Obama's Tweet At 1:10 P.M.

Well, this should solve that 9.5% unemployment rate. (Yep, even I think stuff like this is silly.)

Thursday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Jessica Simpson before singing the National Anthem yesterday at some pro-am golf tournament where her celebrity boyfriend, and part-time Cowboy QB, Tony Romo was playing with Tiger Woods.

Keeping Up With Our County Neighbor

In an exclusive interview with a Jacksboro ISD Board Member*, I learned that the new Tiger Stadium (which is behind the new school under construction in the above pic) will have artificial turf. _________________ * Meaning I saw my buddy David Spiller at the courthouse.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Fireworks = Celebration Of Liberty or Fireworks = Chance To Blow Up Stuff?
• As U.S. troops engage in a 4,000 person "major offensive" in Afghanistan, the Taliban has captured a U.S. soldier. This could get messy.
• The oldest Jonas brother is engaged? Let me be the first to say, "Kid, are you out of your freakin' mind?"
• And why do they call it a "proposal"? That sounds like the opening offer before extended negotiations. Then again, maybe that's the way it should really work.
• News released this morning: The U.S. unemployment rate is now at 9.5% -- the highest in 25 years. I still think we could be in for another economic implosion.
• Rhome PD appears to be picking on rock trucks lately.
• Speaking of Rhome, whatever happen to the wacky news that the mayor, city council, and police used to give us on a weekly basis? I hate stability.
• South Carolina still has an adultery criminal statute. (Or so said my radio.)
• "Two Fort Worth lawmakers seek independent inquiry into Rainbow Lounge incident." That's just grandstanding. They are lawmakers, not enforcers.
• (Note to Ticket fans: There's news about The Hammer)
• New book I downloaded: Assassination Vacation.
• They still haven't caught that "pervert" in Grapevine.

Want A Do Over?

What's More Bizarre?

The Cleavage Squirrel or the Wacky Anchors?

Get Ready For This In Your Inbox

The world saw the disappearance of an Air France aircraft [this month] during a trans Atlantic flight between Rio to Paris. Two shots taken inside the plane before it crashed. The two photos attached were apparently taken by one of the passengers in the aircraft, just after the break-up and before the aircraft crashed. The photos were retrieved from the camera's memory stick. You will never get to see photos like this. In the first photo, there is a gaping hole in the fuselage through which you can see the tailplane and vertical fin of the aircraft. In the second photo, one of the passengers is being sucked out of the gaping hole. But I thought they looked familiar. First correct guess gets a free Liberally Lean t-shirt (as soon as I create a Liberally Lean t-shirt.) Edit: That was quick. First response was the winner. Edit: And it appears a Bolivian TV station was fooled by the photos.

Don't Jack With Steve Ryan

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• South Carolina governor Mark Sanford failed to, uh, shut up yesterday calling the Girl From Argentina his "soul mate." (I told you after his first press conference that he loved her.)
• A bomb killed 27 in Iraq yesterday - the first day that U.S. troops pulled out of . Yep, this war has gone swimmingly.
• I'm almost finished with my book about the downfall of Bear, Stearns and, although a lot of it is over my head, it was fascinating. (You probably don't recall that the Wall Street firm went belly up last year after at one point having it's stock sell at around $170 a share.)
• But there was an incredibly rich guy named Joe Lewis from Orlando that bet the firm would pull out of it when the stock hovered around $100 a share (before the plummet.) He was worth about $2.5 billion and gambled just shy of $1 billion when he purchased about 9.5% of the firm's shares during the crisis. Bad call. Very bad call.
• I may be on vacation in a couple of weeks but I'm trying to get this blog to do some automatic uploading of "best of" posts. I care about you that much.
• I've never voted in the Major League Baseball All-Star contest but I read that you can vote a maximum of 25 times online. Sheesh. And that's only from one computer.
• I wrote about Outliers a few weeks back. If you get a chance to read this book, do it.
• New Minnesota Senator Al Franken (yep, he was declared the winner yesterday by some "liberal winnie" court) is a heck of a lot smarter than you boys think he is. I saw him on Celebrity Jeopardy about 15 years ago where he absolutely smoked the competition (and me.) And his three books are simply great.
• A constable should never be involved in a police chase.
• The Messenger is doing its "Best Of" contest this year, and I noticed for the first time they have a Best Blog category. I would like for the Liberally Lean Army to gather up your pliers and blow torches* if I don't win. Decatur will make Tehran look like a family picnic. [*Pulp Fiction reference]
• I don't get beaten down by all the Michael Jackson coverage as everyone else, but why in the world does the Rev. Al Sharpton keep showing up on my television invention?
• If you get to see the most famous documentary of the singer, called "Living With Michael Jackson", do it. It's great. Especially now.
• And there is going to be a 130 mile motorcade from LA to Neverland (photos) on Thursday where Jackson's body will be available for public viewing? Oh, my. What a scene.
• And Neverland could make far more money than Graceland . . . I think.
• So you're a third year law student at UT and think the world is your oyster? What about when the recruiting coordinator tells you that visits by law firms for interviews is down 45%?
• My continued belief that you can get arrested for anything: Even for having a miscarriage in Tarrant County.
• Fox 4's Heather Hays said last night, "A pervert has been slinking around the Tinseltown theater in Grapevine . . . . " Kind of shocking. But the guy "just" touches young girls on the leg. That carries with it a maximum punishment of $500.

Dallas Cowboy Miles Austin . . .

. . . rarely catches a pass but can throw one heck of a birthday party. Link.

My Eyes!!!!!!

See all seven of this would be vixen at Runner's World.

Make That "Former Boyd Pastor" As Well

Link.

Flashback

A 1996 Dallas Observer article about then Wise County Attorney Stephen Hale who refused to prosecute marijuana cases. You've got to love this excerpt:

That's because Wise County has been a Democratic stronghold in countywide elections since Reconstruction, and "those damn Republicans don't have a chance up here," says Elaine Davis, Wise County Democratic chairwoman.

How time flies.

The Police State Cometh . . . To Us

I've got it on pretty good authority that Wise County will conduct a "no refusal weekend" starting Friday on most, if not all, DWI cases. That means if you refuse to provide a sample of your breath or blood after a DWI arrest, the officer will go and obtain a search warrant for that red blood of yours. Then off you go to the hospital where they will take it by force. It's like Twilight but with a badge. (Dallas Observer article on the subject.) Edit: Just got work from a very reliable source that the blood draws will not be done a Wise Regional Health System (aka the Decatur Hospital). That's where they have always occurred in the past when the officers decided to get a warrant on a case by case basis.

Stop The Internet

I think I understand most video clips. From the seedy to the funny. From the educational to the mindless. From puppies running in a yard to a stripper falling off a pole. Those are the clips which make life worth living. Until I stumbled across this one. We've got a "lady" crushing beer cans with bare hands causing them to explode. Huh? Why? And how many times does she do this? Six? I mean, if you can do it once do you really need to prove it five more times? But the crazy part is the husband/boyfriend/coach/stalker guy who is running the camera and keeps encouraging her. It's like she's trying to set a world record in the bench press and he's there to make sure it happens. I'm marking this date down as the moment I finally became old. The Internets have passed me by.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• The guy that smashed into the fleeing car yesterday afternoon in Dallas (video below) was almost giddy in the post crash interviews on the news last night. That was weird.
• There was another high speed chase this morning in Dallas-- at least until the tires were shot out and she (yep, she) went 20 mph forever on rims.
• I saw a DPS trooper changing a girl's flat tire this morning on 287 outside of Rhome. I'm not sure I've ever seen that before.
• I've been reading for a few years how the federal court in Marshall, Texas is a hot bed for patent lawsuits. In fact, it may become what the Rio Grande Valley is to personal injury lawsuits. Evidence: Yesterday's $1.67 billion verdict. That's with a "B".
• I felt dumb this morning. There was a graphic put up on NBC about a jet crashing this morning with 153 people on board off the island of Comoros. But next to Comoros was the island nation of Madagascar. I had no idea. Movie, yes. Place. no.
• At 6:52 a.m. on Channel 5, the local newscast did a story on "Chuy's" opening up in Arlington. There is no way it wasn't a paid commercial disguised as a news story. That drives me nuts.
• I never take 380 to Denton but it sounds like the construction is going to be a beating.
• The Fort Worth cops are trying to justify their raid of the gay Rainbow Lounge is a little tough considering it had only been open for a week. (No personal knowledge here -- read it in the Star Telegram.)
• Hey, some of you legal eagles out there, explain this to me: What good will it do to try and attack the arrest warrant in the Russ Martin case in a pre-trial hearing? Unless evidence was found as a result of the arrest (and I don't think there was), winning that motion will mean absolutely nothing.
• The Rangers have a big series with the Angels this week. How big? So big that only 16,985 showed up last night in Arlington for Game 1. And that number looks generous compared to the empty seats on TV.
• Stop the presses, WBAP's Hal Jay actually made me giggle this morning. After sports guy Steve Lamb said it was "Free Kid Tuesday" at the ballpark tonight, Jay quipped, "They are giving away free kids?"
• U.S. troops have now withdrawn from urban areas of Iraq. But we're still hanging around in other parts of the country. Who would have thought that it would take longer defeat Iraq than the Germans and Japanese in WWII.

I'm Insane Now

Octomom Stalked By Ernie

Cow Carnage

Not earthshaking, but as the old school newspapers move to the "get it on the web fast" movement, you'll see some interesting developments. This afternoon, the Dallas Morning News reported that 35 cows in Denton County had been found dead with an estimated financial loss of $65,000. This evening the story had been amended to read 23 cows valued at $11,500. (But as a side note, I'm still disturbed of finding what I recall to be about 10 cows dead in a pasture that is now a high tone subdivision on the east side of Bridgeport. They appeared, shockingly, to have been gutted and all of the cows were, oddly, within a 30 yard circle. I ran home and told my dad about it who called the owner of the land, but I'm not sure we ever got a straight answer.)