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Sunday, November 30, 2008 - 17:08:33
Open line
I'm back, you might have guessed, but not for long. Clothes to wash, etc.
So over to you.
But a few last words about Dallas: Do yourself a favor. Visit Avila's Mexican restaurant on Maple Ave., about a mile north of McKinney. It's a family place, run by Ricardo Avila with his mother presiding over the kitchen. If they didn't invent, they perfected, the brisket taco. But the hallmark dish is chile rellenos, stuffed with either beef, chicken or cheese, depending on the day. It's not the battered and fried version, but an almost healthy, but perfect rendition of a fat poblano stuffed with subtly seasoned filling. It's topped with cheese and a red sauce. With sides of beans, rice and a sprightly salad of lettuce, tomato, peppers, cilantro and onion it's a fine meal and I think it cost under $10.
I feel particularly warm to Mr. Avila because I left my credit card at his restaurant. It's closed on Sunday, but I ran him down by phone at his mother's house and he drove out to reunite me with my plastic. He was unbelievably gracious about it. His restaurant is one of two best Mexican picks in D magazine, though it's a small, homey place with limited parking. Hs care shows. He was written up in this Sunday's Dallas Morning News, along with a number of other famous local food people, for maintaining a slender figure amidst a world of plenty.
Somebody asked about "Slumdog Millionaire." Great story. Great acting by actors of three different ages for the lead characters. Stunning depictions of India. In retrospect, I think maybe there are some touchstones that help you understanda bit of the cross-cultural currents that roil the subcontinent. It's the story of a child from the slums, an orphan and a gleaner at the huge dump, who finds himself in a good run on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" It's more than that, of course. See it when it gets here. Don't wait for Netflix.
Finally, why don't more places in LR do Sunday brunch? We dropped in the Bread Winner, a bakery and cafe on McKinney this morning and the place was full by 9:30 a.m. Egg dishes, potato-based casseroles, fat cinnamon rolls, french toast, huge omelettes, fresh-squeezed orange juice, steady-pouring European roast coffee, platters of fresh fruit. Modest prices in a comfortable, casual setting. We picked it for no particular reason other than it was open and near our hotel. But there were many others to choose from. I love the mix of breakfast food and regular dishes mid-morning. It just seems like a treat, especially on Sunday. (Don't tell me church gets in the way. Several folks in this crowd had church clothes on, for worship after breakfast.)
Here comes Hillary
It's all old news now, but Barack Obama apparently plans to announce Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday. It will be a sad day for the Beltway commentariat, which apparently believed its yowls of unhappiness would squelch this. Obama is going to be his own president. That's good. She's smart. She's hard-working. She knows the players. She's traveled the world. All those things are a good start. I believe she will follow instructions well. If Obama's instincts are good, we'll be fine. What you think?
Attention now turns, at least for a time, to Bill Clinton's agreement to release names of contributors to his library, not just to Obama, but to the public at large according to this account. This has been carefully guarded for eight years or more. It should prompt scores of stories outlining relationships between contributors and the U.S. government, past and future. I presume the Obama team had a first look and knows what this will hold.
The Pressly suspect
Catching up on my reading, I came across KTHV's report on Curtis Vance, the suspect in the slaying of KATV anchor Anne Pressly. We know he's a suspect in a rape during a Marianna break-in. It is not yet clear whether sexual assault was intended in the Pressly case, though several sources believe that it was. The KTHV report mentions in passing that there were a string of break-ins under investigation, including others at the home of single women.
So the question: Does a man show no proclivity for violence or rape until he is 28, then suddenly brutalize two women in a span of six months? Or might he simply have been successful at getting away with other crimes? Time will undoubtedly tell.
AIDS Day
The Clinton Library will observe World AIDS Day tomorrow by displaying on the lawn the biggest single portion of the AIDS memorial quilt. About 125 12- by-12-foot panels will be placed on the lawn for display for one day. Read on for details.
It's a moving display. Monday weather may not be the best.
The readers take over
The previous item mentioned the California entrepreneur covering Pasadena from Bangalore. I'm currently covering Arkansas from Dallas. But I'll be on the road shortly, so you're on your own. Vote here on what should be covered. Better still, cover it for me.News you can use
Brummett is still going grumpily into the new media night. Naming no names, he has harsh words for the "choose-your-news" segment on Channel 7 with Kristin Fisher and, for now, resists her challenge to come on her live web show to talk about it. I think he ought to pay a visit when his new blog is up and running. It's all about pollinating the brand in today's electronic universe. But he seems to feel strongly enough about the merits of this sort of journalism not to join the show. My apologies for suggesting, as I originally wrote this item, that he was feigning reluctance.
I'm sympathetic to his larger theme, but not entirely. I think audience interaction is good. You can listen and talk back without sacrificing your own instincts and principles about covering the news. The Washington Post's daily on-line sessions with staff reporters is a good example of a feature that helps a newspaper understand its readers and vice versa. The other extreme is the local daily newspaper, whose editor refuses to be interviewed by local reporters. (Guess what? I get tons of news tips from the two-way communication we encourage with readers.)
Fluff is fine, too, both in-print and on-air. Just so long as the diet isn't solely fluff. Realistically, TV isn't going to cover it all in a 30-minute show (more like 10 after you take out commercials, mundane weather, etc.) anyway. That's where blogs and websites and live webcam interviews, etc. add new dimensions to how we get information.
What many TV and newspaper editors don't get, though, is that nothing sells like news. Here, I couldn't agree more with Brummett.
All kinds of traditional news media, but mainly newspapers and television, are trying clumsily to figure out how to make their way in this rapidly changing Internet-dominated world. All of us are pondering how to do things on-line to preserve and enhance our audience.
In the end, though, we will succeed whatever the medium only if we cover real news when it happens and do so vigorously, accurately, expertly and insightfully.
BUT SPEAKING OF NEW MEDIA: Here's Maureen Dowd on a California newspaper guy who's outsourcing local news coverage to India. $7.50 for a thousand words, harvested from phone, web, email, etc. Hmm. Sounds a little like the Arkansas Blog.
Shaping the lottery
Rob Moritz has an interesting article for Stephens Media today about some of the key points in crafting legislation to implement the state lottery and scholarship program.
When Sen. Terry Smith starts talking about a private group to run this enterprise be afraid -- be very afraid. A relatively independent public agency seems the preference on the House side, likely a better alternative. Whatever the mechanism, absolute and total transparency about every single aspect of the operation, including (note to UCA) recipients of scholarship awards, is a MUST.
I remain nervous, too, that the eligibility requirements and retention requirements (a college 3.0 GPA) will produce a scholarship that doesn't attract the people who need it most. If only those deemed "deserving" qualify, we'll have a system overwhelmly rewarding those in the most advantaged circumstances. That's the simple math of the issue.
If Arkansas does set a high requirement, I think we should require legislators to disclose their college GPAs and their ACT scores. Those without a 3.0 and 18 ACT should be dismissed. They are simply not deserving.
Who's up; who's down?
Reading pleasure: Huck, med school
Open line and holiday special
EXCLUSIVE: Pressly case clues UPDATE II
A pardon for Scooter Libby?
Sale! Are you buying?
Carmakers: Think again
The groaning board
A DOGged grip on colonialism
Huck: In review
Pressly suspect arrested NEW UPDATES
Enough to say grace over
The dinner table report
Open line
Happy holiday
An Arkie to the rescue
Terrorists at work
Franken setback
Employee Free Choice Act
Fun with turkeys -- VOTE NOW
She who must be obeyed
UA names provost
Interesting question
Christmas harbinger?
The Hillary appointment
Lawsuit studied
Mansion moment
Fayetteville's new mayor
Open line
Files out of GOP race
Kinard to Court of Appeals
Multi-media man
Change, Obama-style
Florida judge rules for kids
Who you callin' unsafe?
The second med school
Obama's team
Intruder shot
Bush pardons
Open the line
What if they gave a Black Friday ....
Remember the Alamo kids
Ark. plane in crash
Wal-Mart (R-Bentonville)
Hardy, har, Huck
Emergencies on campus
Bill Clinton: It's always something
Service notice
Franken by 27 votes
Those overpaid U.S. autoworkers
Blog problems
The profit motive
Election redux
Mike Huckabee's 'unseemly' show
Open line
Mitt takes the high road
Scandal probe's Ark. angle
Anybody but a Bush
A break for pet owners
The perils of cell phones
Metal music
Arkansas: Could be worse
Open line
Hell on the border
Fall finale
Credit where due
Bush: Go now
The Hardin effect
55 alive
The morning Huck
Open line
Dark day at Dillard's -- 500 layoffs
Fill 'er up with gas
None dare call it scalping
Hillary to State
Video: Stepford fan
Judges disciplined
Blog problems noted
Pulaski school work estimates
Employment: Could be worse
What's in a name?
More Prop. 8 analysis
Dueling poets
Wal-Mart names new CEO
LRSD woes
Hillary obsession
Hard times
Huck and Gary Bauer, etc.
Act 1 protest
Alltel deal slowed
On the burglary beat
Open line
Crisis will kill nonprofits
DJIA: Do I hear 6,000?
Eye of the tiger
The unnatural state
Good news on crime front
Gwatney file released -- mystery remains
Is Obama still smoking?
LR priorities
Wicca and custody
The Obama cabinet
Pension funds: Woe is us
To Twitter or not to Twitter
The perpetual campaign
Your turn
Back to court
Medical records compromised
Campus gunshot
Last train to Hooverville
Red beans and ricely yours
Palin envy
Clinton Foundation bucks
PETA: The bare facts
Remember Tom Daschle?
Speaking of WLR ...
Bear hunting
Keck opposes Deltic
Tweet, tweet
Women are angry
The morning Huck
Remedial arithmetic
Open line
Dick Cheney indicted
Deadly manhunt
In other recount news
Edwards wins recount
Make mine a Stella
Scorecards here! Senate scorecards!
Obama's attorney general
Why GM must be saved
Squeaky wheels
Loserman is forgiven
More Alamo raids UPDATE
'The world only spins forward' UPDATE
Obama numbers crunching
Money matters
Foxes and henhouses
Traveling music?
Mike Huckabee pours more whine
Hammerin' Hank
British scoop?
Lincoln and the unions
Capitol customer service
Beebe: Gentleman's C
Not all the news is bad
Open line Monday
Here comes the lottery
Ad/PR flash
Senate in session UPDATE
Twittering the news
Pressly crime scene
The weekend crime report
The news from NWA: woebegone
The great mentioner re Sen. Lincoln
Affirmative action and UALR Law
Mike Huckabee book: vintage whine
The new paradigm
Huck on the hustings
A fresh start
Death in 'copter crash
The future of the GOP
Part of the story
Readers fire back
An abundance of money
Open line
The perpetual campaign
Mormon power
State budget for dummies
To-do Saturday
The line is open
Reach out and bash someone
District 38, again
Death in Iraq
Watch your head UPDATE
Beebe defends budget
Human rights watch
Future cabinet member?
Another DHS death
Museum of Discovery grant
And the winner is ...
Gaming the system
Taxes are good for your health
Children in need
Sight unseen
Smell that? It's clean air.
On second thought
UCA's latest lick
What will Obama do on abortion?
Hillary for secy. of state?
Open line
Aloft grounded
Twilight of the Gods
Outlook brightens for Edwards
Lee wins Cy Young
Multi-media Mike
Annexation upheld
You ask about UCA? UPDATE
More schools need improvement
Hard times
Beebe's budget UPDATE II
Sports: hazardous to your health
Out of Africa UPDATE
Chicot election squeaker UPDATE
LR fire chief to Texas
One more for the Dems
McDaniel and animal cruelty
The hotel scrap
Suffer the children
From the Blog mailbag UPDATE
Open line UPDATE
Bus to the inaugural
City director on Proctor case
The Obama riot at ASU
Market misery
Political hardball
Alltel job cuts
Legislative forecasting
The morning police report
Op-ed: Act 1 'anti-family'
Obama's Arkansas connection
Say the magic word
Dog-and-cat open line
Crawford County crime
Protection for mass killer
The vote on Loserman
Scapegoating blacks
School meeting tonight UPDATE
Send in the clowns
Special for Mayor Hays
Speaking of ignorant
RIP: Southern strategy
Bought your guns yet?
Lambs to the slaughter
Where there's a will there's a Webb
Monday night special
This will shock you
Family values
The KIPP success story
Pedestrian right of way
Proctor on the bench
About ethics reform
Who's who at Statehouse
Coping with annual legislative sessions
After King Bush
Lieberman's lever
Obama's 'bad cop'
Sunday thread
Huckapade
It's not over til it's over
McCain's legacy in Ark.
NWA hopes for handouts
Best and worst of 2008
The permanent legislature
Open line Saturday
Political doings
UCA faces challenges
Thank God for Oklahoma
Catholics to bishops: Eh.
Apologies to Mickey Spillane
Killed a deer yet?
Colleges in crisis
Case file: Anne Pressly
The real enemies of gay people
It's race, stupid
Open line
In memoriam
Mystery solved re Act 1
Snyder v. Greenberg
Ark. voter turnout
What's with Alaska?
Hard times
Speaking of voting
Charter school questions
Senate 2010? VOTE NOW
The dream team
The Proctor case
Developers rule in Fayetteville
Thanks, but no thanks
'Cultural incompetence'
Prize updates
Delicacy on the police beat
Open line Thursday
Proctor targeted on ethics complaint
WWLD?
Today's perp walk
NWA liberal haven
Rahm on the attack
The gift that keeps on giving
Usury is usury
More vote analysis
School closure
Free piece of history
Lottery opponents to fight on UPDATE
Let the devilment begin
A parting thought
Crime takes no holiday
'I was a stranger'
Pulaski election update
UPDATE: Obama party crackdown in Jonesboro
Palin, clothed and unclothed
Hold that Bass Pro Shop
Hot enough for you?
Why Act 1 was not defeated
Life with Layla
The final votes
The Onion nails it
Breaking down the Ark. vote
Do voters know what they're doing?
Patronage marches on
Charged in murder
Celebrate, celebrate
National election tidbits
Election sifting: The morning after
Calling the Hogs
Norma Bates calling
Oh what a night
Ark. returns
Pulaski vote
Pop the corks
Election images
Live at Rumba!
Dirty tricks
Get the icing ready
FCC approves Verizon-Alltel deal
Who you callin' conservative?
Election glitches
Joe the Plumber: Deadbeat
Party time
Beebe: No on lottery
Charter school OK
Watch this
What this election is about
Election images
UCA names finance chief
No downturn in Ark. yet
Little Rock election watch
Fear in the Heights
Fear v. Fear
Better late than never
First
Monday, Monday
School closing?
Enough with the polls. Let's vote!
Are you ready to rumba?
Ready to go Aloft?
A flaw in fall
Gwatney investigation
The aloft Hotel battle
Zoo gorilla dies
Alas, the axolotl
Give Dan's regards to Dogtown
Sex in the red states
Pressly parents on 'Today'
Early voting UPDATE
Ark Blog: A-twittering
Political Animal predictions
The once and future Hillary
Electoral vote prediction
Clark County will stay dry
Sunny Sunday
Pressly organ donation
Today's sermon: Faith and politics
Today's sports
Election '08 -- two views
Give and take with the columnist
Those zany Canadians
Open line etc.
Rallying the 50 percenters
VIP: Former Arkie
On the picket line
Rallying the 18 percenters
Ark. schools: In black and white
Rumbles in Razorbackland
Benton County for Obama
UCA trustee draws support
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