Super Hole for Taxpayers

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The NFL has reportedly required up to $50 million in upgrades to NRG Stadium in advance of the 2017 Super Bowl.  Many of the upgrades would be to the luxury boxes and club section inhabited by the Swells.   The question of who will foot the bill is up in the air and no one is stepping forward.  To his credit, County Commissioner Steve Radack has stated that Harris County should not be on the hook.  The Houston Chronicle reports that Radack is adamant about not spending taxpayer money on a perfectly good stadium.

If the NFL has its way, luxury boxes and club seats at NRG Stadium will undergo major upgrades at the expense of Harris County or its tenants before Super Bowl LI arrives in Houston in 2017.

But if the decision is up to Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack, using public funds to improve suites for corporate executives and billion-dollar companies would be a non-starter.

“I’m not about to vote to spend a single dollar of county money updating these luxury suites,” Radack said.

 With 21 months to go until the sporting event that launches Houston onto the world stage for one glorious Sunday, much work still remains to prepare for the big party. One of the most significant tasks appears to be dressing up NRG Stadium. The price for seating updates and other improvements could rise as high as $50 million, including $5 million to enhance the facility’s WiFi capacity, sources previously have told the Houston Chronicle.

Red likes the Texans and likes going to at least a couple of games each season.  Red’s tickets are in Section 547 – up there with the Riff and the Raff. Nonetheless, Red is all on board for upgrading WiFi at the stadium.  It is almost impossible to get a signal from some of the carriers during a game.  But there is no way that taxpayers should be paying for upgrades to luxury boxes and club level seats.  The denizens of those hallowed grounds are the last ones who should be looking for a hand out from Harris County – since no doubt a goodly number of them are virulently anti-tax.

Photo of oddly legless bulls in front of NRG Stadium from stadiumjourney.com

Today in Texas History – April 14

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From the Annals of the Dust Bowl –   In 1935,  a massive dust storm swept across Oklahoma and Texas earning it the title of  “Black Sunday.”   The storm became the stuff of legends.  It inspired songs and was likely responsible for the coining of the phrase “Dust Bowl.”   That Sunday afternoon was described as warm and sunny, but a wall of sand and dust kicked up in the Oklahoma panhandle and  northwestern Oklahoma around 4 pm.  The storm moved quickly to the south and southeast across  Oklahoma.  Wind speeds of more than 40 mile per hour were recorded along with a plunge in temperature.  The worst part of the storm was in the Texas panhandle.  Wind speeds reached 60 miles per hour and the massive dust cloud blotted out the sun.  Reports were that for a brief time it was so dark that you could not see the hand in front of your face.  Avis D. Carlson of the New Republic described a massive dust storm as follows:

“People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk…. The nightmare is deepest during the storms. But on the occasional bright day and the usual gray day we cannot shake from it. We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions.”

Steven Hotze – Bigot or Ignoramus? You Decide

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Raw Story reports on Dr. Steven Hotze’s testimony before a Texas House Committee comparing gays to rapists and murderers.  Hotze, a well know right winger who was once Chairman of the Harris County GOP, made his argument that Texas should ignore the U.S. Supreme Court if it should rule that same-sex marriage is protected under the U.S. Constitution.  Hotze apparently believes that Texas need not follow the supreme law of the land and should chart its own course in discriminating against gays.

Saying the state should only enforce laws that are “morally right,” Hotze explained how that determination is made, stating, “First you look in the Bible.”

“There are ways around the law. We have legalization — the Supreme Court, even though I believe it was completely wrong, said it is constitutional to kill a baby in the womb,” Hotze said. “I think it’s a horrible injustice and it’s unconstitutional. But, let me just say this, in Texas we said ‘We don’t believe that’s right. So we’re going to do everything we can to protect the unborn that we possibly can,’ and we’ve done that. And that’s the same thing.”

He added, “If they were to come out ruling that marriage between two individuals is legal, I would say let’s do to stop it just like we stopped abortion. Cut off funding for it, that’s all I’m saying.”

Told by Turner that he respects people no matter how they live their lives, Hotze claimed that sexual preferences  is a choice homosexuals make, just as murderers and rapists choose to commit “immoral acts.”

“If you make that a standard, that it’s a person’s chosen behavior, no matter what it is, it gives them minority status? You’ve got to be kidding. Where do you stop?’ Hotze said incredulously. “Look, if people are involved in activities that are immoral and wrong, you can love them, but you don’t respect what they do and you try and help them find a way out. Whether they’re alcoholics, whether they’re murderers or adulterers. Whether they’re perverts, pornographers or whatever. You want help them. Or homosexuals, you want to help them out.”

Turner again stated that people should be respected, no matter their differences, to which Hotze replied, “Then we can get rid of all the laws against people that do immoral acts, like murder and rape and embezzling. Cause you want to make them feel good, don’t you? You don’t want to make them feel bad about their actions because they might be born that way.”

Jordan Spieth Wins Masters – Breaks Texas Drought

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Jordan Spieth won the Masters Sunday in record-tying fashion carving out an 18 under par total of 270 for the tournament.  He also broke a drought for Texas players winning the tournament that had lasted for 20 years since Ben Crenshaw claimed his second Masters title in 1995. Texans have now won a total of 13 Green Jackets in the 79 years the tournament has been played – or almost 16% of the total titles.  Here is a list of the Texans who have put on the Green Jacket: Byron Nelson – 1937 and 1942; Ralph Guhldahl – 1939; Jimmy Demaret – 1940, 1947 and 1950; Ben Hogan – 1951 and 1953; Jack Burke, Jr – 1956; Charles Coody – 1971; Ben Crenshaw – 1984 and 1995; and Jordan Spieth – 2015.

Today in Texas History – April 13

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From the Annals of the Franciscans –  In 1709, an expedition led by Franciscan fathers Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares and Isidro Félix de Espinosa reached the site of what is now the city of San Antonio and named the nearby springs San Pedro Springs.   Capt. Pedro de Aguirre and a small company of soldiers accompanied the expedition.  The stated purpose was to befriend (and ultimately convert) the Tejas Indians who were believed to be encamped on the Colorado River. The expedition continued on and reached the Colorado on May 19.  However, the Tejas encampment was not discovered.  In fact, the Tejas were at least another 40-50 miles north of the Colorado.  The friars’ orders did not permit them to explore beyond the Colorado and they also received information that the Tejas were not particularly well-disposed to interference from Spaniards.  Consequently, the expedition turned back and moved south of the Rio Grande.

Insurance Industry Attempts to Cut Back on Your Rights

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The Dallas Morning News Watchdog  reports on Sen. Larry Taylor’s (TP-Friendswood) bill to make things even more difficult for Texas consumers to obtain reasonable settlements from their insurers.  Taylor incredibly claims that this bill – carefully crafted by the insurance lobby – is a consumer protection statute.  Taylor obviously works under the “Big Lie” principal.  When questioned about some of the provisions in his bill, Taylor was unable to respond – perhaps because being the bought and paid for tool of the insurance industry does not also make you very smart.

The Texas Supreme Court has essentially written actions for bad faith denial of coverage out of the statutes – so right now it is a winning strategy for an insurance company to just deny coverage.  If 10% of their customers shrug and say “Okay” the impact on the insurer’s  bottom line is tremendous.  But now Taylor wants to make it even easier for Texas insurers to deny claims.  Senate Bill 1628 has been characterized as the “Christmas List for insurance companies.”  Among other things, Taylor’s bill requires insureds to provide a complicated sworn statement to their insurer before filing suit, and cuts back the penalties on insurance companies for failing to pay claims.  Among the brilliantly worded language in the bill is the following:

An insurer knowingly fails to act in compliance with this subchapter only if the insurer is actually aware of the insurer’s failure to pay a claim for which the insurer is liable.

So the insurer is not responsible unless you prove that it knew that it knew that it was denying a viable claim?

Today in Texas History – April 10

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From the Annals of the Storytellers –   In 1906, William Sidney Porter (better known as O’ Henry) published his second volume of short stories.  The book entitled The Four Million  contains the famous story The Gift of the Magi, in which a husband and wife sell their most loved possession in order to give each other a Christmas gift.

In a strange and prophetic twist, Porter’s literary career took off after he was convicted of embezzlement and jailed in Austin in 1898.  After he was indicted, Porter fled to Honduras.  However, he returned to Texas upon discovering that his wife had a terminal illness.  Porter spent the next three years in prison writing adventure stories to support his daughter. He devoted himself to his writing and began to perfect his craft of writing stories with an unexpected twist – sometimes humorous as in the famous tale of The Ransom of Red Chief  and sometimes more serious as in The Gift of the Magi.    Upon release, he moved to New York where he secured a job writing stories for the New York World.   He published his first collection, Cabbages and Kings, in 1904 and several more before his death in 1910 totaling almost 300 stories.  His popular success did not translate into personal success and he battled alcoholism and financial troubles to the end.

Photo of the O’Henry Museum from austintexas.gov

Look at this Interesting Organ I Found While Antiquing

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The Huffington Post reports on the controversy surrounding a show featuring male strippers in Warrenton during the recently concluded semi-annual antique madness in the Round Top area.  Some of the locals were upset when Stephanie Welch booked the American Cowboy Las Vegas Revue for performances at an enclosed tent amidst the many antique dealers in beautiful downtown Warrenton.  Welch saw the handsome hoofing hotties at another antiques show and decided to book them on the same weekend as the 47th Original Round Top Antiques Fair.  The fact that the coolly clad cowboys were performing on Good Friday and Holy Saturday did not sit well with some of the locals who picketed on State Hwy 237.  Even some local politicos got in on the action.

“I find all of it pretty distasteful to begin with, the fact that they’re actually having it on Good Friday and Holy Saturday across the street from the church really makes it distasteful to me and the vast population,” Fayette County Judge Ed Janecka told KXAN TV.

In the interest of full disclosure, Red and family were in Warrenton on Good Friday shopping and visiting friends who exhibit (not that kind of exhibition) there.  The large tent where the buff and booted boys were dancing was clearly visible from the friend’s booth.  Only for a brief moment could we hear the rhythmic thumping of the dance beat.  As we left after sundown, about 50 protestors were still walking the shoulder of the road carrying signs and crosses.  They were peaceful and mostly unobtrusive in expressing their rights to free speech.  At least they left us alone because one of our party was wearing his Jesus shirt.   And frankly, I have never noticed the church in Warrenton because it is covered up by vendors and shoppers during the antiquing frenzy.  All in all a lot of hubbub about nothing.