After A Lull, It's Motorcycle Chaos Today

Here and here. (Both in Tarrant County.) Edit: At 7:06 p.m., the Messenger's Update reported a Wise County motorcycle incident.

Denton County Angry Mob

This idea was kind of a funny concept, but not the best in execution. But I couldn't get over the fact that most of the protesters interviewed didn't quite grasp that the guy was doing a bit. Credit: Denny Crane.

War On Drugs: The Battle Contines

Looks like we've got a dope trial going on in Decatur and, once this thing gets going, I'll let you in on a little background. Trust me, it's got some insanity to it. But we've got a six man/six woman jury which includes one guy wearing shorts and, thank goodness, an African-American. And we have a visiting judge from Denton presiding.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm sick of seeing "inspirational quotes" all over the place. Ann Curry's twitter feed is full of them.
• I've never heard of a crime called "Disregard Police Officer" but a black guy in Denton got arrested for it yesterday. (Source).
• On Sunday I posted the video of the "tire gone wild" almost striking a constable. Yesterday a loose tire killed a construction worker in Lewisville.
• You right wingers were in a lynching mood yesterday based upon your comments.
• G.I. Joe led the box office over the weekend with $54 million? You've got to be kidding.
• There really aren't any movie type of movies made any more. It's either mass explosions, animations, or silly comedies. No Country For Old Men was a rare exception. (Here are the box office leaders so far this year to prove my point.)
• I'd like to be placed under house arrest.
• If the street construction around the square in Decatur is costing over a million dollars, we ain't getting our money's worth.
• I watched most of the the Teen Choice Awards last night. Our future does not look bright.
• My weekdays are very Groundhog Day like.
• Jarhead's guest blogger suggests, rightly so, that we 'mericans don't know much about Canada and Mexico. (Jarhead, when reached for comment, could only mumbled "get me more tequila and a donkey.")
• Do not mess with Hillary. (If you haven't seen this, you must.)
• Legal drinking age map.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi caught a little heat yesterday when she called the protesters at the town hall meetings "un-American." She's wrong. Yelling, name calling, and refusing to listen is distinctively American.

Confusing Pic Of The Day

Jimmy Johnson and a box of one dollar bills. Edit: Uh, oh. Tony Romo met Eva Longoria today.

It's Race Talk Monday

"A 67-year-old Arlington woman convicted last week of hitting a neighbor in the face with a 2-by-4 after shouting racial slurs and threats was sentenced on Monday to 180 days in jail and ordered to pay a $4,000 fine." This one was really complicated legally. The DA charged her with Aggravated Assault With A Deadly Weapon and also sought an "affirmative finding" by the jury that "the defendant intentinally selected the person against whom the offense was comitted . . . because of the defendant's bias or prejudice against a group identified by race [or] color." If they pulled that off, she would have been guilty of a First Degree Felony and subject to a term of confinement of 5 to 99 years/life (but could receive probation if she had no prior felony convictions.) But the jury found that no Deadly Weapon had been used and found her guilty of a Class A misdemeanor of assault. However, they did find that it was a hate crime. This finding meant that the range of punishment became 180 days to 1 year in jail with the possibility of probation. But if probation was granted, the judge, by law, had to impose 90 days in jail as a condition of the probation. (Told you it was confusing.) I think this is why the defense lawyers didn't even argue for probation. If they were to get it, the defendant would still have to do 90 days in jail. So since the Tarrant County Jail gives 3 for 1 credit, they sought the minimum jail time only and got it. In 60 days, she'll be out. Considering what the prosecution was seeking, I'd call that a defense win.

Wholesomeness Taking A Beating

First Josh "I Am Second" Hamilton gets caught in a scandal, and tonight you can see Hannah Montana on a stripper pole at the Teen Choice Awards. You guys were right, this country has been going downhill ever since we elected a black president.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Universal shotgun sound. Had to use.
• I wonder how many of the "protesters" in the town hall meetings already have private insurance. And I wonder how many of the older protesters that have Medicare understand they they are taking advantage of a government health plan.
• Elvis made 31 movies and you never see one of them on TV.
• I mentioned last week that Giant's QB Eli Manning had a new contract with $35 million guaranteed. I had forgotten that Detroit's first round draft pick Matthew Stafford, who has never thrown a pass in the NFL, received guaranteed money of $41 million.
• And for those fans of the bikini clad girls, this is how the same Matthew Stafford celebrated this summer.
• Justice Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday but 31 Republican senators voted against her. Bush spent 8 years bending over backwards to include the Hispanics and now the GOP runs them off in less than a year.
• Note to my Hispanic Texas friends: Remember when you next go to vote that Texas Republican Senators Cornyn and Hutchison voted against Sotomayor
• When Sotomayor was sworn in on Saturday by Justice Roberts, Roberts read the oath of office to her. He must have learned from his screw up when he swore in President Obama.
• A horrible auto accident involving a police chase in California over the weekend that you may not have heard about.
• College football note (and I'm so happy it's nearly arrived): UNT will go to Alabama on September 18th. Ugh.
• There's a "Rocky's Bar" in the Comfort Suites in Bridgeport that has live acts? (See August 27th date). Edit: LINK FIXED.
• I had a dream that I was giving a closing argument and jurors were twittering -- and I was getting killed.
• Comments on Denton book-in twitpic. http://twitpic.com/d8ksk
• I'm sure you've seen the Texas Ranger Josh Hamilton bar pics by now. Wow. When that man falls off the wagon, he really falls off the wagon. (Here is the amazing Sports Illustrated article from last year chronicling his wheels off life.)

Runaway Tire: Insane

Decatur Apartment Fire: The Aftermath

Edit: Certainly this will be remembered as one of the most dramatic fires in Wise County history, but what are the others? I remember the "old" Bridgeport High School gym (which really wasn't being used) burning down in the 1970s. And the burning of Grandy's in Decatur in the 1990s has to be in the top five. But what are some others? I'll list them below if there are any vote-getters.

• Condo fire in Runaway Bay - over 20 units destroyed (early 2000s)
• Candle Factory fire in Decatur (2004?)
• Twin Hills Restaurant
• Long Oil in Decatur circa 1988. (I have no memory of this one.)
• Decatur Holiday Inn as it was nearing completion (don't remember this either.)
• The Taj Mahal looking building north of Decatur. (1980s?)
• Terrell's restaurant in Decatur (late 1970s)
• Gas well fire in northern Wise County - burned like a beacon for weeks (1993)

Breaking News: Decatur Apartment Fire

Stonehill Apartments on fire. Man, a whole section went up in flames! (Thanks, Jenny)

To Get Me Off The Top Post

The Fort Worth Court of Appeals handed down an opinion today in a DWI related Wise County case. Guy gets stopped by a trooper, given a citation for speeding, and let go. Five minutes later he is stopped by another trooper for speeding. This trooper smells alcohol, bloodshot eyes, and the driver being "unsteady" on his feet. He is asked to perform field sobriety tests and the defendant refuses. Issue: Was there probably cause to arrest the guy for DWI? Answer: Yes (the answer always seems to be "yes".) Opinion. (PDF) (It's really boring)

Liberally Lean: The High School Years

I've been laughing at this ever since an ex-girlfriend sent me this pic this morning. It's your fearless leader at the Bridgeport City Pool when I was probably a Junior or a Senior in high school. Let the flogging begin. Edit: Greatest. Dogpile. Ever?

It's Britney In A Bikini Friday

That makes it a good Friday.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The Julia Child's movie with Meryl Streep looks like a beat down.
• It's "Shark Week" on the Discovery Channel. If you stumble across it, you'll be hooked. There's just something about those eating machines that we just love.
• Lady tries to hire hitman to kill husband. Lady ends up talking to undercover cop. Cops stage fake crime scene. Cops film lady being informed husband is dead.
• The new G.I. Joe movie also looked awful in the trailers, and the studio refused to let the film be screened by critics. That's a bad sign.
• Awkward moment yesterday: I tweeted that our office was getting a new sprinkler system and that it sounded "like there's a mariachi band out there" due to the radio. Thirty minutes later I run into the owner of the company who asks me if I'm Barry Green followed by, "What sounds like a mariachi band?" Thank goodness he has a sense of humor (his brother had called him.)
• The crowd of protesters at town hall meetings seem to be 99% white. Why is that?
• Has there been even a single hurricane so far this year?
• The massive repaving of 287 through Rhome is a good thing. The pavement there, for some reason, always seems to crumble like a burned cookie.
• The now federally owned AIG announced a quarterly profit this morning. If the unemployment numbers (announced about the time I'm posting this) would hit the brakes, I think the recession is finally ending.
• I think being a first year teacher would be hard. I mean, once you do it for a few years, you would have it down. But the first year would seem like it would be the equivalent of giving day long first time presentations every day for nine months.

June Unemployment Rate For Wise County: 9.7%

As we race to catch up with the national average, and doubling since December. Source: NTCOG (Thanks emailer.)

The Great Director John Hughes Has Died

Anyone who directed:

• National Lampoon's Vacation
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• Weird Science
• The Breakfast Club
• Sixteen Candles
• Some Kind of Wonderful
• Pretty in Pink
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles

. . . deserves to be in the Liberally Lean Hall Of Fame (I'll ignore the Home Alone movies and pretend they never happened.) You know, I have no idea what he looked like. Even his Wikipedia page doesn't have a picture.

Classified Photo Of Wise County's New Animal Shelter

(Or just a picture of it that I stole off Facebook.) But, according to reports, that thing is almost filled up with little pooches already. And you know what that means. Dum De Dum Dum.