Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I walked out of my office yesterday only to find I had a flat tire. What a beat down. What a momentary feeling of helplessness. Now before I get dog-piled, let me tell you, I am a master tire changer. I bet I did it five times in three years alone in the 1990s when I lived on a lake road near Chico that apparently was full of nails.
• So I get the spare and jack out, glance at the owner's manual and get to work. But, for those who know me, I'm a white long sleeved, starched shirt and neck tie guy. It is August in Texas. So I sheepishly strip down to my t-shirt and dress slacks as I glance around. I'm embarrassed. That's just me.
• Back to tire changing. One thing I hadn't counted on: I'm not near as strong as I was in the 1990s. I can't get all those lug nuts off to save my life. In fact, I can only get one to budge. And another thought crossed my mind: If I continue to pull on that little lug wrench with all my might, I've got this sneaking suspicion that a disc in my back will explode. I had back problems five years ago but none since then. You have that feeling sometimes that something is about to go wrong. I had that feeling.  So then I do something I hate to do -- call for help.
• But I can't find local lawyer and friend Mike Carrillo's cell phone number to save my life, but I am able to send an email to his wife on Facebook who shockingly responds in a matter of seconds. I don't know why I thought about Facebook which I never really use other than it dawned on me she posts a ton of pics of her new grandbaby all the time. (Cute kid, by the way.)
• I also realized something else: I ask for help so rarely that if I ever contact someone and tell them I "need help", it's like the cavalry comes running. "He'll be there in a few minutes," she writes (along with an "LOL").  The quick response may be because Mike Carrillo is my friend or because his wife told him, "Barry needs help so get your butt over there." Either explanation, at that moment, was acceptable to me.
• Oh, and for you guys that don't think I know what I'm doing when it comes to tire changing, I wrote her, "If he knows what a cheater bar is, tell him to bring one." Ever try to get a lug nut off with a 12 inch lug wrench?
• As I wait in the parking lot in both the heat and my slacks and t-shirt, the Chairman of the Wise County Republican Party drives by and hits the brakes. He smiles. He has evaluated the situation. "You gonna blog about this?" The fact that he stops and smiles comes as no surprise to those that know him and me. We are good friends because we aren't crazy. We talk for a second, he mentions a funny moment from a recent vacation, tells me he is hurt that I didn't call him before Carrillo, we laugh, and he makes sure I'm OK. It dawns on me that with all the hatred in the comments section on this here blog, real life is a much nicer place to reside in. He was on his way to a funeral visitation but would have driven me home or to Timbuktu if I had asked. Irony.
• People mock lawyers. People mock small towns. I'm thankful for both at that moment.
• Carrillo shows up within minutes, yells at me briefly for the overall condition of my tires, tells me he left to help me in the middle of his haircut, laughs at the factory jack I've pulled out of the trunk ("What crappy equipment. Sheesh. Freakin' Dodge," he says), and then proceeds to try and get the lug nuts off. Much to my manhood's security's delight, he can't get the first one off and says, "Those suckers are on tight." Thank god.
• He then pulls out a can of WD-40 and a rubber hammer. "Stand back," he says. I comply. He then proceeds to replicate a member of a NASCAR pit crew and has the tire changed in a matter of minutes. (It wasn't a cheater bar, but it did the trick. I learned something about the use of a rubber hammer. I place that away in my mind.)
• "Get those tires replaced. Don't be an idiot. And carry a can of WD-40." And he is on his way. It was like The Wolf from Pulp Fiction had shown up. I stand there in my T-shirt, dress slacks, and well oiled leather shoes looking ridiculous. I'm suddenly like Samuel Jackson or John Travolta before the water hose treatment. 
• But before he runs off, I thank him profusely. I am a big fan of the expression of gratitude. I try to use it, uh, liberally.
• And now on to our regularly scheduled program ...
• Ticket fans: The Hammer via Twitter says he is working on his Masters Degree.
• I can't remember which issue it is, but Texas Monthly had an excerpt of a new book about the Charles Whitman UT shooting recently. It was from the perspective of the victims on the ground and it was chilling.
• Which reminds me, the three minutes of Full Metal Jacket where Private Pyle kills his sergeant, then blows his brains out and then the film cuts to the "Me love you long time" scene is an insane three minutes. (In an earlier scene the sergeant questions the squad about Whitman and proudly points out that "He was a Marine!")
• "blank" was at the top of the blog? A person in the comments pointed that out yesterday. I never noticed because I rarely go to the home page of this thing. I had to actually jack with the html to make it go away and it felt like cutting the red wire or the white wire of a bomb. I didn't know what I was doing and was afraid it would explode.
• Still obsessed with old Index issues. Ran across this one from early 1963 where the editor had a hot opinion about James Meredith entering Ole Miss (I'm not criticizing him, it was, after all over fifty years ago. His attitude was the norm.) But what does the prepatory phrase, "Now we've been eligible to smoke Viceroys for years" mean? That's driving me crazy. There also appears to be a reference to Bobby Kennedy causing damage to a presumably Bridgeport resident's car in Colorado. Love this stuff.
• There's an article in today's Messenger about a police "surge" which should scare you if you read between the lines. 
• I'm intentionally not posting a newspaper cover because of the cover of the New York Post. They may have crossed the line. Iraq is in chaos. ISIS is a bunch of barbarians. But that's what you get when you destabilize the most unstable area of the world. 

Above The Fold

The More Things Change . . .

From October 12, 1962 of the Bridgeport Index.

I'm Insane Now: Dog Pool Party

Introducing Big Chen From The University Of Texas

You want passion from the heart?



You want Nirvana grunge?



The guys got a ton of 'em. Has to just kill it with the ladies. And I'm about half serious. That's a heck of a bit he's got going.

The Best Thing You'll Watch All Day

I think my favorite part was, "I'm getting to be an old man. I need memories like this."

Is This Legal?

Craig Watkins, the Dallas DA who I often criticize, did this:

The forfeiture funds, money from seized assets — often from drug dealers — paid for $11,000 in car repairs and nearly $50,000 to the man driving the other car, which Watkins rear-ended. The wreck happened Feb. 5, 2013, on the Dallas North Tollway while Watkins, a Democrat, was driving to a speaking engagement at the Park Cities Club.

So he technically is acting in his capacity as DA when he causes a wreck. Does that allow the use of the forfeiture funds? Honestly, it smells bad but I'm not sure. But get this . . .

The settlement states that if the other driver spoke about the crash or disparaged the DA, he would owe Watkins $40,500. But Teresa Guerra Snelson, head of the DA’s civil division, said the money would have never gone to Watkins personally.

Now it's getting weird.

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.