. Of course, journalism school was all about learning to work for newspapers; it offered no preparation for working for a wire service.

You can read a little about Mac here, but what that story doesn't mention, nor does another longer version that was attached to the e-mail letting me know about Mac's death, was his "green book." That damn book was magic. No matter what the breaking news, no matter where it was breaking, all Mac had to do was consult that green book and he could find exactly the right person to call to get all the details and get them fast and accurately.

I remember walking into the UPI office one day -- it had recently moved from a under the First Baptist Church's parking garage on Patterson Street in downtown Dallas to a sleek new office building on Stemmons and Empire Central. Anyway, Preston was sitting in the slot place reserved for the desk man and he was on the phone getting all the details about Leroy LaFoon.

Let me tell you about Leroy LaFoon. He lived in house trailer near a couple of stock tanks just off the Jacksboro Highway outside of Fort Worth. One day Leroy returns to his trailer to find it had been ransacked. Worse than that, however, was the fact that the culprits had also killed Leroy's dog and Leroy really loved that mutt. Leroy had an idea who was responsible for this dastardly deed. He figured it was this pair of ladies he had met at this less-than-entirely reputable drinking establishment and then brought home to his trailer a couple of days earlier. So Leroy lovingly places the body of his beloved dog in the freezer and sets out to track down these ladies. He finds them, somehow lures them back to his trailer where he beats them to death with the frozen carcass of his dead dog. He then dumps the bodies in the stock tanks.

The story breaks when the bodies of the two women are found. Mac goes immediately into the green book, calls the relevant number he finds there and learns all about Leroy LaFoon. So as I'm walking into the office, Mac is sitting there in the slot, the telephone pressed between his shoulder and his ear and he's banging away at the typewriter as the person on the other end -- the name from his green book -- is giving Mac all the pertinent details. Now Mac never laughed. He cackled. And as I walked in, Mac is cackling like I've never heard him before. "That's pretty good, sport ... the body of the frozen dog, eh? ... yeah, that's pretty good, sport."

Man, Mac was one of a kind.

I never got the opportunity to tell him how much I learned from him, how much he meant to my career. And for that, I am truly sorry. But somehow I think Mac knew. I think Mac regarded all of us -- Weissler, Rabun and myself, especially -- as his kids, his disciples, the ones he trusted to carry on his legacy.

I've tried, Mac. I really have.

Happy 31st, Justin

Hey! You can't smoke in here. Oh, sorry, I guess you can

Here's the winner of W.T.F. Award for today. Am I the last person on Earth to learn about these battery-operated demons? And they have cherry-flavored ones. That ought to go a long way to keep children from smoking. Some fellow named Matt Salmon defended the product by saying, in effect, "Sure, we get you hooked on a nicotine habit, but at least we don't give you cancer." Oh, for a minute there, I thought we were in trouble.

Happy 62nd, Ron

Columnist claims we're blaming the wrong person for the current economic crisis

Op-ed columnist Paul Krugman argues today in the New Tork Times that this person really isn't the one responsible for our current economic woes. Here is the real villain, he claims.

All our troubles, the columnist says, stem from that day 27 years ago when then President Reagan signed something called the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act. Krugman writes:

"Attacks on Reaganomics usually focus on rising inequality and fiscal irresponsibility. Indeed, Reagan ushered in an era in which a small minority grew vastly rich, while working families saw only meager gains. He also broke with longstanding rules of fiscal prudence.

"On the latter point: traditionally, the U.S. government ran significant budget deficits only in times of war or economic emergency. Federal debt as a percentage of G.D.P. fell steadily from the end of World War II until 1980. But indebtedness began rising under Reagan; it fell again in the Clinton years, but resumed its rise under the Bush administration, leaving us ill prepared for the emergency now upon us.

"The increase in public debt was, however, dwarfed by the rise in private debt, made possible by financial deregulation. The change in America’s financial rules was Reagan’s biggest legacy. And it’s the gift that keeps on taking."

The price of success

I wonder if this would have happened if the Rangers were not dominating the American League these days?

That corpse in the Trinity is beginning to rot

I'm still convinced the Trinity River Toll Road will never be built and this revelation today is the first sign that the project is (pardon the pun) dead in the water.

The problem here is that Da Mayor's announcement to the City Council today is based on the supposition that the testing will find no major problems with the levees -- that once the testing is finished and minor repairs are made, construction on the road can begin, albeit 20 months late. Give me a break.


In what may seem like an unrelated action, City Council committees are meeting today to learn how the city plans to reduce the economic development and public safety budgets to help bridge the $190 million gap in the overall budget. Now comes news that:

• The city must come up with an addition $29 million (which means $29 million in additional cuts elsewhere) to fund this study; and


• It must come up with untold millions more when the repairs to the levees the study identifies must be made.

At some point the city is going to have to decide what's more important -- maintaining the standards of the streets we already have or building this damn boondoggle in the middle of a floodplain that will not serve the people of Dallas, only those transients traveling through our city. Add to that the fact that the construction of the toll road will have to be suspended until the city finds the funds required to fix the levees and then makes those fixes (I'm guessing that will be completed by 2020 at the earliest), sensible minds will have realized the stupidity of this entire endeavor.


Let's concentrate on (1) protecting our downtown from the prospect of catastrophic flooding and then (2) creating a first-rate park in the heart of our city and abandon this foolhardy plan of a toll road ripping a scar through the middle of that park.

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Defiance (2008) **½ It’s an inspiring story, if one that doesn’t need quite as much poetic inspiration as Ed Zwick’s movie insists on giving it, with dialogue that’s too often ornate and parable-inflected. It is somewhat diminished by second-hand storytelling: entirely admirable, largely entertaining, and yet curiously hollow.

He’s Just Not That Into You (2009) ** I think the movie intends to empower all of its female characters, but it ends up chaining them to stale, timeworn ideas. Pretty routine, pretty forgettable. Don’t know how else to say this, so best to be frank: I’m just not that into He’s Just Not That Into You.

Revolutionary Road (2008) *** This isn’t a great movie — it lacks the full, soul-crushing force of the novel — but what works in it works so well, and is so tricky to pull off, that you can’t help but admire it.

Who the hell is Lucy Punch and what is she doing in Nicole Kidman's part?

Woody Allen had cast Nicole Kidman to play a high-priced call girl (a role, as I understand it, patterned after Ashley Dupre -- you know, the one that led to the resignation of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer). Allen's still untitled movie is filming in London with a cast that includes Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Naomi Watts and Freida Pinto. Problems turned up however when Ms. Kidman realized the film The Rabbit Hole, which she is producing as well as starring in, was going to take up more of her time than she originally thought. So Allen, according to Variety, has replaced Ms. Kidman with Lucy Punch (pictured here).

Now everyone with even the slightest movie I.Q. has heard of Nicole Kidman. but Lucy Punch? OK, that great resource, Wikipedia, informs me that Ms. Punch is "an award-winning English actress" known for (but not by me) her roles in a pair of television shows, Doc Martin and The Class (admittedly, I have seen neither). The award she won was best actress at the Monaco Inernational Film Fesitval for her performance in another movie I have never heard of, Are You Ready for Love.

(By the way, does anyone else think that Ms. Punch, in the picture here, bears more than just a slight resemblance to one Scarlett Johansson, who has appeared in quite a few Allen films of late?)

Happy 79th, Clint

In case anyone's wondering whether Clint will continue to make your day now that he's approaching 80, his still untitled film on the life of Nelson Mendela is the current favorite to sweep the next Oscars.

How about this for a pitching performance?

In Texas' 25-inning, 3-2 victory over Boston College last night, Texas reliever Austin Woods pitched 12 1/3 innings of no-hit ball. He pitched a total of 13 innings giving up two hits, striking out 14 and walking four. Said Texas coach Augie Garrido, who's been around college baseball long enough to see the best to have ever played the game:

"That is the best pitching performance by an individual pitcher in the 41 years that I've coached. Austin Wood did unbelievable. I've seen some great pitching performances against us, and I've seen some great pitching performances for us. But none have been any more courageous or better than the one Austin Wood put together tonight."

A little side note: Garrido coached California State-Fullerton to the 1984 College World Series title, beating Texas in the championship game. The year before, Garrido saw Texas win the World Series and the pitcher in that final game victory was a kid named Roger Clements.

Does anyone doubt this will be one of the biggest hits of the summer?

Avery's future

Mike Fisher makes the astute observation today that, since he was dumped as the Mavericks head coach, Avery Johnson hasn't really been considered for any other head coaching jobs. Hmm.

Happy 73rd, Ruta

Admission: Ruta Lee was my first and my main pre-teen movie star crush.

Blew another one

I picked Denver to play Orlando in the NBA finals and by now all NBA fans know that's not going to happen. Everyone is crediting the Laker's new-found intensity for their dismantling of the Nuggets last night. I'm not to sure that's the case. To me, the Nuggets looked tired, as though the strain of the 82-game season and the playoffs finally got to them. Many of the players on this team weren't even born the last time the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference finals so playing this many games in a single season was a new experience for them. All you have to do is look at the Denver-Dallas series to realize the Nuggets, at their peak, play with an energy level that's difficult to match. Last night (and the night before as well) they seemed to have simply run out of energy.

But I'm still going with Orlando to win the East and I'm picking them to wrap it up tonight. Orlando just looks better than Cleveland. Look, if it wasn't for that dramatic LaBron James three-pointer with a second left, Orlando would have swept this series. And James is not going to continue to get the favorable calls from the refs he has been getting (i.e., when James stumbled over his own two feet in Game 4 and, instead of calling him for traveling, the ref called a foul on Orlando that resulted in James hitting a pair of free throws that sent the game into overtime). Of course, Michael Jordan proved that refs usually will give star players more leeway.

The only thing Cleveland really has going for it is the fact I'm picking Orlando.

L.A. prosecutors finally bag one

Phil Spector was sentenced today to 19 years to life in prison in connection with the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson who was shot through the mouth at Spector's Los Angeles mansion six years ago. The sentencing resulted in this quote from deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson:

"If you commit crimes against our citizens we will follow you and prosecute you. And no matter whether you are famous or wealthy, you will stand trial."

Notice he didn't say "you will be brought to justice," because his office has a poor track record when it comes to meting out justice for celebrities (see O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake). And even this time it took his office a couple bites at the apple before they could swallow -- Spector's first trial ended with the jury deadlocked 10-2 for conviction.

According to the AP story on the sentencing, Spector's child bride (pictured top right) said "I've lost my husband, my best friend. I feel that a grave injustice has been done and from this day forward I'm going to dedicate myself to proving my husband's innocence." Sure. Fine. Whatever. She'll undoubtedly join Simpson who would be searching high and low for the real murderers of his wife and her friend if he wasn't doing hard time himself for an unrelated crime. What do you think the over/under is in weeks before she files?

Of course she has other options. She might get a nifty sum by selling the Alhambra mansion but then she might turn it into a ghoulish museum. She could even conduct the tours hereself:

"And over here you can see the original blood spatter patterns caused when the bullet smashed through Lana's skull. And in this room you can see footage of Lana's most famous film, Barbarian Queen. Then we'll proceed to the master bedroom -- the room Phil was unable to coax Lana into -- even though Phil's first big hit record, To Know Him Is To Love Him, is piped constantly through the sound system. Because of the times I spent with Phil right here in this room I can personally vouch for the fact that he never lost that lovin' feeling."

Yup. I smell a real money-maker there. She can apply the proceeds to the Simpson-Spector Defense Fund or perhaps some Lakers season tickets.

This is an ex-parrot

If you can believe it, I have recently learned there are still people on this planet who have never seen this.

Drag Me To Hell - Official Trailer

I am not of fan of today's brand of horror films, but Sam Raimi does raise the bar on the genre -- his "Evil Dead 2 Dead By Dawn" is one of my most entertaining times with a movie -- and this one looks extremely promising.

How moral are you?

Take this survey and find out.

Happy 64th, John

Overreaction

I saw this story about a Richardson elementary school apologizing for its choir singing the Mexican national anthem at a school program and thought "Why do they have to apologize for." I'm guessing the choir sang it in Spanish which I find that impressive for an elementary school. I'm not sure I've ever even heard the Mexican national anthem and I'm always open to being exposed to something new.

But the telling paragraph in this story is the last one: "Richardson school officials said they had received three complaints about the placement of the song." Three? THREE? To me, that's caving in to a small bigoted minority and the Richardson schools should be ashamed of themselves for apologizing.

Today's local news report

The good, the bad and the ugly.

I've said this once, I'm saying it again and I'll keep on saying it until the City finally does it

The City of Dallas has scheduled four community meetings next month, supposedly to get citizen input on the upcoming budget, which, as we all know, is a mess. The City is facing a $190 million deficit (excuse me, cuts approved Wednesday by the City Council "slashed" that deficit to $177.4 million.) Now at these meetings city staff leaders are either going to tell you here's what else we're thinking of cutting or, possibly, they might even ask you which items from this laundry list would you cut if you were making these decisions.

But cutting services is not the only option. The City can also increase revenues by increasing the property tax rate. I know, I know, raising taxes ranks right up there with replacing Friday night high school football with cricket matches (no, those are not what you use to set crickets on fire), but hear me out.

I work part time at a video store and we offer four $5.99 DVDs for $20. If someone comes to the counter with three DVDs marked at $5.99, I tell them about the special and they invariably decide to buy another DVD to take advantage of the offer. I'm convinced if the City does the same thing -- shows its customers exactly what they can "purchase" for X amount of cents -- these customers may be more likely to make that purchase.

So what I would like the City to do is prepare a list of options that we, as citizens, can purchase with our property taxes. And alongside each item, list the tax increase it would cost to purchase that service along with a check box. Then ask the citizens at next month's town hall meetings to check those boxes they would be willing to purchase at that price.

By the same token, the city can list other options that are already in the budget, again with their price, and ask the citizens if they want to keep them. That way we can vote to lower the tax rate as well if we think we can get along without those services.

If the City does that, then these meetings will be worthwhile and provide the staff and elected officials information that may surprise them.

These meetings will take place from 6:30-8 p.m.:

• Wednesday, June 3, Cedar Crest Golf Course Clubhouse, 1800 Sutherland Ave.
• Tuesday, June 9, Goodwill Industries, 3020 N. Westmoreland
• Monday, June 22, Jewish Community Center, 7900 Northhaven Road
• Thursday, June 25, Winfrey Point at White Rock Lake, 950 E. Lawther Drive

Happy 66th, Bruce