Humorless: It’s not that Buzz is getting a big head or wishes to take credit–or blame–where none is due, but we can’t help but feel a little responsible for some of the foulmouthed picketers who gathered outside City Councilwoman Laura Miller’s house twice this week. Last week, writing about how…

Sticks and stones: Give ol’ Al Lipscomb credit. The former city councilman may have been on the take, but at least he was always polite, a gentleman, even on his way to the pokey. Apparently he didn’t pass his good manners on to his progeny. Testifying before the Dallas City…

Java jive: It was a small protest–one 19-year-old girl standing outside a Dallas Starbucks on Tuesday to object to the coffeehouse corporation’s sale of milk products from cows treated with a bioengineered hormone and food and beverages containing genetically modified ingredients. Who says kids today aren’t politically active? The girl,…

What passes for “reality” under the great video eye of network television is pretty lame these days. Personally, we’re not going to take that prefab national phenom known as Survivor seriously until someone dies of exposure, snakebite, or hunger during the show. Similarly, we’ll consider Temptation Island “reality-based programming” only…

Try the fricassee: The Dallas Zoo is letting children pet baby chicks before the birdies are gassed and used for their intended purpose–food for bigger animals. (See “Chick Fillet,” February 15.) This is widely regarded as reprehensible. Now PETCO, the national pet-supply retailer, is selling rabbits at some of its…

When the Tejano Democrats threw their support behind Elsa Tovar, a political neophyte challenging state Rep. Harryette Ehrhardt in last year’s Democratic primary, the four-term Democrat of East Dallas was perturbed. Why not concentrate fire on Republicans instead? Some Hispanic political leaders brushed off such sentiments then, and they’re not…

Forgive Buzz for bringing this news to you a week late, but when we first heard about it, we became so giddy at the prospect of firing off juvenile Dallas Morning News jokes, we felt like Anna Nicole Smith at a Highland Park AARP meeting–overwhelmed by the rich possibilities. Here’s…

Now that his Rhodes scholar buddy Bill no longer resides in the White House (replaced as he was by anti-scholar Dubya), U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins is planning to take a job with the Dallas office of Fish & Richardson, a Boston-based law firm that represents Broadcast.com and its parent Yahoo.com,…

Disorderly retreat: A generally accepted practice in journalism is to write about things that happen, not those that don’t. A general rule for humor is that you put the punch line at the end of the joke. But this being Buzz, which is neither journalism nor, some would argue, funny,…

No news…: Sanger police last week removed a prominently placed 4-foot-by-2-foot sign proclaiming January 15 “James Earl Ray Day.” For Buzz’s historically unaware readers, January 15 was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. James Earl Ray is the man who murdered MLK. And the person or persons who put up that…

Sinner man: When it comes to the seven deadly sins, Buzz has never had a particular problem with envy. Gluttony? Mmmm. Lust? Heh-heh-heh. As for our personal favorite, sloth…well, we’d get into it, but it’s late and we want to go home and get some couch time. But we’ve never…

Stinking thinking: Make that 20 good ideas for 2001. The latest issue of Inside magazine–the print version of media fetishist Kurt Anderson’s Inside.com Web site, which claims to cover “the business of entertainment, media & technology”–touts on its cover a feature detailing 21 good ideas for the new year. (One…

Teed off: Dallas officials zealously guard the city’s status as a major convention magnet. Certainly, civic leaders know that conventioneers spend precious little time actually convening at trade shows and professional gatherings. But once you’ve seen the grassy knoll, taken in a game, and zipped to the top of Reunion…

The tree, all trimmed with popcorn and tinsel and Dallas Morning News :CueCats converted into Christmas ornaments, is dim now. We’ve finally shipped off the gifts. (More free colon-afflicted :CueCats. Buzz is cheap.) So it’s time to toss a few :CueCats on the fire, fill up a water tumbler with…

Calling Jesse Jackson: The race wasn’t even close, but some black leaders in Dallas are as furious as a Florida Democrat over what they claim is another stolen election–this one the recent Smith vs. Wallace race to head Dallas’ dissension-plagued NAACP chapter. Victor Smith, a community relations officer for DISD…

Buh-bye Belo: The revolving door is spinning again at Channel 8. City Hall scoopdog Dave Evans left for WABC-TV in New York months back. Then three bigwigs–Robert Riggs, Alan Berg, and Vince Patton–bolted Belo earlier this month. And if you think they’re the only big-time talents who will be leaving…

Never mind the upcoming opening of DART’s CityPlace light rail stop; the events that have DART employees buzzing lately are unfolding in Houston, where former DART exec Shirley DeLibero, now head of that city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, is demonstrating how not to handle a sudden career crisis. For weeks now,…

Cookie monster: The 1994 case is infamous. An 81-year-old New Mexico woman spills hot coffee on herself at a McDonald’s drive-through and sues the chain, winning a $2.9 million judgment from a jury and making herself the instant national poster-granny for the cause of tort reform. Though a judge reduced…

Fart of the deal: Unlike nice people, Buzz just loves to say we told you so. The words roll off our keyboard especially sweetly when we get to say them to Belo Corp., the owner of The Dallas Morning News, as in, “We told you that buying a share of…

Looking for a reason why judicial candidate Mary Ann “Kamikaze” Huey, the only Democrat with enough guts and self-delusions to run against a Republican judge in Dallas County, came within a gavel’s throw of disrobing incumbent Bill Rhea? Wondering why Rhea, who had the unqualified endorsements of the legal establishment…

No news is good news: Your regular Buzz correspondent is back–pale, rested, and ready from a vacation that absolutely did not involve involuntary commitment or heavy doses of psychotropic drugs, as far as you know. And didn’t young Eric Celeste do a fine job while we were away? Don’t you…

Tow to tangle: Buzz would like to offer the following advice to former DART board member and current Dallas Councilwoman Maxine Thornton-Reese: Next time, take the bus; it’s better for your blood pressure. Our counsel comes after learning that Thornton-Reese was “livid”–her word–because her car was towed while attending a…