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5.31.2008
Yes, I Love Technology. But Not As Much As You, You See
This is a little tricky to explain, but I shall try. The Star Telegram is experimenting with some type of program that automatically pulls out "key words" from every story and then lumps them out to the side as "tags". From there, just hover over one the tags and get links to "related stories."
See how well this works? That guy in the picture fled an angry mob by running into the PrimaVera apartments. Now I learn, through the magic of tags and hovering, that "Campania Pizza makes a great impression." And it gets better. Since the guy's name is "Craft" the word "crafts" becomes a tag. Hover over it and get a link to "cookbook" by "the stars." I was thinking about cookbooks when I read how this guy set fire to the PrimaVera apartments in order to escape said angry mob.
See for yourself.
5.30.2008
Typical Slow Friday Afternoon
But these girls certainly deserve a post. (And, note, the worst face pixalization job in the history of ever.) But back to the point. What we've got here are a couple of thieves. Young female thieves. The only mitigating factor is that they stole from a girl scout who, in all likelihood, has been extorting money from her mom's friends in her quest to sell cookies. Cookies, I might add, that wouldn't be fit to served in the Wise County Hoosegow.
But the girls are quite the little philosophers. "Money is money" and "Who doesn't like money?" True dat. That's what my fifth ex-wife used to say to me.
Random Friday Morning Thoughts
- "Federal authorities on Thursday broke up a Tarrant County-based Asian drug ring that imported thousands of pounds of high-potency marijuana into North Texas from Canada in the last three years, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Roper's office."A three year investigation over pot? I'm more concerned about our high tax bills than people getting high on pot.
- I saw two new girls in a Sonic commercial this morning that I've never seen before. Not sure what I think about that.
- I keep remembering to take a picture of a weird billboard outside of Rhome that's a repetition of dog with a crazy background. Have no idea what it is for.
- I was always a huge "Sex And The City" fan. And Channel 8's Gary Gogill calls the new movie "The greatest chick flick of all time."
- I'm halfway through "There Will Be Blood." Loved the phrase "blow gold all over this place" in reference to the potential oil well.
- Finished "The Great Gatsby" yesterday. Can I rename it "The Pretty Good Gatsby"?
- I think my next book will be the one written by Pat Tillman's mom. That guy, although a patriot, was probably a knuckledhead but I'm more interested in the government cover up in connection with his "friendly fire" death. Edit: And by "knucklehead" I mean if he is anything like his brother who threw down some F Bombs at the funeral and showed up in a T-shirt.
- There's always a White Envoy around the courthouse square. Saw it yesterday with significant rear-end damage. I was frustrated that I didn't have anyway of finding out what happened.
- The NFL commissioner met with Pacman Jones over the weekend about his reinstatement. Do you think the suit wearing, button-downed commissioner ever referred to him as "Pacman"?
- Fox 4 carried a police chase live at 6:30 p.m. yesterday. I'd watch a 24 hour police chase channel if there were one.
- Worst boyfriend ever?
- Worst sucker punch ever?
- Listened to a little bit of Jeff Bolton on KLIF this morning. I now know what all the right wing nut cases are listening to in the morning.
- A commenter noted that Harvey Korman has died. Maybe I'm not paying attention, but its not getting much media attention this morning. A lot of old TV is bad TV, but any skit involving Harvey Korman and Tim Conway, with Korman always unable to control his laughter, was worth watching. Edit: Youtube clip of a skit of the two.
- Vincent Bugliosi, the Charles Manson prosecutor, has recently authored "The Prosecution Of George W. Bush For Murder". He was on the Mark Davis show yesterday pn WBAP, and I thought they were going to come to blows. (If you could come to blows over a telephone wire.)
- Got sucked into some college softball playoffs last night on ESPN. I still enjoy the huge smiles that break out on the girls faces whenever a crucial hit is made.
- Added Craig's List to the Wise County home page a couple of days ago. Some great stuff on there and some freaky stuff on there.
- If you could time travel, would you go forward or backwards? No question for me: I'd be a disciple of Jesus for two years.
- Even I'm surprised by the poll results for the Random Thoughts. Sometimes I can fire these off in a crazed stream of consciousness. Other times I struggle like a drunk Joe Namath.
5.29.2008
Texas Supreme Court Slaps CPS
As you will undoubtedly hear the rest of the day and tomorrow, the Texas Supreme Court just announced that it will not touch the lower court of appeals decision by telling CPS, and I paraphrase, "Quit jacking with those families in that compound without any evidence to back up your accusations. Return the kids. Now. Welcome to the United States of America."
And that's nine Republican judges saying that. Edit: It was actually a 6-3 decision.
Edit: Got a kick out of watching Nancy Grace's head blow up because of this ruling tonight. She even put up the telephone number of the Texas Supreme Court while yelling "the court sides with the polygamists!!!!"
New England Patriots Coach Is Genius
Just look at that football brain. (From last night's Boston Celtics game.)
Random Thursday Morning Thoughts
- NFL cheerleading twins
- You guys were a little rough on The Messenger yesterday. It was a crazy mistake, but I wouldn't be able to get the masthead straight if I was in charge.
- I started watching "There Will Be Blood". So far so good. And I'm almost finished with the audio book, "The Great Gatsby." I really like it.
- Hey Beatle fans, did you remember that Paul is dead?
- I think raw cookie dough is better than a cookie.
- I had indecision this morning as to which photo to upload to accompany these Random Thoughts.
- A marine was arrested in Dallas yesterday in connection with the death of another marine. The whole thing sounds eerily like the movie "In The Valley Of Elah." (Which, by the way, is a Biblical reference that I should have known)
- I think I might get a second home in Lake Dallas. I wonder if it's a fixer-upper?
- "FORT WORTH -- A longtime defense attorney and judge who died in the hospital on Jan. 25, one day after being hit by a car, died of natural causes, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office." I'm no doctor, but wouldn't the car accident maybe have something to do with it? Are they telling me that's just the greatest coincidence in the history or ever?
- I watched a little bit of "So You Think You Can Dance" last night since the auditions were in Dallas. I couldn't turn away. And one chunky girl was really giving it the what-for.
- Speaking of TV, Decatur's James Wood is on that invention a lot.
- Coldplay's new "Viva la Vida" is great.
- With gas prices the way they are, those Friday road trips to high school football games will be a little costly.
- Not that there's much content, but the Jacksboro paper has a new site that allows easy reading of the paper that dang near beats anything I've ever seen. Back issues, too.
- Lot's of hubbub yesterday about Scott McClellan's new book that bashed the President. Man, it seems like W has had more people turn on him than any other President.
- I got an email this morning from a girl I worked with when I was a bank teller in college. Hadn't heard from her since the 1980s. Me loves me the Internets.
- M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie coming out called "The Happening." His name will probably be cooler than the movie and, let me guess, I bet it has a surprise ending.
- Mariah Carey jazzes me for some reason. Edit: Here's the youtube video which includes the worst first pitch ever.
- "Mark Madden ESPN Radio in Pittsburg has been 'permanently removed' from his on-air because of a statement essentially saying that he was disappointed to hear Senator Ted Kennedy was near death because he was hoping that Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated." Oh, my.
- The CASA chapter in Wise County (which I've never fully understood the purpose of) had a little trouble in leadership last month. But it could be worse. Much worse.
- I use garlic salt instead of regular salt.
- Blackhawk helicopters are practicing emergency take offs and landings near the Motor Speedway this morning. Hopefully no Black Hawk Down.
- CBS will put some Ultimate Fighting/Mixed Martial Arts on the television this Saturday night. First time on "regular" prime time TV. We love blood. There will be blood.
- I wonder what happened to this girl that I saw in the Dallas Morning News obits yesterday?
5.28.2008
Greatest Video Ever?
Ok, let me first apologize for the flatulence sound effect in this clip. That was not necessary because the clip is pure gold without it. Greatness should not be diminished with potty humor.
But examine its art: You can see the ankle roll. You can see her go down like a national park redwood felled by a lumberjack. And then the reaction of the co-workers. Priceless. But the best supporting actor in this clip has to be the boss that comes in at the end. Like Moses commanding his people across the parted Red Sea, he sends them "to get back on the phones" with one swift wave of his mighty hand.
And Another?
A faithful reader, DHS graduate, apologetic scanner owner, and potential 25 year reunion attendee sends along the questionarre he received.
Oh, My!!!!
The Messenger's Graduation Section came out this morning and, although my team of reporters is still checking it out, it looks like the Bridgeport High School Class of 2008 actually contains a photo of every kid who graduated in 2007.
5.27.2008
Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts
- Largest correction ad I've ever seen in today's edition of the Messenger after a $7,000 error in price for a pickup for sale at Karl Klement. Look for it.
- I think the are more cops around today than ever before. All over the highways. All over the towns. All over the water.
- Watched a little of the Tampa Bay/Rangers game last night. Man, there is nobody at that ballpark.
- Saw the mother of the nine year old girl who was dragged to death by a horse on Fox 4 last night. She was very calm. Never have understood people that can do that - I don't think less of them - just don't understand them.
- Fox 4's Clarice Tinsley referred to the Wii Fit (pronounced "wee") as the Why Fit last night. I'm absolutely certain she had no idea that she made a mistake.
- If Back To The Future were released for this summer, Michael J. Fox would travel back to 1978,
- Didn't get to excited about the death of Sydney Pollack. I remember him from Eyes Wide Shut but not much else.
- There will be protesters at the Exxon Shareholder's Meeting in Dallas today. That, I'm sure, will bring the prices down.
- There's some Dallas lawyer on The Bachelorette right now. He either resigned or got laid off from his Dallas silk suit job before taking the challenge. But I don't watch the show because it isn't as sophisticated as The Flava Of Love.
- There's a capital murder trial going on in Dallas where a guy killed a cop after a police chase. Looks like the cop was banging on the guys window when a bullet comes from the car killing him. Some news reports have said, "Defense attorneys were able to get his partner to admit that the officer should not have rushed the car." Good luck with all that.
- The Rangers Josh Hamilton is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. And he hit a grand slam last night. Of course, he should be in jail for violating "our" drug laws in the past. Right? Edit: The story is here and it is supposed to be fascinating.
- I can't find anyone who likes those crazy Sonic guys-in-the-car ads as much as I do.
- I'd vote for any Presidential candidate who would promise to cut the federal budget by 33% simply by eliminating government waste. That certainly could be done with needless employee reductions.
- I've never read the Federalist Paper but #45 was trashed a long time ago: "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." But no one cares.
- While I listen to less and less radio, I still jump over to WBAP in the morning to catch the news every now and then. But their comedy bits are awful. This morning: "Gas prices are higher than Cheech at a Willie Nelson concert." Triple grown.
- Some lady is rowing across the Pacific in a tricked up row boat. She keeps a blog (somehow) and has a tracking map of her journey here.
Moral Dilema
Greg Lowery, the current Wise County Attorney and odds on favorite to become the next District Attorney, and I have been having a debate for the last few months over the following issue: Should a prosecutor refuse to pursue a case if the cops obtained the critical evidence in violation of the law.
Today we used this scenario to make this as simple and clean as possible: Say a trooper does not have a reason to stop a car on Highway 287 but does so anyway. Pick any reason you want, he didn't like the way the driver looked, the driver's race, the make of the car, or the color of the car. Pick a reason. It doesn't matter because we'll stipulate it was an illegal stop. He then searches the driver of the car, again without reason, and finds marijuana. The driver readily admits the marijuana is his. So there you have it: (1) No question of an illegal search and seizure by the cop, and (2) No question the driver was in violation of our Possession of Marijuana laws.
We know the following would happen under the above facts (assume, once again, the facts are not in dispute): If the defendant, either alone or through his lawyer, files a Motion to Suppress the marijuana, it will be granted by the judge. Just like a law prohibiting marijuana use, we have another law that says any evidence seized in violation of the law cannot be used and must be suppressed. In a marijuana possession case where such a Motion is granted, there would be nothing left for the prosecutor to do but to dismiss the case.
Now here's the kicker: If the Defendant does not file the Motion to Suppress and never raises the issue at his trial, there is nothing that requires the judge to step in on his own and stop the case. The Defendant must make the Motion or file the appropriate objection. If he doesn't, he has given up or "waived" the issue. If he is convicted either by a guilty plea or even by a jury, he can't even raise it for the first time on appeal. The appellate court will affirm the conviction and hold the issue has been waived.
So here's the issue: We have an obviously guilty Defendant. We have evidence that was unquestionably seized in violation of the law. If you are the prosecutor, whose obligation is "not to convict but to see that justice is done", do you file the case when you see an obvious search and seizure violation? Do you hope the Defendant or his lawyer never raise the issue? Or do you consider your obligation to seek "justice" to mean that an illegal stop and search of a defendant is just as important to condemn as the violation of marijuana possession and kill the case when it comes across your desk?
Have at it folks. (But one request: Try to keep away from negative comments about particular individuals in the Wise County system whether they be prosecutors, cops, judges or lawyers. I have to work with these folks. I'm not that big of a fool.)
Random Courtroom Observations
- I bet there were 20 or more inmates brought up to court to day. I bet that was over 1/2 the docket.
- After docket, I reviewed a couple of DWI videos and along came this great exchange between a trooper and a passenger who may have been drunk.
Trooper: "Did you know you that you have a salt shaker in your pocket."
Guy: "Yeah."
Trooper: "How do you explain that?"
Guy: "I like salt."
Trooper: "Fair enough."
- Saw the judge chew out a couple of guys that had filed a lawsuit against Wise County regarding some kind of property dispute. I'm not certain, but based upon the hearing today it looks like the County had filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (loose translation: dismiss the case because it was without merit) and the pro se Plaintiff's didn't understand what was going on. The judge (maybe) could have granted the County's motion but he gave them a chance to hire a lawyer. Seems fair. If their case has merit, you'd hate to see it forever barred from prosecution because the guys didn't know what they were doing. And, trust me, they didn't know what they were doing.
Wise County Wins Immunity Challenge
The newpapers and the Internets have been telling me for months about a real estate crisis with sinking values. For Wise County, uh, not so much.
At least from a property tax point of view.
Edit: Kinda funny. Just saw the graphic below on the Yahoo Finance page.
5.26.2008
Random Post Holiday Thoughts
- Odd sight this morning: A nice bus pulled off to the side on 287 outside of Decatur with about 20 teenagers hanging out under a railroad bridge.
-A site that has recorded what every website has looked like over the last 10 years or so.
- Ralph Hardy's father was said to be a lawyer. Ralph Sr.?
- Four new names were placed on the Vietnam War Memorial yesterday (per ABC World News Tonight.) Not exactly sure how that works.
- Palo Pinto deputy shot and killed a man over the weekend. Taser probably would have been a better idea. Three gunshots may not have been necessary.
- I've never been to Black Creek Lake in Wise County but was surprised to learn there are no paved roads leading to it.
- I've begun using my debit card for convenience store purchases.
- Could it have been any more humid yesterday? And an emailer sent me a pic of this "panting" baby bird.
- I might have been a little hard on Colonial. Didn't realize 5 of the top 10 players were in the tournament. But, despite an amazing finish, seeing that guy jump in the water on 18 might have been the best part, but the broadcast didn't even acknowledge it.
- Ted Kennedy needs to take it easy. He was out on his boat again over the weekend.
- The "new" tradition of pausing for one minute at 3:00 p.m. on Memorial Day to remember the dead is a great idea which has been slow to catch on.
- I saw a blurb about it on some local news channel but nothing since: Over the weekend a guy landed a small plane on I-35 near the speedway. He was having health issues and took the plane down - safely.
- Horrible story over the weekend: The 9 year old that was dragged (for over a mile and a half) to her death by a horse in Benbrook. But it was strange to learn she had stopped at a convenience store before the incident to get a coke. But what adorable eyes she had.
- The very odd and dark postsecret.com had a "speedo man" posting this week. (Thanks emailer.)
- Being a boat owner for 10 years, I can say this about days like yesterday: A holiday coupled with high winds is a beating.
- When did the Tampa Bay Devil Rays become the Tampa Bay Rays?
- Finished watching The Fountainhead. Silliest. Movie. Ever. Next in my Netflix stack is There Will Be Blood and The Savages.
- No one really gets excited about the Texas Lottery anymore.
- The Texas/OU football game has been moved up to 11:00 a.m. I like that. I've only been to the game twice. One was a Texas blowout but the other was the OU victory when Roy Williams caused a Chris Simms interception at the goal line. That was a scene. Edit: And I just learned that OU will play in the Cotton Bowl Classic on January 2nd. Wait. Really?
- Google doesn't trick up its logo for Memorial Day but others have suggestions.
5.25.2008
Saw At A Fort Worth Sonic Today
I'm supposed to donate in order for them to learn about the "culture"? That's kind of like asking me to fund a vacation.I tipped a buck. But I always tip a buck.
Dallas Woman
Trust me, there's a sentence at the bottom of this Channel 8 story that will drive you nuts.(Thanks emailer.)
