This was originally posted on Live Oaks on December 24, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. When Metro tore up Main Street for its light rail line, many small businesses suffered a significant drop in revenues, resulting in many closing for good. Vowing that it has learned its lesson, Metro plans to provide grants up…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on December 17, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. I recently purchased a rental house in a suburb of Houston. (For now, the city will remain nameless.) When I called the electric company to have power turned on, I was informed that I needed a permit from the…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on December 16, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. While Leftists in Washington are busy assaulting our property rights through “cap and trade”, health care “reform” and massive spending, “rightists” in another Washington–Washington University (WU) in St. Louis are busy assaulting intellectual property rights. Last week the Christian…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on December 11, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has announced that her office will no longer file state jail felony charges against anyone caught with trace amounts of illegal drugs. Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union criticized the…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on December 9, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. During this era of job losses and exorbitant government spending to “create” jobs, it is interesting to note the lengths to which government goes to prevent job creation. This is worse than just another example government hypocrisy–it harms consumers,…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 25, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. During the Thanksgiving season, many conservatives love to comment on the Pilgrims. Most are so blinded by their religious beliefs that they re-write the story of the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and other early American colonists. For example, they love…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 24, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. An OpEd by William Klemm, a professor at Texas A&M, in Sunday’s Chronicle declares that today’s youth are “self-absorbed” because of technology. According to the article, developments such as cell phones, Facebook, and text messaging breed laziness, narcissism, and…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on October 20, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. The headline for Monday’s lead article in the Chronicle blares: “Tough Land-Use Law Supported”. The headline implies that a specific law has been proposed and is generating support. But in fact, the headline refers to a poll conducted by…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 20, 2008. Comments have not been migrated. The Texas State Board of Education is currently revising the science curriculum standards for Texas public schools. Those standards are scheduled to be adopted in March 2009. If the past is any indication, the debate over the curriculum will…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 17, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. One of the primary justifications for zoning is to prevent “incompatible” land uses, such as keeping industrial facilities out of residential areas. Such “incompatible” uses are regarded as an inherent nuisance, and rather than wait for the nuisance to…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 12, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. I have recently stumbled across a number of stories regarding various states cracking down on unlicensed contractors. In several of these stories the state set up a sting to attract contractors to bid on a job, and then arrested…
This was originally posted on Live Oaks on November 9, 2009. Comments have not been migrated. IBM, along with the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, is offering a $50,000 prize for the best idea that will “produce smarter infrastructure.” (HT: Write On Metro) According to the New York Times: In the United States, highway problems…