Marky Mark . . .

. . . who I swear could be my twin brother, is 35 today.

What's Up With SMU?

In the last five months, three students have died of drugs and/or alcohol.

• Meaghan Bosch, 21 - overdosed on mixture of cocaine, meth, and oxycodone
• Jacob Stiles, 20 - overdosed on a mixture or cocaine, alcohol and something called fentanyl
• Jordan Crist, 19 - alcohol poisoning

And SMU is small with only 11,000 students (and, of that, 6,000 are undergraduates.)

You never hear about deaths like that at TCU, UTA, or North Texas.

Unstable?

Looks like, John Ramsey, the dad of murder victim Jon Benet Ramsey is dating Beth Twitty, the mother of missing Natalee Holloway (last seen in Aruba.)

Ramsey's wife died last June. Twitty was divorced from her husband, "Jug" Twitty, in December.

Brook Burke Says . . .

. . . "Good morning, Alvord."

Edit: Good news. She has a back side.

Baby, Baby

I don't "do" many CPS (Child Protective Services) hearings. The only way I get involved is if the judge appoints me to represent a parent (the person the child has been removed from) or the child itself (herself? his self?) I've told the judges that I don't mind doing my part of community service (lord knows I have too many criminal court appointments), but keep me away from CPS cases. Normally, that happens.

But today I spent about 30 minutes in a hearing on whether CPS should be able to temporarily keep a baby that was removed from the mother just days after the mother gave birth. It's not quite this simple, but, in essence, CPS wanted the judge to authorize their continued possession of the child due to the mother's drug use during the pregnancy. Interestingly, the mother quit using meth two months before the birth and has been clean (as evidenced by a few drug tests) ever since. On the day of birth, mom was negative for any drugs as was the baby. Nevertheless, CPS came in and took the baby.

Tough calls.

For now, the judge said that CPS could keep the child (she's actually in the possession of her grandparents) but everyone agrees that if mom can stay on the straight and narrow, she can have her baby back.

Life is hard. I hate these cases.

Edit: After some very kind "Nice job, Barry" posts, let me clarify: I didn't have a lot to do with the hearing other than to monitor it on behalf of the child. The CPS lawyer, Regina Anderson, did all the hard work. And CPS investigators did all the pre-hearing leg work.

[Insert The Theme From "Jaws"]

Anybody know Susan Dornquast of Fort Worth? She was standing around in knee deep water in the ocean off of South Carolina when a shark came in and used her leg as Dairy Queen corn dog. She was actually striking a pose as her husband was taking her picture.

I've always thought swimming the ocean was weird. It's like you're in a place you don't belong, and you have no idea what lies underneath that might object to your presence.

Fox 4 ......Pause........News

I received a report from a faithful and beloved reader that Fox 4 News will be doing a story on the "no indigent health care for illegal aliens" tonight at 9:00 p.m. I didn't see the news van up at the courthouse, but I didn't get to stick my head out of there between 1 and 4 today.

Edit: Yep, the story showed up. No new information, however. Although Paradise legend Greg Lowery did make a TV appearance.

Akon . . .

. . . throws a kid off the stage after kid threw something on the stage. Best clip here but here's an angle which shows the kid flying at the camera. Good times.

Note To Self

Don't send questionable emails over school computers. (Florida story.)

Grizzly Discovery . . .

. . . in Eagle Mountain Lake in Azle. (I presume it's Eagle Mountain Lake.)

"Turn To Your Right!"

I'm Not Posting This of Britney

Cameron Diaz . . .

. . . says, "Good morning, Boyd!"

Scam-A-Rama

I don't know how much it costs to buy a 30 second spot on the MTV Music Awards, but I bet it was more than John Lanier paid for the ad to the right.

I took this screen shot from an ad that appeared about halfway through the program. If you know the answer to that question, just text it in! I had to hit the replay button on my TIVO to discover that doing so would cost 99 cents since it was a "subscription service." (That disclaimer was on the screen for just five seconds.) MTV should be ashamed for allowing it.

Thanks To Loyal Readers . . .

. . . for pointing this out. I completely missed it, and I don't know how.

There Was A Democratic Debate Tonight . . .

. . . that nobody watched. But this report got my attention:

To a question on whether English should be the official language in the United States, only former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel raised his hand in the affirmative. But Obama protested the question itself, calling it "the kind of question that was designed precisely to divide us." He said such questions "do a disservice to the American people."

Baloney. Tell us where you stand.

Oh, My

It's not fit to print, but Sarah Silverman just made the most shocking "Paris Hilton Goes To Jail" joke at the MTV Movie Awards with Paris Hilton sitting in the audience. [Edit: Actual screen shot above.] At the moment the cameras cut to Paris, it might qualify as the most uncomfortable moment in the history of TV ever.

I'll wait for the YouTube.Com clip to link (but I think MTV might be owned by Viacom which means there won't be any YouTube.Com clips.)

Edit: Thanks to a buddy for texting me that the video can be found here.

Edit #2: On YouTube.com here.

"Knocked Up"

Saw this movie this weekend. The previews looked funny. My expectations were high. I couldn't wait to see it.

Verdict: It immediately goes in my Top 10 comedies of all time, and I haven't had time to let it fully sink in yet. Funny. Charming. Shocking. Tender. Insightful.