Hold On To Your Guns

The Supreme Court, with that new "liberal wienie" Justice Sotomayer, today has agreed to hear a case concerning an issue I suspect most of you didn't even think existed: Does the Second Amendment's "Right to Bear Arms" apply to the states and local municipalities. Stay with me here. The Second Amendment says "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed" But the problem is that when the Bill of Rights was first enacted, all the amendments applied to the federal government and not the States. No one disputes that, and the First Amendment, for example, even starts out with "Congress shall make no law . . . . " Let that sink in. In the beginning, the Constitution did not prevent a city, state, or county from preventing a citizen from speaking his mind, preventing a defendant from having a jury trial, or banning any newspaper. There might have been other laws enacted by the states that would provide that protection, but the Constitution didn't help out. But after states and local governments began trampling on its citizens, the Supreme Court began considering whether the Bill of Rights could, in some form or fashion, be used to prevent states, cities, counties, and any public subdivision from committing civil rights violations. Here is where your head will spin: So began a series of cases using the "Incorporation Doctrine" which decided, on a right by right basis, whether that right "applied to the States through the enactment of the 14th Amendment." If you want to research that, go ahead. Basically, it says that the 14th Amendment sucks out some, if not all, of the first ten amendments and makes them applicable to the states. Call it mental gymnastics or judicial activism or just plain craziness, but you can't take a Con Law class without studying it. But, like I said, the Court has previously made those decisions on a right by right basis (freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to counsel, etc.) But as of 2009, I think there are currently only two rights in the Bill of Rights that the Supreme Court has not decided whether they "apply to the States." The first one is the right to a Grand Jury indictment (which doesn't matter to Texas because Texas law requires that anyway) and the other is the Right to Bear Arms in the Second Amendment. Yep, this Supreme Court is going to decide whether the Second Amendment prevents, for example, the State of Texas, the City of Decatur, or Wise County from enacting laws that would ban gun possession. (If the Second Amendment doesn't apply, that doesn't mean all guns are automatically banned. It just means that states and local governments are free to enact any law they want concerning the right to own or possess a gun.) Think it's impossible for the Supreme Court to rule that the Second Amendment doesn't apply to all aspects of government? Justice Sotomayor and a the Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court have already done just that. Annie, get your gun.

Does This Football Sign Violate Separation Between Church And State

Story.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• There's pressure to send in more troops to Afghanistan, but that situation has "Vietnam" written all over. The British couldn't win there. The mighty USSR couldn't win there. And Obama is smart enough to have learned from LBJ's mistakes.
• With possibly thousands of Americans lives at stake, idiots like Sean Hannity scream to the masses, "Why can't he make a decision?"
• After being sick for a day I amazingly felt great enough to jog outside last evening. I went a little slower simply to enjoy my ability to do so.
• The DOW bottomed out at 4,600 but has risen 49% since then. This despite 1 in 8 homes being in foreclosure, unemployment at 9.7%, and a federal deficit of $7.46 trillion. (See how I sound smart when I watch ABC's World News Tonight?) Edit: A commentor pointed out that my math (from ABC) seems wrong at 49%. The story probably said that it has risen 49% from the point it lost 777 from one year ago yesterday. In any event, the "smart" thing is out the window.
• Dallas Stars Ice Girls promotional video which includes girls in bikinis on ice with one uttering the always popular phrase, "Where's my pants?"
• A couple had a little "happy time" in one of the bathrooms in the new Cowboys Stadium. (Uh, this link is not safe for work.) The funny part is that they are both wearing Michael Irvin jerseys -- that makes it a tender moment on, uh, the bathroom floor.
• The former associate pastor of the mega Prestonwood Baptist Church has been sentenced to 7 years in prison as part of a plea deal. He pled guilty to soliciting a minor online who was not actually a minor but only the government pretending to be someone they are not. There sure is a lot of government pretending that these days to create crime.
• The privates are going to be the downfall of society.
• The lawyer gold mine in the 1980s were personal injury suits. Today, it's huge firms representing companies or individuals in patent infringement suits -- with most of them in a federal court in East Texas.
• One guy on the list of The 100 Most Expensive Homes in Dallas, Erich Spangenber, got rich by simply buying patents that he never intended to use and then suing companies once they infringe on them.
• News all over the place yesterday of the tsunami in Samoa where "dozens were killed." I don't think we'll ever comprehend the massive tsunami of 2004 in the Indian Ocean where 230,000 were killed.

Roman Planski vs. Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity just opened up his radio show for calls on whether movie director Roman Polanski should be extradited back to the U.S. for sentencing on a 30 year old rape of a 13 year old victim or whether "we should just let it go." The victim has indicated she wants to move on with her life since hates being hounded by the press every time some Polanski news breaks. The calls, even for the hard right audience of Hannity's show, were 90% "let it go." Heck, that even surprised me. Background from Wikipedia: Polanski was arrested in Los Angeles and pleaded guilty to "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor", a 13-year-old girl (he was 44 years old at the time).^[8] Released after a 42-day psychiatric evaluation, Polanski fled to France, has had a U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since 1978,^[9] and an international arrest warrant since 2005.^[10] Polanski for many years avoided visits to countries that were likely to extradite him, such as the United Kingdom, and traveled mostly between France, where he resides, and Poland. As a French citizen, he was protected in France by the country's limited extradition with the U.S.^[11] On September 26, 2009, he was arrested, at the request of U.S. authorities, by Swiss police, on arrival at Zürich Airport while trying to enter Switzerland^[10] to pick up a lifetime achievement "Golden Icon Award" from the Zurich Film Festival.^{[12][13] (That paragraph failed to mention that the assault took place at Jack Nicholson's home when Nicholson was not at home.)}

How Microsoft Lost Its Way

I heard about this about three weeks ago (through a nerdy tech podcast because I'm nerdy like that), and saw the video about a week later. I dismissed it at first but the strange attraction of the Internets keeps drawing me back to it. Microsoft will soon release Windows 7. The best minds in the marketing business decided that it would be a good idea to encourage "Windows 7 Parties" and, in conjunction, Microsoft released this promotional video to get the job done. I can't say I've watched the whole thing, but it's mesmerizing in a horrible way. The jerky camera. The cross section of America. The overly happy participants. The dialogue which has never been spoken in at any party anywhere. Apple is now making a computer that you can hold in your hand (the iPhone), and Google can pretty much replace Windows Office with Google Docs. The future does not look bright if this is any indication where Microsoft wants to take us. (Or, alternatively, the heck with all that. You might want to watch Conan bust his head instead.)

Mind Bursts

• Just saw a lady cry in front of her attorney in the courthouse hallway. His response, "Get it together."
• No one wanted to hang around at the court docket with me because the thought I was sick. Or maybe they just didn't want to hang around me.
• I think there's a DWI trial going on in the County Court at Law. I'll check it out this afternoon since I always monitor those things.
• I got offered a "BC Powder" for my headache.
• Heard a rumor that the DA's office may be close to making a decision on whether to seek the death penalty in the Stephen York case.
• Just got back from the final pre-trial docket. Some Defendant's have the attitude of being scared to death. Others are like, "Screw it, they can't convict me of anything."
• The news is reporting a 5th Swine Flu death in Dallas County, but he had "underlying medical conditions."

There's A Local Stripper On The Loose With A Stun Gun

Well, it's a north Fort Worth strip club. Link.

Still Dazed And Confused

Seeing this more and more:

Local, state and federal law enforcement officers raided another massive marijuana-growing operation early Monday in northern Navarro County.

The marijuana plants, some up to 10 feet tall, were growing on the top of levees along Chambers Creek, Chief Deputy Mike Cox of the Navarro County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics Service and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration also participated in the raid.

Please make note, in 2009 we still have local cops, DPS, and the DEA all get excited about weed. (Navarro County surrounds Corsicana by the way.

They cops estimated the dope (along with other nearby marijuana busts) as being valued at $31.4 million. Subjected it to a 6% sales tax and you'd have $1.884 million dollars.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Nothing makes you value good health like being sick.
• I don't know when I started it, but I've got this crazy belief that apple juice will cure me. So no matter how bad I feel when I get sick, I crawl to the grocery store to buy a ton of it.
• I feel guilty staying home even when I'm sick.
• The feeling of "I've got to lie down" when you're trying to eat anything is not-a-good.
• The Iranians launch another test missile. Cocky little son-of-a-guns.
• I had the craziest dreams last night. They included flying over a mountain lake with only a boat sail, stumbling on the equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah in the basement of the Tarrant County Convention Center (basement?), and struggling for 30 minutes trying to type of a broken keyboard.
• Those pictures of people floating up to their necks in the Philippines' flooding are pretty shocking.
• The Cowboys look like an 8-8 team. And Tony Romo looks beaten down.
• If you like neck tattoos on girls (and who doesn't?), Denton Police have one for you.
• Did a Decatur man die over the weekend while working on a A/C unit?
• Crazy metroplex story yesterday: A sport utility vehicle slammed into the side of a day care van loaded with 20 children. The van had a capacity of 15, the driver was 20 years old and without a driver's license, and the SUV driver didn't have a license either.
• The new ESPNDallas.com (which debuted yesterday) has stolen at least three writers from the Dallas Morning News. They are dropping like flies over there. Edit: Just saw they fired back by re-hiring baseball guru Evan Grant.
• Did the 14 year old girl in Tarrant County die of swine flu at Cook's or was it pneumonia? They are still deciding. But it was sad to see the dad agonize over her death showing frustration at not being able to help. "That's my job."
• And her symptoms seemed just like the run on the mill flu. Scary.
• Ticket Talk this morning: The new Cowboys Stadium is built east to west -- isn't that going to cause an issue with player vision with the setting sun on late afternoon games?
• I don't feel too confident in seeing news footage of school maintenance workers scrubbing down desks and counters with one rag.
• Captain "Sully" hasn't flown since landing the plane in the Hudson?
• I kind of cock an eyebrow at anyone who refers to Muslims as "those Muslims."

Ugh. Sickness Crushed Me Today.

I've been so lucky over the last four years since I haven't missed a day of work to illness. Until today. I'm not sure what it was, but I think it's going away. I think. I hope.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I'll have more. I just don't feel very well.
• It's always a bad sign when a co-worker asks you if you're OK.
• Decatur now has a sign entering the city which proclaims it the "Home of Trevor Brazile."
• I saw a Massarati this morning.
• I forgot to mention that after Baylor's quarterback tore his ACL early in the first quarter, he played the rest of the half.
• Trouble in Tech Land.
• A Montague County deputy was involved in a shooting over the weekend and he used to work for Wise County. I'll find a link.
• If Glenn Beck drives you crazy, you'll get a kick out of this.

I'm On A Bridge Over An Overpass

Almost News

I think I speak for all of us when I say, "There's an Oklahoma Panhandle State University?"

All Wise County Teams Lose For Third Week In A Row -- Consider Abandoning Football

Grandview (3-0) 24 Boyd (1-3) 6 Bridgeport (1-2) 14 Argyle (4-0) 44 Chico (0-4) 12 Henrietta (3-0) 65 Decatur (0-3) 10 Prosper (4-0) 49 Nocona (2-2) 56 Paradise (0-4) 35

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Not The Best Way To Start A Day

In Fort Worth this morning.

The Face Of A Criminal Mastermind?

Pic from the Star-Telegram of the goofy kid that got sucked in by three FBI agents. The illegal alien had been arrested on 9/11 for no driver's license.

From The Update

Let me continue to rant on "rulings" by the Medical Examiner. Heck, it probably was accidental. And so far there is no evidence of foul play or suicidal tendencies. (notes, evidence of depression, health issues). But how can a doctor rule it accidental by simply looking at the bodies? A criminal investigator may make that conclusion, but how in the world can you reach that conclusion just because you performed an autopsy? He knows the death was by carbon monoxide poisoning but that's all he knows. Edit: Ok, after a few comments from the haters, here's this scenario. Tomorrow I'm found dead on my couch with my car running in the garage. Accident or suicide? Or would the best conclusion be "undetermined."