6.09.2008

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



- New report: "The Justice Department has released a new report showing the nation's prison and jail population reached a record 2.3 million people last year. The United States leads the industrialized world in incarceration . . . . In fact, the U.S. rate of incarceration (762 per 100,000) is five to eight times that of other highly developed countries, according to The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice think tank."
- The kid who played a young George Bailey and got slapped around by the drunken pharmacist in It's A Wonderful Life has died.
- Rangers manager Ron Washington said last night on Channel 4 that he wouldn't "validify" any rumors about why a pitcher was released.
- Read this somewhere: A District Attorney needs to be trusted but not necessarily loved. I'll buy that.
- The Cure was at American Airlines Center last week. And it's amazing how quickly video turns up on youtube. (Although a 50 year old Robert Smith dressed up all goth-like is a bit disconcerting.) But me loves me some Cure.
- Troy Aikman sounds mentally challenged when he appears in any commercial.
- You would think theft of gas by siphoning would become a problem
- Had "Special K With Cherries" for breakfast and the box had a ton on cherries in it.
- The Geico commercial with Mrs. Butterworth doing the speaking made me nervous the first time I saw it. I had her confused with Aunt Jemima.
- I ate at On The Border on Friday off Western Center Boulevard. When did your average dining crowd begin to look like it was headed to NASCAR?
- I don't know who Wayne Rooney of the soccer team Manchester United is, but this outdoor pic of his bachelor party makes me want to distance. He's the one wearing my bathing suit.
- Fox 4 weatherman Ron Jackson (who is filling in on the the morning show this week), just said he normally wakes up around 11:00 a.m.
- The two year old song, "85 Feet and Falling" by the Dallas band Sorta gets me every time. It's about a guy who killed his girlfriend by throwing her off a Dallas freewway and then jumping to his death as well ("It happened when they left their Knox/Henderson apartment . . . . Fifty miles away in roaring rush hour traffic, her body came to rest on Janet Durham's Crown Victoria." (That pick-me-up of a song is available in a free mp3 download here.)
- News about the new Apple iPhone as well as the software update news for the old one will be released today around 11:30 a.m.
- If it takes longer than 10 minutes to prepare, I won't cook it.
- Second gasoline thought: You would think that teleconferencing via webcams would finally come into its own.
- Third gasoline thought: How much is gas at a lake marina?
- Oddest article in this month's issue of the always horrible Texas Bar Journal: "Lawyer Marketing With Twitter." You think some question marks are going to be forming over some lawyer heads?
- After God ends poverty, I'd appreciate it if He'd work on the Texas wind.
- The Supreme Court opinion on the right to keep and bear arms should be released within the next two weeks and possibly today. I'm guessing you'll be able to keep your 12 gauge.
- D Magazine made a big mistake this month. And it does not involve pictures of high school seniors.
- WBAP's failed "The Reporter" bit was on this morning in an attempt to do comedy about the Governor Mansion fire. Bad idea. But, from a different source, I learned that Rick Perry was in Europe at the time of the fire. Best. Job. Ever.
- Not sure why five Aggies lost in the ocean for nine hours but being rescued is not a bigger story.
- Time lapse photos of Cowboys' new stadium.