FalkenBlog

State OKs staff to ease food stamp backlogs, finally

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:18:15 -0600

Mayra Beltran / Houston ChroniclePeople stand in line for food stamps in the Texas Health and Human Services Offices on Monday in Houston. A bit of good news for the folks in the state's lengthening food stamp lines. Late...

The low-down on Obama's scary czars

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:17:39 -0600

If only this fine piece of research had found its way into my inbox before writing Tuesday's column on Kay Bailey Hutchison's stand against President Obama's czars! Alas, it just arrived yesterday evening. So, I'm only just now being made...

Terrorist propagandists loose at the jail! Or not.

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:10:30 -0600

Run for your lives! A "terrorist propaganda machine" is loose in the Harris County jail! That's the tone of a letter and press release making the rounds and causing a stir on blogs and radio from Harris County Republican Party...

Response mixed on judge's grilling of rape victim

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:37:48 -0600

In a column last week, I argued Judge Kevin Fine had crossed a line in his aggressive questioning of a teen rape victim after the rapist had already been convicted. Among other things, the new Democratic judge's questions during the...

Can ol' Hank really do it this way?

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:57:20 -0600

The race for Texas governor just got a lot more interesting. As you might have heard, East Texas rancher Hank Gilbert has entered the fray. He's planning a formal announcement in Austin on Sept. 21. And some progressives are cheering...

Grandparents give up fight to raise grandkids

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:35:04 -0600

Grandparents Arnold and Yolanda Del Bosque have given up their fight to regain custody of their two young grandsons, who were removed from their La Porte home about a year ago after a judge suggested the 50-something couple was too...

Finding truth in the health care debate

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:49:13 -0600

Chain e-mails intended to scare rather than inform. Chaotic town hall meetings that bear more resemblance to unruly preschool classes than public forums. Cable news networks geared more toward profit-minded pot-stirring than reporting the news. With so many unreliable sources...

PUC refuses relief on summer power disconnects

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:31:29 -0600

It seems that Texans going without power during record, triple-digit temperatures is not an emergency in the eyes of the Texas Public Utility Commission. In a meeting today in Austin, the three-member commission denied an emergency request by state Rep....

Something 'fishy' about Cornyn letter to Obama

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:09:07 -0600

I'll give U.S. Sen. John Cornyn this: There is indeed something a little creepy and Big Brotherish about the wording in a recent White House blog post asking Americans to forward to Obama staff "fishy" e-mails and Web information that...

PUC to Rep.Turner: juice but no cigar

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:43:36 -0600

Seething mad would be an accurate description of Rep. Sylvester Turner the last time he addressed the Public Utility Commission. As I wrote recently, the Houston Democrat had come to the Austin meeting to argue for an emergency petition he...

Republicans can't hide from ACLU

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:38:45 -0600

It seems the ACLU has found the Harris County GOP, after all. In last this July 20 column on a local Republican party Facebook workshop, an attendee asked how he could keep certain groups he found unsavory, such as the...

Meet White the candidate

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:48:20 -0600

In Houston, Mayor Bill White prides himself on bridging compromise and rising above petty partisanship, as his current gig requires him to do. On the campaign trail for U.S. Senate, it's a different story. It was interesting to read this...

Final word: MLK no Republican

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:39:08 -0600

Hopefully, this is the last word on the claim of a recent Houston billboard, and a slew of others that have cropped up for years across the country, that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. Supporters of claim, including...

Controversial MLK billboard removed

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:41:41 -0600

The billboard on the South Loop proclaiming "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican!" is no more. The controversial message was pulled down over the weekend by the billboard's owner, SignAd, in response to intense media coverage and criticism from...

More proof MLK wasn't GOP (Updated)

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:53:50 -0600

In my Thursday column, I wrote about a new billboard off MLK and the South Loop, sponsored by a conservative group targeting black voters, that proclaims "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican!" The claim has come up many times....