Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Does anyone rent those office out past center field at the Rangers' ballpark?
• A DPS trooper is missing near Austin.
• Hooters has told this waitress that she's too fat and needs to lose weight.
• Another Republican congressman has been caught in an affair and will resign.
• Wise County now has three assistant DAs and they got a raise this week to $95,000 a year.
• Two Letters to the Editors in today's Messenger have a title that says, "Headline goes here."
• Saw parts of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest last night --- had no idea that Christopher Lloyd ("Doc" from Back To The Future) was one of the crazy patients.
• Irving rush hour was slowed this morning when a body was found on the 183 freeway. That's not exactly a Chamber of Commerce moment.
• Odd moment last night when Rangers' reliever Neftali Feliz simply dropped the ball during his windup. I'm not sure I've seen that before. It was even funnier because it was with two outs and two strikes in the 9th, and the crowd was on its feet in anticipation.
• I don't think the Republicans had a good night last night: A Tea Party candidate beat out a Republican in the Senate race in Kentucky, and the Democrats held onto the Pennsylvania Senate seat formerly held by John Murtha.
• Edit @Wordkyle's comment: The Tea Party candidate did, in fact, run as a Republican. But considering he is Ron Paul's son, and considering the Republican establishment (including Dick Cheney) backed his opponent, that was a Tea Party win over a Republican in my book.
• Edit @DannyBoy's comment: You might want to check your facts regarding the Pennsylvania primary before going on a rant.
• I think DPS troopers sitting on the back side of the northbound 287 service road after the 407 overpass is sneaky.
• I'm pretty interested in the feds going after R. Allen Stanford, the Texas man accused of bilking billions of dollars from investors through sales of CDs. If you are to, there's a pretty good update here. He's been in jail for a few months and is not handling it well.
• Bought a lottery ticket for the first time in months last night. Did you know you can't pay for it with a debit card? Isn't that the same as cash?
• On another lottery note, is there any more of a beating than being stuck behind someone cashing in lottery tickets who then turns around and picks out more?

From The Email Bag: From Bridgeport Elementary This Morning

"I know it is hard to see, but this is a lady on a motorized cart with three (3) kids riding. She takes these kids up the street, to the crosswalk, across the crosswalk, and directly up to the door to drop them off."

It's Official: Runaway Bay Has Lost Its Mind

But I fully support the critter's image on all cop cars. Let's put that on the next agenda.

Viral Video Of The Day: Hail Storm In Oklahoma City

But let me apologize for the guy who says "Oh my god" over and over. Not only does he violate one of the 1o Commandments, but he has an Annoyance Factor that is off the charts.

Dale Peterson: Tougher Than Chuck Norris?

Vote for this guy or he'll fill you full of buckshot.

And, Dale (uh, I mean Mr. Peterson, sir), if you lose just move on over to Wise County, Texas because I can guarantee your election to any local position you want.

Edit: Direct youtube link. (It's getting truncated above for some reason.)

Edit: Here's a slightly nsfw parody that is funny.

The Update

. . . has some pictures of carnage on it if you're interested.

This Is Not My "Before" Nutrisystem Photo

Need A Little More Facts

The story.

There was some type of "inappropriate sexual contact" between a 17 year old boy and a 14 year old girl on a band trip. But we don't know the act, if they were boyfriend/girlfriend, or whether it was consensual. Does it matter? For the band director, heck yeah. (Note: news stories will always call it "abuse" or "assault" even if the act is consensual if the act still constitutes a crime.)

The Penal Code makes it illegal to commit certain sexual acts with a minor who is under 17. But if the minor is 14 years or older, it's not a crime so long as the acts were (1) consensual, and (2) the accused is within three years of age of the "victim." So if the acts were consensual, we don't even know if the 17 year old committed a crime until we get a calender out. (Being three years and 1 day older takes you outside of the statute.) And I don't think you can expect a band director to know the details of the law. It could be that he didn't think it was a crime at all.

So until we know what the band director was told, it's a little hard to judge him. But I'm sure he's not feeling judged today at all.

Edit: Here's the statute.

And "abuse", by definition, includes consensual sexual contact with a person under 17 by someone three years or older that that person. But if all the band director knows is a 17 year old and a 14 year old are have had sex, does he have "cause to believe" that the law is being broken? For all he knows, she might be 14 years and 11 months old and he might be 17 years and 1 day old. If that's the case, the kid is safe and no crime was committed.

You guys feel free to convict the band director under those circumstances, but I won't. (And, to further complicate it, he would have the additional defense that, regardless, she wasn't "adversely affected" within the meaning of the statute.)

We're not talking about whether he broke school policy. We aren't talking about whether he should be suspended. We aren't even talking about what is the morally correct thing to do when he learned of the conduct. We are, however, talking about the government trying to convict him of a crime for not reporting. It's easy to forget that he didn't touch anybody.

But if it's non-consensual between the two kids, the band director has trouble.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Odd crew at a party over the weekend: Twitpic of Ice T and his wife, LeeAnn Rimes and hubby, and Pam Anderson.
• Sheesh: Fox News already had Miss USA runner-up Miss Oklahoma on TV this morning to talk about whether her Immigration Law answer "cost her the crown." (But I'll admit she's pretty smart.)
• And co-host Brian Kilmeade, proving he's well rounded, asked, "Whose idea was it for the contestants to wear high heels with bathing suits?" Maybe he was born yesterday.
• The metroplex news coverage of the Lake Bridgeport natural gas spill yesterday was a little bizarre. It happened on Friday afternoon and becomes news on Monday? (I think they all have skeleton crews on weekends.)
• The Messenger Editor appeared at some public hearing yesterday in connection with the Postal Service considering discontinuing Saturday service. Since the paper is still delivered by mail on Saturday, he is concerned.
• New USC coach Lane Kiffin, who has never won anything anywhere, will say tonight on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that he is making $4 million a year.
• "BP said Monday that about 20 percent of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is being swallowed up by its insertion tube system and no longer feeding a giant slick off Louisiana." If I had a septic tank running into my neighbor's pool, I don't think he'd be satisfied if I told him I had diverted 20% of it.
• The Ballpark in Arlington looked like a lake 30 minutes before game time last night. And with only a 15 minute delay, it looked absolutely normal and the game was underway.
• I went to the dentist yesterday. I hate going to the dentist.
• NOAA says April was the hottest April since they've been keeping records.
• The parking striping in downtown Bridgeport is really tricked up now.
• Want to know why the University of Texas (and others) would want to leave the Big 12? The most recent numbers indicate that the revenue sharing plan had them earning $10 million in 2007 while Baylor pulled in $7 million. But the schools in the Big 10 make $20 million a year and that number is expected to soar. (Source.)
• Oh my: 87 year old trying to mark one off his Bucket List died on the Texas Motor Speedway track on Saturday.

Turn Around! Turn Arou........OH!!!!!

I think I saw an animated GIF of this a few years ago, but I had never seen the actual footage. Wow, putting it in slow motion builds up more tension than Hollywood ever has.

Lake Bridgeport

Anybody see Channel 8 news at lunch? There's some report of an oil or gas leak into Lake Bridgeport, but I don't know if it is the same situation that occurred last Friday.

A Muslim Won Miss USA?

Story.

Edit: Uh, oh. TMZ is after her.

News That Is Old News But Still Interesting News

The AP is on the story of Rick Perry's expensive rent house.

But, since I am the most trusted source in news, faithful readers of Liberally Lean learned about it in November of 2007.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Worse weather forecasting for the weekend ever? Turned out beautiful.
• I finally saw Date Night this weekend. Summary: Silly and predictable but with some laugh out loud moments.
• Wow: In 1952, the Boyd Police Chief was shot and a crowd gathered to cheer about it according to this AP story (pdf) in the Seattle Times. (Credit: Bud Kennedy.)
• There was a story on the news last night of a guy in Dallas handing out envelopes with $1 in them and encouraging people to add a dollar and give it away themselves. Good idea. But at what point do you think people would keep the envelope? I say $5.
• Modern Family is pretty funny.
• The First Baptist Church of Dallas has raised $115 million for reconstruction costs. WWJD?
• Saw an overweight family playing tennis this weekend. The dad ended up yelling, "No one in this family has a lick of hand/eye coordination." And he beaned his little son with a serve.
• It's weird that the oil spill in the Gulf really hasn't done much damage to land yet.
• The lady that escaped Wise County Sheriff's deputies last week while handcuffed was recaptured. There's no word as to what happened to the handcuffs.
• Texas A&M basketball recruit died over the weekend.
• Fort Worth police shot and killed a man this morning.
• We've got a computer technician in the office this morning. His phone just went off and it has a ringtone with the theme of The Exorcist.

Wise County Economic Hit

But it will reopen as an addiction recovery center.

Story

Old Timer Alert

I have a vague recollection as a kid of seeing a similar, but smaller, sign in Boyd as you entered it eastbound on 114. Am I right?

Living Beyond Your Means

The average DFW resident has $24,775 in "consumer debt" which includes things like credit card debt and car loans (but excludes mortgages.) But it seems to me like there's a huge difference between a $24,000 car loan that has a scheduled monthly payoff vs. a similar credit card debt that would be like a black hole.

Source.

We Got A Lake Bridgeport Issue Brewing?

The lake is already completely full and the watershed had been getting pounded all morning. And, since I'm the most trusted name in weather, I think the cold front stalling over the metroplex is causing all the rain to stick to the same pattern without moving. And it's supposed to do that for a couple of days? Edit: They opened up one gate Friday afternoon (thanks, Joey):