I Was About To Call This County Out!!!

Does This Look Like A Puppy Who Is On Death Row?

The Wise County Animal Shelter has a genius idea of having a Facebook page where they post pics of pups and cats that are about to meet their Maker. Mostly it's a bunch of mutts and they all can't be saved, but the postings tug on enough heart strings that probably quite a few get new homes. 

Anyway, a picture of this little fellow (a mix between a Yorkie and a Dachsund) was posted over the weekend. What the the heck? If I had seen it I would have dropped the Family Cat off for an (un)even trade in a New York minute. Cuteness must be saved!! If someone else  in this county hadn't of stepped up, we might as well have shut the whole place down. We'd be nothing but a bunch of Barbarians. 

Never fear. The pup was adopted and saved. Faith in humanity restored. 

Tarrant County DA's Office Is Prosecuting Serious Crime This Week

Certainly there's more to this, but a quick search of the Internets didn't reveal anything.

And I'll admit that I didn't know what a "Fort Worth deputy marshal" was. But I learned: "The primary responsibility of this position is to serve various arrests warrants and misdemeanor writs issued through the Municipal Court on an assigned shift; to perform computerized warrant searches; and to serve as court bailiff in an assigned courtroom." It pays $42,244 a year.

New Hampshire: Four Years Ago

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• The first question by ESPN to winning  Alabama coach Nick Saban concerned what his deceased father would think of the win. I soooo wanted Saban to say, "Did you seriously just ask that?"
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, with Mitt Romney at his side, says something pretty shocking to a female heckler. (And what size is his belt? "Equator"?)
• Hostess filed for bankruptcy/reorganization. Do they make Ding Dongs?
• Ticket fans: If you are being driven insane by those Sweetjack commercials and wondering why that company we spend so much on advertising, look who owns both the Ticket and Sweetjack.
• Mrs. LL upon seeing the new Tom Hanks movie trailer last night (as I sat beside her not paying attention): "You want to see that?" Me: "Uh...I'd have to see the trailer again." Her: "Back it up then." Me: "I don't want to see it that badly." Her: [Glaring]
• A popular doctor at Cook's Children's Hospital dies at the age of 51 after falling off of his bike. I bet that news made lots and lots of families stop down across the metroplex.
• As the Right Wing realizes that Mitt Romney is nothing other than John McCain 2.0, I bet Newt Gingrich makes one last big run at the nomination before everything is said and done. 
• Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church (one of the hip mega-churches in the metroplex) will spend 24 hours in bed with his wife on the roof of the church to promote their new book, "Sexperiment." (If they were to get hit by lightning, I'd absolutely believe it was a bolt directly from God.) 
• I don't think I've ever seen so much high school basketball coverage in the Update. (And I'm not real sure much of the county is worried about Slidell's streak --- no offense to the loyal readers in Slidell.) 
• Baylor could have scored on Alabama. They might have been beaten 70-7, but they could have at least scored. 
• Snoop Dogg gets arrested in Texas for marijuana possession. The most interesting thing about the story is that he just received the equivalent of a traffic ticket for the Class C offense of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (like possessing a roach clip, bong, or rolling papers). But the story says he had over two ounces of marijuana which should be a Class A misdemeanor (the equivalent of DWI-Second, Theft of $500, Assault-Bodily Injury, etc.)
• Mrs. LL asked me what note we should put in The Family Cat's collar. I suggested, "This is a suicide mission. Help a kitty out."

I'm Watching The National Championship Game But This Southern Belle Is Now Stuck In My Head

Edit: At halftime, it is a barn-burner with three field goals scored.  College football has been transformed into NASCAR.

Edit: This gal scares me.

The Power Of Liberally Lean

There is no way this is a coincidence. I start suggesting that LeAnn Rimes might be the new official Liberally Lean Gal and the next thing you know she's throwing a concert in Fort Worth.  If this isn't a full court press on her part to replace Britney and Christina, I don't know what is. Heck, I suspect I'll get free tickets in an envelope with a lipstick impression on the back.

And Another (Wait. What?)

This one is a little tricky. He is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a high school student who is 17.  In Texas, that wouldn't be a crime but for the fact he is a teacher and she is a student.  And it doesn't matter that he doesn't even teach on her campus (he's a middle school teacher; she's a high school student.)

Edit: Wait a second! This is obviously a political prosecution by conservative, right wing local authorities who just got mad because they say this on his Facebook page . . .

Edit: Mrs. LL tracked down this guy's "YouTube Channel"

I Think Mary Has A Legitimate Question

Holy, Cow

MSNBC story for those interested in more.

President Obama Is Dallas Maverick This Morning

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Krishonda "Shonda" Leann Townsend, 19, went missing a couple of summers ago in Palo Pinto County after spending the day at Lake Bridgeport.  With little news coverage, she was buried over the weekend after her bones were found back in October. 
• Rick Perry said in the debate of Friday night that he would send troops back into Iraq. Does he understand that he's supposed to try to get votes?
• The "Deadlist Sniper" seems to want to make some money promoting his killing expertise in the Middle East. He proclaims that he has killed 255 as a Navy Seal. (All terrorists, I'm sure.) And if you've ever known a war vet who has seen ugly, ugly things, you know one thing: They do not want to talk about it. 
• Tim Tebow, in his amazing win yesterday, passed for 316 yards. Uh, John 3:16?
• Tebow and the rookie QB for the Texans, T.J. Yates, now have as many playoff wins as Tony Romo.
• Have the folks over at Fox 4 always pronounced reporter Saul Garza's name as "SAWuul"? I heard that this morning.  
• Horrible accident in Boyd this weekend that killed a young man, but are dead cows normally hauled off into the woods?
• More craziness in the Porsche-in-a-Canal case.  All three had been to a strip club together before the crash. 
• Was there one long thunder last night? 
• Spent a much delayed Christmas afternoon (a sequel) at my parents on Sunday. I never knew watching girls open up gifts of clothing could be so intense. 
• Despite the receipt, her name was not "Lady Chinky Eyes."
• You would think Bourbon Street after the LSU/Alabama game tonight would be down right dangerous.
• Water related: (1) Ryan Seacrest's girl can dive, (2) If you ever thought about bungee jumping, you won't do it after this, (3) Lake Bridgeport is 12 feet low but has basically remained constant since October. 
• There's a commercial running on the radio about some cyber "dog" who will go and fetch the best deals on the Internet for products. Wasn't there a search engine years ago that used the same type of advertising campaign?
• Edit: Then bungee jumping gal is a "Hey, now!"

Tebow!!!!

The CBS crew after the game:

John McCain Might Want To Head On Back To Arizona. His Work Is Done Here.

That Video Board At The Death Star

Check out the people in the background looking up.

Our Own Little Pentagon Papers

FORT WORTH -- Visiting Judge Elizabeth Berry issued a sweeping gag order Friday in a capital murder trial that prohibits the news media from reporting or disseminating anything that happens in open court outside the presence of the jury . . . . Among other restrictions, Berry's order states that the media may not interview attorneys, litigants, employees of the district attorney's office, parties, witnesses, victims or relatives of victims until the trial ends.


That's baloney, and I'm proud the Star-Telegram is going to fight it. We have conflicting constitutional rights of giving someone a fair trial vs. freedom of speech, but this is insane. You'll often hear of "gag orders" which prevent lawyers from discussing the case (which I'm not sure the Supreme Court has ever addressed) and that makes some sense when one party is trying to influence a trial or potential trial. But telling a newspaper how it will gather and report news is downright frightening.

Messenger Above The Fold

LeeAnn Rimes Still Killin' It

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Boy, metroplex news stations are obsessed with the Porsche-in-a-canal story (but so am I.) A 41 year old lawyer with a couple in their early twenties running around in the middle of the night? I bet something seedy was going on.
• And he might have been a good guy, but a 40 something asbestos lawyer who drives a Porsche is near the bottom of my list of people I would want to hang out with.
• I heard this morning that his wife had filed for divorce two days after Christmas. I bet she finally locked on to those give-your-wife-a-Lexus-for-Christmas commercials and he didn't deliver. 
• The Cotton Bowl played at night on January 6th is just wrong.
• There was a small earthquake between Dallas and Irving overnight. With no science to back me up, I'll blame fracking.
• Ryan Seacrest's "Hey, Now" girlfriend at the beach.
• Rick Santorium is now denying that he even said "black people" in Iowa when he clearly said, "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money." Mindboggling. 
• Breaking this morning: The unemployment rate falls to 8.5% as 200,000 jobs were created in December.  Now if you are a right wing Republican, that makes you happy doesn't it? You want prosperity, right? There's no part of you that wish unemployment would skyrocket before November, 2012, right?
• I used to stay up until midnight all the time. These days I'm normally asleep by 10:30 p.m.. (And I can always fall asleep within 10 minutes of my head hitting the pillow.)
• I like Tim Tebow. I think his days as an NFL quarterback are numbered, but I like the guy.
• Here's a pic of the four Aggies that sat behind us in the Alamo Bowl. It looks like they would be a beating, but they were really pretty funny.
• But one of them was whipping me with hot sports opinions.