Pick Me Up?

In the new comic book, "Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli," published by Devil's Due, the loincloth-clad president battles with a woman of the north who wears glasses and a wolf's fur cape. Source.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• You guys start hasslin' me about the Random Thought Girl Of The Day? Well, I shall retaliate.
• But, you know, I kind of like this gal in a way that makes me question every shallow part of my soul.
• I have always thought the The Ballpark in Arlington should have simply been called "The Diamond."
• Speaking of, whatever happened to Ameriquest? Sub-prime lending would be my guess.
• Speaking of, how can they possibly not have found some company that will pay a fair price for the naming rights?
• Bad Robot
• Two days ago, a single engine Cessna was stolen in Canada, intercepted and followed by two F-16s, and then landed in Missouri. Dumb question: How slow can an F-16 fly so that it can follow a single engine aircraft?
• There's a growing sentiment in this country to subject prosecutors who withhold evidence to civil or criminal penalties. I have no problem with that. If your sense of right and wrong, as a prosecutor, can't guide you down the obvious path then you need to be sanctioned. Hard.
• Cursebird: A website that tracks every curse word in every Tweet on Twitter in real time. (Warning: Language, obviously.) And you can also check to see whether a particular user on Twitter has ever been guilty of The Potty Mouth. In that area, I'm sin free.
• Obama about the Iraqis yesterday: "They need to take responsibility for their country." Amen, bruther.
• AnObiter went nuts yesterday and got freaky hair. And she posted a pic.
• I heard sports guy Chuck Cooperstein once say that you know Spring has arrived when The Masters is being played. Yep.
• I have the oddest memory of a female partner in my first law firm job say, as she gazed off to the side with the biggest smile, "I just love Tony" upon learning something controversial that Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett had said. We were in the elevator in the Republic Bank building in downtown Dallas. It just seemed so weird for her to refer to Dorsett by his first name, and I have no idea why I can't get that memory out of my head.
• There's a mass shooting every week: Yesterday five ended up dead in Alabama. Truly, this happens so often that it just gets buried in the news.
• WBAP's Amy Chodroff this morning referred to Flo Rida, who is appearing on American Idol tonight, as a "her."
• A headline that will wake you up this morning: "Texas judge allows collection of dead son's sperm."

Star Telegram Coverage of Funeral

Link. And a couple of emailer pics:

Officer Randy White Funeral Notes

People are standing up and down 51 just to get a view of the funeral procession. And the air is thick with helicopter noise. Fox 4 has a live cam from the helicopter here. Edit: Feed ended at 1:59 p.m. when the procession pulled into Springtown.

Baseball First Pitch Celebration

Mariah Carey = Hey, Now.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• George W. did the craziest wind up before throwing out the first pitch yesterday.
• I listened to him join the radio broadcast in the bottom of the second inning. He seemed content and happy. But there was an awkward moment when he said, "I'd invite some of my old friends to the Oval Office and they'd say, 'I can't believe I'm in here.' Then they'd look at me." (Followed by the trademarked George Bush giggle which was followed by dead air.)
• One of my first thoughts when I heard about the earthquake in Italy was the art and architecture.
• The reports were that traffic leaving the Ballpark yesterday was insane. I can't imagine what it's going to be like for Cowboy games.
• The Rangers starting shortstop is 20 year old Elvis Andrus. Raise your hand if you would like to be 20 years old and starting for the Rangers. Mine's up.
• After Elvis got his first hit yesterday, the PA system played, "All Shook Up."
• I found a shingle in my yard, and I'm still trying to figure out if it came off of my house. I hate the wind.
• Obama yesterday in Turkey: "Let me say this as clearly as I can. The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam." Who could possibly disagree with that?
• I don't know why I laugh when I see people write, "Woot!"
• Traffic reports refer to 287 and I-35 as "the Decatur cut off." I'm not sure I've ever heard any locals refer to it that way.
• Worst March Madness ever?
• Accident victim Jackie Murphree of Decatur has arrived in China for some type of stem cell related treatment (that I really don't understand.) Seems like the trip would have been a fascinating human interest story for the local news stations. (Updates about the trip can be found by clicking the link but you have to scroll down a bit.)
• You can always spot someone studying their grocery receipt as they walk out of the store, and you know they're thinking, "How in the heck did it cost that much?"
• "FORT WORTH — Texas Christian University will designate some on-campus apartments for gay students and their supporters, creating what may be the only such college housing in the region." Isn't that a step backwards? Kind of like a Leper's Colony?
• I thought this was just an "old time religion" video until the midget appears at the 2:25 mark. (Perhaps the mother of the crazy Mexican midget that I love so much?)

I Really Don't Understand Politics

When Len Wade stepped down from a district court bench last month in Tarrant County, everyone in Fort Worth scrambled to get involved in replacing him. Up until the next election, it's Gov. Perry's call as to who to appoint. So who does he choose? Thirty-seven year old John P. Chupp, an associate (not partner) in the small Guerrero Law Offices personal injury firm off of Hemphill Street. You google the guy and you get basically nothing. And not that it means anything, but I've never heard of him. You would think the bench would be awarded to some old time conservative Republican. I'm very confused. (For you tech boys, go the the firm's website and hover over the links to left and look where they try to take you.)

Ain't That America - Were Something To See, Baby

Picture taken outside The Ballpark before the game today. (Source)

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up: Ladies Edition

Actually from the Speedway this weekend. (Source.)

Saw this on Twitter -- From The Ballpark. The W Family

Acknowledging The Baylor Loss

Last Thursday, Baylor lost in the NIT Championship game which was the equivalent of Team USA beating the Russians in hockey in 1980. It was that big. But one young man from Penn State learned that some bad things happen to those that try to bring sorrow to Jerusalem On The Brazos. (Good look it about the 25 second point.) Go and sin no more.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I watched Boondock Saints over the weekend, and I don't know if it was great or horrible. (But I was surprised to learn that it's box office gross of a shockingly low $25,812.)
• Baylor 21, Kansas 9 (and that's in baseball). For grins, I looked up how many points the football team against Kansas the last time they played. The answer: 10.
• Love him or hate him, Obama looks confident on the foreign stage.
• The Evil Empire thinks they won the Big 12 Football Championship last year. (But I'm distracted by the ill placed a/c wall control in the photo.)
• I hate weather talk, but I've never seen a Spring as windy as this one.
• And what a crummy day for the opening of baseball.
• Channel 5 news this morning ran a poll "to tell us what you think is the most affordable family outing: The Rangers, Six Flags or the Zoo." A poll? You're the news organization. Tell us the answer.
• The hot Fox 4 weather girl was on the morning newscast today.
• I'm having a crummy air conditioning unit replaced. Ugh.
• I've never watched Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network, but a place in Watauga will be featured on it tonight.
• Small irritation: When anyone ends a point with "'Nuff said."
• Chances of someone making a comment ending in "'Nuff said": 100%.
• Funny line from The Ticket this morning about the tradition of having the Texas NASCAR winner pose with a cowboy hat and six shooters: Why do they have to dress him up like Yosemite Sam?
• Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is weird looking.
• A vague story of a guy jumping to his death off a a Northpark Mall parking garage produced 96 comments. (And lots of weird things seem to happen at that high tone mall.)

"God Grew Tired Of Us"

I'm weird about the way I add movies to my Netflix Queue. I'll see a brief review about a movie, oftentimes an obscure one, that really gets my attention but which I fear I'll never hear about again. So I immediately save it in Netflix even if it won't be available for months. And then, one day, it arrives. By then, I had completely forgotten about it. So arrived God Grew Tired Of Us. Frankly, I have no idea where I first heard about it. But I popped it in the DVD player yesterday. I'm glad I did. It's a documentary that follows three boys from Sudan who first fled to Ethopia due to a civil war and then, years later, were forced to make a 1,000 mile journey to a Kenyan refugee camp. Then, in 2001, many of the boys (who are now men) were given the chance to live in the United States with the help of Catholic Charities International. When one of them asks about America, "Will I go to a river to get drinking water?", you know this is going to get culturally shockingly good. The documentary's main intention is to call attention to the horrors of Sudan, but it gets you there by following the three men in America. You can't help but almost cry as someone explains a bag of chips to them, as they all gather around a lamp to learn how you turn it off and on, or as the cameras follow them wild eyed into a grocery store and through the produce section. We moan about so much in our lives. This movie is like a well deserved slap in the face. And the title? It comes from a moment when one of the men, while in America, reflects about his suffering as he and his family and friends spent years fleeing from violence. "It was so bad," he says. "I thought God grew tired of us." (Youtube trailer.)

Random Republican Painting

I studied this way too long. Edit: Jarhead tracked down the Democratic version.

More Info

Story. And the cover of the Messenger looks like this: Edit: Messenger story which includes a map.

It's Race Week In Texas

Wise County Constable car photoed in the wild. (Thanks emailer.) Edit: I was complete oblivious to the handicapped spot. As far as I know, he may have a handicapped sticker. I just thought it was a "sweet ride."

The Country's Gone Crazy

But, on a different note, your comments about Officer White on this blog have caught the attention of Fox 4 News. Edit: I've learned funeral services will be at the First Baptist Church in Decatur on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Having Bridgeport roots that are important to me, it simply wouldn't seem right to post the typical random girl photo and be flippant less than 24 hours after the tragedy.
• Sgt. Randy White was first Bridgeport PD officer ever killed in the line of duty.
• I knew Stephen York while growing up. Involved in touch football games with him off of Pleasant View Road, was in his house, was friends with his family. Those were very innocent times which now seem like a long, long time ago.
• Saw this on Facebook at 2:35 yesterday afternoon: "Cop chasing a white truck on Hale and then 287. Flew past me."
• I suspect we are about to see quite the moving funeral procession. As it should be.
• Talked to a fellow defense lawyer shortly after the news broke yesterday, and he was pretty upset. The local law enforcement/criminal justice system isn't like what you see on TV. There's a level of friendship, mutual respect and joking around between many cops, defense lawyers, and prosecutors.
• I was in Bridgeport in April of 1980 when my mom told me about the death of James "Poncho" Bennett, who was killed in the line of duty for Decatur PD during a traffic stop. (The guy that was convicted in the killing had stolen a firearm out of a home in Bridgeport shortly before the killing.)
• 29 years later, it was dad who first told me yesterday that something bad may have happened in Bridgeport.
• The capital murder charge is a little interesting. It seems that the investigators are saying initially is that York intended to cause the death of the officer. There's also indications that York made a statement immediately after the accident that was important - but they won't tell me what it was.
• There should be a dashcam from the officers who were in pursuit.
• Fox 4, whose video loads very fast, has it's 9:00 o'clock story up now.
• Sgt. Randy White had a five year old child.
• Ironically, I saw a patch of bluebonnets this morning.