Bizarre Bridgeport Woman's Death

Per Messenger.

Messenger Above The Fold

Waitress Contest Taking You Into The Weekend

More.

Big Tex?

Full press release here.

(And from The Department Of Things That Bug Only Me: The DPS press release says this guy was wanted for a parole violation and "larceny".  I don't think Texas law has used the term "larceny" since 1974. Now everything is grouped in the Theft statute at 31.01 of the Penal Code. DPS needs update those books down there.)

The Case That Keeps On Twisting

His lawyers want their client's bond revoked? That makes no sense.  I suppose that if the lawyer made his bond and he wasn't paid for the service as promised, he could pursue that avenue --- but he would be crazy to do it. Work the issue out with Zimmerman. Don't do something stupid like having him thrown  in jail which will only cause the nation's ethical spotlight to be turned on you.

And if the lawyer didn't make his bond, that tweet from the AP completely confuses me.

 (Haven't seen the full story on this yet.)

Edit (graphically):

We've Had A Rare Death Sentence For A Woman In Texas

Story.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• David Dewhurst calling press conference to announce the endorsement of Craig James, who got 4% of the vote, is comical. There is no question that many, many people in Lubbock who would have otherwise stayed home on election day will now go to the polls to vote against Dewhurst. Seriously, that stunt will have a negative net effect.
• The little girl that was allegedly accidentally shot by her father in a home by Alliance Airport will cause questions to be asked.  
• I hate the new Half Marathon route for the Dallas (not White Rock) Marathon. The run through high-tone Uptown and Highland Park -- my favorite part -- has been abandoned.
• Pete Delkus said that today will be the most beautiful day for the rest of the summer based upon the low humidity, sun, mild temperatures and winds. I think he is right.
• Lil Wayne tried to go to the Spurs/Thunder game last night but was turned away because . . . he didn't have a ticket. Refreshing. 
• I say, "Oh, my body" a lot these days. 
• For all those attending high school graduation ceremonies: Try not to let the fact that the knuckleheads sitting by your son or daughter are also graduating diminish your excitement. 
• Unemployment rose to 8.2% this morning. Fox News is almost giddy.
• The Messenger seems obsessed with the Ennis man's child porn case. 
• Odd: The Family Unit has the College Softball World Series bracket on our refrigerator and we've all chosen a team. I might be responsible for that odd behavior.
• Get your Purple Drank on!: Honey Boo Boo from Toddlers and Tiaras is getting her own reality show.
• Someone explain this Marriott/Gaylord Texan deal to me. Marriott paid millions for the right to manage the hotels?  I guess now they'll get paid to manage it and maybe take a small portion of the profits?
• The Vanderbilt football coach is in hot water for saying he won't hire an assistant coach until he sees their wife. 
• Some people won't read Random Thoughts until they look at the RTG. 

Sounds A Little Crazy

I saw a couple of tweets from news sources that said he had been found guilty on a count and then the judge sent the jury back to deliberate on the remaining charges. Within the hour, there was a not guilty verdict on one count and a mistrial on all the others due to a hung jury.

And there's a huge difference between being a bad guy and a criminal.  And, yeah, he's a bad guy. One of the best articles I read almost a year ago on why he might be acquitted is here. It explains a lot.

And Another - New York

This one's a school librarian who got arrested in a sting operation yesterday. It's a year for the ages.

Yet Another Chapter In The Downfall Of America

Yahoo – A California pitcher finished his team’s last regular-season home game with 20 strikeouts … and was only kept from a shot at a complete-strikeout game because he was removed with one out remaining. Ryan Olson, the budding star in question, is a junior hurler for Upland (Calif.) Western Christian School. He’s the newest name in the school’s arsenal of strong pitching, with his final home outing of the regular season — a 6-0 victory against Murietta (Calif.) Calvary Murrieta School — proof of his dominance. Olson completely dominated the Calvary Murrieta hitters, striking out 20 batters in 6 2/3 innings. Yet, Olson’s dominance wasn’t enough to earn him a complete game, for what many might consider a rather noble reason: He was removed to make way for a senior pitcher because the home finale also served as Western Christian’s senior day.


As most of you know, I have one year's experience coaching a bad pre-teen girl's softball team so I'm imminently qualified to fire off a hot sports opinion here.


Noble reason? You've got to be kidding me. Look, this kid is not only about to throw a perfect game but a perfect game composed of all strike-outs. And the coach is going to break that up so a senior can come in and pitch on Senior Day? Who gives a flying flip about Senior Day? It's May. Every day is Senior Day for those slackers. And if you want to do Mr.-Put-Me-In-The-Game-Because-I-Managed-Not-To-Flunk-Out a favor, tell him, "If you don't get your act in gear you'll spend the rest of your life on the bench watching others do great things. And you're watching something really great right now." Then I'd slap him up side the head and watch little Nolan Ryan on the mound mow down # 21.  


Then I'd call the local paper and tell them how I taught that pitcher everything he knows. Might even get my picture taken.  That's what makes America great.

And Another (From NY Post Yesterday)

It's not even June but we might as well hand the trophy to 2012. (Story.)

T. Boone Wins The Internet

(For those still unfamiliar with Twitter, Rapper Drake sends out the tweet of "The first million is the hardest. T. Boone then "retweets" it (the "RT") and adds his comment. Both have confirmed accounts.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There are a lot of awards given out to kids in school. 
• Did you know there is a soccer match between Mexico and Brazil at Cowboys Stadium this weekend. And it is sold out. I wonder what percentage will be Hispanic. Over 90%? Is that too low?
• Wrong way driver in Mesquite last night kills five including three children..
• After being down 16-0 after three innings last night, it's a miracle the Rangers only gave up 21.
• Tony Romo threw out the first pitch to that debacle.
• I wonder if the John Edwards jury is doing a bit. They enter day nine of deliberations.
• WBAP's Hal Jay said one of his favorite songs is Sting's "Fields Of Gold." I'll be. Mine too.
• Everyone is dogging Kathie Lee Gifford for not doing her homework when she asked Martin Short about his wife (not knowing she was deceased), but Short's answer certainly gave the impression she was alive. It sounds like, "We've  uh have married 36 years."  He was trying to be gracious but it added to the confusion. An answer of "We were married 36 years" would have ended that line of questioning. 
• Heard on the radio: At what age does a guy no longer go over to someone else's house just to "hang out"? It better be at a pretty young age. 
• A guy can kill five in a Seattle cafe and it's not the lead story on the news. Even when the story is accompanied by a clear picture of him walking into the establishment.
• I think Wordkyle questioned me yesterday about calling the Tea Party an "organization." Am I off base?
• What if there were two Libertarians who wanted to run for the same office in the same location. Would the state have to go through the expense of putting on a separate primary to decide who goes on the ballot in the Fall?
• The economy is still stagnant but I'll continue to bet on Obama for this Fall's election.  But there's a lot of things that can happen.
• There's been no announcement about Jane McGarry's future but she's changed her Facebook page to remove any photos showing her in the KXAS studios. Omen?
• Mrs. LL always talks about moving to Costa Rica. I wonder what it would be like to really do that. 
• The more I hear about the movie Bernie (I mentioned it a couple of weeks back), the more I want to see it. One of the big enticements is that it is directed by Texan Richard Linklater whose career got rolling with Dazed and Confused.
• Those constables in the Valley look like wrestlers.

Second Wise County Teen In A Week

Link.

I Created This Weather Graphic While I Was In The Liberally Lean Storm Center

Does This Look Like A Snake Handling Preacher Who Died Of A Snake Bite 30 Years After His Daddy Died The Same Way?

Why, yes, it does.

Hey, I don't care how someone worships. I suppose this guy would think that bringing in some electric guitars and singing a U2 song is a strange way to worship, too.  And to a certain extent, handling snakes as a way to show your faith makes a little bit of sense. At least he backs it up. What God shorted him on brains he sure replaced it with faith.  But if I were him, I would have gone with some kind of rat snake and innocently not mentioned that to the congregation. Then again, the concept of lying to a congregation about showing faith is a theological dilemma that I just can't handle on a Wednesday.

Side note: This story reminded me of our impromptu worship service on the courthouse square almost three years ago to the day.

A Final Farewell To The Dismissed Senate Candidates

How did Tom Leppert lose when he campaigned in that shirt? 

Small print says

Column 1: # of Hookers James Supposedly Did Not Kill [at SMU]           

Columns 2: % of Vote James Received in GOP Primary

Image sources: Frontburner

Those Propositions On The Republican Ballot aka Let Me Ask You A Loaded Question

You can always word a question to get the answer you desire, but that wouldn't happen on an official ballot, would it?  Let's check out the propositions on yesterday's ballot. (I'm sure there's an explanation of how these came to be, but I'm flying blind here.)


SCHOOL CHOICE:
The state should fund education by allowing dollars to follow the child instead of the bureaucracy, through a program which allows parents the freedom to choose their child's school, public or private, while also saving significant taxpayer dollars. Yes or No.

That was certainly  fairly worded. Are you in favor of educating a child by saving tax dollars or throwing money at a "bureaucracy"? I'll have to study that one.

REPEALING OBAMACARE:

Congress should immediately repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Obamacare) and reject the rationing of healthcare by government or the intrusion by government into the doctor-patient relationship. Yes or No.

Let's see. Will your average Texas Republican want to repeal "Obamacare" (let's be sure to call it that) or do they want government "intrusion" between you and your doctor. I can't imagine how this one would turn out. 

PUBLIC PRAYER

Government should be prohibited from restricting the content of public prayer. Yes or No.

I didn't know this was a problem. Restricting "the content" of public prayer? Seriously? We have battles over when prayer can occur in government settings, but I'm not sure I know of an instance where the words of a prayer were regulated.

BALANCED BUDGET / COMBINING GOVERNMENT GROWTH
Out of control spending should be stopped at all levels of federal and state government through constitutional amendments limiting any increase in government spending to the combined increase of population and inflation without voter approval.  Yes or No.

You had me at "out of control spending." 

REDISTRICTING
The Texas Legislature should redraw the court-imposed lines for Congress and State legislative districts in its upcoming session in order to remedy inequities. YES or NO


There was actually a guy in my voting line who was asking about this. I know that the new lines (required after the census) were challenged by minority groups as being unfair and the courts eventually made them be redrawn. So this question tells the voter that  "court-imposed lines" are unfair. Who wouldn't want to remedy an "inequity"?

Random Tuesday Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The Houston DA and the Denton County Sheriff both got kicked out of office.
• The Texas run-off isn't until the end of July. Ugh. That means two more months of Chinese Ads.
• Here's a call to the Tea Party: You'll have your chance to get Ted Cruz elected over that fraud Dewhurst in the run-off. Voter turnout will be ridiculously low so it won't take many of you to put your man in office. And if you can't take advantage of this opportunity, it says a lot about the influence of your organization.
• A reporter referred to Ted Cruz as Hispanic last night. He's Hispanic?
• The would-be Paradise model is in some Maxim contest.
• My law partner had to fly to Mississippi to drive a car back to Texas in order to help out a family member. Not exactly a vacation -- but I'd try to make one out of it. 
• Last night, "Part of the roof of the Library in Alvord was blown off by strong thunderstorm winds. The building was an old historic brick building."
• Those high winds woke me up and were so strong I had to get up and check the weather to make sure something big wasn't happening. I normally would just lay there and enjoy the storm. 
• The John Edwards jury is still deliberating. How is that possible?
• The Face Eater mingled at South Beach's "Urban Weekend" before the crime. On my only trip to South Beach, I accidentally found myself right in the middle of that Weekend. Oh, my.
• I like the Messenger, but the graphic design of today's cover (post below) is horrible.
• Terrell Owens got fired from the Allen Wranglers arena league team yesterday. I'm not the first to say this, but he has a personality trait that makes one's life end prematurely. Intentionally prematurely.
• I don't know the NBA, but I've never heard so many rants and raves about the San Antonio Spurs twenty game winning streak right now.
• When I voted yesterday, all the booths were taken so the election judge said I could just fill out the ballot at the table if I didn't mind the lack of privacy. Didn't bother me. 

Messenger Above The Fold

Election Night

"You were lucky. They made me talk on the campaign trail. Oh, and can I borrow that Chinese ad when I try it again? I'm thinking about adding some foreign accents to it. I'll kill 'em with it!"

Races I'm interested in

• U.S. Senate: Dewhurst will win but please don't let him get over 50% and avoid a run-off. And I want Craig James to come in under 5%. Edit: I got my wish. Dewhurst and Cruz in a run-off. James received 3.59%.
• Wise County Count at Law #2: Stephen Wren and Marilyn Belew "battle" for the first election ever for this court. I like both of them but if Stephen doesn't win, I don't know the landscape like I think I do. Edit: I still know the landscape as Wren won easily.
• Constable in Decatur: Tom Bishop vs. Dennis Hudson. If you are interested in this, that means you are really interested in it. Edit: And a lot of people were interested. Hudson cruised.
• DA in Williamson County: John Bradley, "The Most Conservative Prosecutor In The State", is being challenged by the County Attorney.  I don't think any "local" race has been watched more from around the state. Edit: Bradley lost 55% to 45% which is a big margin in an election.
• And although it's a foregone conclusion, I wonder how many protest votes against Mitt Romney the Texas Republicans will register. Edit: Not many. Could be a sign of solidarity.
• Edit: I forgot about the Rush Limbaugh judge over in Parker County. He lost. 

I'll mention later the ridiculous resolutions (?) on the Republican ballot.

Messenger has local results here.

Rangers Bring In Mercenary For $4 Million For A Half Of A Season

And to think they did it on JFK's 95th birthday. Coincidence?

A Couple Of Obvious Things I've Ignored

The Florida face eating naked man (but don't believe the gruesome alleged photo going around of the victim. It's triple fake.)



The "Greatest Proposal Of All Time."  I'm not so sure about that. Maybe the best proposal by a guy who used to be in One Act Play or something.  (And the chick in the red dress steals it. Just when I was about to tear up, she brought me back to reality.)

"Stop Stealing My Money"

Doctor arrested for DWI did not handle it well.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Not a great start: Our office phones are jacked up. 
• That man-on-crane story didn't end well. I can't tell if he intended to jump or not. It seems like he lost his balance while getting out of the crane and then ended up hanging out the side -- perhaps too weak to hand on for long. 
• I would have watched more of the crane incident but the females in the house had the main TV occupied with a Zac Efron movie -- and apparently that is very important.
• It's voting day. I don't care who you vote for in the Senate race, but please don't vote for David Dewhurst.  Because of him, I cannot get "Ted Cruz" and "Chines" out of my mind.
• Watched most of the new The Longest Yard on Sunday night. The Eighth Grader in The House who knows nothing about football thought the football scenes were awesome. That about sums it up.
• I got to use a circular saw for some fence repair this weekend. The sound made me feel like I was building a house. 
• The guy arrested after the wreck that claimed the life of the Alvord girl was released on a personal recognizance bond.  For an out of county resident, that tells me something really unusual might be going on. And that's typically the case with the unusual criminally negligent homicide charge. 
• Baptist Baseball: UTA will find itself surrounded at the regionals in Waco this weekend as they enter the first round against Baylor, Oral Roberts, and Dallas Baptist. 
• We are testing out having The Family Cat hang out in the back yard with us. So far she's really calm. And tries to eat grass. 
• I've always rolled my eyes about The Blind Side -- without seeing it -- because I thought it was a stereotypical "white woman saves the black man" movie. Well, I finally saw an hour of it yesterday and unless the end of it makes a miraculous comeback, it was worse than I envisioned.
• This line in a podcast I was listening to while jogging yesterday almost stopped me down: "When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it."

From A Reader In Response To My Reference Of Pigs Swimming Across The Rio Grande

Family vacation in March.  Staniel Cay, Bahamas - pigs would swim out around the boats begging for food.  I saw some swim for over an hour straight before they would head to shore for a rest.

Loved this. 

Pop Culture Of The Day

How I'm* Spending Memorial Day**

Link.
_________________
*Hey, watching it. Not doing it.
**Alternative title: Someone has got on board the crazy crane.

I Don't Think It Is Ever "Happy" Memorial Day

Edit: And the guy who is in France (see the Mona Lisa post below) visited Omaha Beach today. What a day to make that trip.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts - Limited Edition

• San Antonio teacher gets probation from a jury for Intoxication Manslaughter. That follows on the heels of a flight attendant who received the same sentence a couple of week back. mc death 
• Arlington motorcycle death./
• The Mrs. and I planted a ton of bushes this weekend. After one day, none have died. 
• I found the show where people bid on lost airplane luggage without having the chance to open it first. I would absolutely do that.
• Love this in an article about a column written by Randy Galloway and the quitting of a TCU Running back. "Despite the lengthy piece, however, the coach did not specifically address Wesley’s situation, at least in quotes utilized by Galloway for the article." Translation: Galloway mails it in by bloating his columns with quotes that often ad little or nothing. 
• I watched an Anthony Bourdain episode over the weekend where he went to the Texas/Mexico border.Did you know ferrel hogs could swim across the Rio Grande.
• Yale gal writes about her future for the school paper, and then dies after graduation one week later. "We're so young. We're so young."
• WBAP's ex Mark Davis has a new home.
• Trouble at the Empire: "The Texas football team is 13-12 over its last two season. The Longhorns men's basketball team has won two NCAA tournament games the last four years. The women's basketball team hasn't won any.Meanwhile, UT's baseball team has just completed its worst regular season since 1998 and just when the school's softball team seemed to be on the verge of a special year, they fell one victory of its first Women's College World Series appearance in six seasons after losing twice to Oregon on their home field Saturday in the Super Regionals."
• It hadn't made the news yet, but I'm hearing that Fort Worth police responded to the wrong address over the weekend. and then shot a barking dog. Edit: Has made the news.