But, alas, like the other video on the rally's Vimeo page, Perry's invitation, which just went live this afternoon, shatters the already totally shattered pretense that his August 6 prayer rally is anything but a day-long fist-bump to the governor's personal lord and savior.

You want to attract a line of creeps behind you on the freeway? We've got the plate for you.

​It wasn't even two years ago that the Texas DMV enlisted a private contractor to design vanity license plates for the state's drivers, one of the first such partnerships in the country. But after 18 months of the contractor throwing just about anything you could think of on Texas bumpers, the state is already considering pulling back.

Reporting live from Pay Wall, Texas, The News writes that the company, My Plates, has whipped up 280 designs since November 2009 -- so many that cops are starting to worry that they won't be able to tell one of the custom plates from a counterfeit one. The state board that oversees the DMV is now considering cracking down on the scope of the designs.

A DMV spokeswoman told The News that tighter controls would hinder the program, which has raked in $5 million for the state. Also: How confusing could the designs be? It's not like they --

What's that? They're literally putting the names and colors of other states on Texas license plates? Maybe this is getting weird, after all. Let's take a look.

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​In the online discussion related to this afternoon's Unfair Park post regarding Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins's campaign finance reports, several comments about Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman appeared, pointing to a fine he received from the Federal Election Commission and alleging that Neerman is the target of an investigation by Watkins's office for money laundering.

Those comments and several others when tracked through an IP Whois revealed "Craig Watkins Attorney" as the organization owning the computer from which the comments were made and "Cbeyond Communications" as the Internet service provider. Cbeyond is the phone provider listed on Watkins's campaign reports.

Neerman responds to the comment about the FEC fine of $37,500 by stressing that the offenses occurred under previous party leadership. He also noted that the fine has been paid and the reports have been amended.

"It wasn't that they were doing anything illegal, it was just that they didn't know what they were doing," he says. "It wasn't like they were sending money to sham companies or anything like that. It's just when you have a federal account, you have to allocate money by certain percentages, and they weren't doing the allocations properly."

As for a possible investigation for money laundering, Neerman says he hasn't been informed of such an investigation.

"I'm speechless," he says. "I don't know under what jurisdiction the DA would launch an alleged investigation. It looks like a campaign ploy from someone inside his campaign office."

We tried to get a hold of Watkins's PR man for comment, but Kurt Watkins's cell phone went straight to voice mail, which was full.

We've included a list of the 15 comments made from Watkins's campaign office after the jump.

Update: Kurt Watkins called to say that he's having lawyers review our privacy policy and ask that we remove this post -- a request we respectfully declined. He said the story took the issue "a little far," especially since we hadn't talked with anyone from the campaign, although we did attempt to reach him on his cell phone.

"We do have volunteers in our office on a daily basis right now with the campaign heating up, and I wouldn't be surprised if the volunteers read this and started doing those things," he told Unfair Park. "There are a lot of people very passionate about Craig. My mailbox was full because of the many, many phone calls I'd been receiving through the day saying, 'I can't believe they're attacking him;' 'I can't believe things are coming out;' 'I can't believe things are happening.'"

Kurt said he didn't respond to our specific questions about his cousin's campaign finance reports, claiming the statements he gave us were sufficient.

"All of the money was properly reported," he added. "It was paid for services. As you said, it is a family affair. And Craig does hire people from his family to work with him, so that money was spent in the right areas."

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If today's University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll -- which had former Houston Mayor Bill White with a whopping 50-11 lead over Farouk Shami (30 percent claimed to be undecided) -- wasn't enough to hand the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to White, Shami ensured that the 10 million bucks he vowed to personally spend on his campaign has officially been wasted. During an interview with WFAA-Channel 8 for Inside Texas Politics, Shami topped the seemingly un-toppable -- Debra Medina's self-inflicted wound regarding the government's involvement in 9/11.

After a series of damaging statements from Shami on the subject, when asked directly about whether or not the government was behind the attacks, he said, "I'm not saying yes or no because I don't know the truth."

His campaign fired off a statement, which can be found after the jump, but there was no defense of his numerous comments about whites not wanting to work in his factories.

Um, Dwaine, want a redo on that endorsement?

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Just when it looked like Debra Medina could maybe possibly somehow sneak her way past Kay Bailey Hutchison into a runoff with Rick Perry for a chance to grab the Republican nomination in November's gubernatorial election, she melted down during an interview this morning with Glenn Beck, who questioned Medina about rumors that she's a "9/11 truther," meaning she believes the government was involved in the collapse of the Twin Towers. Medina said it was the first she'd heard of such an accusation before Beck asked her: "Do you believe the government was any way involved with the bringing down of the World Trade Centers on 9/11?"

To which she replied: "I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. There are some very good arguments, and I think the American people have not seen all of the evidence there. So I haven't taken a position on that."

After refusing to answer whether she'd dismiss advisers who do believe the government was behind 9/11, Beck dismissed Medina and said, "Rick, I think you and I could French kiss right now."

We're thinking Beck isn't the only one feeling that way. As he said, "Wow, the fastest way back to 4 percent. Holy cow."

Update at 12:45 p.m.: Medina responds after the jump.

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flickr member: Angela Hunt

Heinbaugh and Leppert at the Death Star

Something was missing from Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle's retirement press conference this morning. OK, maybe not something so much as someone. More than a hundred folks found their way to DPD headquarters this morning to hear Kunkle's farewell, but Mayor Tom Leppert was not one of them.

Kinda strange. After all, we're talking about our 24-7 mayor here. This guy is all over the place. If there is a ribbon to be cut (real, outta-town or otherwise), a press conference or a photo op, Leppert's nearly always on hand. But not today. Not when the city's wildly successful police chief announces his surprise retirement.

Surely there's an explanation, I thought when I got back to Unfair Park headquarters, so I e-mailed Leppert's chief of staff, Chris Heinbaugh. He told me the mayor "had a schedule conflict with a taping." Of course, I had his schedule handy and saw that he did in fact have an 8 a.m. taping for the University of North Texas in the Flag Room at City Hall. Leppert's next item on today's agenda? An 11:30 a.m. luncheon.

I wrote back: "The UNT video taping at 8 a.m.? That lasted more than two hours?"

"No. Another was added earlier this week," he replied.

Then I asked what the other taping was, and Heinbaugh was kind enough to give me a call to sort out this mess. Join our conversation after the jump. Totally worth it.

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Hal Samples

Family reasons? Give us a break, Neerman. Geez, like we haven't heard that one before.

On Tuesday, DMN'er Gromer Jeffers reported on one of the paper's 423 blogs (apparently they have one named after the Portland Trail Blazers) that Dallas County Republican Party chair Jonathan Neerman (and the target of the plot to blow up Fountain Place, according to one fine journalist) will not challenge Democrat Allen Vaught for the District 107 house seat (Neerman told us in July that he was considering it). I dismissed the item because I had heard the news earlier in the day, but it caught my attention when Jeffers posted a follow-up yesterday titled "I owe Neerman an apology."

In my post, I quipped that Neerman, among other things, used family concerns as a reason for not embarking on what would have been a tough race.

Indeed, Neerman has had considerable family issues this past year, including the premature birth of his son.

So I apologize if my post made it appear that Neerman was unnecessarily using his family to dodge a race against Vaught. That's certainly not the case.

Neerman is a good guy and deserves better. I hope buying him a cold beer and sending his wife some flowers makes up for the mistake.

Naturally, I then read the original post, which he wrapped up thusly:

Neerman considers the Dallas swing district a potential pickup for Republicans, if they can field the right candidate.

He won't be that candidate, which means he'll continue efforts to rebuild the local party. There's also the often used excuse of spending more time with family.

Mr. Neerman, your thoughts?

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What do we have in common with Mayor Leppert? Ties to the Dallas Gentlemens Club, of course.

Sure, we haven't always been on the same page as Mayor Tom Leppert, but one thing we apparently agree upon is there's no shame in accepting cash from people or businesses otherwise shunned by the masses. When we found a strip club's vice president among the sponsors of Leppert's fund-raiser and 55th birthday bash tomorrow night at the Dallas Zoo, our differences melted away, if only for a moment.

Yup, it turns out the claim on the event's Web site that sponsors are "of all stripes" couldn't be more accurate as Ron Shaddox, vice president of the Dallas Gentlemens Club, appears with philanthropists Peter and Edith O'Donnell as "Leppert Tamer" sponsors of the event. This designation is given to those coughing up $5,000 to raise funds for "Friends of Tom Leppert," a committee formed to pay the mayor's consultants.

This came as a shock since, as the site explains, the benefits of writing a $5,000 check include a mention in the invitation mailed to 25,000 households and recognition as a booth sponsor for one of the free activities, including face painters, magicians, caricature artists, crafts and bounce houses.

The Ron Shaddox Bounce House -- isn't that on Stemmons? Lemme look in the back of the paper version of Unfair Park ...

Perhaps Leppert can use the money raised to find himself some new consultants since the ones he has now didn't bother to find out anything about the man behind the dough.

"The contribution is a personal check, and he is a first-time contributor to Leppert," Laura Reed Martin e-mailed us in response to our inquiry about Shaddox. "We do not have any additional information."

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Merritt Martin

If Belmont Village is struggling to sell apartments, it could be the tough ecomony. Or it could be g-ma looking like she's about to be violated.

On a lunchtime errand, I tool down Hall Street, look over at the field across from Lee Park and notice there's a sign I haven't seen before. I immediately flip on the hazards, pull over and grab my phone to snap this photo of what is, quite possibly, the worst advertisement for retirement living ... ever. Oh, sure, the guy on the right looks blissed-out and the peeps on the other side of the fold are quite happy, but damn, that silver-haired woman looks scared out of her tree. I'm sure she's supposed to be having a gay ol' time post-bridge game or something, but terrified looks more like it.

Now, let's say you're bringing home a pamphlet to an elderly parent. You're trying to explain what a lovely staff Belmont Village has and how happy they'll be there. They flip through the thing and actually consider it. That is until they get to the back cover where "Helen" here scares the bejeezus out of them, and they proceed to lock themselves in the bathroom. Yeah, not an ideal situation.

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No, that's the answer: the Guess Who. Which might be fine, were John Edwards' bestest bud throwing his party in 1970 and they were going to play "American Woman" and then hop back on the bus with the other golden gods. Still, that ain't the worst part: Guests of the barrister and his missus this December will also be treated to the Moody Blues, probably because lumps of coal are hard to come by in bulk during that most wonderful time of the year. Turns out, it was cheaper to pay them to play than to cough up the dough for their move to a quiet place where the Guess Who and Moody Blues could raise their love child outside of the media's harsh and unforgiving glare. In other words, Fred Baron's run out of hush money.

Which now makes me totally respect fuck-you-er Sam Zell's choice of bands for his September 27 shindig: the Eagles, who played for three and a half hours Saturday night at the American Airlines Center before the earth opened up and swallowed Don Henley whole. --Robert Wilonsky