Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

2.21.2012

Emergency Landing?

I'm not certain, but I think there is talk on a scanner about an emergency landing of an aircraft in the county.

Anybody heard anything?

Something about problem with landing gear and waiting for "first responders" to be there?

Edit: The Messenger just put up a blurb about it. They say it is Bridgeport Airport.

My source said "Pilot will shut down all electrical and try to land." (I presume that's the smart thing to do.)

Edit at 10:53 a.m.: "Landed. No injuries."

Supreme Court Will Strike Down Affirmative Action?

A white girl, Abigail Fisher (and, for the life of me, I can't find a picture of her), was denied admission to the University of Texas. She sued the school claiming UT's use of race in its admission policy violates the Equal Protection Clause. So far she has lost.

But today the Supreme Court announced it will hear the case, and many believe it will reconsider the legality of using race in college admissions altogether.

Here's a fact I didn't know about the Evil Empire. As of 2008, a staggering 80% of its students had been admitted under the Top Ten Percent rule. I think that rule requires a high school student who graduates in the top ten percent of his class to be guaranteed admission in publicly funded Texas colleges. In fact, the rule was supposed to help alleviate the whole Affirmative Action problem since that rule applies to all Texas high schools. So a black or Hispanic student in a predominately black or his Hispanic school would be guaranteed admission if he could finish in the top ten percent.

However, UT went one step further and favorably "considers" race of minorities in determining who will be admitted for those who don't qualify under the Top Ten Percent Rule. That's what Ms. Fisher claims caused her to be denied admission simply because she is white. Interesting stuff.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

WFAA did a story last night on the new DPS "gun boats" that I mentioned about three months ago.
The Star-Telegram has begun to realize that the TCU "drug bust" coverage was completely overblown. For me, why the TCU administration acted like their only reference point about marijuana was Reefer Madness is puzzling. TCU deserves better. The Board of Regents needs to seriously consider some changes at the top.
Regarding the "kidnapped" Frisco girl, I've never seen so many news reports say "she's lying" without ever saying "she's lying."
Watched a little of The Voice last night since Christina is on it. Then I powered down when they would post "tweets" from the hosts on the screen.
A Fort Worth lawyer received more than $700,000 in court appointed fees from one judge between 2001 and 2007? (That nugget was buried in a story that otherwise didn't make a lot of sense.) Tarrant County needs to consider a Public Defender's Office.
Mrs. LL planted some flowers in the flower bed this fall and they are still alive. (And it might hit 80 degrees tomorrow.)
Somebody commented yesterday about a Decatur girl who allegedly made up an abduction/assault story about fifteen years ago. I was DA at the time, and it occurred right after Scream was released. I offered her a diversion program to avoid prosecution -- didn't see any reason to mess up her life.
I saw that in the Mav's game last night that Dirk moved in to the top 20 of all-time scorers while Jason Kidd became second all-time in steals. When the core of your team is setting "career" records, that means the core of your team is old.
Rick Santorum says that President Obama's "theology" is "not based on the Bible" and now he insists he wasn't talking about his faith? Please. This is the same guy who wouldn't correct a lady who called the President a Muslim. And then his official spokesman compared the President's policies to "radical Islamic policies" yesterday and then said she "misspoke."
Media News: The Dallas Morning News has hired Robert Wilonsky, the editor of the fantastic Dallas Observer blog, to manage the newspaper's "online presence." That's huge. It's the Dallas Morning News admitting they have no idea how to deal with the Internet -- something everyone else already knew about them.
Baylor beat Texas last night which many believe might cost Texas any chance to make the NCAA Tourney. Longhorn coach Rick Barnes' days have to be numbered, right?
The Rhome man who died after being tasered by Fort Worth police after a car chase was ruled by the Medical Examinerto have died from methamphetamine use . Yeah, a hit of methamphetamine with a taser chaser.

2.20.2012

The Happiest Place In The World

I was hoping they would mace (1) the "there are kids here" lady, and (2) the camera guy's friends.

This Gal Better Not Be Making This Story Up

This Frisco teenager claims she was abducted and taken to Oklahoma over the weekend before she got away. WBAP has reported this afternoon that police now say she says the abductor was a black male, around 5'10", in his 20s, who wore a hoodie. I haven't seen that report anywhere else, however. Edit: Frisco Press release here. (PDF)

This may very well be legit. But if she's making up a fictional black man as her abductor, this story is going to be a lot bigger than she ever dreamed.

Edit: Wow. She is now claiming sexual assault. (And the media's general policy of not identifying sexual assault victims is going to be a little tough to enforce.)

President's Day Pick Me Up

And we get a Speedo Man in the background

More.

Is This A Big Deal Or Routine?

Try not to throw out personal attacks (you Runaway Bay folks can get really worked up.) But I am interested in knowing what's going on.

And Another - California

Story. Yep, this is the defendant and not the victim.

Did Kid Use Gang Signs In Emblem?

I 100% believe this kid. There is no way he has anything to do with a gang. In fact, if I'm his dad and and see him in this news footage, I'd sign him up for the Crips the next day.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Two crime alerts by TCU last week and neither was caused marijuana. (Credit: Bud Kennedy.) The cops might want to spend some time on that.
I didn't watch a second of it, but Jeremy Lin beat the Mavericks yesterday. He's becoming a great and bizarre NBA story. (And one ESPN headline writer lost his job over the weekend for his creation of "A Chink In The Armor" after a loss.)
In the house this weekend was a "Scream" mask. (Don't ask.) And it was used to scare me senseless three times by noon on Saturday. The first one occurred when I rolled over in the morning to take my first look at Mrs. LL.
Sucker Punch - Watched this movie over the weekend which is quickly becoming a cult classic. It's part Sin City, Inglorious Bastards, Kill Bill, Donnie Darko, and a video game.
NASCAR genius: When qualifying for the poll position at Daytona, Fox shows you the fastest qualifier by the use of a phantom/transparent car next to the current qualifier. Very cool.
"Doing what I wanted to do in life has never been much of a factor."
Failed to mention last Friday that the BagOfNothing guy and his wife had a son.
I discovered this weekend that watching a PG-13 movie with a 13 year old can be very uncomfortable.
My Valentine's present to Mrs. LL: Tickets to Bring It On - The Musical in Dallas. We saw it Friday night. Verdict: Good stuff. (Although the crowd looked like it was made up of the cast of Mean Girls.)
There's something weird about the story of the Frisco teen who was allegedly kidnapped and freed over the weekend.
Mrs. LL watched the end of Scarface on Saturday. The rest of the day she tried to recreate Tony Montana's accent.
Uh, oh: I see where the Decatur girls will play Abilene Wylie this week in playoff basketball. It's nemesis time. And that's normally a bad thing.
WBAP traffic gal Laura Houston commented this morning on Whitney Houston's funeral. I didn't hear the whole quote, but she made some reference to Stevie Wonder "flying blind." Wow.
Photos of a Victoria Secret's commercial. "Hey, . . . " Do I really have to say it?
Dale Hanson's interview last night with Jason Garrett was great when he asked him why he is so robotic in press conferences. It's a "process" and he's "getting better." Not that it matters, but he'd get a longer leash from the fans if he'd knock that bit off.
Somebody explain the Newark (Texas) Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corporation mentioned in today's Update.

2.19.2012

Almost

Wise County People Went To Big City Last Night

Story.

Edit: The CBS local affiliate says the driver was charged with as charged with "Intoxication Assault causing Brain Injury – Vegetative State" which is horrible (and a strange way to put it.)

2.18.2012

This Is 2012, Right?

Full editorial.

The Messenger this week went on a low key rant against the potential of "public notices" being allowed to be posted on the Internet instead of in print. You see them all the time: Governmental budgets, lawsuits filed where a person cannot be located, eminent domain.

The reasoning against Internet Public Notices, according to the editorial, is that (1) how can we be sure of accurate archiving, and (2) hackers!!!!

Do I really care about this issue? Naaaa. But what I do care about is my local paper being dishonest with me. The elephant in the editorial room is this : Newspapers charge an exorbitant rate for those notices. An outrageous rate charged to someone who has no choice but to run the public notice in print. It's borderline extortion, and it certainly a cash cow. That's why the newspaper industry doesn't want Public Notices to be allowed on the Internet. I know it. You know it. Just say it.

Allowing public notices on the Internet at one URL would be a great idea. We would know exactly where to go. Everyone would have access to it without having to buy a paper. And the cost of posting it would be next to nothing.

You want to know how much it costs me to keep wisecounty.com and Liberally Lean on the Internet? $19.95 a month. And that's because I'm too lazy to find a cheaper rate. But even at that cost, I'd post Public Notices for free.

(And, since I'm on the topic of being honest, the Messenger made me mad again this weekend.)