Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• One of both of the structures formally known as Jeterville on the Wise County/Tarrant County line was totally engulfed by flames this morning. Reports are that there were enough firetrucks to put out The Towering Inferno.
• You just thought it was fog out there this morning.
• "It's that horrifying moment . . . ."
• Standing across the street and looking at your Christmas lights may be the best moment of putting up Christmas lights. 
• Whether is be in my personal or business life, I've bet I've uttered the phrase, "Would you please bring me [something]" less than ten times. My legs aren't broken. 
• An 18 year old kid in McKinney who molested "several young boys" and suffers from a degenerative brain disease according to the prosecutor is sentenced to a real 35 years in prison. This is the most civilized way to deal with him? From drugs to mental disorders, our lazy knee jerk reaction to just lock people up will be horrifying to future generations.
• I'm skeptical of people who always post on Facebook or Twitter about how great their life is or how wonderful their friends are.  
• Texas has approved a licence plate with three crosses on a hill with the phrase "One State Under God" on it.  And that doesn't endorse Christianity?
• Online harassment/impersonation leads to a criminal prosecution in Collin County. We are just now seeing prosecutions under Section 33.07 of the Texas Penal Code which went into effect in 2009.
• ESPN's Erin Andrews files a $10 million lawsuit in connection with the hotel peephole incident from a couple of years ago. Sheesh. It's the best thing that ever happened to her. She's become a full fledged celebrity ever since.
• I'm insane now. "Charlie Manson 'Everyday I'm Shufflin'" video. The Internet was made for things like that.
• That Rick Perry anti-gay ad might get him some votes in Iowa but it would absolutely kill him in the general election. Who advises that guy? And he needs some serious advising. 
• It's the full length movie, but Pulp Fiction has been recut and put in chronological order on youtube. (Credti: BagofNothing.com for the find.)
• The Family Pup has decided she wants to jump on me and act like she is on crack in the middle of the night. Her days are so filled with eating and sleeping, how can she possibly not be tired all night?
• Hope Dallas Maverick fans liked that Championship Trophy. After yesterday's free agency news, it'll be a long, long time before they see another one. They've decided to waste this year (and one of Dirk's few productive ones left) to hit it big in free agency next year. I have no confidence in Mark Cuban being able to rebuild that team from scratch. 
• Sports birthday that should be a "What Ever Happened To?" segment: Todd Van Poppel.
• The Update is late today. Somebody oversleep at the Messenger? Edit: It's up now, but since when did it turn into The High School Basketball Update?

Rick Perry Can't Catch A Break

In Perry's new anti-gay ad, he just happens to be wearing the exact same jacket worn by Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain. 

Kate Upton In The New Three Stooges Movie

I would link to the trailer for the movie, but it looks horrible.  The Stooges deserve better.

C.J. Wilson Reportedly Signs With Angels (Too) For 5 Years $75 Million

( CJ Wilson bragging montage) Edit: His best bragging work is here.

Angels must have found a big bag of money. Story.

And this is yet another reason I hate pro sports: Free agency. You don't like you team? Want to make it better? Simple answer: Go buy someone.  The Rangers have done it to get to the World Series (Cliff Lee, Vladimir Guerrero in 2010. Adrian Beltre, Mike Napoli in 2011.)

Jerry Seinfeld said it years ago: When it's all said and done, we're just cheering for laundry.

I Found Another One Percenter!

$250 million guaranteed over 10 years. He's 31 years old.

I actually saw a story about him on 60 Minutes and he sounds like a really good guy.  His wife was a single mom of a child with Down's Syndrome when they started dating. More at Wikipedia.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Motorcycle death in Tarrant County. 
• SMU has a mess on their hands. Head Coach June Jones was seconds away from leaving the school before Arizona State pulled its job offer. Next team meeting theme: Awkwardness.
• A couple of stations last night had a news feature on the dispute over a nativity scene on the lawn of the courthouse in Henderson County. A county official interviewed seemed absolutely oblivious to the fact it is patently illegal.
• And one county commissioner said he would fight to keep the nativity scene up until "hell freezes over." Another resident proclaimed, "So now they're trying to take the Baby Jesus?" Source. If Fox News doesn't go with 24/7 coverage with Sean Hannity broadcasting live from the courthouse lawn, I'll be very disappointed. 
• My overhauled front flower beds included a ton of flowers this summer. They lasted, beautifully I might ad, until December 6, 2011.
• Gov. Perry's new ad: "You don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there is something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas." They took Christmas away from kids? When? Did the gays do it?
• I was putting up another string of lights last night (in the cold) and managed to blow the fuse out even before the were up. That gave me Slumped Shoulders.
• Update on the Wise County identity theft case I posted below: Cops have identified the culprit. They also asked me to take the fake DL down in the meantime. I agreed because I support the police.
• What a goofy state trooper I saw this morning. He was going down the highway in a 65 mph zone and weaved over and hit the rumble strip three times.  A truck then passed him going no more than 67 so, of course, the trooper pulls him over. 
• Edit: Loved the guy in the comments who didn't catch the humor when the two above bullet points are read back to back. 
• On the Ticket yesterday, they had an adult film actress on (I have no idea why) who revealed that she was in 80 films in her first year in the business. Craig Miller then asked her: "Are you very picky when if comes to choosing the right script?" She didn't get the joke. 
• It's amazing how many websites refer to the "Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl" as the "Bridgeport Education Holiday Bowl."  The Wall Street Journal made the mistake this morning. 
• Alec Baldwin, who got thrown off an American Airlines plane because he wouldn't turn his phone off, says flying is now a "Greyhound bus experience." He's right about that. 
• From the email bag: "You should check out the Southern Arkansas University theft of 5 horses and one being painted in camo and one being brutally killed. They finally made arrests and one was an 18 year old SAU rodeo team member Jaci Jackson her FB comments over off the chart!!" I had seen the story, but couldn't find the Facebook page unless this is it.
• The site that has correctly projected the Heisman winner nine out of the last nine years, unveils its final prediction today at 10:00 a.m. Currently it has Baylor's Robert Griffin in the lead with an 80.7% chance of winning.  Never in my life would I have believed. Edit and Update: They officially predict RG3 to win. 
• Not only is Collin County indicting public officials, it's also happening down Waco way:

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Lunchtime Links Without The Links

Crazy Couple On The Loose Again

• SMU is losing its head coach with June Jones going to Arizona State.  Edit: This has changed to a "maybe" and then to a "nope"
• Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich just got 14 years in prison. Ouch.
• Ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on new sex abuse charges brought by two new accusers.
• Harry Morgan, of Dragnet and M*A*S*H fame, has died at age 96.
• The first bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbor at 11:55 a.m. CST.

We All Know Christmas Is About A Skeleton Santa Nailed To A Cross On A Courthouse Lawn. Wait. What?

The guy responsible for it described the display as an “art work of Santa on a cross to depict society’s materialistic obsessions and addictions and how it is killing the peace, love, joy and kindness that is supposed to be prevalent during the holiday season.”

I'm a little worried because that makes some sense. I think I'll surprise Mrs. LL by replacing our inflatable Santa Monkey with one of these things. Can I get one at Lowe's?

Full story.

So You Want To Be A Lawyer?

Today the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to hear a case I appealed arising out of a DWI arrest in Boyd.  Want to know the exact legal issue they will consider?  Whether . . .

The [Fort Worth ] Court of Appeals erred in holding that the seven enumerated subsections in Texas Transportation Code § 545.058, setting forth when a Texas motorist may legally drive upon an improved shoulder, are akin to “defenses” of Penal Code § 2.03 that the State need not negate in a hearing on the Defendant’s Motion to Suppress.

 Wasn't there an episode of Law and Order based upon this issue? If not, how does this not become a novel?

The Court of Criminal Appeals only hears cases that it wants to hear. I have a bizarre record on having my requests to that court granted.

Loyal Reader . . .

. . . just drove by an apartment fire off of 121 in Grapevine.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Old Pic Of One My Office Parties?

• Why is Michael Bublé on my TV every time I turn it on? (Observation: That man needs to rachet down the Fake Sincerity.)
• Donald Trump is also everywhere lately -- at least on every show Fox News has. GOP Candidate Jon Huntsman said last night on Hannity that Trump inserting himself into the political dialogue "dumbs down" the process.  Spot on, brother.
• Do all third graders want to talk all the time? Or just the one residing in my house? 
• Aledo's Johnathan Gray, who has committed to UT, may be the greatest high school running back in history.  But what he did in last week's game (throat slashing gesture and high stepping) which led to his ejection, leads me to believe he'll be another Longhorn troublemaker. His post game comments complaining about the officials don't help his cause.   Edit: Better link with video.
• It's Pearl Harbor Day. Actually the 70th Anniversary which you think would have been acknowledged a little bit more.
• But the Star-Telegram has a story on the 70th Anniversary featuring a soldier who was at Pearl Harbor. He was also interviewed on WBAP today and he echoed what was said in the story: (1) He isn't going to do anything special today because he doesn't want to remember the attack, (2) there's not a single Pearl Harbor survivor that he keeps up with, and (3) he didn't do anything heroic that day -- it was all chaos. Refreshing. 
• WBAP's Mark Davis proposed an "18 For Everything" legal age.  Drinking.  Military Service. Voting.  Driving. Adult Criminal Responsibility.   I think I agree. 
• When I find a string of those tiny indoor Christmas lights that aren't working, I've got a "10 minute trouble shooting limit". After that,  I chunk the whole thing and buy a replacement. You can find them for under $4.
• Then I saw where Mrs. LL had dug them out of the trash the following day. 
• C.J. Wilson is a tool, and it kills me that he's about to have a big pay day. Yesterday he was on 105.3 The Fan telling a long story about how he called 911 after a bicyclist was seriously injured outside his house a few weeks ago. (Someone knocked on his door and told him to call 911.) He was acting like he had saved the man's life by performing open heart surgery on the spot. 
• Everyone always says that Baylor became part of the Big 12 "because Ann Richards was governor."  I've never really seen any proof of that and I wouldn't rule out it being  an urban legend that has taken on a life of its own. 
• Very random thought: If you had to bet, would you think Doris Day is dead or alive?
• For all of those crazy public official prosecutions in Collin County, they sure have been successful so far. Yesterday, the District Clerk and a couple of her employees received convictions from a jury. A district judge in the county was convicted of bribery about three weeks ago. 

Messenger Above The Fold

But when did Santa start wearing a Reebok golf shirt at events? 

Presidential Gaffe?

While the President was in Kansas today, some people claim he made a goof by almost referring to the state as Texas.

Seems like an intentional joke to me.

Identify Theft News From The Courthouse (Updated)

Image Came Back After Google Search For "Identify Theft". Funny. 

I was talking to someone associated with the Wise County Court at Law, I'll call her "Shamberlyn", who told me about being a victim of recent identify identity theft.

Get this: Someone got all of her information (she didn't lose a purse or anything like that), created a fake Texas driver's license, and then applied for a couple of credit cards. So far, the bills have cracked $8,000.  But get this: Shamberlyn had a credit card at Sears (never really used), but the thief went into Sears and either said she had lost the card or didn't have it with her, and (after presumably showing them the fake ID) they gave her a "day pass" credit card. And then "boom", over $4,000 got charged.

What's up with the "day pass"? Someone else mentioned during that conversation that they rarely take store credit cards with them in order to prevent loss or theft. They simply tell the store they left them at home, show an ID, and then get the day pass. I had never heard of such a thing.

By the way, whatever company handles credit for Apple, denied the thief credit.

Edit @ 2:15 pm: The total is now up to $19,000 with Best Buy and Sam's Club yet to report

Afternoon Pick Me Up: Fergalicious

Cunning Little Vixen

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Two area residents were arrested Saturday for filing a false report.

Deputies were called in to investigate an alleged kidnapping of 21-year-old Sarah Zombori by 57-year-old Joseph Battista. She was being held on a $100 ransom. Battista supposedly communicated to Zombori's boyfriend that she would be killed if law enforcement was contacted, according to a Walton County Sheriff's Office press release.

Deputies were dispatched to Battista's Somerset Bridge Road home where investigators determined that Battista and Zombori were working together to obtain money from Zombori's boyfriend. Battista said the incident "was a joke," the release said . . . .

At the time of arrest, Zombori resisted arrest by kicking and striking a deputy. Zombori was charged with two counts of battery of a law enforcement officer, a third-degree felony; one count of resisting a law enforcement officer with violence, a third-degree felony; and one count of making a false report of a commission of a crime, a first-degree misdemeanor.

When  Zombori's boyfriend got the ransom call, he had to consider it to be his luckiest day ever. Look at that chick. I know gals like that. I've dated gals like that. And if I would have gotten a phone call that says, "Pay $100 and the girl goes free -- Call the cops and she meets her Maker", then I'm picking up the phone and calling County Law before they change the offer. Not only would I have saved $100, I wouldn't  have to worry with the messy breakup. It's a win-win for me. 

And the $100? That proves my point. Even she thought he wouldn't pay $101.

I'm Backing The Blue!

No way that woman should be allowed in public. Good job, fellas.