He Burns This Book In Christian Love

This guy made a big deal about wanting to burn a Quran last year but then backed off due to public pressure. For some reason, he quietly did it any way earlier this year with no fanfare and no press coverage. This video was uploaded about a week ago.

All went according to plan until people started dying because of it in Afghanistan.

Shockingly, the guy got quite a bit of support on talk radio today.

A Little Intense

There is nothing quite like the intensity of waiting for something you know is going to happen. After all, there's a reason Alfred Hitchcock became famous.

According to youtube, no one was hurt.

Pretty Funny

Monday Morning Pick Me Up

Does Brasil have so many hot chicks that they can just treat them any way they want? What's up with that? Gal could have broke her neck.

(And I was wondering why she got out laughing. But it's good to see that slowly but surely her internal rage meter was firing off.)

It's A Feral Hog Holocaust!

That's the lead story, albeit with a completely different take, in Comanche County's main newspaper. Don't tell PETA.

(Thanks, Bud.)

Edit: And then this happens today . . .

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Did you know Windex takes out fingernail polish out of the carpet? Did you know we found that out during a state of carpet emergency yesterday?
• Weird: Charlie Sheen is royally booed in Detroit on Friday but gets a standing ovation in Chicago last night.
• On Friday, a Southwest Airlines plane developed a hole in the passenger compartment at 36,000 feet. I always thought the chances of someone being sucked out of the plane in a situation like that was almost a given. 
• Some news organizations are recalling an incredible story (and photo) from 1988 when an Aloha Airliner lost part of its fuselage -- and a flight attendant -- midair.
• Highway 114 is getting a bridge at FM51 per the Update. I like the concept since it will provide entrance and exit ramps, but aren't there other places in the county where such a design could be used?
• The Lady Aggies are going to the National Championship game. They are a scrappy bunch. (And they'll avoid two time defending champ Connecticut who lost last night.)
• From the "How did I miss this?" Department: Former Mav Steve Nash made waves last December when he filed for divorce one day after his wife gave birth because, uh, the baby didn't exactly look like him. 
• Wow: A random lawyer I keep up with who blogs in Harris County wrote in 2008 about an old and mentally disturb friend of his who showed up looking for him at the courthouse. The blog post was basically a "how can I help him?" story.  Flash forward three years and miles away: That same man walked into his parents' house and shot his father dead on Sunday in San Antonio. (Links.)
• Uh, if we are so worried about "spreading democracy and freedom" we might want to pay attention to 1,000 civilians being killed in the Ivory Coast over a three day period.
• What's left of the Liberally Lean Tourney Pick 'Em is here. The Wise County Attorney will win it all if UConn wins tonight -- and he'll never let me forget it.  If Butler wins, someone named "SweetGRubes" wins (that's a Ticket reference, by the way.)
• Before you jump me about my prediction that the Rangers won't make the playoffs (they went 3-0 over the weekend), there are 159 more games left. (And did you see that Former-Rangers-Rent-A-Pitcher Cliff Lee pitched seven innings, struck out eleven, and walked none. That's how you win.)
• Outside of Rangers' Manager Ron Washington's modest house in New Orleans is the word "NIGGERS" which has been etched into concrete on the sidewalk. He said it was there when he bought the house in 1986 and has never spent the couple of hundred of bucks to replace it. (Story).

Man Gets Too Close To Business End Of Baby Shark

Hey, I Saw A Movie

• Despite having a krillion movie channels and a Netflix account, we rented Black Swan via pay-per-view last night. (Why doesn't that technology kill all the rest?)  I used to watch a couple of new movies per week, but those days are gone.
• Verdict: Huge thumbs up. I've always believed you don't know how much you like a movie until about a week after watching it. I don't need a week on this one.
• I expected it to be pretty high tone, but it can almost be described as a smart and modern day Carrie.
• Women will eat this film up. 
• There's no question you'll spend a lot of time asking "What the heck is going on?" but, oddly, not in a frustrating kind of way. But you'll have no idea what is real and what is not.
• I love. love, love Natalie Portman (from Beautiful Girls to The Professional to the fantastic Closer.) Have for years. And she's not even 30 yet.
• As for her character, I wanted to yell at the scream, "Don't you have just one friend who you can call and say 'Man, there are some freaky things going on!""
• My biggest criticism of the movie is that it continuously invokes the #1 horror cliche (look in the mirror and see something shocking in the background, take a step backward and turn around to be confronted with someone suddenly standing there, etc.) I hate that. You end up watching a movie in a tense manner - not because it's brilliantly written - but because you know the director is screwing with you. 
• With all the rehearsal and dressing room scenes, a sexually harassing director, and a naive star, I was laughing at myself for thinking of Elizabeth Berkley's Showgirls so often.
• And then I read a review that said, "Showgirls meets Fight Club on crazy pills." Spot on. 

Random Denton Book-In Photo

Proof.

If You Like Omens

The Ranger's first swing of the year resulted in a home run thanks to Ian Kinsler.

(The Ranger's first error of the year, thanks to center fielder Borbon, led to one if not two Boston runs.  Youtube.)

Box score.

Edit: Exclusive coverage of today's game from behind home plate ....

Wow: High School Fight In Fort Worth Ends In Death This Morning

And no weapons were involved.

More.

Naked Chick Rushes Mavericks' Bench Last Night

All this technology in the world and there's not one good view of her? Or camera phone pic?

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Traffic deaths hit a 61 year low. I don't care if there are safer cars, with all the millions of people driving out there and acting like a fool, how is that possible?
• With a house full of females, I don't even start getting cleaned up to go out until I hear one of them say, "We're almost ready!" And I still beat them out the door. 
• Does any company advertise more that Geico?
• It's April 1st, the Red Sox are in town, and I just saw a live shot of a blanket of snow in Boston.
• Please tell me that the "Claw and Antlers" thing isn't coming back this year.
• The Lakers blew out the Mavericks last night (110-82) so I did a double-take when I saw the USA Today headline of "Lakers Beat Mavericks, But Not Without A Fight." But then I read where five players were kicked out for shoving.
• Man, I keep hearing rumors of a Wise County cop being dismissed after some improper conduct in a parking lot. (Don't give names or agency, but has anyone heard anything?) Edit: There sure are a lot of people who believe it to be true. Sorry I can't post most of the comments because, although it is probably true, I haven't verified it. 
• Fiona kissing sometimes-traffic-guy Todd Carruth. (He actually taunted me with this yesterday)
• My questioning of why there wasn't inflation when the federal government flooded the economy with bailout cash a couple of years back? Well, get ready. The CEO of Walmart says serious price increases are coming, and the Fed talks about raising interest rates to combat inflation.
• Courtney Cox is at the beach and she still has it. 
• Obama re-election boost: Unemployment numbers released this morning show the rate has dropped to a two year low of 8.8% with 216,000 jobs added. 
• The weeping willow tree we planted is still alive although I've seen healthier leaves in my life. 
• I watched "Mobbed" last night where a flash mob of 1,000 surprise a healthy chick who then gets proposed to and married on the spot. (Family and friends were brought in.) She acted happy, but it was borderline emotionally cruel. (And they slapped a wedding dress over the outfit she was wearing which seemed demeaning.)
• But then again, Howie Mandel is the host which might have sucked the entertainment value out of it for me. 
• Saw on the felony docket in Wise County for Monday that there was a Motion To Modify the probation of Betty Monroe, the lady who was convicted of Intoxication Assault of Jackie Murphree. I'm not sure what that is about but I'll find out. 
• I just realized that Betty Monroe was also the name of one of the victims of Wise County's most famous killer, Ricky Lee Green. 
• The "Albany Seven" who won the big lottery this week includes a 29 year old girl that could easily become a "Hey, Now" once you realize she's netting $19 million. 
• For those griping about Obama not getting the "approval" of Congress before the attack of Libya, the Constitution has no such requirement. It allows for Congress to only "declare" war -- something that wasn't done even for the invasion of Iraq.
• Edit: North Richland Hills motorcycle death.

Message To All You Married Guys Out There Wishing You Were Single

Think again.

Bronx Zoo Cobra Captured!

As that time of this posting, he hadn't had a reaction on his Twitter page. (He last mentioned he was going to the Yankee game.)

Edit: No update from the snake as of 9:00 p.m.  You know, that may be the best way to end his twitter feed. Just suddenly gone.

Edit: We've finally got an answer. He swallowed his phone once captured but he regurgitated it up on Friday.

Texas Senate Candidate Has Read Republican Playbook And More

Kill Obamacare? Check
Rights of the Unborn? Check
"Assist our cause of freedom" by giving me campaign money? Whoa. The man really knows how to go over the top.

Contest: Greatest Sports Photo Ever

Ali Knocking Out Liston in 1965:

Or some guy knocking out a naked and drunk Asian guy at some spring break function in 2011:

Toughest contest ever.  (There was a video on youtube for the Naked Asian but - can you believe it? - youtube took it down.) And, for the record, this blog does not condone naked fighting, Asian or Non-Asian.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• A 14 screen movie theater is coming to north Fort Worth at 287 and I-35. That's pretty close. 
• Fort Worth ISD high school baseball players sacrifice chickens to improve performance? Makes sense. That's what a guy wanted to do in the movie Major League which happened to star Charlie Sheen.
• I forgot to mention last week that Baby Jessica (who was a toddler who fell down a well over 20 years ago and gave us our first "reality TV"), turned 25 and gained access to an $800,000 trust fund. I suppose that sounded like a great idea by donors back in the day. Now, not so much.
• A ticket scalper service ranks (pdf) each baseball team's average opening day ticket price on the secondary market and the Rangers are #2 ($173.82) with an increase of over 100% from last year.
• By the way, MLB moving opening day to late in the week, and especially the Rangers moving the game to a Friday for the first time ever, is a great idea. I'll be enjoying it .......by checking in online.
• I don't know why some of you think my brilliant sports predictions of failure means I don't like a particular team. I predict Baylor football failure every year.
• As for the Mavericks, in the next couple of weeks I'll post the link of my prediction from last Fall of them getting knocked out in the first or second round.
• Mrs. LL demands that we watch Black Swan. I'm in. 
• I don't care if Barry Bonds took steroids or that he lied to a grand jury about whether he took them. That federal trial is a waste of taxpayer money and much ado about nothing.
• Lately I've been catching the Family Cat just staring at me intently from across the room. 
• Obama is no better than Bush when he feeds us this crap of bombing Libya for the sake of freedom and democracy for their people. If that's the case, let's go get a map of the eastern hemisphere, throw a dart, and then go invade that country as well.
• And the rebels in Libya are getting crushed. 
• Mrs. LL says that if she sees the "talking twins" one more time on the news she's smashing the TV.
• WBAP's Hal Jay said this morning: "That's the craziest name I've ever heard of" before confirming that he had never heard of The Screwtape Letters. 
• If you ever want to know how dishonest Sean Hannity and Fox News are, you just had to watch last night. On his "Great American Panel" segment he played the Great Texas High School Hockey Brawl clip and then they all  talked about how sissified America is because you can't fight to protect yourself anymore. Problem: The video clip was outrageously edited to show only the brawl on the boards (which looked like a typical hockey fight) and  blocked out the vicious hit that broke the kid's jaw. Not only did they cut the clip down in length, they enlarged it so the audience could only see 1/3 of the original version.
• I knew John Hinkley, Jr. was fascinated with Jodie Foster but I  never knew he wrote this letter to her on the day of his assassination attempt on President Reagan. 
• There was a no-body-murder-conviction in Oklahoma this week. (But the defendant admitted to killing her spouse, and her computer had searches for “easy murder,” “murder methods,” “spousal murder,” “quick kill,” “strangulation,” “execution methods,” “human torture methods” among other things.)
• Note to self: Clear internet browsing history. (Edit for a couple of you:  You see, putting this bullet point right after the above bullet point makes for, uh, comedy.)