Dome Doings

These letters made it to the Chron today:

Pro-Hunker Down:

Judge Ed Emmett’s going against negative pressure to destroy the Dome puts him up there with Judge Roy Hofheinz and the other great visionary Houston heroes. He’s right about saving the Dome, and he knows it and is not afraid to stand up for what he believes.

Anti-Hunker Down

To call a plan to create much-needed green space in place of the embarrassingly deteriorated Astrodome “silly” is childish and simply shows, once again, that Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is a sore loser.

Hunker Down is far from being a “visionary hero” on this issue. He has been in office for a number of years and still hasn’t come up with a solution for the Dome. He has been more of the janitor-in-chief of the Dome. It will soon be 15 years since the ‘Stros last played there – 15 YEARS – and nobody has come forward with a workable solution. NADA! ZILCH!

Among active MLBers, name the player with the most career doubles?

The Chron will be moving most if its operations to the old Houston Post building off of the Southwest Freeway. I guess it doesn’t matter to me. I wonder how many newspapers in cities across the U.S. of A. are located in their downtown district.

The Chron E-Board came out today in favor of lifting the trade embargo on Cuba. Here is how it ends:

But, as the older Cuban exiles who longed to return to a Castro-free homeland die out, things have changed enough that Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor in Florida now running for the same post as a Democrat, has come out against the embargo and said he will travel to Cuba if elected.

With the Castros in their 80s and the government gradually opening the economy, it’s time for the U.S. to discard its failed policy and move toward normal relations with the island. There are issues to be worked out, such as the fate of imprisoned U.S. contractor Alan Gross in Cuba and of three Cuban agents jailed in the U.S.

But opening up to Cuba would create a new market of 11 million people for U.S. business and give the U.S. a commercial and social presence again on the island.

The embargo gave Fidel Castro half a century to build Cuban society his way, virtually free of U.S. influence. One wonders how different Cuba would be today if the embargo had lasted just five years instead of 52.

It is not going to happen anytime soon, thanks to the loud and influential voices in South Florida.

Believe it or not, plenty of folks still run around wearing or displaying the Johnny Reb flag. Call them arseholes, necks, racists, bigots, morons, or whatever. Commentary really doesn’t have a problem with the state issuing license plates to these folks. It is kind of like the state officially bestowing that these folks are arseholes, necks, racists, bigots, morons, or whatever – got it!

Bobby Abreu of the Mets of course has 574 career doubles to lead all active MLBers.

We lost late last night. It is a 2 pm start today then they come home.