Gah

Link to corpse

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b3a00b5684

Hey Ma, can we go see the hangin'?

So, Saddam is dead.

I have no problem with it.

At this point, what I gather from his execution is the realization that Western civilization isn't quite as 'civilized' as we'd like to believe.

When I was a kid, I thought it was horrible and barbaric that people would come to town to watch a hanging. Make sort of a holiday out of it.

Now here I am, waiting along with the rest of the world for the video of Saddam swinging to be released.

I haven't seen any combat. But the war on terror and internet coverage of it has made me harder. I've seen dozens of beheadings, burnt bodies being dragged through streets and hung from bridges, body parts strewn across the streets of Tel Aviv.

I gather I'm not alone. Fox News, running out of analysis and fresh news after the execution, has taken to running Iraqi atrocity clips behind their talking heads.

Give 'em the blood they demand, baby. If it bleeds it leads.

Tags: politics

Red store, blue store; white store, Pooh store

That's my daughter's code for different places we shop.

Red: Target
Blue: WalMart
White: WinCo (grocery)
Pooh: Albertson's (grocery, named because of all the cartoon balloons they sell)


Yeah, it's a weak post. They can't all be gems. I could post about dirty diapers, since that's the bulk of my non-work hours, but you can read more and better about them on dooce.

How Miss Nevada Lost Her Title, or, You Know You Want to See These Pics

Oh, my.

Mormons cover point spread in Las Vegas Bowl

Brigham Young University beat the Oregon Ducks like a drum tonight in the Las Vegas Bowl. They more than covered the point spread at a 38-8 final. It wasn't that close.

Irony: BYU was the best spread-covering team of the year in D1 college football. Their final game was the Las Vegas Bowl.

Maybe that's not so ironic. If I were in charge of the LV Bowl, I'd put the Coogs in there too, just as a 'thank you' for all that money they won me this year.

Bet the Mormons, fade the Irish and Trojans. That was the money formula this year.

Maybe I'll put up my bowl predictions.

Guess I won't be betting them, though.

Once again, Fuck You, Bill Frist.

Tags: Sports, gambling

Jacked Up!

Another round of civic duty in the can. I can do jury duty in my sleep, I've done it so many times now.

Today eleven of my fellow citizens and I sent a sixteen year-old kid up on seven counts of armed robbery. First degree, yo! Felony, dawg!

He, his brother and a couple of buds went on a little crime spree around St. Patrick's Day this year that featured jacking people at an ATM near their neighborhood. They did that two nights in a row. Then, they dropped by a party, took a laptop and a couple of katana swords from the hosts, and our boy waved their pistol just to punctuate the deal. After that they cruised around until the cops busted them with the stolen shit in the car. They weren't wearing the clothes they had on a few hours earlier at the ATM jacking. But d'oh! They left the clothes in the trunk. Not the brainiest armed robbers around.

One of the brahs had some gang tattooing on his face ID'ing him as a Norteño gang member.

(see artist's rendering of a Norteño... if this scenario happens to you, and the jacker has this shit on his face, I suggest you give it up, puto.)

I suspect our little robber was trying to gain entry into the 'club', as he was wearing the red colors and had the Mongolian haircut favored by some of the Northerners.

Well, now he gets to bang for real. For a few years, I imagine.

I can only hope he will use the time to educate himself, and make something positive come out of his life. He sure has made some bad decisions so far.

Holiday Card Deep Thought

Is it OK to send a Christmas card to a Jewish friend?

I mean a really 'Christmasy' card, with Jesus and Mary on it.

Well, that's what I did. I think it's all right, though, I put 'Happy Hanukkah!' on it and drew a menorah and a dreidel.

He's a good friend. He'll get my meaning, I think.

Plus, I saved a couple bucks that way. He should appreciate that.





Kidding, kidding, geez, don't get your panties in a wad. I kid because I love.

Once a Degenerate....

...always a degenerate.

The trial I have sat jury duty for is now winding down after a very long, (in my opinion) idiotic process which will be outlined when I can do it without ending up in the hoosegow, as it wouldn't surprise me if somebody in Sacramento County's courthouse does nothing but search for blog entries about trials all day.

This means we got four hours to knock around downtown today, while the lawyers and judge wrangled over their various issues.

I spent part of the time hanging out at the California Capitol building. I'd never been before; and it seemed like a good place to dodge panhandlers and the permeating scent of human urine so prevalent in downtown Sacramento.

The Assembly Gallery was a fantastic place to sit and reflect, read the paper, and generally cool out. It was quiet and dignified... because the Assembly is out of session right now.

I then went to have a look at the rotunda. I gazed up into the dome and marvelled at the beautiful, ornate design of the ornamentation. I stood, at the heart of the largest, greatest, most diverse state in the Union, the seat of power of the world's fifth-largest economy. My thought?

"It looks like Belagio."

Tags: California

LA LA recap

We spent a nice little weekend at dad-in-law's place in L.A. He and his wife cooed over the baby. His ex-wife cooed over the baby. His other ex-wife cooed over the baby. His house ranneth over with exes. He took it well. He's a good guy.

The ride back was beautiful. A little gray in the San Fernando Valley, then the sun burst out to light up the snow dusting the Grapevine.

After that it was the typical run up I-5 through the San Joaquin. We passed through several bands of rain. One made a spectacular rainbow that came down right on top of a hill. Ma and I turned blue trying to get the girl to look... she was too busy checking out high-tension line towers.

To her, though, that was some cool stuff. I gather that they use their 'cloud hands' to hold up the sky. That's why there's so many of them, it's a big sky. I just love that kid.

I'll never look at a power tower the same way again.

Tags: California

LA LA

Off to spend a glorious weekend in smoggy L.A.

Later, Norteno

Sympathy for Fidel

I was just looking over the news before heading to bed when a Yahoo headline caught my eye.

My instant pang of sympathy for an old enemy of These United States shows me that in the end, guy stuff transcends race, creed, color, or political persuasion.

"Ah, poor Fidel! Is something wrong with his dick?"

The headline:

Tags: news, politics

Anorexia Among Unmarried Female Attorneys?

I noticed what I guess I'd have to call a cultural trend among the female attorneys at the courthouse today.

A large percentage of them are rail-thin. And single.

I wonder what the forces could be to create such a phenomenon? Are they sacrificing all for their careers? Including the health of their bodies? A shot at motherhood? Any sort of personal life? Do billable hours count for so much?

I couldn't decide if this broke down over certain disciplines of law. Was it confined to criminal defense counsel? Are civil law practitioners just as anorexic looking? What about prosecutors? They would be overworked in this age; and have those skinny Law and Order role models to boot.

Our DA in the trial is married and pregnant. A trend-breaker. I figure this is just about her last case for a while.

The Jolie-esque defense counsel fits right into the mold though. She's probably 5'8" and I'll bet goes 115 tops. Her lips make up a measurable percentage of her mass.

Oh, yeah. I came in right behind her this morning. Her boots set off the metal detector. She had to take them off and pass them through the X-ray.

I watched.

You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Juror Number Eleven

I'll be spending the next couple weeks doing my civic duty, passing judgment on one of my peers. Dammit!

I'm building an impressive jury resume. Nine years ago it was my duty and privilege to send a woman-murdering, child-slashing piece of human shit to Death Row. I keep a Google alert going to let me know when his time comes up.

Before that I'd done a one-day, in and out civil case over a rear-ender. No, no, a traffic accident. Sicko.

Now I'll be adding armed robbery and home invasion. Damn, I must have something they like. Or, both sides were out of dismissals. I think that was probably it. I've been dinged by the defense before. Once they hear I did a murder trial, I'm gone. Not so lucky this time.

Oh, well. At least I'll get to sleep at night for a while. And not on the job, but in a bed.

Also, the lead defense counsel bears a striking resemblance to Angelina Jolie in glasses.

So, like, things could be worse.

'Tis the Season.... for Dead Salmon

Being an unusually nice December Sunday in NorCal, Ma and I decided to take the kids out. We've been walking along the American River lately. Tot the Elder has been wanting to get a little closer to the river action than the trail usually runs, though.

We, ah, don't tell Ma how close Dad lets her get to the river during the summer. Like, up to her knees...

I knew from bike rides where there was a section of trail that came down right to the water, at a parking area near Sunrise Ave. Park the car, unload kids, head down to the water at a spot where there were plenty of rocks for the young'un to throw...
There must have been a dozen rotting salmon corpses along that little section alone.

Ohhhhh, yeah... it's the time of year the stragglers and weaklings swim upstream to die, isn't it. The hardy were taken and bred at the hatchery weeks ago.

Ma was less than pleased, though Tot the Elder thought it was great, as kids will. They don't mind 'gnarly' one bit.

My take: "Hey, cycle of life, food for new fishies and gulls and stuff, y'know."

Ma's take: "Gah, this is like the Compton of the river."

Ending the outing on a more upbeat note, we stopped at the Nimbus hatchery to feed some stink bait to the live babies there. They were quite a bit more active than their ancestors downstream.

Tags: salmon, dead, hatchery, Compton

Razorbacks Lose Second Big Game in a Row!

Two big losses in a row. I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Houston Dale Nutt.

Let Gus run the fucking offense next year.

That is, if he isn't at North Carolina running Butch Davis' offense.

You fucking idiot.

Tags: Arkansas, Razorbacks, Nutt