Different Kind Of Trial

Actual photo taken from outside the windowed door

Just checked on the courthouse and noticed that we have a felony trial going on: Failure To Register as a Sex Offender. That may be a first for Wise County. But the first hurdle for the defense is to have the jury panel commit to not convicting the defendant for being a sex offender in the past (or, more importantly, identifying those that would.) Edit: 9 woman, 3 man jury selected by noon. Edit: Both sides rested and closed by 5:00 p.m. Closing arguments tomorrow. The defendant testified and admitted to spending 14 nights (not continuous) with a girlfriend who lived in Wise County, but he did not move here so no need to register. Regarding his prior offense, he did a couple of five year concurrent sentences. The only thing I know is that the sex offense registry listed the victim in that case as "16" and "a friend." The defendant is a pretty young guy himself.

Random Thursday* Morning Thoughts

• My new dry cleaning lady was crazily cheery yesterday. Then she volunteered that she had been working since 5:00 a.m. since going to her first job at McDonald's (it was after 6:00 p.m. when I came in contact with her.)
• I bet neither job offers health care, and I bet she can't afford it on her own. But we dare wouldn't want to help her, would we?
• Some commenter referred to the tone in one of my posts as "acerbic" yesterday. I'll admit it: I had to look it up.
• Crazy story of a man, one angry wife, three angry mistresses (pics in link), and Krazy Glue. Oh, my.
• There was some news yesterday about the potential of higher income taxes on the middle class, but Obama backed off some of the comments made by others to that effect over the weekend. If that were to occur -- in complete violation of his campaign promise -- I'd turn on the President in a New York Minute.
• Channel 5 News ran a 15 second story on the new, yet overcrowded, Wise County Animal Shelter. It sounded like they just read yesterday's Update.
• HBO has been showing Artificial Intelligence: A.I. over the last week. That is one bad movie. (But I noticed that Entourage's Adrian Grenier made a brief appearance.)
• I always get a kick of seeing someone in a movie, knowing I've seen them before, and then finally giving up and checking iMDB (which has been around for as long as I can remember.)
• I've started back jogging in the morning before dawn. It's kind of creepy.
• Eight months into the Obama administration, we still don't have an appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. And I suspect similar positions across the nation remain vacant. Odd.
• Another conservative Republican lawmaker. Another affair. He was definitely trying to get younger in that position.
• The Internets had videos yesterday of angry conservatives disrupting Congressional town hall meetings (i.e. Lloyd Doggett, Arlen Specter). You know, they look more like staged, planned attacks than honest to goodness angry constituents. Something's fishy.
• Over three years ago I said "Radio Shack" should change its name. Now they are doing it. I wonder how much they paid a consultant for the same advice?
• The evidence used to convict the former Denton County police investigator of murder seemed to a little "iffy." And there are some extremely weird twists and turns in the case.
• And the prosecutors in the case were also husband and wife. That would drive me nuts. (And I know they are readers of this blog. Shout out.)
• I just discovered I've been giving out the wrong address for my office for years (I've been saying "301" when it's really "303".)

Edit: It has been called to my attention that today is called "Tuesday". But "Thursday" sounds so good that I really don't feel like changing it.

WBAP's Freedom Concert

I really didn't hear much about, but WBAP hosted a Sean Hannity "Freedom Concert" in Grand Prairie over the weekend. If Hannity wouldn't be painful enough to listen to, they rolled out musical guests who make a living singing the same song over and over and over: Lee Greenwood, Charlie Daniels, and Hannah Montana's Baby Daddy. Oh, and Kay Bailey and Rick Perry also showed up to whip the all white audience into a tea party frenzy. Some pics below:

WBAP's Mark Davis and Gov. Perry Posing Like High Schoolers at The Prom

Gov. Perry Getting Handsy

Sean Hannity, no doubt, making your ears bleed

Charlie Daniels And His Belt Buckle

Mark Davis Getting Handsy With, I Think, June Cleaver

A short video of the event is here. And if you are familiar with Mark Davis at all, you've got to see him dance on stage during the Charlie Daniels performance at the 1:50 mark. Dude! (And, amazingly, he was so proud of his performance that he "tweeted" about it today.)

Greatest Heckler Ever

They Hate Us For Our Freedom

Undie run you say? Explained. (Thanks, Keith.)

Katy Perry Pick Me Up

Random Monday Morning Posts

• The Funny People commercial where Adam Sandler jokes with the guy about being in Die Hard has been shown a krillion times.
• The temperature is going to be a beating this week.
• Two-a-days start today?
• Had friends in Seven Wires that suffered the ill effects of the thunderstorm in Decatur on Saturday morning: "2 tv's, Sirius radio, and wireless router/modem...along with 4 blown light bulbs and 1 fried electrical outlet."
• Stopped by the Water Gardens in Fort Worth on Friday. I had forgotten how neat that place is.
• I use Google docs and Google spreadsheets for work more and more.
• I do use my credit card for major purchases to get frequent flyer miles. But I use the debit card for most charges under $10. I'm almost cash free.
• Great documentary running on HBO right now: "Assault In The Ring."
• Detailed reports about how players performed at Dallas Cowboys training camp are silly.
• The $29 "Party Pass" to Cowboy games seems like a good idea. I was curious how they were going to get to that 100,000 capacity figure.
• A guy commits a double murder of two Granbury high school students and pleas to just a five year sentence. There had to be tremendous problems with the case.

Official White House Photo Of Beer-a-Palooza

The White House Flickr account is a good idea.

I'm Insane Now

When Texas Ranger Elvis Andrus comes to bat, this song is played at the Ballpark in Arlington. Craziest. Song. Ever.

Denton County Arrest Of The Day

Hey, now.

Belo Meltdown

I don't know what happened to all of the Dallas Morning News/Channel 8 web sites, but it had to be bad. They've not been able to update for over 24 hours (and have acknowledged the problem.) Radars are completely gone. Blogs aren't being updated. You'd think they have every engineer in the Southwest Proper working on it. And I think the technical problems are even creeping over into the newscasts. As showers were pounding Decatur this morning, Channel 8 showed a "current radar" which was at least an hour old.

TEA Ratings Released

Source.

Mom, A Motorcycle, and Granny

You've Probably Seen This

But it's funny when that kid makes a break for it.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The funky wedding procession video? I bring you the funky divorce entrance video.
• I've heard of construction accidents but I've never heard of a 23 foot story fatal fall. (Dallas, yesterday.) Horrible.
• Why weren't we put on alert?: The Dallas City Council just spent two days in Wise County!
• The "Beer Summit" yesterday may be the silliest photo op in the history of ever. Obama is smarter than that.
• Short new youtube video of man being tazered in court (with an old bailiff, a cool judge, and someone named 239 who won't answer the radio.)
• Someone told me yesterday that receiving a text message that begins with your name creates a sense of urgency.
• The "Cash For Clunkers" program has been suspended (or about to be) after four days because the money will run out. Maybe we do like socialism.
• I have two buddies that meet for breakfast once a week at a restaurant. Gay or not gay?
• The Star Telegram has a story today about how many veterans end up with drug and alcohol related charges due to mental health issues. And they use a 40 year old Decatur rancher as an example. (No name but there's a small picture.)
• When I represent Iraqi war vets, they almost always suffer from some type of mental issues caused by the war. I think it's a bigger problem than we realize.
• Regarding the old barbecue place that used to be next to Catfish O'Harlies but is now Bono's (or something like that): I ate there in the bar area for lunch about three weeks ago and the waitress was more scantily clad than a Hooter's waitress.
• I never eat out at lunch. Other than office celebratory lunches, that was probably my first time in three years.
• I'm going to a Legislative Update Seminar this afternoon in Fort Worth. I think, for the first time in a long time, there was very little change to Texas Criminal Law. (Normally, they do something stupid for the sake of Get Tough On Crime.)
• I didn't know that the only "bar" in Decatur was closing: Fat Daddy's. I think that's the second ownership to give it a shot.
• I had a dream last night that I was riding in a helicopter all over the place no bigger than a VW Beetle. And I was required to stand on the outside and hang on for dear life as we dodged around skyscrapers.
• Sometimes I'm scared to go to sleep because of those crazy dreams.
• I don't think I've ever seen a dog bury a bone.
• You can watch someone's golf swing (and not the ball's path) and quickly determine if they are a good golfer. Saw Justin Timberlake swing at the ball over the weekend. Good golfer.
• I'm happy I've never been considered for the nickname "Lumpy".

First "Beer Summit" Picture

Thursday Afternoon Pick Me Up

I Bet This Grand Jury Got Away From The Prosecutor

The girl is traveling southbound on 121 near Grapevine (with reportedly twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system) and hits a highway divider causing her vehicle to end up in the inside northbound lane. Moments later, a northbound motorcycle strikes the wreckage killing the rider. The Intoxication Manslaughter statute is applicable if the person "is intoxicated and by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake." "Causes" is not defined. There is no way the DA's office in Tarrant County recommended a "no bill" (a refusal to indict) since they love to jump all over these kind of cases. I'm guessing the grand jury, in a moment of rebellion, decided to ignore the DA.