….that, at one point, this man was probably the most hated person in the state of Texas.
(HouChron obit, which explains some of the background to that comment.)
Hard to believe…
December 8th, 2012Morris, Weingarten, and MacDonald.
December 7th, 2012I have written before about my complicated relationship with Gene Weingarten and his writing.
I have a tremendous admiration for Errol Morris as a filmmaker.
I own, but have not yet read, A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald
The intersection of these three things: Weingarten in the WP profiling Brian Murtagh, the federal prosecutor in the MacDonald case. And, in the process, taking on Morris and his book. Weingarten believes MacDonald is guilty:
So Weingarten should maybe be taken with at least a small grain of salt. But he does bring up several places where Morris himself admits problems. For example, a woman named Helena Stoeckley allegedly confessed to a federal marshal, Jimmy Britt, that she was present when the killings took place. Britt filed a sworn affidavit stating that Stoeckley confessed while he was transporting her to the trial. Both Britt and Stoeckley are now dead.
More:
Punchline: it wasn’t broken. And:
The entire article is pretty long, but I commend it to your attention if you have any interest in the MacDonald case.
(Hattip: Ted Frank by way of Popehat on the Twitter.)
Quiet, modest people.
December 7th, 2012If you ask me, “Professor, Librarian, Mentor” is a pretty darn good way to be remembered.
Also, if you served honorably in our country’s military – especially if you fought at the Battle of the Bulge, or were at Pearl Harbor, or any number of other great battles – yeah, that should be all over your tombstone.
(Dr. Mersky isn’t as famous as some of the other folks I’ve posted about, but I found this very nice conference announcement/tribute to Dr. Mersky, with an awesome picture of the gentleman in life. He sounds very much like someone I would have enjoyed knowing.)
Random notes: December 7, 2012.
December 7th, 2012Happy Pearl Harbor Day. On this date, as always, I will pause for a moment of silence to remember the Japanese-American graduate of Texas A&M who, on December 7, 1941, bombed Pearl Bailey.
Jim Letten, the chief federal prosecutor in New Orleans, has resigned over the comments scandal in his office. For those who weren’t following the story: two of the prosecutors in his office, including his top assistant, were exposed as the authors of pseudonymous comments about active cases on nola.com.
Oh, isn’t that special? The Danzinger Bridge convictions might get tossed because a couple of prosecutors couldn’t behave themselves online. Thanks, guys.
Random notes: December 6, 2012.
December 6th, 2012“…with the eyes wide open”
December 6th, 2012Something about the state cemetery that I didn’t realize until I went there; many of the monuments are, for want of a better work, architecturally interesting.
There are quite a few standard flat tombstones (especially in the section for the Confederate dead) but it seems like many people have the attitude of “This is the state cemetery; let’s make it interesting.”
I wish the focus had come out a little better on this one. I think it works, but in retrospect, it would have been better if i had taken another shot with a smaller aperture to get better depth of field.
(And call me a sentimental old fool, but I like the inscription.)
(Tom Lea Institute. The Tom Lea Collection at the University of Texas.)
Random notes: December 5, 2012.
December 5th, 2012So has anyone been following the Indian Olympic Committee story? In brief: India wants to elect people to their national Olympic Committee following their rules, the IOC says “No, you’ve got to follow our rules”, and suspends the Indian committee. Suspension means that Indian athletes can’t compete in IOC sanctioned events, there will be no IOC funding for Indian athletes, and Indian sports officials can’t attend international meetings.
The Indian committee has basically said “F you” and elected Lalit Bhanot secretary general of the committee. Bhanot was unopposed.
Bhanot also spent 11 months in jail before he managed to make bail. Why? Corruption charges, specifically related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
“to $8 billion from $75 million”? Wow. That’s corruption on an epic level: gold medal worthy corruption, if you ask me.
And speaking of corruption, the NYT explains how a Ferrari crash led to a change in the leadership of the party:
“The Maid of the Mist” folks, who run the tours on the NY side of Niagara Falls, have made a new deal with the state that should keep the boats running. (Previously. Also.)
“Restaurant Impossible: The Musical!” All singing, all dancing, all Robert Irvine!
Okay, we kid. Slightly. But Adam Gopnick of the New Yorker is working with some other folks on a musical based on Gopnick’s book The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food
As long as we’re on the theatre beat:
It is a little late now, but perhaps, if we’re lucky, this will free up Ms. Gifford for more Christmas specials.
Also closing: “The Anarchist”, David Mamet’s latest play.
Tom Landry’s hat!
December 5th, 2012
(Tom Landry is part of that group of folks I referred to earlier; the ones who have monuments in the state cemetery, but are actually buried someplace else. Here’s his actual grave from Find a Grave.)
(I wonder if winning a national championship in any sport is enough to get you a slot at the state cemetery. Darrell Royal has his. Will Jody Conradt and Rudy Tomjanovich get one? Seems to me they’re deserving.)
(Subject line hat tip. (Ha!))
Darden, Darden, Darden…
December 4th, 2012Also blamed: global warming and the vertical integration of the broiler industry.
Mostly, though, we’re using this as a transparent excuse to link to the legendary tale of Red Lobster and the all-you-can-eat crab fiasco. It nearly put the chain out of business, but it also has provided us with laughs for the past decade.
TMQ watch: December 4, 2012.
December 4th, 2012We apologize for the lateness of this post. We are dealing with some personal issues that put us a little behind this afternoon.
Let’s just go ahead and jump into this week’s TMQ. Before we get started, though, we’d like to note something that strikes us as unusual: there is no mention of Jovan Belcher or Saturday’s events in this week’s column. We don’t think TMQ is the type of person who would say “Everyone else has said it better, so there’s no point in my saying it”, so his silence strikes us as unusual.
After the jump…
Your Austin nightclub trial update.
December 4th, 2012(Previously.)
Another one down, another one down, another one bites the dust:
(Aren’t those actually two different charges? How did he plead to a single count?)
Well said, sir.
December 4th, 2012
(That second photo was taken by my mother with her camera.)
(Biographical information on J. Frank Dobie from the Handbook of Texas Online.)
(Interestingly enough, both Webb and Dobie are buried in the state cemetery, but Roy Bedichek, the third member of the group, is buried elsewhere. It isn’t unusual, as we will see, for the cemetery to have monuments for people who are buried elsewhere, but as far as I can tell there’s none for Bedichek. And for those of you outside of Austin who aren’t aware of the significance of Webb/Dobie/Bedichek, here’s a nice article on the state cemetery website that explains it all for you.)
Millar update.
December 3rd, 2012Here’s a very nice tribute to Jeff Millar from the WP “Comic Riffs” blog.
Bill Hinds is quoted at length. Noted: “Tank McNamara” will continue, with Hinds doing both the writing and art.
I’ve suffered for my art.
December 3rd, 2012Actually, I haven’t suffered that much.
My mother recently bought a new camera, and wanted to go out and practice taking pictures with it. I’ve got a Nikon camera, and I love to take photographs. Plus I have a copy of The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Texas
There are some folks who give you the feeling that they (or their families) were kind of defensive about being buried in the state cemetery (which, let’s face it, is in the middle of downtown and has limited space). So they feel like they have to list every accomplishment in their life, starting with being elected class president in the sixth grade and going on forever and ever ad infinitum.
Then you get the quiet, modest people.
(Biographical information on Webb from the Handbook of Texas Online.)
Random notes: December 3, 2012.
December 3rd, 2012Jim Washburn is out as defensive line coach of the Eagles. Yes, already.
Obit watch: David Oliver Relin, journalist and co-author of Three Cups of Tea. I wish I had more to say on this, but right now I’m not sure what I can say.
As I recall, the case of the lawyer who shot at a census worker was well publicized at the time. The lawyer. Carolyn Barnes, denies the incident ever happened. But she was declared incompetent to stand trial and sent off to a state mental hospital.
Here’s the punchline: her law license is still valid, and she’s representing at least one client.
So, in other words: if the state hasn’t taken away her law license, she’s sane and can be tried for shooting at the census worker. If the state takes away her law license, that just certifies that’s she’s insane and can’t stand trial. That’s some catch.