This Was During "God Bless America" Last Night?

Sign At Local Lowe's

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Dickies would have paid to have Big Tex burned down. Talk about free publicity.
• Late Friday, Madonna announced she was cancelling her Saturday show at American Airlines Center. I wonder how many people showed up who didn't get the word?
• Mrs. LL fears the Halloween clown.
• In Tarrant County, 66.16 percent of general election voters chose the straight party option in 2010, compared with 61.76 percent in 2008, 49.2 percent in 2006. Incredible. 
• How much does the NFL make? Enough to pay former commissioner Paul Tagliabu $8.58 million last year.
• Looking at the sample ballot for Wise County, there's really not much to consider. You have to assume the Republicans will win every contested state wide race (which is an easy bet.) I guess the only interesting thing in Wise County is whether to abolish the position of "county surveyor."
• Six of the ten Big 12 teams scored 50 or more points this weekend. College football is getting weird.
• Did I hear something about a "Moment of Silence" for Big Tex during the TCU/Tech game? Maybe I imagined that. 
• Oh, and my blood pressure has been high for quite a while. That wasn't just a one time reading. 
• About two dozen people got stranded 200 feet in the air on a ride at the State Fair on Friday.  Picture.
• The Decatur Chamber's "Citizen of the Year" was awarded posthumously over the weekend. Nice touch. 
• A fan ran onto the field during a play at the Miami/Florida State game on Saturday.
• Paranormal Activity 4 led the box office with $30 million over the weekend. To steal a quote, "The fact is, if you point a camera at something for 30 seconds, and at the end of that 30 seconds something JUMPS out of the side of the frame, I'm gonna leap out of my seat."

Messenger Above The Fold

Pre-Packaged Obituaries

Former presidential candidate George McGovern died last night. Today's New York Times obituary of him was written by a guy who died six years ago.

Oh my

Big Tex Has Left The Building

Friday Night Lights

Krum (8-0)    45
Decatur (3-5) 34

Holiday (5-2) 41
Alvord (1-6)  13

Chico (4-3)    13
Lindsay (5-2) 40

Pilot Point (6-2) 29
Paradise (0-7)    6

Fox 4 May Be A Little Dramatic.

Texas Tech Taking You Into The Weekend

And Another: Oklahoma

Story.

Strong week for our friends north of the border.

Meanwhile, In Aggieland

Big Tex Just Caught Fire!!!!!

Edit:

A close up of Big Tex's belly from the photo directly above. Is that a face? Two faces?

Developing . . . Here's a video of the whole thing -- start to finish. Five minutes.

Edit: The initial smoke . . .

Edit: And we'll wrap it up with some on-the-spot comedy:

Edit: Ok, one more. As with other great American disasters, the mayor needs to show up. And tweet about it.

"I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the 

people who burned Big Tex down will hear from all of us soon."

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• If you get a chance to see either the President or Mitt Romney's comedy routines at the "Alfred E.Smith Dinner" last night, do so. Both guys were really, really funny. I actually stumbled upon it live and I had no idea what was going on when Romney zinged the President and then they cut to the President laughing. 
• I stumbled upon Guys With Kids on NBC this week and it was absolutely awful.  There are some comedy shows that seem written by really unfunny people. It's night and day when compared with "Modern Family" and the like. 
• The district judge in cheerleader-religious-banner case yesterdat said the banners could stay. What did you expect in that small county? The judge was appointed by Rick Perry last year after trying to unseat the sitting district judge who thereafter died before his term expired. There's no way the new judge is angering the conservative voter base. That case needs to get in federal court. 
• Before this week, the Northpark Mall area was getting a reputation for being dangerous despite being next to Highland Park. Two days ago, a lady was allegedly kidnapped from its parking lot, put in a  trunk, and driven to Nacogdoches (see story below). And the murder/robbery at Shamrocks early yesterday morning occurred right across North Central Expressway from Northpark Mall. 
• I didn't get a full physical yesterday, but the beginning of it has begun. It started off badly when I think I gave the nurse a heart attack when she saw my high blood pressure. Is 162/96 bad? Apparently so. I'm now on blood pressure medicine. 
• In case you didn't see, they found the boy's body in Eagle Mountain Lake.  Edit: Ugh. Wrong lake again. 
• Tom Hanks dropped and F Bomb on Good Morning America this morning and was really embarrassed afterwards. 
• Got a call from Citibank (my credit card company yesterday shortly after 5:00 p.m.) The computerized message said my account had been frozen until I called in because of possible fraudulent activity. I went on line and found a new charge of around $1,100 to woot.com out of Carrollton and a small $3.50 charge out of Canada.  So I called and verified the woot charge was unauthorized -- the live person on the other end said it had been made at 5:03.  No problems, they would reverse the charges. But one thing I didn't get an answer to: How in the world did the woot charge get flagged? I've had that card for over 15 years and have made purchases bigger than that without an issue. So how did they know there was something wrong with that one? Anyway, kudos to Citibank security. 

Northpark Mall Is Getting Dangerous

But, wow, find the sentence in this story that jumps out at you.

Something Is Going On At Terminal E At DFW

No one is really sure yet.

Edit:

(I bet that Cynthia Vega is the same one who used to work at WFAA.)

And Another: Virginia

2012. Just killin' it.

But to call the "victim" a "victim" in this case might be stretching it according to Gawker.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Wow: Newsweek will go all digital at the end of the year. The print version of the magazine will be dead.
• Liberally Lean will do the same. 
• The same bar (I think) where Josh Hamilton allegedly got drunk and had a tryst was also the location of a murder/robbery last night. Victim is 20. Suspect fled.
• A trooper shot a DWI suspect in Dallas last night as he drove away. (But there was an altercation before he took off.)
• This article is long (and very Dallas Observer like) but if you think you might be interested in a reporter spending a few days with the very wheels off Democrat nominee for DA in Houston, you'll really like it. And, due to straight ticket voting, there's a chance he might win in November. 
• I'm having a full physical this morning. If I told you the last time that happened you'd personally escort me there to make sure it happens. 
• I think I might actually have a personal escort. 
• The "local" Tea Party in Wise County has disbanded?
• From Facebook this morning: "Since when did Attorney Consultations become $75 or more.. Is it a Decatur thing or what! Geeze I remember when it was free. WTH."  Probably depends if it is just a one-time meeting for advice or if it is an initial meeting to determine if it will lead to long term representation. 
• Those anti-Wendy Davis ads are just weird. 
• I dreamed I was bullied in McDonalds by three guys. That is also weird. 
• Someone wrote about hearing gunshots in Bridgeport last night around 9:00 p.m. 
• A small reference about Bridgeport, Texas in a New Mexico paper.
• Kind of a slow news day. If you don't believe me, take a look at today's Update.