4.27.2009

Speaking Of Needing A Cheeseburger

Lindsay Lohan is skinny.

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Just Saw This In Time

"Unlike many other young Marines, Lance Corporal William Allen, 26, who appeared on Time's cover in 2005 (above), joined the military the day before 9/11. But like many who fought in Iraq, Allen suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He died [last week] of a drug overdose after self-medicating."

Radio News

I don't listen to The Bone because I got sick of the stuff they play when it first came out a krillion years ago, but if you liked The Bone, bad news: It's not The Bone anymore. I bet radio is a brutal business.

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.

4.26.2009

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.

4.24.2009

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.

4.23.2009

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.