tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183572782011-12-14T20:40:35.354-06:00Giving Bias a Good Name Since 2005Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.comBlogger1066125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-33105695331831463762010-10-11T07:56:00.004-05:002010-10-11T08:03:46.711-05:002010-10-11T08:03:46.711-05:00

An anonymous poster submitted a comment to an old article (read here) regarding Rep. Angie Chen Button's role as a DART board member in DART's $900 million cost overrun in 2008. DART is still reeling from that. I don't know about a Button-Jeffus connection the anonymous poster refers to nor the requirements for a conflict of interest charge, but if what he or she says is true, this particular

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com1http://edsops.blogspot.com/2010/10/darts-not-so-good-thing-update.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-87304196800704273682010-03-21T22:59:00.001-05:002010-03-21T23:00:36.095-05:002010-03-21T23:00:36.095-05:00

With full awareness of the immodesty of saying, "I told you so", I couldn't help but look back with much satisfaction on a post I made last August, titled "Health Care End Game" and subtitled, "Spoiler alert: How it will end." Now the end has come. That old post was remarkably prescient. Close vote. No GOP support. Budget reconciliation. The one prediction that failed was the expectation that

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com1http://edsops.blogspot.com/2010/03/health-care-end-game-update.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-2630056016153448262010-01-22T18:07:00.005-06:002010-01-22T18:10:39.903-06:002010-01-22T18:10:39.903-06:00

This blog comment deserves to be a blog post of its own: Destiny said: "This is getting old. And I figured OBVIOUSLY the only reason you're not coming back is because no one has written you a song yet begging you to. (you're so dramatic) So here, I wrote this for you and produced the music video as well, all by myself...in your honor." In response, all I have to say is...

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com2http://edsops.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-mercy-please-dont-go.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-10090100472571116452009-09-16T05:00:00.000-05:002009-09-16T05:00:06.410-05:002009-09-16T05:00:06.410-05:00

"Wake up Maggie, I think I got something to say to you It's late September and I really should be back at school I know I keep you amused but I feel I'm being used Oh Maggie, I couldn't have tried any more You led me away from home just to save you from being alone You stole my heart and that's what really hurt The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age But that don't worry me

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com5http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/09/maggie-may.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-78865697832602340412009-08-31T17:30:00.004-05:002009-08-31T18:54:04.230-05:002009-08-31T18:54:04.230-05:00

When good governance demands confidentiality In an editorial, The Dallas Morning News calls for school districts to publicly release the names of candidates it is considering to fill the position of superintendent. The News says there are 40 school districts statewide searching for a new superintendent and most will name only a single finalist. After the public has a suitable opportunity to

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com4http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/school-district-superintendent-searches.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-10808033374750922072009-08-28T14:00:00.000-05:002009-08-28T14:00:01.255-05:002009-08-28T14:00:01.255-05:00

iBurgh Now. iCOR later? Pittsburgh is on the cutting edge of cities using technology to improve city services. Its new iPhone app received a lot of good press this week (hat tip to former Richardson city council member Pris Hayes, who continues to have "fresh ideas"). According to the story, the iPhone app "lets iPhone owners snap a picture of their favorite eyesore or attractive nuisance,

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com14http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/seeclickfix.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-67239422012183729882009-08-27T18:28:00.002-05:002009-08-27T18:34:00.142-05:002009-08-27T18:34:00.142-05:00

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."-- Joni Mitchell Ian McCann, in The Dallas Morning News' Richardson blog, reports on the ribbon cutting for Richardson's Routh Creek Parkway, a new road serving the new Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas headquarters. Two paragraphs stood out: "Richardson's newest street opened Thursday morning after a ribbon cutting ceremony in the Spring Creek

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com4http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/routh-creek-parkway.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-37831071070277301842009-08-27T14:00:00.012-05:002009-08-27T14:00:00.298-05:002009-08-27T14:00:00.298-05:00

Do the rates promote conservation? At Monday's Richardson city council meeting, resident David Chenoweth suggested (Section 5, Part 3, beginning about 28:30) that the city's water rates do not promote conservation. Does he have a point? I think so, at least enough of a point that someone at city hall ought to review the situation and decide just what we're trying to accomplish with the rates.

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com48http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/richardson-water-rates.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-73486581129295721552009-08-26T14:00:00.002-05:002009-08-26T14:00:00.423-05:002009-08-26T14:00:00.423-05:00

Know anybody with a blimp job in north Texas? Or even in Illinois, for that matter? Well, there's money earmarked in the federal budget by north Texas' own Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX) for blimp research and development in Illinois. Because of the furor stirred up by the health care debate, a recent news story about Pete Sessions didn't get the attention it deserved. According to a Politico

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com5http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/pete-sessions-blimp.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-77027753671804092752009-08-26T13:24:00.001-05:002009-08-26T13:26:30.170-05:002009-08-26T13:26:30.170-05:00

To Sail Against the Wind Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) died today after a year-long battle with brain cancer. I found the following blog post in the archives that I think stands up as well today as the day it was written, May 20, 2008. Jarrett Rush, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, breaks the news that Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. Rush's short blog post focuses on

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com2http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/ted-kennedy-1932-2009.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-59041618348843020542009-08-25T20:19:00.007-05:002009-08-26T09:06:01.158-05:002009-08-26T09:06:01.158-05:00

Wants extra credit for answering public's questions Monday evening, the Richardson City Council held a public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2009-2010. There was much discussion about overtime expenses, car allowances, staff salaries and other areas to keep costs under control. New councilman Bob Macy's budget concern seemed to be the cost of answering the public's questions and

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com16http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/councilman-fears-onerous-open-records.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-11910258045565172432009-08-25T17:47:00.006-05:002009-08-26T09:06:56.941-05:002009-08-26T09:06:56.941-05:00

But d*mn precious for us humans William McKenzie, in The Dallas Morning News' late, lamented Religion blog, asks a panel of local religious professionals the question, "Do we put too great a premium on our biological lives?" Essentially none of them give a direct answer, so your lowly, humble layman correspondent gives it a go (by citing another, wiser layman, naturally): No, we don't put

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com0http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/life-too-cheap-to-meter-if-youre.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-33538090192286616072009-08-25T14:00:00.001-05:002009-08-25T14:09:37.171-05:002009-08-25T14:09:37.171-05:00

What do these have in common? If you guessed that freeing the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber was due to Great Britain having socialized medicine, you'd be thinking along the same lines as David Smith, who published just that assertion in the Dallas County Republican Examiner. (Never heard of Examiner.com? It's more competition for The Dallas Morning News' online product.) David Smith lists

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com3http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/lockerbie-bomber-health-care.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-74418148843551301662009-08-24T18:45:00.004-05:002009-08-24T18:50:05.562-05:002009-08-24T18:50:05.562-05:00

Good things come to those who wait Is it possible that Texas Instruments' shell of a wafer fab in Richardson just might, eventually, be equipped and brought online to start producing the world's first analog products from a 300mm line? It's just possible, according to this story from Virginia. If so, the promise of jobs and tax revenues might finally be fulfilled.

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com1http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/texas-instruments-rfab.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-4071844051468542532009-08-24T14:00:00.001-05:002009-08-24T14:00:00.567-05:002009-08-24T14:00:00.567-05:00

Will "Phyllis Schlafly" be an answer on TAKS test? School's open! Drive carefully. And keep just as close an eye on what the State Board of Education (SBOE) is up to in Austin. Last week, Jeffrey Weiss, in The Dallas Morning News Richardson blog, asked teachers how they are coping with the law passed by the Texas legislature a couple of years ago calling for, as Weiss put it, "the enrichment

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com0http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/sboe-social-studies-standards.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-41581103305886682472009-08-21T18:05:00.001-05:002009-08-21T18:12:54.002-05:002009-08-21T18:12:54.002-05:00

With liberty and data mining for all The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), signed into law in 1966, guarantees disclosure of documents controlled by the federal government. Texas has its own law, called the Public Information Act (PIA), which is in some ways stronger than the federal law, but open records requests are commonly called FOIA requests at all levels of government. I've come across

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com37http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/freedom-of-information-act.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-3252965285362680812009-08-20T17:35:00.009-05:002009-08-21T18:09:57.082-05:002009-08-21T18:09:57.082-05:00

Silly season, Richardson style As long ago as the 19th century, late summer was known as the "silly season", when government and business go on vacation and the news media are desperate for how to fill newsprint or, more recently, air time. Animal attacks are a perennial favorite (Sharks!). So, too, are movie star scandals or crime stories. Better still if you can combine the two (Jacko Dead

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com17http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/autogate.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-35594475214976705342009-08-19T17:44:00.002-05:002009-08-19T21:05:41.795-05:002009-08-19T21:05:41.795-05:00

Spoiler alert: How it will end Carl Leubsdorf, former Washington Bureau Chief for The Dallas Morning News, predicts that last weekend's statements by President Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius mark the beginning of the end game for health care reform. Obama said a "public option" was just a "sliver" of health care reform. Sebelius said it wasn't the "

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com5http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/health-care-end-game.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-50973989074456572452009-08-18T17:44:00.002-05:002009-08-23T15:27:15.891-05:002009-08-23T15:27:15.891-05:00

Hutchison's prescription for renewal in Texas Kay Bailey Hutchison is touring Texas this week, announcing for about the zillionth time that she is running for governor. But she first has to win the GOP primary against Rick Perry. Her message to Texas Republicans is that unless the Texas GOP dumps Rick Perry and elects her, the future of the GOP in Texas will be a continuation of a decade-long

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com6http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/gops-shrinking-majority.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-86706833029453740362009-08-17T17:30:00.004-05:002009-08-17T20:02:38.818-05:002009-08-17T20:02:38.818-05:00

Rod Dreher is back in town. Rod Dreher spent the summer reading about theology and Chinese medicine. Did he learn anything? Apparently not. He's back and he's just as intolerant of those who don't share his religious beliefs as ever. In a new post in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, he condemns summer camps for kids run by atheists. Only it's never just "atheists" for Dreher. He calls it

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com6http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/atheists-and-nazis.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-38722399244125532382009-08-14T17:48:00.006-05:002009-09-12T15:44:41.322-05:002009-09-12T15:44:41.322-05:00

From Where Is ... This is another in an occasional series of photos for which readers are challenged to identify the location where the photo was taken. Today's challenge: what is this blockhouse and where is it located? I call it a blockhouse because it sort of looks like a blockhouse (to me), not because it has a military purpose. In fact, I'm not sure what its purpose is and I don't

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com7http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-is-blockhouse.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-32591419568366259422009-08-13T18:14:00.003-05:002009-08-13T22:43:33.212-05:002009-08-13T22:43:33.212-05:00

"The health care debate has gone crazy." The Dallas Morning News editorial board weighs in on the health care reform debate. Not health care reform, but the debate. Only they don't call it a debate. They say, "Health care reform is an enormously complex, vitally important issue, but it has become all but impossible to hold a civil discussion about it. These town halls have degenerated into

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com6http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/health-care-debate.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-25574850794508254172009-08-12T17:43:00.002-05:002009-08-12T17:52:19.920-05:002009-08-12T17:52:19.920-05:00

Truth is the first casualty of war That quote is usually credited to Republican Senator Hiram Johnson (R-CA), who said it in 1918 in the midst of World War I. Now, we're in the midst of a political war over health insurance and Republicans are demonstrating they know well how to apply Johnson's aphorism. Just when the "birthers," the delusional political partisans who insist that President

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com23http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/deathers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-51269944834191737772009-08-11T17:58:00.004-05:002009-08-11T18:04:15.163-05:002009-08-11T18:04:15.163-05:00

Know what I'm talking about? If you know that the headline, "Briefing," refers to The Dallas Morning News' freebie newspaper that is tossed on the lawns of 200,000 non-subscribers Wednesdays through Saturdays, then Belo's branding effort is working. According to Robert Wilonsky, in a Unfair Park blog, Belo CEO Robert Decherd maintains that "the free, miniature Morning News is a money-maker,

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com2http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/briefing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18357278.post-90516475264428659462009-08-10T17:52:00.000-05:002009-08-10T17:53:24.178-05:002009-08-10T17:53:24.178-05:00

What do these have in common? All three are getting the Richardson City Council's attention lately, but only one really matters. In July, at the end of a long council worksession, the council discussed a proposed new utility fee to set up a dedicated fund for storm water drainage operations instead of paying for these operations out of the general fund. The council exhibited what I considered

Ed Cognoskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595340868770406595noreply@blogger.com11http://edsops.blogspot.com/2009/08/storm-water-redevelopment-and-golf.html