Random Bridgeport Index Page

There's nothing earth shaking about this page, but check out that revival ad.  Man, I bet that was some fire and brimstone. And how odd it is now to think that all of his words have now been lost to time. So many sermons these days are recorded and archived.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I've never understood why grand juries simply just don't tell prosecutors "no" sometimes. They have that absolute right but don't seem to know it. And it's OK to say, "Technically this may be a crime but we really don't want to waste our tax dollars with a prosecution."
• Caught part of the old Sin City over the weekend. I'm not sure I had ever noticed the very subtle use of color in a film which is basically in black and white. And I think Bruce Willis and Clive Owen are fantastic in it. 
• ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas is back in rehab after only months of sobriety: "I dealt with that anxiety, and with the stress that the anxiety brought, by starting to drink."
• Top three sayings that drive me nuts: (1) Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, (2) If you don't like Texas weather [blah, blah, blah]  . . . (3) Better to ask for forgiveness after the fact than permission beforehand. And it seems like those that say those things act like they are saying something profound that has never been said before. 
• The news every year around this time about wacky State Fair foods beats me down as well. 
• The Family Pup grabs her food bowl when anyone new walks into the room to try and trick them into thinking she hasn't been fed all day. We just stare at each other with me thinking, "I know what you're doing" and her thinking, "No you don't."
• NFL Football: (1) A long time ago they asked coaches if they wanted to accept a penalty every single time. Somewhere along the way -- many, many years ago, officials began automatically making that decision unless it is a unique situation, (2) Advice for RG3 after watching the preseason game last night: Get down!!! (3) Johnny Football getting sacked and the tackler making the "money sign" made me believe in justice again, and (4) Johnny's in trouble again. 
• It's odd to see First Financial doing TV commercials, and well done ones at that. I knew that institution when it was just a toddler.
• President Obama made a statement yesterday on Iraq and Ferguson, and he looked incredibly beaten down. 
• I got a renewed vehicle registration sticker in the mail, and I didn't send off for it or pay for it. It has my name and VIN on it so it is not a mistake. Is this part of the new system?
• If I drop something off of a shelf, I have the greatest ability to catch it before it hits the counter/floor. I now laugh every time I do it because it is so ridiculous since I'm not particularly coordinated.
• More signs golf is in trouble: "Adams Golf, a golf equipment maker, is closing operations at its two Plano facilities, two years after it was acquired by TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Co. in a $70 million deal. The closure will affect 138 workers."
• There was a former judge on Fox 4 last night who was asked if it were possible that the judge in Rick Perry's case might dismiss one or both counts of the indictment for lack of evidence before trial. That's not legally possible. But the judge seemed to accept the question as valid. 
• I've always been confused how a local government can impose a curfew in America. You're telling me I can't be on a public street in the United States of America?

Rick Perry's Criminal Defense Team Announced

And it's headed by a civil plaintiff's lawyer. Really.

Mentioned him here before. He's also the lawyer who paid $115,000 for an Aggie vanity plate. And he was featured in Texas Monthly for suing the creator or the Cadillac Ranch. I'm not exactly sure what his experience is in criminal defense, however.

Lady Gaga Ice Bucket Challenge

Ummmmmmkay.

Oh, My

Ok, this one is a little personal. I've mentioned that I've had a classmate who posts the front page of old editions of The Bridgeport Index. This one just went up. I read through the "Shootin' Blind" column (which wasn't a bad bit by the way) and was mildly entertained. And then I came to the last paragraph.

Miss Texas Throws Out First Pitch

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Fox 4's Richard Rose last night when talking about recent lightening strikes of houses: "One thing you've always heard it never take a shower during a lightening storm." Say what? Anyone else ever heard that?
• The stripes on 114 through Grapevine are half white and half black. 
• Funny observation one of my family members said yesterday as we celebrated my dad's birthday at a restaurant: "It must be 'Bring Your Daughter To Lunch' Day". But they weren't daughters. At least not the daughter of the person they were with. Funny. 
• Other funny moment: My brother to his son: "You want to bet on that TCU/Baylor game?" Son: "Baylor will beat 'em by 30." Me (fairly quietly): "I don't know about that." Son (after hearing me): "They'll beat 'em by 20." Me: "I'm not sure about that either". Son: "Ok, let me think about this." Brother (to me): "You're not exactly helping me here."
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? is genius. I see something new every time.
• I don't understand those that think a police execution would be justified just because a kid steals a box of cigars -- especially when the cop doesn't know about the cigars. 
• There was something wrong with Babe Laufenberg during the Cowboys' game on Saturday night. He was talking really fast with a high pitch and didn't make sense at times.
• I woke up in the middle of the night on Sunday morning only to hear the unexpected rain come pouring down. Loved it.
• If you're a 19 year old innocent looking white boy, you might want to rethink face tattoos. (Denton Book In Photo.)
• Rick Perry being indicted will only help Rick Perry. But he does have to decide what facial expression to have in his mugshot. 
• When I'm upset, I can't eat. I literally have to force food down. 
• I watched about five minutes of the Mike Huckabee Show on Fox this weekend which included catching a crowd shot at the beginning. I was blinded by the whiteness. And no one is more uncomfortable and stiff in front of an audience that Huckabee. 
• We still have The Family Pig. It spends most of its time outdoors rooting around but I looked up yesterday and saw it pressed up against the back door on two legs begging to come in. It has developed dog qualities. 
• Fascinating: The acceptance rate for students of schools in the USA Today's Top 25 football poll. Stanford's number is stunning. 

Above The Fold

"It's so bright and vivid...It's so beautiful...What does it mean?"

And It Appears To Be Finished

On the Brazos. On I-35. On campus. Oh, my.

And for the upcoming football season, I still feel like Walter White with a machine gun with scores to settle.

Government Out Of Control vs. Too Many Prosecutors vs. Politics

Background.

And this case involves the allegation of, essentially, bullying a Democrat DA who was convicted in the past year of DWI. It may have been justified. Maybe not. I have no idea. But this government vs. government crap is becoming more and more common.

You guys yell about Big Government? Do you not see what is happening? Do you know how much this will cost you, the taxpayer? Government just looking anywhere it can to create work to justify jobs -- especially government lawyers. State v. Tom DeLay (Democrat motivated), Kenneth Starr vs. Clinton. (Republican motivated). The U.S. vs. Microsoft. (Democrat motivated). It began in the 1990s and now it is so commonplace and no one blinks an eye.

The "special prosecutor" seems to be an idiot who will eventually have his arse handed to him in this deal. But you will pay for his fine services. And the Governor's first response on Friday evening came from his "general counsel". That's not a private lawyer but a government employee who you are paying for.

Idiocracy.

Aggie Coach Cancels Practice To Take Team To Movie

Never have so many people been so excited to see a movie.

The Saddest Class C Book In Photo Ever

08/15/2014 10:17:30 Melissa, 35 yrs old ♍ Bond: $377 CELL PHONE IN SCHOOL ZONE http://t.co/rWrSAYThKV pic.twitter.com/Thtylua5IQ
— Arrests by @DentonPD (@DentonPolice) August 15, 2014

(You'll see people arrested for Class Cs - traffic tickets - all the time in Denton. I think, but I'm not sure, it is normally for missing a court date for a previously issued ticket.)

"Wait, For It"

That was the complete text of the email from the guy who sent this to me. I don't think I've ever gone from "I can't post that" to "I've got to post that" in such a short time.

I'm insane now.

Edit: Alternative link.

Pig GIF

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The FBI says that 80% of police officers are overweight. 
• Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas says people crossing the border could have Ebola. I guess "could have" gives him lots of wiggle room, but that guy is crazy. 
• Speaking of, that doctor who contracted Ebola is expected to be released from the hospital? An almost fatal disease turns out not to be? 
• I really like Hard Knocks but now I'm watching it with the perspective that the NFL is just chewing up these guys for profit. 
• It's not an earth shaking opinion, but the Fort Worth Court of Appeals has just affirmed a conviction for drugs out of Bridgeport. (It basically says that there was a probable lawyer screwup but, in the last footnote, said it wouldn't matter any way.) 
• I blew past Nancy Grace last night but I could have sworn she took an anti-police position in the Ferguson, Missouri controversy. If she's against the police, the police are in trouble. 
• And we will learn the cop's name this morning.
• I'll wake up ten minutes before the alarm goes off and then debate whether to try to go back to sleep as I know the minutes are ticking down. But knowing the minutes are ticking down makes it difficult to go back to sleep. I hate those ten minutes. 
• Yu Darvish is on the DL and there is talk of shutting him down for the year. Any chance he just doesn't want to pitch for a team 26 games back in 100 degree heat?
• Uh, a kid in the Little League World Series is 13 years old, 6'4" and 229 pounds. 
• Does no one understand the rules of a four way stop? I'll slow down and intentionally come to a stop later than another approaching driver so that there won't be any question that they have the right of way. But I'm constantly faced with someone who then stares at me with the "Do you want to go first or me?" look.
• That Tony Stewart murder/not murder case will quietly go away. 
• I don't watch Shark Week but a guy on The Ticket has been on a rant this week because one of the shows was a fake documentary that he believed to be real. 
• I've thought about this, too: Driverless cars, like those Google is perfecting, would transform the legal criminal defense profession, law enforcement, and insurance industry. And by "transform" I mean "gut". 

Cops In Missouri Out Of Control

VIDEO: Police in Ferguson, Missouri remove TV news crew's equipment. http://t.co/tjtmF9vTwC pic.twitter.com/h2Z4Aiv1H9
— keyetv (@keyetv) August 14, 2014

This is really getting crazy. Cops shoot an unarmed kid. Civil unrest. Cops arrest journalist. Cops jack with media equipment which should scare you to death.

I've never understood why the anti-Big Government crowd just sits back and watches stuff like this with approval.

And this is a small town police department?

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Who does that girl look like? She's the "spittin' image" of somebody but I can't place her. 
• Random funny line from the radio about U2 this morning: Guy 1: "Bono likes Adam more than the others." Guy 2: "Where did you read that, Tiger Beat?"
• The Family Pig experiment might be over. We have us, uh, a urine problem. Thankfully, I cut the very odd deal with the seller at the time of purchase: We don't want a refund but we can take him back at any time. 
• "For more than two days, a runaway Texas teenager ate, slept and changed clothes undetected inside a 24-hour Wal-Mart near Dallas . . . ." That's the subject of a book, right? 
• In one of the old Bridgeport Index covers uploaded to Facebook, there was an article about a man prosecuted for selling obscenity to a 17 year old. It wasn't a video. It wasn't a magazine. It was a book. The 1970s Wise County jury acquitted him which makes me think we were smarter back then. 
• The BagOfNothing guy mentioned fireflies this morning. What the heck happened to them? When I was a kid they were everywhere.
• The price of SeaWorld stock plummeted 33% yesterday. "The Orlando, Fla.-based company also conceded for the first time that attendance at its theme parks has been hurt by negative publicity concerning accusations by animal-rights activists that SeaWorld mistreats killer whales."
• Front page of the Dallas Morning News: "[Greg] Abbott sided against other victims of sexual assault."
• I tend to sleep in the fetal position and The Family Pup, for the last month, has slept right in the middle of it. Odd.
• As crazy as Decatur can be, it has a shockingly stable city government. There are people who have held their jobs for over twenty five years without any complaints.
• I'm not sure what the Ice Bucket Challenge is, but it looks dumb. Except when the USC Song Girls do it. 
• I've been forced to see a bunch of Robin Williams' comedy routines over the last few days. I've said it before: He was a great actor but a horrible comedian. If you have to jump around and do voices you might be compensating for lack of substance. (Insert moment of silence.) 

Get Me This Chihuahua Who Isn't Afraid Of A Great Dane!