Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• If you wanted to listen to oral arguments at the Fort Worth Court of Appeals in Terry Ross v. Lane Akin, you could do so here. Edit: Link fixed. Edit: Well, it's on this page.  Edit: Sheesh. The link is there but it is inoperable on the court's website. I suppose they will update it. 
• Jeffrey Fowle, the American released by North Korea, returned to the U.S. yesterday. I thought it was odd that when he landed in Ohio he pulled his luggage on the tarmac like a tourist before being reunited with his family.
• Four members of Blackwater were convicted of murder and/or manslaughter yesterday. There's no telling what else that out of control organization did in Iraq.
• Cowboys' Demarco Murray bought iMacs for his five starting offensive lineman but left out Jermey Parnell who replaced injured Doug Free last week and will continue to do so for at least the next two weeks.
• How did I miss this movie last year?!: Chupacabra vs. The Alamo starring Erik Estrada.
• A guy imprisoned for over 25 years, but who received a new trial,  had a crazy development yesterday during jury deliberations in Waco. He pled guilty to killing his two adopted sons in exchange for a 60 year sentence. From this article, it sounds like the defense knew that the 1980s parole laws, which applied to the case, mandated his release as soon as the paperwork is processed, but the DA didn't know this. Wise County connection: "One of Graf’s attorneys, Michelle Tuegel [formerly Michelle Simpson of Bridgeport], said her co-counsel, Walter M. Reaves Jr., consulted with [a parole expert] on Tuesday to verify that [the defendant] is eligible for mandatory release. She said the matter was not discussed with . . . prosecutors."
• A handful of NFL players get rich, but most are simply exploited. And the reason is their playing careers are so short that they can't form a strong union.  Baseball players, which can easily play for 15 years, can absolutely strike for two years yet make it up once the owners cave. A kid out of college in the NFL knows he's got an average of five years, if he's lucky, to make as much as he can. You think he's willing to strike for even one year? 
• Ummkaaay: "The future of TLC’s hit reality series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is up in the air after reports surfaced that June Shannon, aka “Mama June,” is dating a convicted sex offender who served time for child molestation. TMZ reports that Shannon has rekindled her romance with Mark McDaniel, who reportedly went to jail for molesting a child in Shannon’s family when they were dating years earlier."
• I've always thought that most of the abuse of criminal defendants occurs in JP and municipal courts. (No where else does a court case start with the illegal presumption that you owe a bill to the government.)  Texas has 817 Justice Courts and 926 Municipal Courts. 
• If you're in a media crisis, no matter how bad, just ride it out (i.e. Bill Clinton or Roger Goodell.)  I bet Nixon would have survived as well if he had refused to resign.