Idiocracy Truck At Home Depot

Hide Yo Wives!

What's this bus doing in Decatur?

Getting All Classy Up In Here: Royal Wedding Pick Me Up

From People Magazine's "Best Hats of the Royal Wedding."

Noooooooooooooo!!!!

Ann Curry? My long time nemesis?

The Queen Of Fake Concern Face is getting a promotion. #ICantGoOn

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Turned on the TV at 5:05 a.m this morning. - just as Kate Middleton was walking down the aisle. Man, I had forgotten what a production a Royal Wedding is. (And I didn't know her sister, Pippa, was a "Hey, now.")
• I then went into Channel Search Mode and found that the wedding was on Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC. CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Business (with comedy commentary), CNN Headline News, TLC, E!, KERA, and some Spanish Channels.And I bet I missed some. 
• I have a dumb question: Can you walk through Westminister Abbey as a tourist? (Yeah, I know Google has the answer.)
• The first kiss on the balcony - A tradition you can forget about after thirty years between royal weddings. Wow, thirty years.
• Mrs. LL mowed the grass yesterday -- she likes to. Really.
• As the first round of the NFL draft wound down last night, Mrs. LL walked by and asked "So who all got drafted?" I might have given her a "Say, what?" look.  
• I should have at least said two guys from Baylor and none from UT, but even I realize that's a meaningless victory. 
• One NFL draft name game and then I'll move on: There's a player named Prince Amukamara who has five sisters named Princess, Promise, Peace, Precious, and Passionate.
• The number of hits on Liberally Lean were the same yesterday as always, but it might be a record for fewest comments. What gives?
• Did you see that Pete Delkus was sent to Tuscaloosa? Does WFAA have an accounting entry for "Unnecessary Expenses"? 
• With little fan fare, the Texas house passed new redistricting legislation yesterday that keeps Wise County and Phil King together. We just don't know how to quit him. 
• The average national gas price record is $4.11. We are headed in that direction.
• The guy who stole scrap metal from a building after the Great Paradise, Texas Fire of 2008 (and received 10 years in prison for it from a jury) had his conviction affirmed on appeal yesterday.
• As was a Wise County felony DWI case where the guy received six years in prison from a jury.
• And in a case out of Tarrant County, a DWI conviction was actually reversed when the trial court failed to advise the jury about the law of an "involuntary act" when there was some evidence that revealed the Defendant took an Ambien by mistake.
• Most people don't know you can be guilty of DWI if your messed up on drugs you have a prescription for. But that makes sense: Alcohol is legal, too. 
• Dawned on me that there were very few, if any, fundraisers for those that lost their lake homes around Possum Kingdom Lake because of the fires. Do you think there was the attitude of, "Well, if they can afford a lake home . . . . "
• Rick Perry bashed the Obama Administration yesterday for "taking care" of Alabama but not Texas. Uh, there might be a slight difference.  Does he not have a TV in his public funded $10,000 a month rent house? 

In Honor Of Charlie Sheen's Appearance In Dallas

The Ex-Wife Still Has It Going On

Mayor Gives An Exiting* "State Of The City" Column

And maybe I'm reading too much into his column, but this sounds like a full blown crisis. No cash reserve, not running a balanced budget since 2005, an electrical department that needs upgrades and is "hemorrhaging cash" , and the list goes on.
_________
*Oops. Make that an "End Of The First Year" Column.  My Bad.

Ex-Miss USA Upset Because Of Pat Down At DFW Airport

She feared radiation from the scanner and chose the pat down line instead.  Once there, she was touched .......hey.......wait, a second!  Who is this? A former Miss USA? Really? You're joking, right?

Way to bury the lead lady.

Should Have Used This One This Morning

If print newspapers ever do "go away", one thing that will be tragically lost is the historical record of the front page.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Had another alleged drunk driver smash into a police car last night in the metroplex. I think that's the fifth time that has happened this year. Amazing. 
• The Messenger proposed that it and Liberally Lean co-sponsor a golf hole for an upcoming golf tournament at Runaway Bay. Talk about extending an olive branch!  (But it'd probably be funnier to just have the sign at the hole say "Co-Sponsored by Wise County Sunnis and Shiites." It be worth it to see the question marks form above everyone's head.) 
• Moving the NFL Draft to Thursday night was a great idea. (And my favorite part is when ESPN has the guts to replay snippets of old drafts where the analysts totally botch their prediction of greatness for a pick.)
• Birth Certificate Afterthoughts: (1) I liked President Obama referring to the fake controversy as "silliness" yesterday, and (2) Trump now looks more like a snake oil salesman than he is (which is hard to do.)
• And if today you are questioning the birth certificate's authenticity, there should be a mandatory Crazy Person Registration so I'd know if you live in my neighborhood. 
• "Seven Arrested In Meth Crime Ring In Parker County." All but one was in their forties. 
• Tim Ruggiero of Decatur, who has been the poster home owner for those against Barnett Shale drilling, seems to have gone on a speaking tour. He was in Pennsylvania this week. 
• Did I hear the phrase "needs braces" last night in the house? Tell me that was a dream. 
• ESPN held an online poll to determine who should be on the cover of the video game Madden '12. The winner was the only white running back in the NFL. Let's see, what demographic has a greater online presence? 
• When word was coming down of the devastating tornadoes in the South last night, all of the following stations stayed with their pre-planned talking head shows: CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, and Fox. (By the way, the death toll is around 200 as of this morning.)
• If Pete Delkus had been a weatherman in Tuscaloosa last night, I'm pretty sure his heart would have exploded right out of his chest on live TV.
• Julieanne Moore will play Sarah Palin in the new HBO movie based upon the great book, Game Change. Wow, she's a dead ringer. 
• You'll have to be old with religious background to stop down for this one: The author and subject of The Cross and the Switchblade has died in a Texas crash.
• Edit: The most shocking news conference ever by Gloria Allred. She's easily in the Top Ten of my "most despised" list. 

Photo Of Crowd For Charlie Sheen's Show Moments Before He Takes Stage

Source. (Richie Whitt of The Fan)

Junior Miller of The Ticket confirms the same thing tonight at Americans Airlines Center.

Tornado Photo Today From Alabama

Posted by Fox station out of Alabama.  It sounds like the South got crushed this afternoon by tornadoes. At least 25 dead so far.

Edit: From the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa has taken a major hit) . . .

That's a twitpic from an average guy and the first comments are from MSNBC and the AP wanting verification.

Edit: Collection of videos here. Incredible.

The Certificate Through The Eyes Of A Birther

Click to enlarge

Dog Backing Up Traffic on I-35 In Dallas As He Runs Down HOV Lane

Pooch, you're going to get a ticket if you don't get killed.

(He didn't get killed.)

Random Things I Don't Understand

Why the Star-Telegram does a story on a credit card crime that has to happen a 100 times a day in Tarrant County.

Or why a picture exists of Michael Jackson throwing a football to Bo Jackson. (Source)

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Edit: Ugg. A Repeat.

• It seems like the National Weather Service issues a hundred times more warnings and watches than they used to. I mean, they'll issue ten consecutive "thunderstorm warnings" for small areas as a storm moves across North Texas. 
• And if you watched Channel 8 at 6:00 p.m. you saw Pete Delkus in pure Fearmonger Mode. Their helicopter was over Corsicana and they spent 15 nonstop commercial free minutes watching a cloud claiming they could see some type of rotation. It, of course, was nothing.
• And I've heard that Delkus thought Ben Wheeler was on the phone instead of the name of a town. I hope that's true and not a joke. 
• Tech stuff: I'm a huge fan of Gmail, Dropbox, Evernote and Google Docs.
• College football: On Labor Day weekend, TCU/Baylor has been moved to Friday night and gets a national broadcast on ESPN. Aggies/SMU has been moved to Sunday night and will be shown on Fox Sports Net.
• Mrs. LL referred to my hand watering of the grass while listening to my iPod as "my therapy."
• Heard on the radio this morning that they used to have high school smoking sections (perhaps outdoors) for students. Really?
• Idiocracy headline: "Teen Mom stars Leah Messer and Corey Simms allow MTV to film their emotional divorce."
• As goofy as the Birthers were for claiming the President wasn't born in the U.S., I'm at a loss to understand why it took them so long to release the long form birth certificate (post below). It might have been pure stubbornness.
• "At least he'll have a future in gay porn." - Most bizarre thing I heard at the courthouse yesterday. 
• "Administration sources say President Barack Obama plans this week to name CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Gen. David Petraeus, now running the war in Afghanistan, would take the CIA chief's job." The Defense Department and the CIA will now have a basic understanding of how the other one works? That is change I can believe in. 
• Saying the wildfires at Possum Kingdom are "90% contained" seems like a percentage that needs to have a huge margin of error associated with it.
• Charlie Sheen comes to the American Airlines Center tonight but they are only using half the arena, the upper deck will be closed off, and it is not sold out. (The Q and A session will be hosted by Kidd Kraddick.)

Breaking: At 7:57 A.M., The White House Released The President's Long Form Birth Certificate

Press Release (with pdf link to the form). Image below.

Edit: A summary of The Birthers attack on the document:

Edit: Now this guy makes a valid point . . .

Another Day, Another ....

Yep, another fast-food-violence video of the day - this time involving cops.  Was that guy in the wrong? Not so fast.

As proof that everyone is shooting video all the time, this same incident was was filmed from a different angle by some fine upstanding citizens or hood rats. Probably more importantly, it shows what happens in the moments that preceded the above video. (Here it is - language warning). When you look at it, the cops seem to be completely justified. The chick that gets arrested was reaching across the table and grabbing the cop who was trying to get another girl out of the booth.

(Man, when one these scenes breaks out at a Dairy Queen, you know we're doomed.)

Star-Telegram Parent Company Loses Money (Again)

I like the Star-Telegram, but I'm nervous for it. 


Today its parent company released its first quarter earnings. I'm no business guy, but when ad sales and circulation sales both drop, things aren't good. 

The company reported a net loss of $2 million and a revenue decrease of 9.5 percent to $303.7 million from January to March. Advertising and circulation revenue were down with total ad revenue decreasing 11 percent to $225 million and circulation revenue dipping 5 percent to $66 million. More.

The head of the company also said they "would experiment with a digital subscription model on one of its mid-size newspapers."  A list of its newspapers is here. I wonder if the Star-Telegram qualifies as "mid-size"? You would think its web site has benefited from the Morning News' paywall, but I can see it happening.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Smart phone "apps" that are nothing more than web sites aren't "apps" at all. Do you really need an app for an insurance company or a funeral home? 
• The Family Cat still has the inverted funnel around her neck to keep her from chewing on her stitches. But five days post surgery, she's back to acting like a fool. 
• A federal judge issued an injunction yesterday ordering the NFL lockout stopped and refused to stay her ruling. (That almost seems like a double negative.) Translation: "The players go back to work now and I'm not putting that decision on hold while you appeal."
• And with that NFL lawsuit involving a ton of male football players on one side and a bunch of Old Boys Club men on on the owners side, it seemed fitting that the federal judge was a woman. (She's an Obama appointment.)
• Just when I thought The Neighbor Boys War was over, we apparently had a minor skirmish yesterday. The kids ended the month long Cold War by throwing a ton of charcoal over the fence. Mrs. LL considered googling "Drone attack aircraft for home use" but instead made contact with the Man Of That House who has finally made an appearance for the first time ever. Developing . . . 
• Bonds were sold yesterday for the Weatherford College construction in Wise County with an interest rate just short of 8%.  Back in March, the county couldn't get a credit rating for the bonds which, we were told, meant they would have to be sold at a "slightly higher interest rate."  Isn't 8% a really higher rate? 
• Motorcycle death in Burleson. 
• And the Update is reporting a Decatur man, Mark Berube, was "critically injured" in a motorcycle accident yesterday evening. (A Mark Berube made a major stink about Decatur taxes back in 2005. I would guess it is the same guy.)
• Defense lawyer Mimi Coffey was on WBAP this morning opposing deferred adjudication for first time DWI offenders (a proposal in the legislature that probably won't pass.)  Although she's got a couple of valid points, I wonder if she also fears that people will be less inclined to hire lawyers in those cases. Edit: Many misdemeanor people represent themselves. If they can get a deferred plea bargain offer without a lawyer, they might be inclined to accept. 
• The counselor whose husband, a Belo executive, was killed in Arlington by a former patient reported to police seven hours earlier that she thought the guy was following her. Crazy.
• Jerry Jones is holding a "Pre-Draft News Conference" today. Why? You going to tell the world who you are going to take or who you are focusing on?  (Draft Hot Sports Opinion: Cam Newton will be a bust.) 
• Ron Paul pretty much announced his run for President yesterday. I've always liked his trailblazing Libertarian message but he was born 30 years too soon. 
• A Texas high school backed down quickly on making its students stand during the Pledge of Allegiance after the ACLU challenged the policy on behalf of two students. (WBAP's Hal Jay asked this morning if they were "fat and lazy?" and said "they should leave the state immediately.")

Pete Delkus Save Us!

Radar.

Wow: Motorcycle Non-Death

Last month on the Dallas North Tollway.

Found on D Magazine blog.

Since We Are On The Subject

And all of Wise County says together, "They've got rights?"

Apparently, yes. State law says if an individual has a sex change then that person can marry someone of the opposite sex. (Or, put another way, of the sex that person used to be.)

But this Republican dominated legislature, with the backing of Rick Perry, wants to change that. How this didn't become "emergency legislation" for those guys at the start of the session is shocking.

Side note: A Google search of one of the sponsors shows she has some priorities that don't surprise me:

Random Coincidence (Or Are All Coincidences Random?)

Yesterday I read that the New York Times had run a story on the long and continued life of Tiger Beat. The problem was that they had included a cover of the magazine (above) that wasn't real but was instead a spoof by The Onion. The Times subsequently noted the error.

Not a big story. Kind of funny. But my main thought was, "They still publish Tiger Beat?"

Then last night the Second Grader In The House suddenly posed a critical question to me: "Did you know Justin Bieber had a a little sister?"  For proof she walks over to me with a magazine in hand ....... yep, it was Tiger Beat.

That was kind of weird for a magazine I hadn't thought about in over thirty years.

Update On McDonald's Beating . . .

. . . from a couple of days back. He/She looks to be doing pretty well.

Man, this story has everything: race, violence, sexual identity, and corporate responsibility to name a few.

But I don't recall seeing this on any TV news show over the weekend, but I'm sure I missed it somewhere.

Edit: It gets crazier: "APRIL 25--The Baltimore woman charged last week with the brutal beating of a McDonald’s patron was arrested last year for assaulting a female patron following a dispute in the same restaurant, The Smoking Gun has learned"

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Odd: The ex-boyfriend who allegedly killed the Frisco fitness instructor jumped into the Grand Canyon before he was arrested. He only fell 25 feet because he hit a ledge -- causing one bystander on the news I saw to refer to him as "lucky." I'm not so sure about that. 
• But it's really odd how no one that knows that guy has a bad thing to say about him.
• Odd #2: A Belo exec was gunned down in Arlington while picking up his kid by a UTA student who had received counseling from the exec's wife. The shooter then killed himself. Man, there has to be a heck of a back story on that one. 
• The Johnson County deputy killed over the weekend was hit by gunfire three times. (That's the second Texas deputy killed this month.) 
• I'm about to issue a No Piddling policy in the household. Let's get a move on!
• Anyone else think that the phrases "there are reports of golf ball size hail" and "weather watchers in the area report a funnel cloud has touched down" are inaccurate 99% of the time?
• Don't forget, that the Skinny Dipper 5K in Decatur at one of our local nudist results is this weekend. Trivia? Last year the top five women in the 19 to 29 year old range were named Jessica, Emily, Heather, Tiffany and Megan. 
• K.C. of K.C. and the Sunshine Band was interviewed at the Rangers game on Friday night by Jim Knox who had him sing a line of "Get Down Tonight."  He obliged. How he's not beaten down is beyond me. 
• Fox 4 weather man Ron Jackson's house burned. 
• Kate Middleton is about 100 times hotter than Princess Di was. 
• The Update this morning lists an obituary for someone who had the nickname of "Nig."
• News that just caught my eye: "Nearly 500 Taliban prisoners escaped from Kandahar prison in southern Afghanistan through a tunnel hundreds of yards long, officials said Monday." Good grief. 
• I felt like Michael Douglas in Falling Down this weekend when I actually uttered the phrase, "Yeah, I'd like the Mooyah burger . . . . "
• Had Easter lunch at the Gaylord Texan yesterday. Watching little kids all dressed up is really, really fun.
• Want to go on a cruise with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders? Well there was one but it was cancelled due to lack of interest (A Dallas Morning News story that's behind a paywall - a policy which has to be a failed bit.)

OK, Fox 4 Weather Guys, You've Out Done Yourselves

Just when you think there cannot be any more descriptive names for hail, we've got a new one. Pete Delkus, you better step it up. 

(9:00 p.m. newscast.)

Here We Go Again

6:40 on Sunday.