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ABC News' Amy Walter and Michael Falcone report:
TAMPA, Fla. — Here's something we haven't seen at many debates: Mitt Romney on the offense.
"I'm not going to sit back and get attacked day in and day out without returning fire," Romney vowed on the debate stage in Florida tonight, kicking off the closing week of what has become a pivotal fight for the Sunshine State.
"We can't possibly retake the White House if the nominee is a person who was working with the chief lobbyist for Freddie Mac," Romney added. He put Gingrich on his heels, but fell short of scoring any knockout punches. What he did manage to do was force Gingrich to speak in Washington-ese all night. And, anytime he's defending his record as Speaker or his official role at Freddie Mac, it makes it harder and harder for Newt to portray himself as an outsider.
However, a subdued and chastened audience was good for Romney. The NBC News moderator, Brian Williams, admonished the crowd not to clap. Newt didn't get the chance to get them on his side like he has on other occasions. And, Williams never gave him the same opening that he got at last week's CNN debate in South Carolina when the topic of Gingrich's previous marriage came up.
As for Romney, it will be an amusing game to count how many times he will repeat the phrase "resign in disgrace" over the next week as he attempts to focus voters' attention on Gingrich's career in the House of Representatives. It's clear his campaign sees this as an effective line of attack, and it's forcing the former House Speaker to re-litigate his record in Congress during the 1990s.
Whether it works or not depends on a few factors: How much people actually care about what happened in Washington, D.C. during Gingrich's time in office? How well will Gingrich defend his career on Capitol Hill? It remains to be seen how much Romney's attacks will chip away at whether voters view Gingrich as a competent leader.
Another line we will hear over and over from Romney is about how his Republican opponents are picking up "the weapons of the left" and are using them "to attack free enterprise." He means, Gingrich, of course and we've been hearing him say this on the stump and during his South Carolina primary night speech this past weekend.
Newt kept his cool for most of the night and even took a quick Zen-like break to re-center himself during a conversation about whether he did or did not lobby members of Congress over Medicare's prescription drug plan. Gingrich stuttered and grew silent for five seconds after Romney pointed out that a number of congressmen claimed the former speaker lobbied them on Medicare part D, calling Gingrich's role "influence peddling."
Rick Santorum had a clever line about the unpredictability of the 2012 race – "any type of prediction is going to be wrong" — but this debate has only reinforced the notion that, at least as far as Florida is concerned, this is a two-person race between Newt and Mitt. Santorum and Ron Paul appeared marginalized all night long.


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Total Healthcare for Women
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"A lot of work, but very rewarding job! "
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I worked at Total Healthcare for Women full-time (more than 8 years)
ProsGreat work hours, fairly good staff, good pay, decent benefits, understanding owners & good friendly atmosphere! Also, the staff tries to work together to help accommodate work schedules.
ConsOne of the doctors is very, very rude & nasty to staff
Advice to ManagementAdviceNeeded more teamwork & not people that are "two faced"
Doesn't RecommendNeutral Outlook -

subset: commoncrawl


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Item Details:
Our SW Golf Sport Style #1310 has de-centered, polycarbonate golf lenses for less distortion to light than other lenses. These sport sunglasses have a wraparound, plastic frame with rubberized nose and ear pieces. With two-view zone lenses, the bronze gradient on the lens is lighter on the bottom for when your ball is on the ground, and darker on the top for when it is in the air. The UV400 amber lenses are anti-glare, making this style great for wearing while playing your next round of golf.
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text:
TeX Live 2009 Brings Font Updates and Windows TeXworks
TeX Live, a comprehensive collection of software surrounding the TeX/LaTex font systems, is available in the 2009 edition.
The distro includes a new release of the AMS Type 1 fonts that improves hinting and brings with it a few changes made by TeX inventor Donald Knuth over the years. The Euler fonts by typographer Hermann Zapf were also thoroughly reshaped.
The LuaTeX implementation in TeX Live now delivers its wares in PDF by default so as to benefit from its support of OpenType fonts.
The TeXworks GUI program (inspired by the Mac OS X TeXShop editor) is also available as a Windows program in TeX Live 2009. Another addition to the collection is the graphics program Asymptote that runs on multiple platforms.
Further details are in the TeX Live documentation. The TeX distro is available for download as tarball and DVD image. A script for installing over the Internet is also available and recommended by the project. TeX Live that provides TeX, LaTex and associated programs for Linux distros such as Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora can be found in their respective repositories.
Issue 173/2015
Buy this issue as a PDF
Old Vulnerabilities Are Kept Alive Through Bad Configuration
HP's annual Cyber Risk report offers a bleak look at the state of IT.
Linus Torvalds Announces Linux 4.0
But what do the big numbers really mean?
Microsoft Frees CoreCLR
.NET Core execution engine is the basis for cross-platform .NET implementations.
New Trojan Attacks Linux Servers
The Xnote trojan hides itself on the target system and will launch a variety of attacks on command.
Cisco Releases Annual Security Report
Spammers go low-volume, and 90% of IE browsers are unpatched.
Zero Day Exploits Target Flash
Adobe scrambles to release patches for vulnerable Flash Player.
Intel Unveils Compute Stick
Four-inch-long computer on a stick lets you boot a full Linux system from any HDMI display device.
Obama Proposes Personal Data Notification Law
New statute would require companies to report break-ins to consumers.
TGXf Project Warns of File Transfer through Screen Pixels
Weird data transfer technique avoids all standard security measures.
Industry Giants Announce a Fix for the Password Mess
FIDO alliance declares the beginning of the end for old-style login authentication.


text:
Case Conclusion Date:January 1, 1996
Practice Area:Personal Injury
Outcome:Won the case at Ala Supreme Court and US Supreme court and received confidential settlement
Description:Driver of vehicle was unable to see train at an unmarked crossing because of fog and lack of any signal or lights. She was severely injured and needed constrant care the rest of her life. Case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by the railroad.


text:
Mississippi Mud Cake is typically a moist chocolate sheet cake topped with marshmallows and pecans, but this rich Bundt pan version swaps out the marshmallows and stirs in espresso and bourbon instead. It can be dusted with powdered sugar or served with an Espresso-Bourbon Caramel Sauce for an extra dose of sweet, boozy flavor.
Special equipment: You'll need a 12-cup Bundt pan to make this cake.
- 1Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Generously coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with butter; set aside.
- 2Place the flour, baking soda, espresso powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside.
- 3Place the measured butter, chocolate, and brewed espresso in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter and chocolate are melted and the mixture is combined (it will look curdled). Remove from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar and bourbon until smooth and the sugar has dissolved; set aside.
- 4Place the eggs and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk until the eggs are broken up. Whisk in the chocolate mixture until smooth. Add the flour mixture and gently stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans, if using.
- 5Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
- 6Remove the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan until just warm to the touch, about 45 minutes. Turn the cake out onto the wire rack and let it cool completely, at least 1 hour more. Dust with powdered sugar or serve with Espresso-Bourbon Caramel Sauce, if desired.


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Thu | ||
Start: 7:30 pm
Bob Zeidman
Thursday, January 24, 7:30 p.m.
Good Intentions
Good Intentions is about a future United States that has become the ultimate nanny state. One man, Winston Jones, is chosen by the mysterious Fairness for EveryBody Society to be the next president because he has the required makeup—ethnic, racial, religious, sexual orientation, etc.—to "fairly represent the diversity of America." The book is his reluctant adventure to discover what America is about and how to get it back to its real values
Bob Zeidman studied physics and electrical engineering at Cornell and Stanford, and filmmaking at De Anza College. He is the founder of several successful high tech Silicon Valley firms, holds numerous patents, and is considered a pioneer in the field of analyzing software source code.
Bob's secret life includes writing three award-winning novels and three award-winning screenplays. He earned a 1999 Opus Magnum Discovery Award from the Hollywood Film Festival for his novel Horror Flick, where he got to walk down the red carpet with celebrities like Jon Voight, Martin Landau, Harrison Ford, and Cameron Diaz, and he came "this close" to abandoning Silicon Valley for Hollywood.
Books will be available at Kepler's in early January.


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U.S. General Accounting Office. 1987. Federal Research: Small Business Innovation Research Participants Give Program High Marks. Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office.
Venture Economics. 1988. Existing Venture Capital Investments. Wellesley, MA: Venture Economics.
Venture Economics. 1996. "Special report: Rose-colored asset class," Venture Capital Journal 36(July):32–34 (and earlier years).
VentureOne. 1997. National Venture Capital Association 1996 Annual Report. San Francisco: VentureOne.
Wallsten, S. J., 1996. The Small Business Innovation Research program: Encouraging technological innovation and commercialization in small firms? Working paper, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
The National Academies | 500 Fifth St. N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20001
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Evaluating the Small Business Innovation Research Program: A Literature Review ."
The Small Business Innovation Research Program: An Assessment of the Department of Defense Fast Track Initiative . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press,
2000 .
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As of 2013, the National Science Education Standards have been replaced by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), available as a print book, free PDF download, and online with our OpenBook platform.
The NGSS offer a detailed description of the key scientific ideas and practices that all students should learn by the time they graduate from high school. The standards are based largely on the 2011 National Research Council report A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas.


text:
Caroline Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith and Prime Minister Enda Kenny applauded after Ted Kennedy's granddaughters Kiley and Grace unveiled a bust of the late senator at the former home of the Kennedy family in Dunganstown, Ireland, Saturday.
Photo: Niall Carson • Press Association via Associated Press,
DUBLIN, IRELAND – The Irish government and the Kennedy clan celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of Ireland's most fondly recalled moments, the visit of President John F. Kennedy, with a daylong street party Saturday that was capped by the lighting of Ireland's own "eternal flame."
"JFK 50: The Homecoming" celebrations focused on the County Wexford town of New Ross, from where Patrick Kennedy departed in 1848 at the height of Ireland's potato famine to resettle in Boston. In June 1963, his great-grandson John returned to the town as the United States' first and only Irish Catholic president. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny joined JFK's only surviving sibling, Jean Kennedy Smith, and his only surviving child, Caroline Kennedy, to hold three torches together that light a flame encased within an iron globe.
The flame had been carried Olympics-style from JFK's plot in Arlington Cemetery by aircraft to Dublin, then by Irish navy vessel up the River Barrow to the New Ross dockside. It was the first time the Kennedy eternal flame had been passed along in this fashion.
"May it be a symbol of the fire in the Irish heart, imagination and soul," Kenny told more than 10,000 who had gathered along the river bank.
Associated Press


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Don't lower the values. HCAD can say whatever they want. If the other side wins, then maybe HCAD is a bunch of idiots. If you pay $40M for a piece of property, that is the bottom amount.
The case went to the 234th District Court, where "HCAD went full blast on market value based on newspaper clippings. [Houston 8th Wonder] argued uniform and equal and brought in a uniform and equal expert. HCAD had no expert to counter," says Edward. The value sank another $13 million, to $31 million.
HCAD argued to the First Court of Appeals that the uniform and equal provision is unconstitutional. The court disagreed. Again, HCAD appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which instead of simply denying its petition for summary review issued a petition denied and adopted a decision by the 234th District Court into its own standard in summer 2013.
"Basically, it lets a pseudo-expert give unsupported testimony as to what's comparable," says Robinson, who had transitioned to his new position as deputy director of special projects at the Harris County Budget Management Department by the time the Texas Supreme Court rendered its decision. "You can testify as an expert if you aren't an expert, and there aren't defined guidelines on how you measure comparability and how you make adjustments."
Robinson explains that HCAD can now get dragged into a dark alley when each of Harris County's five refineries files its inevitable lawsuits.
"In any given year, there's going to be at least one, maybe two or more in litigation. Each one of them argues for a different way of determining comparability," Robinson explains. "What's good for Shell might be terrible for Exxon, and what's good for Exxon might be terrible for Valero. But each one says, 'My way is the only way you can do this.' They pick the way that's more beneficial to them."
In the meantime, HCAD will stick to its guns in court and argue that the uniform and equal statute is unconstitutional, even though the agency "keep[s] recycling this old public policy argument and [has] thrown away millions of dollars," argues Edward.
"We haven't changed our view that Section 42.26, Paragraph a3, to the extent that it allows reductions in appraisals without a showing that the property is appraised at a higher percentage of market value than is true for other properties, is unconstitutional," Stiefer says.
On the other hand, Stewart of Olson & Olson says that HCAD may need to reconsider its legal strategies.
"You can argue that the statute, on its face, is unconstitutional — that's a very tough burden to get past — or you can argue that it may not be unconstitutional on its face, but it's unconstitutional as it's being applied," Stewart says. "I think that's the direction that taxing authorities and appraisal districts and everyone else ought to be focused on."
Given HCAD's struggles with big-time commercial properties, the appraisal district says the opposite occurs with residential parcels. "HCAD does a super job with appraising homes, and they're very consistent with the values," says former HCAD chief appraiser Robinson. "The state's studies continue to show that."
The Texas comptroller's 2013 property value study — the same one that concluded that HCAD is nailing commercial appraisals — found that HCAD appraised residential property at a median level of 97 percent of market value, or only three percentage points from so-called flawlessness.
Not so fast, says O'Connor. The property-tax agent cites Ted Whitmer's cordial but scathing presentation before HCAD in July 2013 — as well as Harris County's decision to hire Whitmer to conduct an independent market valuation study — as indicators that HCAD hasn't been playing by the rules.
"Mr. Whitmer is correct. HCAD's unequal appraisal evidence generates a predetermined value, thus misleading taxpayers and members of the Harris County Appraisal Review Board," says O'Connor. "There is no question in my mind that HCAD management knows they report results that are predetermined and misleading. These types of seeming minor transgressions can be the stepping-stone to more serious violations."
Independent property-tax agent John Osenbaugh, who claims to have evidence of transgressions — ranging from cherry-picking properties in order to achieve higher values to targeting low-income neighborhoods for increases — opines that HCAD may already dabble in white-collar crime.
"There are grievous errors, and the people involved are too qualified for this to have been happenstance. They know what they're doing," Osenbaugh told the Press last year. "It's one thing if it's by accident; that's okay and somewhat forgivable, but when it's clearly not, this is a scheme that makes Enron look like amateurs."
With backlash at a high, some Texas lawmakers have tried to tailor the law to favor appraisal districts and homeowners.
Toward the tail end of the 83rd Texas Legislature, District 10 Senator Wendy Davis (Democrat-Fort Worth) and District 139 Representative Sylvester Turner (Democrat-Houston) co-authored a Senate bill that would have forced a hard look at the language of the equal and uniform provision and a House bill that could have redefined market value. But each proposed law died with the close of the 2013 session.
Ellis, who's fairly outspoken on property-tax issues, is willing to stick his neck out only so far during the 84th Legislature in 2015.
"I'm perfectly capable of starting forest fires of my own. I've done it for 30 years, since I've been in public office," says Ellis, who adds that he needs the major participants — the chief appraisers in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin — to team up with him. "I want them to step out there with me, and I'll work with them."
Don't lower the values. HCAD can say whatever they want. If the other side wins, then maybe HCAD is a bunch of idiots. If you pay $40M for a piece of property, that is the bottom amount.
We should not be paying any property taxes. And just how much money does the state of Texas need? Where is all of this money going? I seem to recall a bunch of talk about the lottery helping with our children's education. Where is all of that money? You are a bunch of crooks, where is the money? Also there should be an investigation of these "attorneys" I bet they are all in cahoots working this scam together.
"Hey bud this is butch, we got that Valero thing this month. How you wanna play it"
@adorcharm The lottery will never pay for the whole states school budget and the lottery is a tax on the stupid.
@jberlat1 @adorcharm that was the mantra the politicians were screaming when they were pushing for a lottery in Texas. It will do this and it will do that and it will be rainbows and unicorns everywhere. Where is the money?
@adorcharm @jberlat1 In a shell game in the budget. If everyone decided to quit playing the lottery, that money would dry up and they will start another fee somewhere else.
To be sure Houston isn't alone in this regard.
Atlanta has its share of issues also.
Seems to keep raking in money. "Hey Earl, tell 'um their house is worth 20% more this year, we need some new sports cars for duh powlice."
Statewide, property tax manipulation has cost the people of Texas an estimated $4 billion over the last five years and out of that, schools have lost an approximate $2.3 billion. This not only deprives schools and city services of much-needed funds, it also increases pressure on homeowners and average taxpayers to make up the difference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTQ-ksLrdPo
I went to check out your site and it would be great if you let us know who you are a front for, but more importantly you make a really silly argument. Out of one side of your mouth you are arguing that appraisal districts need sales price disclosure and out of the other side you are arguing that properties are assessed at far less than they are on the roll for. If you don't know what they sold for how do you know this?
I sat in a conference meeting last year where the Chief Appraiser of one the major county appraisal districts in Texas said his team appraises 850,000 properties per year. He said if he gets 90% of those values right (by test definition an A grade) that means 85,000 properties are incorrect and he needs help from property tax consultants in getting those corrected.
If the chief appraiser says he is content with 85,000 properties being overvalued, then who wants to be the owner of one of the 85,000 properties being assessed in excess of their actual value?
Not me.
Also, you are going to put a stop to a lot of this when the appraisal districts get off their rear ends and truly enforce the mandatory business personal property tax rendition filings with audits. This would ensure that the guy with $10M of inventory (which is taxable) that does not report it has to actually pay tax on that value instead of the low ball estimate which the appraisal district guesses that he has and a 10% penalty for non reporting.
Same article, different day. You can almost smell the next legislative session in the air!!! Anyway, if the Appraisal Districts properly appraised properties to begin with I doubt uniform and equal would be much of a problem. I also find it interesting that this article seems to say that the laws need to be changed because HCAD's lawyers keep losing cases in court. Maybe there is a reason they are losing. And the sales disclosure issue is a little disingenuous considering almost all sales become public through a mixture of appeals, brokers talking, litigation, etc. Besides, the Appraisal Districts essentially have full sales disclosures of residential properties through MLS and they still get those values wrong. Finally, although a small point to belabor, aren't these "pseudo-experts" that Mr. Robinson references the very same appraisers hired by Appraisal Districts across the state?
The problem is the purchasers valued the property at a price and paid it, then argued that they were bad consumers when they went to the hearing.
So a business owner protests his rate, goes to a hearing with factual data, and the value gets reduced....... where is the problem?
It's ironic that Bexar Chief Appraiser, Michael Amezquito, is photographed for this article in the lobby of the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio. That property was purchased two years ago and has been assessed by Bexar County far above it's purchase price. Mr. Amezquito knows this, and refuses to change it. And he wonders why he gets sued.
Have you considered that the valuation problem and all of the lawsuits may be the result of a problem with the Appraisal District and the Appraisal Review Board rather than big companies. Homeowners have the same problems but unfortunately are not in the position to file lawsuits and continue the appeal process in court when their valuation appeals are not given proper consideration at the Appraisal Review Board. The mass appraisal process is not perfect. It does not allow, as the tax code requires, that the characteristics of the individual property be considered. That is where the appeal process comes in. Unfortunately, at the ARB the protest often falls on deaf ears. ARB panels are frequently biased in favor of the Appraisal District. This is a change from previous years when improper valuations could be corrected at that level. The increased number of lawsuits is simply a result of over zealous appraisers and a dysfunctional appeals process, particularly in Harris County.
Rather than trying to work to make it a more fair system or explain the nuts and bolts of how commercial properties are traded it is just easier to blame someone else even if it means destroying the system that you are part of.
A great debate topic for this Friday's Republican Lieutenant Governor's debate to be broadcast live on television.
What kind of idiot from the backwards-ass north wrote this article?
did not understand that the Press was in the business of doing hit jobs for the
government. Let's look at your first statement:
"After the private company Houston 8th Wonder purchased the former Six Flags
AstroWorld site at Kirby Drive and Loop 610 for $77 million in May 2006,
the Harris
County Appraisal District turned around and said the empty 104-acre lot was
worth $74 million. Instead of taking the $3 million savings and going home,
Houston 8th Wonder's hired-gun lawyers bulldozed HCAD for the next six years in
multiple courts and slashed the AstroWorld site's value to $31 million,
resulting in significant lost property-tax revenue for Harris County."
You make it sound like 8th Wonder paid taxes on $31 million for six
years. First off 8th Wonder only owned the property from May 2006 to May
2010. Now I am not a math expert, but that is not six years. Now
let's look at the value history of that property. While it is true that
in the first year of ownership that 8th Wonder paid taxes on $31 million after
litigation. That is because HCAD was "chasing a sale" which is
illegal under our state Constitution and what lead to the equal and uniform
statute. What they are not telling you is that while they placed a value
near the sales price for this property that year they left the value per square
foot of the surrounding properties at a quarter of this value. That would
be like a homeowner buying a new house in and older neighborhood and HCAD
leaving all the other values at what property was selling for a decade ago and
placing the new homeowner on at four times the value of his neighbors for
comparable properties. This is not fair to that one owner and it is why
this is in our Constitution, to protect from this kind of abuse. And it
is not 8th Wonder's fault that the County or their attorneys never got the
proper report. I can promise you if the shoe was on the other foot that
Olson and Olson would file to compel as well and the Press would not be crying
about how 8th Wonder got screwed.
But back to the point. Let's look at what happened in subsequent years
for this property in 2007 the value on this property was $
66,537,435. From 2008 to 2010 the value placed on this property was
$74,668,035 or near the purchase price. So why did you try to paint the
picture that they were at $31 million during this time frame? And what
happened to 8th Wonder? They bought this property for more than they
could make a development deal work. They sold half of it to the Rodeo and
half of it to another developer that has not been able to get money for
development either. And this is one example. I can give you
numerous examples of commercial property owners in the loop that are getting
far less that the assessed value when they sell their properties and there are
several office buildings that have sold for far less than HCAD has tried to
place on them this year.
One more thing. There are huge differences between how a house sells and
how a commercial office building sells. There is far more intangible
value in a commercial building that has to do with things like the credit
worthiness of the tenants, the lengths of leases, the step ups in rents 10
years down the road that are not taxable value because they are intangible
value. These things also effect the risk portion of the
capitalization rate investors use to determine the return they need to see
for the risk involved. So if you have a CVS as
opposed to a local restaurant in identical spaces in a strip center there
is far less risk so you will pay more for the building with the CVS, but they
are identical bricks and sticks and should be treated that way.
This is
why HCAD uses what is known as the Fee Simple appraisal based off current
rental rates, lease occupancy and current expenses. It does not take into
account the lack of financing cost seen by the REITs that buy these trophy
properties that drive the cost up. It does not take into account what the
rents might be 10 years down the road. It uses a consistent
capitalization rate instead of adjusting it for the credit worthiness of the
tenants (which has nothing to do with the value of a building). It looks
at what the income and expense was on that building as of January 1st of the
current tax year. This gives us more uniform values and gets rid of much
of the intangible value; which I repeat is not taxable.
A good example that a homeowner could relate to might be a quick closing.Let's say that you are selling your house and
the buyer is moving here in two weeks and wants you out.They are willing to pay cash, plus and extra
$10,000 for your inconvenience.Should
they be taxed more than their neighbors the next year because they paid above
market to compensate the buyer for inconvenience?Of course not, but that is what you are doing
to commercial transactions when you look at the sales price and do not account
for intangible value.
I am not really sure what the Chief Appraisers' goals are in this public
relations onslaught that is hitting all the major papers across the state and I
really wish that the Press would have interviewed some more respected property
tax consultants or attorneys to explain this process and why it may not seem
fair on face value. Hey if I was an unelected official that was the
constant whipping boy for elected people who set tax rates, I would want to
shift the blame. But it should not be to the backs of the people that pay
millions in taxes on commercial properties.
BTW - you quoted a stat about how residential property owners have a higher
percentage of the tax burden than they used to....Did anyone on your staff ever
check to see how many homes had been added to the tax roll in comparison to commercial
properties? If you did I would bet that would explain your
increase....Lies, damn lies and statistics.
@daswankone You have spoken like someone with the full courage of anonymity. The reference to the legal battle involving the Astroworld property in the story was accurate. Period. You can twist all you want and add a few moans, groans, and rhetorical flourishes all you want. Here are some additional details. HCAD got its butt kicked in district court on that case because it did not prepare for trial with the full range of expert reports it needed.
Rather, it chose to try to rely on attacking the other side's expert; got its head handed to it by inferior legal strategy at the district court level; and then spent years trying to convince the Court of Appeals (where it got its head handed to it) and the Supreme Court (which said HCAD's head was too ugly by then) to cover up for its bad strategy and incompetent approach.
The court battle was about a single year as the story noted. It was about a law that tilted the playing field in that tax year to the owners of the property. That coupled with a deeply flawed appraisal and legal approach by HCAD proved disastrous for rank and file property owners who don't get such breaks.
This year for the first time, HCAD - as the story accurately noted - seems more determined to contest such lawsuits more aggressively. It reportedly has retained MAI appraisals for most if not all of the Class A properties. Think it through and the actions this year reflect a tacit admission that it had not done all that it needed to do in previous years.
I don't know what your background in math is or what independent research you have conducted; however, I am not aware of many people in the industry who seriously dispute the reality that mega-value and major commercial property (and industrial) has NOT been taxed anywhere near as close to true market value as residential properties have been and are.
The total value of all homes and the total value of all commercial or industrial property could be an issue, but it is not the issue of equitable property values for tax purposes relative to true market value.
As the story and numerous of its sources said, the big guys here have had their way too long. So, there is a huge difference between the treatment homeowners get compared to these major property owners.
Moreover, there is an equally profound difference between these mega-value properties and the rank and file, mom and pop, small to middle to higher than average business and commercial property owners. Ted Whitmer, as the story notes, covered that aspect with profound accuracy.
This story, more than any that has been written in the State's media to this point in time, will do more to advance the cause of understanding the significant deficiencies of the property tax system than any hypothetical game of switch and bait analysis an anonymous hero on this website will ever contribute.
I sign my posts. George Scott
@ghscott2050 @daswankone
And the regular folks are protected by the same equal and uniform statute. When I purchased my home at the height of the market before the crash, they changed the CDU factor in order to try to chase the sales price. This actually put a higher value on my home that the purchase price. They were hoping the ARB would just put the sales price on it. By knowing about these things I was able to point out that I was the ONLY home in my neighborhood that was graded above a average grade, but I could show through pictures on HAR that my house was similar to other properties with the average CDU. Since this happened at the ARB level the CDU was not changed and the next year HCAD used the sales (including mine) to raise the base rate on that neighborhood by $20 a foot. Doing this put my house at $23 a foot over what I paid for it in a market that had collapsed 4 months before the first of the year. Again I had to go to the ARB because the HCAD employees are afraid to do the right thing because of the pressure the administrators put on them. Again the ARB adjusted my value to the CDU of average and again I had to protest the next year because I was significantly over valued from a market and U&E perspective. So the idea that U&E does not help homeowners is ridiculous. And just because they might not have the resources to protect themselves does not mean that you should be able to over value commercial properties and use sales that include FF&E and business value or are based off of long term leases by a REIT to try to create some kind of phony populism to promote your blog.
@daswankone @ghscott2050 Interesting but drifting off topic. 18 months ago Steve Janson started this epoch with a handful of my residential files which HCAD over-valued via different approaches that would escape notice without MLS access and both property tax methodology & fee appraisal background.
The whole point is that Average Joe couldn't compete with the overwhelming, seemingly pristine evidence which in reality is severely flawed & tilted to justify the highest possible value.
ARB's are only taught what HCAD wants them to know without benefit of counterpoints. Your mention of REIT's, tenant quality, etc are such counterpoints as illustrated in George Scott's coverage of my Westpark HVAC supply warehouse arbitration..
Steve's whole point was to equally give both sides a voice, which he's done remarkably well in this article and the past one.
@johnosenbaugh @daswankone @ghscott2050
There are many commercial properties that are over appraised as well. For instance when land value are raised HCAD often changes the valuation method to cost and then makes the argument that there is "value in use" to the improvements. This again is intangible value. If the district used proper appraisal practice the value would be the higher of the income value or the land value adjusted to remove the current improvements (this would include buying out leases as well as demolition). The idea that residential owners are getting screwed because a REIT is willing to pay more for a property than the current fee simple value is a bunch of nonsense. REITs, sales leasebacks, refinancing, 1031 Exchanges none of these are market transactions of the bricks and sticks and people like George (who know better) are using this as a populist cry to.....well I have no idea what their motives are other than to make noise and make a name for themselves.
@ghscott2050 @daswankone
George, if you want to talk about full disclosure why don't you mention here or on your blog that you used to work at HCAD?
If the appraisal districts weren't so God-Damn greedy then maybe they'd get more compromise and more support from the public as a whole. There is no way my little slice of heaven off of Washington has doubled in market value since 2011, but HCAD sure as hell thinks it has and wants to tax the bejesus out of me on it.
@Candyman101 I think you're missing the point. The reason your value has doubled is because they know they can squeeze money form the little guys, while the fat cats pay less. This is all baked into the system thanks to our super business friendly state government.


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I am near the bottling stage in my first batch, and have a question as to how I can remove particles such as hops and other things i don't want in my bottles. I may have made a mistake in fermenting in my 5 gallon bucket w/ spigot. I am thinking some sanitized strainer may work if I transfer while straining into the glass carboy. Any other ideas or suggestions? Thanks
If you transfer (rack) your beer into the glass carboy, do you have a racking cane? It's a long stiff tube with a bend at the top. Racking canes come with a little plastic cap that covers the bottom opening of the tube. This little plastic cap will filter out some of the bigger particles when you rack into your carboy. Unfortunately after racking, you should rinse out your bucket that has the spigot and rack back into that from the carboy. It's much easier to bottle from something that has a spigot. Your beer will still develop little yeast cakes on the bottom of each bottle but when you pour the bottles into glasses leave the last bit with all the yeast behind.
Also don't forget to add the sugar to the bucket when you rack to beer back to it. Otherwise your beer will never carbonate Since it's your first time- don't be alarmed by what you see at the bottom of the bucket aftr you rack into the carboy. Just rinse that stuff away
You shouldn't need to filter if your careful racking. Have you read/looked up anything on brewing like books/videos/how-to's/youtube? Your going to end up with bottle trub no matter what if your bottle conditioning. I have dramatically reduced the amount of trub in my bottles every batch when I get better at racking.
Denny Conn - The best beer possible with the least effort possible while having the most fun possible! Me - "Gun Control Means Using Both Hands."
Thanks for the help.I have read the books but I figured some experienced brewers mya be able to give some quick help--which yall did.


text: Tequila Might Be Mezcal, But Mezcal Is MUCH More Than Tequila...Apr 28, 2006 The Bottom Line Mezcal is the basis of tequila, yet taken by itself, it can be so much more complex, variable, and sophisticated. Here's the straight story... Visiting Oaxaca is an eye-opening experience. It's a thoroughly Mexican experience, but the regional culture is so powerful and so deeply in-grained that in some respects, it demands an entirely different kind of mind-set than the rest of the country. Oaxaca is to Mexico like Acadian Louisiana is to the United States --- a place with its own identity, its own flavors, its own music, and its own rhythm and soul. It's a place that's at once alien, yet quintessential. Oaxaca is a gastronomical fantasy world, where the flavors and smells of kitchens and dining rooms is outside the experience of most visitors. The moles are bigger, bolder, and blacker than in the rest of Mexico. The chocolates are shockingly intense and often as not, punctuated with an essence of cinnamon or caramel. The coffees are an earthy orgy on the tongue. And of course, there's the subject at hand: mezcal. Mezcal is the heart and soul of drinking in Oaxaca. Mezcal is to Oaxaca what tequila is to Jalisco or wine is to Napa Valley California. Even though I pride myself on being somewhat aware of what alcoholic beverages are what, until I actually set foot in Oaxaca, I had no concept of just how intense the mezcal tradition really was. Like most folks who grew up in the United States, I really had only a minimal exposure to mezcal --- mostly involving college parties at which bottles of Monte Alban mezcal were boldly presented along with challenges to "eat the worm". It's little wonder that most of us come up with an image of mezcal being a rough drink guaranteed to invoke more headaches than the U.S. tax code. The stereotypes couldn't be more wrong. In Oaxaca, mezcal is a drink of amazing variability and complexity. It is the province of artesanal craft producers who distill on miniscule scales and where regional and seasonal differences can be as significant as they are in the world of fine wines. But enough intro, let's cut to the chase and talk about what mezcal really is and how it is related to tequila. The Tequila Connection... Tequila is mezcal, but mezcal is not necessarily tequila. If you're familiar with scotch, you'll understand the point easily enough. In the world of whiskies, scotch, bourbon, rye, etc. are all types of whisky (or whiskey, depending on your alcoholic religion), but not all whisky is bourbon, or scotch, or whatever. In cars, sedans, coupes and station wagons are all types of cars, but not all cars are station wagons (thank God!) Spirits made from fermented agave juices are all types of mezcal, and that includes tequila, as well as regionally known styles like sotol and raicilla that most people would never have tasted unless they found themselves a guest in a particular area of Mexico. With the attention paid to artesanal tequilas over the past several years, there's a lot of people in the international community who've tasted a lot of tequilas, and who understand the basic language of tequila. Many of the terms used to describe tequilas are also used on bottles of mezcal, including aging descriptors like reposado and a�ejo. Before I delve too far into the tasting and sensory sides of Oaxacan mezcal, let me address a few of the myths of tequila and mezcal.... Disspelling the Myths... 1. Mezcal has a worm in it. In the late 20th century, a couple of marketers decided to put worms in their export mezcals as a gimmick. It is not a genuine tradition and none of the quality mezcals have worms. Cheaper mezcals and low-grade export mezcals do have worms, and I've heard that bottles exported to the Japanese market sometimes have several worms (actually caterpillars) in each bottle. It is true that no respectable tequila has a worm in the bottle, and its also true that no true artesanal mezcal has a worm in it. 2. Worms from a mezcal bottle cause hallucinations. The only hallucination they may cause is that you're having a hallucination. 3. Mezcal is just "cheap" tequila. There is absolutely no truth at all to rumors that producers who can't meet the standards of "tequila" use the "mezcal" label. The beverages are different, that's all, and mezcal suffers an image problem due to its relative unfamiliarity compared to the more widely experienced tequila. 4. Tequila is stronger than mezcal. Occasionally, you can find mezcal that is as weak as tequilas sold on the international market (which are often a mere 80 proof, sometimes even less). In truth, most mezcals tend to be stronger than most tequilas, but its largely owing to their extreme variability. Tequilas are usually watered down at bottling to "international industry standards". Artesanal mezcals are bottled locally to satisfy local preferences. Mezcals are commonly 90 to over 100 proof --- occasionally less, occasionally more. 5. Mezcal produces bigger headaches than tequila. Big heads tend to come from liquors distilled only once. That's usually the cheap, no-name liquors. Most good tequilas are triple-distilled, and almost any decent brand will be at least double-distilled. This is also true of mezcals. Name brand mezcal (including Monte Alban) is at least double-distilled. Most artesanal mezcals are double-distilled and a large number are triple-distilled. Quality-wise, a good mezcal is as smooth and as refined as the best top-shelf liquor you can buy of any spirit type. When IS It a Mezcal Then, and When IS It a Tequila?? There's a lot of factors that make up the difference. Tequila tends to come from the state of Jalisco. Mezcal tends to come from the state of Oaxaca. There are exceptions for both appellations. Tequilas is made from one specific type of agave (called "blue agave" or "tequilana weber") whereas mezcal is made from various kinds of agave (generally of five common types, though there are at least 20 species in Oaxaca). By the way, there have been rumors that unethical tequila producers in Jalisco sometimes purchase non-blue agave varieties from farmers in Oaxaca, in violation of regulations stating that tequila be produced solely from blue agave. Tequila tends to be more predictably standardized in flavor, color, and aromatic ranges, while mezcal is much more varied with more intense flavors and aromas. This results from the smaller production scales of mezcal and from the many differences in production methods (ranging from the ways in which the agave pi�as are roasted, to the ways in which the drinks are fermented, distilled, and aged). By the way, beer lovers will appreciate that mezcal is usually naturally fermented via open-air following the same basic methods as lambic brewers from Belgium. Variations on a Theme... In the city of Oaxaca, as well as in coastal towns on the Oaxacan coast, there are small shops and booths in many markets that sell many brands of mezcal that are never sold outside local Oaxaca markets. This is true also of small town markets, and I even found mezcal-only stores on the tourist route east of Oaxaca to the Mitla arachaelogical site and out towards Hierva del Agua. Many Oaxaca restaurants had extensive mezcal selections. In some of these mezcal markets I found a huge number of flavored mezcals and "cream liquers" based on mezcal. Shopkeepers encouraged me to taste their flavored mezcals. Most of these were shockingly good, and far more complex than the relatively direct Irish cream liqueuers that seem so popular in the United States. Mocha, cajeta, mango, pineapple, even blueberry, were offered up for sampling in many a market. Needless to say, my souvenir cache coming back has more bottles than knick-knacks... In Huatulco, I found a lot of these creme mezcals being sold in the mercado in Crucesita, as well as in a delightful tasting room at a shop called the Museo de Artesanias Oaxaca (just off the main plaza in Crucesita). I doubt they're based on the best mezcals, but they're wonderfully accessible and smooth apperetif beverages for people who may not appreciate the assertive character of a pure mezcal. In Oaxaca, you can find an excellent range of pure mezcals at downtown restaurants like Los Danzantes (a 5-star dining experience) and Caminito al Cielo. Heck, you can find mezcals at street fairs and gas stations....finding a good mezcal in Oaxaca is as easy as finding a good bagel in New York. How Does a Glass of Mezcal Compare to a Glass of Tequila?? The whiskey analogy is very useful when tasting mezcal because Oaxacan mezcals are very much like single malt Scotch whiskies. Like single-malt Scotch, mezcal shows off significant, easily perceptible, differences in flavor from brand to brand, and from region to region. Many of the same kinds of flavors that you look for in single-malts will be found in mezcal too. Smokiness and a phenol signature are extremely common and I'm told are a result of the intense roasting regimen that the agave pi�as go through. Likewise, you get some mezcals that exhibit signs of saltiness, and you get some that may have an almost Brettanomyces-like horsey or leather aspect to them. They are wonderfully variant and complex. Also like scotches, you find mezcals that smooth themselves out over years of aging in the barrel. The aged mezcals are identified as "a�ejo" --- just as they are with aged tequilas. Look for smooth sweet characters here, with all that implies. Bottom Line... I'm no expert on mezcal, but my eyes have been opened to the possibilities of the drink. I hadn't had it in years, and then, over the course of the last couple weeks, I drank it at least once (usually 3 or more times) a day. In Oaxaca, mezcal is everywhere and its easy to find samplers of brands you've never heard of, and variations you never imagined existed. A selection was available in all of the good restaurants and hotels I visited, and even at the all-inclusive chain resort I stayed in at Huatulco (the Barcelo) free samples of mezcal were offered at every meal. You can't visit Oaxaca without being offered mezcal. That's a good thing. My intention here was just to talk about a few of the things I've picked up about mezcal in general, and to try to expound on the Oaxacan side of mezcal as very distinct from the well-known tequila style that most people are used to. I intend to post a couple specific mezcal reviews that build on the generalities. Until next time, see you in the cantina. Don't be too surprised if my beer mug's been replaced by a shot glass of mezcal... |