Premature Election Count?

OK, the numbers may very well hold up. But still seems a little close to say it has "apparently failed."

Random Mavs Thoughts

I didn't watch any of the game which makes me an expert. Mark Cuban shoved a reporter after the game? How Cuban got rich is beyond me. The NBA admitted that a critical foul was not called. There were 89 free throw attempts? Sheesh. Bring on college football season.

Star-Telegram Story

Photos of the casket in the boat soon found their way to a popular Wise County blog — Liberally Lean from the Land of Dairy Queen — with the headline "How you bury a Baptist deacon who loved fishing." Curious folks wanted to know the story behind the photos.

Here it is.

Link.

(And the paper credits local attorney Mark Howell for one photo.)

Prime (Time) Real Estate

In case you've been needing a little more space around the home, Deion Sanders is selling his little fixer upper in Prosper. Let's see, his jersey number was 21 so take a guess what the asking price is. Listing is here.

Dirk's Girlfriend

In the front in black. Girl, I'm sorry I ever said anything negative.

Ann Curry Twitter Feed This Morning

That gal is deep. And, if I've got my geography correct, the only way she could see the "sunrise in the crown of the Statue of Liberty" is if she woke up in New Jersey.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Around 10:30 p.m. last night, my front door made the sound as if someone had walked quickly to it from the outside, pushed the handle trigger, and then hit the door hard with their shoulder like they were surprised it didn't open.
• That scared the crap out of me. After ducking for cover, I looked out the window and didn't see a thing.
• I own a shotgun.
• Firing a shotgun in a house would make a mess.
• The history behind the "coffin in a boat" blog entry will become a feature story in Saturday's Star-Telegram. I talked to an editor yesterday who is pretty excited about it.
• I've been naive about this: If a political party were responsible for granting immunity to every illegal alien, the children of those aliens - born on American soil and thereby American citizens - would become a voting block that would be unbeatable.
• My family truckster, which is on its last legs, is burning oil like nobody's business. Dumb question: If I don't have a leak, where does the oil go?
• Heard often: "Man, you've got some crazy people that read that blog of yours."
• I had a childhood friend who lived on my street contact me yesterday on Facebook. I had not seen her since we were teens. Facebook is cool.
• There's a petition floating around Rhome requesting a council person resign. Seems easier just to find a candidate to run against her.
• Got behind the dreaded slow-self-checker-grocery-lady last night. You know: Pick up product. Hold it in front of you and slowly look for bar code. Slowly slide bar code over scanner. Take a step to grocery bag. Slowly place item in bag. Repeat.
• I rarely open up .wmv files that people send me via email. I figure if it's not on youtube or some other flash video site, it's probably not worth looking at.
• Women are excited about Sam Moon's opening this weekend in North Fort Worth. I have no idea what a Sam Moon is.
• It sounds like the end is near for Farrah Fawcett. And is sounds like she has suffered horribly over the last couple of years.
• I'm supposed to have an 8:00 a.m. appointment. Hadn't heard from the guy yet.

Chico "Scandal"

Link. Channel 8 actually ran this story last night. (Trying to see if they'll post the video.) It is incredibly vague and I'm not sure "scandal" is the most appropriate term.

Manny Ramirez And An Afternoon Pick Me Up

But I really don't care about the newest steroid scandal in baseball. Hey, what's the spare guy doing back there in the photo?

What Was That?

Anybody else hear that huge BOOM that rocked Decatur at 1:36 p.m. ? Edit: Got confirmation that it rattled Bridgeport and Paradise. Edit: Heck, it was heard in northern Tarrant County. Edit: If it was a sonic boom, it's the loudest one I've heard in 20 years. Edit: The bloodhounds at Fox 4 are on the case. Edit: Star-Telegram now has the answer.

Pulling Back The Curtain

A lot of people ask me, "How are you so awesome?" That's a good question, and I understand why you want to ask it. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. Ol' bu-bear fires up Cheers To You about three times a week. Just when I'm ready to get out the dress blues and down a bottle of Paxil, that does the trick. I'm back to my normal fun-filled self in a matter of moments.

Saw This On The Courthouse Lawn This Morning

I would do a separation of church and state quip but I've got Tired Head.

Roamed Around The Wise County Courthouse Attic

A punching bag in the floor. A winding staircase to the bell tower.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• On yesterday's ABC's World News Tonight, Charlie Gibson said, "We can't put troops in Pakistan" while discussing the rising Taliban tension with a correspondent. We can't? Really?
• Obama pronounces Pakistan as PAWK-i-stan.
• Fox 4 had a story last night of some very old nude photos of a former public official being found in Krum's City Hall -- it was the most confusing story in the history of ever. But, whatever the point of the story, I couldn't get past every person in Krum being interviewed pronouncing "picture" as "pitcher."
• One of the best lawyer's I've ever seen does that.
• One of my 100 ex-girlfriend's does that.
• It drives me insane.
• I think "composite drawings" of a suspect border on being silly. They always look like aliens.
• Crazy news: Dirk Nowitzki has a crazy girlfriend who was arrested at his house. Crazier news: She's not hot at all.
• I got chewed out by someone from Fox 4 on Monday via email. Well, maybe I got a "stern talking to."
• Everyone yells at me for typos and grammar mistakes. First, I type this thing at 100 miles an hour at the crack of dawn. Secondly, I'm not that smart.
• I'm currently reading books about the Bible from a historical perspective. That is: when they were written, who wrote them, what was going on in the world at the time they were written, and how we might misinterpret the scriptures because of those factors. As a guy who grew up being able to quote scripture and verse, they are fascinating.
• The more I look at the "boat funeral" pictures below, the more I want to tell people about them.
• The top one deserves to be in a magazine. It borders on art. Heck, it is art. The golden field in the background. The clouded sky. The guy in the background with a cap on but a flower pinned to his shirt. The beaten down boat. The guys' respectful attitudes. It is sooo Texas Monthly material. (Here it is if you're too lazy to scroll down.)
• I went to the dentist yesterday and, after explaining the x-rays to me, he said, "I need to write all this down." I told him that was a very bad sign. He didn't laugh.
• The sound of the dentist's drill has to be one of the worst sounds in the world.
• A couple times a month I'll say in public (about someone who has struck me as a tad bit off), "That guy is a little odd." Without fail, someone always says, "Look who's talking."
• Hal Jay this morning: "The 15-12 Texas Rangers are not 3 games above .500. A .500 average after 27 games would be 13 1/2 - 13 1/2, so they are 2 1/2 games above .500."

Limited Interest: Greggo News

I know this won't interest the vast majority of my millions of readers, but I know quite a few of you listen to The Ticket (which, by the way, is the origin of the "Double Fake" references you see so often on here.) With that out of the way, there's some Greggo news.

Your Honor vs. Your Honor

Story here. This appears to be no big deal, but in this era of EVERYTHING requiring a Kenneth Starr-like investigation, the Texas Rangers have been called in to investigate. And then the DA's office will recuse itself and some special prosecutor will get involved. And then no some non-Dallas County judge will have to be brought in to hear the case if one is filed. And then there will be an investigation by the State Bar's judicial conduct commission. It will cost you a bunch of money when all that needs to be done is for these two guys to get together an apologize for acting like a couple of kids from Southpark.

Miss California Causes Our Moral Compass To Get Out Of Whack

• First, she doesn't back down from Perez Hilton at the Miss USA Pageant by declaring that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
• Edge: Family Values
• Then we find out that she has implants and that the California pageant had paid for them.
• Edge: All men, everywhere.
• Then this picture shows up all over the place on the Inkernets with the dirty liberals claiming this shows she's not so "family value" oriented after all. The conservatives claim that it's just a smear job by the pro-gay marriage crowd.
• Edge: I don't know. My head just exploded.

There are sources for all of this. Just use The Google.

Decatur Related

Very few details, but the water tower was being built by Landmark which has the plant just south of Decatur.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Whatever happened to Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) after his nightclub debacle?
• The weathermen aren't doing a very good job lately.
• Is it me, or is there a commercial proliferation onslaught on the radio these days?
• A lawyer out of Houston was "twittering" about a prostitution case he was watching in a courtroom yesterday. You'll have to scroll down quite a bit, but it was here.
• We still prosecute people for prostitution? (The case involved an undercover officer going into a massage parlor. I noted that he testified he got neekid and laid on the table because "they won't talk to you unless you take your clothes off.")
• Joe Shannon is apparently going to be appointed to replace recently deceased Tarrant County DA Tim Curry. I'm pretty sure Shannon played a pretty big role in the Cullen Davis prosecutions.
• I saw he was in New Orleans for a legal conference yesterday. The taxpayers probably don't need to be sending an assistant DA to a conference in New Orleans.
• I'm feeling more and more that people have no idea what I mean when I talk about Cullen Davis.
• We live in a politics of fear kind of world: The Swine Flu, Bush: "they'll follow us home" from Iraq, Obama: "the economy is going to collapse", Pete Delkus over-the-top weather warnings, incoming hurricanes being a "possible Category 5", and the list goes on.
• Speaking of fear: The Taliban appears to be in the process of taking over large portions of Pakistan. Last time I checked, Pakistan hand nukes. Yet another reason to quit jacking around in Iraq and focus on what's important.
• I get stopped pretty often by someone who wants to congratulate me or berate me for the quality of the Random Girl pic.
• Normally it is to berate.
• Never a big fan of Dom Deluise.
• Fox 4 had a segment on Ninja motorcycle crashes last night captured by DOT traffic cameras. Oh, my.
• I took one of those silly "What Kind Of Crime Are You?" web quizzes yesterday. The results scared me because the answer seemed to know me better than any real person.
• At docket at the County Court at Law yesterday, I saw a cute young gal (holding a baby) who seemed to be crying. Later I learned she was sentenced to 180 days in jail for a violation of probation. As I began to give the prosecutor the business on his successful efforts to jail her, I found out she had had several chances to get her act together.
• Always feel odd stringing the "had had" together in a sentence.
• Saw this a few weeks ago: Click a button and chat with a stranger. The politics of fear have me too scared to click the button.

How You Bury A Baptist Deacon Who Loved Fishing

Funeral was yesterday in Knox City, Texas. The hearse stopped on the way to the cemetery and the coffin was transferred to the deceased's favorite boat for the remainder of the journey. Pictures were encouraged by this family who obviously subscribes to the belief of celebrating one's life and not grieving one's death. Thanks: Mark And published with the family's permission. Comments off. Edit: Comments on but I'm going to censor them like nobody's business. For once, I demand some "positivity."

Decatur Massive Traffic Jam

Well, not really. But something happened which required traffic cones at 730 and 287. And if they are breaking out the cones, you know something big is going on. Edit: Oops. 51 and 287

Just In: Decatur ISD

Heads back to school tomorrow. The closing will not be extended.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• The CDC now says that closing schools is not necessary (so reports the New York Times this morning) and that the swine flu is no more severe than seasonal flu. Bottom line: The next time the CDC says the sky is falling, we'll tend not to believe them.
• Decatur ISD officials will meet at 10:00 a.m. this morning to decide whether to extend the school closings. I bet they open them back up --- Decatur ISD has been the most sensible district in this time of double fake crisis.
• How Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin, who is the most ridiculous of conservative talk show hosts (hard at 5:00 p.m. on KLIF), is #1 on the New York Times best seller list is beyond me.
• Someone asked me yesterday why I follow/listen to public figures that irritate me to no end (i.e. Sean Hannity, Ann Curry, etc.) I don't know why, but I enjoy getting irritated.
• In the first sentence above, does the period go inside the ")" or out? Or did I need an extra period outside the closing parenthesis?
• The Fox 4 videographer who was inside the collapsing Cowboys' training facility is the same guy (Larry Rodriguez) that sued former Ranger's pitcher Kenny Rogers for "attacking" him before a game. He also sued the Rangers over the incident.
• I had no idea that the Cowboys' staff member had a "severed spine" before I made a comment yesterday that it was premature to say he was "permanently paralyzed." I felt bad about that all day.
• When I look at wedding announcements in the paper, I tend to study the picture and predict whether or not I think they will last.
• I keep hearing rumors of a Wise County school scandal -- but that's all I know.
• I wouldn't watch it anyway, but the NBA is doing itself no favors by starting the Denver/Dallas playoff game at 9:30 p.m. Central Time.
• The S&P 500 is now up for the year. I told you Obama would bring changey change change.
• This opening sentence doesn't make you feel too confident about the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office: "FORT WORTH — A 66-year-old Houston area man whose death had been ruled the result of a Fort Worth auto accident was determined to be a homicide victim after a Houston funeral home found part of a bullet jacket lodged in the man’s cheek, the Tarrant County medical examiner said."
• Fox 4's Chip Wagner might want to reconsider the sweater vest look.
• Drives me insane: The U.S. Army will pay Stewart-Haas Racing $11.6 million to sponsor Ryan Newman's car for 23 races this season

DPS Morale: Very Down On Early Trading

Story. (Although there are very little details in a story that is screaming for details.)

Reason # 4,123 . . .

. . . that Ann Curry drives me insane: Her Twitter posts.

Et Tu, Chico?

Just got an email that all of Chico ISD will close (instead of just the elementary school). Trying to confirm it. With that, every single school in Wise County will be closed. Edit: Finally confirmed. School will resume for Chico on the 14th.

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up: Kelly Ripa

Oh, my. She must use 8 Minute Abs.

Not Sure How You Pull Off That Second Bullet Point

Source. And I just came from the district court felony docket in Decatur: 59 defendants (some with multiple cases.) And number of defendants there for dope or alcohol offenses: 39.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Swine Flu is a worldwide story, but only little Wise County, Texas has decided that every school needs to be closed today.
• My complaint with the school closures over the Swine Flu is that catching the disease appears to be only an inconvenience - and a minor one at that.
• And there are so many single moms and two parent working families that the closing of a school creates a true crisis.I think school officials are incentive insensitive to that. Edit: Ugh. It's Monday.
• Do teachers get paid for this off time? What about hourly support staff?
• My lawn has never been greener.
• My neighbor needs to understand that weeds are not his friend.
• Random movie thought: I watched a portion of the updated version of the The Hitcher last night and I noted the lead cop told the psycho killer, "In the great state of New Mexico, we do have the death penalty." Not anymore, I recalled.
• Also watched part of Dirty Dancing and thought about how bad Patrick Swayze is looking these days. (At least based upon some picture on a tabloid in the checkout line I saw the other day.)
• And in that movie, one spare character tells Baby that "Some people matter and some people don't" as he hands her a copy of The Fountainhead - a novel I declared last year to be one of the most ridiculous books ever written. (I had never noticed that scene until this time around.)
• Isn't it a little early to describe the injured Cowboys' coach from the roof collapse this weekend as being "permanently" paralyzed? Both the Morning News and Star Telegram used that term.
• In addition to my dream of being back in school, unprepared, with finals bearing down upon me, I also have a reoccurring dream of being on a high school sports team but can't find all my equipment while the team is taking the field/court.
• That Wolverine movie took in $87 million over the weekend? I've got no interest.
• America's Funniest home videos is edging closure to Idiocracy.
• Edit: And another.

The Pig: Decatur The Whole County Is No Longer Immune

Just got word that Rann Elementary will be closed Monday and Tuesday until two flu cases can be diagnosed. Developing.... Edit @ 2:55 p.m.: It may be all of the Decatur ISD but that's just a rumor. Edit @ 3:02 p.m.: Confirmed. All of Decatur ISD is closed Monday and Tuesday. (I still think it's silly.) Edit (from the DISD web site): Decatur ISD has several students who are classified as �suspect� H1N1(swine) Flu. At this time no Decatur ISD students have been identified as a highly probable case of the H1N1 (swine) Flu. Decatur ISD schools will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, May 4 and 5 as a precaution. Unless otherwise notified, schools will reopen on Wednesday, May 6. Edit: Bridgeport ISD goes down! Big time. Edit: Got an email that Paradise ISD is shut down. Edit: Confirmed. Edit: Boyd ISD is shut down Monday and Tuesday. I can't tell you how insane this makes me.