How Not To Start Off A Wednesday

From the always entertaining Denton Police (unofficial) Twitter feed.

Well, That Was Uncomfortable

(1) This was posted yesterday on the D Magazine blog. (2) Tim Rogers is a very funny guy (3) Marty Haag is the former news director at Channel 8 (4) Tim was trying to be funny by using the "rolling over in his grave" followed by the "still alive?" line. (5) It's uncomfortable because Marty Haag is dead and one of his sons notified Tim Rogers of that fact. (6) The uncomfortable acknowledgment.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• This Swine Flu stuff is driving me absolutely nuts -- especially with news this morning that there has now been a "confirmed" death. Hey, the number of deaths in the U.S. from the regular flu is 36,000 a year!
• Read that first bullet point again and mention it to someone.
• The Drudge Report's bold headline this morning ominously reads: "First Dead."
• Cleburne High School shut down this morning even though Swine Flu had not been confirmed in the illness of four students.
• I'll swear I saw the following graphic about the Swine Flue at the bottom of the screen on Larry King Live last night: "Breaking News: Is World In Peril?"
• Today's issue of the Messenger (which still oddly has "Thursday" in it's masthead) has a list of indictments from the most recent meeting of the grand jury. I don't know what's going on, but there are a ton of them for the second month in a row.
• Fox is not covering Obama's press conference tonight on its regular entertainment channel. Really can't blame them for that.
• I had three comments the other day that this little blog has become stale and boring (tell me about it -- I'm stale and boring.) Oddly, they were all posted by people that read"Random Thoughts" within its first hour after being uploaded.
• Wise County is clearly one the most conservative counties in the nation. I think we forget that the rest of the country does not think like most of us.
• Do seemingly normal people that take extravagant vacations also spend every dime they make?
• Even though I run all the time, I rarely do any other type of exercise. I wiped the dust off my Bowflex this weekend and immediately remembered why.
• Hal Jay of WBAP was talking to a national reporter in Mexico this morning who had no accent whatsoever. He told her, "You guys have a beautiful country." Her reply, "I'm from Texas."
• Someone wrote "Bite Donna" in the dust on my back windshield.
• One of the best things I ever did was going to work for a large Dallas law firm right out of law school. I quickly decided that I was not going to spend my life that way.
• I watched Sean Hannity say on TV that he would be waterboarded "for charity." Wait, let me put it in Hannity terms: "Sure," Hannity said. "I'll do it for charity ... I'll do it for the troops' families." Now MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is really putting the pressure on him to do it -- offering $1,000 a second for the experiment.
• An election I can't vote in but desperately want to be over: The Dallas Convention Center hotel.
• My prediction about the Mavericks was horribly wrong. And I didn't watch a single minute of the playoff series.

Get Ready

This was fascinating in a newsy way. Reuters put up this story at 5:36 a.m. Central Time, and within 10 minutes it was quoted on Fox News, NBC, and ABC -- all giving credit to Reuters. But that's a pretty scant report right there. No city in Texas, no hospital referenced, and all confirmed by a "government official." I presume the details will be filled in. But get ready for Swine Flu Panic: Day Three.

Dirty, Dirty Fox News

The first part of the clip shows Obama reading a question (and answering it) at a town hall meeting. The last part of the clip shows how Fox News cuts up the tape to give the impression that Obama held the belief of the question. Shocking. And I've been told to only worry about the "liberal media." Source.

Happened Today

Come on, how can you not like the guy? (Especially at the 35 second mark.)

Something happened. I'm out of office.

Afternoon Pick Me Up : Going Old School

Taken From Some Where In Wise County

And emailed in. Is that a Crown Victoria owned by Victoria who crowned it her secret?

Update

Recall James Carroll Franklin who last January, moments before he would have learned that the jury was to grant him probation in our Wise County district court after a drug conviction, bolted from the courthouse and headed to the hills. He was caught a short time later. (We don't have hills nearby.) The next day the judge granted him the probation that the jury had dictated, but required him to spend 180 days in the Wise County Jail. Well, I learned today that the defendant actually appealed the sentence (his right) and was released on an appeal bond (required). Now I don't want second guess anyone, but do you really want to appeal a probated sentence when the range of punishment was from five years to life? (Side note: If the appeal was only about the sufficiency of the evidence, the appeal would make sense: The appellate court could only affirm the conviction or acquit the defendant. It could not require a new trial.) Anyway, it looks like the defendant didn't pay his lawyer (who was also his bondsman) and a warrant was issued once the lawyer "went off the bond." The appellate court also ordered a hearing in the district court to determine if the defendant actually wished to pursue his appeal. It was scheduled for this morning but I've got a feeling the defendant won't make it.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• The Swine Flu issue: Hey, people! Everyone who has contracted it in the U.S. simply gets sick and then gets better.
• Getting in your car this morning was a greater risk to your life than the Swine flu.
• Anybody else question whether 152 people have really died from that flu in Mexico?
• I never get a flu shot.
• Those paper masks? Do they work? I wouldn't think so.
• The 41 year old hot swimmer from last year's Olympics, Dara Torres, has written a book that she she promoted on WBAP this morning: Age is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams At Any Stage In Your Life. Seriously, what could she possibly say that hasn't been said? And what if I dream to be an Olympic swimmer, can I "achieve" that "dream", too?
• And did her book publisher pay WBAP a fee for that 5 minute commercial described as an interview?
• Someone emailed me and said they saw the Decatur Beggar outside of Vista Ridge Mall over the weekend.
• Someone also emailed me that he saw a pickup in Boyd with a bumper sticker that read, "I Voted For The White Guy."
• Both apologized for not getting a pic.
• Some spare guy doesn't get drafted by the NFL last weekend and some blog posts a bunch of pics of his very hot sister. I love the Internet.
• Cancer is horrible. Every time I see a human interest story on the news about some guy battling the disease (and I saw one last night), you know they aren't going to win. I'll go back to a Dale Hansen quote: "My ex-wife lost her battle with cancer this year because it wasn't a fair fight."
• Heck, even I would have been freaked out if I had seen the airliner flying low over Manhattan with a fighter jet behind it.
• A guy was arrested for stealing Huggies in Grapevine. Anybody else thinking of the line, "I'll be taking these Huggies and any cash ya got."

Maybe Monday Is Good TV Night

Gov. Perry is moderating a panel discussion tonight in Garland about Obama's first 100 days in office. Bud Kennedy sends along this pic "30 minutes before showtime" via his Twitter feed. "The event, expected to draw as many as 3,000 people, is one in a series of events Perry is using to reach out to the more conservative wing of the GOP on his path to a 2010 re-election bid expected to include a primary battle against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison."

Love That Chicken From Pop Eye's

I've never ran a TV news room but lord knows that I could. If someone ran this clip past me before air time, I'm pretty sure I might grab a the female reporter by the neck and ask, "You couldn't find one white person to interview? Do you understand what a sterotype is? Do you understand that this is going to end up on youtube for promoting racial sterotypes? Do you want to come over to my place on Saturday if you're not doing anything? Wait. Forget that." And then, after it ran, I'd personally go fire the anchor for the intro when she said, "Tonight customers were clucking their disaproval."

We Are Losing The War On The Pig Flu!!!!!

It's gonna be panic! Panic, I tell you!!!!!

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.