Supreme Beef Processors, the Dallas company that went bankrupt while fighting the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has won another court victory over the government’s right to enforce stringent new meat-testing standards. Critics say the new standards, designed to detect pathogens in meat such as salmonella and E. coli, are unfair…
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…
Cringeworthy I am the future of art: “All art is a gimmick, and in that gimmick lies the heart of the art.” –Sassoism. “When an artist signs his name to his art, then that’s a promotion.” –Sassoism. Why shit on me and ridicule me about my art? You obviously know…
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…
When C.A. Reynerson walked into Keith’s Comics in September 1999, it was clear he wasn’t looking forward to catching up on the action in the second installment of the anime comic Demon Beast Invasion: The Fallen. He was looking for a case. Reynerson, a detective in the vice section of…
Michael Kline, organizing chief for Dallas-based Teamsters Local 745, says he’s never had a supporter quite like Fred Pfisterer. The night shift freight loader and union backer was fired in September from Saia Motor Freight Line Inc. during an acrimonious labor dispute that’s being closely followed throughout the trucking industry…
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico–The fine-powder caliche dust rises from the road, forming a suffocating haze that clears only when Esther Chavez slows her car to avoid ruts and rocks or to yield right of way to the dozens of stray dogs trotting aimlessly through the colonia located on the northern edge…
Young, Drunk Bushies Dude! Where’s the polling place? Thank you, Joe Pappalardo, for clearing up something that has bothered me for a long time: Why would anyone vote for George W. Bush (“The Party Party,” December 21)? Because they were drunk and/or stoned! Party on, all slackers/boozers/stoners. You have elected…
Dallas vitamin entrepreneur Craig Keeland remembers vividly the cocktail party at which he reluctantly passed on a golden opportunity to pitch his products to George W. Bush. In the early 1990s, Keeland, founder and chairman of the vitamin company Youngevity, became acquainted with Bush when the two men had offices…
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…
Like any other parent, Maria Gomez has high hopes and aspirations for her son. Marco, 16, is a student at Moisés Molina High School in Oak Cliff who is well liked by classmates and teachers for his infectious laugh, limitless energy, and sunny disposition. Of medium height, Marco has a…
One of Parkland Memorial Hospital’s new mothers recently showed up with her husband to collect their 6-week-old infant daughter. Like the thousands of mothers who give birth every year at the busiest maternity ward in the United States, the young couple was poor. Weeks of hospital visits while their prematurely…
You think I’m mean. That hurts. I know I’ve written some not-so-nice things this year about reporters and Belo executives and Cuecats and such. But it’s the holiday season, and I’m infected…sorry, I mean filled…with the spirit of joy. I will no longer mock the 42 f-‘in MILLION BUCKS those…
Snob Sister On a rampage: Christine Biederman, in the December 14 Dallas Observer (“How the Grinch Stole Feminism”), you described going into various galleries and imagining objects and images you found there to be words and concepts–forms of expression in which you are, evidently, more fluent. Then you announced your…
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…
Today is Soapbox Day, a great day, a day when I get to tell the local media suits why I am so smart and they are so dumb. It is, in fact, my favorite day of the year, with the exception of the rarely celebrated Box Day, a discussion of…
Editor’s note: One thing you will notice about this story is the relative lack of information from the “other side,” in this case, the USDA. During six weeks of reporting, the Dallas Observer made repeated attempts to obtain comment from the federal agency concerning its new testing procedures and its…
Ed, the lawyer, was prone one second, ramrod straight the next. It was a hazy hour between November 7 and 8. His face was slack with drink, with bloodshot eyes and sallow skin that made his cheekbones jut out like volcanic rocks from the surf. “What the hell?” he asked,…
Just before Trina McReynolds was carjacked, she remembers being in the crowded drive-through lane at the Cityplace Whataburger. Things were going down that could only happen at 2:30 a.m., during the after-the-bars-close Saturday night rush. A young woman in the BMW in front of her was leaning out the driver-side…
Problem Witnesses Just a screwed-up family: I grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness but am no longer practicing, so I picked up a copy of the Dallas Observer to read the cover story (“Sects and Lies,” December 7). I was outraged that the religion was shown in such a negative…
Ah, the bourgeoisie and the quiet lives they live. Here in Bachman Lake, homes with neatly trimmed lawns line the streets, as do cars and Christmas lights and…condoms. Condoms? These days, many beleaguered Bachman-area residents–already sick of the strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses (SOBs) that proliferate in the…
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…
