U.S. Federal Reserve

Cynthia Nevels: Financial Consultant Hosting Free Workshop

Did you know it's Houston Money Week? Don't feel bad -- we didn't either, mostly because we don't have any money. But we think it might be worth it for any budding entrepreneurs and small business owners to check out financial expert Cynthia Nevels's workshop on financial independence this Sunday, A ... More >>

The Ten Weirdest Members of Congress

Texas claims three of the top spots.

Texas AG: Don't Fall For the Utility Payment Scam

The Texas Attorney General's Office is warning folks about yet another identity theft wave that's been separating people from their money: the so-called utility bill payment scam. The AG's Office writes that "using in-person solicitations, social media, fliers, phone calls and text messages, scamme ... More >>

America's Petro-Terrorists

Wall Street and Washington conspire to destablize the U.S. economy, one barrel of oil at a time.

Keith Judd: Totally Qualified Texas Prisoner on Presidential Ballot (Democrat, of Course)

Just when we threw up our hands in despair over the dearth of worthwhile presidential candidates, a federal prisoner in Texas has made it onto the ballot in West Virginia. Keith Russell Judd, who's serving 210 months in a decidedly un-oval office in Texarkana for making threats while on the Univer ... More >>

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Debunks Stranger Danger

We want to move to Oregon, because apparently when you're weird in Oregon they give you money and tell you to go make a music video. Somewhere between the laziest music videos of all time and the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" comes "Strangers are Strange" by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The video, shot in ... More >>

Libra Soul: The Singing Voice Of The 99 Percent

Photos courtesy of Aiton Extea/Libra Soul​Around this time last year, Rocks Off told you about a man named Aiton Etxea and his quest to find "reason-filled musicians" for the purposes of forming a band. His use of the term "reason-filled" caught our attention because we were regular trollers o ... More >>

Miracle Faker

Rick Perry is right: America can learn from Texas. He's just wrong about what the lesson is.

Bob Lindsey: "No Such Thing As Debt" Financial Adviser Must Repay $14 Million To Texans

Just imagine it all away​A guy who told debtors he could erase their credit card debt because there's no such thing as "credit" just landed into some money problems of his own: Bob Lindsey must repay $13.8 million to hundreds of Texans who signed up for his Freedom From Debt Alliance program. ... More >>

Betting Their Lives

It's easy for a three-time felon to get $20 million for his investment company, as long as no one asks any questions.

Ron Paul for Senate: New Poll Says Texans Demand It

Ron Paul: Let the campaign begin!​As America faces the challenges of the 21st century, it is safe to say it needs as many Pauls in the Senate as possible. And we're not talking first names, either. Texas, it seems, agrees. A new poll from PPP shows Texans are demanding that Kay Bailey Hutchi ... More >>

Ron Paul: Colbert Report Smackdown With The New York Times

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cwww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire Blog</a>March to Keep Fear AliveBrazoria County's finest politician, in terms of name recognition, is of course Ron Paul. The Gold Standard Guru was on the Colbert Report last ... More >>

Ron Paul: This Is Your Moment, The New York Times Says

Ron Paul's time to shine​The New York Times has officially announced it is time to stop laughing at Ron Paul, the Sage of Brazoria County, and pay attention to his vindication. The paper writes that Paul's detractors must eat crow now that the Tea Party and Libertarians have raised him up as ... More >>

Les Miles for President (Also, 5 Winners and 5 Losers From This Weekend)

Everyone's talking about Les Miles, and not in a good way​"In the game of life nobody -- repeat, NOBODY -- is playing with more house money than Les Miles." -- Me on Twitter just after LSU's 16-14 win over Tennessee As Homer Simpson would say, it's funny because it's true. The truly funny th ... More >>

Wall Street Bailout

Stone's sequel lets the bad guys off easy.

Ron Paul Is Coming For You, Fort Knox

Ron Paul checks out the gold supply​Ron Paul -- the Brazoria County congressman who would be president, if only the country would come to its 18th-century senses -- is going Goldfinger.He says he just wants to see what actual gold the U.S. has in safekeeping at Fort Knox and and New York.But we kn ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Believe It Or Not, There Are Worse Ideas Than Kim Kardashian As Lara Croft

I can't wait to hear her English accent.​It's been a rough week: we found out the BP oil spill may spread across the Atlantic Ocean and threaten England's blessed shores (which, let's admit it, would be pretty hilarious) and dealt with the campaign in Afghanistan supplanting Vietnam as America ... More >>

A Day At Discovery Green With The Tea Partiers

Photo by Marc Brubaker​The noise leading into the November election is only getting louder, as the dissent on the right side of the nation grows deafening. Yesterday on Discovery Green, a group of at least 1,000 Houston Tea Party supporters and some from other spaces in Texas converged to hold a T ... More >>

Credit Repair: Connecting the Dots

Consider the consequences of not making background checks before engaging a financial adviser.

Credit Repair

Overwhelmed by debt? Hey, pay a company to get rid of it by saying it never really happened in the first place.

How Not To Repair Your Credit

​You might think that a business couldn't squeeze much money out people who are tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but where there's a will, and perhaps a paucity of ethics, there's a way.This week's Houston Press cover story takes a look at a rift between two "debt invalidation" companies, in ... More >>

No Justice

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

Listology: Room 101's Roburt Reynolds Chooses Bands He Doesn't Like

​When Rocks Off started asking local musicians to fill out music-related lists as suggested in Lisa Nola's Music Listography, we never expected to get one like this one from one-man skronk-blues machine Room 101, known to a few select people as Roburt Reynolds. Reynolds, who plays Thursday at the ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Daylight Coma

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. Growing up, we were big fa ... More >>

Mortgage Papers and Foreclosure

It's easy for a homeowner's payments to fall through the cracks.

Fund-raiser Blues

Duck Season. Rabbit Season. Tax Season.

In the Sub-Prime of Life

Homeowners complain that Litton Loan is quicker to foreclose than it needs to be

Houston Astros, Netflix, Congressman Ron Paul

It could be a year of despair for Astros fans

Eaten Alive

Rent-to-own stores, pawnshops, payday lenders -- it's hope for sale, with interest

The In-(F)laws

This Douglas-Brooks remake is bigger and broader, but not better

In Search of the Sleuth

Edmund J. Pankau trades on his hard-boiled private-eye image to attract clients and speaking engagements. To find out more about him, we resort to some Sam Spade work of our own.

Need or Greed

A Bible-quoting con man finds easy pickings among those looking for a miracle or a windfall

Mash and Trash

Dish

Snitch Vs. Snitch

In the drug world, you can't trust anybody - especially a federal informant

The Right Kind of People

Ken Schnitzer gets off -- with a little help from his friends

The Sound and the Fury

Talk radio's Rob Thorn warns of the New World Order and impending apocalypse. The Texas Constitutional Militia is listening.

God, Guns & Kombucha

Is Steve Stockman a committed crackpot, or just a hapless goofball?

The Wendy Card

Wendy Gramm's all-American success story is a centerpiece of her husband's fledgling presidential bid. But there's more to the story than what's being packaged and sold by the Phil Gramm campaign.