They Toned Down The Paint Job

Before

After:

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• It's hard to think of a story that is more gut wrenching than that of the seven year old girl killed in front of her father by an out of control truck in a Lake Worth parking lot. And the video, even though they stop it before impact, is almost impossible to watch.
• And they were just going to Target on a Saturday. They left the house to go the store. Did you do something similar on Saturday?
• Most of the TCU students arrested in the Spring "drug bust" are receiving three years deferred adjudication and a small fine. Why do we even waste the time?
• ESPN has released the schedule for its Fall 30 for 30 series, and I can't wait to see the one on Bo Jackson. 
• Mrs. LL went to Chick-fil-A on Friday. Not because of support -- the kids wanted chicken. 
• Allen High School's sixty million dollar stadium is completed. Good grief. 
• What's the deal with that body tape that some of the Olympic divers have on?
• I don't like the font on the USA uniforms. Block letters just doesn't seem American. 
• I went to Hurricane Harbor (or as I sometimes call it, "Wet and Wild") yesterday. Observation: The masses have invested in a lot of tattoos. Observation #2: Apparently anyone can wear a bikini.
• The USA's female gymnastics squad looks like they walked off the set of Mean Girls.
• Everyone seems to forget that Kerri Strug's "historic" vault in 1996 was actually meaningless. NBC did a whole segment on it and that fact wasn't mentioned until Bob Costas said it after the package was over. 
• The double amputee running the 400 meters seems even more unfair now that I've seen him compete.
• That decomposing body found South of Newark was wrapped in carpet.  Last year, the body of the lady found in Paradise that gave rise to a murder charge was also wrapped in carpet. 
• I don't know much about Sikhs.

"Greatness"

I know this is a Nike ad and a great one at that. But if it ended with "David Dewhurst for Senate - Believing In The Greatness Of America - And In All Of Us" and it had replaced every one of his Chinese commercials, I wonder who would have won the election.

Messenger Above The Fold

Denton County 380 Project and The Wise County Connection

Link. (There's comments at the bottom.)

NBC Jacksonville Guy Is Mad Bob Costas Didn't Shut Down Broadcast at Midnight As Promised

Olympic Pick Me Up: Dutch Field Hockey Player Ellen Hoog

Olympic Moment Of The Day

I support this guy. How many times have we seen the "athlete", in a near incapacitated state, crawl towards the finish line in an effort to defeat all odds? A million.  "Look at me! Look at me! I'm near death but I'll finish!"

But no drama for this guy. That crossbar to the chest knocked the need for "the human drama of athletic competition" right out of him. He's just looking for the exit and the nearest flight schedule back to wherever he's from.

P.S. What's up with the green top and red shorts? We should of known trouble was brewing when we saw that. The Michael Johnsons and Usain Bolts of the world are always stylin'.

C.J. Wilson

Genius stuff from the Dallas Morning News. And make no mistake, C.J. said all of that stuff (and there wasn't much context for the quotes to be taken out of.)  Most of the sound bites come from an interview with Gordon Keith of The Ticket but some of it was from an interview in LA after being signed with the Angels.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Uh, oh. Just announced: Unemployment rose to 8.3%.
• It would be unAmerican to be excited about that, right? 
• Frank Caliendo is out. He won't be back in the Fox NFL pre-game show. The guy is always funny on the radio but a beating on that show (and I never understood why his character would make game predictions at the end of his bit.)
• Josh Hamilton doesn't seem smart enough to be the theologian that he thinks he is.
• Six Flags is shutting down the parachute ride and the Flashback. I couldn't picture the latter until I remembered I actually rode the thing 20 years ago. My oddest memory is that there were three teenage girls in front of us in line and they would address each other by talking into their own wrists Never figured that out.
• I wonder if the Family Pup understands me when I tell her I want to switch lives with her?
• North Texas gets to play the #1 team in the country, LSU, for their season opener.
• A Vermont farmer, upset over his recent arrest for pot, took his huge tractor to the police station yesterday and decided to go all monster truck on a bunch of cop cars. Insane.
• Heard on the radio this morning: I don't want to see gays kissing at Chick-fil-A. In fact, I don't want to see anyone kissing at Chick-fil-A.
• Heard on the radio yesterday: Where will the  battleground be for immigration? Wendy's?
• Great night last night when C.J. Wilson gets lit up by the Rangers and Michael Phelps beat Ryan Lochte. 
• Another police shooting in Dallas last night (that's the 18th this year.)
• After that Gabby gal won the overall competition in gymnastics, NBCs Bob Costas gave a thoughtful wrap up about how the color barrier had been broken. Then they cut to a commercial showing a monkey competing in gymnastics. You've got to see it.

Yankee's Facebook Page Just Got Hacked

(Screenshot before taken down.)

Olympic Play Of The Day

It would help if the guy could film his TV when he wasn't staggering drunk, but that play was pretty slick. But here's a question: Is that legal? If so, I could have saved a thousand more plays in my illustrious volleyball career. I'd have been 100% spider monkey on the court. Guaranteed. Again, oh what might have been.

Haunting

The site of the Joe Paterno statue after it was removed. 

Deputy Shot And Killed In Big Lake, Texas

It appears he was shot while serving a warrant. There was an all night standoff, but the alleged killer was captured an hour or so ago. Updates.

Guess That Price

A couple of years ago, American lost our bags but delivered them the next day on our doorstep.  There was the initial hassle of (1) "Hey, where are our bags", (2) where do we go, and (3) what forms do we fill out, but after I had gotten over that, the actual bag delivery was a fantastic concept. I remember writing that if I knew I'd get them back with home delivery, they could lose them every time. The beat down of waiting for them at the baggage claim and then lugging them out to the curb is a pain.

But now American will do the delivery for a flat fee within 40 miles. You just get off the plane and head to the car.  So here's the game: What do you think they will charge? They have a rate for one bag, one rate for two bags, and one rate for three to ten (which seems surprising.)  My guess was that one bag would start at $50.

Answer here.

Sidenote: Mrs. LL always does something to make our bags unique so they can easily be spotted in the mass of bags that will undoubtedly include lookalikes.  Normally it is a bright ribbon tied around the handle. Our last trip she used a strip of Hello, Kitty duct tape.  See what I'm dealing with here?

That Was Probably Hard To Remember

Pretty funny moment (relatively speaking) in the trial of the Fort Worth guy who was sentenced to life for shooting, but not killing, a police officer. His momma was called to the stand during the punishment phase and asked by the defendant's lawyer if there had been any acts of violence between her and the defendant's father (the "he's the product of bad parents" defense).   She quickly said, "No."  Then a couple of seconds later a light bulb came on and she recalled there was that one time. You know, the time she shot him. Video.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Hey, if you wanted to go to Chick-fil-A yesterday, more power to you. But what I didn't understand were those who were interviewed who said they were there to support free speech rights and that it had nothing to do with traditional vs. gay marriage. That's not true.
• Don't believe me? If the owner of Chick-fil-A had said "There is no God" and a firestorm had broken out, would those same people have been there to support his free speech rights? Not a chance. They were there to support the content of his speech, not his right to say it.
• (Yeah, yeah. I understand "free speech" is applicable to government censorship).
• Fox 4 had the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas on last night to debate the Chick-fil-A controversy.  I can't believe the Board of Deacons puts up with him because he is anything other than pastor-like. (And does anyone else's gaydar go off when he talks?)
• And it finally happened: The Clarice Tinsley lets-look-at-the-Facebook-comments segment (beating) finally displayed the F bomb last night. She was actually reading that comment before she bailed.
• That was the Ranger game of the year last year. Box score. I went to bed after checking in on it to see it tied in the 9th. I'm interested but not that interested.
• I'm not sure any Olympic sport sucks the life force out of me more than rowing. 
• Regarding those cross country running high school kids I see in the morning: Is that organized by the school or are those kids doing it on their own?
• One thing I learned due to my recent dental work: They don't deaden your mouth like they did in the old days. Now its a slow step-by-step process. Used to the dentist would just jab you one time with a big needle, maybe wait 15 minutes, and then get to drilling.
• There's a 28 year old from Bridgeport listed in the Update's obituary today. Anyone?
• From the photos I've seen, the new Wise County campus of Weatherford College looks really nice. 
• Heard the Ticket boys reference a song (hip hop?) which has a line about Jerry Jones losing his wallet in the California town he lived in for a while. They were debating whether Jerry even knew about the song. I'll admit I had never even heard any reference to it whatsoever.

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The Man Behind The Dewhurst Ads

Dave Carney.

What a stellar 12 months.  He was the campaign manager for Rick Perry's presidential run (where Perry went from front runner to basement dweller in record time). On February 1st, he became a consultant to Dewhurst later becoming "in charge" of the campaign after the May primary.

If his consulting fees are commensurate with performance, he might now have to pay someone to to take his advice.