Opinionist: Ask a Dilettante

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Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante.

So the Public News is back? Finally, something to read when I’m done with 002.

A paper calling itself “Public News” and using a familiar logo made its debut this week, but this is not the Public News of yesteryear. From the new paper’s website:

The Public News would begin to open up shop for the first time in almost a decade, even if it is in name only…No one from the old Public News is involved with this incarnation of the paper. It's a brand new newspaper, with a brand new look and a brand new ideal. Do you believe?

Yes, actually. One glance at the bottom of page 19 made me a believer. The original Public News would NEVER have spent a quarter page on “Groaners.” Check it out for yourself. I’ll wait.

Did you look? Can you imagine running across that collection in the original Public News? Maybe if there was a week when all of the contributors were REALLY stoned. I mean, more so than usual.

I don’t want to poop on this paper, nor do I want to exalt the original Public News. Houston needs more news sources, more ‘zines, more blogs, more people talking about live music and theatre and visual art. But maybe this new paper should have taken a new name rather than milk the benefits of using an old, familiar one.

If The Missles ever do a reunion show, wonder if they'll still perform that song about never being on the cover of the Public News? I think it is no longer relevant. Not just because they eventually were on the cover of the PN, but because it's a totally different deal now. Believe it.

The Texas Legislature is considering making people 90 and older take a driving test in order to keep a current driver license. If the person fails the test, does he still get to drive himself home?

Good question. This is a sticky situation. Anyone who’s spent much time in a car with a driver in his ninth or tenth decade can probably understand the motivation for this bill. But picking the age of 90 is completely arbitrary. Some people have the mental and physical ability to drive beyond that age. Some have lost it by the time they’re in their 70s.

A lot of driving mistakes have nothing to do with age. One of my brothers ran off the road in his teens when he reached down to retrieve a cheeseburger that had escaped his grasp. I shouldn’t drive when I’m mad. Most of Houston is on the phone while they’re tooling down the road, often at speeds twenty miles above the limit. In-dash maps, DVD players and places to plug in the laptop have made driving a secondary activity when it should not only be primary, it should be solitary.

So I don’t think taking Paw-Paw off the road at 90 will have a substantial impact on the number of accidents in Texas. Are you going to take him to BINGO?

Unrelated note: Happy Year of the Pig

Photo: flickr user Skip-Rat.

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