OPINION

A few weeks ago I posted Green Line figures from DART that reflected the number of passengers delivered downtown during the morning rush hour. Those numbers tended to make ridership on the new Green Line look bad, by virtue of the relatively few downtown-bound riders.

For example, average weekday ridership for the morning rush:
-- Red Line coming south brought 3,316 downtown
-- Green Line coming from Deep Ellum brought 177 downtown

Now I have DART's overall station-by-station numbers for last year, and they tell a different story. If you look at total boardings, instead of the rush hour ridership that's typical for office workers, Green Line numbers are respectable. Fair Park ridership stacks up against many other, long-established stations.

Examples of average daily boardings by station from November:
-- Green Line's Fair Park station -- 1,467
-- Blue Line's Kiest station -- 1,204
-- Red Line's Forest Lane station -- 1,442

Away from the center city, the big numbers are at the end of both the Red and Blue lines, all of which top 2,000 a day.

I've posted the full report over on the Dallas Transportation Blog.

Holy cow. We had a lengthy interview with Debra Medina a few days ago, and in the middle of it, I felt like I was suffering from vertigo. Her rationalizations, her flawed logic, her easy fixes to very complex problems left me dumbfounded. And yet, I liked her underlying message of doing something radical to stop both the federal and state governments from spending money they don't have.

But now I feel a little stupid because I focused on her obsession with the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution (giving rights to the states when they're not explicitly given to the federal government). I just wanted to hear what she'd say, expecting some kind of verbal blunder that would hang her. I never thought of asking her about The 9/11 Conspiracy. (Honestly, I thought my brother was the only one who took that stuff seriously.)

So, journalistically, I'm really proud of Glenn Beck and impressed by his brilliance in asking that question. He must've had good intelligence on her and known that he could get her going if he asked it. And sure enough, she blabbed. And she ruined her political career in the process. My favorite quote from Beck was after he hung up the phone. "Wow. The fastest way back to 4%. Holy cow."

But here's another part of the interview that is just as telling about Medina and her "vision" about fixing our state's fiscal problems. Glenn Beck seems as nonplussed as I was when she offered the same solution to us.

Re: "Hidden costs of ticket surcharges," by Hugh Lucas, Wednesday Letters.
The Dallas Morning News has reported that drivers owe the Texas Driver Responsibility Program a billon dollars.
I wrote to state Sen. John Carona asking for a rebate for the people who paid their fines in full. He assured me that this program is a good, fair one.
It's a bad law, and the people of this state need to act to get it repealed. If it was designed to raise revenue, it failed. If it was designed to make our roads safer, it really failed.

Re: "A win for science -- Cutting manned space is actually a boon for NASA's potential discoveries, says Steven Weinberg," Monday Viewpoints.
With humans, you have a greater chance of obtaining scientific information:

• If Apollo 11 had been unmanned, it would have crashed into West crater and history would be without the first moon walk and two of the greatest quotes of all time.


• If Apollo 15 had been unmanned, a rover probably would not have been able to discover the Genesis rock, a piece of the original lunar crust.


• If the Mars polar lander had had an astronaut on board, he would have not allowed the computer to shut down the engine early, thus avoiding the crash.

Re: "Two discouraging snapshots of society," by Steve Blow, Sunday Metro column.
We used to live in a very disciplined society. No more. We now live in a society that values feel-good, quick fixes for everything. Parents do not spend enough time with their children, children do not spend enough time on homework, and teachers and coaches are not given the right to reprimand students.
Children and their parents spend time in front of screens all day rather than with books. Little time is spent in physical activity. Junk food and other unhealthy foods are eaten, rather than small-portioned nutritious meals. Americans jump into marriages carelessly and get out of those marriages in an equally careless manner.
All of this is worse in America than in Europe and Asia. It is worse in the Southwest than in the Northeast, where "old school" approaches still prevail for the most part.

Re: "We Recommend -- Friedman in Dem primary for ag commissioner," Tuesday Editorials.
This endorsement reflects the editorial board's empathy for all the calves born each year in Texas.
I was convinced of Kinky's credentials for this position some weeks ago while reading another issue of The Dallas Morning News. That story shared with us Kinky's agricultural program of "No Cow Left Behind." Having some exposure to agriculture, I found this was the hook.
Step back from the pasture and see the unfair eventualities for those calves. We see steers that are pampered by dieticians, beauty operators, and loving and committed ranchers.
The time and money that is spent bathing, brushing and blow-drying those steers in preparation for a parade at the Will Rogers Coliseum is over the top.
Contrast that to the little heifer surviving on mesquite twigs on some unfertile hill somewhere on the frontier west of Fort Worth. That little heifer with burrs on her legs and flies buzzing about will struggle to grow up, much less meet her potential.
With Kinky at the reins, this gap will be closed. How could any person out there not hitch up for this Texan, this rancher, this man?

Re: "Reconsider evolution position," by Charles Luedeker, Sunday Letters.
Opponents of evolution use one of two tactics: reduce evolution to a religion or elevate religion to a science.
Luedeker uses the former approach. Declaring evolution is not science, he equates it with creationism, which is clearly religion. By that argument, neither should be taught in the science classroom, not both.
However, acknowledging that religious theories do not belong in the science classroom advances the debate about what does belong in the science classroom.
The decision of whether evolution should be taught as science, therefore, depends on a distinction between science and religious dogma.
Evolutionists invoke the natural processes of natural selection and genetic drift as the major mechanisms of evolution; creationists invoke supernatural selection and divine intervention.
One is science; the other is religious dogma. One belongs in the science classroom; the other does not.
This is, and has always been, the distinction between evolution and creationism: There is no need for reconsideration of the position of evolution.

Re: "Texas' looming traffic woes -- State leaders must deal with bad transportation situation, say Sens. John Carona and Kirk Watson," Wednesday Viewpoints.
It is refreshing to see this op-ed about our traffic dilemma and the failure of our elected leaders to begin grappling with the problem.
Tolling every new traffic lane in Texas is not a solution.
Reorganizing the highway bureaucracy and/or ending gas tax diversions will only bring marginal relief compared to the funds needed.
If Texans want to address our increasing traffic gridlock, they must start listening to statesmen like Carona and Watson -- leaders who are telling it like it is -- rather than buying the simplistic solutions being put forward by those leaders who are not willing to honestly address our growing gridlock crisis.

Let me preface my comments with a huge disclaimer. I don't know why Uiniversity of North Texas president, Dr. Gretchen Bataille is leaving and leaving so suddenly.

But I can tell you I found her to be very impressive educator/administrator. She appeared at several editorial board meetings and was thoughtful, progressive and committed to academic excellence.

I applaud her efforts to push UNT toward becoming a Tier one research institution and standing with other university presidents in the state in a mostly united effort to increase the number of top research institutions in Texas. UNT may never become Tier one, but that's beside the point. She seemed to be making UNT better. That's what university presidents are supposed to do.

I'm sorry I didn't get around to answering our "Editorial Board speaks out" question yesterday. I'm also a little relieved.

What I probably would have said was that I'd been thinking hard about who I'd vote for March 2 and who I'd support when the board decided whom to recommend, if it mattered. And that I'd begun leaning toward Medina, because I agreed with many of her core positions and appreciated her clarity.

That ended today. Sorry, but some things are deal-breakers. Inability to say, with clarity, that she dismissed "9/11 truther" thought and would not surround herself with anyone who thought that way is enough for me to make it a two-person race again.

"I don't have all the evidence there, Glenn," Medina replied. "So I'm not in a place - I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There's some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there so I've not taken a position there."

Just once I wish Elizabeth Warren would be the bearer of good economic news. It's not her fault that she isn't. As head of the Congressional Oversight Panel, which is probing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, she sees more balls bouncing in the dirt or sailing to the backstop than perfect pitches.

The latest problem has been just under the radar for months. mall banks drowning in bad commercial real estate loans. In turn this keeps them from making the basic loans that small businesses need to exist.

I have to admire her for urging regulators to perform stress tests of small U.S. banks in the same way that regulators scrutinized the 19 largest U.S. banks in 2009 to examine their ability to withstand future losses.

But I have two questions:
1) Regulators are supposed to assess the financial vulnerability of banks. That's what the super secret CAMEL ratings -- short for Capital, Assets, Management, Earnings, Liquidity -- are supposed to accomplish.

and

2) What did we learn from the stress tests on the big banks last year?

Gee, a part of the financial crisis that can't be blamed on ACORN...amazing.

Here's how to go from being something of a political phenom back to a fringe candidate in one easy step: Suggest that perhaps the U.S. government had something to do with 9/11.

Debra Medina has been a candidate on the rise, skyrocketing from a distant third place to right in the thick of things in the GOP gubernatorial primary. But her ascenscion could screech to a halt after voters listen to her exchange with Glenn Beck.

Beck asked Medina today about rumors that she's a "9/11 truther," prompting a hearty laugh from Medina and a claim that she's never heard that said. Beck persists, asking Medina if she thinks that the U.S. government was involved in the attacks on the Sept. 11, 2001.

Medina says:
"I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There are some very good arguments, and I think the American people have not seen all of the evidence there, so I have not taken a position on that."

The correct answer here would be "No."

Beck correctly notes, "I think the American people might take that as a yes."

Medina has now backtracked, issuing a statement blaming Muslim terrorists for the attacks. But the candidate's own words in the Beck interview speak volumes. The question caught her off guard, but Medina clearly has significant doubts about 9/11.

Perhaps Medina's supporters share these views. But to me, this sounds like an effective way to put your campaign on the fast track back to the fringe.

The following is a guest blog from Kristina A. Kiik, a third-year law student at SMU Dedman School of Law and a Community Voices volunteer columnist. Her e-mail address is kkiik@mail.smu.edu. In 2004, at the age of 21, Kiik was one of the youngest people ever to cast a vote in the Electoral College.

The Republican Party needs to stop drinking the tea and wake up and smell the coffee.

Wait. That's wrong. It's not the actions of my own political party that trouble me. It's the Tea Party activists who love our country and want to make the American dream a reality.

I have no problem with this end. Like all Americans, I work for a better tomorrow, too. But as a twenty-something center-right moderate, I have serious concerns with the Tea Party's means of achieving this shared goal.

By marginalizing themselves as a political alternative, the Tea Party is beginning to alienate its closest ally, the well-established, big-tent Republican Party. This decision undermines the prospects of electing conservatives in to office. Worse, it has the potential to prolong the viability of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda.

1. BANKS -- After months of talking about financial reform, the Obama administration is floating the idea of erecting a firewall between taxpayers and the extravagant financial betters who nearly decimated the global economy. Our opinion is that financial institutions have to take risks to compete, but when institutions take risks and lose, the entire global economic system shouldn't become a casualty of recklessness, nor should taxpayers have to sprint to the rescue. The horrific combination of lax oversight and rogue financial risk-taking nearly destroyed the American financial system. Never again, should taxpayers have to cover someone else's bad bet. Jim writing on behalf of the board.

2. WILSON -- Former Democratic congressman Charlie Wilson, who passed away Wednesday, was living proof of the color of Texas politicians of days gone by. How could a guy who relished his swashbuckling ways also be such a consequential legislator? He certainly became the latter when he famously helped arm rebels in Afghanistan so they could fight the Soviets who invaded their land in 1979. Bill writing on behalf of the board.

3. We make our recommendation in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. Rodger writing on behalf of the board.