I Think A Lot Of You Would Like This

I watched this during The Ice Storm Of 2011 and it's pretty insane. (Man, I love documentaries.)

Amazon link.

Lawnmower Man vs. Police

The neighbors' call the cops on him for mowing and watering their yard? Give the man a medal, not a beat down. (Buddy, you can move next door to me any day of the week.)

But as to resisting arrest, he said: "I was actively resisting being beaten."  I'm going to use that line.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• New Parker County district judge Trey Loftin was really playing to the cameras in the courtroom when he denied the alleged kidnapper/arsonist/rapist Jeffrey Maxwell a court appointed attorney yesterday.  "Sir, I don't think the people of Parker County want me to give you an attorney if you have this kind of financial ability."
• When the trash fails to get picked up (why was I the only one in the neighborhood?) it kind of puts you in a bind for the rest of the week.
• I had forgotten about the interview a few months back with the Fort Worth man who had a face transplant yesterday. Absolutely horrific what that accident did to him. (When I first wrote this I typed "faceplant" instead of "face transplant" which means I watch too many video clips.)
• A U.S. F-15 went down in Libya today due to mechanical issues but both crew members were rescued. (I suspect Maverick's ego was writing checks his body couldn't cash.)
• And Wikipedia tells me the cost of one of those planes is just under $30 million. We waste a lot of money being the World's War Machine. 
• Just saw a Wise County felony criminal court docket that has six defendants with Hispanic surnames charged with "Hindering Apprehension Or Prosecution of Known Felon" on it. I hope that was one very bad felon or that's overkill. 
• William Shatner is 80 today. He'll always be Captain Kirk to me. 
• A tuition hike at UNT will now bring "the average tuition for 15 hours to $4,391 per semester." Is that right? When did that cost explode?
• The Love's truck stop (or whatever it's called), has put its sign up at 114/287 in Rhome and the McDonald's golden arches are part of it.  That's Wise County's third one and a sure sign we've hit the Big Time. Edit: Oops. Forgot about the one in Walmart.
• The War on Drugs in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Oh, my. 
• Irving MacArthur coach Suzie Oelschlegel promised her girls basketball team that she would get a tattoo of the team’s motto if they won the state title. They won. The motto: “We n dat thang.” 
• The punk bully who got thrown down in last week's viral video went on A Current Affair and gives us seven seconds of video gold. 

People of Walmart?

This cell phone pic was sent to me today claiming to be authentic.

I don't even feel safe keeping the comments open.

(Alleged) Bad Prosecutor

The hypocrisy continues. Not to mention the stupidity for buying the stuff from his car from a street dealer.

 (But maybe it's just karma for picking on Paris Hilton.)

Story.

Let's All Sit Around And Second Guess The Police

This happened over St. Patrick's Day in Savannah, Georgia and that's about all I know. It starts out as a girl fight but the cops come in at the 1:30 mark.  Then the guy to the right of the screen will take a blow from a baton to his leg and goes down. One of the girls who was in the fight then takes about four blows to the leg but (amazingly) doesn't go down. For some reason, she walks away a little bit later and a cop goes and retrieves her by her belt loop and deposits her none to softly onto the ground.

If they are disobeying commands to get on the ground, then reasonable force can certainly be used. But this policy of beating someone with a stick to get them to go down seems a bit overkill.

Language Warning: For some reason, the Internet has proven that anyone who enjoys filming street fights also loves to cuss. Turn the volume off if easily offended (but you will miss the baton whacking sound.)

From The Messenger Update A Couple Of Days Back

I really don't mind them getting paid, it's just a strange way to do it.  I bet they'll have some nice lawns this summer.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• So we went to the Dallas Arboretum on Friday -- my first time to ever go there. Verdict: Beautiful place situated right along White Rock Lake. You'll never see so many tulips in one place.
• But combine beautiful weather, spring break, and an art show on the premises, and you've got traffic Armageddon. We ended up having to use a shuttle about a half mile away. (But it wasn't as big of a beating as you would think.)
• For lunch we went to go to -- get this -- Crystal's Pizza.  I used to go to the on in Fort Worth all the time as a kid, and I had noticed the one along 183 in Irving. It was just like I remembered, and that might have been because the video games and the carpet look like they hadn't been replaced in a couple of decades.
• A great portion of Saturday was dedicated to digging a hole for a weeping willow tree. Clay soil and rocks made that a joy. (And I fear death for the tree.)
• Charlie Sheen putting on a show at the American Airlines show in Dallas is ridiculous.
• AT&T buying T-Mobile for $39 billion is mind blowing.
• As to the bombing of Libya, is there some secret and arbitrary list of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" leaders in the world that we don't know about?
• And I've had Dr. Emmit Brown's voice from Back to the Future in my head all weekend saying, "Marty! It's the Libyans!"
• Tiger Woods has a 22 year old girlfriend. 
• The end of the Texas game yesterday was a disaster for them. Who know you couldn't call time out when throwing the ball in when the referee's count got to four. Edit: Seth Davis said that was the rule on TNT but later retracted it.
• The standings for the Liberally Lean Tourney sponsored by Mark "The Decatur Hammer" Howell and myself are here. (Funny: "Triple Fake LL Family Cat" is in second place.)
• Trying to teach the younger kid in the house how to bat when she suddenly went from hitting little dribblers to almost taking my head off with a line drive. Her laugh was more one of fear than humor. 
• I got confronted by the Neighbor Boys and their big brother on the street. Thankfully, the older brother had some common sense and decency about him. (When I asked the littlest hellion what he had done with our ball that had gone over the fence he said, "We took it inside and the next morning when we woke up it was gone.")

I Must Be Dreaming

Story.

France? France takes military action in a land they generally have no interest in? And against a country they are not at war with?  France?  A country whose "French Resistance" in World War II meant bad service to the Germans in restaurants? France?

This world is getting more confusing by the moment.

Edit: Well, at least I know we'll act rationally. Wait, what's that? You're kidding. For the life of me, I don't understand this at all.

Come Monday, I'm Going To Be Turning Some Heads

Random/Crazy Decatur Photo From Yesterday

I call it "Lady With Two Leashes And Dog Disrespecting Neighbors"

Taken by the "old Decatur bus barn". 

(Thanks emailer Marie!)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• A car hit a cow this morning on 287 just south of the Saginaw cutoff. Hitting a cow at any time is not good. Hitting a cow on a freeway is triple not good. 
• And another.
• The "monster truck" involved in the strip club parking lot death was ridiculous. 
• And the media is bending over backwards to make sure we all know the victim did not work at the strip club. But we all know that nothing good comes from being in a strip club parking lot at 2:00 a.m. on a Thursday morning. On a Saturday morning maybe. But not on a Thursday. 
• Posting will be slow today since I'm engaged in "family time." I suggested the Dallas Arboretum and got royally poo poo'd. 
• Beat down: Having a piece of ice fall to the floor out of the freezer and not immediately being able to spot it. That's something you've got to track down. 
• TCU's baseball team started the season #1 in the nation and then promptly lost 5 of its first 15 games.
• I finally got around to putting the broken down Family Truckster on Craig's List. You know what happens when you are honest and tell people that it is not drivable and then price it ridiculously low? You get money thrown at you hand over fist, that's what. It sold within 24 hours to a couple of guys that showed up with a trailer to haul it away. 
• They weren't particularly interested in me giving them the title. They are probably going to use it in some bank robbery today.
• Mohammed Reza was convicted of a sexual offense in Wise County in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years. His conviction was affirmed by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals late yesterday. (And I would link to the Messenger story back when he was convicted but I can't because their redesign has jacked up all their archives.)
• President Obama announces his picks for the womens's NCAA Tournament today. Prediction: He chooses Baylor and specifically mentions Britney Griner. Edit: I'm done with him! He picked UConn to beat Baylor in the finals.
• And, yeah, he'll be criticized for not taking action in the Middle East where unrest, especially in Libya, continues. But for once, I'm glad the U.S. isn't sticking its nose in everyone else's business. 
• Channel surfing last night and came across a Ranger's exhibition/preseason game. I lasted 10 seconds before boredom set in. 
• NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell isn't an independent advocate for the league -- he's an agent of the owners who pay him a shocking $10 million a year. (And his publicity stunt of cutting his salary to $1 during the lockout only highlights this fact.)
• Channel 8 weather gal Coleen Coyle is pretty cute. I'm not sure how I've missed her. 
• The Liberally Lean Tourney ended up with right at 200 entries. After day one, five of you got 14 of 16 picks correct. Standings.
• I'm pretty sure Decatur lawyer Mark "The Decatur Hammer" Howell and I will provide a gift card to the winner.  How's that for commitment?
• South by Southwest even makes the cover of a hip New York newspaper.

That's One Fancy Want Ad

Thursday Afternoon Pick Me Up

There's A Lot Going On There

So How's This Supposed to Work?

Last week there was concern that our business neighbors might have a gas leak. So the gas company was called and they came out, detected gas, and brought out a backhoe to tear up the street. (They actually worked until about 10 at night.)  

Once done, however, the street is torn up and three cones are left to mark the spot.

Question: How long do you think it will stay that way?

Note: That building in the background still reminds me of The Amityville Horror house.

Greatest Extra Ever

His name is Jesse Heiman.

It's St. Patrick's Day So You Know What That Means!

 Where da lepacon at??!!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• "Pilates" and "Pirates" should rhyme.
• Today Samsung releases a computer that is lighter than the Macbook Air. But, in a twist, it is more expensive.
• A traffic control light will installed on 380 and Business 380 by the Sheriff's Office? 
• Political junkies: I love Congressman Anthony Weiner (D - New York) who goes on Sean Hannity and just beats him senseless.
• When the news came out about the crazy guy that abducted the Perrin lady and burned her house down, I thought about a possible connection to the missing Perrin teen mom from last summer who I've written about. And although that's a stretch, law enforcement now want to talk to him about it.
• Saw a shot of a helicopter trying to dump water on one of the nuclear reactors in Japan. That looked like a very futile act.
• I think Mrs. LL is about to kill the family cat. Whoever out there told me that that type of cat would be a holy terror, you were absolutely right. 
• And the other night she was in the kitchen just fixated on one location on the ceiling. Wasn't there a scene like that in Poltergeist or some other horror movie (except it involved a dog)?
• Twitpic of Greg "The Hammer" Williams asleep this morning in a hotel in Surprise, Arizona. As the caption says, "Crime scene?"
• If you haven't seen the baby who is both scared and entertained by his mother blowing her nose (I know, weird), you have to see it. One of the cutest things you'll ever watch.
• Hip Hop guy Nate Dogg died yesterday, and I felt out of the loop because I had no idea who he was. Then I felt at least 1% of hipness when I discovered I knew the song Regulate that he was featured in. 
• Those Lake Highland parents who are getting fined by their homeowner's association for their noisy toddler seem to really like the attention. 
• During the last NFL work stoppage in the 1980s, I was 100% behind the owners. This time around, I'm in the players' corner.  Edit: And the next person that says "millionaires fighting billionaires" gets tased. 
• Idea for a cartoon I had last night: A swimming and talking breaded fishstick.
• 23 year old stripper from Granbury killed by monster truck in club parking lot in Dallas. If this is her Facebook page (name, age, and high school match up), the slogan of "I'm the master of my fate" was woefully untrue. Edit: A commentor points out that the story doesn't identify her as a stripper and just states she was in the parking lot. Duly noted. (And Fox 4 has some pictures.) Edit #2: Fox 4 reports her friends and family members say she not employed by the club.