BAD GUY GOES TO JAIL FOR A LONG TIME

From the DA’s office comes this news:

Homer Lewis Howard agreed today to a 45-year prison sentence and $2,500 fine for the the April 2006 torture of his girlfriend. Howard entered the plea agreement shortly after a jury panel arrived at the 203rd Judicial District Court for jury selection in the sentencing phase of Howard’s trial. Howard pleaded guilty last week to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the offense. Over a period of three days in April, Howard hog-tied his girlfriend, burned her with cigarettes, stabbed her in the back, and crushed her toes with a hammer. He also hit her in the shins with a torque wrench and forced her to perform oral sex on him. At the time of this offense, Howard had recently been released from prison for carving his name in another ex-girlfriend’s arm.

RE: TV RECOMMENDATION

As if you needed another reason to watch Last Best Hope, a knowing FrontBurnervian provides it:

You should mention the Texas Connection. The subject lives in Abilene. His son made the documentary, and is a filmmaker in Austin. This is an extremely stirring account of very brave people. Am Flier shot down over Belgium, running from the Nazis. One of the elderly Belgians, once a heroic resistance fighter said, “to be caught helping a flier meant a bullet.” There was a one to one (!!) ratio between fliers helped and Belgians who died.

Also, a father telling this story, much like Flags of Our Fathers, I wish this was required viewing for everyone. This should be a must watch. They went back and interviewed people who knew him while running from the Nazis. Much better than fiction. These WWII vets are dying off every day. I saw this with my Dad, a WWII vet at a preview among WWII vets. Some of these 80-year-old men wept watching it.

TV RECOMMENDATION

Channel surfers should make their way to KERA Channel 13 tonight around 9 p.m. CST to catch Last Best Hope, an engaging documentary about the Belgian resistance during WWII. Full disclosure: The director of photography is Wilson Waggoner, a good friend and former roommate of mine down in Austin. The doc is a good’un. I saw it recently at the Dallas Video Festival. For more info, go here. Of course, for the most info, watch the whole thing tonight.

SPEAKING OF BIRDS

Yesterday my mom and I headed out to Cedar Ridge Preserve. If you haven’t been, I suggest you go this week—the fall foliage is gorgeous. I didn’t see too many birds because I lost my car keys on the trail and spent two hours looking for them. Thanks to the many hikers who helped me look. BTW, the keys were found on the gravel parking lot beneath the door of my car. Nice.

KELLY CLARKSON GETS HARSHED ON

IDontLikeYouInThatWay has some pics and pans of Kelly Clarkson from a recent Reba McEntire celebration. You’re cute as ever, KC. Don’t go changin’.

YOU NEED PEOPLE LIKE SPC. JEAN-PAUL BORDA ON THAT WALL

Which wall? Um, the wall between military blogging and military secret-divulging. This AP story looks at the military in the age of the Internet, where people blog and MySpace and use “the Google.” Borda (of Dallas) keeps Milblogging.com, a repository for military-based blogs. Check it out.

GET YOUR WATER RUNNING

Hey, FrontBurnervian Birders! It’s that fun time of the year when hundreds of migrating birds travel through Dallas. This morning a flock of warblers (don’t know what kind—couldn’t find my binocs and was late for monkey paw appointment) landed on my birdbath. Why? Because this year I installed a drip water system ($30-$50 at Wild Birds Unlimited). Twice a minute a tiny drop hits the water and the rippling water attracts the high-flying birds. Also, time to put up the yellow goldfinch feeders filled with thistle. Target date: November 15.

WILL DALLAS GO DEMOCRAT?

Courtesy of the Lone Star Report, here is Scott Bennett’s analysis of the Dallas-area election scene, with special attention to legislative races:
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DALE HANSEN AIN’T HAPPY WITH JOHN McCAA

Thanks to a strong broadcasting FrontBurnervian for sending along the audio of the awkward exchange between Channel 8’s Hansen and McCaa. When the Cardinals won the World Series during the 10 o’clock newscast Friday, they brought in Hansen to break the news–only McCaa stole his thunder. Listen to how pissed Hansen was. Then, when they came back from commercial, listen to how Hansen still wasn’t pleased. Delicious.

(If you have trouble with the audio file, try downloading it first to your desktop, then launching it through iTunes or whatever you’re using.)

Update: Hansen sheds a little light on what happened.

TONY ROMO’S TASTE IN WOMEN

I promise today won’t be all Cowboy-y on the FB. But did anyone else catch that tidbit that Al Michaels threw out last night? If I heard correctly (and since I was pretending to be a part of a conversation at a birthday/Halloween party, there’s a strong chance I did not), Tony Romo’s girlfriend broke up with him last Sunday night … on the phone … the night before Romo would take over QB duties at half time and then become the starting QB … of the Dallas Friggin’ Cowboys. A coupla points: 1. Maybe it was true love and all that, but couldn’t Romo find a smart, attractive, playful girlfriend in Dallas, a reputed hotbed of hotties? 2. If she ever really cared about him, wouldn’t she break up with him a) in person, and b) NOT the night before the biggest game of the season? 3. I pity whomever she decides to date next (”I remember this one time, me and my ex-boyfriend, Cowboys starting quarterback Tony Romo …”). 4. What? She’s so great?

PHOTOS FROM THE HOME FRONT

Not a Dallas item per se, although it is often enough, but this collection of photos of grieving survivors of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan–103 this month alone–struck me as both heart-breaking and worth a mention. Especially the one of little Sydney Dyer. [click 'more photos' to see the slide show].

MICHAEL LEWIS ON BILL PARCELLS

A couple FBvians this morning point us toward Lewis’ profile of the Big Tuna in the Times. Even if you’re not a sports fan, it’s worth a read. Lewis is brilliant. The story makes Parcells actually seem human, which is quite an accomplishment.

GOP JUDGE CAMPAIGN TOO NEGATIVE?

I’ve been hearing a lot about the flyers sent out by the Dallas County GOP for judicial races. You may have received one in the mail, too, with the words “Unusual Suspects” and a doctored photo of a group of suits with black bars over their eyes–e.g., the Democratic candidates. In the current issue of Texas Lawyer, writer Mark Donald takes strong exception to these ads for judges–no matter the party. Subscription is required, but an FB Nation friend has sent us the story, below in the jump:
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PEGGY NOONAN ON THE GOP MINDSET

Her WSJ column today (sub. req.) reports that many Republicans are hoping the party loses the House. Two weeks ago I had lunch with a Republican elected official who, while unable to bring himself to utter the words, kept talking about all the positive things that could happen–getting rid of the present leadership, for example–if the party lost. That pretty much tells you the state of the GOP two weeks before a major election.

RE: DISD PRINCIPALS

Perhaps the school board decided it should get the principals to learn Spanish only after it has proven it can get the kids to learn English.

SOMETHING TO PONDER ON YOUR DRIVE HOME

Did Sherry Jacobson know what she was doing when she wrote the headline “Enough to Make You Toss Your Salad”? If she did, then I have a new-found respect for her (and I challenge her to work a “dirty Sanchez” pun into a future headline). If she didn’t, she might want to check out the Urban Dictionary.

MAYORAL POLL RESULTS

And there you have it. With 788 votes, Zac Crain wins with 44 percent of the vote. Darrell Jordon comes in a distant second. No one else figured in the race. (Sorry, Sam Coats.) Thanks to everyone who voted. To those of you who didn’t: shame on you. Apparently people done up and died for nothing.

CHIEF KUNKLE GOES “FROM GOOD TO GREAT”

Contained in the mayor’s state of the city address is this nugget:

PBS is producing a documentary on great leaders — it’s a spin-off of author JimCollins’ popular business book Good to Great — which describes the characteristics of great leaders who have turned good companies into great ones. Chief Kunkle will be featured as one of our nation’s great business leaders, as head of the Dallas Police Department. It will air on PBS in January.

That’s quite something. I’ve heard the chief say that he’s not real crazy about media attention, that he’d prefer to “disappear into the woodwork.” Sometimes a little media attention is a good thing, though. He deserves this honor, and it makes the city look good, too. Kudos.

DIXIE CHICKS CAN’T AD

Drudge reports that NBC and The CW Television Network have refused to run ads for Shut Up & Sing, the documentary about the Dixie Chicks and their controversial statements. Says Harvey Weinstein, whose company is “exploring taking legal action”:

“It’s a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America. The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is sad and profoundly un-American.”

Ironic, n’est pas?

RE: TODD HALEY’S FAMILY

A shameless FrontBurnervian writes:

No wonder they found a rodent in their salad. They ordered it with Vinag-rat dressing.

Rock me!

[Open hand hitting own forehead ... violently.]

CUBAN REALLY FOCUSED ON BALLS

Sharesleuth aside, you gotta love Cuban. If you play or follow basketball, you know that the NBA is using a new ball this year. I’ve played a few games with it. Hate it. Simply doesn’t feel right. And now, thanks to Cuban, I know why. Because he asked the UT Arlington physics department to study the thing. Genius.

RE: CONFERENCE BOONS

Yesterday, I pointed out the two major NCAA conference commissioners in the area and their compensations. A detailed FrontBurnervian points out a third:

Actually there is three, you left out the Southland, located in Frisco, is Division I in all sports except for football (D-1AA). The member schools include UTA, Texas State, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, UT-San Antonio, TAMU Corpus Christi, Lamar Univ., Univ. of Central Arkansas, and Louisiana schools McNeese St., Northwestern St., Nicholls St., SE LA. Not all play football though.

To be fair and to be defensive: I didn’t miss it so much as Forbes did.

MARK CUBAN PLAYS THE MARKET

Cuban’s Sharesleuth has published its second story. Gary Weiss isn’t surprised by the target of same. If you want to learn how Cuban has figured out how to legalize insider trading, read Weiss’ article this month’s D Magazine.

DREW BLEDSOE’S FAKE BLOG

A helpful FrontBurnervian passes along a satire site that, like the Observer, has a little bit of bad language in it. Check out TonyHomo.com for a giggle or two.

DISD PRINCIPALS CAN STOP LEARNING

The DISD board effectively reversed the progressive policy of the late board member Joe May yesterday by dropping the requirement that school principals, mostly at elementary level, not be required to learn Spanish by 2008. It was a half-hearted vote, sidestepping the issue of dual-language education, because policy allows assistant principals, counselors or others in a school to fill in the Spanish requirement. So the skill is needed–just not by more bureacratically-wired principals, who simply didn’t want to have to add to their own resumes. Unfortunately the requirement falsely pitted some black principals and allies against Hispanics (an old story in Dallas). But the policy would have applied to anyone of any race or ethnicity.
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