Tonight’s Super Big Time Awesome Not At All Repetitious GOP Debate and Banjo Funtime Hour isn’t even over, and Rick Perry’s befuddlement on which three cabinet positions he’d get rid of is already on YouTube.
And WFAA’s Brad Watson has already responded.
Isn’t the Internet kinda awesome?
In the felony trial that began yesterday of Tyrone McGill — the former manager of Dallas’ city animal shelter, where a cat was allowed to die trapped inside a wall last year — the defense is taking this tack with prosecution witnesses who worked at the shelter under McGill: So, why didn’t you do something about the cat? The strategy if successful would tend to shift blame for the animal’s death from McGill, who ran the place, to the subordinates who pleaded with him to take care of the situation. Which is, well, an interesting theory of management accountability.
Tuesday’s testimony also revealed that when the cat was finally pulled out of the wall, dead and badly decomposing after being trapped for 15 days, its nails were worn down completely from clawing to escape.
While details like that are heartbreaking, what also continues to rile animal-activist observers like Jonnie England is that McGill has been on “paid administrative leave” — in other words, drawing his $66,122 annual city paycheck for doing nothing — ever since being indicted on the animal-cruelty charge 15 months ago. “If a police officer is indicted on a felony, he’s put on unpaid leave,” England says. She adds that McGill’s treatment, by contrast, is “unbelievably outrageous,” and an insult to Dallas taxpayers.
More like one of a series of insults coming out of this wretched incident.
David Arquette is definitely not reconciling with Courtney Cox. Because, according to this Daily Mail item, Arquette is now making the sign of the musical octopus with former Dallas gal Christina McLarty (now that she has freed herself from the evil clutches of Joe Francis). [reaches for Purell hand sanitizer to cleanse typing fingers of celebrity gossip jick oils]
Oh, hey, friends. Previous Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Condoleezza Rice are in town. Veterans of two Bush presidencies, and Baker even served under Reagan. Unfortunately, Jack Donaghy’s fantasy playland the luncheon at which the duo will appear is sold out. But don’t despair. Rice’s cameo on 30 Rock is worth watching again and again.
On a related presidential/historical note, the clever Sarah Vowell is also here. Well, in Denton— UNT, to be precise. She’s reading from Unfamiliar Fishes, her new book on the history of Hawaii, but she’ll also do a little Q&A. If you haven’t read Assassination Vacation, you’re missing out. Vowell’s pilgrimage to the assassination locations of presidents McKinley, Garfield, and Lincoln is fact-filled and funny. If you email me, I’ll consider loaning it to you, but only if you promise to return it. And if any of my so-called friends are reading this, I’d really like Good Omens, Skylight, and The Hero with a Thousand Faces back. Especially Hero. How am I supposed to write my masterpiece without Joseph Campbell’s guidance?
The Undermain Theatre closes its production of Ages of the Moon this weekend. And since I know you guys all get very busy Thursday through Sunday, seeing the show on a Wednesday night is perfect. I’m fairly positive you don’t have anything better to do, unless you’re busy performing charity work, visiting a loved on in the hospital, or plotting what to do with all the free time in which you’re not watching sports. You guys are excused. As for the rest of you, Lance Lusk has the review on FrontRow. Hint: he liked it.
For more to do tonight, go here.
Just as Cumulus gets ready to move four of its stations — The Ticket, KLIF, i93, and The Wolf — to Victory Plaza, 105.3 The Fan decides to open a restaurant right in The Ticket’s new backyard. The 8,000-square-foot Fan Sports Lounge, located on Olive Street in Victory Park, is having its grand opening tonight. When asked about this development, Ticket management told me they have no official comment.
My question: shouldn’t The Ticket have thought of this already? When they decided to move to Victory, why didn’t they create some sort of broadcast-studio-sports-bar hybrid, where you could have a beer before a game at the AAC and watch the Ticket hosts do their show — then do the same after the game? Oops.
Money Offered for Tips to Hairdresser’s Killer. Elizabeth Lightfoot, 22, was found in her burning car Friday night. Cops have no leads on the homicide case. So $10,000 has been offered for tips that will lead to the arrest and indictment of the person who did this. No jokes here.
Nebraska City Mart Coming to The Colony. As of Monday, it was thought that the empty 400 acres along Texas 121 would be used for restaurants, shopping, and most importantly, a theme park. But it was revealed on Tuesday that a majority of that space would be used for Nebraska Furniture Mart. So instead of sitting in tiny chairs attached to rails that twist and turn, people will be sitting in La-Z-Boys, rocking their afternoons away.
Officers Rescue Burglar. Two officers responded to a call where a house and three cars were burning. They realized that someone was in one of the cars. That someone happened to be a burglary suspect. So they ran through the flames and pulled the person out. Thank goodness for people like these cops. We need more of them around. You know what else we need? Details about what happened five minutes before they got to the scene. I have many questions about why and how the house and cars started burning. Sounds like a case for Rica Y Chato.