The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists must be tired from their New Year’s celebrations.
How else to explain today’s editorials?
First, there was the expected worshipful celebration of Mayor White’s inaugural address and the council’s diversity:
The mayor, Controller Annise Parker, a diverse council with four new members and a history-making female majority took the oath of office in a celebration of past municipal achievements and the possibilities and challenges of the new year.
[snip]
White called the challenge of dealing with the hurricane emergencies “a remarkable experience that helped us shape a new identity for our community.” He vowed to work with the new council to “raise the government of this city above all pettiness and selfishness” and make his next term “the best two years of Houston’s life.”
Those are high-flying words. But on a January day that felt like late April, anything seemed within the realm of possibility.
One of the biggest challenges of the new year is the increase in violent crime coupled with HPD’s manpower shortage, yet that didn’t merit a mention by the Editorial LiveJournalists. Indeed, the editorial didn’t have much to say about the challenges at all. But, diversity is beauty. And all things are possible when it comes to Mayor White (which is why Sedosi refers to the Editorial LiveJournalists collectively as Mrs. White).
And then there’s the odd “Against Nature” editorial. Here’s an excerpt:
Nor are those in the heartland immune to nature’s excesses. In the plains areas of Texas and Oklahoma, a wet spring caused grass to grow, and then a drought dried the grass and made it the stuff of kindling. The inevitable fires have destroyed small towns, farms and square miles of fields and pasture.
High temperatures, wind and low humidity invite more conflagration. The first rain is not forecast until Friday the 13th, not a propitious date quite apart from superstition.
On second thought, maybe the Editorial LiveJournalists aren’t tired from New Year’s. Maybe they never stopped drinking.
