Do You Think . . .

. . . the guy that took this picture was aware of this picture?

Incredibly Random Thought

Do you think anyone under 40 knows "shorthand". (And I suspect many people have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Just In Time For Christmas

Porky Has Died

And the Little Rascal's character was actually the one who uttered the word "Otay" instead of Buckwheat.

I've Never Been To Cancun . . .

. . . I hope it's still there.

Practicing in Austin Sounds Fun

From the Delay court appearance this morning: "In respectful tones, [Delay's lawyer] DeGuerin noted that [Judge] Perkins had donated money to MoveOn.org, a liberal organization that he said has been 'selling T-shirts with Mr. DeLay's mug shot on it. " "'Let me just say I haven't ever seen that T-shirt, number one. Number two, I haven't bought it. Number three, the last time I contributed to MoveOn that I know of was prior to the November election last year, when they were primarily helping Sen. Kerry,' responded the judge." "MoveOn.org denied it was selling any such shirts, and issued a statement that said, 'DeGuerin has either bad information or lied in court.'"

Let's Talk Strippers

"American Express is suing the CEO of a communications company for payment of $241,000 worth of disputed credit card charges at a Manhattan topless club. "American Express says in papers filed in state court that Savvis Inc. chief executive officer Robert A. McCormick was in the club Scores in October 2003 with at least three other men. After McCormick got the $241,000 corporate credit card bill, Savvis called American Express and complained that some of the charges were fraudulent, the lawsuit says. The communications company said its chief disputed all but about $20,000, according to the lawsuit. "

The Meth Book-In Photo Lady

Remember our meth girl? Well, here's a letter about her in todays Morning News: Re: "Addict's photos make big picture hard to miss," by Steve Blow, Sunday Metro. Mr. Blow's column misses the big picture. Scare tactics have never stopped kids from using drugs. Look at the studies on our most famous scare tactic program, DARE. The Roseanne Holland booking photos do not show a woman insufficiently frightened as a child. They show a woman arrested and imprisoned because of her addiction, instead of being treated for it. How would Roseanne Holland have looked after 10 years if she had been arrested and imprisoned for diabetes? Would she have lived that long? Suzanne Wills, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Dallas

Google Stock Reaches All Time High . . . And I Don't Own A Dime Of It

Frankly, Scarlett

Am I Still In Texas?

Today the Dallas Morning News editorial board urges readers to reject next month's a proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution banning gay marriage.

Hey, I've Got $50

Now you can pay a woman an incredible amount of money (between $50 and $135 per hour) so that she will hang out with you in a bar and, ergo, make you look better to other chicks in the bar you want to meet. Genius. HotBarBuddy.com (Created by a North Texas grad)

Bridgeport Interest Only

You can catch Phillip Daugherty play QB for Sam Houston State tonight (right now, actually) on Fox Sports Southwest.

OK, So Maybe My Day In Court Wasn't So Hard

"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Ten masked gunmen kidnapped the lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants Thursday, police said."

I Know, I Know, You Don't Care

A judge, prosecutor and/or jury thought society would be safe with someone charged with a sexual offense being placed on probation. But now Parker County officials decide that Halloween requires the probationers to be locked up in the probation office for about four hours in the evening? (Note: People in the pic are not sex offenders - it was just a wacky Halloween pic).

Slow Posting Day

I was in a jury trial today involving, of all things, criminal trespass. In should have been simple but my blood pressure is still rising. We worked it out with a plea agreement at the end of the testimony but, before it was resolved, I don't think I've been that mad in a long time. I think I need to find more things to get mad about. [Edit: I detest doing it, but I've shut down the comments on this post. I like the prosecutors, I like the judges, I like my clients, so I really feel uncomfortable with people taking shots at all of them. But I don't mind shots at me: One of the posts indicated that one of my former clients wouldn't use me again because I didn't "show them the love."]

Glamour Shot?

In all my years of criminal practice, this is the finest book-in photo I have ever seen.

From The Update

"MASSIVE FIRE — About 300 acres north of County Road 3657 near Salt Creek were destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon . . . The cause of the fire isn’t clear, but a cigarette flicked from a moving car is thought to be the culprit." Huh? It's not "clear" presumably means there were no eyewitnesses that could definitively tells us what happened, but a "cigarette flicked" from a car is "thought" to be the reason? Where does that come from?