Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Sen. Wendy Davis is milking that "firebombing" for all it is worth.  And to initially invoke the name of Gabby Giffords right after it happened was borderline shameful. 
• If we could go back in time and give Davis the chance to stop the homeless guy from burning her office door, there is no way in the world she would (if she were honest about it.) She can't buy this much publicity.
• Finally, the national media went nuts with the story with some even saying in headlines: "Office of Planned Parenthood Supporter Firebombed." Hey, this wasn't an Eric Rudolph abortion clinic bombing.
• But if we learned anything from this story, it is this: Wendy Davis is kind of hot. 
• RG3 had his "pro day" yesterday at Baylor and ESPN showed up to broadcast it live. Live??!! But I have to admit, there has to be no more useless stat in the world than his completion rate in drills when there is no defense on the field.
• Does NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell really have that much power? He cost Sean Payton a year's salary of $7.5 million, and we are supposed to believe he made that decision independent of the 32 NFL owners?
• Mrs. LL, who is doing softball coaching this year, is stressing now that Spring Break and rain has killed almost all of the team's practices. 
• I used an ATM in a seedy convenience store in the metroplex last Saturday. After pressing "no receipt", I got my money. After I then stepped to the side, the guy next in line awkwardly called me back over. On the "Confirm Transaction" screen (which I had never seen in my life) was my transaction details including my balance (which I had not asked to see.) 
• Remember that line from The Jerk when Nathan* Navin R. Johnson said, "Yeah, you flash a wad a cash like this around here and some people will kill you for it." *Edit: How I continue to make that mistake is disturbing.
• Based upon Justice Scalia's dissent yesterday, he doesn't think the constitution requires a defendant's lawyer to communicate to him any plea bargain offers. Incredible.
• Fox News has discovered Paul Harvey's 1965 "If I Were The Devil" broadcast and proclaims it has come to fruition. 
• 60 Minutes will do a segment this Sunday on alleged Texas prosecutorial misconduct.
• The "Stand Your Ground Law" (or the "Mobile Castle Doctrine") has nothing to do with the Trayvon Martin case. The lack of a duty to retreat only comes into play once the use of deadly self defense is justified. And that's the whole issue in the Martin case: Was deadly self defense justified in the first place?
• I got stopped for the "Man On The Street" question by the Messenger yesterday. They promised they wouldn't make me look like an idiot (although I really didn't have an opinion on standardized school testing). 
• Have you seen the Apache helicopter crash in Afghanistan? Pilot hot dogging?
• WBAP's Hal Jay got Yu Darvish and Jeremy Lin confused this morning. 

Falsely Accused - Even In Newark

Story.

(Thanks, emailer.)

Burglary Verdict

After a jury's verdict of guilt, Judge Fostel sentenced the James R. Biegler, Jr. , 33, to eleven years in prison. The range was 2 to 20. (Despite no one suggesting it, he was eligible for probation.) Restitution was ordered.  From what I gather, that was a longer sentence than a co-defendant received.

Biegler testified during the punishment phase and said he didn't do the crime for money. "I had a job at the time and was making $3,000 to $3,500 a month easy."

Edit: What the table in the jury room looked like after the guilty verdict:

"Full Throttle: When You Need That Extra Energy To Convict."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Being Roger Goodell*

The NFL took the bounty program run for three seasons in New Orleans seriously.

And the Saints franchise will pay dearly.

Gregg Williams, the defensive coordinator who masterminded the operation, has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL. He can apply for reinstatement after one year. That means the St. Louis Rams will need a new coordinator this season.

The Saints are reeling. Sean Payton, the head coach, has been suspended for the entire season. Mickey Loomis, the general manager, has been suspended for eight games. The Saints will lose their second-round draft pick this year and in 2013. The club has been fined $500,000. Additionally, linebackers coach Joe Vitt, who is also an assistant head coach, has been suspended for six games.

More.
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* Spelling corrected. Sheesh, did you know he makes $10 million a year with an increase to $20 million by 2019?

"The Hunger Games" Suddenly Sounds Like A Good Movie

Jennifer Lawrence

Burglary Trial Going On In Wise County

Tim Cole and Greg Lowery for the State.  Jim Shaw for the defense.

I'll try to learn more about it this afternoon.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The "firebombing" of the front door of state legislator Wendy Davis' office is really disturbing. The Democrat is despised -- really despised -- by Republicans. So much so that Sen. Jane Nelson, my longtime nemesis, said in February that defeating Davis is "most critical race in the whole state."
• But wouldn't it be shocking to learn that Davis set the whole fire up just for publicity? (I'm not implying that happened. I'm just saying it would be shocking.) Edit: Arrest made. News conference at 10:00 a.m. Double Edit: It was a homeless guy.
• I'll boycott any product or service that has a commercial which depicts adults screaming in it. Carnival Cruises, I'm looking at you.
• Not many reports of motorcycle deaths this year despite the good weather.
• Mitt Romney won Illinois last night after "extremely low voter turnout."  Kind of hard to get excited about that man, isn't it?
• Looking at the level of Lake Bridgeport, there was a quick 2.5 feet rise around March 12 which is more than this last rain caused (so far.) I'm may be losing my mind, because I don't even remember a huge storm around that time. 
• If you can't stand C.J. Wilson, click here.
• OK, I take it back. The Trayvon Martin case is getting a lot of publicity.
• After announcing the $96 million Denver Bronco Peyton Manning at a press conference yesterday, a reporter asked him about his neck. "I'm not where I want to be. I want to be where I was before I was injured.," Peyton said. Think that caused Bronco officials and ownership to have Failed Smile? (To be fair, I think he has to pass a physical every year as part of the five year contract.)
• Ferris Bueller turns 50 today. (And dare I say this about the movie: Overrated.)
• The Family Cat curled up in my lap yesterday for a good 10 minutes. We might go to counseling to re-evaluate our relationship. 
• A 21 year old college student from Dallas was stabbed and beaten by a crowd during Spring Break. Channel 5 has posted a graphic video of the end of the beating which has surfaced. People are a stone's throw away from being animals sometimes. 

"Mitt, of all people, I know you are full of it."

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/25/3763065/why-is-jane-nelson-livid-let-us.html#storylink=cpy

If Those Girls Don't Win This Whole Thing . . .

Baylor defeats Florida to move onto the Sweet Sixteen

. . . it would be the definition of the agony of defeat. But as good as they are -- maybe the best college women's team ever -- I've got a weird feeling. There's been nothing to indicate they shouldn't win it all, but that's when things come crashing down.

Messenger Above The Fold

I Mentioned T. Boone Pickens . . .

. . . In Random Thoughts and now this news breaks. (I didn't even know that was legal.)

Who Ya Got? Mouthy Asian Kid or Big Cop?

Answer.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Now we know what happens when a giant red ball on the radar hangs over you all night long. (I like being awakened by storms -- even if it happens several times during the night.)
• Why was that Fox 4 reporter standing in one inch of water at a live remote from Mockingbird Station last night? 
• The City of Decatur sent out an automated voicemail about the storm yesterday afternoon. When did they start doing that?
• Fox 4 News also did a story on fake vehicle registration stickers. They ended the segment with a reference to a website "if you are curious as to whether your registration sticker is legitimate." Now that's a concern I've never remotely thought about.
• The Secret Service name for President Obama is "Renegade".
• "Baylor Frat Sued For Drinking Death" -- If that doesn't launch a Kenneth Starr investigation, nothing will.
• Correction from yesterday: Mrs. LL and I completed the new flowerbed this weekend.
• After demanding that correction, she told me that she added about 10 bags of top soil to it during those crazy winds yesterday morning. I bet that was a scene. 
• The Trayvon Martin story deserves more press than it is getting.
• Mike "I'm A Man. I'm 40!" Gundy will turn 45 this year. He also just got richer with a contract with OSU through 2019 for $30 million. I wonder how often T. Boone Pickens calls him? I'm betting a lot.
• I don't look at the Messenger's crime blotter anymore because I think they just turned it into a bit. 
• While you were sleeping: 41 dead in Iraq. That's how they marked the ninth anniversary of our invasion. Did you expect cake and ice cream?
• I'm about at the end of my John Wilkes Booth book because they've got him trapped in the barn. I shouldn't be surprised how he was located: He just couldn't shut up about what he had done. (That's also an old adage in criminal law: There are no deaf, dumb and blind men in prison.)
• Everyone is up in arms of the three year old in a wheelchair who was searched by TSA. I don't get it. If we are going to have the program, we can't have hard and fast exceptions. 
• I think we've got a tie that won't be broken in the battle for last place in the Liberally Lean Pick Em Tournament. That'll cost me. I knew I should have come up with some type of tie-breaker for that. 
• Ranger thoughts:  (1) After his latest prank, I wish C.J. Wilson was still on the team so I could remember to despise him more often, and (2) with Opening Day only a couple of weeks away, one strike away from being a World Series winner seems like a long, long way away.
• That video below of the girl explaining miles per hour is considered fake by many. I had my doubts but I think it's real. I thought it odd at first that she never objected to being video'd, but girls like that (and they definitely do exist) don't care. 

You Think It's Funny Now, Hoss

Kid Be Bawling

Hey, I support this kid.  You guys can have your Lamar Odom ($8.9 million to not care) or Jason Terry ("Every night I'm on the floor I'm on a job interview") or any other professional athlete (Peyton Manning to the Broncos* for $95 million?).  I'll take a college kid who cares about his team and his school.

_______
*If Tim Tebow now gets traded and goes on to have a great year elsewhere someday, I can see the headline: "Resurrected."

Red Meat For The Masses

By the way: Picture Implying President Is On Vacation There, Too,  But He Ain't

Link.

Separation of Church and State?

Link.

Does a license plate showing three crosses promote Christianity by the State of Texas?  What if a portion of the proceeds from the sale of those plates goes to an organization, the Glory Gang, who helps at risk kids but which refers to itself as a "ministry" and has a Sunday night service which "ends with an age appropriate message about Jesus"? The Glory Gang certainly understands that State money is being used for religious purposes because one of its board members said, “We believe the new plate will appeal to a lot of Texans who believe as we do -- who will like knowing that sharing a Christian message from their cars will also help kids in need."

Would you approve of a plate which promotes Islam?

National Weather Service Has Cancelled Tuesday

The NWS has sent our Sheriff's Office another fancy Powerpoint presentation regarding the expected storms. I think they've hired my proofreader.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Dallas Morning News reported that five separate motorists were shot at on I-30 near Dallas on Sunday night. Wow. What a story. But the next day they changed the story to "six people" being shot at - four within one car. And details are sketchy at that.
• Mrs. LL had "Love Happens" on yesterday (a Jennifer Aniston film).  I already decided it was horrible and then they actually threw in the "slow clap" at the end of the movie.
• I completed the new flower bed over the weekend. Projects are much easier when you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
• But my neighbor gave me a look like, "Quit trying to scoreboard me." The next day he was out planting flowers with his two kids -- an obvious attempt to scoreboard me. 
• Of the final sixteen teams left in March Madness, four are from Ohio: Ohio State, Ohio University, Cincinnati and Xavier.
• With Craig James, Ted Cruz, and David Dewhurst running for Senate, we have a trifecta of nut case crazy conservatives running. Dewhurst even has a liberal pick'em bracket. 
• The Family Cat sat on my lap for three minutes yesterday. Shocking.
• That Coutney Stodden chick went surfing, and I bet she doesn't know how to surf. But she's still a Hey, Now. 
• The producer of that Kony 2012 video had a very unfortunate weekend. 
• I heard over the weekend that the Kony video/cause took off because it personalized a problem in Uganda.  Just like no one seemed to care about apartheid in South Africa before "free Mandela" became the slogan, Kony was a face that could be associated with Uganda. For some reason, that works with the public. 
• Baylor has a guy who is basically a three point shooter but he's good -- he hit nine of them the other night. But I could do without his making of "three point sign" hand gesture that he puts up to his eye(s) when he is successful. It drives me nuts. 
• I'll flip over to KLIF in the mornings to listen to five minutes to Jeff Bolton's crazy callers. The first one I heard this morning said that "Obama is about to sign a treaty sponsored by the United Nations that will make gun possession illegal in the United States."  And, as always, Bolton never disagrees with any assertion.
• We almost had a news combo: An officer was hit by a wrong way driver in Dallas (but he was off duty.) He'll be OK.
• One of my pet peeves has always been traffic signal lights not being in sync. Before they built the overpass in Wichita Falls, there was the greatest string of in sync lights on 287. I bet there were eight or more that magically turned green as you approached them.  Heck, they may still be there. 
• We've a three woman Random Thought Girl today. The boys on RAGE at The Fan had three behind them at the St. Pat's Greenville Avenue Parade but something isn't quite the same.