Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

3.13.2012

DWI News

Missed from last week: From what I can surmise, a guy waived a jury in Collin County and decided to have his DWI-Felony case (two or more prior convictions) tried to a judge. After the entire case was presented to the court last Wednesday morning, the judge took a lunch break. The defendant decided, apparently, that things weren't going well (which shouldn't have come as a particular shock since his alcohol level had been .23.) He didn't return to court after lunch. The case proceeded and the defendant received 40 years. He's still on the run.

That smash-into-a-cop-car accident last night amounted to three, count em, three DWI arrests. The first arrest was for the guy that hit the cop car. The second was for another driver who rear-ended another car at the accident scene. The third came about because a guy decided to disregard the traffic flares. A rare trifecta.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

An SUV slammed into a parked Dallas police car last night on Central Expressway in North Dallas. This is becoming bizarre.
After a day to think about it, the soldier going nuts in Afghanistan by killing women and children coupled with the scandal of burning of the Koran makes that country a powder keg for anyone wearing an American uniform. And it already was.
Oddest tweet yesterday: "I've got Kony in my Final Four."
Sean Hannity is in re-election panic mode. For some reason he believes he's going to make a difference with the continuous mention of the President's law school tape and Bill Maher's contribution to the Obama Super Pac. Both are huge swings and misses, but he refuses to realize it.
After I finished jogging and was walking up the street to cool down on Sunday, I turned around to catch Mrs. LL and the Oldest Girl In The House hiding behind cars and mailboxes at they were attempting to stalke and scare me. Upon being caught, they turned around, locked arms, and skipped down the road like in The Wizard of Oz. *head shake*
From the NYT: “What would happen if we organized thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people charged with crimes to refuse to play the game, to refuse to plea out? What if they all insisted on their Sixth Amendment right to trial? Couldn’t we bring the whole system to a halt just like that?” My answer: Absolutley. Why doesn't it happen? All defendants would support it so long as they weren't the first in line.
Do stations like WBAP pay the company which syndicates Rush Limbaugh for the right to broadcast the show, or does that company pay WBAP and makes money by embedding their own ads that WBAP must run? The answer is here and what that syndication company announced yesterday is shocking.
Bumper sticker that would make many Wise County heads explode.
The Star-Telegram is not running the Doonesbury series this week, but I was more amazed that the headline with a link to that story appeared five times on its homepage this morning. Who designs those things?
I don't think I've ever met anyone who has been to SXSW in Austin.
Sports: (1) I missed Cowboy's free agent tight end Martellus Bennett saying he feels like he's a 60 catch a year guy. This coming from a guy who has not caught a touchdown pass in the last three years, (2) the Cowboys get "fined" by losing $10 million in salary cap room for disregarding a salary cap warning during the non salary cap year when to honor the warning would get the owners in trouble for collusion? Ok, got it, and (3) Randy Moss has come out of retirement and signed with the 49ers -- whatever happened to Michael Crabtree?
Time is running out to sign up for the Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tourney sponsored by the following (and, merchants, there is still time to add to the pot):
- Wise Garden Center has pledged a $100 and $50 gift certificate for in-house purchases.
- Bloomoon Pet Resort in Chico has pledged a $50 Visa Gift Card
- Wise Liquors in Bridgeport has pledged a liter of Crown Royal for the last place finisher. (I'm guessing they are serious.)
- A signed Lebron James jersey with a certificate of authenticity donated by attorney Paul Belew
- A $100 Visa Gift Card has been pledged and delivered by Chris Miller's Farmer's Insurance Agency in Bridgeport.

3.12.2012

And Another - Update

About a year ago, this sweet girl was placed on probation for being a Very Bad Teacher. Certainly one of the conditions of the probation was "no contact" with the former student who had been the object of her affection.

What could possibly go wrong?

I've Got To Start Adding The Up

We've got another car-crashes-into-police car incident. This time in Mesquite.

But that dirt (or whatever) in the road looks like an old photograph superimposed on the street.

Something Weird Is Going On

Last week we had the guy executed in Arizona whose last words were "Potato, Potato, Potato."

Now we've got a guy showing up at PGA events screaming, "Mashed Potatoes!!!"

And I just learned that this is the 20 year anniversary of the Dan Quail[*] misspelling of the word "Potato." Edit: I didn't mean today. I meant this year.
________
*Edit. Based upon the context, I think that's my biggest misspelling error ever. And that's saying something.

The Man Comes To The Aid Of Hispanics

More

"[W]e conclude that the total number of registered voters who lack a driver’s license or personal identification card issued by DPS could range from 603,892 to 795,955. The disparity between the percentages of Hispanics and non-Hispanics who lack these forms of identification ranges from 46.5 to 120.0 percent. That is, according to the state’s own data, a Hispanic registered voter is at least 46.5 percent, and potentially 120.0 percent, more likely than a non-Hispanic registered voter to lack this identification. Even using the data most favorable to the state, Hispanics disproportionately lack either a driver’s license or a personal identification card issued by DPS, and that disparity is statistically significant."

Never Been A Big Fan Of Doonesbury . . .

. . . either because (1) it's over my head most of the time, or (2) not funny.

In any event, he takes on the Texas legislature's sonogram-before-an-abortion law this week but some newspapers are boycotting it.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

I watched Game Change on HBO this weekend -- a movie based upon a great book by the same name. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the movie was too hard on Sarah Palin.
A few years back, Texas law was changed allowing cops to issue a citation instead of arrest someone for misdemeanor amounts of marijuana. The level of the crime didn't change, it just allowed a person to avoid having to go to jail and making bond before their court appearance. However, the law has been ignored.
John Carter might be one of the biggest busts in the history of cinema.
Prepared your brackets for the Liberally Lean Tournament. Current list of prizes and sponsors is here. And it looks like we've got about 150 entries -- we normally break 200 by the Thursday deadline.
South Oak Cliff school sign. Real or fake?
A car passed me this morning with one of those traveling cargo bins attached to its roof. It had "Taos" stickers on it. *sigh*
One of the tulips I accidentally poisoned in the back yard fought through it and actually bloomed. Then a neighbor cat came over and ate it during the night.
And I created two large dead spots on the front lawn when I applied too much weed killer. Neil Sperry would not be proud of me so far this year. Neither is Mrs. LL.
I'm glad I'm not emotionally invested in the NFL because it would be weird cheering for Baylor's Robert Griffin in a Washington Redskins jersey. Over the weekend, they sold the farm to get him.
Lots of people talking about a new BBQ place along the banks of the Trinity River off of University Drive in Fort Worth. And if I remember correctly, it doesn't have air conditioning.
There was a Jerry Billington who received 35 years in prison in Tarrant County last week for DWI-Third or more. That name used to appear on the Wise County docket for the same offense and the age of the guy seems about the same.
There was a report on the radio this morning that there was a police chase in Carrollton involving a "possible DWI" suspect. Little early for that.
In the Update this morning, there was an obit for a 33 year old out of Newark with "no services planned." I'm not sure I've seen that before.
We had a soldier go beserk. Let's get out of there.

3.09.2012

Messenger Above The Fold

Basketball Tourneys Taking You Into The Weekend

Edit: On to the conference championship game. Honey Badger don't care.

I Think Chris Christie Would Have Had A Shorter Shelf Life Than Rick Perry

But some still wish he had entered the GOP race. He makes Mitt Romney look pretty good.

Liberally Lean Tourney Prize Update

"Enter the tournament or bad things will happen"

The current list:

All Wise Garden Center has pledged a $100 and $50 gift certificate for in-house purchases.
Bloomoon Pet Resort in Chico has pledged a $50 Visa Gift Card
Wise Liquors in Bridgeport has pledged a liter of Crown Royal for the last place finisher. (I'm guessing they are serious.)
A signed Lebron James jersey with a certificate of authenticity donated by attorney Paul Belew
A $100 Visa Gift Card pledged by Chris Miller's Farmer's Insurance Agency in Bridgeport

I'll probably let the first place finisher have the first choice of one prize, the second place finisher the second choice of one prize, etc. For any "last place" prizes, the entire bracket must be filled out. No submitting an empty bracket just to try to win the last place prize -- I know how you guy's think.

Enter here. You'll have to complete your brackets once the teams are announced on Sunday evening.

Edit: For those having difficulty with that link, try this one and use Group ID# 26162. There is no password.

Flight Attendant: "I am not responsible for crashing this plane."

Sounds like a wild scene at DFW this morning as a flight attendant was ushered off a plane. I think she meant "I will not be responsible for the crashing of this plane."

Edit: CNN has a video where you can hear her scream in the background. Sounds like The Exorcist.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

The Bacon Rating System guy might hate me this morning.
Breaking economic news: Unemployment stays at 8.3% but the U.S. added 227,000 jobs in February. It keeps turning around.
That Kony 2012 campaign took off even more yesterday, but it did give rise to some criticism of the masses who suddenly care. Those critics fired off: "Watch a 30 minute youtube video. Suddenly become a social activist" and "Before you can protest Kony, you have to be able to find Uganda on a map."
The big health news yesterday came from the Surgeon General who reported that one in five high school students smoke cigarettes. I don't believe that (and I can back that up with absolutely no proof whatsoever.)
A Fort Worth cop was fired yesterday for looking at porn at work. There may be worst ways for the world to find out that you are fired, but that's got to be right up there.
Watched a little bit of the local morning news on Channel 8 this morning. Still painful but that blond weather gal is kind of hot. Edit: Might have been the traffic gal.
"I love my family. Potato, potato, potato." - Final words of Robert Towery who was executed last night by the State of Arizona. (I have no idea what that means, but it's kind of funny.)
There was a story this week that gun sales had increased because people "feared" the President's re-election and what he might do to gun control laws. Everyone was acting like this was big news when the same knuckleheads did the same thing four years ago.
I actually don't mind the rotten weather this weekend. It'll make next weekend even better because it always feels like Spring with the first weekend of March Madness (plus we'll have the extra hour of daylight.)
Reminder for the Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tourney with the Top Prize being a $100 Visa card provided by Chris Miller's Farmer's Insurance Agency in Bridgeport . (No other merchant stepped up yesterday which clearly proves there is a malfunction in their Bang For Buck/Advertising Dollar Analysis.)
Edit: A Decatur attorney who wishes to remain nameless (but who is named "Paul Belew") just called and said he will donate a LeBron James signed Miami Heat jersey complete with a Certificate of Authenticity.) "I won it at a silent auction and now I hate the guy." Double edit: It's now sitting on my desk.
A cameraman on one of those tall cranes almost got hit by a golf ball yesterday at this week's PGA event. (Video.)
Ticket Fans: Bob Sturm revealed on the T.C. and Jake Podcast that program director Bruce Gilbert wanted to hire Arnie Spanier instead of Dan McDowell back in the 1990s but a contract issue prevented it from happening. Gilbert has since moved on to 105.3 The Fan where Spanier now works.
Pat Robertson said yesterday he favored the legalization of marijuana. A faithful reader sent me a photo of billboard for the ~~Olive Garden~~ Carino's suggesting that Robertson might have simply been confused. It read, "Legalize Marinara."