10.14.2006

Baylor v. Texas Tonight

At this moment, I feel as though I'm on a date with Christina Aguiliar. I've never been happier, but I know it won't last.

If You Know A Tech Fan . . .

. . . take away his belt and check on him in 15 minute intervals tonight.

Even I Hope There's A Little Outrage Over This

This cartoon appeared in the New York Post yesterday. Have memorial services even been held?

Fascinating

"This is a video from dove's campaign for real beauty where you see a girl get a heavy makeup and then 'fixed' in photoshop before she's beauty enough to fit the ad." Video. (This thing lasts 30 seconds and is actually an swf file that loads in a second.)

Lots Of Snow In Buffalo, NY

Sex. Religion and Law

There was a story in the DMN about a lawsuit filed by a former pre-school teacher at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Quick facts: She gets pregnant while unmarried and then, according to a lawsuit, a meeting was called by her employer where she was asked questions of “Were you a virgin when you had sex with the child’s father?” and “Why can’t you just get married to the child’s father?” She also alleges that at another meeting, the human resources director told her that “she was not living a Christian lifestyle” and that she would have to sign a statement agreeing not to have premarital sex if she wanted to keep her job. The church was going to let her go but finally let her stay as a part time employee. There are laws prohibiting the discrimination against pregnant women, so she sues. My (irrelevant) take on the matter: I don't have any problem with the church's actions at all. This is the "other side" of the much hated "Separation of Church and State" doctrine. Just like the government shouldn't require prayer in school, it also should not interfere by reviewing what standards a church uses in the matters of hiring and firing. And Texas courts routinely back out of church related suits - it's called the "Ecclesiastical Abstention Doctrine." Lots of "doctrines" in the law.

Lightening Never Strikes Twice . . . Or Does It?

In 1997, and I remember this, a lady was seriously injured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Paradewhen the Cat in the Hat balloon hit a big street light and it went crashing to the ground - on her. Her name was Kathleen Caronna (which, incidentally, sounds like the name of our County Treasurer.) Anyway, this week a plane carrying Yankee's pitcher Cory Lidle crashed into an apartment in New York City. You know whose apartment that belonged to? Kathleen Caronna. Yep. Same one. (Source.)

10.13.2006

Did Anyone Call 911?

Decatur 56 Bridgeport 20 (Box Score)

Bab's F Bomb

Even the straight laced Today Show informed me this week that Barbara Streisand dropped an F Bomb in her concert this week. Apparantly she was going on an anti-George Bush rant when a fan yelled at her to shut up and sing. And then she dropped The Bad Word. Someone had a video camera. Someone put it on youtube here. (Warning: It contains a bad . . . oh, you know.)

"They're All White Up"

The Star Telegram's Bud Kennedy is on to the Wise County European American Republicans in his own blog. (And I'll give him credit: He saw it before I did.) Edit: This will be the subject of Kennedy's Saturday column that will appear in the Star Telegram.

Crazy Football Stat

Dallas Cowboys third-year running back Julius Jones has rushed for 2,200 yards after 25 games. Tony Dorsett had 1,875 after 25 games, and Emmitt Smith had 1,766. (source)

Borat

The more I see of the new Borat movie, the funnier it looks. On the other hand, the new Robin Williams movie ("Man of the Year") does not look as promising. And how many times can they run the advertisement of the scene where he says,"I did not have sex with that woman. But I wanted to"?

Decatur Replies, "We Are?"

"Britney Spears Through The Years"

"Ghetto Fabulous"

That was the theme of a party that a bunch of first year University Texas law students had. Now they are in trouble. But get this, it was just a private party and not sponsored by the school or any organization. The little UT students have their own set of blogs and one of them posted pictures of the party where "partygoers carried 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor and wore Afro wigs, necklaces with large medallions and name tags bearing traditionally black and Hispanic names." He has now been named in the above national news story. And this is all his blog says now. You think he is worried about job opportunities? P.C. to the Nth degree. Makes me want to reach for a forty [edited] ounce.

Really Cool or Really Sad

A Waxahachie couple love living 'Munster' style in the replica house they created based upon the TV show. Story.

Salma Friday

"Jacksboro teen dies from gunshot wound"

I don't think this story made the Star Telegram this week.

10.12.2006

Katie Couric's . . .

. . . proposed "sign offs" for her new gig on the CBS Evening News. (As seen on David Letterman last night.) 31 seconds and well worth it. (And that last one strangely turned me on.)

Entertainingly Painful

Lt. Governor David Dewhurst's TV ads kill me. He must spend all of his time on a horse (because he loves that image) but now I learn he's saving babies "one at a time". As his ad tells me, after being elected Land Commissioner he [confusing correlation forthcoming] "championed the Baby Moses Program, encouraging mothers to bring their unwanted babies to safe places." And he actually had a re-enactment of the Baby Moses Program in action: An African-American firefighter longingly looks into the eyes of baby that was abandoned into his arms. Sheesh. (Maybe I'm just grumpy today.)

Hey, Now

MADD

I can't stand MADD. Not that their hearts aren't in the right place - it's just that they have too much influence. One of the first things I heard when I was a misdemeanor prosecutor in the Tarrant County DA's office, was "Be on the lookout for a representative from MADD being in the courtroom to observe you." They tend to be bullies more than advocates. But they sure know a thing or two about PR (as the graphic shows). Source. And, yeah, comments off. I've heard your wrath before. Today I just can't take it.

Drug Lair?

This story made the DMN home page tonight. Man, I thought, that had to be a huge bust. Read long enough and you find they had "an ounce" of crack. An ounce? That's it? 28 grams? And this is the preliminary weight - trust me, it'll be less once the lab finally looks at it. Hardly a rare occurrence and certainly not enough to justify a front page story. Or, more importantly, three months of a tax funded investigation. But at least the cops got to use a battering ram.

Harsh

Bulls - Eagles

Not much buzz about the game this year. Here is everything I know about the series from memory: - I don't know anything about what happened before 1960 - Bridgeport won in 1973 (or 1972) and 1978 - I think Decatur owned Bridgeport throughout the 80s - Bridgeport turned the corner in 1992 (I think) and won a few more time in the 1990s - We've now gone back to the future with Decatur pretty much owning Bridgeport the last few years. You can't find sports analysis like that anywhere else. (And I can't believe its been five years since I wrote this about the game.) Pics from Decatur's homecoming bonfire last night are here. And Bull fans, youtube has a clip of the Bulls last touchdown in its last win over Decatur.

If . . .

. . . you worked near downtown Dallas and had an affinity towards Happy Hour, this map would make you very happy.

Good Night and Good Luck

The story pointed out that the company got a 10 year tax break that ended in 2005.

Scarlett Against A Cheap Background

Sports, Planes, and Death

Famous sports people that died in plane crashes (I didn't know of): Knute Rockne, Notre Dame coach, 1931 Rocky Marciano, Boxer, 1969 Rex Dockery, former Tech coach, 1983 Brook Berringer, great Nebraska QB, 1996 (I must have forgotten this) Marshall football team, 43 players, 1970

Ethnic Diversity 101

A curious Blog reader brought to my attention that the web site of the local Republicans has a link for "contact information" for all of the fall candidates. On that link (a pdf file), you get to see the basic information for the candidates - the normal junk - with the exception of the very interesting category of "ethnicity." Why is that on there? (And the sheet even lets you know "AE" stands for "American European".)

10.11.2006

Paris Hilton Pumps Gas

This pic was floating around on the celebrity sites today. But I couldn't take my eyes off something in the background.

I'm Completely Skeptical Of Claims Like This

Story.

A Scan of a 1960s Postcard Of Decatur Motel

Source

Wise County's Black Creek Lake

Source

Courthouse

Source

I Don't Do Traffic Reports

But it looks like 114 at the Denton/Wise County line is completely shut down and will stay that way until 7:00 p.m. (If I'm wrong, blame WBAP.)

News You May Already Know

The media is going crazy over a small plane crash in New York City. It's not terrorism, but it freaks everyone out. And then, as the graphic shows above, the story took another turn. And the very top picture is Lidle with his plane as obtained from here.

Amen

Bestselling novelist John Grisham's first non-fiction book, The Innocent Man, tells the story of a wrongful conviction based upon the false testimony by a jailhouse snitch. The accused was exonerated 11 years later based on DNA evidence. Grisham recently said: "Wrongful convictions occur every month in every state in this country, and the reasons are all varied and all the same - bad police work, junk science, faulty eyewitness identifications, bad defense lawyers, lazy prosecutors, arrogant prosecutors."

(Source)

I Don't Know

Although Your Chances Of Getting Killed Remain The Same (Or Slightly Higher)

For $200 million, this is the new slogan for the Army: "Army Strong" will replace "Army of One." And I never understood the "Army of One" phrase anyway. So I find that I'm up to my arse in insurgents and I get to depend on . . . uh . . . me? My own little army of one?

On My Very Long List Of Ways . . .

. . . this would be at the bottom. (Source)

Is That Wrong?

Pretty soon, the small joys in life will all be prohibited.

"Lost" Thoughts

I'm about 80% of the way through the first season of Lost. So . . . - The only way to watch a TV show is on DVD. A one hour episode becomes a commercial free 40 minute episode - The show is really, really good - although the whole thing is based upon suspense. There is a whole lot of stopping and listening to bushes rustle. - And speaking of bushes in the jungle, for a place where there are untold dangers in the jungle, those people go walking around by themselves more than I do on a Saturday night. - And the concept of flashing back to learn about the characters is genius. Sayid may be my favorite - It's still confusing that there may be 30 people that went down with the plane but who we just quite haven't met yet - And if you get injured, you heal really quickly. You can dislocate your shoulder and you'll be fine two days later. And if you get stabbed in the leg or arm (which happens a lot), don't worry - you'll be wound free in two episodes. - And as to the picture above, that's characters Kate and Charlie not playing Kate and Charlie

10.10.2006

Channel 5 News

Due to the baseball playoffs (that I do not care about), I watched Channel 5 News tonight. Holy cow, I thought Fox 4 was bad. Random Observations: - Mike Synder and Jane McGarry, at best, can only read the news. They are caricatures of local anchor people. - The information is of questionable veracity at best. After telling me than some poor sap was arrested for growing 178 pot plants at his home (good lord, this is 2006 isn't it?), Mike Synder looks at the camera and tells me that "the marijuana had an estimated street value of $300,000." Whatever! Mike may be smoking the stuff. - And then they put this graphic up (pictured above) about some guy that allegedly molested some girl in the Burleson Walmart. He was arrested in the parking lot and, as Jane told me with a very straight face, he had six outstanding traffic warrants. Six!!!!!! - I just stopped watching when Jane proclaimed "never have that time of the month again" due to a "miracle medical breakthrough". Menopause?

And You Wonder Why They Drive Me Insane

Screenshot from the premiere Longhorn blog.

Oh, My

Click to enlarge. (Star Telegram is the source.)

A Second One? That's A Little Nerve Racking.

As this story breaks tonight, links should be here. Edit: The White House says emphatically that it's not true.

"My Name Is Earl" Girl

Poddy Humor

If you have ever been beaten down by the long waits for the bathroom in the Cotton Bowl (or if you think you might go there for the New Year's game), low and behold a secret large bathroom has been discovered. It had simply been so poorly marked that no one knew about it. Until now.

Who Sued Kroger? And Won? Until . . .

I always try to skim all the new legal "advance sheets" (new case law) to see if there is anything new in the criminal law arena. I was doing so this morning and came across a Texas Supreme Court civil case involving a Kroger employee who sued Kroger. It amazed me so much I had to go online and print out the above for you. (Click to enlarge). Maybe a Republican judiciary is a good thing.

The Satirical Onion Makes Me Laugh

TheOnion.com

Let's Get A Little Sappy

This is a pic of the newborn twins of local attorney Allen Williamson and his wife. All together, now: "Aaaaahhhhh."

My Future Wife

Ugh

The rainy walk to the courthouse is a beating.

Really?

A bunch of seedy emails and IM's constitute the most shocking thing ever? (From the Update)

Nicollete Sheirdan . . . . . Not Bad

Stable?

Link.

10.09.2006