Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen: 1/30/11

2.05.2011

Random Taunting Flashback

TCU fan taunts Baylor players after the Frog beat down of the Bears in September. Gets a little intense.

If I'm Baylor's head coach, I know what I'm showing before the rematch this Fall. Baylor will still probably get killed, but I'm firing that video up nevertheless.

Reader Email

"Guy riding a bike south on Trinity Street [in Decatur]. Almost saw him wreck several times."

2.04.2011

Small Rant

There are a ton of Super Bowl parties this week but I'm beaten down by the "star power" and the crazy prices. A party sponsored by Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed? Really? In an interview this week promoting the party, Simmons said that it would be a chance to meet some "important people." I promise that Tweed, who was by his side during the interview, let out an audible sigh at that moment. (She's still hot by the way.)

And why on god's green earth would anyone walk across the street to meet "The Situation".

Complete list of the parties.

Edit: At least you didn't pay $1,500 to see Prince on Friday night and have him fail to show up.

UFO Spotted In Jerusalem?

Almost as amazing as someone from Mississippi being in Jerusalem.

That's Something . . .

. . .that everyone should have seen coming, but I didn't even think about it when I saw that snow covered dome.

Edit: The local news stations keep showing a helicopter shot of the ice and snow sliding off the roof. Fox 4 finally noted last night that no one knows if that was the snow slide that caused the injuries.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts - Delayed

Uh, I might be out in the snow.

Edit a couple of hours later:

Mrs. LL and I might have taken a quick walk around the block at midnight when we saw the snow had fallen.
It didn't start off too well as I ended up on my back on the sidewalk after my first step. No injuries. Miracle.
That wouldn't be the last time I fell down. It's a little tricky to see the ice when its covered in snow.
Before we took off, I coaxed the Mrs. into waking the kids up to see the snowfall. She did. They blurry eyed looked outside, uttered a collective "meh", and went back to bed.
Odd moment this morning when I was fully dressed to go out in the snow and woke Mrs. LL to make her get the kids up. She told me I was crazy and went back to sleep.
We ended up sledding later in the morning on the same hill that I separated my shoulder on about one year ago. Man, I landed on it one time and was scared to death I had done it again. But, nope, they built me back stronger.
I helped push the car of a stranded motorist on the street this morning.
Craziest weather week in a long, long time, no?
Kids sledding down the hill in a laundry basket is a funny scene.
Everyone is friendly when playing in the snow. It's kind of a "this is the way life is supposed to be" mindset.

2.03.2011

Houston Police Abuse Video

For months I've been hearing that once a video of a beating of a suspect by police was released, the public would be shocked.

Maybe I'm getting jaded, but I'm not particularly outraged. The guy doing the kicking needs to throttle it back a bit, but this isn't a Rodney King incident.

The Metroplex Has Gone Crazy

I'm seeing things. I could have sworn there's a pic floating around of Nolan Ryan and Bugs Bunny on Radio Row at the Super Bowl media center.

But that's just ridiculous.

I'm So Stir Crazy That I Was Actually Entertained By That Snake Charmer Move

Yeah, it's a wrestling video. But the NFL could learn a thing or two about absolute silliness.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Anyone else about to go crazy?
Actually walked the dogs around the block yesterday. The fear of slipping and ending up unconsciousness in 19 degree weather kind of took the joy out of it.
Watched Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work last night. I'm really indifferent towards her, but that documentary was fantastic.
Earlier Mrs. LL and I were trying to watch a movie which didn't seem appropriate for kids so I kept my finger on the pause/change button in case they walked in. Moments later I learned that if a kid thinks you are trying to hide something from them then their curiosity meter goes off the chart.
Just looked up at the TV and saw a Fed Ex truck wrecked on some freeway. Like I said yesterday, those things are wrecked everywhere.
Dallas County [Administrative] Judge Clay Jenkins has kept the Dallas County government and courthouse open all week. That didn't serve much of a purpose since the DA's office and basically every judge shut down, and he received a lot of criticism for it. Yesterday, on his way to work, he slipped and broke his leg.
Question: Jimmy Johnson spent the entire day yesterday making quick appearances on local TV stations and every radio station on Radio Row at the Super Bowl media center. He was promoting some liquor company and it's free ride home program for Sunday. Basically, the company knows any station will want Jimmy on, those stations agree to let him promote the product for a bit, and then they can talk to him about anything else. Question: How much does it cost to hire Jimmy Johnson for one day of work like that? I'd guess $200,000 but I might be way off.
The conflict in Egypt yesterday was riveting television. I really don't know anything about the country, but it sure looks like it's about to implode. But does the public not have guns?
I had a pipe freeze yesterday which scared me to death as I pictured the house flooded. But I must have caught it early because a hair dryer and a couple of minutes solved the problem. I've had is in Slow Drip Mode ever since.
There was a heck of an apartment/condo fire in Dallas this morning off of Central Expressway.
The cars stuck on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago may have been one of the craziest things this storm has caused.

2.02.2011

Random Wreck Caught On Channel 8

The News 8 helicopter just panned down to show this wreck.

Hey, wait!! Does anybody see anything which might give us an indication of one of the driver's general level of safety?

From The Messenger's Flickr Page

From yesterday.

Link.

And, hey, Messenger, don't try that "All Rights Reserved" stuff on the photo. We all know everything is free on the Internet. The way it works is that I steal it and give you credit and provide a link to your Flickr page. It's a win-win. (I'm joking, but that's basically the premise behind the book What Would Google Do?)

You Don't Get To See Molotov Cocktails Thrown Every Day

But you can if you turn on CNN or a national news channel right now at 9:52 a.m.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Finally got in the car late yesterday afternoon to run to the grocery store. It was a heck of a lot slicker than I expected. Can I say that I'm a great fish-tail stopper? (Which feels really weird to type.)
I've got a house with very high ceilings. The concept of heat rising is on full display. As well as the concept of my-gas-bill-is-going-to-be-outrageous.
It seemed like every time the local news showed a stuck truck on a freeway yesterday it belonged to Fed Ex.
Watched March of the Penguins again last night. Fantastic.
Can't get Mrs. LL to appreciate Arrested Development as much as I do.
Team Media Day during Super Bowl week is a time waste. (But the hot Mexican reporter was there.)
I saw in the paper that a guy from Boyd was arrested for DWI and the cops found child porn on his cell phone. That'll be an interesting legal issue: Can the cops search a cell phone after an arrest without a warrant? I've never researched that one but I would suspect there have been some court decisions on it by now.
Child porn is bad enough but do you really need to keep it on your cell phone?
After the Steelers arrived on Monday, several of them promptly visited a strip club. They can't keep away for one week?
Well, the Family Cat knocked over a plant I had kept alive for eight years so many times that it died. (The plant, not the cat.) I'm sure the cat is very, very sorry. Edit 8 hours later: That was the worst sentence I've ever written.
The developments in Egypt were exciting to watch yesterday. But there is this feeling that the Middle East is on the verge of collapse.
This morning there were 15 minute intentional rolling black outs all over the State due to power demands. Dallas was being hit pretty hard by it. Oncor is having major issues. (Update: Some of the reports are saying power is going out for over an hour. And when it impacts psuedo-important ESPN employees, this isn't good for Dallas.)
It was supposed to get into single digits last night. It didn't make it. (But I did walk outside around midnight to see what negative wind chill felt like. Verdict: I got back inside.)
Why do we care what someone's Super Bowl prediction is?
If the news would put a live camera on a slick portion of the highway which has traffic and stick with it, I think I'd watch it all day. (Fox 4 did this about three years ago and it was big time entertainment.)
Had six kids in the house at one time yesterday. Try watching a documentary with that going on.

2.01.2011

Fox News Mislabels Egypt On A Map (In Place Of Iraq)

Funny comments I saw:

"Now that's what I call liberating a country! It's not even there anymore."

"See, this is what I like about Fox. They let you decide where Egypt is instead of having some fancy pants elitist tell ya!"

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as . . . ."

"Looks like Egypt is between Iraq and a hard place."

"Let Me Show You Some Footage From 3:30 Last Night"

That's what the Channel 8 reporter said at noon while do a live shot from Decatur. The footage showed high winds and snow and this mysterious lady running across a parking lot.

Certainly there's a reason.

And faithful reader Mike sends a pic of the Channel 8 van at McDonalds:

And the reporter proclaimed: "Look, there's no one at Taco Casa!"

Is This Former Cowboy Nate Newton?

I knew he had that thumb stomach surgery and was almost unrecognizable at Cowboys training camp last fall, but sheesh.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

This is the perfect storm for the local media: The ice storm they've been waiting for occurring during Super Bowl week.
Pete Delkus was delivering the weather at 5:00 a.m. Did he go home?
But here's a perfect example of how he overhypes things: At 5:25 a.m. he tweeted that this "major winter storm" would continue "thru mid afternoon." Fox 4's Evan Andrews was showing the radar at the same time and saying even Dallas would be done with the storm within three hours -- and that looked so obvious to everyone (except apparently Delkus.)
And Andrews turned out to be exactly right.
Sundance Square had their own private snow plows standing by. Yep, snow plows.
What has happened to the Dallas sanding trucks being referred to as "Ice Force One"? That was Idiocracy gold!
You know, of the thousands of school buses in the metroplex, we've never heard of a single one being involved in an accident when an ISD decided not to close a school.
If you get a chance to turn on ESPN2 and catch Mike and Mike In The Morning broadcasting live from Sundance Square this morning, do it. Those boys are freezing.
The temperature over the next couple of days may be a bigger story than the sleet. At least the wind chill. It's already brutal out there.
I think it's odd that the weather guys always say things like "fortunately, we missed the big winter blast" when we all want a big winter blast.
DFW Airport stopped all incoming and outgoing flights at 6:30 a.m. Yep, the airport shut down. I'm not sure I have any memory of that happening before.
(Did I get up early like I always do today? Yep.)
Changing gears......
The Messenger referenced that the legislative budget cuts for local ISDs could decrease their budgets by 25%. I don't think you could dramatically cut a school budget by a 1/4th without catastrophic results.
Barely made the news: A man on trial for capital murder was found not guilty in Tarrant County on Friday. That was basically an impossible event twenty years ago. (And it happened in District Judge Sharen Wilson'scourt -- a judge who prides herself on being extremely tough on crime. That's why we have juries between us and the government.)
I saw a plea going on in district court yesterday with a defendant who was not a U.S. citizen. When the judge asked him if he understood that his plea of guilty could result in his deportation, the defendant said no. In fact, this was the first time he had ever heard of any potential immigration consequences. His attorney might want to do his job in the future since that warning is in the plea papers he was supposed to explain to his client. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that it is "ineffective assistance of counsel" not to explain the specific immigration consequences regarding a plea. Made me shake my head.
A great video of Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric in 1994 on the Today Show asking what the Internet is. Hey, we were all in the same boat back then. (I had my first email address in 1996).
The only news out of the Denton County No Body Murder Trial yesterday was the "victim's" brother testified that he talked to his sister on the day she headed to the defendant's house. I was more interested in the fact that the brother didn't attend the funeral for the maybe-dead-lady because he was "sick". Way to man up. Or maybe he even questions whether she is dead.
There are supposed to by millions marching in Egypt today. Think Israel is nervous? Cover of their leading paper follows (since most U.S. papers didn't have much to offer.)

1.31.2011

We've Found Someone Who Will Pull The Trigger Quicker Than Alvord ISD

Denton County government closes before the first raindrop falls.

Edit: Jack County was a close second (per faithful reader David.)

Another Federal Judge Strikes Down Obamacare

And gives a shout out in his decision to a particular political group?

It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place.

Youbetcha.

Source.

Ice-Apocalypse 2011: Updated Forecast

As of 11:18 a.m. today. That sounds worse than before, right?

Edit: The 3:00 p.m. update now calls for accumulation of up to "2 to 10 inches". Kind of wide range, no?

The Steelers Have Just Landed . . .

. . . and we decided to hit 'em with a couple of water cannons? That's the best we can do? (Source).

And at the risk of having Good Old Days Syndrome, those Cowboys/Steelers Super Bowls of the 1970s were the golden age of the NFL. It all went downhill after that.

Modern Family's Sofia Vergara At Last Night's SAG Awards

Instead of thinking how hot this gal is, I always start smiling as I start thinking about her character on that sit-com.

It's Enough To Make Me Want To Trade In My Liberal Card

We get three white guys that can't dunk even with a trampoline? And then there just happens to be a black kid to go last who was even able to trick up his dunk?

Obviously a plant by the Black Establishment to keep the white man down.

(Although those three goofballs did succeed in making us white guys ashamed to be white.)

I Think The X Games Are Silly

Yet it has its moments.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

With he focus is on Cowboys Stadium this week, and I can't believe that its naming rights haven't been sold.
Fox 4 referred to the Star-Telegram as the "Star-T" this morning. I've never heard anyone do that before.
Wise County school officials will have to make a decision as to whether to close schools tomorrow at a time when the roads are only wet.
I had a disturbing dream about marriage and pregnancy last night (it's too bizarre to describe) and, to boot, it even had my recurring I'm-In-School-And-Late-For-Class theme as the backdrop.
Still thinking about the ESPN crew in downtown Fort Worth. Since the wind chill is the big factor, it dawned on me that downtown is like a wind tunnel. If you've ever been down their in high winds, it'll feel like its going to knock you over.
How my weekend turned into late nights and daytime naps is beyond me.
We know that the NFL stops businesses from using "Super Bowl" in their ads so that's why you always here the words "the Big Game." But in a twist, and I can't remember the name of the company, WBAP's Mark Davis mentioned a business that had bought 10 Super Bowl tickets and were giving them away in a promotion. But the NFL even objected to using words "Super Bowl" when the company was giving away real "Super Bowl tickets."
If you know who ~~Tim~~ Ted Haggard is (he's the minister in Colorado disgraced by your run of the mill male prostitute and meth scandal), and if you saw the HBO documentary about him, you'll love/hate/be bewildered by this photo of his family from GQ.
I'm still following the Denton "no body" murder case and the article Friday about the trial provided no help to the prosecutor's case. Still the strangest thing I've ever seen.
The last play of the Pro Bowl was so ridiculous yesterday that the ESPN highlights pretended it didn't exist. (Quarterback drops back, offensive line and defensive lines stand straight up and look at each other, QB stands there for 10 seconds, completes a pass, there's a lateral, and then a lateral to the center -- yep, the center -- who runs another 20 yards for a TD with no one trying to tackle him.)
Heard a commercial on The Ticket this morning from an air conditioning/heating company that was running a sale "because we accidentally doubled our order of units from the manufacturer." Sure, I trust them.