Chupacabra Report
-Well, billboards get my goat on general principle, being a blight on the landscape and a revenue stream for Clear Channel. Yesterday I saw one on I-45 that did those one better; it had a picture of a county official on it.Seems that County Judge Ed Emmett figured that the Harris County Office of Emergency Management’s exhortation to be prepared for hurricanes would be more effective if it included his name and picture.
You know, when freshly re-elected Judge Robert Eckels resigned his position and convinced the Commissioners Court to appoint Emmett as his replacement, I gave Emmett the benefit of a doubt. I liked Eckels alright, he worked well with Mayor White after the hurricanes, and Emmett seemed competent, plus he was from outside county government. The first sign I got of business as usual was when he rushed to throw Chuck Rosenthal under the bus after his female troubles became public. Now he appears to be grandstanding two months before he stands for election. Stinks.
-I enjoy the segment on “Marketplace” Fridays when David Johnson gives some inside baseball on the economy. This week he was all sunshine, the Dow up, and commodities prices down: things looking up for the US economy. Then he broke out the crystal ball and predicted that the next troubles will be in the credit card and auto loan fronts. Great.
-The Center for Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/08/troops-deployed-abroad-give-61.html) reports that members of the US military deployed overseas have given six times as much money to the Obama campaign than to McCain’s. Why do they hate America?
-And finally, check this from Mo Dowd’s “McCain’s Green-Eyed Monster:”
“McCain could dismiss W. as a lightweight, but he knows Obama's smart. Obama wrote his own books, while McCain's were written by (Mark) Salter. McCain knows he's the affirmative action scion of admirals who might not have gotten through Annapolis without being a legacy. Obama didn't even tell Harvard Law that he was black on his application.”
posted by Julia B. @ 1:23 AM
3 Comments:
I hope that, in fairness, you will note that the billboards you're referencing were paid for by Emmett's campaign, and not by county taxpayers. No tax dollars were used; instead, Emmett used his campaign funds to encourage residents to prepare for hurricane season.
Mr. Stinebaker,
Thank you for your thoughtful and, insightful comment. I'm sure Judge Hoarse, having ridden the bench himself, knows what an elected jurist must go through in order to reach the people. However, perhaps Judge Emmett should chose a medium that doesn't blow down in a stiff wind. Like bus benches? Hizzonner actually printed his image on funeral parlor fans when he ran in '66.
For something more current, and in the public interest, plastering Judge Emmett's face on wind generator propellers would teach us about wind power: "the mighty winds of justice are blowing strong."
Anyway, isn't that goat adorable?
LD
Mr. Stinebaker,
Good to hear from you and thanks for the info. However, as a critic of media consolidation in general and Clear Channel in particular I still find Judge Emmet’s association with them troubling. Clear Channel posted billboards lauding Tom DeLay in my neighborhood right up to the day he resigned under a cloud of scandal, and followed that with Shelly Sekula’s mug. I could do without.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home