Diamond's Supermarket In Bridgeport On Fire?

Unconfirmed report. Developing.

News

Looks like the big news this morning is a bomb explosion at hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. Forty dead and counting. It was a Marriott property which the chain advertised on its web site like any other hotel it owns. That was a nice place. The cheapest room last night went for $200. But, man, Pakistan is a violent place. Just look at the list of attacks at the bottom of this wikipedia page.

The Briefest Random Thoughts

• Caught about 30 minutes of No Country For Old Men last night on cable. I had seen it in the theater and walked away with a "good but not great" review. I might have been too harsh.
• Great Baylor game last night. It's fun just to be competitive again (although it's kind of sad that I'm happy with that.)
• ESPN's College Game Day is more fun in theory than in practice.
• I need to mow the yard.
• I'm not sure I know one song on Billboard's Top Ten - I haven't listened to music on the radio in the last six months. I need to fix that.
• I can't sleep late any more.
• Edit: If you didn't see it, the I Hate This Hummer guy from Southlake turned himself in. He's 72. He probably wants a do over.

Friday Night Happy Feet

Decatur 0 Argyle 45 Oh, my. City View 25 Chico 45 Somebody check the water Godley 21 Boyd 35 Finally getting their feet underneath them Windthorst 0 Alvord 14 Off season chaos having no effect Paradise 40 Bowie 16 Rolling. Baylor 28 Connecticut 31 Chance to win at the end falls short

Getting All Artsy

I was asked to promote a play going on over in Bridgeport to which, of course, I refused. Then it was called to my attention that I would be considered a "community organizer" if I were to do so. Hello, resume builder. The information is here. These type of plays are either really good or really bad. Either way, you've got you some local entertainment. Alternatively, you've got karaoke at Frilly's, or the North Texas Singles Club which will meet Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Armondo's in Decatur. Good times.

Oh, My

Mark Cuban releases some of the emails he has received regarding Josh Howard's less than patriotic rant released this week. We might want to throttle back on that "there is no racism in America" belief.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Stock market talk is giving me Tired Head.
• Problem solved: More government regulations with the silent realization that the government will bail you out if all goes wrong ---- ah, yes, the cornerstone of free enterprise.
• Baylor plays on Friday night for the second time in two weeks. Please no high school football jokes, please.
• If I don't read Newsweek on the first day that I get it, I never get around to it before the next one arrives.
• Snakes On A Plane is on cable every now and then. Man, that was awful.
• It took me years to learn it, but drink coasters are important.
• There's a hot air balloon festival in Plano this weekend. I've never been to one much less on a balloon. (And Fox 4 played 99 Luftballoons in the background while reporting on it.)
• Had some kid roll down his window and bark like a dog as I jogged pasted his car the other day. So odd.
• I feel lazy when I buy those salad-in-a-bag products.
• It seems that every wrongfully convicted guy released in Dallas after being imprisoned for 20+ years is never bitter.
• With all these bailouts by the government (which is nothing more than printing money), why won't inflation go through the roof?
• A lady in Granbury protests the high school flag which is that pirate-jolly-rogers-skull-and-cross-bones thing. "I appreciate our teams and coaches, too. But I have to stand up for my biblical convictions," she said. I soooooo wish she lived here.
• I ran across a pic of hottest girl in a bikini top with an amputated leg over at What Would Tyler Turden Durden Do. I was debating about whether to post it until I realized I was spending precious moments of my live life involved in that debate. Edit: Man, I struggled with the keyboard on this one.
• Got this email on a "way for your blog to make money." Here was the pitch "Right now we are doing promotional giveaways. You write an article about a product. Then you encourage the viewer to click on a link that is imbedded in the article. To enter the contest, the viewer has to retrieve some information from the advertisers web site. For example, we might get the viewer to pick out there favorite color. They post a comment with their favorite color. Then, we pick a winner."................ It's boring and confusing.
• The new paved roads in Decatur are actually impressive. Much better than the "throw down some tar and gravel" that was used last time.

More High Sheriff Pics

We've Got Some Political Gold Going On

Meet Andy Lacasse. This man was a registered Democrat until Obama won the nomination - now he's voting Republican. (You boys proud to have him?) And if you "liberal weenies" are thinking about touching his yard sign, think again. "I got a club sitting right over there," he said. Ooooookay. The only down side is that he's from Florida (which I find hard to believe because I'm pretty sure I saw him in the Decatur Walmart in the firearms section on Tuesday - right after I bumped into him in the wife beater clothing section.) And, as though I have some special karma with this guy, the story associated with these pictures utilized the "[sic]" which we studied in class just a couple of days ago. Dear Lord (or Allah for all of you Muslins who support Obama), please let election day get here. Soon.

There Would Be Some "Confused Head" At The Polls

The chance of this happening is a million to one, but wouldn't it be fascinating? I think McCain would still win Texas in a write-in campaign but it would at least make it one crazy race. Both Obama and McCain would have to rely upon people being smart enough to write their names in - a dicey proposition to say the least. And straight party voting would help neither one of them if their names weren't on the ballot. Delicious. And if Obama was smart, he should take the position that Barr is right - that both the Republican and Democratic nominees should be thrown off the ballot. I mean, there's no way he's going to win Texas so it couldn't hurt his chances. (I so love the Libertarians but I can't stand Bob Barr.) Edit: Someone wrote that you have to "file" as a write-in candidate and it's too late to do that. And, I'll be dang, he/she was right.

Campaign Spending: Just Last Week

It's an obvious point, but forget about "national polls". Those states listed in the chart are those that will decide the presidency. On election night, your ears better perk up every time you hear Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida. (And wouldn't you like to own a TV station or newspaper in one of those states for the ad revenue alone.) (Source)

Kind Of Startled Me . . .

. . . as I rounded the corner in Decatur at lunch and looked up. (Just south of Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes.) Edit: Sheesh, people. You can't say stuff like that. And, by the way Jarhead, one post was directed at you but I left it on my Comment Laboratory Floor (although it was pretty funny). And RandR, that was borderline. I'd just be up to my eyeballs in cat comments if I let it through.

If TMZ Was Based In Wise County

Here's a pic of the helicopter that the High Sheriff and his new bride used to escape the masses after the wedding.

Not To Self:

Keep in mind if Weatherford College Branch Campus gets the go ahead in the election. (Kidding. That's awful.) Edit: Note to self: Learn to type

The Guy That Hid In The Closet Is A Free Man

Remember this guy? This 27 year old guy from Pennsylvania had a buddy drive him to the home of a 14 year old girl in Bedford that he had met on The Internets. He stays with her on Sunday night (she kept him in the closet) but the jig was up when the girl's mother found him sleeping in the teen's bed while she was at school. Well, a Tarrant County Grand Jury has decided the guy shouldn't be prosecuted. The charge was that of Sexual Assault of a Child (basically consenaul sex with someone under 17 years of age.) From reading the story, it's hard to tell what went on behind the scenes. Either the DA went in there and said, "All we have is the 14 year old's word that they had sex and she really doesn't want the kid prosecuted anyway" or the Grand Jury simply decided to revolt and not clog the system with this type of case. If it's the latter, grand juries need to do it more often. Edit: The more I think about this, I wonder if the grand jury believed that the girl had lied about her age. Amazingly, that's not a legal defense for the guy, but they may have cut him a break nevertheless.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I finally have an iPhone trouble. After a software upgrade it won't boot back up. From looking at the Internets, this has happened to quite a few people. I'm going to try and get it working with the office computer this morning. Ugh.
• Since the current presidential administration is always blamed for economic woes, could the stock market trash have come at a worst time for the Republicans?
• There was a Barbara Walters special on ABC last night on the Queen's visit to America two years ago. I'm not sure if I would have been interested if I hadn't seen the film, The Queen, but man it was great.
• The best material that I can't publish comes from attorney-client initial meetings.
• Saw where the feds announced a big drug bust yesterday (175 people) and called it "Project Reckoning." I guess you have to give it a fancy name when the investigation took 15 months and, in the end, won't change a thing.
• The renovations to the Cotton Bowl look pretty good, but at a cost of $50 million it was kind of like putting lipstick on a pig . . . . Uh, oh.
• I really want to go to the Texas/OU game in a couple of weeks. Can anybody help a bruther out? Stubhub seems to think those tickets are worth quite a bit - which the obviously are.
• Very funny Hurricane Ike coverage here.
• If I had kids, I'd definitely rent this for a birthday party in order to teach them respect for the dead.
• I've gained about five pounds over the summer. Let the obsession to lose it begin.
• Isn't the price of a barrel of oil less than a $100 (down from the high of around $150) but gas prices are still around $3.70?
• I've never cared about the Ryder Cup competition.
• iPhone update as I jacked around with it while writing all of this. No luck. If I have to take it the Apple store in Southlake I'll shoot myself. And key a Hummer out of frustration.

Edit: I appreciate the help on the iPhone (but I had already tried that since I spent hours on the problem last night.) It failed during a software update and then told me to "restore" the iPhone. Ugh. I tried that but it would get hung on "Verifying iPhone software" stage. (Happens quite a bit apparently.) Edit #2: Since I know all of you are dying to know, I got the phone back up and running. Uh, at least to the way it was configured on July 11, 2008 (the date of the last backup - which makes no sense since I backed it up two days ago.) Anyway, I'm going back in time.

Wednesday Afternoon Pick Me Uuuuu.....Wait A Second

What the heck happened to Kelly Kapowski? I really can't handle something like this right now. I'm feeling weak.

I Meant To Mention This Randomly

I saw this on Fox 4 last night. Amazing. This guy decides to "key" a Hummer in the Southlake Carroll parking lot. Yeah, not so interesting. What is incredible is that the Hummer was equipment with cameras that were activated by motion detectors. It even picked him up when he went to the other side. Video here. That guy is so screwed. As he should be. I can picture him doing the ol' spew-coke-out-of-your-mouth routine as he saw himself on the television last night.

The Short But Eventful Life Of Ike

An emailer sent me this link to a handful of amazing photos published, in all places, the Boston Globe web site.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• "Several Texas Rangers baseball players are scheduled to serve a 'ballpark-style lunch' to children displaced by Hurricane Ike and now living in a Dallas Convention Center shelter, city officials say." If they had done it with the benefit of a press release, I'd be impressed.
• I watched "The Ten Biggest Upsets" on the NFL network the other day. One of them was the Redskins over the Cowboys in a "scab game" in 1987. I was there. It was hardly a blip on my sports radar and certainly didn't deserve to make the list.
• And if you love lists, you'll love this. (Belo continues to struggle for something new in the Internet Age.)
• I could have sworn I heard what sounded like an animal jump off my bed as I went up the stairs last night. I don't own an animal. That was creepy. I actually looked under the bed.
• Everyone is reporting that the Cowboys/Eagles game was the most watched television show ever on cable TV with 18,608,000 tuned in. With 300 million folks in the country, that number is surprisingly low for a record.
• I've listened to a little bit of the Michael Irvin show on ESPN radio here locally. Painful.
• I couldn't pick Dallas Maverick Josh Howard out of a lineup, but this (too long) video was all over the Internets yesterday. The money line: "The Star-Spangled Banner is going on right now, and I don’t celebrate that s*#@. I’m black."
• Mark Cuban came to his defense with, "I have explained to him that cellphone cameras are not your friend and that what you think you said on camera is never what people will hear when it shows up on YouTube or TV." Huh? Howard is dumber than Cuban. But not by much.
• I like tomato juice in the morning if it comes from a large container that has been refrigerator. I don't like it from a small container from a convenience store.
• Young lawyer. Cocky republican. Delegate to the RNC. A hooker. Theft. What's not to love?
• There's a Boyd man charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child in Tarrant County who had had a mistrial declared for the second time yesterday. Yep, second. It seems a little innocuous because all that happened was a detective testified, in essence, "After the defendant was arrested he didn't want to talk to me." It's a doctrine called, stay with me here, not commenting on a defendant's post arrest right to remain silent.
• If you like magazines but would like to change subscriptions any time you'd like for a flat fee, you like this. They call it the "Netflix of magazine subscriptions."
• Jogged outside a couple of days ago. The Thanksgiving Turkey Trot is on the horizon along with the White Rock Half Marathon. But this running thing is getting a little harder.
• Man, there's a huge spelling error in a headline on the front page of the Messenger today when the word "Famlies" appears. The bad news it appears again when the story is continued inside the paper. Do you think that's a Power Down moment when you're in charge of making sure mistakes like that don't happen?

I Don't Know This Country Any More

Maybe it's because of the Ron Paul book I'm reading, but any concept that this country is 100% based upon "capitalism" is pure fiction. This ever so brief rant is based upon news tonight that the Federal Reserve* will bail out insurance giant AIG (with an $85 billion loan) and take an 80% stake in the company. (I have no idea what went wrong with the company, but I suspect that AIG had a ton of cash laying around over the last two years and decided to invest in bundles of mortgages that didn't turn out to be worth squat. We've seen this movie before.) Here's our world as we know it: You can work your arse off and get taxed at an astronomical rate. Those taxes are simply used to redistribute the wealth primarily, not through welfare or "liberal programs", but through government jobs and purchases that probably don't need to exist at all. (And this includes the billions spent on the stupid Iraq war, and needless federal intervention like the Department of Education or the Federal Communications Commission.) And, at a frightening rate, bailouts. If GM goes under, your tax dollars will be there. If TimeWarner goes under, you could expect the same. It goes on and on and on. And, on a related note, I just looked up at the TV and saw President Bush during his PR trip to Galveston today. "I know some are concerned about whether or not the government will reimburse you for your stay [away from your home]," he said. "And the answer is 'yes'. We have a plan for the next thirty days." Then Fox 4's Heather Hays tells me, "The President also announced the fed [sic] will pick up the bill for all debris removal for a two week period starting on Saturday." Where's my checkbook? I need to help the federal government help those people that decided to build next to an ocean. And, I might add, this is under a Republican Administration. There's not a dimes worth of difference between the two parties. I would call for a revolution, but I fear secret government wiretaps. _______ *And don't give me this crap that the Federal Reserve isn't, in the end, the equivalent of the U.S. Government. Same goes for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

A Faithful Reader . . .

. . . emails in this cellphone pic to remind us all about the uniqueness of the joys germane to Wise County.

“Even with our economy collapsing, fake gay is still funny.”

As I Was . . .

. . . eating my small Quizno Honey Bourbon Chicken sandwich on wheat bread today, I saw the third item above in the Dallas Morning News. Sadly, that chuckle was the highlight of my lunch as this became stuck in my brain.

Rare Pics Of My Saturday Night

Or maybe something else.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• It's two-for-Tuesday
• Speaking of that guy in the picture, he had a movie called Surfer, Dude that opened up in 68 theaters last weekend and made $29,708. I heard him say in an interview that it's a movie "about just living."
• If you were wondering, that was Kat Deluna singing the National Anthem on Monday Night Football last night. Not sure why everyone tries to trick up the National Anthem.
• That was Tony Romo's 12th game of passing for over 300 yards in less than two seasons. Roger Staubach did it six times in his career. Terry Bradshaw did it four times.
• It was the beginning of National Latino Month (or something like that) at Texas Stadium and on the ESPN pre-game show I saw a mariachi band playing under the statue of Tom Landry. Really.
• Wall Street Beating yesterday. But I've truly learned just to roll with it.
• The Rangers played last night in Arlington. How many people would show up on a Monday night, during the school year, and at the same time the Cowboys are playing?: 13,536 according to the box score.
• DeShean Jackson launching the ball before he crossed the goal line last night was funny. The announcing crew mentioned that he did a premature swan dive in a high school all-star game that ended up a tad bit short. Photo here. What a knucklehead.
• John McCain always refers to Obama as "my opponent." Seems odd.
• I discovered tricked up tuna and other kinds of fish in a sealed metallic bag in the supermarket last night. Bought a couple of them. Can't remember the brand name.
• 55 degrees outside. Double sweet.
• Not breaking news: Galveston sounds like a mess.
• I don't understand people wanting O.J. Simpson to get convicted in his Las Vegas robbery trial because he got away with murder in Los Angeles. Yeah, I understand wanting to strike him down with great vengeance and furious anger, but do you really want a justice system like that? (And this robbery case probably wouldn't have even been filed had it not been Simpson involved.)
• Jennifer Tilly's sexy vocal cords are 50 today.
• Just noticed that the Jacksboro paper link on wisecounty.com now requires a paid subscription. I'll take the link down if they don't understand The Internets any better than that.
• Sign your life has gone terribly wrong: "A 40-year-old man walking his dog in the nude was Tasered by police when he refused to follow an officer's commands." Sign #2: "The man was asked what he was doing and told the officer, 'Allah told me to watch a Bruce Willis movie and walk the dog.'"

Cowboys On Monday Night Football Open Thread

With a wheels off rendition of out national anthem, it's kick off time. Edit: Ok, so maybe not a good idea since I get more comments by simply putting "Palin" in the title. But, man, what a crazy game as we get to halftime.

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up

This is Michelle Hunziker and, since I didn't know who she was and wanted to stalk her, I checked her out on The Google. But, get this, she's got an 11 year old kid! That, my friends, is the Mother of the Year for 2008. Election. Over.

The Beginning Of The End

Tonight mark's the final home opener ever at Texas Stadium. I actually attended the first event ever at the venue - not a football game but a Billy Graham Crusade. But former sports writer Frank Luksa recounts the Top 10 games in stadium history here. I remember watching all of them except #6 and #9.

Laura Ingram

Just what we needed. ANOTHER conservative talk show has been announced for WBAP. I've heard her name, but really not familiar with her work. But, after listening to her with Mark Davis for a few moments, I've already powered down. Anyway, she'll be on in the evenings for those of you that can't get enough marching orders. But . . . kind of hot.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Channel 8 Sports Extra had Eugene Lockhart as a co-host last night. Is a former slightly above average linebacker who last played 18 years ago really relevant?
• Texas canceled it's game against Arkansas on Saturday but I read there turned out not to be a drop of rain.
• Not exactly sure about the meaning of this morning's news of the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy or the takeover of Merrill Lynch, but it can't be good.
• Had a waiter at Mercado Juarez refer to me throughout dinner as "boss" on Saturday night. I kind of liked that.
• 58 degrees this morning? Sweet.
• Whatever happened to comedian Steven Wright?
• I've begun watching In Bruges (another movie that I put in my Netflix queue weeks ago but I don't know why.) So far it's great.
• It's still early, but I wonder if Todd Dodge is regreting taking the North Texas head coaching job.
• I've become the guaranteed win for my opponents in my fantasy football league.
• I always watch Entourage on HBO but I'm not sure why.
• I went for a walk in the rain for the first time in years this weekend. Technically, I was walking in a hurricane.
• Saw this on a message board: "We’re definitely over-reacting here in Dallas. Our office manager sent an e-mail this afternoon [Friday] instructing everyone to close their blinds and office doors in case Ike blows out the windows. Also, we were to remove any paper from our desk because it could get sucked out the window. My brother’s building took it one step further. There will be an assessment Sunday night to determine whether the building will be closed on Monday or not. I guess they’re expecting a lot of damage, despite the fact we’re 300 miles inland."
• I actually woke up at about 3:30 on Saturday morning so I turned on the TV to see if the Hurricane had made landfall. I saw the funniest bit when one of the "on the scene" reporters was blown into a bunch of bushes only to pop up laughing. I thought someone would replay it, but I haven't seen it yet.
• And I promise I saw Channel 8 had a "countdown clock" on its 6:00 o'clock news on Friday ticking down until landfall for Ike. And get this: It measured down to the second. Something like 8 hours 25 minutes 23 seconds when I saw it.
• I saw a train push a car down the tracks outside of Rhome about five years ago after a fatal collision. Horrifying.
• We always gripe about long term, entrenched politicians and always beg for some "new blood" but when they come around they are roasted for not having "experience." (Goes for Obama and for Palin.)
• And just what sort of "job experience" is there that qualifies you for President?
• Seems like there is always a robbery or rape around the "Katy Trail" in Dallas, but this one seems a little odd.
• It's kind of fun to stumble through a Monday and then think, "Hey, the Cowboys are on tonight."
• I've been meaning to post this for a while: You can buy two seats from Texas Stadium for $650. To keep. Like, forwever. Here.

I'm not sure I've had ever been in a tattoo parlor. Until this weekend. (For those of you immediately worried if I have defaced my otherwise glorious body, don't worry. It was for sight seeing purposes only.) But, man, what a crazy place. I saw one girl lying face down getting a full back tattoo (I think it was a pair of wings) as her boyfriend looked on. Saw a couple of girls going into a back room which I think involved piercings. Not exactly sure what was going on there but I have an idea. And the walls were plastered with tattoo prints that you could choose from. Man, the possibilities were endless. Obviously, I had to take out the ol' cell phone camera when I came across Laughing Jesus. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. (Although the dinner time scene of Talladega Nights kept popping in my head.) The price is written off to the side: $400.

Funny. Very Funny.

Link to fake Sarah Palin and fake Hillary Clinton on Saturday Night Live.