Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Family court judge in Tarrant County arrested for DWI.
• I heard a rumor about the Wise County Domestic Abuse Task Force is in a little upheaval over a pedicure. Or the payment for a pedicure(s). 
• The State of the Union is tonight. Beat. Ing. (And I don't care who is in office.)
• Viral video of day yesterday: Church singer.
• Mrs. LL has come to the realization that the Oldest Girl In The House will be in high school next year. If I could just sit back and watch, I bet this would be entertaining. Instead, based upon countless advice, I'm building a bunker. 
• The Evil Empire extended Mack Brown's contract by five years yesterday now making it a nine year deal. ($5.2 million per year.)
• Dirk Nowitzki ($19 million a year) is going to sit four games so he can get in shape? Talk about climbing Everest with no real desire to go back again. 
• Mitt Romney ($45 million over the last two years) said last night in the debate that the key to illegal immigration is "self-deportation."  That's not the way to cuddle up the The Right. 
• Oscar nominations announced this morning. Best Picture: "The Artist," "War Horse,"  "Moneyball," "The Descendants," "The Tree of Life," "Midnight in Paris," "The Help," "Hugo" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." I've seen none of them. 
• Our Wise County Solicitation of Capital Murder Lady took a deal for 21 years yesterday. I noticed the Update said she'd have to serve at least half her term.  (For you legal gurus out there: Does criminal solicitation under 15.03 of a 3g offense invoke the maximum parole law? Edit: I know there was a case that ruled on parole eligibility when a person is convicted of an attempt to commit a 3g offense, but 15.03 seems like a stand alone offense. ) 
• And the 70 year old dope guy who was convicted last year week got a 30 year sentence. (The Update says he'll become eligible parole after serving 1/4 of his sentence. That's wrong, but it's a mistake I see from lots of people. )
• And a sad contrast in the death notices in the Update: A 101 year old and a 9 month old. 
• Why hasn't that price of natural gas (see chart on front page below) not hurt Devon?

Traffic Report

Just A Day On The Job Site

Super Bowl Bound: Foxboro  : MyFoxBOSTON.com

Love the guy just mowing down the pole, backing up, and moving on. Not his problem.

(But, on a side note, the analogy of "#52" hitting Tom Brady in the back yesterday is proof positive that guy shouldn't be talking sports.  Heck, I'm not sure I can name five Ravens but you have to live in a cave not to know Ray Lewis. Animated gif of that hit here.)

A Bunch Of Old Guys and Three Women Just Ruled In Favor Of This Guy

Just handed down by the Supreme Court this morning is a ruling that the cops attaching a GPS device to a person's car without a warrant was an illegal search and seizure.  I didn't see that one coming since I thought the Fourth Amendment was almost dead.

He was sentenced to life in prison on a dope case. But not any more.

And for you "activist judges" complainers, the opinion was authored by strict constructionist Antonin Scalia. If the constitution protects one of us, it protects all of us.

Messenger Above The Fold

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Watching any of the NFL pregame shows is torture, but one of them yesterday included a badly prepared, taped and spliced interview with the "Etrade baby". Idiocracy?
• After seeing former Cowboys kicker Billy Cundiff miss the game tying field goal for the Ravens yesterday, I said out loud: "Who would want to be a kicker?" Seriously. You think he had a good flight with the team back to Baltimore?
• I mentioned a month or so ago that some people were writing that Joe Paterno would die soon. No question your spirit impacts your health. 
• After getting killed in South Carolina, I bet Mitt Romney goes on the attack against Newt in Florida. I also bet that will not serve him well. (And we'll get to find out tonight after yet another debate tonight.)
• If you didn't catch President Obama sing a verse of an Al Green hit last week while at the Apollo Theater, you have to.  And if you can't smile about that, your hatred for the guy is blinding you.
• There are currently 923 active drilling rigs in Texas. Six are in Wise County.
• A 46 year old Sansom Park woman was found dead in her in-home tanning bed yesterday. I don't think that's what they meant by "tanning can kill you." 
• Over the weekend, Mrs.LL were in the presence of two guys arguing over who was a bigger baseball fan. She then called them out by asking who the new Rangers pitcher from Japan was. Neither knew it was Yu Darvish.
• But she had a memory crutch because she had spent the day singing "Youuuuu!" from Crank That (Soulja Boy) that every local sports talk station has turned into a drop when Darvish was signed.
• I've made reference to Colin Jones (Bridgeport/TCU/49ers) for years and the Messenger has ignored him.  Now they are going overboard with a the special teams player being the subject of a a front page story over the weekend, a tweet yesterday, and in the Update today.
• Going back to 127 Hours that I saw last weekend, a scene that was really moving to me was when the family out hiking ran, without delay, to help the hiker upon seeing him in distress. I don't know what that choked me up so much. 
• Just glanced at Facebook post from a Wise County resident which said: "If you believe in the 2nd Amendment, and you are not afraid to show it, re-post this!!!"  Stop. Doing. This.
• Bridgeport folks: There's a death announcement of Mack Adams, 50, in the Update. 

"Iiittt Biiiiiiiiiit Myyyyy Shouuuuuuldder!

Fox 4 News Date Of Death Fail

??????

Emailed to me. I never had such a huge question mark over my head.

Really?

(Credit Bud Kennedy)

Edit:

The Internet And The Desire To "Be First"

Taking You Into The Weekend

Not Me!!

Original story of crime.

Wheels. Off.

Rihanna Killin' It On Vacation

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• For some reason yesterday, I thought about the "Hands Across America" bit that occurred in the 1980s. The concept was that on a particular date and time a human hand to hand chain would be formed that stretched from the east coast to the west coast.  (I was actually shamed out of my car and took part in it in Rhome.) 
• Another Facebook beating: "Most are afraid to do this, but if you believe [insert dramatic social or religious themed stuff] then you'll repost this." Sheesh.
• If you spend one second saying or writing, "I don't care what people say" then you ridiculously just admitted that you "care what people say."
• I don't think Newt's ex-wife's "open marriage" allegation will hurt him at all. Anything an ex-wife (or ex-husband) says about the ex-spouse just doesn't carry a lot of weight with the public. Plus, after 18 years of marriage, I think he was basically asking for a divorce. 
• Newt's the smartest one of the four remaining candidates. Mitt will say anything to get elected. Santorum's an absolute nutcase who is trying to hide it. And I'd vote for Ron Paul over the other three.
• And the only time I almost crashed my TV screen during the debate last night was when Mitt bragged how "80% of the time" when he appointed judges while governor of Massachusetts "they were  prosecutors." Sir, if you only knew.
• Inauguration Day is one year from today. 
• The Update today mentions the Commissioners Court refusing to pay for a paint job of Constable Tom Bishop's truck. That may be the most interesting story in tomorrow's Messenger, but you can read the more candid behind the scenes report here. 
• A faithful reader suggested this shock-the-conservatives Random Girl pic (which was actually first shown on Conan.)
• Urban Outfitters is coming to West 7th in Fort Worth which is supposed to be a big deal. (I can't remember the last time I went clothes shopping.) 
• My left eyelid has been twitching. 
• I saw a Corvette on the square in Decatur yesterday which had customized Purple Heart license plates that read "VIETNM". 

First A Sports Genius, Now A Political Genius

My random thought from 10 days ago:

And today:

Here's The Chick Who Walked Into The Propeller Last December

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The Office fans will love this cameo appearance of Steve Carell in last week's show that almost no one (well, almost no one) caught.
• The lady lawyer who managed to unwittingly take a gun onto a plane at DFW Airport yesterday didn't have the most flattering picture in a rotary club newsletter a while back.
• You know it is tough in TV when Channel 8's Dale Hansen takes a paycut and doesn't complain.
• A loyal reader suggested these as Random Girls. Hey, Now. 
• So when the Rangers win this summer, a regular guy who struggles to just get by in life is going to stand up and cheer because the player who helped a professional sports team win was purchased from Japan for a total cost of $111 million?  I don't get it.
• The Decatur ISD Superintendent makes $147,906?  Did superintendent salaries somewhere along the line get out of whack? 
• The former Athletic Director of Southern University and ex-NFL player was arrested in Houston last year during the Final Four for soliciting prostitution after he was approached on the street by an undercover cop. A jury found him not guilty in 34 minutes yesterday. From the cops on the street, to the supervisor who authorized the sting, to the prosecutors who couldn't evaluate a case to save their lives, what a tremendous waste of tax dollars. 
• And get this: He was fired after the arrest. The only crime committed in that case was by The State of Texas.
• The economy might be hurting, but Texas ads 58 new DPS Troopers to the payroll this morning. 
• If I'm reading this right, a former Bridgeport player is now the head coach and athletic director of Crosby High School. (And he has become the brother-in-law of former UT standout Jordan Shipley.)
• We had a toilet crisis in our office which caused the City of Decatur to dig up a portion of our parking lot. "Toilet" and "crisis" are never good when combined. 
• President Obama's decided to care about the environment yesterday and kill the "Keystone XL" pipeline. Basically, he said more time was needed to study it but if Congress was going to force him to make a decision, he'd err on the side of caution.  
• There's a story in the Star-Telegram today about a historic home "overlooking Luther Lake" in Fort Worth that may end up getting torn down. Luther Lake looks more like a pond via satellite, but I had never heard of it. (It's not far from that traffic circle at the end of Camp Bowie.)