Opinion & Commentary

Writer and radio journalist Julia Barton, a regular reader of Unfair Park, tipped me today to a really fascinating piece published September 1 by BusinessWeek, called “The God Clause and the Reinsurance Industry.” It’s about an arcane industry located in cities far from Dallas, but Barton spied that the story…

Oh, wouldn’t you know I’d wind up agreeing with my opponent? You know what’s wrong with me? I am just too damn much of a sweetheart, that’s my problem. Too nice, too smart, too good-lookin’. I’ve got to drop at least one just to make things fair. So this morning…

[jump] *DeMarco Murray > Tashard Choice. And apparently former Kimball star/free-agent running back Phillip Tanner has made this team. Wow. *It opened this week, but I totally don’t get “dove season.” Went once. Bored outta my brain. *If you ever wanted to see NBC5’s Kim Fischer (#82) smiling and 105.3…

I was out running traps this morning on the ongoing FBI Dallas political corruption investigation, and guess whose path I crossed? My own. A lawyer I called said my call was fortuitous because he happened to be in the process at that very moment of writing a letter to the…

Okay, let’s do this. And by “this” I mean let’s make some moolah. The good ol’ illegal fun way, shall we?  In 2008 I lost every penny of my virtual $10,000. In 2009 I wound up losing only $150. In 2010 I netted a cool $5,000. By my math, that’s a…

Dear Mexican: I see a lot of vatos around wearing the clam-digger pants with the knee-high white socks and white sneakers. While this is nothing new, I’ve noticed recently that the shoes and socks are the whitest white I’ve ever seen. If I wear white sneakers and socks, they get…

I was of little faith. I freely admit that. See, I thought Mike Rawlings, Dallas’ new mayor, was bailing on us. But he said no. We spoke last week, and he reiterated his commitment to banning lobbying by political consultants at City Hall. “The big issue is that we cannot…

When Rick Perry takes a shot at Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, you can kind of imagine him twirling that laser-sighted .380 Ruger coyote-killer of his on an index finger. When Richard Fisher does it — he’s the Harvard-grad president and chief executive officer of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank…

The idea of formal rules for the economic treatment of minorities originally had to do with employment, starting in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy with Executive Order 10925. The idea was really for the federal government to set an example. If you were a federal agency or contractor, you…

The coolest kinds of nerds are the ones that keep themselves preoccupied on so many levels that it’s impossible not to be impressed. Anita Riot is, by this definition, a cool nerd. Far from being the reclusive, atrophied nerd-type, cross-eyed from spending too much time in front of a computer…

Even D Magazine, which for years operated as a kind of billboard for the Trinity River toll road project, has given up on it. The Dallas Morning News has admitted it got conned. But the thing doesn’t die. It’s the Dracula of local public works projects. Hammer a stake in…

Get your rubber boots out and put a clothespin on your nose. Large numbers of chickens will be coming home to roost in Dallas in the weeks ahead, as homeowners in Dallas come to grips with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new flood maps for most of Dallas. The maps…

[jump] *No matter what you think of the Rangers planned Stone Monument, the tribulations of Shannon Stone and his family are gut-wrenching. *I’d like soccer better if goalies couldn’t use their hands. I’d like dogs better if they didn’t have tongues. *Excited about UFC 134 Saturday night from Rio de Janeiro,…

When Dallas City Hall decides to compete with you in your business, watch out, because they don’t really have to compete. They just pass laws. The controversy over so-called “flow control” is a great example. Flow control is a move to force trash-haulers to stop taking trash to commercial landfills…

Dear Mexican: This is going to sound absolutely and totally Caucasian. Lately, we have been trying to lighten the mood around the office with delicate bits of international confections. With all that’s going on in the world, who needs one more worry? With that said, we are struck with yet…

The current issue of Texas Monthly takes on the Dallas FBI corruption probe, sort of, in a “Behind the Lines” essay by deputy editor Brian D. Sweany. His central thesis is that we have a lot of corruption in Dallas, because “The old racist order presented few pathways to power…

I was of little faith. I freely admit. I thought Mike Rawlings was bailing on us. But he said no. We spoke yesterday, shortly before he released his list of council committee appointments, and our new mayor reiterated his commitment to a ban on City Hall lobbying by political consultants…

Welcome to Local Music ‘Mericans, where we meet the people in the local music scene that you don’t see on stages. Justin Press was, for many years, one of the key people running what is now known as Verizon Theatre. Back then, it was simply known as NextStage. See, when…

So, pretend I’m the jury pool consultant. Pretend ace white-collar criminal lawyer Billy Ravkind hired me to advise him on the mood and mindset of potential jurors in the eventual and inevitable federal corruption trial of his client, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, currently the target of a metastasizing…