Dallas Tea Party . . .

. . . recruits three or four minorities to attack MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. But the "have you no shame, sir?" ending was pretty funny. (It's his tagline for those that never watch MSNBC -- and I'm guessing that's most of you.)

Fat Chick's Fat Saves Her From Bullet -- Vows To Get Fatter

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A Florida woman says her love handles saved her life when she was shot entering an Atlantic City bar. Samantha Lynn Frazier says she heard two pops when she walked into Herman’s Place early Saturday. The 35-year-old then felt pain and saw blood on her hand after she grabbed her left side. Atlantic City police say Frazier was an innocent bystander. Detective Lt. Charles Love says the gunman was aiming for a man who escaped with a bullet hole in his down jacket. The suspect remains at large. Frazier tells The Press of Atlantic City she had been “hollering” how she wanted to lose weight. She now says “I want to be as big as I can if it’s going to stop a bullet.” And to think all the Random Girls would be dead if they had taken a bullet like that.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• That was quick: The widow of the guy killed in the IRS building is suing the wife of the nutcase pilot that caused it. Wait. Suing the wife?
• I think I saw a 16 year old figure skater at the Olympics last night who ended up with a bleeding nose after her performance.
• Decatur cowboy Trevor Brazile gets a one page feature in the March issue of Texas Monthly. (p. 28)
• You would think that Dick Cheney's many heart scares would make him simply sit back and enjoy life instead of being a perpetual curmudgeon.
• Fox 4 News dedicating segments to American Idol drives me a little nuts.
• Has the tattoo fad ended? On vacation last year at the beach I began to notice some middle aged folks who obviously had the ink idea many years ago.
• A couple of folks at the courthouse have called me Broken Wing this week due to my healing shoulder injury. When they do that, I have an old song from the one hit wonder band of Mister, Mister stick in my brain for the rest of the day.
• Speaking of the shoulder injury, I got the total bill submitted to my insurance company yesterday. That'll be it's own post later. Feel free to guess how much it costs to spend three hours in the emergency room, have your shoulder placed back into socket, get an IV, get x-rays, and walk out with a velcro ladened shoulder brace.
• Edit to the above: As a couple of astute commenters pointed out, the bill is for the hospital only. I guess I'll get a bill from the doctor. But I'll get a bill from the x-ray technician, too?
• I've got the Fort Worth Half Marathon this weekend. As always, I just want to finish and not walk any portion of it.
• The bottom of my garbage disposal started leaking. I replaced one once, but it's not on the top of my list of fun things to do.
• I've got The Hurt Locker arriving from Netflix either today or tomorrow.

Exclusive: Kay Bailey Hutchison Caught In Tryst!

Unconfirmed reports by TMZ (Wise County Bureau) indicate the "other man" is Messenger photographer Joe Duty. Developing . . . (Or it might have been some bus stop of her campaign in Decatur today that I completely overlooked.)

Updated Wise County Weather Forecast

Messenger Says We've Got A Big Wreck

At FM 51 and CR 4396. Anyone know anything?

Sheriff Caught Sitting Next To Phil King!

Oh, wait. That's not the correct headline. The cops are talking about you folks that do the dirty jobs that Americans won't do. And, look out, there's a Minuteman in the group! They're getting serious! Story (but not much to it.)

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Best line yesterday from a friend: "Sheesh, doesn't anyone know to practice discretion anymore? When did that stop?"
• You can do things with a girl while ice dancing at the Olympics that you can't do after five dates in the real world.
• I've noticed that the ice dancing couples do a lot of "over bowing" at the end of the routine once the applause comes.
• OK, I wrote the last two points while watching ice dancing. I'm switching to ESPN right now.
• New credit card regulations went into effect yesterday in order to "protect consumers." When I was 18, I got my first credit card. My dad simply said, "Don't do anything stupid. You have to pay for what you charge." Those were all the regulations that I ever needed to hear.
• This should be its own post: A buddy of mine pointed out how foot loose and fancy free the rules are if you fly a private plane by visual flight rules instead of by instrument. You can take off and fly to a different airstrip and never tell anyone that your doing it.
• The term that sticks in my head coined by John Mayer after his Playboy interview from last week: Sexual Napalm. That guy is crazy.
• Still my favorite John Mayer song: Comfortable.
• The Fox 4 weather guy this morning was already talking about "black ice" for tomorrow since he really didn't have anything to talk about when it wasn't snowing.
• It's amazing how every ad for a guy/gal running for judge in Texas is the same: A "true conservative." Won't legislate from the bench. Will interpret the law instead of make law. Tough but fair.
• Late Tiger apology thought: The best apology had to be that of Jimmy Swaggart - full out weeping and crying. Now that's the way it's done. And, while channel surfing this weekend, I ran across a Jimmy Swaggart Ministries' show with a preacher that has to be his son. Looked just like him.
• The two alleged church arsonists in East Texas don't look like a couple of rocket scientists, do they?
• There's talk of a criminal investigation into Toyota? Sheesh. We've got too many cops, investigators, and prosecutors in this world if they are looking for things to do.
• The San Diego Chargers let LaDainian Tomlinson go yesterday after nine years. Yep, he's done. How long did the Cowboys keep Emmitt Smith before allowing him to leave? Thirteen years.

Breaking: Jackie Murphree Verdict

$24 million in total damages Percentages of fault:

• Drunk Driver: 70%
• Austin Bridge: 0%
• Site Concrete: 15%
• TxDot: 15%

It is my understanding (but for reason I don't readily understand) there will be no recovery from TxDot. The final outcome, unofficially, is that Site Concrete is responsible for its 15% (assuming the verdict holds up on appeal.) The intoxicated driver certainly isn't a factor in the verdict. If she had insurance, it probably wasn't much. The only folks with money were Site Concrete and Austin Bridge. That's really what the trial was about. Edit: Channel 8 coverage of verdict

A Lot Of Wise County Folks Have Been Following This Tragedy Which Just Became More Tragic

Latest Blizzard Projection From People Who Act Like They Know Weather

Although they might be confusing Decatur with Denton. Link.

Montague County: Travel Destination Fail

Bud Kennedy had a column this weekend about some Greensheet type paper in Saint Jo having an "official notice" that a certain type of engineering would heretofore be called "Obama-rigging." I had a buddy tell me about that last week, and he's trying to get me the paper. In the meantime, enjoy the above gem from 1906 in the St. Louis paper called The Dispatch (middle of fourth page here.)

The Iraq War Explained

Credit: bagofnothing.com

Jackie Murphree Verdict Today?

It was a packed house for closing arguments this morning and the jury is deliberating. I think (didn't watch much of this) the jury will be asked if the drunk driver, Site Concrete, and/or Austin Bridge were negligent and, if so, what is the percentage of fault between them. One big issue I need an answer to is to what extent, if any, those with less responsibility have to pay the other's share of the judgment if they cannot. For example, it's a given that the drunk driver will be found negligent with a tremendous amount of fault being placed on her. If any of the other defendants are found liable, will they have to pay her share? This is civil tort law and not my area, but I know where I can find about 10 guys that will give me the answer.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Because I'm a good guy, I sat through Carolina this weekend (an eight year old movie I'd never heard of.) Funny line from it: "I'm not asking you to be a normal child . . . . I'm just asking you to be a little smarter about your crazy side, okay?"
• And I finally watched Seven Pounds starring Will Smith. The more I think about it, the more I don't like it.
• The daughter of the Austin/IRS/Crash pilot called him a "hero" over the weekend. I'll give her a break since she's the daughter.
• Since seperating my shoulder over the Snow Day, I'm back to my jogging schedule. Even I'm amazed the pain has subsided.
• Ate at El Fenix off Woodall Rogers this weekend. Is that the original location?
• And this dawned on me the other day. You get your dining bill, you give them your credit card, they come back, you add a tip. Do they then go back and rerun the card to add the tip to it? I guess they have to. (But wouldn't it be smarter just to get the tip amount before running it the first time?)
• And I finally saw the inside of the Meyerson Symphony Center. Meh. (Kidding. It's fantastic.)
• Even Olympic hockey bores me. But I saw lots of people griping last night that the US/Canada game wasn't on HD -- I had it on HD, once I found it on MSNBC.
• For news junkies only: Did you see the news footage about Israeli spies possibly/probably being behind the killing of a Hamas' leader (it made the news because of the security cams capturing their moves)? That was right out of the movie Munich.
• I actually watched the first 13 "chapters" of R. Kelly's "Trapped In A Closet" this weekend. That was crazy. (I had always heard about it but had never seen it.)
• Even though the constant Tiger Wood's apology analysis beat me down over the weekend, bringing in a "body language" expert almost caused me to destroy my television invention.
• Some of the Olympic bobsledders had a bit of belly bulging out in those spandex suits.
• I posted a crummy cell phone pic this week on twit pic which prompted Messenger photographer Joe Duty to reply "Very nice." Kinda made my day.
• I like waking up in the middle of the night on the weekend and realizing I can go back to bed and sleep as long as I want. (Even though I'm still normally up before 8:00 a.m. anyway)
• Probably interesting for lawyers only: Former Tarrant County judge Bob Gill has been accused in federal testimony by attorney Bill Ray of engaging in "plea negotiations" in connection with Motions to Revoke probation. (The best I can tell, attorneys would go up to the judge and ask "what are you thinking about giving my client if we contest the revocation?" That'd be good information to know).

These Times They Are A Changing

You've got to love a break from the "let's lock 'em all up" mentality in judicial races. Then again, this is a judge in Dallas County looking for votes from Dallas Observer readers.

We Hear Rumors -- You Decide

High Speed Pursuit

I'm 30 minutes late on this and got nothing so far. Developing... Seems like it started westbound on 380, went by Decatur, and ended in the Slidell area. And by "end" I mean in a pasture. Edit: Started near Old Denton Road east of Decatur. It sounds like every law enforcement officer in the Wise County was after this guy.