Opinion & Commentary

Great editorial this morning in The Dallas Morning News, coming about as close as the News is ever going to come to endorsing the will and wishes of a neighborhood over development plans that would violate those wishes. It puts Mayor Mike Rawlings into a most useful kind of focus…

Dear Mexican: I know that most Hispanics in the United States are in favor of the DREAM Act, but what if this is a setup by the feds for a sting operation? It appears that our president will do anything to pander to the Hispanic vote. I’m wondering what could…

I see everything through flood control. The world. Why? You become what you do. If you take a guy like me and make him a flood-control reporter his whole life, he’s going to come out with a flood-control point of view. Or drainage. Take your pick. No wonder nobody ever…

Guilty little secret time. I’m glad the Dallas County Commissioners voted themselves a 4 percent pay raise Tuesday. I would appreciate it if we could keep this just between us here on Unfair Park, because it’s not exactly the best thing for me to be saying out loud in terms…

It should come as no surprise that I am a fan of Labor Day. Initially called to honor the impact and importance of the American worker, the celebration now calls for leisure, and we are all about elevating leisure here at The Overserved. These September festivities, as much about one…

Pins and needles, waiting for the Democrats to open in Charlotte. I am so worried the Obama campaign might stumble on an editorial from The Dallas Morning News and actually read it. Well, not that worried. That would take a lot of stumbling. But what a shame if they did…

See also: Jazz man Damon K. Clark on a living wage for musicians Wendell Sneed has toured with Wilson Pickett, Etta James, The Chi-Lites and played in Dallas funk band the Soul Seven, but more recently, he’s been working with the Dallas Museum of Art, and hosts Jazz in the…

I had a private little laugh and moment of startled disbelief while my wife and I were watching Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last night. Romney described his father as having started out in life as an apprentice “lath and plaster carpenter,” a term so arcane…

The big City Hall racial blow-up over a reform of our very screwed up municipal court system — subject of a sort of weird editorial in The Dallas Morning News this morning — is probably a harbinger of worse things to come. Which is probably good. In all its attempts…

Dear Mexican: What is the reason for the colors of the Mexican flag? Is there any razón it resembles the Italian flag, minus the águila y serpent? El Girafe Dear Male Giraffe Gabacho: What’s now the Mexican tricolor is technically older than the Italian tricolore — although Italian kingdoms had…

Well, I guess Eric Nicholson and Jeff Siegel just know everything, don’t they? Nicholson, our own blog editor here, and Siegel, a columnist for the Lakewood Advocate, have been having fun making of Lincoln Properties, a real estate company, over a scheme to get Garland Road in East Dallas re-named…

Josh Pitts and Ben Piche were in the punk band Captain Incredible a ways back, and got so frustrated with the way their band was getting booked, they decided to concentrate on doing it themselves, hence their five-man outfit, Up To 11 Entertainment. Pitts has performed with DFW notables Darstar,…

While I was away on vacation The Dallas Morning News published an editorial saying Angela Hunt, Scott Griggs and Sandy Greyson, our three brainiacs on the City Council, are stupid, don’t know how to add and came up with all the wrong conclusions about the News’ favorite project, the idea…

Gone for a week. Vacation. Back. First thing, walked the dogs in the ‘hood. Got a half dozen mosquito bites. So I thought the mayor bombed the mosquitos while I was gone. What is up with that? Are there still mosquitos where you live? Also just back from vacation, next…

See also: Scenes from Art Conspiracy’s RZN8 It takes money to make money, and so it also takes money to raise money. Saturday night, Art Conspiracy continued its trajectory with a seed event to prepare for their fall shindig, and moving from Sons of Herman Hall to Life in Deep…

Dear Mexican: I was in a taco shop in the bathroom stall and saw your racist dribble in La Prensa San Diego (the paper was being used as ass wipe, I guess). Whatever you say or write will always be foreshadowed by the fact that you and all the dark-skinned…

See also: Damon K. Clark knows Dallas jazz See also: The Kessler’s Melissa Hennings shoots your favorite bands Julie Garcia, publicist for Granada Theater and Sundown, got her start in morning radio. From ’99 to ’07, her job was largely to manage Kidd’s Kidds, the charity helmed by the Kraddick…

The first week of college is here, so the Observer staff is providing you with some tips to get your through the first week/month/year. Dear Class of 2016, College. The best years of your life, they say. Four years to cram in enough experience so you come out on the…

Years ago. How many? I don’t know. When was the time before the time we started fighting about the Trinity River toll road? Was there such a time? I first talked to City Council member Angela Hunt about the Trinity River before the Trinity River was a brawl. So it…