Obama's "Lipstiick On A Pig" . . .

. . . is driving me nuts. At least the Republican reaction to it is. Rush has ranted about it all day. Sean Hannity the same. And McCain, in a disgraceful act, is trying to capitalize on it with a "web ad". It had been on youtube.com but it was taken down due to a copyright violation of Katie Couric's image. It can be seen on his web site if you root around just a little bit. Boys, it was a figure of speech. McCain might want to worry about Iraq, high gas prices, a staggering budget deficit and national debt, and the average American struggling to make ends meet. Edit: What's most shocking is that Obama's comments are prefaced by the graphic that reads, "Barak Obama on Sarah Palin." I can't believe McCain approved that lie. I thought he was better than that. Edit: CBS has released a statement: "CBS News does not endorse any candidate in the Presidential race. Any use of CBS personnel in political advertising that suggests the contrary is misleading."

Bull Retaliates Before Being Ridden

Refuses to cooperate with rodeo. Demands better conditions or violence will continue.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Online typing test: I clocked in at 72 words a minute with one error. (I took a typing class in high school using the old IBM Selectric. Still one of the most useful courses I've ever taken.)
• Although Hurricane Talk gives me Tired Head, it is interesting that Ike might actually come up I-35 (after taking a bathroom break in Hillsboro) and hit DFW as a tropical storm. I don't ever recall that happening.
• And that would make for some interesting football games at Baylor (11:30 kickoff) and at UT (2:30 kickoff). TCU has one as well.
• Anyone remember the Super Conducting Super Collider?
• "Why don't you tell us what you really think" is a saying that powers me down.
• I didn't post a comment the other day because someone cut and pasted a book. Hey, create a link next time.
• I agree with some of the comments, there's something about that Sarah Palin voice that is beginning to get really annoying.
• The Ron Paul book, after a couple of chapters, is great. Our current system of government (with increaing centralized power in the federal government with states being an afterthought) is exactly what the constitution was designed to prevent. But no one really cares.
• Stopped by 7-11 on Western Center Boulevard yesterday to pick up a paper to read at lunch. Morning News? Out. Star-Telegram? Out. Had to settle for a USA Today which, actually, never disappoints.
• Man, I continue to think Hal Jay on WBAP doesn't have a comedic bone in his body.
• If you and I had been born in the Middle East to Islamic parents, we'd both bow towards Mecca this afternoon.
• Decatur is repaving some of its streets. Stage one: Rip up one inch of pavement and leave it that way for a few days. It gives you the feeling that your tires are being shredded underneath it.
• I've turned on WFAA's Pete Delkus. The man is just too dramatic.
• Robert Morgan in today's Messenger suggests that the Decatur Eagles opponent this week should throw the ball because the secondary is the weakest link on the Eagles' defense. He then goes on to say that the weakness is not due to a lack of talent. That, my friends, is the fine line that a small town sports reporter must walk.
• McCain adopting a "change" theme for his campaign is simply confusing. (And I can't believe the Republicans got upset over Obama's "lipstick on a pig" remark yesterday. It's what's called an "old saying". Is everyone just sitting around looking for a way to be offended? Sheesh, McCain used the saying last year. Edit: Emailer Keith just pointed out that Dick Cheney has used the expression as well.)
• I always see a lawyer at the driver's license hearing who is married to one of my ex-girlfriends.
• From the You Know Your Life Has Gone Terribly Wrong Department: " Pornographic pictures, a sword, and a bloody backpack helped police link a 29-year-old homeless man to the murder of a Dallas resident whose body still remains missing . . . . According to an arrest warrant affidavit, police found blood on the walls, floor and couch, along with what appeared to be human intestines in the bathtub." (From Fox 4 ...................News.)

Political Hot Topic #2: America First

As I mentioned, I've started Ron Paul's book, Revolution. In the second chapter he argues against "nation building" and military intervention to impose our governmental philosophy on foreign countries. After Bush had to abandon the WMD justification for invading Iraq, he's fallen back on "establish a free democracy" as the reason we're spending billions of dollars and losing thousands of lives. But check out these quotes by W during the 2000 presidential debates: "I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have kind of a nation building core from America? Absolutely not. Our military is meant to fight and win war. That's what it's meant to do. And when it gets overextended, morale drops . . . . "I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be. We can help. And maybe it's just our difference in government, the way we view government. I want to empower the people. I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. I just don't think it's the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you." Source.

Political Hot Topic #1: Abortion Talk

Interesting article concerning how McCain/Palin would eliminate the abortion option if they could thereby leaving women with no "choice" at all. Excerpts: (1) In announcing that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant this week, GOP vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin used this puzzling locution: "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby." (2) John McCain led us through this same hall of mirrors in 2000 when asked what he would do if his then-15-year-old daughter, Meghan, were pregnant. "The final decision would be made by Meghan with our advice and counsel," he said at the time. The point being that a constitutional amendment banning abortion would have left their daughters with no choice at all. Edit: I cannot begin to tell you how this clip from the Daily Show (beginning at about the 1:00 minute mark) completely makes this point. Watch it. Now. Watch it hard. (Thanks emailer Keith). And a backup link in case youtube takes it down.

$375

Retail price for the eyeglass frames. (Prescription lenses not included.)

Tuesday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Man, this girl is coming on strong the last couple of days.

Spaghetti Cat Explained

Two thoughts: (1) Man, those hosts are a huge Power Down, and (2) I had no idea Spaghetti Cat was real.

And Another

Story.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Man, watching Dale Hansen and former Cowboys special teams coach Joe Avezzano on Sunday night is painful. It's two old guys who think their clever trying to one up each other.
• I'm through most of the second season of The Wire. Still a huge thumbs up. And I'm convinced the only way to watch a television series is on DVD.
• Is trot line fishing really fishing?
• Football quick hit: Trying to draw the defense offside on third and short with a long count is a dumb idea.
• Football quick hit #2: The Ticket's Norm Hitzges went an incredible 30-9 against the spread this weekend. But, remember kids, the government says gambling is illegal in Texas.
• I sometimes get César Chávez and Che Guevara confused
• I got a flyer saying they had opened a Rosa's Mexican Restuaruant on Western Center Boulevard west of I-35. Me loves me some Rosa's.
• I hate it when someone is in the passing lane, right beside you, who has the cruise control set to the exact same speed.
• I think most people hold strangers in contempt.
• I remember when my pee wee football team lost the championship game (our only loss of the season.) Our old school coach simply told us, "This leaves a different taste in your mouth, doesn't it?" No "great job." No "you're all winners."
• After I said I've got Sarah Palin overload yesterday, I had the new Time magazine plopped down on my desk with, uh, Sarah Palin on the cover. (And on page 26 she just happens to be feeding her baby with a bottle as she talks to John McCain on the campaign bus. How in the world could such a candid picture be taken? [insert sarcasm])
• Isn't it amazing that President Bush didn't make a personal appearance at the convention last week? He got nine minutes by satellite.
• Female bicyclist face plant.
• There's talk of moving the North Texas/LSU game to Texas Stadium this weekend due to the incoming hurricane. If so, there will more carnage in Irving than in New Orleans.
• I think it would difficult for a high school football star to adjust once high school graduation comes and goes.
• I'm still stuck with a passage from Pat Buchanan's State of Emergency when he discusses just exactly, "What is a nation?" We were a "nation", he argues, because our Founding Fathers "were loyal to a particular nation and to kinfolk with whom they shared ties of blood, soil, and memory."
• "Photos that changed the world." Here. [Edit: fixed] I spent quite a bit of time on that this weekend.
• Obama stopped smiling around six weeks ago. Seriously.
• Attending a criminal docket continues to fascinate me. Some people are scared to death. Others look like they want it to be over because they've got a beer waiting for them in the truck.
• I'll take a rainy week in September over a hot week in September

Never Ignore The Long Snapper

In the movie Idiocracy, which is set in the future, the #1 television show is about guys getting hit in the crotch. That's all there is to it. Nothing else. And the country loves it. America's Funniest Home Videos is pretty well close to that already. But I'm too good for that humor. Really. Although this one is pretty funny. Edit: Ugh!!! Video removed. (It was of a punter who was taking practice snaps on the sideline during the UTEP/UT game last weekend. The punter looked away, the center did what long snappers do, and hilarity ensued.) There should be a "Comedy Exception" in the copyright laws.

Now This Is What The Messenger Should Do

I'm not sure what the criteria is to get on the list (I think you have to be, like, a "good person" in addition to being mildly attractive), but if I've got to vote I'm going with Neely Holland. Link to the girls.

When Britney Makes An Appearance . . .

. . . the world is a better place.

On The Home Page Of The Star Telegram

Uh, the priest died in 1983 and the alleged abuse took place in 1978. Not developing . . . Story.

John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd

Somebody spent a lot of time on this. (And if you are confused by the concept or Rick Rolled, here's an explanation.)

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Ticket said this morning that there was a guy in the end zone during Cleveland's field goal that read "Dime Negro." No one knows what it means.
• I'll never understand how our government can bail out entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it doesn't have any money to do so
• I watched some of the Video Music Awards last night, but nothing really exciting happen (except for the English accented host imploring the crowd to vote for Obama during the monologue.)
• In the last two weeks, I've had to replace three of the six lights that make up my tail/brake/signal lights. Something ain't right.
• Cowboys looked great. T.O.'s touchdown celebration was odd (mimicking a sprinter getting into the blocks.)
• Every Big 12 football team won this weekend. That's the first time that's ever happened.
• We've got a report of a Fox 4 Lari Barager sighting at the High Sheriff's wedding
• I guess it's the cross country team in Decatur that I see jogging before dawn around town. They now have (wisely) little red lights that they can clips to their clothing.
• Fertilizing lawns in Wise County causes Eagle Mountain Lake to smell?
• Some how this blog got mentioned by a speaker at the 2008 Advanced Criminal Law Seminar.
• My new secretary starts today. I've been three weeks without.
• I bought an entry level GPS device (manufactured by Tom Tom). Holy cow, that thing is great. But it's a little creepy.
• Smeared lipstick is always interesting.
• Craziest news story of the morning: "A 19-year-old man dies after crashing his pickup truck through a fence and into a home's swimming pool in Coppell. The truck came to rest upside down in the pool making it difficult for rescuers to pull the teen from the cab."
• For some reason I always have to raise the blade on my mower this time of year in order for the lawn to look green.
• I just downloaded Ron Paul's The Revolution: A Manifesto
• New England's Tom Brady is expected to be gone for the year due to a knee injury. Here's the cover of the Boston Globe today. And here is a very short and very funny youtube clip of the guy that hit him him (from Hard Knocks a couple of years ago.)
• It's good that we have a change of seasons. Just the slight coolness in the air in the morning this time of year is a welcomed change.
• I've got Sarah Palin overload. (But a funny campaign sign here.)
• My fantasy football teams (two of them) are absolutely awful.

The Wedding Of The High Sheriff

I'm working on getting photos. But this emailer tells me: "Their wedding limo was actually a pretty nice Bell 407 helicopter that the bride did not know about until after the wedding." Edit:

That Liberal Media

I always get Tired Head over the claim of the "Liberal Media." Not only do we have Fox News, but conservative talks shows dominate the radio dial. But, to get to the point, her's Obama making a gaffe when speaking about his faith. If the media is so liberal, why wouldn't they just have left this clip on the cutting room floor? (Thanks emailer.)