Rangers Playlist For Their Upcoming "Sing--a-long" Fireworks Show

A grumpy old white man's review:

1) "Hey, Ya" - Starts off strong. But the crowd will never be able to pull of that catchy clap routine. (And I should note that this is the most contemporary song on the list -- and it came out seven years ago.)

2) CCR? OK, let's appease our older demographic for a moment. Although "Centerfield" seems to be a more logical selection.

3) 20 years ago I declared, strongly, that the opening beats of "Margaritaville" made me want to reach for a pistol. And it's only gotten worse.

4) Buttercup - Fun because it reminds me of the ending credits to There's Something About Mary

5) I like Journey, but can we run this song into the ground anymore than we can over the last two years?

6) Twist & Shout: It was fun in Ferris Beuller. Now? Meh.

7) Garth - Shoot me.

8) Eagles? This is building up to their big finish? I've hated that band since "Hotel California"

9) Kiss? That's the big finish? Really. Is everyone in the stadium over 45 and white and have bad taste?

Wreck

The Messenger is reporting a big wreck in front of Bono’s Chophouse and Saloon north of Decatur. That's always a bad sign, because it might mean someone pulled out of the parking lot in front of traffic on 287. Big speculation but not a bad bet.

Edit: Uh, bad bet. It's a one vehicle wreck involving a van.

Dead At 42

Had been on life support all day. Story.

Edit: Diff'rent Strokes alternative creepy beginning.

Here's The Video I Mentioned

Breaking: Five Month Old Found Dead In Rhome This Morning

May not be anything other than natural causes.

Developing . . .

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Fox 4 had a video of a truck crossing the median and crashing on the tollway yesterday. I'm fascinated by the car going in the opposite direction that missed death by a fraction of a second. (Still looking for video on the Internet which makes this bullet point completely useless until I find it.)
• 73 now dead in the Jamaica police-gonna-get-drug-lord fight. That's a book or movie waiting to happen.
• I used to love going to the Colonial golf tournament. Now I'm not sure I'll ever have the desire to go again.
• The remake of the Karate Kid opens today. You know, that first was sappy yet pretty darn good.
• A Mercedes, a cop shooting a gun, a passerby firing his weapon as well, an alley, the Stockyards, drugs, middle of the night? Sheesh, not a bad story.
• Violent crowd fight at baseball game. The big guy with the fro needs to learn how to block a punch.
• Wise County's Newark seems to have its wheels flying off as the city council will meet on a rare Friday night to "deliberat[e] in closed session regarding the city secretary, police chief, city police officer position and court clerk."
• Had a buddy tell me he tried to start his own Random Thoughts but gave up after five days. "I don't know how in the world you do that," he told me. It ain't easy brother.
• The creators of "Words With Friends" (which I've never played) were on The Ticket yesterday. It sounds like they are drowning in cash.
• Weird that the Messenger never gave the name of the lady hit by a car while on her bicycle in Alvord yesterday.
• The Los Angeles Times reporting yesterday that the hole in the gulf had been plugged was horrible journalism.
• Anybody else see Fox 4's Fiona Gorostiza doing a So You Think You Can Dance audition last night on the news? Mercy.

One Of My Stranger Comments

Don't Touch Me Guy vs. Touchy Guy

Here's the clip in it's full blown glory. For some reason, the new hi def videos are being cropped on Blogger (my host) which prevents you from seeing all of it. And I can't figure out how to fix it.

Scanner People: Do Your Duty

Something going on at around 5:00 pm near Bridgeport? Troopers high tailing it down the highway along with WCSO.

Report: Plugged!

Link.

And the live "spillcam" seems to back it up.

Edit: From other cameras, I'm not so sure about this report at all.

Edit #2: Coast guard now says a "headline writer" didn't understand their earlier press conference.

Oh, My

From the Messenger's Update web page.

Big Brother, Part Infinity

I would think that any anti-big government conservative would be against this.

Story.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There was a racial slur painted on a road sign in Cedar Hill yesterday. Fox 4 News digitized the word out. Channel 5 did not.
• Thank goodness we don't have to hear about American Idol any more. I can't tell you how disinterested I've been in that show from the start.
• "Would of" and "would have" are easily confusing. At least to me.
• Did you see the picture of the alligator swimming around in Lake Worth? It's huge.
• There was a guilty verdict yesterday in the woman-kicks-man-in-crotch case yesterday in the Wise County Court at Law.
• Watched a Wise County DWI video the other day which was the closest thing I've seen to evidence of a possible quota system for such arrests. One cop radioed another and asked him if he "needed" another DWI case.
• One time big time hip hop artist 50 Cent slimmed down for a movie role. And by "slim down" I mean he looks like death.
• Of all the big bucks in play with the Rangers bankruptcy, there are some little people who are going to take a hit. One of the creditors, for example, listed on the court filings is a $10,000 bill for a fireworks company. And that makes you, Tom Hicks, sorry.
• Phil Steele, the smartest college football guru you've never heard of, has Oklahoma #1 in his preseason rankings and TCU #4.
• Fort Worth cops shot someone last night and it didn't make any of the early morning newscasts around here. That's weird.
• If you know someone who routinely drives by Preskitt and FM 51 at around 6:30, here's a picture of a car that was in a wreck at that location this morning. Edit: Messenger tells me it was Decatur volleyball coach Claire Rose (who is OK.)

Fox 4 Morning Gal Tricks Up Her Hair

Big thumbs up.

Teacher Scandal

Three students? And she was arrested in exclusive Westover Hills? And there's NO picture?

Story.

Edit: Commentor found one! It's Susan Sarandon!

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• We've got a funny assault case going on in the County Court at Law. Whenever a case involves a horse, three 911 calls, a videotape, and a woman allegedly kicking a guy in the nether regions, you've got some grade A entertainment going on.
• Funny tweet I saw yesterday: "Lost was the 55th most-watched finale ever, right behind Mr. Belvedere." And it's true.
• The Super Bowl will be going to NY/NJ, but it took owners four votes to get there. (I almost lost my house on that bet.)
• If you engage in pre-martial sex, you're dating Hitler. Wait, what?
• A guy called The Fan yesterday and supported the death penalty even if it occasionally results in the innocent being executed. He called it "acceptable collateral damage." I almost drove off the road
• It's hot with no wind today. Those conditions used to be called an "Ozone Action Day" which, 15 years ago, would always cause a buddy of mine to call me and say, "Let's go skiing this afternoon!"
• I've about pulled off a Jamaica vacation in July and then yesterday 29 people were killed there when the cops tried to capture a "drug lord." Great. The War on Drugs is going to ruin my vacation.
• I probably should have made a separate post of for DISD Superintendent Gindt getting a job at Northwest ISD. You boys love talking about that stuff.
• Katrina and the Oil Disaster are completely different. The government can evacuate people. The government can't plug a well when all the great minds in the industry can't.
• Fox News edited out 12 seconds of applause while President Obama was giving the commencement address at West Point. Incredible.
• I had another encounter with the Lost Guy That Can't Speak English yesterday, and it was so bizarre that it'll get it's own post later.
• Isn't it amazing how boring the above the fold feature is? No wonder newspapers are going bust.

Another Low For Local News

I've written about Hosam Smadi quite a bit: He's a dumb kid that the FBI found in a chat room, led him along and cultivated his desire to do an act of terrorism (which he could never do on his own), provided him with a fake car bomb, and then arrested him when he tried to detonate it with a cell phone (and then the FBI then immediately and conveniently notified the media).

The news late tonight is that he will enter a guilty plea tomorrow. No surprise there -- he's in federal court.

But when the local Fox 4 News reported the guilty plea plan tonight, this is what they said in a pre-packaged videotaped report to provide some background : "Agents say he left the SUV, packed with C4 and ammonium nitrate below the 60 story Fountain Place tower. Got a safe distance away and tried to trigger it with a cell phone." There was not a WORD that there was no possible way the bomb would go off, that FBI agents were with him at the time, or that no one was in danger.

Whether it be the Bush Administration or the Obama Administration, this case is nothing more that federal grandstanding. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

You disagree? How many White Supremacists could the FBI find right now in a chat room who would be willing to push the detonation button of a bomb that would go off on a black church on a Sunday? How many rednecks could they find that would be willing to push a similar button that would blow up a Dallas mosque? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

It's grandstanding. It's politics. And it's a local news outlet that doesn't understand that it facilitates the paranoia by not getting the facts straight.

Border Problem: Solved

OK, you guys admit it: Greatest. President. Ever?

These Kids Are Not One Man Wolfpacks

(Youtube video - worth it.)

I support freedom. I support weirdness. I support America. But if I was the father of one of these kids, I'd rip that Daniel Boone coonskin tail off his rump and strangle him with it.

Man, you parents have it rough these days.

(And I kinda fear for the one chick that said, "We're not a gang. Gangs are posers." My contacts within the Latin Kings tell me they are not pleased with that.)

Wise County Crimestoppers Neighborhood?

Motorcycle purse snatcher picked the wrong part of town.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I got to help a guy who spoke no English yesterday as he was walking around looking for an address. It was fun because I used my iPhone to find the address and then let him look at the map as we tried to communicate.
• In-N-Out burger is coming to Garland. I've heard of White Castle, but I'm not so sure about In-N-Out.
• The 2014 location of the Super Bowl will be announced today. Best the house on New York and its new stadium.
• Bizarre: 10 gunman rob 11 jewelry stores in Baghdad and kill 14.
• Why do I suspect that those who so proudly proclaim that we invaded Iraq to "bring freedom to those people" probably wouldn't care enough about a Muslim living in the U.S. to give them the time of day. (Or directions.)
• For my own satisfaction: Nemeses Ann Curry screws up a commencement address.
• Lindsay Lohan seems like a tormented, and drunken, soul.
• Forgot to mention this yesterday: Former Ticket and Boyd resident Greg "The Hammer" Williams has a new radio job/gig.
• I don't care if the leak is a mile under the ocean, there is no one on the face of this Earth that knows how to stop it?
• I promise there have been four people in the last 24 hours that have pulled out in front of me on 287 and decided to drive 30 mph. [Edit @ commentor: What in the heck does texting have to do with that?]
• Matt Purke was drafted in the first round by the Texas Rangers last year but turned down an offer of $4 million and enrolled in TCU. Although he just finished the regular season at 11-0 and named the Mountain West Player of the Year, I'll paraphrase Dale Hansen from a few years back: "If the that kid is so dumb he'll turn down $4 million, he needs to go to college."
• This story was primarily about a lawyer asking a Jew an improper question in a trial in East Texas, but the federal judge's instruction to the jury almost shocked me as much.
• The Amityville Horror house is up for sale. Not the movie set, the house where six people were murdered which was the basis for the movie (which I never saw.) You would think it could be used as a pop culture Bed & Breakfast.
• I saw a "breaking news" tweet yesterday from CNN that the bassist from Slipknot had died. Not knowing who they were, I googled one of their songs. Good grief. Talk about deviltry.
• And although it's not fair, if Sarah Palin ever has a political opponent she'll get to see a commercial which flashes two images back and forth: Here shrieking, "Drill, baby, drill!" spliced with pics of the oil spill in the gulf.
• Walmart just dropped the price of th iPhone 3GS to $97.

I Keep Telling You

Don't rule out this guy running for President. Let's see. Who else wrote a book and came out of no where to take the Oval Office?

Venus Williams Losing Mind

Now before you think I've posted the neekid booty of Venus Williams, you might want to hit the brakes. That my, friends, are flesh toned tights that she designed. Certainly she's not looking for attention, right?

And this occurred over the weekend at the French Open. No wonder they hate us over there.

Jennifer Aniston Can Still Bring It

And she's 41.

Rangers Sale Going Through?

Not that anyone cares that much, but the Rangers are about to do some strange voluntary bankruptcy which will allow Tom Hicks creditors to be paid (I think. Edit: Someone is going to get ripped off.) There is a press conference at 1:00 or so and someone has already used the line, "Prepare for your eyes to glaze over."

But the Morning News did post the above factoid a second ago which is pretty amazing.

Edit: These boys think A-Rod will on see pennies on the dollar as an unsecured creditor.

Edit: Disregard that. As a commenter pointed out, the Player's Union is too strong to let that happen. The new buyers had agreed to payout any player's deferred money. Bottom line: Some creditors are getting screwed if this goes through. Tom Hicks should be ashamed. Woefully ashamed.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Shocking bull fight over the weekend. Warning: Hard to watch.
• I went to the Rangers game yesterday --- first time in about six years. Hot. Fun.
• I was sitting near a guy that looked like the killer in No Country For Old Men. When a Cubs fan nearby was being obnoxious, we pictured that guy pulling out a pneumatic nail gun. Funny visual.
• And a buddy and I had a conversation with an older lady about the virtues of Brett Michaels. Yep.
• And we also debated over whether a freckled girl looked like Linday Lohan. ("She does." "No she doesn't." "Yes, she does!")
• Oh, yeah. I did watch the game.
• That was an incredible story this weekend about Jordan Spieth, the sixteen year old golfer that finished 16th at the Byron Nelson. I heard him on the radio before the tournament and he seemed like a nice, respectful kid.
• I intend to follow the World Cup this year.
• Dead Brittany Murphy's husband found dead.
• I have read two reviews of the Lost finale last night, and I still don't know what happened.
• Not what her parents pictured when she was a little baby: A 15 year old Highland Park student is in ICU with alcohol poisoning (a .40!).
• Saw that a Decatur lady passed away over the weekend. She was 101.
• The new Nike three minute World Cup ad is fascinatingly slick, and I'm not sure I understand it.