Now That's A Great Idea

So they'll just move the Democratic National Convention outdoors for one night into a packed stadium of people going nuts. That will be a scene.

McCain may very well win the presidency, but events like this scare the heck out of the Republicans.

Worst Spam Title Ever?

Got this one a couple of minutes ago (and it did go to the Spam folder of Gmail - but a different email program i was looking at let it through).

Our First Running Of The Bulls Video Is In

Good times. Edit: After watching all of that, I kind of was pulling for the bulls to wipe all those guys out in the coliseum.

This, I'm Intertested In

The behind the scenes story of Boyd's own The Hammer and his demise at The Ticket will be the cover story in the next Dallas Observer by the great Richie Witt. It hits news stands in 48 hours.

For those that are interested, I know you are very interested. The others could care less. But for the former, here's a sneak preview.

(The new Hardline pictured above.)

Edit: A quick responding reader pointed out that Greg Williams' father has passed away per the Update. (That's the aforementioned Hammer). Tough times for him.

FUNERAL for Robert (Junior) Williams, 78, of Boyd is at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Springtown Church of Christ with burial in Boyd Cemetery. Family visitation from 6-8 tonight at Christian-Hawkins Funeral Home in Boyd.

Edit #2: Then someone else writes in and says that's not Greg's father.

Edit #3: Yep, it's his dad after further confirmation.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Caught a bit of Live Free Or Die Hard on HBO over the weekend. It looked ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I saw a fighter jet shooting off rockets at Bruce Willis as he drove down a freeway.
• Joey Lauren Adams has a sexy voice
• That computer generated review at Wimbledon to see if a ball was in or out is very cool.
• I've dogged Williamson County DA John Bradley for years. I'll be dang if he didn't send me the nicest email this weekend.
• I made a note on Sunday to be sure to mention that an incredible number of three people had drowned at local lakes over the weekend. Then I was watching Fox 4 last night and learned there were SEVEN people had drowned - with four of them at Lake Lewisville. Lake Bridgeport was death free (and I can't remember the last drowning we had there.)
• Not to mention three metroplex teenagers shot to death over the weekend.
• I wonder if anyone reads that syndicated Dave McNeely column in the Messenger?
• Did you see that a 41 year old woman qualified this weekend for the U.S. swim team for the Olympics? And she's a serious "Hey, now."
• Star Telegram wedding announcement: "She currently works at the U.S. Department of Education, where she is Chief of Staff, Office of Communications and Outreach." Uh, do we as taxpayers really need to fund that position?
• I think I'm going to cut down on approving the comments that are nothing more than name calling.
• Only seven DWI arrests in Denton County over the July 4th weekend?
• The women's final at Wimbledon was Serena Williams vs Venus Williams. As someone pointed out, how would you like one of the greatest moments of your life coming at the expense of someone you love?
• In Star Telegram writer Dave Lieber's column ("The Watchdog") this weekend about tracking down rock haulers, he actually referred to his readers as "the Watchdog Nation." Really.
• I'm excited about football season on the horizon. But I wish Wade Phillips wasn't the coach of the Cowboys. And I'll be triple excited as Baylor opens at home on TV and on a Thursday night against Wake Forest (But I predict failure.)
• I remember where I was when I first decided that I looked old. (Sadly, about five years ago in the Decatur Burger King drive though line when I glanced up as I adjusted my rear view mirror.)
• That men's Wimbledon final was incredible (but I admit that I ran an errand that took an hour or two only to come back to realize how exciting it really was.) By the way, that was the longest Wimbledon Final in the history of ever.
• I can't remember the last time I drank a 32 ounce Miller High Life after finding two human hands in my freezer. Like this guy in Fort Worth.
• I once proclaimed that I had never seen a good movie that did not "depict electricity." (Maybe my greatest proclamation ever.) But I admit that I now have a Mel Gibson Exception to this rule (Braveheart, Apocalyptica Apocalypto Edit: I thought that looked wrong.). Wait . . . and a Gladiator exception.
• I've always thought a great documentary would be to follow a person(s) as they walk out of the Huntsville prison system - especially those that have been there over 10 years. Where do they first go? What do they think when they see new technology?
• And did you know that inmates released in Texas are given a $50 check? Apparently there is a bus stop and a liquor store two miles away. A 32 ounce Miller High Life perhaps?
• I saw a lady in the grocery store mixing and matching eggs from different cartons (just like in Clerks.)
• My left facial cheek twitched a lot yesterday.

Motorcycle Infestation In Decatur This Weekend. No Deaths Reported.

And I have no idea what that lady is doing in the last pic.

(Thanks Tony)

Guy Over Lake Bridgeport Before Fireworks Began

(Thanks Tony.)

While Randomly Searching For "Fort Worth" In Flickr

"Another lovely woman working the drink booths at the 1993 Chisholm Trail Roundup. The festival was an annual event at the Fort Worth Stockyards until high insurance costs in the wake of 9-11 killed it in 2002"

I remember Chisholm Trail Days. I got separated from a buddy once almost 20 years ago and had to spend the night with friends I ran into. (Thankfully. But he had to drive back from Decatur the next morning to come get me.) But I didn't know Chisholm Trail Days had been shut down after 9/11.

I Heart My Readers

From an email:

We let our daughter go off with friends for fireworks. This is her face this morning. I said,"What happened?" She said," You know those sticks you hold and they shoot out fireballs? One came out and booped me on the face." It never occured to me they might let a 5 year old run around with a Roman Candle!!

And Then . . . Good Times

And then, yesterday, as I waited for the PVC cement to dry, I laid* down on the grass and took a picture looking straight up.
___________
* Not sure if this is grammatically correct.

Digging hole. Replacing broken PVC pipe. Heat. Equals beating.

Edit: Success. Well, not quite. It sprung a leak on one of the joints. So how exactly do you splice a short piece of PVC pipe? You have to put those couplings on each end which means it's too long to go in between the gap of the missing pipe that's been cut out.Ok, that's too hard to explain. Someone knows what I'm talking about and feels my pain.

Edit: Success. After one additional splice, it's holding.

Edit: You guys are doing some CSI work on the two photos. The first one was taken on the front side of the fence (that's a gap in a gate opening, not falling down.) The second was taken on the other side of the fence after significantly more digging. And, yes, even the front side has now been weedeated (sp.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• When I was a kid, my next door neighborset off a firework which was affectionately known back then as a "Cherry Bomb".  He put it in - get this - an empty home carpet roll. You know, that heavy cardboard tube that carpeting is wrapped around before its installation. It blew the end of it completely off. Crazy kids.
• The Letters to the Editor in People magazine may be the most inane writings ever. (i.e. "I applaud [insert name] for being a role model my daughter can look up to. She has her act together!"
• I was a huge Journey fan as a teenager but, per my policy of "moving on", I don't listen to them now. But I saw where they are touring with a Steve Perry sound-a-like named Arnel Pineda who they found on youtube (seriously).  I haven't even pulled up a clip to hear his voice. 
• Will Smith being an ultra cool superhero ("Hancock") doesn't do much for me.
• I'll be at the Wave Pool this afternoon. I'm the 312th person to the left. 
• A close friend told me to rent the Showtime TV series "Californication". (12-part series about a troubled novelist whose move to Los Angeles and problems with his job complicate the relationships with his ex-girlfriend.) I will.
• Sometimes on this here blog I put the titles of shows/movies in quotes and sometimes I put them in italics.
• I completely missed the ex-golfer Greg Norman married ex-tennis star Chris Everett
• I once saw Greg Norman eating at Riscky's in downtown Fort Worth during Colonial. I refer to it as the night Greg Norman and I dined together.
• I sat at center court at SMU pretending to be a Dallas Times Herald reporter holding a huge camera during a Virginia Slims Tennis Final between Chris Everett and Martina Navratilova. (A real photographer buddy hooked me up.)
• Ok, do not click on this in celebration of the 4th of July. It involves very foul language, partial booty nudity, drinking, and . . . uh . . . a bottle rocket.You are seriously not a good person if you click on that.
• Sean's BBQ in Decatur "has applied for a liquor license and once that is in place, hours will be extended and the staff will be increased."  Karaoke while rib eating is next.
• I have never referred to a client as "my client" in front of a jury. I call him/her by their first name.
• I saw a well dressed 20 something year old cute girl in a Fort Worth yesterday walking along a strip mall parking lot crying her eyes out. I wonder what had happened?
• The first five minutes of the next Batman movie, The Dark Night, has been released. Man, that looks "pretty, pretty, pretty good."
• Some gal named Kenda Culpepper has been nominated by the Republicans in Rockwall County to be on the ballot for DA this fall. (It's all screwed up since the incumbent Republican is, uh, in prison.) You can see her in various pics here at some Young Republican function. If you look closely, you'll see one minority amongst a crew that really looks like they know how to party. 
• For maybe the first time in my life, I'm seriously worried about the economy and a possible implosion. I don't think we understand what $4 a gallon gas (and its collateral impact) does to the average American.
• "'This is just another example of how the Weatherford/Parker County Special Crimes Unit is doing an outstanding job putting drug dealers in jail,' said Interim Police Chief Greg Lance." Someone emailed this story about a HUGE drug bust telling me that my head would explode after I read it. It did.
• Happy 4th of July. A country that is 232 years old isn't that old at all. But, then again, we don't know what our average country life span is.

Don't Forget . . .

. . . the Mugshots Of The Week.

JULY 3--This Independence Day weekend edition of our mug shot roundup kicks off with a quartet of patriotic perps. And as for the other booking photos, a few notes: 1) Yes, that's a question mark on the brow of the guy on page #4; 2) The 74-year-old player on page #9 was popped twice in the past month; 3) The 18-year-old guy on page #12 was nabbed twice in the past two weeks; and 4) The tattoo on the arrested gal on page #15 reads "Aaron picture Me Rollin." Thanks, but we'll take a pass. (17 pages)

That Was Quick

The Rockin' E bar on FM 51 in Decatur is closing and becoming, according to an advertisement in this week's Sunday Messenger which hits newstands on Friday, a bar named "Fat Daddy's". (Official graphic above.)

Maybe the cops will target this place as well and run it out of business.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I've always thought that Discount Tire ad, encouraging people to bring their tire back (by throwing it through the window) if they weredissatisfied, was weird.
• I saw a fireworks stand this morning where you can buy 1 and get 1 free!!!! Oh, wait.
• Megan Hendeson wore yellow.this morning on Fox 4 and looked hawt.
• General Motors stock fell below $10 a share yesterday for the first time since 1954. Things are getting bad.
• Saw Tarrant County prosecutor Richard Alpert, who I've known since 1992, on TV yesterday bragging about how cops in Tarrant County will seek search warrants for blood this weekend when someone is arrested for DWI. He was firing off a "We will track you down and find you" speech for all the cameras. (For a second, I thought The Taliban would be doing a bunch of drunk driving in Fort Worth this weekend.) But just two weeks ago, he wouldn't talk to the press about the kid who was no billed by the grand jury in connection with the death of the Chico couple on Bonds Ranch Road.
• I was wrong about predicting the judge would allow the Dallas County Sheriff to approve the Discovery Channel filming in the jail.
• The Dallas Morning News home page this morning actually takes you to a different page for an ad that you had to click on to exit. Beating.
• Stolen from elsewhere: "Sometimes people say I shouldn't mind being searched if I have nothing to hide. I immediately accuse them of having a swastika tattooed on their genitalia -- if they have nothing to hide, then surely they shouldn't mind dropping their pants to prove me wrong." Gold.
  
• Someone drowned in Marine Creek Lake yesterday. I've never been in it. Which reminds me, I went to Burger's Lake as a teenager but have never been back. I want to. 
• Jarhead had a pretty interesting take on the double Grandbury murder yesterday. .(But I noticed he has started using my Random Thought format which I have Triple Patented and Double Copyrighted. He'll soon hear from my Army of Lawyers.)
• Are we what we Google?
• I may go on vacation in a couple of weeks. I've thought about having a Guest Host for this here blog for that week, but I'm not sure about it. 
  
• I have no interest in that Tila Tequila gal. I think she's nasty.
• I don't think I have any friends who know who won the Bassmaster's Classic last year. And that's OK.
• Fox 4 News had a jailhouse interview of some gal that allegedly got drunk and drove her vehicle through a Denton cemetary knocking down a bunch of headstones. Her defense: "It wasn't like I was riding around digging up people." Good point.
• I stumbled upon an old Andy Griffith Show the other day where the Women's Ausillary Club had been arrested for some crazy charge. Andy (who oddly served as judge in a very Wise County sort of way) made the whole thing "go away" by finding them guilty but suspending the sentence. Aunt Bee then announced it was unacceptable because it was still a conviction that would show up on their "record".. She then said she was withdrawing her guilty plea and demanding a new trial. I wanted to hire Aunt Bee as an associate because she was deadly accurate from a criminal procedure prospective.
• And The Andy Griffith Show went downhill when it changed from black and white to color.
• Christie Brinkley's estranged husband spent about $3,000 a month on pornographic Web sites, the model's lawyer said at the start of the couple's nasty divorce trial. What? Pay for internet porn?
  
• I would hate to be a traffic cop. I just have no desire to ruin someone's day with a speeding ticket

So How Does That Happen?

Story. (And more detailed account here.)

With sexual abuse cases, each "act" is a separate offense. You can technically have multiple crimes occurring between one defendant and one victim within a matter of minutes. (In this case, it looks like three victims on multiple occasions, but you get the idea.)

The judge even stacked the sentences. (Texas is a bit weird: If all the cases are heard by one jury, the jury only assesses a punishment for each crime. But it is the judge, not the jury, who decides whether the sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently. ) But based upon the law in place at the time* of the offenses, he wouldn't have been eligible for parole until the passage of 30 years even if the sentences hadn't been stacked.

But this closing argument of the defense didn't work too well: “I respectfully submit to you that is BS. If it was as 'traumatic' as they indicate, they would be able to give you [specific dates and times of the acts]. Simply because it’s shocking doesn’t make it true.”
 ____________________
* Texas even made the punishment stricter for offenses occurring after 9/1/07.

Edit: It looks like the headlines in all the papers will be "Man Receives  4,060 Years In Prison." I don't understand that. He received 40 "Life Sentences" and, actually, an additional three 20 year sentences. No where in the books does it say that "Life" equals 100 years but that's what everyone is running with.

My Head Just Exploded

For the life of me, I don't understand this guiy's popularity. I love talk radio. I love talk shows. And some can be somewhat entertaining (Bill O'Reilly or Nancy Grace) even if I completely disagree with them. But Limbaugh's show is one thing: Boring.

He refuses to take calls from people who disagree with him, so you never hear a rationale debate. It's just ditto heads calling him up so they can talk about how much they agree with each other.

And if you folks who love his show think for a moment he believes everything he's selling, you're a sucker. He knows there's a right wing huge audience out there that are nothing more than sheep. And those folks just eat up stuff like "Let me tell you a secret folks. Those Liberals want to take all of your money so they give it to people who won't take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that this country offers. The Liberals hate this country. They even want the terrorists to win in Iraq for their political advantage." Sheesh. It's mindless generalities. Every. Single. Day.

But he knows that's what the masses want to hear. And he'll say it forever. All the way to the bank.

(Thanks to the commenter on another post who brought this to my attention because he knew it would put me over the edge.)

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• 
• Russian Cheerleaders. Makes me want to grab my hammer and sickle. (Thanks emailer whom I shall not name.)
• Dallas County government is a mess. The Discovery Channel wants to shoot a documentary inside the Dallas County Jail - a jail that has almost been shut down by the State for being so bad.- and the Sheriff (who is borderline inept) says "sure" because "they told me I had the final say on what footage they could use." Right. Then the County Commissioners say the Sheriff needs their permission before the jail can be opened up to outsiders and asks DA Craig Watkins to tell her so. The DA, who hates the Commissioners, says "Nope. She can do that." So now the Commissioners get a different attorney to go to a judge to try and stop the documentary. (Which gives rise to an interesting Free Speech issue.) Like I said, a mess.
• And I bet the Sheriff wins that battle. I think there's an obscure statute out there that basically says the Sheriff controls the courthouse and jail
• Speaking of courthouse politics, I had a battle with a judge in Wise County 15 years ago over the use of a vacant room. I fired off a snotty letter that I later regretted. He still has it and shows it to me occasionally..
• I've got an RSS Feed Reader set up to grab stuff off the Internets that I'm interested in. There aren't enough hours in the day to read it all. (And for those that aren't familiar with RSS feeds, Google will set you up for free.)
• The guy who allegedly shot at five cars on the roadways of Dallas suburbs was arrested last night. As horrible as those series of shootings were, I think its odd that he never hit anyone. I wonder if he was really trying.
• There are times when I think the public is dumb as a box of rocks. Then there are other times when I think I'm as dumb as a box of rocks. Seriously. Maybe it's because VH1 and CSPAN are so close to each other on my channel guide.
• Offensive New York Yankee crowd. (Warning: Language). That clip, by the way, makes me think the public is as dumb as as the aforementioned box. I can't imagine taking a kid to that stadium.
• Someone emailed me that if I was surprised there was a female Methodist minister in Bridgeport, then I should check out this week's Bridgeport Index: There are three women who now make up the executive board of the Bridgeport Lions Club.
• Horrifying fact: This is my 8,067th blog post. Power. Down.
• There once was an on-the-brink-of-stardom running back for Decatur HS named Devin Godboldt who left the district a few years ago and transferred to a private school in Denton. Whatever happened to him? I found this youtube clip of him but nothing else. I can only suspect he didn't go to college, but I could be wrong.
• A random event that drives me insane: A predominately white crowd clapping to the beat when someone is singing on stage.
• You can't imagine some of the posts I refuse to allow to be posted. "In bad taste" doesn't come close to describing some of them.
• Lindsay Lohan turns 22 today. But that's a hard 22. Although she has kept a fairly low profile lately.
• I got chastised yesterday for the random scantily clad woman pics that accompany "Random Thoughts." Someone must hate freedom.
• I was halfway watching the Ranger game last night when I saw a Texas player called out at 3rd even though A-Rod didn't get within a mile of him with the tag. (If you saw it, you'll be saying, "Absolutely right!!! I couldn't believe it!". If you didn't, you'll be saying, "So what?")
• I cant' decide if "Ian" is a good name for a guy.
• The first high school steroid drug testing results are in: 2 students out of 10,000 tested positive. Since that testing cost us $3 million, can we now abandon it? There doesn't appear to be a problem.. (But, admittedly, the testing occurred outside of football season.)  Edit: I heard the $3 million figure on WBAP this morning. Edit #2: Also in this story.
• One of my favorite days: Walking around the campus of the University of Alabama before taking in a football game. And then, foolishly, I decided to catch a night game at the University of Tennessee. (You can see some of those random posts in the middle of this page here.) 
• The local Walmart is out of Baked Nacho Cheese Doritos. A few years back the Baked Cool Ranch Doritos were discontinued (the greatest chips in the history of ever). If they kill the Baked Nacho Cheese, we will have a crisis on our hands.
• Edit: I'm as sick of the Alvord ISD posts as you are, but the Update is reporting the School Board refused to disclose the financial terms of the "separation agreement" of the superintendent. The Messenger has made an Open Records request.  Just when you think the school board couldn't make any more political blunders, they may have made the biggest one of all. Incredible 
• Edit: This story is the topic on the Mark Davis show this morning. How many of us have an urge to search for the offending photo?