Art and Death

This picture was on the front page of the Messenger this week and there's no question the angle was intentional in order to get the billboard in the background. It's kind of a contrast between birth and death especially since the fatality involved a very elderly individual. I really don't have any problem with that at all. Edit: I'll be. He says it wasn't intentional.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Anyone else remember when Southlake had that small Dairy Queen on the right off of 114?
• Swine Flu Pandemic: Panic, Overrated.
• There was an obituary this week in the Messenger of an elderly man but the photo that accompanied it was that of him as a young man. I used to have a problem with that. Now, I support it.
• The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was in Dallas last weekend. He managed to fire off, "Never had a black woman sleeping legally in the White House every night, and she doesn’t have to sneak in through the servant’s entrance." That guy has some hot sports opinions.
• I can't help but watch the NFL Draft every year, but it makes me uncomfortable. A bunch of rich, white owners deciding what healthy black men will work for them.
• Dumbest Cowboy pick: With a young, great kicker already on the roster with Nick Folk, Dallas drafts a kicker in the fifth round. (Although apparently he is so freakishly fast and strong that he might be able to play special teams)
• On the first day of the draft, ESPN had a camera on the Cowboys' "War Room". Everyone wore a dark suit except Coach Wade Phillips who wore a yellow shirt over his plump frame. He stuck out like a banana. The guy has no idea.
• "The Mexican" is on every movie channel all the time.
• Bea Arthur died this weekend. On The Ticket this morning they mentioned there was an episode of Maude where she had an abortion. Man, I had no idea. (Then they brought up that Edith in All In The Family was sexually assaulted in one episode.) I think they didn't understand "comedy" in the 1970s.
• I have never been remotely entertained by The Doors.
• I randomly clicked on an issue of The Spin from 2005 and saw this: "An inmate who was sentenced last week to at least 30 real years in prison commits suicide in the Wise County Jail." I have no memory of that. That kind of scares me.
• Underrated actor: Jason Statham.
• I watched Iron Man yesterday. I think my brain is programmed as such that I don't like Super Hero movies even if everyone else proclaims them as great.
• I've said it for years: A pitcher intentionally throwing at a batter (in the American League where the pitcher does not have to bat) is the most cowardly sports act in history.
• I didn't watch a second of NASCAR but the end at Tallagdegha was crazy. Carl Edwards car goes airborne into the chain link fence. Eight people were hurt but I'm still amazed that car didn't go into the stands.

Nothing To See Here

OK, this may be of extremely limited interest because it starts incredibly slow and the whole thing is only marginally funny. Frankly, I have no idea what the heck this is. But there is one part that made me laugh out loud: The Katie Couric segment which begins at 1:20 (although the "Angry Gorilla" across from Sean Hannity right before it did make me smile.)

Oh, My

Link.

The First 100 Days Of Obama

More and more people are believing that they country is headed in the right direction. And, as "Barack Obama approaches the 100-day mark with rising economic hopes, the best job approval rating at this point in 20 years, [and] the broadest personal popularity since Ronald Reagan . . . ." (Saw this on This Week With George Stephanopoulos.)

I Would Have Like To Have Seen . . .

. . . this Cheer and Jeer.

I Expect To Win

Source.

Pics Of Arrests By Denton PD Last night

Source.

F Bomb Warning

Fox News' Shepherd Smith looks a little drunk. It's almost as confusing as to why the conservative Fox News employs Smith.

Post Trial Week Pick Me Up

A book-in photo only seems appropriate. Today's trial ended in a hung jury with a 4-2 split for Not Guilty. Oh, so close.

Crazy Personal Injury Law

An emailer sent me a link to a commentary in the Houston Chronicle that began like this:

A Brownsville jury had hardly begun its second day of deliberations after a six-week trial when its forewoman sent a note to the judge that virtually guaranteed there would not be a third day. The issue was whether a Ford Explorer caused a tragic rollover accident because of faulty design. But the note did not deal with the testimony of competing experts. In only nine words it asked an unambiguous question: “What is the maximum amount that can be awarded?”

If you think that's amazing, the story behind it is more shocking.

Mother's Day Gift Idea

Link.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Wow. Tim Curry, long time Tarrant County DA, died last night.
• As one of his employees in 1991, I had to meet with him in his office to tell him I was running for DA of Wise and Jack Counties. I think he thought I was crazy.
• He was a nice guy but was rarely seen in public. I totally understand that.
• "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" was actually, "What happens here, stays here" in the original ad campaign. And that must have been one heck of an ad campaign.
• Obama's public meeting with credit card companies was a little silly, all political, and a little bit of government bullying.
• Windiest Spring ever?
• I've begun asking jury panels what they think about the statement, "It is better for 10 guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be convicted." The answers are pretty interesting.
• Someone yesterday on a panel said, "I may feel a little differently if that innocent man was me."
• Limited interest: Anybody see the Lari Barager Fox 4 story about the little kid from Cleburne named Emma that "saved" her grandmother and is to be honored as a hero? The grandmother passed out while driving so Emma grabbed the wheel (only for the car to go off the road, through a fence, and through a work shop.) Emma's a cute girl, but I'm not sure what it was that she did that is worthy of so much attention.
• Hot sports opinion: Mavericks next four games will be lose, win, lose, lose.
• Back to the DWI trial.

We Interrupt This Program

Ok, I've finally found something that interferes with my posts: Two DWI trials in one week. I'm in the middle of the second one. It's like being in a test tube all day. But the jury panel today had two Liberally Lean readers on it. Kind of uncomfortable. Neither one made it to the actual jury.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• News + pop culture + a krillion TV channels + internet = A heck of a lot to keep up with in this world.
• I have no trouble with the concept of talking to one's enemies. I sometimes feel like I do it more than I realize.
• Charles Grodin was on Sean Hannity's show last night hawking some book. The man acted a little crazy.
• I talked to someone yesterday who told me they once owned a brick made by "actual slaves" from Civil War days.
• The hatred of Obama astounds me.
• This Miss California/Perez Hilton broohaha might be the best thing that ever happened to her. If I'm that girl, I'd milk this controversy for as much as I possibly could.
• And, by the way, she is smoking hot.
• Saw a an elderly woman on College Street in Decatur this morning around 7:00 a.m. taking out her trash and smoking a cigarette.
• I'm having a hard time paying $1.00 for the weekday edition of the Star-Telegram or Morning News. I'm not sure it's worth it.
• Whatever happened to "The Christian Coalition?"
• Does the question mark properly go inside the quotes in the above sentence?
• Crazy Ranger note from last night: The pitcher that gave up the game winning hit in Toronto late last night was not even part of the team until noon yesterday. And at that time he was in sitting in Florida. He didn't get to Toronto until 9:45 p.m. and didn't get to the game until the 10th inning. (Second paragraph.)
• Traffic nightmare this weekend: "State officials are taking the unusual step of closing all lanes of Interstate 35E in downtown Dallas for brief periods Saturday. The rolling closures will allow crews to put bridge beams in place [above the highway]. The closures will last up to 10 minutes at a time, and will take place between 6:30 a.m. and 1 p.m." Up to 10 minutes? Riiiiiiight.
• I still think it's depressing that crawling in my bed to go to sleep is often the best time of my day.
• As a test, I emptied my Spam email folder exactly one month ago. I checked it a second ago and there are 34,345 emails resting there. What are the chances of one having "Viagra" in the subject line?
• I get this weird vibe from the Far Right Wing are beginning to secretly hope for another terrorist attack so they can blame Obama "for weakening our defenses."
• It's 137 days until the start of Big 12 football season.
• The radio in my shower (yep I have one) requires six Class C batteries. It's the only thing I've ever owned that has required Class C batteries.
• There's nothing crazier than CPS court day at the courthouse. And there's always some mom in the hallway explaining how CPS is "out to get her" (which might be right.)
• Up at the courthouse this morning for a second DWI trial in three days.

Ah, Yes. The College Football Stadium

I remember back in the 1980s when some Aggie drew his sword on some SMU cheerleaders (stay serious here) when the girls tried to run onto the field after a game. The grass at Kyle Field, the Corp of Cadets said, was sacred ground. The Evil Empire reveres its field so much that they named it after a plaintiff's lawyer (and one who was involved in the craziest deposition ever). Baylor cares so much about its football field that they try not to touch the grass in the end zones. And at Texas Tech.............Oh, my.

Wednesday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Sometimes I can't choose between two pictures.
• How can jaywalking in downtown Fort Worth last weekend turn into assault on a police officer by a "top SEC attorney". Trust me, that case is going no where. It's nothing but a cluster.
• My grass doesn't seem to be growing very fast.That's OK.
• I've got a pesky ant problem in my house that is driving me crazy. Every now and then, a tiny little one will show up on the counter. I've nuked the place but I'll still see one from time to time.
• Whatever happened to Alicia Silverstone?
• Posey Parker is a cool name. Edit: Ok, my wheels were off.
• I heard a theory yesterday that Susan Boyle (the homely British woman with the great voice) was all a set up. Tapes of her singing from as far back as 10 years ago have surfaced, and there is no question that the producers and directors of the show knew she could sing before they brought her on stage. So did they simply "frump up" an accomplished singer and then pretend to be shocked once she began to sing?
• Last night felt like summer.
• It seems like if there is a kidnapping or any other sort of high profile crime in the metroplex, there a closed circuit camera that captured a screen shot of the evildoer.
• News just coming across the wire: "David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac, was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide."
• The title to the TV show "M*A*S*H" was "Suicide Is Painless." Edit: You know what I meant.
• One of my favorite blogs, which is run by D Magazine, has shut down comments because they "became increasingly intemperate, irrelevant, and illiterate." Uh, that's what makes them good.
• Crazy sentence in a story about Dallas ISD graduation rates: "The report charts Dallas ISD's graduation rate rising from 38.1 percent in 1995 to 50.8 percent in 2005 – the seventh-highest gain of the big-city districts." Woah. It has risen to 50%?
• Edit: Motorcycle death.