Random Cheers and Jeers

I love Cheers and Jeers in the Star-Telegram. Today's random samplings: You would have to pay me to share a table with a stranger at Denny's. I'm not sure I've ever seen a cat on a leash nor a cat being a problem for a lawn. I was with you for a little bit there, baby. Mrs. Ex-Green #8? Nancy. Nancy. Nancy.

Must Be A Big Wise County Connection

A teenager from North Richland Hills was killed in a traffic accident yesterday in Jack County, but I noticed the services will be held in Bridgeport with burial in Boyd.

Flashback

In honor(?) of the Wichita Falls tornado 30 years ago, here are a couple of pics from the Decatur tornado of 2001.

Not A Pick Me Up

On Tuesday, there was a blood bath at the Dallas Morning News as many, many people were fired. It's all about the paper trying to cut costs only to speed up its impending demise quicker than you can say CueCat. Former employees gathered at a website to post condolences and announcements. One name I recognized was Dan X. McGraw who seemed to write most of the local stories. You can't help but feel sorry for the guy as he wrote on the website: I didn't want to comment on here yesterday for obvious reason. This has been the worst week of my life, and I haven't quite been able to understand it. I don't understand the decision that were made. I wrote more than 450 stories and produced 70+ videos in 37 weeks, but it didn't save me from getting RIFed. My less than 40K salary didn't help me either. Ironically, months before I was laid off, I was told that I was doing exactly what they wanted my position to do. I never heard any negative comments about my work. I just don't understand. I was hoping to make a year at the DMN, but I feel two months shy. I'll miss you all. I wish you all the best. Sincerely, Dan X. McGraw danxmcgraw(at)gmail.com

How To Handle An Investigative Reporter 101

I Can't Find A Picture Of Him

Former WFAA-TV reporter Matt Quinn and his wife Cathy perished Thursday when fire swept through their property in rural Montague County, according to a family member. Cathy's son, Chris, suffered burns and was being treated Friday at the Parkland Memorial Hospital burn unit in Dallas. Hospital officials said he is in fair condition. Matt Quinn began his duties at WFAA in 1980 after working for ABC News. He presented a regular feature segment called "Matt Quinn's Chronicles." Former Dallas Morning News TV critic Ed Bark called him a "thoughtful reporter of mood pieces" in a 1988 article.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Did you see the video of the Duncanville city council member being escorted out of the room by police only to have a back injury? Drama. Queen.
• It's the 30 year anniversary of the Wichita Falls killer tornado. It's the 30 year anniversary of me being awakened at night so I could seek shelter in my neighbor's storm cellar (in my underwear with a sheet wrapped around me.)
• Fort Worth motorcycle death.
• Garland motorcycle death.
• Man, I like Fiona Gorostiza of Fox 4. They just don't have her on enough.
• Chia Obama?
• A Mexican restaurant in Paradise?
• Mexican restaurants are the only type of restaurant that Wise County does very well.
• I got got corrected on something yesterday that I can't believe I didn't know: It's silicon valley but silicone breast implants.
• I refuse to get too excited about the Rangers.
• I used to be a movie watching foolbut that stopped for some reason. But I've got Batman: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Step Brothers sitting on my DVD player. (I've already seen Batman but I want to watch it with subtitles, because I didn't understand a dang thing they were saying in theaters.)
• I watched a guy get mad because a case got dismissed this week. He had received a 20 year sentence out of Wichita County but had a hot check misdemeanor pending in Wise County. Even though he was being offered time served, he demanded a jury trial so he could spend more time in the Wise County Jail and not get transferred to Huntsville. So the State simply dismissed the case. He was not happy.

Dark Days

Along FM 101 between Bridgeport and Chico. (Thanks emailer.)

Fire! Fire! Fire!

Sheesh. I'm out of pocket for four hours and the whole county is burning down. Looking for updates. You boys got any? (Some photos stolen for Lari Barager's Facebook page.) Breaking news: They are trying to kill WILDLIFE!

A Whole Slew Of Future Mrs. Greens

Link.

I Don't Even Like Stuff Like This.

Until I saw this and liked it. (The grainy video probably helps the production value.)

In Paradise, TX

It's like those old time roadside message signs. Only different. (Thanks emailer.)

Random Thursday Morning News

• The concept of the Texas Ranger ball girls is a good one.
• TV Land is developing a new reality show on the female cougar? Greatest idea ever?
• I don't think I ever watch TV Land.
• There's some pirate news in the news. The first time I realized there were actual pirates in the modern day world was in the Harrison Ford movie, Six Days Seven Nights (which is better know for a horrible acting job by David Schwimmer.)
• I don't think the Wise County folks use the 156 bridge over 114 near the Speedway, but it'll be shut down for a couple of weeks due to structure damage.
• Lots of sports talk over the Mavericks jockeying for the seven vs. eighth seed in the NBA playoffs. News Flash: That doesn't matter.
• I'm not sure where Lady GaGa came from.
• I heard attorney Bill Ray out of Fort Worth was appointed on the Stephen York case.
• Everyone is calling it a "capital murder" case but the actual charge is only decided upon by the DA with the grand jury's approval. And if it is a capital murder indictment, the DA decides whether to seek the death penalty. He can waive that option which means a guilty verdict means an automatic life sentence.
• Even I think it is shocking that a DA can decide when to pursue the death penalty and when not to --- but I really don't have any better system in mind.
• My favorite crazy conservative, our own blogging assistant DA Kevin Henry, has been ranting against any call for the legalization of drugs. But take a look at this post and find the one paragraph that should drive everyone crazy.
• Two bizarre deaths that we kind of ignored over the last week: The guy that drowns in a creek in Chico and the guy that got run over by a train in Decatur. (The last one sounds like a country music lyric.)
• Any comment signed by "Double Fake" whatever tends to be pretty funny.
• I know no one out there has heard it, but there is nothing worse than the Huckabee Report on WBAP at 7:32 a.m. (For a guy that is probably pretty smart, his attempts at humor are the corniest I've ever heard.)
• There was a story yesterday of a carjacking in Dallas where a lady was forced out of her car and the attacker left the scene in her car with the victim's two children in it. (They were safely released nearby.) I'm kind of surprised the guy got the car: I can't imagine a more formidable foe that a mother whose kids are about to be taken from her.
• I've kept my weight off from The Master Cleanse.

That "Christian Nation" Remark

If he means, "We are a nation of people who practice many different faiths, but we are bound together by a common set of ideals and values", is that really wrong?

Pick Me Up?

In the new comic book, "Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli," published by Devil's Due, the loincloth-clad president battles with a woman of the north who wears glasses and a wolf's fur cape. Source.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• You guys start hasslin' me about the Random Thought Girl Of The Day? Well, I shall retaliate.
• But, you know, I kind of like this gal in a way that makes me question every shallow part of my soul.
• I have always thought the The Ballpark in Arlington should have simply been called "The Diamond."
• Speaking of, whatever happened to Ameriquest? Sub-prime lending would be my guess.
• Speaking of, how can they possibly not have found some company that will pay a fair price for the naming rights?
• Bad Robot
• Two days ago, a single engine Cessna was stolen in Canada, intercepted and followed by two F-16s, and then landed in Missouri. Dumb question: How slow can an F-16 fly so that it can follow a single engine aircraft?
• There's a growing sentiment in this country to subject prosecutors who withhold evidence to civil or criminal penalties. I have no problem with that. If your sense of right and wrong, as a prosecutor, can't guide you down the obvious path then you need to be sanctioned. Hard.
• Cursebird: A website that tracks every curse word in every Tweet on Twitter in real time. (Warning: Language, obviously.) And you can also check to see whether a particular user on Twitter has ever been guilty of The Potty Mouth. In that area, I'm sin free.
• Obama about the Iraqis yesterday: "They need to take responsibility for their country." Amen, bruther.
• AnObiter went nuts yesterday and got freaky hair. And she posted a pic.
• I heard sports guy Chuck Cooperstein once say that you know Spring has arrived when The Masters is being played. Yep.
• I have the oddest memory of a female partner in my first law firm job say, as she gazed off to the side with the biggest smile, "I just love Tony" upon learning something controversial that Dallas Cowboy Tony Dorsett had said. We were in the elevator in the Republic Bank building in downtown Dallas. It just seemed so weird for her to refer to Dorsett by his first name, and I have no idea why I can't get that memory out of my head.
• There's a mass shooting every week: Yesterday five ended up dead in Alabama. Truly, this happens so often that it just gets buried in the news.
• WBAP's Amy Chodroff this morning referred to Flo Rida, who is appearing on American Idol tonight, as a "her."
• A headline that will wake you up this morning: "Texas judge allows collection of dead son's sperm."

Star Telegram Coverage of Funeral

Link. And a couple of emailer pics:

Officer Randy White Funeral Notes

People are standing up and down 51 just to get a view of the funeral procession. And the air is thick with helicopter noise. Fox 4 has a live cam from the helicopter here. Edit: Feed ended at 1:59 p.m. when the procession pulled into Springtown.

Baseball First Pitch Celebration

Mariah Carey = Hey, Now.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• George W. did the craziest wind up before throwing out the first pitch yesterday.
• I listened to him join the radio broadcast in the bottom of the second inning. He seemed content and happy. But there was an awkward moment when he said, "I'd invite some of my old friends to the Oval Office and they'd say, 'I can't believe I'm in here.' Then they'd look at me." (Followed by the trademarked George Bush giggle which was followed by dead air.)
• One of my first thoughts when I heard about the earthquake in Italy was the art and architecture.
• The reports were that traffic leaving the Ballpark yesterday was insane. I can't imagine what it's going to be like for Cowboy games.
• The Rangers starting shortstop is 20 year old Elvis Andrus. Raise your hand if you would like to be 20 years old and starting for the Rangers. Mine's up.
• After Elvis got his first hit yesterday, the PA system played, "All Shook Up."
• I found a shingle in my yard, and I'm still trying to figure out if it came off of my house. I hate the wind.
• Obama yesterday in Turkey: "Let me say this as clearly as I can. The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam." Who could possibly disagree with that?
• I don't know why I laugh when I see people write, "Woot!"
• Traffic reports refer to 287 and I-35 as "the Decatur cut off." I'm not sure I've ever heard any locals refer to it that way.
• Worst March Madness ever?
• Accident victim Jackie Murphree of Decatur has arrived in China for some type of stem cell related treatment (that I really don't understand.) Seems like the trip would have been a fascinating human interest story for the local news stations. (Updates about the trip can be found by clicking the link but you have to scroll down a bit.)
• You can always spot someone studying their grocery receipt as they walk out of the store, and you know they're thinking, "How in the heck did it cost that much?"
• "FORT WORTH — Texas Christian University will designate some on-campus apartments for gay students and their supporters, creating what may be the only such college housing in the region." Isn't that a step backwards? Kind of like a Leper's Colony?
• I thought this was just an "old time religion" video until the midget appears at the 2:25 mark. (Perhaps the mother of the crazy Mexican midget that I love so much?)

I Really Don't Understand Politics

When Len Wade stepped down from a district court bench last month in Tarrant County, everyone in Fort Worth scrambled to get involved in replacing him. Up until the next election, it's Gov. Perry's call as to who to appoint. So who does he choose? Thirty-seven year old John P. Chupp, an associate (not partner) in the small Guerrero Law Offices personal injury firm off of Hemphill Street. You google the guy and you get basically nothing. And not that it means anything, but I've never heard of him. You would think the bench would be awarded to some old time conservative Republican. I'm very confused. (For you tech boys, go the the firm's website and hover over the links to left and look where they try to take you.)

Ain't That America - Were Something To See, Baby

Picture taken outside The Ballpark before the game today. (Source)

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up: Ladies Edition

Actually from the Speedway this weekend. (Source.)

Saw this on Twitter -- From The Ballpark. The W Family

Acknowledging The Baylor Loss

Last Thursday, Baylor lost in the NIT Championship game which was the equivalent of Team USA beating the Russians in hockey in 1980. It was that big. But one young man from Penn State learned that some bad things happen to those that try to bring sorrow to Jerusalem On The Brazos. (Good look it about the 25 second point.) Go and sin no more.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I watched Boondock Saints over the weekend, and I don't know if it was great or horrible. (But I was surprised to learn that it's box office gross of a shockingly low $25,812.)
• Baylor 21, Kansas 9 (and that's in baseball). For grins, I looked up how many points the football team against Kansas the last time they played. The answer: 10.
• Love him or hate him, Obama looks confident on the foreign stage.
• The Evil Empire thinks they won the Big 12 Football Championship last year. (But I'm distracted by the ill placed a/c wall control in the photo.)
• I hate weather talk, but I've never seen a Spring as windy as this one.
• And what a crummy day for the opening of baseball.
• Channel 5 news this morning ran a poll "to tell us what you think is the most affordable family outing: The Rangers, Six Flags or the Zoo." A poll? You're the news organization. Tell us the answer.
• The hot Fox 4 weather girl was on the morning newscast today.
• I'm having a crummy air conditioning unit replaced. Ugh.
• I've never watched Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network, but a place in Watauga will be featured on it tonight.
• Small irritation: When anyone ends a point with "'Nuff said."
• Chances of someone making a comment ending in "'Nuff said": 100%.
• Funny line from The Ticket this morning about the tradition of having the Texas NASCAR winner pose with a cowboy hat and six shooters: Why do they have to dress him up like Yosemite Sam?
• Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert is weird looking.
• A vague story of a guy jumping to his death off a a Northpark Mall parking garage produced 96 comments. (And lots of weird things seem to happen at that high tone mall.)

"God Grew Tired Of Us"

I'm weird about the way I add movies to my Netflix Queue. I'll see a brief review about a movie, oftentimes an obscure one, that really gets my attention but which I fear I'll never hear about again. So I immediately save it in Netflix even if it won't be available for months. And then, one day, it arrives. By then, I had completely forgotten about it. So arrived God Grew Tired Of Us. Frankly, I have no idea where I first heard about it. But I popped it in the DVD player yesterday. I'm glad I did. It's a documentary that follows three boys from Sudan who first fled to Ethopia due to a civil war and then, years later, were forced to make a 1,000 mile journey to a Kenyan refugee camp. Then, in 2001, many of the boys (who are now men) were given the chance to live in the United States with the help of Catholic Charities International. When one of them asks about America, "Will I go to a river to get drinking water?", you know this is going to get culturally shockingly good. The documentary's main intention is to call attention to the horrors of Sudan, but it gets you there by following the three men in America. You can't help but almost cry as someone explains a bag of chips to them, as they all gather around a lamp to learn how you turn it off and on, or as the cameras follow them wild eyed into a grocery store and through the produce section. We moan about so much in our lives. This movie is like a well deserved slap in the face. And the title? It comes from a moment when one of the men, while in America, reflects about his suffering as he and his family and friends spent years fleeing from violence. "It was so bad," he says. "I thought God grew tired of us." (Youtube trailer.)