Decatur Fountain From Friday

That little duck is a nice touch. (Thanks, Tony)

I Presume They Mean Newark, NJ

Hunt recently moved from Denton, and Priddy was living in Newark, Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, a Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said. But this story was sent to me, so who knows?

Note To Fellow Wise County Lawyer People

Did you know, as of this morning, we are forever going to be memorialized in the official Southwestern Reporter? Explained. (pdf file)

Woman Calls 911 For Wrong Order

Woman Calls Cops on Burger King sound bite Funny sound bites

I'm with this chick. When a gal wants a Western Burger made right, she wants a Western Burger made right. How hard it that? Last week I almost called Decatur PD when Taco Bell didn't understand "Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco - Fresco Style." Police are here to protect and to serve? Sheesh. (And is Sacramentee any where close to Sacramento?) Link.

I Hate These Things

- I'm at a criminal law seminar at the University of North Texas - I've seen a few people I know. Just as soon not know anyone - The next topic is 'immigration consequences' - I like the current speaker but I've heard this same schtick four times before - I'm going to walk around campus at lunch - Listening to a girl gripe about the Denton's DA's office about a probation revocation. Some things are universal. - The guy beside me has on a tight Affliction like tshirt - He's sitting by a gal with a HUGE diamond wedding ring - Just found out they were married. So much for fun Tiger Woods like speculation. - Criminal defense lawyers normally look like they're homeless at these things - Except me - It may be North Texas Boulevard now but to me it will always be Avenue D - we have free coffee but no free soft drinks. Ugh. - The school newspaper calls Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the best movie of the decade. Really?

Barry (from iPhone)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• When radio DJs used to say, for example,"We'll take the 97th caller for a chance to win [something]" did they just take the first caller after waiting a while, or did they actually reject 96 people before taking the 97th call.
• I recorded that Jersey show on MTV last night but haven't watched it yet.
• The SMU student that was kidnapped and raped may have been the victim of illegal aliens. Once that news broke, the Dallas Morning News had to shut down comments on a story.
• Since I got so much heat over (what I thought) was a light hearted post over a nativity scene at the courthouse, I went back and researched some Supreme Court opinions on the Establishment Clause. I thought it was funny that the following phrase was used in the lead opinion: "Perhaps in the early days of the Republic these words were understood to protect only the diversity within Christianity, but today they are recognized as guaranteeing religious liberty and equality to 'the infidel, the atheist, or the adherent of a non-Christian faith such as Islam or Judaism.'"
• Taylor Swift bought a hair straightener thingy. Not bad.
• Isn't there a huge difference in not believing in global warming and not believing global warming is caused by carbon emissions?
• It's tough out there: A big Dallas law firm slashes first year lawyer salaries to $120,000.
• I unexpectedly saw a girlfriend from 15 years ago yesterday. That's so much fun when that happens.
• Lots of people with sins as large as Tiger Woods sure are throwing stones at him.
• We are supposed to have faith in Wade Phillips when he dresses like this?
• I'm going to be in Costa Rica during the National Championship game. And the closest town has no paved roads. This is gonna be tricky trying to find a TV.
• I've got a 911 tape from Decatur PD sitting on my desk. I love the anticipation before I listen to those things.
• I think I saw Christina Aguilera in a commercial the other day. I've missed her ever since she dropped out of sight to become a Baby Momma.

Redneck?

But like all things on the Internet, I question if that was a truly functioning TV before it got blasted to Kingdom Come. But it is a Christmas Miracle that the guy at 3:35 didn't get his fool head cut off.

Stimulus Spending Tracker For Wise County

Link. (Thanks, Wayne.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Channel 8 story on Decatur's Jackie Murphree being pushed for Sunday's White Rock Marathon. I think her civil lawsuit is still pending, by the way.
• Stumbled across Nip/Tuck last night. Good grief, when did it jump the shark? Oh yeah, that was Season Two.
• Cowboys Roy Williams irritates me to no end with his Hook 'Em Horns hand sign whenever he (rarely) scores a touchdown. I guess he's just trying to relive the days when he was relevant.
• I like gloves. Gloves are underrated.
• Danica Patrick, who announced yesterday that she will race on some Saturdays next year in the NASCAR series, is one of the most bitter girls I've ever seen --- and for no reason. Edit: Hey, NASCAR Bubba who chided me by saying, "NASCAR races on Sunday." Not the Nationwide series. I hate NASCAR and even I knew that.
• What Microsoft's Windows is to the Apple Computer, Google's new Android operating system for mobile phones will be to Apple's iPhone. The Android will explode over the next five years.
• As much as I like college football, I'm appalled at Congress' trying to meddle with the BCS.
• If you are familiar with "auto-tune" (which is the cause of the death of music) and you keep up with pop culture news, you'll love The Year In Auto-Tune.
• Have you seen the clip of the girl getting hit by a guy in tonight's episode of The Jersey Shore on MTV. Good grief.
• I'm headed to an office Christmas party of Saturday night. I like it because it's not my office party. But it'll drive me nuts if the owner stands up and talks about profits instead of the employees.
• Hot teachers have now moved on to each other.
• That cute little kid from Family Ties isn't so cute anymore.
• No offense to any Facebook friends, but I could not care less about how you are performing in "Mafia Wars."
• President Obama formally received the Nobel Peace Prize this morning. It makes me happy simply because it drives the right wing nuts.

Remember Those Clouds From Yesterday I Wrote About?

Some guy got some pictures of it in Fort Worth. (Thanks, Kevin.)

Evil Empire Must Be Printing Money

Link. Did he cure cancer or something when I wasn't paying attention?

I'm Working On My Christmas Cards

We've Got A Constitutional Crisis Going On!

So I'm up at the courthouse a second ago and noticed the above religious display. I casually mention to the employees of an unnamed county office that said nativity scene might "promote" a particular religion and, therefore, run afoul of the First Amendment. I was met with "Don't be a rabble rouser," "Why are you offended by the little Baby Jesus," "I think we ought to make Christianity the National Religion," and, finally (about 10 minutes later), "All those Muslims want to strap bombs to their chests and blow us up." There went my Christmas Spirit. (But one court employee did point out, in a remotely related subject, that you can buy a manager* at Tractor Supply." I'll be.) __________ *Edit: Ok. Ok. I meant "manger"

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Had a lady who works up at the courthouse tell me that she paid $100 for a "Horse Psychic" to come and check out her horse over the weekend. Yep.
• TV "judge shows" beat me down very quickly. Formula: Have a wise cracking judge dress down a party in the case who has an attitude.
• There were the weirdest clouds late yesterday afternoon. Kind of like a long tube. Maybe it was a space worm hole.
• If you had 15 seconds to go back in time and tell your 15 year old self anything, what would it be? And would it be financial or relationship oriented?
• A Kay Bailey Hutchison commercial touts that she created a "National Amber Alert" which I think (1) is a dumb idea [Edit for the person that thought that was stupid: note the word "national"] and (2) I've never heard of one being issued.
• Decatur's AC's Beer Barn shut down? Their bikini car washes gone forever? Oh, my.
• The story of the SMU student being abducted off the street in front of friends is just weird. "Stranger on stranger" crime is really, really rare.
• My over-talkative dry cleaning lady has disappeared. I miss being asked personal questions and having her comment on my clothes.
• I know someone who'll go crazy over this: You can audition for Survivor this weekend. (Although I'm skeptical about it because it almost sounds like a car dealership in Fort Worth promises to forward the information to the show's producers as opposed to the show actually running the auditions.)
• I understand people that suffer from depression.
• There are lots of people that call me Mr. Barry by accident.
• They are about to start a four year massive traffic project at 114 and 121 in Grapevine. Be prepared not to go to Grapevine for four years.
• President Obama suggests a tax cut for businesses yesterday and Fox News bashes him for sounding like a Republican.
• Very Funny: A Jacksonville Jaguar cheerleader with an oversized golf club chasing a Tiger mascot wearing a red shirt at halftime. Picture.

Baby Mama Angry. Gets Lawyer.

I'll admit that I didn't know the following from the story: "Students cannot be excluded from activities based on pregnancy, according to federal law." Really? It's that cut and dry? (Hey, I stick to state criminal law for a reason.)

Tuesday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Carrie Underwood.

Mark Cuban Gets Thrown Through A Table

On some rasslin' show last night. I never have been able to stand the guy, but he's a born showman. And fake or not, I'm not getting thrown around by a fake wrestler months after having a hip replacement.

Me, Jarhead, Denny Crane .... Dancing?

What the heck?

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• While you were sleeping: Orchestrated blasts kill over 100 in Iran Iraq*. Dumbest. War. Ever.
• Zhu Zhu pets? Never heard of them. But they were all over the news yesterday when some private "consumer group" reported they were unsafe. Then the group retracts its report this morning. Weird. But great publicity for a silly toy.
• I'm feeling pretty, pretty good about my prediction of the Cowboys going 1-4 over the last 5 games.
• All the geeks got excited yesterday when Google announced its search results will offer a "real time" option. I'm excited too but can't get it to work.
• Racism in the Denton County DA's office? I'm not sure the offended prosecutor "cried all the way home." I'm telling you, those people aren't capable of crying.
• Got a giggle out of Fort Worth PI lawyer Geno Borchardt's rant (at the -0.24 mark) about TCU on Dale Hansen's Sports Special last Sunday. (Oddly, he never attended TCU.)
• You baseball folks love Pudge Rodriguez? Well, he's gone from the Rangers.
• Tiredest closing argument in a criminal case: "Send a message to the community!" I think they learn that in Prosecutor School 101.
• We have People and Time available in my law firm's lobby. New issues, too. I think my law partner cringes about People being out there.
• Just my monthly rant about how out of touch WBAP's Hal Jay is. And Mark Davis has turned into a deranged man ever since President Obama was elected. His hatred is palpable.
• My secretary just called me moody without calling me moody.
• News only I care about: I managed to sneak into the last playoff spot in our Courthouse Fantasy Football League by winning the last game by a shocking .15 points. Anyone else in the county hanging on every run and catch of Ray Rice last night like I was?
• You always hear the career advice of "do what you love." Problem: Everyone else wants to do that, and you can't make any money doing it.

_____________ * Hey, Toby Keith said it's easy to get confused.

Just When It Couldn't Get Any Stranger

Link.

Tiger's Women

I'll be honest, I'm getting pretty bored with this story but the women just keep coming out of the woodwork. As of today, the count is up to nine. Holey moley. You know, at first I thought this would blow over, forgive and forget, and his life would get back to normal. I'm not so sure anymore. This has turned into a disaster. A big time disaster. And I thought he was the straightest of all arrows.

Adventures In Lawyer Web Sites

After this Texas firm's web site touting their defense for "Child Sexual Assault & Internet Solicitiation [sic] Of A Minor" including a questionable photo was outed on a national blog (whose commentors quickly found other disturbing images), the lawyers quickly said, "Holy, crap! We've got that on there?" and took it down.

Since This Is A Day That WIll Live In Infamy

Star-Telegram article on "The Lost Battalion"

The 558 men of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, a National Guard outfit with men from Decatur, Bridgeport, Jacksboro, Wichita Falls and neighboring towns, didn’t know anything else about the sneak attack [on Pearl Harbor] and wouldn’t for weeks.

Oddly, there's no Wikipedia article on that group of men but it does refer to others by that name.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I know most of you hate all this talk about college football, but it has one huge advantage for any school you care about: Advertising. How much free national air time has the initials "TCU" received over the last couple of months? Tens of millions of dollars? More?
• I can't imagine having to drive on 114 into Dallas every morning but this morning the "freeway" was shut down both directions at FM 156. Beating.
• I don't know anything about the National Finals Rodeo going on in Las Vegas but after Round 3 (they tell me), these were the current standings: 1). Trevor Brazile, $137,339. 2). Clint Robinson, $129,698. 3). Tuf Cooper, $101,368. Aren't #1 and #3 from Decatur?
• News you may not have heard about: 2 men and 43 horses died in a barn fire in Ohio over the weekend.
• News you may have heard about: Three girls (16, 14 and 12) in Terrell were hit by a car and killed while crossing a newly constructed road.
• I tried to watch the UT/Nebraska game at Pappa G's (is that a Vegas Vacation joke?) off Rufe Snow since I had never been there. Verdict: Fail. No parking. No seats. Smoky as a California wildfire. I'm out after two minutes.
• Ended up at a dive sports bar/billiards place on down the road. Very wheels off crowd (was that a drunk Carlos Santana?) and a great place to watch a great game.
• I've always liked those dancing Gap ads. Glad they're back.
• Yesterday I saw about a 7 year old walking around Academy Sports with a big tablet and pencil making his Christmas list.
• Tiger Woods needs to book an appearance on Oprah. Fast.
• I now watch all NFL games with limited interest.
• 50 Best Protest Signs of 2009 (Language warning.)
• I was at Uncle Julio's in Grapevine on Friday and, as I was walking in, I noticed the driver of a new big extended cab pickup (dealer tags) decide to back into a parking space. A Mercedes was behind it. Scooch. Brake. Scooch. Brake. Scooch . . . . (Crushing sound.) Oh, my.
• And that's kind of a high tone Uncle Julio's

Saturday Football Thoughts

• I cannot imagine what it was like to be a TCU fan and watch the Texas/Nebraska game last night. It comes down to one field goal with one second left and a chance to go to the National Championship game. One more yard to the left and the Frogs are going to Pasadena. They might not get that close again in the next 50 years.
• What was Colt McCoy thinking last night as he obliviously ran around as the clock ran down to, literally, one second?
• Mack Brown saw his coaching career flash before his eyes. If the clock had ran down to :00 instead of :01, that might have been as memorable as his 2005 National Championship game.
• A kickoff out of bounds and a horse collar tackle hands UT a Championship bid. Every National Championship team has to be lucky at some point. Every one.
• Alabama opens as a four point favorite of Texas. If Texas plays like they did last night, Alabama would beat them by 30.
• Then again, Texas is 25-1 over the last two years. I'd be scared to bet against them.
• And did you see the Dr. Pepper Halftime Competition of two girls trying to throw 10 footballs through a circle about 5 yards away? HeeLarious.
• And they are predicting that TCU will play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Boring. But if they win, I suppose they'll end up #2 in the nation.
• Edit: Holy cow. After the Final BCS poll came out, Cincinnati had leap frogged TCU so even if Texas had lost to Nebraska, TCU would not have played in the Championship Game.
• Link to the Tim Tebow eBay ad above. Funny.
• Actual photo of Texas' winning placekicker Hunter Lawrence. Son, these are the best days of your life: