Afternoon Pick Me Up

Britney, I'll never turn on you.

In Case You Don't Know What All The Clint Eastwood Talk Is About

Cutest Thing You'll See All Day

Baby gorilla reacts to cold stethoscope.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The Clint Eastwood "speech" last night at the RNC was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. Who came up with that bright idea? There is no way that could be classified as "good" or even "OK". 
• And I have to note that I brought up Eastwood's name here out of the clear blue about ten days ago, and today he's the most talked about man in America. I'm magic.  
• Mrs. LL said last night that the only way the Eastwood performance could become more insane would be if he introduced a hologram Ronald Reagan. 
• Mitt was Mitt last night. Good not great. 
• Metroplex police killed another citizen last night, and this one sounds like it has some iffy justification.
• Last night in college football had a guy return a fumble the wrong way for 58 years yards.
• A middle aged man playing on an escalator at a Houston Texan's game last night had a worse night because he fell to his death. 
• Mrs. LL repaired our scratched floors (damaged due to the doberman) yesterday.  It looked like she had tried to create an atomic bomb based upon on the different products and waxes she experimented with before finding the right combo. 
• Former Bridgeport resident Michelle Simpson (Tuegel) has taken part in some incredibly high profile criminal cases in Waco. She's involved in one now. 
• I, on the other hand, made a rare appearance in Justice of the Peace court yesterday. Kind of fun.
• Out of habit, I stood every time I spoke. The judge told me to stop doing that.
• The Longhorn Network is now on ATT U-Verse. I was beginning to wonder if it simply was going to die a slow death. 
• The trooper in the stalking case in Tarrant County received probation. I don't have any problem with that. He might be a nut, but he didn't deserve to go to prison. 
• Courtney Stodden turned 18 and promptly lost her mind.
• Turned on the TV last weekend and got sucked into O Brother, Where Art Thou? What a fantastic movie. (Someone quoted from the movie this week in the comments. I bet they ran across it last weekend, too.)
• The Decatur Eagles play Trinity Christian tonight. If you didn't know they were a private religious school, I wonder if you could tell simply by the way the team conducts itself.

Prime Time

Umkay.

Get Me This Dog!

What happens at the 10 second mark would be repeated all day long.

(In other news, firefighters rescued a cat in Boyd this morning.)

Flashback From Last Week's Law Lesson

More.

Remember last week's video of the wise guy kid trying to bait the cop into arresting him for doing something not illegal -- carrying an AK-47? Well, Dallas cops might need a lesson (if the story is correct.)

But they are probably in the clear here . They certainly could have arrested him for Disorderly Conduct for waving the gun around in downtown Dallas. That's more than just carrying it. And the search after that arrest is legal so the dope charge will also stick.  But there is no separate crime of  "Displaying a Firearm". There is one for "Unlawfully Carrying A Firearm" but that doesn't apply here. That guy could have strolled down downtown with that weapon if he'd just done so calmly.

The Thought Of Almost Being An Official Liberally Lean Gal Must Have Got To Her!

Story.

Edit: TMZ has made a retraction! Hang on, baby! I'm coming to represent you!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The Republicans better hope the Youth of America didn't watch Tim Pawlenty or Mike Huckabee at the convention last night. The "Dad Humor" was enough to send them running from the room. 
• Mark Davis tweeted last night that the Republicans only lose presidential election when the nominee isn't conservative enough.  That is completely out of touch with political reality. A "strong conservative" can't win, and will never win again, even the Republican nomination. If the candidate is not a moderate, the Republicans stand no chance. 
• Davis has also actually been speculating that Paul Ryan could be in the White House for the next sixteen years (eight as VP and then eight as President.) That's delirious thinking. When's the last time either party held the White House for four straight terms? 
• Paul Ryan appeared on TV the other night and Mrs. LL fired off a "Hey, now!"
• There will be a "mystery speaker" at tonight's convention. Speculation is on for Sarah Palin (no way), Clint Eastwood (maybe), a hologram Ronald Reagan (which would be brilliantly fantastic), and Tim Tebow (but for that game tonight in Philadelphia). Any other predictions?
• The Republicans rolled out an African-American (Condi Rice) and then an Hispanic (New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez) last night to seem more diverse. The latter proclaimed she was a former prosecutor of child abusers -- the cheapest political ploy on the books. 
• It was funny last night when Paul Ryan introduced his family in the audience. The cameras turned to the family and his daughter had a friend sitting with her right in the middle of the picture. That friend scrambled out of there like there were bullets flying. 
• Mickey Spagnola had a little trouble remembering what station he was on last night at the beginning of the Cowboys game. 
• The Fourth Grader In The House has a select softball tournament this week. I saw the schedule. Good grief. After a couple of warm up games she plays a third game on Saturday which is the beginning round of a double elimination tournament. If they lose, the next game is at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday -- at a location one hour from our house. 
• Cancelling the Aggie game tonight was spot on. Shreveport will be dumped on all day today.  North Texas at LSU in Baton Rouge is still a go for Saturday.
• Watched Hard Knocks off of the DVR last night. Did the previous episodes bleep out the cussing but this one didn't? (And if you want to see a coach with less personality than Wade Phillips, check out Dolphins coach Joe Philbin.)
• Random Facts Learned Yesterday: The Beatles last concert (in Candlestick Park) was composed of only eleven songs, lasted 33 minutes, top ticket was $6.50, and only 25,000 of the stadium's 42,500 seats were filled.
• The ex-trooper harassment of his ex-wife case in Fort Worth is pretty bizarre. But before he was convicted yesterday, uber-conservative district judge Sharen Wilson almost threw out one of the charges for lack of evidence. 

Above The Fold

Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief Has Had A Bad Day

A "hot mic" picks up him saying “They aren’t concerned at all,” in reference to the Romneys at the Republican National Convention. “They are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

By the afternoon, he's fired. 

Anyone Missing A Pooch In Decatur?

"I think Courtney Stouder is crazy, too"

This doggie was found on North Church Street in Decatur on Sunday.  The "finder" has offered to bribe me with cookies from a local bakery if the owner is found.  Someone locate the owner for me. That way I can go home with a box of cookies and be considered thoughtful and kind.

Child Bride Of The Green Mile Guy Turns 18 Today

Dogs know crazy when they see it

They grow up so fast.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Watching the live reports at 9:00 last night from New Orleans, it looked like Isaac was a big bag of nothing. But it looks like it stuck around last night with some pretty bad flooding.
• The worst of it appears to be some place called Plaquemine Parish (pic.). I looked it up on Google Maps (here) and my first thought was: "How can that place not flood?"
• The Faith Bible Church in DeSoto, which has about a hundred cots set up for New Orleans refugees, had exactly one person in it last night. And a bunch of reporters. 
• I watched a little bit of the Republican National Convention last night, but it was almost impossible to see any of the early speakers because all of the cable news channels had their talking heads jabbering. I finally had to resort to CSPAN.
• During the Rick Santorum speech, 660 AM's Mark Davis had the most laughingly ironic tweet ever: "Libs saying conservatism is uncaring. Listen to this Santorum speech and then, pardon me, you have my permission to go screw yourselves."  Seems kind of caring.
• I agree with the conservatives that MSNBC's Chris Matthews seems to have lost it. He's throwing out the Race Card like a crazy man.
• Ann Romney seems like a nice enough woman, but I don't know if I would have had included in her speech her concern for the "parents who lie awake at night side by side, wondering how they'll be able to pay the mortgage or make the rent . . . ." Lady, those parents are so far removed from the life you have lived, there's no way you know that feeling.
• I kind of worry about anyone who would want to be a delegate to a national political convention -- Republican or Democrat. 
• In case you missed it: Troy Aikman's ex-wife was arrested for pubic intoxication a couple of days ago.
• For the first time I can remember, I walked the last one-half of my jog last night. The temperature and near 100% humidity was just too much. 
• From the Update, it looks like the City of Paradise is going to try and establish a city court that actually is used for the prosecution of traffic offenses (originated by a new "resident deputy" who will be hired.)  They also have allocated $1,000 for "legal consulting fees" which would only be used if a a case "went to trial". Translation: If someone demands a trial (jury or otherwise) in the City of Paradise, they have to have a prosecutor. So if everyone demands a trial, that fund will run out pretty quickly. 
• Well I was completely wrong about the Aggies cancelling Thursday night's game. They'll now open their season against new conference foe Florida at College Station. Delicious. I actually looked on Stubhub for tickets but the prices were insane. 
• The Tampa Bay newspaper does not appear to care much about the Republican National Convention taking place in the city:

Random College Expense Graphic Of The Day

Not sure why they left out the Aggies. Maybe they can't park on campus because it's considered holy or something.

Alvord In News Again

Oh, my.

Just A Gas Line Explosion In McKinney This Morning

Wow.

Credit.

"Hubba! Hubba!"

This has to be from June, but I've never seen it. A San Diego Ball Girl snags a foul line drive against your Texas Rangers prompting the play-by-play guy to utter the awkward phrase, "That's the catch of the day! I mean . . . the girl caught the ball . . and . . . Lisa!"

On behalf of women everywhere (and Random Thought Girls), we shall rise up against such sexism wherever we find it..