Wedding Pole Dance Fail?

One of my friends up at the courthouse gave me the business yesterday about "being skeptical of everything!!" Yep, I am. And I'm skeptical of this video because the last few seconds seem a bit staged. But, for now, lets pretend it's real and that one of my ex-wives is the gal in red.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Tuition for TCU goes to $30,000 a year next year. I think I've figured out why the Common Man doesn't readily jump on their bandwagon.
• The roof of Reunion Arena comes down today which is a bummer because the course of the Dallas Turkey Trot, which I run every year, goes right by it. I kind of wanted to see it in its current huge coffee table form.
• The Fort Worth Court of Appeal reversed one of those DWI "No Refusal Weekend" blood draw cases last week, but the facts were so wonky I don't think it is very significant. But it sure scared the heck out of prosecutors when it was first released.
• We haven't had a good Wise County public official scandal in a long time. Somebody needs to step up.
• From the I Couldn't Care Less Department: President Obama bowing to the Japanese Emperor.
• My dry cleaning lady now wants to talk about what I wear on weekends.
• I don't know who the Republicans can possibly find as a presidential nominee for the next go round. Sarah Palin is Sarah Palin. Mike Huckabee, based upon his radio "show", might be an actual hillbilly. the governor of Louisiana freezes when a camera comes on. and Mitt Romney has the baggage of the right wing believing he is a cult member because of his Mormon faith. Who is left?
• And I only saw a couple of seconds of Palin on Oprah. I didn't feel emotionally strong enough to sit through it since I misjudged the impact of seeing both of those women together.
• I still don't understand how the conservative talk show hosts refer to 9/11 as an "act of war." An act of war declared by what country?
• Cowboy Hot Sports Opinion: The loss of offensive lineman Marc Columbo is so huge that the wheels might fall off this team.
• (Side note for my lawyer buddies: Google is getting into the free Texas legal research business. Quick link.)
• Something very weird about my dreams: The always involve something bad happening to me. I mean, I never awake from one of them and think, "I wish that were true."
• For some reason, I'm going to the the Redskins game this weekend.
• The 86 year old owner of the Tennessee Titans shocked everyone this weekend when he flipped the "double bird" in front of TV cameras. Yeah, that's bad, but is it worth a $250,000 fine by the NFL?
• After several awful football seasons, the Chico ISD let coach and athletic director Pete Hart go last night. Uh, and they wrote him a check for $75,000.

Hot For Teacher

I pretty much gave up on my continuing series of "And Another" which documented teachers having, uh, relations with their teenage male students. My basic schtick was to recommend probation depending on how hot the teacher was. Face it, I'll beat a dead horse as much as anyone but it's hard to keep the bit fresh. But this girl got my attention. We've got a 37 year old teacher (above) and a 17 year old student. Verdict: Oh, my. Edit: Completely unrelated, but check out the craziest book-in photo from Denton last weekend.

It's Britney Monday. Which Makes It A Good Monday.

More.

I'm Praying Pete Delkus Does This

Ok, anyone out there who hasn't met a girl on an interracial dating site and then threaten to call the cops when she won't call you back? I didn't think so. Women. Sheesh. Always mistaking affection for stalking.

Tailgating Fail?

The Star-Telegram posted a bunch of pictures from the TCU Tailgating Scene on Saturday, but this one got my attention. I'm not sure sitting up a poker table qualifies as a legitimate pre-game parking lot activity.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The "trouble putting on condiments" Budweiser commercial is pushing the limits, isn't it?
• 2012 made $65 million over the weekend to lead the box office. I guess the world really is coming to an end.
• Guy drives a krillion dollar car into a Texas lake. Accident? Video.
• My entertainment chasm between college football and pro football is growing. If it weren't for Fantasy Football, I might not watch the latter.
• I always hate it when someone uses the phrase "the latter" or "the former."
• Unfortunate Longhorn name.
• There was a "breaking news" post this morning in the Update about the chief and assistant chief of Boyd's volunteer fire department resigning. Unless there's a heck of a back story, why is that important?
• Tony Romo's weird hat looks cool when they win and goofy when they lose.
• The conservatives are upset about trying the 9/11 mastermind in a federal court in New York? What's to fear?
• The Blind Side movie looks like it might be a little too "perfect." Take in a troubled youth and it's all roses with a wildly successful ending?
• All the TCU hoopla on Saturday would have seemed more legitimate if a really good team had come to town. That 20 point favorite thing bugged me.
• The commercial where the family each points the TV clicker/changer at each other is kind of funny -- at least when grandma walks in, shakes her head, and then leaves.
• I missed most of the crazy New England/Indianapolis game last night but watching the Bill Belicheck press conference afterwards was tense. (He went for it on 4th and 2 deep in his own territory when he was ahead by 6. It failed. Badly.)
• I cleaned the house like crazy this weekend - from the garage to the baseboards to the bathrooms. It's oddly satisfying to do that.
• Horrific: A 17 year old girl backs over her toddler brother by mistake in Oak Cliff. I hate, hate, hate those stories.
• The TCU two finger bent hand symbol is a little goofy. But maybe it's because I haven't seen it a whole lot in the past.
• A clerk in a convenience store asked me this morning if the Cowboys won last night (as I was looking at the front page of the paper). She couldn't possibly have cared, right?
• Yep, I know, a little football intensive this morning.

AnObiter Is Back

The therapy sessions must have work. She's back at it!!! (For those that have no idea what I'm talking about: She used to be a frequent commenter who ran her own blog that I affectionately, and perhaps accurately, referred to as "high tone". But she shut her blog down about the same time as Jarhead. Good to see her back and we can only hope that Jarhead comes out of his bunker soon as well. )

Giving TCU Props

• Heck of a turnout at ESPN Game Day yesterday. Good job.
• The ESPN boys all wearing cowboy hats at the beginning of the show was an instant beat down.
• Did Chris Fowler say they were at TCU's "new campus"?
• At least Jeff Sagrain's computer rankings (which I've always believed were dead on), puts TCU above Texas (but the poll he has to submit to tbe BSC is different for a reason I'm not sure I understand.)
• I went to downtown Fort Worth last night just to see what it was like after the game. Good times.
• The perfect scenerio would be for TCU to play the Florida/Alabama loser in the Sugar Bowl. Let's see how good they are. (Yeah, a national championship appearance would be better, but I don't see that happening.)
• And now for the best Game Day signs. (Example below.) Edit: Link fixed.

Still The Best Entertainment Of The Week

The Wise County Sheriff's Office weekly crime reports. Edit: I received this photo Monday morning from a Decatur buddy who wrote: "A cool photo taken by Merrick this weekend with his cell phone. FYI - he exercised restraint and did not shoot."

The Evil Empire Comes To Baylor Today To Play A Football Game

I can't watch such carnage. Edit: The Longhorns had to resort to cheating in order to squeak out a 47-14 win.

Playing It Safe

Boring Legal Stuff

I saw this headline in the Star Telegram about a Denton County case, and wondered what new evidence they had. I mean, you just don't let a murder go unsolved for years and then haul off and indict someone for it. Uh, well, I guess you do:

Jamie Beck, first assistant criminal district attorney, said she cannot go into details because the case is pending. "All I can tell you is that new evidence isn’t what brought the investigation to go forward," she said.

So what happened? Well it looks like prosecutor Cary Piel (who filled in a couple of years ago in the Wise County DA's office when they were shorthanded) tried a murder case, won, and went looking for more:

The case got a second look in August after Denton County prosecutor Cary Piel had finished another murder case, Beck said. He asked Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree after the trial if he had any cold cases, and Murphree mentioned the Stobaugh investigation, Beck said.

So what got Piel so excited? My super power memory led me to recall this case in August where the Denton County jury convicted a former cop of murder seven years after the "fact" with almost no evidence to support their decision. It's almost as if the prosecutor thought, "Sheesh, if they'll convict that guy, who else will they convict? Hey, Ranger, what else you got in your filing cabinet?" But let's ask Cary Piel directly. What do you think about this new/old case?

Piel is not allowed to talk to the media, Beck said . . . .

I don't think that's meant as a slight at Cary. She probably meant, "I'm the designated spokesman for the DA's office and all communication will come through me" but, if that's true, they might want to find a better spokesman for the DA's office.

Risky Business Reenactment Fail

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I've got a purple tie on today.
• I think I got ripped off last night buying some towels at Bed, Bath and Beyond, or are they just expensive in general?
• Countdown to the first comment about me being in a Bed, Bath, and Beyond: Three . . . two . . . one
• The news was reporting yesterday that former Texas Ranger and Argyle resident John Wetteland was "suicidal" when cops were called to his house. Today's story was a bit more ambiguous. (And every sportswriter I've ever heard to talk about Wetteland says he is a tremendous jerk.)
• First excerpts are out of Sarah Palin's book to be released Tuesday: She never mentions Levi Johnston. How is that possible when they paraded that kid out at the Republican National Convention?
• I think I'm obsessed with Palin. If she's on my TV screen, I stop down.
• This is only the second sellout of TCU's stadium in 25 years? I bet the last one was when the Evil Empire came to town in the mid-1980s when TCU finally rose from the dead. (Wise County connection: James Maness of Decatur was on the TCU squad and Debbie O'dell-Selz of Bridgeport was a TCU cheerleader.)
• Wait. TCU is a 20 point favorite and Utah is running out a freshman quarterback? What's all the excitement about?
• While you were sleeping: The lawyer for the Ft. Hood shooter says he (the shooter) is paralyzed.
• There's only a couple of people/entities that I have their Twitter updates delivered directly to my phone via text message. The Messenger is one of them. Note to the boys over there: You have got to STOP the 15 tweet onslaught when the paper comes out -- especially when five of them are dedicated to obituaries.
• When I was a kid, I'd catch horned frogs all the time. The rumor was they would spit blood, but I never saw that happened. But I can't remember the last time I saw one in the wild.
• Not many people notice when it's Friday the 13th (As 90% of you reading this realize it is Friday the 13th.)
• To become a DPS trooper, you normally have to go through a 26 week training program in Austin. Not any more, at least if you are a certified police officer. Now they are offering just a 10 week training course with a HUGE catch: You must agree to border patrol duty for the first two years. Starting salary is $2,982.25 per month. (Note to recruiters: You might want to add $18 to that because $3,000 a month sound a lot better.)

Rhome City Council Excitement

Jennifer Ruiz is the former Rhome Police Officer that was terminated in a messy situation a month or two ago. (From Facebook.)

Is This Real?

A faithful reader emailed me this. Oh, my.

Talking Sportys Tax Money

Here's the breakdown of the combined salaries of assistant football coaches in the Big 12. (The salary of head coaches is not included. Also, Baylor is not included since it's a private school and doesn't have to respond to those pesky Open Records requests.) 1. Texas: $2,948,698: (high $900,000, low $152,942), national ranking, 2. 2. Oklahoma: $2,464,600: (high, $406,500, low $201,900), national ranking, 6. 3. Missouri: $2,164,020: (high, $320,200, low $201,800), national ranking, 8. 4. Oklahoma State: $2,130,000: (high, $335,000, low $125,000), national ranking, 10. 5. Texas A&M: $2,100,508: (high, $404,633, low, $166,161), national ranking, 11. 6. Nebraska: $1,934,160: (high, $376,000, low, $151,000), national ranking, 20. 7. Texas Tech: $1,913,300: (high, $332,500, low, $167,500), national ranking, 21. 8. Kansas: $1,795,300: (high, $306,100, low, $148,000), national ranking, 29. 9. Kansas State: $1,735,000: (high, $265,000, low, $120,000), national ranking, 31. 10. Colorado: $1,515,960: (high, $217,776, low, $100,000), national ranking, 43. 11. Iowa State: $1,385,000: (high, $275,000, low, $100,000), national ranking, 47. Source.