Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Kip Smith, a Republican state congressman from Georgia and sponsor of a bill that would have submitted all welfare recipients to random drug testing, was arrested Friday night for driving under the influence of alcohol. Nice.
• I don't regularly watch 60 Minutes and I don't know why.  They can make a segment (last Sunday) on the country of Qatar be fascinating. 
• WBAP's Mark Davis wasn't very Christian-like when posted a tweet last night during the GOP debates.
• Did I see a couple of the GOP candidates argue in the debate about who is more in favor of allowing convicted felons to vote? Up is down (again.)
• I don't know why NBC 5's Jane McGarry is so happy to pose with a cow.
• I got a football for Christmas. Mrs. LL was amused when I told her that as a kid I would walk across Bridgeport to the nearest goal post with a football and an empty food can (to be used as a tee) in order to try field goals. 
• I might try one again. 
• Baylor basketball moved up to #3 in the polls only to get killed at Kansas last night. But that will happen in college basketball.  (Didn't North Carolina lose by 30 or more over the weekend?)
• Some of the "closed circuit" camera images seen on the news from bank or convenience store crimes are incredibly clear.
• Muhammad Ali is 70 today. He maybe the only popular Muslim in America. (And it seems like a long time ago when he lit the Olympic Cauldron in Atlanta.)
• I was going to say "Olympic Flame" in stead of "Olympic Cauldron" but the flame is actually used to light the cauldron. (Comment attacks avoided.) 
• A youtube video named "Saved By The Bell - Inappropriate Woo'ing" sounds lame until you watch it. It's inappropriately funny. 
• There are a bunch of burglars hitting the Woodhaven area in Fort Worth and one lady is estimating her loss at around $260,000. Hey, let's make it only one crime, lady. (Can't find the link from yesterday.)
• Miss Texas in a swimsuit from last weekend in the Miss America pageant that no one saw.

May I Search Your Vehicle?

I saw this video over the weekend, and I'm still not sure it's real. There's no description of news story to go with it.

But, man, if it is, that is one irate cop.  I'm just stunned he didn't illegally search the car since he wanted to so badly.

Warning: Extreme language (that probably isn't taught at the Police Academy.)

Tasers, Meth Or Something Else Caused A Man To Die

We had the Dukes of Hazzard headed to Wise County over the weekend!

	Media Contact: Sergeant Pedro Criado pedro.criado@fortworthgov.org
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
1/16/2012 FORT WORTH, TX -

On January 13, 2012, at approximately 1:00 a.m., a Fort Worth Officer was in the nearby area of a hotel where narcotics transactions are common. Officer observed a cream colored Cadillac leaving the hotel and ran a check on the license plate. The registration information showed the license plate was expired (Sept -2011) and the officer attempted to stop the vehicle. When the officer engaged his overhead lights the vehicle accelerated and failed to yield to the officer. Officer initiated a pursuit and was assisted by other North Division units and Air 1. Officers were unable to determine a number of occupants in the vehicle.

The pursuit eventually went West/northwest on U.S. Hwy 287 where stop sticks were deployed in the 10000 block to terminate the pursuit. The stop stick deployment was successful and the vehicle began fishtailing across the traffic lanes. As the vehicle was moving side to side, officers observed gunshots being fired from the suspect vehicle and window glass flying back in the direction of their patrol units. One of the officers observed that the front windshield appeared to be damaged from gunfire.

The vehicle travelled across the divided highway and came to a stop on the South shoulder of the roadway. When the suspect vehicle came to a stop a White female suspect exited the passenger side and began running to the rear of the car, a White male suspect exited the driver’s door and stood with his hands up. Assist Officers approached the suspects ordering them to surrender; the male suspect failed to obey orders and quickly dove back into the driver’s area and out of officer’s sight. Officer believed the subject was retrieving the gun from the vehicle and fired one shot from his duty weapon. The male suspect backed out of the vehicle and officers physically engaged him. The male suspect struggled with officers and resisted their attempts to take him in to custody. Two arresting officers deployed their taser in drive stun mode and were able to take the male suspect into custody.

The male suspect WAS NOT struck by the officer's gunfire and was taken to a nearby patrol unit. The male suspect collapsed in the patrol unit. Officers could not find a heartbeat and immediately started CPR on the male suspect. The female suspect told officers that she and the male suspect had ingested a large amount of “METH” during the pursuit while running from officers. Medstar made the scene and transported both suspects to the hospital. The male suspect was unresponsive and in very critical condition. Two days later he was pronounced deceased by medical personnel. The female suspect was treated for an overdose and determined to be in very critical condition.

A revolver/gun was recovered from the driver's area of the suspect vehicle. A white powder substance was recovered in and around the suspect vehicle and from both suspect's clothing.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office makes final determination as to manner and cause of death. This is considered a Critical Police Incident and still under investigation; therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment further or conduct interviews at this time. 

Anyone betting that our Wise County boys were ready for them?
Below is from the the ME's site which seems to match the story (I think police always classify Hispanics as "white". Really.) The place of death is John Peter Smith.

Coach's Coaches Greet Each Other Differently in San Francisco

Jon Huntsman To Quit Presidential Race: One Thing We'll Miss

The Daughters

(Oh, and Boyd's long time coach and athletic director, J.G. Cartwright, is retiring at the end of the year. Unrelated, but newsworthy. ) 

Chisel This In Stone?

"Black Sports Online" says Dez Bryant was "possibly" arrested over the weekend.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Golden Globe observations . . . Woman crush: Kate Winslet. Man crush: Gerald Gerard Butler.
• The Golden Globes are far more entertaining than the Oscars, and I'm not sure why that's not well known. 
• I actually caught the end of the San Francisco/New Orleans game on Saturday. Thumbs up for excitement. And Vernon Davis' "catch and cry" seemed almost like a carbon copy of the catch in the playoffs by Terrell Owens in 1998. 
• I watched 127 Hours (about the hiker who cut off his arm to survive) over the weekend. Good, but not great. I was struck, however, how the decision to cut his arm off was a no-brainer. Now the actual cutting, that's a different story. 
• Also caught the final of the three part documentary about The Memphis Three. Love that stuff. 
• Rihanna is in that photo? (Hey, now)
• It's hard not to smile when you see this dog jumping in a field.
• I was looking at little seen photos about the MLK assassination (credit bagofnothing.com), and I noticed that the first comment said the "tragic event happened only 5 years after Blacks in America gained the right to vote." Uh, not so much.   
• 488 homes were sold in Wise County last year with an average price of $135,762
• If you want me to buy a Toyota, having Chris Berman and Kelly Clarkson in a commercial together is not the way to persuade me. 
• I was talking to someone about the small number of African-Americans in Wise County. Percentage wise, it has to he one of the lowest in the state. Then someone pointed out that a black guy who hails from Decatur was arrested in a car near Houston late last year with an alleged $37,500 worth of pot. Edit: Wrong, Decatur.
• A 15 year old fell 18 floors to his death at a downtown Dallas Hilton Hyatt hotel. They are still not sure why.
• I woke up the house this morning like I always do only to be informed there is no school today. Everyone was so sleepy they couldn't get mad. So I got out of there in a hurry.
• Edit: My wheels might be off this morning.

Bye

Messenger Above The Fold

Something Doesn't Seem Quite Right

Story.

North Texas Taking You Into The Weekend

No Wonder They Didn't Draft Him -- They Couldn't Find Him

Story.

Sports: Good Old Days Syndrome

This is the 30th Anniversary of "The Catch" where the 49ers beat the Cowboys to advance to the Super Bowl.

I was always proud of myself for knowing that Dallas almost won that game despite that play.  Danny White, on the next drive, hit Drew Pearson across the middle who almost got away.  Conventional wisdom is that Pearson would have scored if Eric Wright had not got a hand on his collar.

That play can be viewed here. When I went back and looked at it I didn't recall  #22 being downfield.  Yeah, he might have been blocked if Pearson had broken away, but it is no foregone conclusion that Pearson would have scored. History keeps changing on me!

But, man, it was fun to care back then.

North Dakota Visitors Bureau Gets Creative

"Arrive a Guest. Leave a Legend."

At Least Those Pesky Playoffs Won't Interfere With Practice Right Now

You White People Better Step It Up

I mentioned that the overall figure was 43%, but I had no idea the Caucasian faith was smaller than a mustard seed.

Source.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Bridgeport's Colin Jones has moved to wide receiver for 49ers playoff game. I'm not sure he'll see any action, but it's something to look for. 
• I've decided not to coach softball this Spring (although Mrs. LL has signed up for an assistant coach position for some team.)  It was fun, but I also missed out on a lot of our own private practices with the Girls In The House as well as missed some of their games due to scheduling conflicts.  I didn't like that. 
• The would-be Paradise model.
• There were reports yesterday that Delta was eyeing an American Airlines takeover. That just seems, well, unAmerican. 
• I'm not that big of a Facebook guy, but it drives me crazy when I see a post of some child in a hospital bed with a caption of "If this picture gets 1,000,000 'likes', his life saving surgery will be free."  Really? You falling for that?
• I feel fat. 
• The Office just isn't the same since Steve Carell left, but we knew that would happen. 
• Styx is at Billy Bob's this weekend. Fifteen years ago I saw them play two songs outside of The Today Show studios in New York City. I guess I was literally outside of "30 Rock."
• I would absolutely love for the Tebow Bronco's to beat New England this weekend. The aftermath would be absolutely entertaining. (43% of Americans believe that God is helping Tebow win.)
• I could have sworn I saw what  looked like a bobcat (or something) out of the corner of my eye when I was jogging in the dark a couple of weeks ago. Never thought I would need to jog with a pistol. Who's crazy enough to do that? 
• On my DVR is last night's  new documentary  from  HBO on the "The Memphis Three."  Mrs. LL is staring at the remote right now doing all she can not to hit "play" since she promised me we'd watch it together. (I think the gal is obsessed with whodunit-death.)
• You can feel the passion being sucked out of right wing talk radio as they all come to terms with the fact that the Spartan that will lead them into battle against President Obama is Mitt Romney. Freakin' Mitt Romney. I think they fear this will be like 300 without the resistance. 
• ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski was on WBAP this morning to promote his new book about the Duke/Kentucky game 20 years ago that ended with the famous Christian Laettner turn around jumper -- a shot that some people think is the greatest moment in college basketball. WBAP's Hal Jay started the interview by saying he wasn't familiar with it. 
• Former ESPN spare Craig James apparently went off (and I mean really off) on a questioner during the Senate debate last night in Austin for asking a "gotcha" question of "Do you know who the Secretary of Defense is?"  I'm looking for the video.

"The Rhome PD Motorcycle"

At least that's what an emailer sent me.

(Thanks, Shannon.)