Politics

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

FAIR-y Tales: Mexican Macro-economics

District Judges Susan & Marc Brown: Two Big King Street Patriot Fans

Harris County criminal court judge Marc Brown, a proud supporter of the King Street Patriots. ​Reports recently surfaced about a police chief and police officer in East Texas being fired for an affiliation with their local Tea Party group, and the whole thing has caused quite the uproar in the tin ... More >>

Heights Walmart: That Mysterious 380 Agreement Continues Being Mysterious

Latest from the Heights: inaccuracies in the city council's "request for council action."​It's been about three weeks since we last wrote about the Heights Walmart and a possibility of a missing 380 application from developer Michael Ainbinder. We still haven't gotten any clarification from the ci ... More >>

King Street Patriots Party Hardy At The Rice Lofts

Finding a watch party in Houston for election night was a bit of a chore. About the only thing in town was Bill White's, and since Hair Balls already had that covered, we had to look elsewhere. Even the New Black Panthers can't stop us​We decided on the King Street Patriots' bash at the Rice Lofts ... More >>

County Officials: Vote-Counting May Be Slow; Majority Of Votes Already Cast

Perhaps 60 percent of the Harris County vote has already been cast​Harris County clerk Beverly Kaufman's office is warning that it might take a little longer than usual to count the vote tomorrow, because of the fire that wiped out the county's electronic-voting machines.The speed of the vote coun ... More >>

Watch Out Muslims: State Senator Dan Patrick Creates "Tea Party Caucus" In Legislature

Dan Patrick: FINALLY the Tea Party will be heard in Texas​Right-wing radio guru Dan Patrick has announced the creation of a Tea Party Caucusfor the upcoming Texas legislative session.And no, "Tea Party Caucus" is not necessarily a synonym for "Texas Legislature," at least not yet."The Tea Party ha ... More >>

Grinding Justice

Operation Streamline costs millions, tramples the Constitution, treats migrants like cattle and doesn't work.

Early Voting Begins: Five Reasons To Get It Out Of The Way

The Harris County ballot is about as long as this, and not was gripping​Early voting began today in Harris County and elsewhere, as voters and candidates finally hit the home stretch for the very bizarre Campaign 2010.Voting early is usually a good idea; here in Houston it makes more sense than ev ... More >>

Liveblogging the Walmart Vote

The City Council is set to vote this morning on a proposed 380 agreement with developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart near the Heights. The vote could technically be delayed another week, but Mayor Parker said yesterday if a council member tries to do that, she'd overrule the ... More >>

Heights-Area Walmart Gets its Public Hearing

The mayor says the Walmart vote can't be delayed any longer; City Council must decide tomorrow. ​The public had its last chance today to talk to the mayor and city council members about a proposed "380 agreement" between the city and developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart near t ... More >>

Walmart Tagged, Metro Gets Spotlight At City Council

At least one city council member asked Metro if it's time to re-evaluate certain plans. ​At a Houston City Council meeting that was supposed to clear up a few things about a planned Walmart development near the Heights, Metro, and its financial mess, ended up being the issue of the morning. Counci ... More >>

SPECIAL LABOR DIA EDITION

La Migra, NAFTA and one piece at a time

No Changes Needed At Houston's Messed-Up Fingerprint Lab, City Council Decides

Photo by umboodySome council members think money won't make the problems at HPD's fingerprint lab go away. ​The Houston City Council approved today -- despite concerns from several council members -- a contract to keep paying a consulting firm to basically run the police department's fingerprint l ... More >>

Special Potpourri Edition

Down on the Farm

The Humane Society and big agriculture slug it out over animal rights.

Great Moments In Political Debate, La Marque Style

​You can have your Daniel Webster rising in the Senate to give his storied Second Reply to Hayne; the La Marque City Council has set the bar for legislative contemplation far, far higher with its epochal Argument Over A Past-Due Library Book.As noted in the Galveston County Daily News, the ever-sq ... More >>

The Tug of War

Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are locked in a pitched battle over the soul of the GOP. They are also running for governor.

No Justice

We've bailed out the banks. When do we go after the crooks behind our financial collapse?

She's Suing To Make Sure Prayers Get The Hell Out Of City Council Meetings

​To Houston realtor Kay Staley, religion and organized government mix about as well as tequila and jagermeister. That is to say, not very well. And so she has launched a federal lawsuit against the City of Houston and city council member Anne Clutterbuck in an attempt to sever the two incompatible ... More >>

Gay Panic in Cowtown: Houston Pride

This city's gay community pushed back hard.

A Bit Of A Slowdown In The Rush To Approve BARC's Change Agent

Photo by wsilver​City Council did not vote on BARC interim chief Gerry Fusco's contract because it was not completed in time for the meeting, according to the mayor's agenda director."The documents weren't in," Marty Stein told Hair Balls. "....In this case, what happened was, because this is ... More >>

Timing Of Vote For BARC's "Change Agent" Contract Surprises Some, Like Councilmembers

Photo courtesy GHCVB​Silly fuckin' us.We thought that when a Houston City Councilman says something, we're supposed to take him at his word. But sometimes we forget that this is Houston, and things are done a little differently.At the August 3 Human Services Committee meeting on Gerry Fusco's BARC ... More >>

J'Accuse!

Kirby Dick outs closeted pols and the media that protect them.

Gun-Control Advocates Revel In Their Texas Triumph

Photo by don schulteThe folks at the gun-control organization The Brady Center are crowing over their victory in Texas. All you gun-loving yahoos couldn't pass a bill allowing concealed weapons on college campuses, the center all but said, and nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah."Common sense is alive and well in T ... More >>

The BARC Survey The City Should Be Conducting

Photo by Daniel KramerBARC is asking for the public's input on how to improve the shelter by completing an online survey. According to the preamble, the Mayor's office is ready to roll up its sleeves and get to the bottom of the "complexity" of BARC's problems. (Apparently, the 2005 Mayor's Task For ... More >>

Talking About NAFTA and Mexico

Houston May Be Getting Its Irish Up

Photo by closelyobserved.comAuthentic Irish weather greeted this weekend's St. Patrick's Day Parade, but the chilly rain didn't deter over 150 entrants from promenading down Caroline and San Jacinto streets in honor of Ireland's patron. According to information we received, it may be that some of th ... More >>

Tense Times In La Marque

We have one question for La Marque: What the hell is going on down there?There's a crime spree, the City Manager might or might not be keeping his job, and the Mayor resigned. That's just this week. No telling what's gonna happen next. La Marque is the kind of small town where the city council membe ... More >>

Sonidos y Mas: Various Artists, "The Price of Silence"

Sixty years ago this week in Paris, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The original text was a collaborative effort from representatives from many nations including the United States (Eleanor Roosevelt was part of the team), written as a way to repudiate the atroc ... More >>

Why Are Mexicans Obsessed with Scarface?

A Handy Guide To Terror Targets In Houston

Sometimes it seems like organizations that want to protect Americans from terrorism end up doing all the terrorists' research for them. The Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank headed by John Podesta, formerly Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, has compiled a handy guide to the nation' ... More >>

Al Green Goes All Rambo

Representative Al Green Fights His Own Vietnam War

Scenes From The Polls: Election Day Slows in Fort Bend County

Mexican Homophobia

Early Voting Still Shattering Records

It's Time To (Wait In Line And) Vote

Cuba, Mexico Look To Block The Texas Entrance To The U.S.

Man Allegedly Beaten by Jailor and Denied Tape of Incident

It May Be Easier To Early-Vote In Montrose This Year

Crabby Thai Judiciary Fires Food Critic PM

Nice Try: Bob Barr Wants John McCain and Barack Obama Thrown Off the Texas Ballot

China Restricts Web Access for International Media, NBC Bows to Benevolent New Overlords

Janet Jackson’s Wardrobe Malfunction, Revisited

Was Cesar Chavez Really Against Illegal Immigration?

The DREAM Act Might Be Dead, But These Kids' Hopes Are Not

They are American in everything but name. They can go to college in Texas and improve themselves. Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, they're just illegal immigrants without social security numbers or futures.

Hippie Cops and Loan Sharks

No beards allowed at HPD

Mister Beebe Goes to Marfa

Barack Obama and Me

It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator