Probably no more posts 'til Tuesday ("Voices Carry" [1986]), as I concentrate on the other web site...the one about college football...you remember...TheBigHouse.blogspot.com. I'm still looking for contributors, particularly fans with an interest in Big 12 or Big East teams, although, truth be told, you can write about whatever you damn well feel like, as long as its related to college football. To the rest of you, have a safe and relaxing Labor Day Weekend !!!

Now that Michael Skakel has been sentenced from 20 to life, the most immediate thing that comes to mind is, what will professional ghoul and celebrity gravy-trainer Dominick Dunne do now? The Robert Blake trial isn't for another few months, and that outre tacky show he hosts for Court TV can't be all that time-consuming (btw, in each episode, at some point he exposes himself as the self-promoting fraud that he is by pronouncing, "the trial of [rich person] became the talk in all the boutiques and restaurants of Beverly Hills/Monte Carlo/Newport." Sorry, Nick, in the fashionable salons of BH, they're usually too busy talking about whether they can get Uncle Reza and Aunt Izat out of Tabriz to care about the Mendendez brothers or Joe Hunt). I don't see him covering the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial. Maybe, if he uses his imagination, he can use some of his dormant writing skills and pretend that he cares about the many unsolved murders that don't involve B-list society page denizens.

Anyone interested in a sneak preview of the just-released future bestseller by Katherine Harris should check here.

My new college football blog, Condredge's Acolytes, is now up and running. It is my goal that the site be an open, collective effort, with contributors chatting up their favorite teams, conferences, rivalries or whatever else they want to rant about. I have no claims to any expertise on the subject, having not even played the sport in high school, but then again, a lack of expertise has never stopped me from writing about the Middle East, the environment, or movies, either. If anyone is interested in participating, let me know.

SatireWire has shut down, or should I say, it is on permanent syndication. Fortunately, The Onion, The Borowitz Report, and "Michael Kelly" remain prolific in their output, and will more than pick up the slack for those of you who need a regular dose of humor, intentional or not.

Now Christmas is ruined !! No more sunrise football classics between two all-star teams made up entirely of players from losing college programs !!

Reading Alexander Cockburn wane ineloquently on "the Jews" is like reading Andrew Sullivan's frequent comments about the Bell Curve, African Americans and their supposed lack of intelligence. Why does anyone believe that "political correctness" still works as a term of derision?

I'm kind of getting tired of having this site discovered by Googlers looking for "Niki and Paris Hilton" or "Anna Pornikova". But at least I did mention those faux blondes in a post. I have never addressed the topics of "Monica Lewinsky gets spanked" or "Gay Hayden Christenson rumors" (is he?), or this topic, no doubt from a dyspeptic resident of Knoxville: "Spurrier AND toupee". Not surprisingly, no one has yet taken up my challenge of several weeks ago, concerning a certain Oscar-winning actress and a utility infielder.

Speaking of which, this Saturday is setting up to be a huge day, starting almost immediately with Washington and Michigan (9 a.m. Pacific), and running through the evening with Maryland and Notre Dame (5 p.m.). All of which I shall watch at Joxer's, of course; although I'm certain the management isn't picking up the college football package, the games I want to see this weekend are all on either direct cable or ABC. Of course, my old school, CAL, opens on Saturday against Baylor, but even if that were being broadcast somewhere, I couldn't inflict that on another human being.

Afterwards, the Samurai Homeboys perform at the bar, which will make the whole day perfect. If you haven't seen the Homeboys before, its kind of like what it would have been to see Springsteen play in New Jersey, circa 1973. 3-4 hours of solid, real R&B/rock, sung by a local bartender with the justified rep of being the "Irish James Brown". Sadly, the sort of music performed by the Homeboys (and Springsteen) is becoming as anachronistic as Big Band vocalists were in 1960. I don't mean to slight hip-hop in any way, since, for the most part, I really like it, but its a repudiation of rock, not a continuation. Does that make me sound old?

Thanks for all the interest in the college football blog. I hope to have something going by tomorrow. More info later....

One of the new sites I've permalinked to is TalkLeft, which specializes in legal issues. It's a terrific place to go for recent developments in death penalty cases, Patriot Act abuses, War on Drugs atrocities, etc. For those who are interested, TalkLeft provides information today on a thorough analysis of every US District Court judge since 1968, which is indispensible for any law office that does, or intends to do, significant work in the Federal Courts. Smythe's World= More billable hours !!!

In fact, it was the enetation code that was causing the problems with the "comments" section, which they have promised will be fixed next week. I hope to have something up sooner than that. In the meantime, just e-mail me.

Those of us who had been looking forward to Dennis Prager hosting the L'Chaim for Life Telethon were awfully disappointed when he played it straight, going the entire seven hours without saying something like liberals being the true anti-semites, etc. The only highlight was when Dom DeLuise came out wearing his trademark white cap with a black yarmulke perched atop, and did a few minutes of shtick. The rest of the evening was a melange of Jewish reggae bands (which is appropriate during a telethon for a drug shelter), testimonials, and Sept. 11 images.

Another month, another best-seller by a wingnut, aimed at an audience incapable of thought. No doubt, reviewers will praise the author's "use" of footnotes.

Let's see, when I left Joxer's last night, bored out of my melon from the games that were on, and needing to meditate over the day's festivities, Florida State had a 31-14 lead over Iowa State. Dammit if the Cyclones didn't make a fantastic fourth quarter comeback and nearly pull off the upset of the season (granted, only five games have been played so far....) I will definitely need more Red Bull next week.

Sports fans like to dream of classic match-ups that because of time or distance are impossible, ie., Ali v. Marciano, the '60's era Celtics v. the Magic Era Lakers, McEnroe v. Sampras, Tiger Woods v. Bobby Jones, etc. Political junkies have dream match-ups too, of which one example would be a hypothetical race between Jeb Bush and Gray Davis, the nation's two most odious elected officials. Davis has pulled away in his reelection battle, mainly because the GOP managed to nominate someone who combined far right politics with a business background that out-sleazes the nation's reigning Kleptocrat. To put it another way, I'm pretty liberal (err, I mean, "populist"), but if Riordan had been the Republican nominee, I would have not only voted for him, but I would have contemplated walking precincts to elect him.

Jeb Bush, though, is in a different league altogether, as his recent attempt to appoint some religious wacko to head his state's utterly incompetent Child Welfare Department indicates. His defense of the nominee, as detailed in the above link, is to claim that his opponents are motivated by "bigotry against fundamentalist Christians". To which I add, GUILTY AS CHARGED, gov'na. There have to be some standards by which we can judge certain beliefs and behaviour, and I see nothing wrong with being prejudiced against Nazis, Klansmen, bullies, pedophiles, fans of the Washington NFL team, the Taliban, wife-beaters, and nutcases who believe that "smiting children with a rod" is acceptable government policy because the Bible tells them so.

I'm starting a college football blog, and I'd like to know if there is anyone out there who would like to contribute to it, hopefully someone east of the Mississippi. What I hope to have is a number of people who contribute on a semi-regular basis, with a focus on a particular team or region.

I guess if Gary Sheffield is a "cancer" in the clubhouse, he's awfully benign.

Two questions:

1. Why was Ariel Sharon going to Florida anyway, if not to "campaign" for Jeb Bush?

2. What exactly is wrong with AIPAC, or any other politically-interested group, targeting a politician they don't like? It's not like the voters in Cynthia McKinney's district were unaware of who was financing her opponent, or what its agenda was. They knew, they considered, and they voted the lady out of office. I don't happen to be a fan of the extreme agenda of AIPAC, but I do like the First Amendment, and as long as we allow people and interest groups the power to contribute to campaigns, AIPAC has the right and the duty to get involved, just as groups more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause have a right to get involved. Involvement should be based on principal, not whether it is tactically disadvantageous in the context of Jewish-Black relations. AIPAC is no different than NCPAC was twenty years ago, or the Moral Majority; in time, their extreme agenda will taint any campaign they contribute to. In any event, the political discourse in our country is not the poorer for no longer having Ms. McKinney in Congress.

Finally, a reason to keep going...the college football season has started, with the first game on TV (Fresno St. v. Wisconsin) being broadcast tonight. Some mediocre games Saturday and Sunday, but I intend to see as many as possible. Dodgers play the Braves, Angels battle the Red Sox, and the weekend culminates with the L'Chaim for Life Telethon Sunday night...TV Guide doesn't say who's hosting this year, but I assume its going to be Fyvush Finkel...maybe the Tokens will perform; you just know Norm Crosby and international comedy star Johnny Yune will show...some suspense as to whether Angelina Jolie's dad will raise that topic in the context of the Chabad House.