Cultural Junk

Stick a fork in, America. You're DONE!

America’s greatest days are way long gone.

 

We once cured disease and invented amazing technologies. The world admired and respected us. We once were something pretty special. Now we're just a punch line at the end of a bad joke.

 

We've become a nation of self-absorbed little Trolls who couldn’t care less about our country. We create our own messes and avoid taking responsibility for them. We ignore all ideas not our own.

 

We’ve got the collective memory of a snow cone. As long as it looks like us, talks like us and doesn’t cost us money; it’s all good. Just don’t ask us to sacrifice anything because that would mean having to unplug our IPOD and expose ourselves to the real world and perhaps an original thought. 

 

America; we suck. What the hell happened?

 

If you’ve been paying attention, and most of us haven’t, it’s easy to understand our fall. Here's my own Top 10 list of WHY AMERICA IS DONE. It’s scary because it says more about who were as a people than all the bumper stickers on our hybrid SUVs.

 

10. Rep. Joe Wilson.  Why were so many people shocked when the GOP "Gentleman" congressman from South Carolina shamefully interrupted President Obama's health care address to Congress? You could see this one coming from a long way out. Our politics are so screwed up its now acceptable for a member of Congress to disrespect the President during a nationally televised address and call him a liar. Imagine the absolute rage which would have come from the Republican Party if then-Senator Barack Obama had stood up and shouted down President George Bush during an address to Congress? He would have been tarred and feathered. "You Lie! Joe” claimed his outburst was spontaneous and not meant to be disrespectful. The English novelist Samuel Butler knew better when he said "spontaneity is only a term for man's ignorance." Next time, Joe, just bring your sheet to the lynching and be done with it.

 

9. Michael Jackson.Enough is Enough. Please stop with the endlessly nauseating accounts of everything that was the King of Pop. Yes. MJ was once a great entertainer, but he also was a mostly a lost soul with no friends he could (or wanted to) trust, a family of hangers-on just riding the money train and too much time on his gloved hand to indulge his darker demons. At one time perhaps he was BAD. Now he's just dead, so give all of us a break and let him rest in peace.

 

8 The Real Housewives of Atlanta.What is the sick attraction to the pathetic escapades and sad lives of Kim, NeNe, Lisa, Kandi, and Sheree on TNT’s reality show? America, are you really that bored or are you just that stupid? The only lesson you could possibly learn from watching these women is trash with cash don't buy class. Holla!

 

7. Conservative Talk Radio. I know it’s popular, but so was fake vomit for a time. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, et al. have been laughing their fat butts off all the way to the bank for years on the herd of sheep who buy their books, banter and bullshit. These are not serious people, people. These are carnies that have a sideshow to sell and keep circling back to your town because they know Original Thought ain’t high on your priority list. I get it. If all you want to do is blame everyone else not like you for all your problems, keep buying this stinky cheese. Otherwise, wake up and smell the burning crosses.

 

6.  I Support the Troops.Really? I bought one of those magnetic car ribbons too and it lasted a week until some real American patriot stole it. That’s the extent of most Americans’ support for our troops – they won’t even fork over $4.00 to buy their own bumper sticker. It’s easier to steal it off a stranger’s car - all the pride and none of the commitment. If we really supported our Troops we would be doing much more than just putting magnets on our car bumpers. We would be demanding answers and heads on pikes as to how our best and brightest were sent off to fight a war based on either stupidity or lies. The only "Mission Accomplished" during the past eight years is that War on Terror Profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater are getting rich while our Troops just keep dying.

 

5. Corporate America. Greed IS GOOD, Baby; and Corporate America has got it REAL GOOD. They lobbied Congress for 20 years to ease regulation, look the other way and ponzie-up gazillions in tax breaks and incentives; and when their investment scams and funny money-laundering wipes out America’s nest egg, their bought and paid-for politician friends bail them out with more of OUR money. You just gotta love a country where making the same stupid mistakes over-and-over is rewarded. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well that's just American business as usual.

 

4. Tea-Baggers, Birthers and Joker Posters. Conservatives are just not happy people. The election of President Barack Obama has bent their reality and sent them spiraling into the Twilight Zone of foolish, noobish and lame behavior. They hold Tea Parties to celebrate a health care system that charges 30% in administrative fees. Many actually believe the President isn't an American citizen. Others spent some of their beer money on posters depicting the President as the Joker. These people are fresh out of meaningful ideas and solutions. What they are apparently not fresh out of is bump from Rush Limbaugh's drug stash.

 

3. Kanye West. Can you say, PUNK? This loser just doesn't get it. He storms onto the stage at the 2009 Video Music Awards and interrupts the presentation of the Best Female Video Award to Taylor Swift, cutting the teen singer off, grabbing the microphone and protesting in support of Beyoncé. During the same awards show in 2007, "Punkye" lost his temper and delivered a similar rant. He also took the stage at the American Music Awards in 2004, declaring he was robbed of being named  Best New Artist. Interestingly, his rants always are self-serving and usually directed at female artists. I would love to see him try this crap with Toby Keith or Metallica on stage? How is it that we are so willing to put a boot in the ass of foreigners to ensure their women receive fair treatment, but we won't slap down punks like Kanye West when they disrespect our women here on our own soil?

 

2. Balloon Boy. Parenting in this country has fallen to a new low. The parents of 6-year-old Falcon Heene should have been suspect when they actually agreed to name their son Falcon.Now they just need to go to jail after staging an elaborate hoax involving a homemade metallic balloon which they said was accidentally released with Falcon inside. This one had it all - "breaking news" footage of the runaway balloon flying through the air and anguished tears from a family expressing fears their son was trapped inside. The truth, however, was more stark - little Falcon had been stuffed "up-up-and-away" in the family attic by Dad to create a media sensation which hopefully would lead to marketing the family for - you guessed it - a reality television show. The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, got a taste of TV Celebreality when they previously appeared on ABC's "Wife Swap" and have since been trying to sell the idea of another reality show based on the antics of their wacky family. Hey, here's an idea - "American Family Idle"- follow the antics of the Hopeless Heenes as Dad is introduced to his new love buddy at the ADX Supermax Prison; Mom gets community service time as nanny to the OctoMom and the kids get a much needed break from their loser parents, moving into Michael Jackson's now-empty Neverland Ranch.

 

1.  If the President wants to tell your kids to stay in school, that's a BAD thing. The tipping point which sent America over the edge was the day conservatives peed their pants over President Obama's planned nationwide address to school children encouraging them to stay in school, study and work hard to be better citizens. School officials across the nation were blasted with calls and emails from frantic parents who demanded that the speech not be mandatory for students to watch, accusing the President of injecting politics into the classroom. Many school districts, sadly including some right here in the Metroplex, decided not to show the speech. Where was the outrage when Ronald Reagan gave a similar school broadcast in 1988 or when George H.W. Bush did the same in 1991? What the difference? Oh, yeah - those guys were White and Republican.

 

America - it's time to do something before it all slips away. Turn off the TV and engage in some actual REALITY - organize your very own public act of resistance against the stupid, the narrow-minded, the self-serving, the same-old-same-old. Tell the bigoted and the backwards to shut up.

 

Enough, already.

The NFL brings it Sponsors to Circle R Ranch

http://www.northtexassuperbowl.com/news/welcome-north-texas

Value of Meetings | Meetings Mean Business

Value of Meetings | Meetings Mean Business

Shared via AddThis

Think Social Networking is just a Fad?

Just answer the Damn Question, please?

I'm having one of those days.

There are just too many things to do and not enough time to get to any of it.  I've got these confusing thoughts and questions jamming my airwaves, making it impossible to concentrate on any of it. My mental plate is just too full.

Here's the problem: Why can't we get any REAL answers to questions that keep being asked but are always side-stepped, slicked-out and spun so much we forget the original question? Maybe that's the planned effect - we keep asking and they keep avoiding. I guess it's working, because my head still hurts.

Still, it would be nice to get just a few honest answers to the pressing questions of the day. A REAL answer might just lead to a REAL solution, and how scary would that be? I'm not holding out much hope, but here goes:

1. Former VP Dick Cheney: He says the use water-boarding to gain information is a "no-brainer" and that "a dunk in water can save lives." The former VP insists that water-boarding is not torture, which is good because water-boarding is specifically banned as "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" by the Geneva accords. Water-boarding dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, and those guys knew a thing or two about torture. So does the United States. In 1901 Major Edwin Glenn was court martialed and sentenced to 10 years hard labor for using the "water cure" on insurgents in the Philippines. Japanese soldiers who subjected US prisoners to water-boarding were prosecuted as war criminals after WWII, and in 1968, a US army officer was court martialed for helping to water board a prisoner in Vietnam.

Question for Mr. Cheney: "Are you freakin' kidding me?"" I guess the former VP is saying anything goes in the New World Order, so its open season on our soldiers if captured by Al Queda, Iran, the Taliban or Syria. Here's what I think. Anything done in dark places because you don't want others to see what you are doing is inherently bad - like torture - and calling it anything else is disgusting.

2. Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Leadershiphave got things all locked up and still the MAJORITY can't get much done. Democrats control The White House, The Senate and the House of Representatives, and yet nothing is being accomplished to solve the nation's serious health care issue. For all the change we were promised, it's still business as usual in Washington, DC. -politicians debate and the country moves closer to a full economic meltdown because we can't find an answer to our woeful health care system. Speaker Pelosi has all the cards on her side of the aisle and her favorability rating with the American public is on par Dick Cheney! Is that what we really wanted from the Election of 2009?

Question for Madame Speaker: "WTF?"You better lock it up Ms. Pelosi and you better do so quickly. We voted the Republicans out office because they lied to us and didn't govern effectively. What are you and the Democrats in power doing differently? Stop gloating over your big election win and start governing - pass a health care bill that offers real reform and get this country moving forward. America doesn't want ultra-liberal politics any more than it wanted right-wing extremism. We want a government that listens, works and makes us proud. Do Better.

 3. The Family : The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Poweris a new and scary book by author Jeff Sharlet about a Washington DC-based political organization (The Fellowship Foundation) best-know for its National Prayer Breakfast at which every U.S. President since Eisenhower has spoken. The Family is led by Douglas Coe, perhaps the most important religious leader you've never heard of. Author Sharlet infiltrated the group and reveals some troubling relationships between The Family, and many current and former Washington insiders, including members of Congress. The Fellowship has been the subject of controversy for its secrecy, involvement in sex scandals, ties to third-world dictators and oppressive regimes, and approving references to Adolph Hitler.

Question for America: Why haven't you read this book? A National Prayer Breakfast is a good idea - but a group which refers to itself  "the new chosen" isn't a group I want having influence with members of Congress - some of whom rent rooms from the organization's controversial and sometimes secretive Washington rowhouse known as "C Street."

OK, I've asked. Now let's see if we get any answers. I won't hold my breath.

A visit to Oklahoma City stopped me in my Tracks

I was going to write something completely different.

My idea was to comment on how far America seems to have strayed from those self-evident truths stated so eloquently by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence. I planned comparisons of the "long train of abuses and usurpations" which the Declaration's signers first recognized as evidence of absolute Despotism and some present-day "abuses and usurpations" that we as Americans find ourselves struggling with.

It was going to be good stuff. But that was before I went to Oklahoma City. A visit to Oklahoma City changed my perspective. It stopped me in my tracks.

The words on the bookend Gates of Time entries to The Oklahoma City National Memorial convey all that needs to be said here. "We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

Comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity aren't necessarily what I expected to find at the site of the most significant act of domestic terrorism on American soil. I didn't expect a lot of what I experienced there.

Like the response to the event it was meant to commemorate, the Oklahoma City National Memorial grabs you and doesn't let go. Nothing is withheld. It's riveting and heartbreaking and angry and hopeful all in the same moment.

On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rental truck with explosives in front of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingand, at 9:02 am, a massive blast  sheared off the entire north side of the building, killing 168 people. 

That's what I knew before visiting the Memorial. With each step I took, there was much more waiting to be learned. 

The lesson begins outside. Across a Reflecting Pool at each end stand twin gates bearing a time-stamped frame of the destruction. The East Gate represents 9:01 am - the last minute of innocence before the attack. The West Gate represents 9:03 am, the time that changed us forever, and the hope and help began.

On the east side of the reflecting pool is The Survivor Wall, built from salvaged pieces of granite from the Murrah Building lobby and inscribed with more than 600 names of those who survived the attack. On the west side stands the The Survivor Tree, an American Elm, which withstood the full force of the attack. All the survivors of the attack are living symbols of resilience. Nearby is The Rescuers' Orchard, smaller trees which surround and protect the Survivor Tree. An inscription encircling the Survivor Tree facing the orchard reads: "To the courageous and caring who responded from near and far, we offer our eternal gratitude, as a thank you to the thousands of rescuers and volunteers who helped."

In the aftermath of the blast, children from around the world sent letters of  encouragement to the people of Oklahoma City, represented at the Memorial by a wall of tiles in the Children's Area. You don't notice at first, but each tile features a small child's hand in brightly-colored paint. It takes your breath away.

A perimeter fence was installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building after the bombing. More than 200 feet of the original Fence still stands and over the years, visitors have left more than 60,000 tokens of love and hope on the Fence, many collected and preserved in Memorial Archives. On the day I visited, church groups, families and motorcycle club members mingled easily together, leaving their own remembrances. The Fence is one of those places we all can come together. 

Moving inside to The Memorial Museum will take you on a chronological tour through the events of  April 19, 1995, and the days, weeks, months and years that followed the bombing. Powerful exhibits entitled like "Confusion," "Chaos," "Rescue and Recovery," "Funerals and Mourning" and "Impact" leave you with a deep sense of the loss suffered here. There's hope too, in a gallery of Origami Cranes, and in the stories of the Survivors and through the work of the people of Oklahoma City who have rebuilt a community and remembered loved ones lost.

The Memorial Museum is powerful in its ability to make you see and remember and feel. No matter where you were on April 19, 1995, you will be immersed in the emotions of Oklahoma City on that day. You will be present at the Oklahoma City Water Board meeting and experience the impact of the explosion through the only known audio recording of the blast. You will hear first-hand Survivor and Rescuer accounts. You will attend funerals and memorial services. During your time at The Memorial Museum, you are a citizen of Oklahoma City.

I found myself returning several times to photos of The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingtaken in the hours and days after the bombing. We've all seen those photos. For the first time in all the times I've seen those same photos, the word "scar" came to mind. The jagged "scar" across the front of the Murrah Building. The anguished "scar" on the faces of victims, survivors, families and rescuers. The terrible angry "scar" on our Nation.

You will feel that same "scar" today when you stand at The Field of Empty Chairs.  They stand in silence, 168 chairs in nine rows to represent each floor of the building, and each chair bears the name of someone killed on that floor. 19 of the chairs are noticeable smaller than the others - one for each of the children killed inside the Day Care Center on the second floor. Those 168 empty chairs stand silent and speak loudly.

The people whose names are inscribed on the chairs are further memorialized inside the Gallery of Honor, where tributes to each are featured along with photos and personal momentos. The impact of the loss is heavy in this place. You know you are standing on sacred ground.

Comfort, Strength, Peace, Hope and Serenity. 

I found them in Oklahoma City. You can too.

If this Country has a Heartland, somewhere to discover our true selves, that place is a 3.3-acre piece of Holy Ground in downtown Oklahoma City. More than ever, right now, America needs to go Oklahoma City.

Oh, and that other piece I was going to write? I had planned to finish with the closing line of the Declaration of Independence. I find its eloquence more in context here, and I offer it in memory of the events of April 19, 1995.

"With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

CNN/Money profiles Circle R Ranch

Vote NO! Keep Dallas Working

Dallas Event Planner Extraordinaire Steve Kemble, Circle R Ranch Managing Partner Steven G. Foster and Fun Factory Special Events Sales Manager Pam Madewell FIRE UP a Vote No rally in favor of the proposed Dallas Convention Center Hotel.

Is Dallas FOR SALE? - Vote NO May 9

Saturday May 9 is decision Day in Dallas, and nothing less than the future of Dallas is it stake.

TWO PROPOSITIONS affecting future city development are on the ballot. Proposition 1 prohibits the City of Dallas from ever buying, leasing or offering any kind of financial incentive to a hotel or lodging facility.  Proposition 2 states that, with just 500 signatures on a petition, the City of Dallas would be forced to hold an election to obtain voter approval every time it wants to offer any kind of financial incentive totaling $1 million or more to private developers for hotels, condos and retail facilities.  

At the center of the election is the proposed Dallas Convention Center Hotel, and on this issue, a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel has been selling a package of BIG LIES stuffed like bad sausage with misinformation. It's expensive sausage too.  Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind the anti-hotel campaign, and it is estimated he will have spent as much as $5 million to convince Dallas residents the hotel project is a bad deal that will raise their taxes, threaten basic city services and won't attract any new business.

Why would Mr, Crow, a Highland Park billionaire who isn't a Dallas taxpayer and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel, be spending $5 million to defeat the hotel project? Greed and blatant self-interest for starters. Crow owns the 30-year-old Anatole Hotel and his aging property would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. He hopes by blurring the truth about this election, Dallas voters will say YES to Props 1 and 2 to protect his own investments in the Anatole and Market Center.

The Wall Street Journal said it best - "Dallas real-estate mogul Harlan Crow doesn't want his city to build a planned convention-center hotel ... he owns a big hotel a couple of miles away."

ARE YOU FOR SALE, DALLAS?

Some hope you are. So before making your decision on the Dallas Convention Center Hotel and the future of development in our city, consider the BIG TRUTH, and not the self-serving lies:

The Dallas Convention Center Hotel will be paid for by the hotel guests, NOT Dallas taxpayers. The opposition knows this or else they are extremely stupid. 

Omni Hotels, which already runs successful local properties in Las Colinas and Fort Worth, will operate the new hotel, NOT the City. Dallas will own the hotel, which means no $150 million tax break to a fat cat developer. Dallas is already in the hotel business as majority owner of the very successful Grand Hyatt DFW Airport, which happens to be owned, operated and financed exactly as proposed for the convention center hotel. Where's all the concern about that operation? 

By the way, Dallas also owns the American Airlines Center, Fair Park, Love Field, and half of DFW Airport, but that doesn't mean city employee play point guard for the Mavericks, or that taxpayers get pulled from their seats to dance in "Mary Poppins" during the State Fair of Texas, or the Mayor pilots non-stop flights on Southwest Airlines to Orlando. GET REAL.? 

It makes MORE $ AND SENSE to finance the hotel through revenue bonds. This method of financing provides cheaper municipal tax-free financing - money not available to private developers. The debt will be repaid with revenues from guests staying at the hotel , and since the Dallas City Council voted to move forward with the project, 13 conventions signed contracts with the city and another 24 more have made commitments to meet in Dallas once the property is open. That's $900 million in direct economic benefit to Dallas based solely on having a convention center hotel.

120 associations and organizations support the convention center hotel and more than 2,000 800 citizens have publicly endorsed the project. LOTS of people and organizations are on-board here. Check out the list at http://www.votenodallas.com/ 

ARE YOU FOR SALE, DALLAS?

Now is the right time to build the convention center hotel because construction costs are low and our local economy desperately needs jobs. Dallas is not currently competitive because we are the only one of the top 22 convention cities without a convention center hotel. The new hotel will create 3,000 construction jobs and 800 hotel jobs plus $3 billion per year in economic impact when it opens.

Your vote is important, Dallas. The issue really is simple. You can vote YES to be bought and sold by special interest or you can Vote NO and protect your interest as taxpayers and the future success of Dallas.

ARE YOU FOR SALE, DALLAS?

On Saturday, May 9 - VOTE NO!

Saturday May 9 is decision Day in Dallas, and nothing less than the future of Dallas is it stake.

TWO PROPOSITIONS affecting future city development are on the ballot. Proposition 1 prohibits the City of Dallas from ever buying, leasing or offering any kind of financial incentive to a hotel or lodging facility.  Proposition 2 states that, with just 500 signatures on a petition, the City of Dallas would be forced to hold an election to obtain voter approval every time it wants to offer any kind of financial incentive totaling $1 million or more to private developers for hotels, condos and retail facilities.  

At the center of the election is the proposed Dallas Convention Center Hotel, and on this issue, a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel has been selling a package of BIG LIES stuffed like bad sausage with misinformation. It's expensive sausage too.  Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind the anti-hotel campaign, and it is estimated he will have spent as much as $5 million to convince Dallas residents the hotel project is a bad deal that will raise their taxes, threaten basic city services and won't attract any new business.

Why would Mr, Crow, a Highland Park billionaire who isn't a Dallas taxpayer and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel, be spending $5 million to defeat the hotel project? Greed and blatant self-interest for starters. Crow owns the 30-year-old Anatole Hotel and his aging property would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. He hopes by blurring the truth about this election, Dallas voters will say YES to Props 1 and 2 to protect his own investments in the Anatole and Market Center.

The Wall Street Journal said it best - "Dallas real-estate mogul Harlan Crow doesn't want his city to build a planned convention-center hotel ... he owns a big hotel a couple of miles away."

Some hope you are. So before making your decision on the Dallas Convention Center Hotel and the future of development in our city, consider the BIG TRUTH, and not the self-serving lies:

Top 10 Reasons Harlan Crow WON'T put his Mouth where his Money IS on Hotel Debate

Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel.  Just turn on your favorite Dallas/Fort Worth TV station and you'll find a slick anti-hotel PR campaign funded by Crow who ponied up $936,000 to tell the citizens of Dallas why the construction of a Dallas Convention Center Hotel is an "arrogant" move on the part of the hotel supporters.

A million bucks buys some crafty spin, and Mr. Crow has bought himself some big-time BUZZ. His group claims we need "Safe Streets, Not Hotel Suites." If you've received a phone call from the Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel (and I did) you would hear some scary stuff - the project has been decided in secret, building the hotel will affect basic city services, Dallas shouldn't own a hotel because it will hurt other hotels and the City’s occupancy rates can’t support it. Most recently, the group has added Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is a liar and can't be trusted to the mix.

All of it sounds bad, so much so that Crow & his Citizens group have forced a city charter amendment vote on the hotel on May 9. In all things anti-convention center hotel, Mr. Crow is the Ringmaster, so why isn't he out in front of his money beating the drum on this one?

In his place and leading the charge is one of Mr. Crow's employees, Anne Raymond who claims to be the most qualified individual within the organization to speak on its behalf because she specializes in making real estate investments for Crow Holdings and its partners. During a recent segment of Inside Texas Politicson WFAA Channel 8 Ms. Raymond battled Mayor Leppert in a lively hotel debate. When asked why the bankroll behind the anti-hotel group has failed to appear in person to explain his opposition, Ms. Raymond gave us the answer, almost.

"He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

Ms. Raymond cut herself off before finishing the thought, but one has to ask - was her Freudian slip about the let loose the word “public?” Perhaps Harlan Crow isn’t out front of this debate because he doesn’t want to answer to the "public" and tackle the tough questions or explain the hard facts. Why?

Consider these Top 10 Reasons Harlan Crow WON'T put his Mouth where his Money IS when it comes to the Dallas Convention Center Hotel debate.

10. Bucks NOT Backers. Spending money on television advertising doesn't mean you have lots of supporters, it just means you have LOTS of money. Writing a big check, especially if you have billions, is easy.

9. The Anatole Hotel. Crow owns it and the 30-year-old Anatole would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. "D'oh!"

8. Safe Streets, not Hotel Suites. This is THE BIG LIE.  Building the hotel WILL NOT affect basic city service such as police protection or street repairs be curtailed. Money for the hotel does not come from the General Fund, but from the revenue of the hotel.

7. Transparency. The Dallas City Council has held at least 20 public committee and Council meetings on the hotel project, and lists all the briefings, studies, memos and other crucial documents related to the hotel on its web site. The Dallas Morning News has published more than 100 articles on the hotel. Nothing has been decided in secret, at least not on the Build the Hotel side of the issue.

6.  Support for the Hotel. LOTS of people and organizations are on-board here, including the past five Dallas Mayors, many other Dallas hoteliers (and they all would also compete with the new hotel for business), more than 120 associations and businesses, and thousands of Dallas citizens. Check out the list at http://www.votenodallas.com/

5. Dallas Taxpayers. Although his anti-hotel ad campaign often invokes their interests, Harlan Crow lives in Highland Park and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel. So who is he really looking out for? Ooops! 

4. Nostalgia. Remember the good old days when just a few wealthy Dallas families made all the BIG decisions around here? Apparently some would like us to return to those thrilling days of yester-year.

3. Accountability. "He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

2. Arrogance. It takes a special kind of self-importance to think your money will influence voters to make a critical decision on their future based on your personal sense of entitlement. Then again, AIG got away with it. 

1. Real Rich vs. Real World. Last year, Mr. Crow sprinkled more than 1.8 million gallons of water a month across the manicured lawns of his 7.7-acre estate on Preston Road – enough to fill almost three Olympic-size swimming pools - at a cost of $5,859.00 per-month. He owns a Stradivarius violin and collects statues of tyrants, including Mao, Lenin and Castro. And you? 

Wake Up, Dallas. The convention center hotel has been pushed to the side for more than 25 years, losing millions of dollars in convention business for the City and countless job opportuntities for its citizens. Meanwhile, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Grapevine and Frisco have seen the light, beat Dallas to the punch with their own convention hotels and are reaping the rewards.

 

Harlan Crow wants us to believe he knows best. This hotel thing is just too risky. It's better to stay status quo and do nothing.

 

But perhaps, Father Knows Best. Trammell Crow, the patriarch of the Crow Family, was lauded by everyone from Fortune, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal as “one of the most innovative developers in history.” He was often quoted as saying, "there's as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something."

 

We would have to agree. On May 9, Dallas, "Say NO to Crow. Vote No on Propostition One.

Billionaire Harlan Crow is the money behind a group calling itself Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel.  Just turn on your favorite Dallas/Fort Worth TV station and you'll find a slick anti-hotel PR campaign funded by Crow who ponied up $936,000 to tell the citizens of Dallas why the construction of a Dallas Convention Center Hotel is an "arrogant" move on the part of the hotel supporters.

A million bucks buys some crafty spin, and Mr. Crow has bought himself some big-time BUZZ. His group claims we need "Safe Streets, Not Hotel Suites." If you've received a phone call from the Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel (and I did) you would hear some scary stuff - the project has been decided in secret, building the hotel will affect basic city services, Dallas shouldn't own a hotel because it will hurt other hotels and the City’s occupancy rates can’t support it. Most recently, the group has added Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is a liar and can't be trusted to the mix.

All of it sounds bad, so much so that Crow & his Citizens group have forced a city charter amendment vote on the hotel on May 9. In all things anti-convention center hotel, Mr. Crow is the Ringmaster, so why isn't he out in front of his money beating the drum on this one?

In his place and leading the charge is one of Mr. Crow's employees, Anne Raymond who claims to be the most qualified individual within the organization to speak on its behalf because she specializes in making real estate investments for Crow Holdings and its partners. During a recent segment of Inside Texas Politicson WFAA Channel 8 Ms. Raymond battled Mayor Leppert in a lively hotel debate. When asked why the bankroll behind the anti-hotel group has failed to appear in person to explain his opposition, Ms. Raymond gave us the answer, almost.

"He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

Ms. Raymond cut herself off before finishing the thought, but one has to ask - was her Freudian slip about the let loose the word “public?” Perhaps Harlan Crow isn’t out front of this debate because he doesn’t want to answer to the "public" and tackle the tough questions or explain the hard facts. Why?

Consider these Top 10 Reasons Harlan Crow WON'T put his Mouth where his Money IS when it comes to the Dallas Convention Center Hotel debate.

10. Bucks NOT Backers. Spending money on television advertising doesn't mean you have lots of supporters, it just means you have LOTS of money. Writing a big check, especially if you have billions, is easy.

9. The Anatole Hotel. Crow owns it and the 30-year-old Anatole would have to compete with the new convention center hotel for business. "D'oh!"

8. Safe Streets, not Hotel Suites. This is THE BIG LIE.  Building the hotel WILL NOT affect basic city service such as police protection or street repairs be curtailed. Money for the hotel does not come from the General Fund, but from the revenue of the hotel.

7. Transparency. The Dallas City Council has held at least 20 public committee and Council meetings on the hotel project, and lists all the briefings, studies, memos and other crucial documents related to the hotel on its web site. The Dallas Morning News has published more than 100 articles on the hotel. Nothing has been decided in secret, at least not on the Build the Hotel side of the issue.

6.  Support for the Hotel. LOTS of people and organizations are on-board here, including the past five Dallas Mayors, many other Dallas hoteliers (and they all would also compete with the new hotel for business), more than 120 associations and businesses, and thousands of Dallas citizens. Check out the list at http://www.votenodallas.com/

5. Dallas Taxpayers. Although his anti-hotel ad campaign often invokes their interests, Harlan Crow lives in Highland Park and can’t even vote in the May 9 election on the hotel. So who is he really looking out for? Ooops! 

4. Nostalgia. Remember the good old days when just a few wealthy Dallas families made all the BIG decisions around here? Apparently some would like us to return to those thrilling days of yester-year.

3. Accountability. "He’s (Crow) a private businessman. Why should he be accountable to the …?”

2. Arrogance. It takes a special kind of self-importance to think your money will influence voters to make a critical decision on their future based on your personal sense of entitlement. Then again, AIG got away with it. 

1. Real Rich vs. Real World. Last year, Mr. Crow sprinkled more than 1.8 million gallons of water a month across the manicured lawns of his 7.7-acre estate on Preston Road – enough to fill almost three Olympic-size swimming pools - at a cost of $5,859.00 per-month. He owns a Stradivarius violin and collects statues of tyrants, including Mao, Lenin and Castro. And you? 

Wake Up, Dallas. The convention center hotel has been pushed to the side for more than 25 years, losing millions of dollars in convention business for the City and countless job opportuntities for its citizens. Meanwhile, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, Grapevine and Frisco have seen the light, beat Dallas to the punch with their own convention hotels and are reaping the rewards.

 

Harlan Crow wants us to believe he knows best. This hotel thing is just too risky. It's better to stay status quo and do nothing.

 

But perhaps, Father Knows Best. Trammell Crow, the patriarch of the Crow Family, was lauded by everyone from Fortune, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal as “one of the most innovative developers in history.” He was often quoted as saying, "there's as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something."

 

We would have to agree. On May 9, Dallas, "Say NO to Crow. Vote No on Propostition One.