My First Ever Tennis Entry?

Some times you just stumble across things that suck you in.

Case in point, I cruise by ESPN2 a second ago and see that a tennis match from the Australian Open that, by the box score at the time, I deduce had been going on forever. I get to catch the last live 30 minutes of a crazy affair and learn this:

- For some reason, the match began in Australia at 11:45 p.m.
- It lasted an incredible 4 hours and 45 minutes
- Yep, that puts the ending time at 4:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m our time - which is how I ended up watching it.)
- And it was great
- Edit: It was great because the volleys were so long. The players were so tired, it was kind of like watching a women's match - which is normally more enjoyable. For example, I just read in the DMN that Andy Roddick was ousted despite hitting 42 aces. 42 aces? That's tennis? That's boring. I've suggested for a long time that men go back to wooden rackets to make the game fun again.

It made me long for the day of McEnroe, Conners, and Borg.

And Another

Story.

Ok, this is a tough one since I don't think it's a good mugshot. I bet she's a lot better looking when given a little time to prepare. Plus, she kind of has that look on her face that yells, "I'm probably going to have a little trouble explaining this to the Junior League."

So, after considering all the facts and giving her the Presumption of Being Hot as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, I'll vote for probation.

Next case.

Wise County: Wicca Friendly

The Wicca-friendly story in the Messenger last weekend sure didn't cause much of a stir. I expected the Mess's offices to be stormed after church but before Sunday lunch.

Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Naaah, Racism Doesn't Exist

LSU fans before the National Championship game. (Language warning.)

The Grand Jury Myth

There are few things as outdated as a grand jury.

In theory, any felony case must be "indicted" by a grand jury after they are presented with evidence that a crime probably occurred and the defendant probably did it. But in reality, the grand jury rarely hears any testimony but instead a summary of the case from the DA's office. And 99.9% of the time, the grand jury simply follows the prosecutors recommendation to either indict or "no bill" the case.

With that, comes the crazy story of Supreme Court Justice David Medina. He and his wife were indicted yesterday by a Harris County grand jury against the wishes of the prosecutor. So what does the prosecutor do today? He dismisses the indictment. There's nothing the grand jury can do to prevent that.

Most prosecutors would avoid that situation by simply not presenting the case to the grand jury at all. That's the typical way weak cases are killed. But it looks like the DA's office were after Justice Medina but then changed their minds a little too late.

That's A First

I really don't know that much about chess champion Bobby Fischer who died yesterday. But I do remember him acting like a nutcase during an ESPN interview about two years ago - he went on some anti-Jewish rant that made me stop down.

So I thought I'd take a quick look at him over at Wikipedia and was surprised to see that no one had updated his page to reflect his death. That's a first. Normally that thing changes within minutes of an event happening.

The Best Things Are Sometimes Buried

Friday Dance Off: The White Man Cometh

Granbury white boys recreate a famous video: Probably popular white boys do that Soulja thing: As for the top video, if you want to see a side by side comparison with the original, go here.

Depression Ender

"Me misses me some Wise County Park in the winter."

Obituaries

Looking at the Dallas Morning News, I saw a picture of the lady that was killed in the parking lot of a North Richland Hills apartment complex a few days ago. If I remember correctly, her estranged husband shot her and then killed himself. She looks vaguely familiar.

And this girl, 20, liked to be known as "Mary Margaret". She went off to UT but left due to "a deeply painful personal struggle." The story then simply says she died of an illness.

Thursday Morning Pick Me Up

Here in America, U.S. Americans just get to grab T-shirts fired out of a hand cannon. In other countries, such as, Slovakia, such as, they take a different approach.

Explain This To Me

I know nothing about this stuff so . . .

- What exactly is a "charter" school?
- What is a "private charter" school?
- How can a "private" school be "municipally operated"?
- Is the fact that its private mean that it charges tuition?
- Why, with a 1,000 high tone Trophy Club & Westlake kids on the waiting list, does the school want to add a bunch of Wise County kids to the waiting list?
- With a 1,000 people on a waiting list, why do you want to expand your geographic region anyway?
- And why is a private school limited in where it can get kids in the first place?

I know there are logical answers to these Tired Head questions, I just don't know them.

The Best Restaurant In Decatur

Is at the local hospital. I had no idea.

Yeah, I know it's not the best picture (click to enlarge) but my desktop computer at home bit the dust so I don't have access to my cheap scanner anymore.

Publicity Seeking Judge

I really don't follow the new O.J. Simpson case in Las Vegas, but today a judge doubled his bond for violating a condition of his original bond. And it looked like she was playing before the cameras as she said, "I don't know if it's just arrogance. I don't know if it's ignorance. But you've been locked up at the Clark County Detention Center since Friday because of arrogance or ignorance or both." Sheesh. Did you consult with a publicist before you crafted that 10 second sound bite? It worked. You've been on TV all day.

His bond condition that he allegedly violated was, and I'm paraphrasing, "Do not make contact with any co-defendant."

Yeah, I know I practice law in little old Wise County, but I've never heard of such a bond condition. And, quite frankly, it sounds a little crazy. Hypothetically, if the government charges you and a buddy with a crime, does the government have the right to say, "And in preparation for your trial, you two don't talk to each other."?

(Simpson's contact, admittedly, was a bit goofy. He told his bail bondsman to tell the co-defendant he was upset with him for his testimony during a preliminary hearing.)

What's A Huddle House?

The "Huddle House" has applied for a building permit in Decatur at E. Thompson & Hwy. 287. The initial application was "Denied - Plans were inconsistent with Decatur regulations and requirements." The current status is "Awaiting applicant resubmittal of building and civil plans."

Speaking Of Brit

As another blog noted, why was Britney wearing a Rogers Healy Realtor t-shirt yesterday? That guy's agency is based in Dallas and he currently lists a whopping seven homes for sale. Seven? Sue Ann Denton, send her a shirt. This is a marketing opportunity of biblical proportions.

This Stuff Is Awful

About 7 grams of fat. Edit: That's the microwaveable stuff you buy at the store.

And, Then, Depression Set It

Perhaps the post Christmas depression is really setting in, but not much is getting my attention. Yeah, Matthew McConaughey is, good lord, going to reproduce; the actor from one of my favorite movies ever, Bully, died; American Idol news is already sucking the life force out of me; and it sounds like they are acting stoopid again in Rhome (The Update); but none of it really jazzes me.

Brit, I need you to do something crazy . And quick.

Double Take

Eerie print ad for Pakistan International Airlines from 1979 promoting their NYC service.

(Source)

No Big Deal

I was all excited when I saw this headline, but the story wasn't very exciting to me. A big corportation supports Phil King? No news there. But I do take exception to the story referring to King as "powerful."

And, as a public service announcement, King's opponent in the GOP primary will be Joe Tison. (Who, unfortunately, may have the worst campaign web site in the history of ever.)

Edit: The web site looks a lot better now.

That's Why I Watch The Today Show

Link.

You know, I'm such a skeptic that I wonder if she planned to do that. Probably not, but she was on the show to promote a new movie and she'll definitely get attention now.

Is This The New DQ Restroom?

Ok, I don't support public drunkenness, but this bit of public drunkenness involves a college girl inside a women's bathroom. That changes everything. It's kind of like looking behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz - exciting but a little disappointing. But if you can put up with that gal until the 1:15 mark (which, admittedly, is no small feat), I promise you will be rewarded with pure gold.

New Ad Campaign By Local Dairy Queen?

Thanks to elected official & emailer for tipping me off.

That Should Satisfy MADD

Denton County is notoriously conservative and a jury proved it on this one. He was found guilty of intoxication manslaughter (and given the maximum of 20 years), he was found guilty of a different intoxication assault offense (and given the maximum of 10 years), then the judge stacked the sentences on top of one another (didn't have to) and the jury found the defendant used a "deadly weapon" which means he won't be eligible for probation parole* until half of his sentence is served. Sheesh.

There was one other intoxication assault case that the jury convicted him of but gave him probation. They must have felt compassionate.

Story.
------------
*Unforgivable mistake on my part.

A Random . . .

. . . family lawyer.

Tijuana Tony In 2004

At least the Dallas Morning News believes its from 2004.

Tennis News

The Australian Open has begun. This player is Tamira Paszek. She lost in the opening round. I'm just saying.

Polling

Since the Stephenville UFO sighting is all over the news this morning, I put the new poll up.

But I had to change it since my initial question this morning was "Is There Other Life Forms In The Universe." I couldn't edit it once a vote had been cast, but there was no was way [edit: sheesh] I was going to leave it up and take the grammatical abuse. So the four or five voters that voted on the "old poll" have now been disenfranchised. Sorry.

My Own Tuesday News Update

CAUTION FLAGS OUT - An 18 wheeler has overturned between Rhome and the Texas Speedway causing 114 to be shut down this morning. If that's the route of your morning commute, you need to avoid that area and, while doing so, think about getting a different job because that drive every day would be a beating. ROCK CLUB - The Wise County Mineral and Rock Club will meet at Arby's on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. A Dr. Pepper Social will occur immediately thereafter at the McDonald's in Walmart. GET YOUR LONGJOHNS READY - A cold front is expected to blow through Wise County tomorrow night with the chance of sleet and snow accumulations up to .01". Check in here for all school and business closings.

Quickest. Taser. Ever.

I'm Not Sure I'd Vote In New Hampshire

Ok, this 1 1/2 minute youtube video is a beating, but if you want to see an amazing line of people freezing their butts off in New Hampshire to vote in the primary last week, take a look. (Try to skip to the 1:04 point to see what I'm talking about.)

"It's A Cookbook!!!!"

Story.

(And my headline is from an old Twilight Zone episode which I doubt many of you have seen.)

Edit: This made Paul Harvey this morning although he confusingly referred to it as Stephensville, and ended the story, oddly, with "After all, that is the Bible Belt."

Prankster Almost Causes World War III?

Remember that incident last week where some Iranian boats were taunting some Navy warships? The news reports were that the U.S. got periously close to firing at the boats. "A video and audio of the Jan. 6 incident in the Strait of Hormuz featured a man in accented English saying 'I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes.'"

Uh, not so much.

Law Stuff

Interesting case heard by the Supreme Court this morning. The Exclusionary Rule "says" that if the police violate the law, any evidence they find as a result of that violation cannot be used the defendant. For example, if the cops search my car without consent or probable cause, anything they find can't be used against me. (Note to DPS: I promise I've got nothing illegal in my car. I keep that stuff locked up elsewhere.)

Anyway, the case heard today had this strange twist: The law in the State of Virginia is that the police can only issue a summons (ticket) for misdemeanor offenses and cannot arrest the person committing the offense. In this case, the cop screwed up, arrested the defendant for a driver's license violation (a misdemeanor), and then searched him incident to the arrest. Oops. The defendant had decided to carry around some dope with him. Cops find it. He gets charged with dope possession.

The Government is arguing today that so long as a cop has probable cause to believe a crime was committed (and it is undisputed that probable cause existed on the driver's license violation), then the evidence should not be excluded. I'm not real sure I understand it, but lots of lower courts around the nation have bought into that argument.

It's amazing we've sunk this low.

But the above snippet from Justice Scalia was gold. Scalia, no friend of civil rights, asked the government's lawyer this hypothetical: If he (Scalia) had probable cause to believe his neighbor was growing marijuana and he went over to the house, searched it, found marijuana, and then arrested his neighbor (which he has no authority to do), then the government's lawyer believes that the marijuana found in the home could be used against the neighbor? Yep, the government's lawyer said.

Then the above occurred.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

I was thrilled to hear that Christina Aguilera finally gave birth last weekend. Christina, who would be in The Blog's Hall of Fame if I had a Hall of Fame because of this dance move at around the 1:52 mark, has been dodging the cameras ever since she became pregnant. But with the birth of a boy/girl/who cares, she'll be back in the limelight in no time.

And this world will be a better place.

Final Cowboy Thoughts

- Anyone else think it's odd that "Closing Time" could be heard in the background after the game was over?
- Patrick Crayton is almost as bad as Roy Williams. Edit: Here is what I'm talking about.
- I thought about picking the Giants to win and doing a big post about it, but I didn't believe it would happen.
- I don't know if Wade Phillips is a good coach or not. But I kind of gave up on him after an interview on The Ticket right after the bye week. "What you do over the weekend, coach?" asked host Craig Miller. "Well, my wife and I went to a movie." "Really?" Miller said, "Which one?" Came Phillips response: "I don't remember the name of it but it wasn't very good.". . . . Huh? Don't remember the name?

Edit: The New York Post hired a Triple Fake Jessica Simpson to be in the stands yesterday. Finally found the picture . . .

That Was Quick

And a bonus video: The Dallas Cowboys 2007 season in 8 seconds.

Into White Air

That was gold on Saturday.

Short Movie Reviews

Superbad: Super funny. McLoved it.

Juno: A movie about a teenage pregnancy being funny? Absolutely. Smart, funny, and witty - with a little bit of an Arrested Development influence.

A Clockwork Orange: One of the films I've always heard about but never saw. I bailed after 40 minutes. I love weird stuff. I search out weird stuff. But this was just weird.

Oh, My

Thanks to an emailer that pointed out the most dysfunctional family in the history of ever. The story starts out bad and then gets worse.

Fine Job