That's A Festive TV Anchor Crew, Too

Messenger Above The Fold

WBAP's Mark Davis Analysis Of Michelle Bachman's Debate Point Abut Income Tax

So true. I support millions of Americans who have no tax liability under the current system to he required to send in $1. The time waste of the taxpayer, the postage, and the IRS administrative costs would make it all worth it.

And then Mitt and Rick almost went UFC on each other.

(The other great moment tonight was when Rick Perry went into Country Mode and called Herman Cain "brother.")

Romney Tries To Make Sure There Will Be No Perry Resurrection

Even launches an Anti-Perry website.

I bet the Perry campaign is debating whether to fire off a, "That wasn't very Christian-like of you, Mitt" in tonight's debate.

Has Something To Do With Cottondale, Texas and Fireman This Summer

Credit Joe Duty Flickr Page

Texas Tech v. North Texas

Not that I steal from other sites, but I steal from other sites. (And I encourage theft of my blog material that I have stolen.) That being said, I saw a blog this morning throwing down this contest. I think I'll go green. Mean Green.

Random Images From Google "Decatur, Texas" Image Search

Search.

Suicide Of A Super Power

Pat Buchanan has been promoting his new book over the last two days, and it is about how America is changing. Changing to the point of destruction. I find this stuff fascinating. And, dare I say, maybe dead on. From Amazon:

America is disintegrating.

The “one Nation under God, indivisible” of the Pledge of Allegiance is passing away. In a few decades, that America will be gone forever. In its place will arise a country unrecognizable to our parents.

America was born a Western Christian republic, writes Buchanan, but is being transformed into a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic stew of a nation that has no successful precedent in the history of the world.

Buchanan's basic premise, which he has written about before, is the answer to this extremely thought provoking question: "What exactly is a nation?" His answer: "For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays and share the same music, poetry, art and literature?"


That has always stuck with me. Maybe that's why I always think of, and reference, that image from the Olympics in China.

I don't know if the U.S. will "disintegrate" but I can absolutely seeing it changing to a point of not being recognizable to our parents. And I mean extremely unrecognizable.  I'm not sure if I understand the history of the Balkins, but if it is a blueprint of an area becoming unique territories formed by people who have flocked together based upon "common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes" etc., I can see it happening. Traveling from California to South Carolina may feel like traveling through three or four completely different, well, nations.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Love this quote from the Denton County Republican Chairperson regarding an eccentric Denton resident (and Presidential candidate)  who was arrested over the weekend: "My thought is they ought to keep him in jail until he can be tried and convicted.” Good grief. Maybe she can use that line in her next "our Constitution is sacred" speech. 
• Reference on the radio this morning to an old time medical treatment of my childhood: Monkey Blood.
• I just thought about the Texas Tech student struck on his bicycle near Runaway Bay during the summer. I never heard another word about him.
• Kind of technical, but if you get hit with one of those stupid DPS "surcharges" after September 1, 2011 and you are truly indigent, there's a way out of them. DPS just hasn't figured out how to handle the new law they are obligated to enforce.
• Bristol Palin, author - mother - spokesperson, is now mature enough under the law to buy beer today for the first time.
• WBAP's Hal Jay this morning: "I wish my kids would have learned to speak Mexican."  And he wasn't joking. His co-workers made fun of him for the next minute. (7:49 a.m.)
• Softball season is over. 4-6 record. Not bad for a group of kids and a coach who had no idea what they were doing when the season began. I told them at the first practice that I had two goals for them: (1) To be better at the end of the season than at the beginning, and (2) to have fun. They did. And I did.
• Goldman Sachs, despite the horrible economy, has been making money hand over fist while it has faced Congressional investigations and lawsuits in the way it duped investors with mortgage backed securities. Now, suddenly, this morning they announced a third  quarter loss for the first time since 2008. Somebody might want to check those numbers. I smell a "don't be mad at us, we're losing money, too!" PR stunt. 
• Somebody find me more info about this: Back in 2007, a UNT student was murdered with the eventual convicted murderer being caught on surveillance video in a convenience store with her shortly before her death. There was a blurb yesterday in the Texas Lawyer (behind a paywall) about her parents and estate winning an $8.6 million civil judgment after a five day trial in Denton. Who did they sue? Tell me it wasn't the convenience store. 
• Wasn't the bank in Decatur, the one that Wells Fargo purchased about 10 years ago, named "The First National Bank of Texas" I always thought that name was worth a lot, and I don't think anyone else has picked it up (assuming they can.)  There's a century old "First National Bank Texas" without the "of" but that's not the same thing.  Edit: I think I'm right.
• Juveniles are rarely detained in "detention" while their criminal case is pending, and when they are it normally is for 10 days or so.  Wise County sends our kids to a facility in Denton, but I'm trying to remember if we've ever used the facility in Granbury. Is so, county officials just got freaked out because some kid died their last week during an impromptu game of tug-of-war.
• Prosecutors are different in the northeast . . . 

Lubbock Dust Storm Earlier

Source.

Edit: Here's video

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