One of my favorite online reads has become Lasso, the weblog of the Austin American-Statesman. Bill Bishop manages to skewer whatever strikes him as a valid target, regardless of political persuasion, and he does it with a dry sense of humor. It's only too bad that politics really ISN'T this much fun.
AMUSING DALLAS TALES: Just the first few paragraphs of the Dallas Observer's account of the firing of police chief Terrell Bolton are worth reading:
The near-total meltdown at City Hall last week was solely the work of City Manager Ted Benavides. It seems to have been a very clumsy piece of work, indeed, setting the stage for a horrific city council meeting the next day. But it was his work alone.
Don't look for a conspiracy. Our system of government is too dumb for conspiracies. The people in the medium-security dayroom at Terrell State Hospital could pull off better conspiracies.
In fact, Terrell State Hospital was very much on my mind as I surveyed the scene at the city council chamber on the afternoon of August 27, barely 24 hours after Benavides had fired Terrell Bolton, the city's first black police chief. The mayor and the council were out of their seats, huddled like ducks at the back of the room. People were racing all over the council chamber screaming.
Former council member Sandra Crenshaw was standing halfway up in the seating area with her chin pointed straight up in the air and arms outstretched, yodeling like a madwoman.
And I thought, "Jim, let's be careful not to speak unfairly of Terrell State Hospital." This was more like the 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's famous work, "Hell."
The only thing that would make Lasso more worthwhile would be permalinks and comments. Even without those features, it's still definitely a worthwhile stop.
Now why can't Houston politics be this entertaining?
