Paris Hilton Is In Hawaii

I'm angry because I'm jealous. I have to settle for Wise County Park.

Yesterday's Congratulatory Crotch Crab?

Just So You Know

Over the last three months, more U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq than in any other three month span. That number: 329.

Let's get out of there. A civil war is inevitable. The fact that the land will become more unstable than before Saddam is inevitable. The fact that oil prices will skyrocket is inevitable.

There is no way to end this war which is really not a war at all. Who, exactly, would sign the Declaration of Surrender?

Thank you, President Bush. The only one that doesn't realize all of this is you.

I Get Hundreds Of Spam Emails A Day

But these kinds are showing up more and more: Hi, i am here sitting in the internet caffe. Found your email and decided to write. I am 25 y.o.girl. I have a picture if you want. No need to reply here as this is not may email. Write me at alisa293@supervisioncare.info I suppose it's just a way to for the sender to find out their recipient has an active email account. Either that or I'm going out with a 25 year old girl who just sits around in an Internet "Caffe" and sends random invites to email addresses she just happens to find. I think I'm in love.

A Little Leaven

This blog is pretty interesting. He's an old school bible guy who is non-too-pleased with the "progressiveness" of some of today's churches.

And he did not like the Victory Family Church of Decatur billboard campaign. Here's a sample of what he said if you don't want to click on that link: "Victory Family Church has wandered off into Seeker-Sensitive La-La Land. They don't preach and teach sound doctrine, or Jesus Christ Crucified for Sinners. They exist to make 'dream families' instead of disciples grounded in the words of scripture and sound doctrine. They preach about man instead of Christ."

A Foot High

And look how that level shot straight up over the last couple of days. Of course, it has to stop raining before any of us can enjoy it.

That's Cool

So I'm sitting around in my Hugh Hefner robe on Saturday morning and saw that the super hot Maria Sharapova was playing at Wimbledon. So I stop down to check her out for a little bit. Well, there was a disputed call so they went to the "official replay." I had heard about the new replay system, but had not seen it. I'm not doing it justice with the screen shot, but the crowd, players and TV audience get to simultaneously see a computer re-creation of the last shot. In slow motion, we see the ball with a yellow trajectory to tell us whether it's in or out.

Very cool.

Now back to Maria.

ABC Movie Critic Joel Siegel

. . . has died. I always liked him.

7:15 On Friday - Screenshot

This is getting comical. And there looks like more coming.

Greatest Book-In Tattoos

About a dozen more here. And this doesn't come close to being one of the good ones. People are crazy.

Hey, Buddy, An iPhone Doesn't Look Like A Mic

"Moments after FNC reporter Laura Ingle said, 'We're going to need some security around here,' a man ran up and grabbed the mic -- not the iPhone -- during a live shot with Newsweek columnist Steven Levy outside an Apple Store in NYC."

Today on Fox.

Band On The Run

It'll be gone soon, but this radar on Friday afternoon is amazing in that it shows this narrow band of showers that has Decatur right in it path. And its raining. Hard.

Just Received This

It may be fake, but it's still funny.

USA! USA! USA!

The Road To Jacksboro Looked Ominous

And here's a very bad picture of the lake. That little island (which is not an island when the lake is down) is near the bridge on the east side.

The #1 Pick . . .

. . . in the NBA draft, Greg Oden, says, "I like to get my freak on at My Place On The Lake at Runaway Bay."

Mark Cuban Gone Crazy?

"Cuban is [counter-] suing [former Mavs Coach Don] Nelson, claiming the Warriors beat the Mavs in the first round because the Warriors' coach -- and former coach of the Mavs -- had 'confidential information and he [Cuban] wants to enjoin Don from coaching against the Mavericks.'" Story. Huh? First it was the refs fault and now it's Don Nelson's? Randy Galloway had the funniest line: "If Cuban wants to sue someone over the Golden State debacle, why not Dirk?"

This Guy Is An Internet Legend

But he has resurfaced again after killing a jailer last week during an escape. I'm speechless. And the Hitler on the chest is a nice touch.

Price For A Gram Of Cocaine

Source: The Economist.

What A Cluster

Looks like the cops down in Red Oak have seen too many Die Hard movies.

For about four hours today, the FBI and every cop in the Southwest Proper surrounded a bank in Red Oak due to a hostage crisis. Turns out there were was no crisis. Yeah, a guy had robbed the bank earlier, but he had been caught away from the scene.

For some reason, the cops thought there was a hostage crisis going on inside. So one by one the employees of the bank walked out with their hands up.

Yeah, I understand everyone being cautious. But you would think that some time during the four hours there would have been enough phone calls made to convince everyone that everything was OK.

Leelee Sobieski Says,

"That last post gave me Tired Head. But did you see that Jack County is all over the television screen because it is in a Flash Flood Warning? I hope the Green Frog is OK."

Brown v. Board Of Education II

You'll see an uproar today and tomorrow over the Supreme Court decision today that "restricted the ability of public school districts to use race in assigning students to schools." No one out there will have time to read and understand what the heck is going on so let me, humbly, try to explain.

Here is what the case would look like if it originated in Wise County (and I'm not doing schtick here, I'm being serious for once):

Decatur has two elementary schools: Carson and Rann. For each entering first grade class, students (through their parents) are allowed to choose which school they want to attend. If one school is more popular, a decision needs to be made as to which students get their wish and which ones don't. The Decatur ISD School Board decides to create a tie-breaker system to make that decision. The first "tie-breaker" is whether the incoming student has a brother or sister at that school. If so, he's in. Next, the student's race is considered. Here's where things get interesting. Let's say that the Decatur population as a whole is 70% white and 30% non-white. The school board has decided that it would be wise to make sure that both Rann and Carson have that same racial makeup. So if Carson had become 80% white (i.e. "too white") then the non-white soon-to-be First Grade students who had selected Carson as their first choice would get preference. In the Supreme Court case decided today, one of the parents of a white kid who wanted to get into Carson, but was denied because non-whites were given preference, sued.

He won. The majority ruled that consideration of race in the application process was unconstitutional.

That decision is a direct result of the Bush Administration. Had a Democrat been in office Alito and Roberts would have been replaced with more liberal justices. Somehow, the Constitution is read differently based upon who is President. Isn't that weird?

You can read all of it yourself here.

WikiFuture?

I've written before about how amazing it is that Wikipedia ("the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit") will be updated within moments of an event happening. For example, when Anna Nicole died, her entry on the site was updated with the news within minutes.

But, in a story that seems a little bit chilling, police are looking into how the entry for a famous wrestler revealed the death of his wife before the police even discovered the body.

(Chris Benoit, the subject of the story, is the wrestler who killed his wife, son and then himself last weekend. By the way, I had never heard of the guy.)

(Thanks for the tip.)

Welcome To Prison: Population 2,300,000

I"m stealing this from someone else:

"ABC news has a great report on the continuing growth of America's prison population. Here are the stats about Prison, USA- 1. America has 5% of the world's population, and 25% of the world's prison population. 2. 5% of ALL black males are in prison. 3. One out of every 133 Americans in in prison. 4. The American prison population is greater than the population of New Mexico. The drug war is to blame for this mess. Prisons are not full because of a surge in violent offenders. Violent crime is down dramatically since 1993. Federal prosecutions for violent crimes are at the same level as 1980. Drug prosecutions are up over 400% over the same period."

Thursday Afternoon Fun

¿Qué

The Senate killed a proposed immigration bill this morning, and the right wing talk shows are jumping up and down with glee like The Union has just been saved.

Of course, we still have the same problem with no solutions.

Ohhhhhhhhh

I'm normally not a fan of the kid that uses an "inappropriate" word, but this one is pretty cute. And mom is trying to teach her differently. Thanks for this reader suggested video.

Britney for Thursday Afternoon

"Let It Burn" (Usher lyrics)

Not to whip you death with youtube clips this morning, but this is pretty amazing. The Tomato on Fry Street in Denton burned last night (it was about to be torn down anyway) and someone rolled tape on it. Heck, these type of videos are much more interesting than the "packaged newscasts."

Father Returns Home

This is a couple of months old, but still gold.

Pamela Anderson Says,

"On my way to Lake Bridgeport, I like to get a couple of burritos at Chico Mart.'

Ouch

Saw this video clip on the news yesterday. The only interesting part is the car nailing both the cop and the runner.

Can Gayness Be Cured?

For the first time ever, a majority of Americans believe that gays can't be changed into non-gays. I've always believed that. One of my first bosses in the legal field (who was as conservative as the day is long) always preached this based upon his premise of: "Why in the world would someone be that way, subject themselves to all that ridicule, if they couldn't help themselves?"

Source: TxSharon sent me this.

It Can Stop Raining Now

At the moment of this posting, Lake Bridgeport has just become officially full. I would have bet a krillion dollars four months ago that this would never happen. Eighteen feet low. A barren wasteland. And now this. (Link.)

Edit: The Update says it is the "first time in over a year" that the lake has been back to this letter. Over a year? How about over five years. I'm pretty sure it got close to 836 in 2001. Maybe.

Mike Graczyk

A man who has seen more people die in Texas than I bet anyone else. And I couldn't find a picture of him to save my life (pardon the pun.)

(From bagofnothing.com)

Edit: Thanks to the the "lady you love to hate in the comments section" for providing the photo.

Brooke Hogan Says,

"I need to get some new britches at David's Western Wear."

Well, It's Now The Afternoon. Will They Return?

I'm betting "yes".

"Good Day"

I just heard syndicated radio guy Paul Harvey mention Decatur and the "I hate this church" billboard signed by the Devil. You know, I take a little credit for that. It went from me, to the Star Telegram, to the AP Wire to Paul Harvey.

All I Know . . .

. . . is that this lady was arrested at DFW Airport two days ago. Uh, she wants to tell you she's Jewish. About a million times.

Cue The Journey Song

I like presidential candidate John Edwards but I don't believe him. At least the other night.

He was on Jay Leno's show and both he and his wife claimed they had not seen Hillary's Soprano-esque video announcing her campaign song. "We've got great stuff on our web site though," both of them said.

Huh? You're watching everything Hillary does and you didn't see the one video that everyone was talking about? I don't buy that.

We'll Start With Math Today

This gets even more confusing due to the "8.36" which should read "836".

Anyway, 836.00 feet - 835.29 feet = .71 feet.

(From the Update. )

Britney Says,

"When I'm in Wise County on a rainy Wednesday, I get a Hungr Buster at DQ before heading off to get my drink on at Red's in Bridgeport."

Oh, My

I've been seeing this shocking video all night on TV. Everything you need to know is here. (And even though you have to sit through a 15 second commercial and a four minute video, it's 100% riveting.)

Edit: It's not real clear in the story how the cop killer was himself killed. However, it's my understanding that an "ex-marine" witnessed the shooting, grabbed the dead officers gun, and killed the shooter.

Random TV Thought

I'm watching Fox 4 News on a TIVO'd replay and I see that a part of Six Flags is under water. Heather Hays has twice told me that the river that runs by the amusement park is out of its banks but there is "no flooding yet." She even told me that as we had a helicopter shot of, uh, flooding at Six Flags.

Hey Heather, you see all that brown stuff? That's water where it is not supposed to be.

National Weather Service Says The Trinity River Is Really Full Of Water

Sneak Preview and A Random Newspaper Thought

The Messenger has a pretty good front page pic tomorrow of a child being rescued from a car during the thunderstorms. I doubt if the kid was ever in danger, but the angle of the pic makes it look pretty dramatic. I dog the Messenger all the time, but it's a really good newspaper for a small community. And photographer Joe Duty is one of the big reasons. And they've responded to the Internet age in dramatic fashion. Back in 1997, publisher Roy Eaton (who I think is both annoyed and amused by me) gave me permission to republish the Messenger's Update online since the paper didn't have a web site. So every night (yep, at the end of the day), I'd scan in the Update and convert it to text in a horrible "OCR" program. (I'd spend 30 minutes looking for errors.) I was just trying to call attention to www.wisecounty.com for a reason I still hadn't figured out. I'm still working on that.

All Together Now: This Rain Is Beating Us Down

Watershed Update

That purplish thing has been moving slowly over the watershed (or what I think is the watershed) for the last hour or so. Is it out of the question to think that we might have flooding at Lake Bridgeport after it was 18 feet low just a few months ago? When is the last time it flooded? 1982?

It now sits at one foot low and rising. Fast. Monitor it here.

Edit: I've been reminded of around 1991 when the bridge at Runaway Bay was under water.

The Official Strip Club Of The Blog . . .

. . . which has had four killings this year, almost had another one last night. Instead it was just an armed robbery.

But I don't think I'd be sitting by myself in a car in that parking lot after midnight.

Slidell Storm Damage . . .

. . . as reported by the Dallas Morning News.

I Think I've Figured Out . . .

. . . when the Anti-Christ will be born. I just didn't know there were going to be two of them. (Her marriage/baby story here.)

Paris Hilton Says,

"One of the first things I plan to do now that I'm out of jail, is to check out Catfish O'Harlies in Bridgeport's new 'upscale strip mall' on 380. Me would loves me some hush puppies right now."

KXAS Channel 5 Now Covers The Katrina Like Storm That Struck Wise County

A fence gets knocked down in the Brookhollow area in Decatur!

Man describes how a street was underwater.

She said, "It looked like an ocean"

And fence destruction was not limited to Decatur. This fence met its maker in Rhome.

The Heck With Flooding

Fox 4 stopped me down with this 37 year old that didn't like her belly button and underwent surgery to fix it. (That's a "before" pic above.) The cost? Around $3,000 to $4,000.

Vanity. The hottest of sins.

All Water. All The Time.

Fox 4 led with the flooding in Wise County tonight with the great Brandon Todd covering the story. But I'm not real sure it was all that newsworthy. I'll get screenshots and links up in a bit. I've got to eat my nutrisystem dinner before I pass out.

By the way, 3.32 inches of rain in Decatur this afternoon.

Edit:
The pavement got wet around Eagle Drive in Decatur:

This lady's front yard was flooded in Paradise but I found out that she has a Hummer in her driveway.

FM 3259 got flooded which probably inconvenienced 25 people.

Mobile blogging

I'm pulled over on the side of the road on 287 with a bunch of other cars. It is insane. The northbound lanes going into decatur are shut down due to flooding. And the southbound lanes are getting dicey.

Edit: Home. Safe at home.