Jack Sparks clarifies things a little bit.

I’m all for puttin’ “a boot in [the] ass” of anyone who flies two planes into skyscrapers full of people in the name of whatever. But turning the historical legal clock in this country back 150 to 200 years in the name of freedom and safety is a little thin.

I don’t think anyone (except maybe Toby Keith after a cool one or ten) really thinks we need to go back to 1850s-style law’n'order. Jack’s right down the line on the way I’m thinking. I apologize for misundertanding his earlier bit.

Be sure and check out his whole blog. His newest entry, viz one Haley Bonar, makes me sad I’ve got no dough for new CDs. Man, it’s gonna be tough at Raz this year if there’s a bunch of new stuff. Must. Stay. Focused.

Armstrong Crashes, Then Crushes His Rivals (washingtonpost.com)

Armstrong Crashes, Then Crushes His Rivals
LUZ-ARDIDEN, France (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong wrote one of the most sensational chapters of the Tour de France legend when he won a heart-stopping 15th stage in Luz-Ardiden despite crashing on Monday’s final climb.

The Texan, bidding for a record-equaling fifth Tour victory, was attacked and briefly dropped by German rival Jan Ullrich on the classic Tourmalet pass and then fell on the ascent to the finish, but still found the strength to win his first stage this year.

“After the crash, I had a big rush of adrenaline. I told myself ‘Come on Lance, you must win the Tour today,”‘ said Armstrong, who increased his lead from 15 seconds to 1:07.

I can’t tell you how frikkin’ inspirational Lance Armstrong is. This guy, this cancer survivor, should be a national role model. He’s a tough mother-scratcher, and you could do worse than to look at life and react in the way he’s doing it right now.

I can only bask in a tee-tiny bit of his reflected glory, being a Texan and all. But man! If you can’t get fired up over the guts of this guy, well, you’ve got no heart and no soul at all, and I pity you. I watched the CBS weekly wrap-up of the Tour yesterday afternoon, and I was thinking that the man was done for, that it just wasn’t in the cards this year, for whatever reason. And then this comes to pass.

“This morning, I knew this was going to be a great day for me and for the Tour. I knew that if I wanted to win the Tour, I needed to attack today,” Armstrong said. “I could not wait for the last time trial,” he said, referring to Saturday’s 30-mile timed test between Pornic and Nantes.

The time trial will be the final chance for Ullrich to strike back but he will have to repeat the form he showed in winning the first timed test at Cap Decouverte, something Armstrong is wary of.

“The Tour finishes on the Champs Elysees. Jan Ullrich is a great rider and everything is possible in the time trial.

“What matters most for me now is that I will be able to look at my team mates in the eyes tonight in the hotel,” he added.

I understand from other reports that Ullrich knew of Armstrong’s crash, and did not attack when it happened. How you can sit there and NOT attack when the 4-time winner, Tour favorite, and hated American, is on the ground is not something I can fathom, but hats off to Ullrich for the display of sportsmanship. It’s something we should all strive for.

In the continuing effort to feel useful in my current trough of unemployment blues, today is Promo Day. I’m gonna head out and plaster the town of Glen Rose and Granbury with posters and fliers for the festival in August.

I’m also gonna (try and) sell some sponsorships to defray the costs of this shindig. These go in the program booklet, and get seen by approximately 500 people, all of them Texas Music fans. $50 gets you a business card ad in the program. $100 gets you a half-page ad. For you high rollers, $250 gets your banner hung on the stage area. Got a Dallas/Ft. Worth business you’d like to promote? Maybe even your blog? Email me, and we’ll work something out. All I need is a PayPal payment, and your artwork. Gotta have both by this Saturday, the 26th. I’ll even help you with a mock-up, if you’re not too interested in whipping out your Photoshop.

I could be the next Don Kirchner. If you don’t recognize that name, don’t ask me to explain it, please. I’ll get even more blue about being older than the hills.

ROCK CONCERT UPDATE: Hold off on the President’s Club reservation. I got two whole quarter-page ads today. One of them is from a highly successful small-town lawyer/blogger* who I suspect paid me off out of pity, and so I would leave and he could get some work done.

* Now doesn’t THAT sound like the plot for the next Grisham blockbuster? Copyright, copyright, copyright!!!