Does This Look Like An L.A. Detective . . .

. . . who would twitpic a crime scene photo and get in trouble for it?  (Photo near bottom of page on link.)

Nothing illegal. Just a little insensitive. How have Wise County cops avoided this so far?

Yesterday's Work Of Art In Video

And They Would Have Gotten Away With It . . .

. . . but for some meddling kid with video. (Story.)  

But the fact it was part of a class assignment should probably be in the headline somewhere.

Hey, You Constitution Lovers

Congress made it a federal crime in 2006 for a person to "falsely represents himself or herself, verbally or in writing, to have been awarded any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States . . . . " They even gave it a fancy name: "The Stolen Valor Act."


Yep. If you say, for example, that you were awarded the Medal of Honor, you can go to the federal slammer for a year. 


What's that little clause in the First Amendment again? 


The Supreme Court said today it would hear a case challenging the statute's constitutionality.  Seems like a no brainer. 

Texas DPS Issues Warning

Oh, come on. Who amongst us has not had that, "Don't be driving a stolen vehicle with weed in it" conversation with your pre-teen?  It's Responsible Parenting 101.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I learned last night that Mrs. LL is extremely freaked out by the Scary Clown prop in a lawn decorated for Halloween. Very freaked out. 
• A Zombie Walk in Deep Ellum over the weekend. Weird or fun? (Photos.)
• Anybody else get really scared by the "Bloody Mary" scene in the trailer for Paranormal Activity 3? That's pretty intense for regular TV.
• A guy in a Hummer was shot in the head as he drove down a Dallas freeway last night. I think he survived.
• The Softball Team is down to one game. I had a left fielder act like Nelson Cruz on Saturday by throwing out a runner at second on a force.  (She had already had two stellar innings at pitcher.) And the fact that she's humble makes her my favorite player. 
• I don't think I've ever seen one NFL coach go after another like Jim Schwartz (Lions) went after Jim Harbaugh (49ers) yesterday. Video. Good times.
• Couldn't decide on Random Girls today. 
• Hot football sports opinion: No team can intentionally "run out the clock" with more than three minutes left by doing anything other than running their offense like they normally do. If getting a couple of first downs by running the ball were easy, teams would do it from the first quarter.
• There's no way Herman Cain wins the GOP nomination. 
• I heard that the voice of Whataburger ("Attaboy, tiger") will no longer be the voice of Whataburger. He was on The Ticket once and casually mentioned that, being in California, he had never eaten a Whataburger. Edit: I'm 100% sure of this. (He was on BAD Radio's Guest Booking League.)
• Cold front coming in tonight. Bring it.
• Cop punches Occupy Wall Street chick in the face. (:31 second mark.) Ouch.
• I go back and forth on the Occupy movement. Just when I get sympathetic, I realize how we could all have 50% less than what we have and still be more fortunate than most of the world.
• Fox 4's pre and post game coverage of the Rangers is a train wreck every night. I wouldn't miss it for the world. 
• The Update is late this morning. (And still isn't up as I post this.) I was deprived of material. 
• You would think a movie starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson would be a box office sure thing. Nope. "The Big Year" opened in ninth place.

Death At Indy Race

Saw this breaking all over the place but have yet to see exactly what happened. My guess is that there's a clear video of the incident that is being held back. As it should be.

"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?" - Maximus, Gladiator (2000)

Edit: View from a car that went airborne

Twitter World Reaction To Troy Aikman Observation At End Of Cowboy Game

Oregon Coach Appreciates Fan Support

Yes, They Haz World Series Trip Again

Yep, caught it.

Never dreamed I'd see it in my lifetime.

Dirk giving Michael Young his "Super Power Friends" fist bump:

Messenger Above The Fold

And this is the color version of their political cartoon of the week:

Friday Night Lights Grow Up So Fast

Bridgeport 52
Mineral Wells 49
Mineral Wells tied the game with 43 seconds left but Bulls kicker Ricky Martinez kicked a 43 yard field goal with one second left for the win. Livin' La Vida Loca! (Dang it,. that was Ricky Martin.)

Chico 6
Muenster 41
Muenster. Halloween. My previous zombie reference about Chico's resurgence. It's all too easy.

Alvord 27
Nocona 34
A blogger at the Wichita Falls paper predicted this. There's a man who knows how to whip his audience into a frenzy.

Boyd 55
Howe 6
And, how.

Decatur 45
Lake Worth 21
The ride along Jacksboro Highway offered more resistance.

Paradise 0
Calisburg 23
Paradise was favored by eight. Unfortunately, that factored in the offense actually making the trip. 

Drug Signs Are Up In Newark

The Los Zeta Mexican Drug Cartel announced they would move all operations to New Fairview. Proclaimed, "We don't want no problems."

Edit: Oops. It's Rhome. Not Newark. The Zetas apologize for this error.

Aggies Taking Us Into The Weekend

Baylor v. Aggies, 11:00 a.m., FX Network.

I'm extremely worried the Bears will give up over 50.

Edit: I'm coming back to my Sports Genius status:

Edit: Weird --- Baylor coach won't let QB answer simple question about what Aggie Coach said to him after the game. 

I'm Guessing "Glee" Isn't Real Popular In Alice, Texas

Story.

Random Decatur Youtube Video

I was getting a little bored until* the 1:05 mark. I never get invited to anything.
____________
* Didn't mean to oversell that. Just meant that you could actually see some people (and a potential Hey, Now) around that time. Liberally Lean apologizes for this error.

While Fox News laughs off the "dirty hippies" of Occupy Wall Street, it doesn't hurt to stop down for a second and think about their cause.  Slowly, over time, wages have stagnated or fallen, jobs have become more scarce, student debt buries many of Americans, health care is ridiculously unaffordable, no one can obtain a mortgage, and the list goes on.  For those in their twenties and even in their thirties, they have every right to say, "This is not what you told me it would be like!"

Sean Hannity, who is in the middle of a 5 year/$100 million contract (ergo, the "1%"), preaches, "If you live in America and work hard, you will succeed."  The fact that people are now questioning that premise doesn't make them un-American, it may in fact make them very American. Or maybe the new American.

Are we lazy bums who simply spend beyond our means? Or has the playing field change over the years while we weren't looking. If you don't know someone who busts it everyday but is being buried financially, you don't know many people at all.

And the fear is that it will only get worse for our children.

More "We Are The 99%" photos here.

Edit: And just when I try to be serious, someone has to send me this:

Crazy Texas Legal Case Of The Day

An illegal alien is caught with drugs and is offered a plea bargain of 10 years probation in Smith County, Texas.  One of the conditions of probation was for her to obtain legal status within 12 months or else leave the country and reside  “in a location where you do have a legally authorized status.”   That's right, some judge said, in effect, "If you ain't legal in a year, get back to Mexico. In the meantime, enjoy American probation."

When the defendant failed to obtain the right to legally be here, the State filed a Motion to revoke her probation, the judge found that she had violated that probation, and he ordered her to prison for five years.

On Appeal: Not so fast, my friend.  The probation order is trumped by federal law, and federal law controls criminal sanctions for not being in the country legally.

Side note #1: The court's opinion casually pointed out that there was also a probation condition which required her to not break any law while on probation. However, the State did not allege that she violated that condition.

Side note #2:  "Her counsel stated at the revocation hearing that [the defendant] had four children who were United States citizens, two of whom have Down’s Syndrome."