Read this column, and try to decide whether it's a savage parody of right-wing cant, or just right-wing cant (via Eschaton)

Is it just me, or has Ramon Ortiz aged, like, four years since last season? In any event, he was in trouble almost every inning, allowed ten hits in less than six innings, but sacked up and got the Angels even in the series. With Game 4 likely in the bag for the Twins (Radke, who owns Anaheim, pitches against Lackey), Washburn has to come through Friday to keep the Angels afloat.

Terrific op-ed by Senator Robert Byrd (W.Va) in opposition to the pending adventure in Iraq--the part at the end about the President seeking to "unleash the dogs of war" is especially good, although if this were one of his patented floor speechs, he would use the actual line from Julius Caesar. (via TalkLeft).

The great thing about being a sports fan is that it provides one of the few healthy avenues in life to express the emotion of hatred (or at least, a healthier avenue than the more traditional choices of religion, nationalism, or politics). Which is to say, the ALCS promises to be a real frustrating event for baseball fans, since neither the Angels or Twins generate much antipathy. I had the sense last night that the fans in Minnesota were almost going through the motions, much like the Angel starting line-up did against Joe Mays for eight innings.

Is there anything more lame than a blogger/pundit who cites Dick Morris as a source? My pal Vinnie has a phrase he likes to pull out from time to time that's appropriate here: patheticism.

Ever wanted to be the subject of a "Michael Kelly" or Andrew Sullivan column? Is your greatest aspiration in life to be "fisked"? Do you dream one day of seeing your name slandered by Ann Coulter? Then run, don't walk, to R.Robot, and type in your name !!

ChickenHawk Coalition, Part II: It has drawn much comment that a disproportionate number of supporters for the proposed adventure in Iraq, from the President, the Vice President, et al, were men who somehow managed to avoid military service when God and Country called during the Vietnam War. The term "chicken hawks" has been used to describe such characters, replacing the less evocative phrase, "War Wimps", that was so popular during the Reagan Era. I believe that such a term should be used sparingly, not only because the term refers, in a completely different context, to pedophilia. People change their views as they grow older and gather more experience, for reasons not always connected to whether they fear being sent to die in an ugly war. In addition, the current conflicts in the Middle East differ from Vietnam, just as Vietnam differed from WWII. One should not be forever wedded to a dovish worldview just because one opposed the Vietnam War.

However, it is also largely true that the hawks in the Bush Administration avoided service in Vietnam not because they were too busy organizing for the SDS, as this list makes clear. There is reason to be skeptical of armchair generals who spent the late-60's at grad school or in some cushy Air National Guard position (or, in the case of W., not spending time at same), or nursing some convenient weight problem. The reasoning of the Perle/Wolfowitz/Cheney clique as to why they never served their country in battle reminds me of what the late, great Sonny Liston supposedly said in 1963 when asked why he wasn't joining his then arch-rival, Floyd Patterson, in Birmingham to march against segregation: "Cause I ain't got no dog-proof ass".

I know its counterintuitive, but if recent polls are correct, the longer the President pushes his Iraq obsession, and the more Congress dithers, the better it is for...Democrats. As long as this issue, which the American people seem to feel is an irrelevancy at a time when their 401k's are tanking, is on the front-burner, the more likely it is Bush will appear to be like his dad, an effete snob who doesn't give a rat's ass about the economy. I doubt that W. and his chickenhawk coalition will benefit from the continued focus on this issue.

The US Supreme Court has refused to intervene in the NJ Senate race, thereby upholding last week's state supreme court decision authorizing the replacement of Frank Lautenberg as the Democratic nominee. Damn, damn, damn; now that the Scalia Five has failed to act, we're going to have to use something else to get our base out on November 5.

I couldn't let my birthday pass without mentioning that both The Sopranos and Alias were much, much better last night than they were the week before. As to the former, any show not directed by "Christopher" is going to be an improvement. Regarding the latter, last night's has to have been one of the darkest episodes in the history of television; the Sydmom seems to be more evil now, after she has been confined, than she was before.

One of the articles of faith in the last month has been that the continued debate over Iraq favors the Republicans, and that the principled opposition to performing a Pearl Harbor on Baghdad will prevent the Democrats from retaking the House and/or gaining seats in the Senate. Since this position does not appear to be reflected in recent polling (national preference polls show the Democrats leading the GOP, while polls from individual races do not reflect any Republican surge), articles like this focus on the opinions of certain Democratic insiders to show a decline in the party's fortunes. One guideline for the reader to follow: if said article uses Zell Miller or Evan Bayh as sources, the prognosis contained within is bullshit.

Happy Birthday to Me. I just spent six hours or so of my life on the stretch of highway known as Interstate-5, which traverses about a thousand miles, from the Canadian to the Mexican borders. It's probably the most vital artery on the West Coast, connecting the cities of Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego without a significant curve or detour along the stretch. Of interest to me and other Californians is the fact that the I-5 is the fastest way to drive between the Valley and the Bay Area.

The big joke, of course, is that here, in the most populous state in the Union, there is almost nothing on the I-5 from LA to San Francisco. No cities of any significant population; a couple small towns that you barely notice; lots of off-ramps that seem to have no other point but to connect drivers to fast-food restaurants and truck stops. Until you reach the Grapevine (shorthand for the 70 mile path the I-5 takes through the mountains in north LA County), it's all flat, arid and dull. Unlike the five hour drive to Vegas, which passes through a couple moderate-sized towns and a desert that can be breathtaking at times, the LA to Frisco trip pretty much forces you to have driving companions and/or a multiple-CD player to break the monotony.

At least until you get to the Harris Ranch. Better yet, try passing through the Harris Ranch after reading the muckraking classic, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. The Ranch is about halfway to your destination, and it's easily the most interesting thing you sense during the drive. Just east of the highway, you suddenly encounter a vista consisting of hundreds of thousands of cattle in a relatively small area, and almost no grass or vegetation to speak of. The aroma of cow waste permeates the highway for about a mile before it becomes safe to open up the air conditioning vents in your car. It is an ungodly advertisement for a vegetarian diet, particularly after you realize that much of what you smell is going to wind up in your Whopper.

But there is almost no traffic to speak of, or at least, no congestion; this weekend, there were trucks everywhere, mainly because of the dockworkers' lockout. Truckdrivers tend to treat the I-5 as their own private autobahn, and other drivers follow suit. My mother drove the whole way, and she usually hates driving on the freeway, but she had no problem averaging 75 mph for the trip.

But I suppose I shouldn't complain, because I survived; one more day closer to the big 4-Oh.

Today, I will spend the 39th anniversary of my birth on the I-5 travelling between the Bay Area and the Valley, hoping to mediate any quarrels between my sister and mom. The two-year old daughter of my hosts has just given me a chocolate-and-vanilla muffin, disguised as a birthday cake, which I have graciously offered back to her as a good will gesture (I already warned her that if she misbehaved one more time, I was going to leave). Up here, they are going to have two playoff games and a 49'er-Ram tussle at Candlestick; it's been some time since there was anything like that down in LA.

One of my hosts told me that for someone who's so funny in person, it's a shame that my site is so deadly serious, which is her way of saying that I'm dull. Such criticism weighs heavy on my mind.

From 6-14 to the ALCS--WHO'S NEXT!?!

I'm in SF this weekend, and damn it if I didn't miss one of the most remarkeable come-from-behind wins for the Angels since, well, the 4th game of the 1986 playoffs. I only hope the outcome this time is a bit different. The editor of Rittenhouse Review has passed along this link to a worthwhile cause: the McBride campaign to restore Florida to the civilized world, a philanthropic endeavor I wholeheartedly endorse.

Perhaps the nicest thing about the Angels' run this year has been that this is the first playoff team in franchise history to be made up substantially of home-grown players. The accidental champions of 1979 and 1986 were mainly free agents and trade acquisitions who would be gone from the team in a year or two; the best previous team, the 1982 team that blew a two-game lead to the Brewers, (remembered in this article) had only one player on the roster who had been exclusively with the team. Kids can follow and grow attached to this year's team, the way I grew up and followed the Dodgers in the '70's; players like Salmon, Glaus, Erstad, Anderson, Percival, et al., are career Angels, and give this team a distinct identity.

In any event, I'm going to be watching the next two games up in Frisco; my sister is moving, and I'm going to hang out with my college friends for a few days. In the meantime, my posts will be infrequent....

It would almost be worth losing the NJ Senate seat to have the Supreme Court intervene again on behalf of its employers, the Republican Party. If anything would mobilize the base nationwide, it would be another 5-4 decision to curtail democracy.

While many of his devoted readers might think this morning's Paul Krugman column does a pretty classy job retracting an earlier unsubstantiated charge against Army Secretary Thomas White, it is unlikely to satiate the baying right, which demands the full ritual of seppuku beforehand.

Kudos to Mr. Brad Bolkcom for winning the month of September in the Joxer's Home Run Pool, and thereby sweeping every month of the season (with one tie). Wherever you are, I hope you kicking back with a pitcher, cheering on the Angels and plotting next year's draft. In the meantime, I have a hockey pool to worry about.

One of the more interesting things I've noticed in the Blog O'Sphere debate on the controversy in the New Jersey Senate race is that almost all of my compatriots on the liberal end of the spectrum have generally taken a position in favor of giving the people of that state a choice in the election, therefore enabling Frank Lautenberg's name to be placed on the ballot, while our learned adversaries on the right, although quite pleased that Sen. Torricelli has withdrawn from the race, are more skeptical that the law permits such a last-second substitution. Having recalled the opposite stances taken by both sides when the candidate arguing for a more "expansive" interpretation of state election law was Kathleen Harris, I hadn't thought that those positions necessarily fit into any position along the left-right spectrum, but there could be a nuance I haven't picked up yet.

If Tom Daschle had a backbone (yeah, right), the CIA's refusal to brief Congress on its contingencies for Iraq would be grounds for halting any debate on a Congressional resolution. An Administration that has already followed a policy of deceit in pushing for war should not be allowed to get away with covering up possible divisions within the executive branch; unfortunately, Senate Democrats seem to be much more concerned with shoring up their position in New Jersey than with stopping an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

Tonight, all of Scioscia's late moves worked, as the Angels came from behind to win only the second road playoff game in franchise history. Thrilling game, with the Yankees loading the bases in the eighth and putting the tying run on with one out in the ninth; ground fouls in both innings, just to the right of first base, enabled the Angels to hang on. I wasn't surprised that the Angels stole one in the Bronx...but I will be shocked if they win both in Anaheim.

Round 1 is over. The NJ Supreme Court just upheld the Democratic Party's attempt to replace Torricelli's name on the ballot with Frank Lautenberg. The decision will probably be appealed to the federal courts, but the longer the GOP fights this, the more they are going to seem like they are scared of competition. Ultimately, they will have to accept the fact that they are not going to be able to run against Torricelli anymore.

There was a very brief period, sometime in the 8th inning last night, when I honestly thought the Angels might be able to stretch this thing to four games...Scioscia needed to throw the bomb to beat the Yanks, and instead he went into a prevent defense. The next time I see Donnelly pitch, it better be in B.P. or during a ten-run blowout.

Did Syd's mom actually shoot her with a real bullet? Is Khasinau really dead? Wouldn't Will Tippin's friends and co-workers have noticed something in the past three years if he had really been on heroin? Lord, what a weird episode that was...and what was the deal with that operating room?

Beginning tonight, and for the next four weeks, PBS airs a documentary on the history of Jim Crow at 10 p.m. that is well worth seeing. Admittedly, though, I'm going to have to tape it, due to something else starting tonight.

[ED.-My bad. It seems the local PBS affiliate will not be showing it til Thursday]

Of course, the big political story of the day was the decision by Senator Robert "the Torch" Torricelli to end his reelection campaign for the U.S. Senate. It is unclear whether he will soon resign his seat; the GOP threatens to legally prevent anyone else from taking his place on the ballot, which they might be able to pull off thanks to New Jersey law. The Democrats made the same mistake recently in the Massachusetts governor's race; it would probably be better for the Forrester campaign if they were to magnanimously allow the Democrats to have whomever they wanted on the ballot, rather than seem like cowards. In any event, according to this story, it appears "the Torch" will find a way to land on his feet.

A new website sponsored by a group called "Campus Watch" has created a blacklist, complete with a snitch form, for professors and scholars who are insufficiently anti-Muslim, er, I mean, "anti-terrorist". This type of list honors anyone who gives a rat's ass about civil liberties and educational freedom (link from Cursor.org).

For those visiting this site for the first time through a Google referral, I do not have access to nude pictures of Anna Kournikova, Erika Christenson, Andy Roddick, or Fernando Vargas, and I have no information about whether Hayden Christenson, Roberto Alomar, or Gwyneth Paltrow is gay. I should point out, though, that the Kournikova reference is a preemptive move on my part, since no one to date has reached this blog with that request. Sorry.

Playoffs begin Tuesday. For the local AL team, their first game is at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time (in fact, since they are playing a New York team, the first three games of the series are scheduled for prime time). Angels will have Washburn, Appier and Ortiz going, vs. Clemens, Pettite and Mussina, respectively. Yipes !!

I am none too happy with the Ninth Circuit right now. Various federal statutes give the circuit courts the power to appoint bankruptcy judges. In effect, those judges are "servants" of the district court, with all the powers of judges in supervising and adjudicating the cases that are before them, but without the lifetime tenure that marks the federal judiciary. They serve terms of fourteen years, after which they usually are reappointed by a panel of appellate judges. In rare instances, the circuit court will politely ask the judge to retire, to enter into private practice, or just to get lost, but that contingency is usually reserved for those who are either incompetent, crooked, or are simply ill-suited to sit as judges.

Last week, word came out that Kathleen March would not be reappointed. There was no public word on the Ninth Circuit's rationale in nixing her reappointment, so for all I know, she's been taking home satchels of cash from the local paralegal lobby, or has a double life running a high class prostitution ring. Maybe she has several husbands. All I know from my experience as a humble country lawyer from Woodland Hills is that she was a damn good judge. I should say, is a damn good judge. Her opinions have always been reasonable and moderate. She is a stickler for procedural requirements, which can be a drag, but the thing about having a case before an anally retentive judge is that, you know that going in; you just spend more time preparing ahead of time to make sure that all the parties that need notice get noticed, and all the exhibits are tabbed and all the pleadings paginated. In any event, making sure that attorneys follow the local rules is not likely going to be the reason a good judge was not reappointed.

Rumor has it that a group of "debtor's attorneys" got together to lobby the Ninth Circuit, and alleged that she was rude to counsel and was often unprepared. The former criticism is almost certainly true, a fact I can attest to from first-hand experience. When counsel didn't bring their "A-game" to court, she would be snappy, and her tongue would wax sarcastically; I occasionally felt her wrath, particularly when I first began practicing. In all honesty, appearing before that sort of judge, seen in retrospect, is character-building; at the time, all you think about is taking revenge in a manner prohibited by federal law (oops, a left-wing blogger fantasizes about violence; better not tell Kausfiles). But hell, lawyers have a state-enforced monopoly, an exclusive license to make money. If you can't take the occasional sarcastic zing, get into accounting. Or entertainment law.

As for the latter charge, her alleged lack of preparation, that is, to put it politely, bullshit. I have never appeared before a judge who knew as much about the cases on her docket as Kathleen March. As a habit, she would recite the details of each case on to the record at every hearing, which was a royal pain if you had to be somewhere else that day, but it also ensured that a complete record would be on the transcript if your case was appealed. I have no doubt that what bugged those attorneys wasn't that she was unprepared, but that she knew their cases better than they did.

I lightly passed over the group purportedly behind her ouster, the "debtor's bar". Lest you think I am attacking the heart and soul of my practice, understand that the "debtor's bar" does not refer to lawyers who represent the humble citizen who runs up credit card debt, or has a medical bill they can't pay; it consists of Chapter 11 attorneys, people who represent Enron and WorldCom, if those companies only had the good sense to file in the Central District of California. When I say "debtor's bar", think corporations that have cooked books and laid-off employees, and the attorneys who represent them. I hate them. They represent everything that is despicable and odious about the legal system. For example, last year I attended a bankruptcy forum dinner in Beverly Hills, on the issue of procedural changes. Any hope that I would actually learn something that might assist my practice was shot when one of the panelists gave a presentation discussing the new streamlined local rules for Chapter 11 cases: her argument was that California had gained a reputation for being a lousy place for companies to file bankruptcy, and that firms such as hers were losing business to New York and Delaware. Now that's something for Jimmy Hahn and Gray Davis: how do we make California a more bankruptcy-friendly state. Well, contribute enough money to him, and I'm sure Gov. Davis will get right on that.

As I said, there may have been a good reason to deny reappointment to Kathleen March, but I haven't heard it yet. I don't know what her political views were; the word was that she had been a Republican in New York, but she was a law school classmate of Bill and Hillary Clinton, and I never saw a hint of bias in her opinions. I have not seen any statistics indicating that her opinions were reversed disproportionately, or that she favored debtors over creditors, or vice versa.

By the way, while I'm on the topic of the ideology of judges, my position is that the only criteria for the nomination and approval of District Court judges should be temperament (does the judge have a professional reputation for fairness? is there any reason to believe that the nominee is a bully?), qualifications (did the nominee pass the bar in a reasonable time? did he spend a lot of time fending off malpractice suits?) and integrity (has the candidate always been in a member in good standing of the local bar? is there a history of domestic violence/drug use/boozing?). Ideology should play only a miniscule role: is the nominee is part of a very broad spectrum of mainstream opinion on legal issues. As much as I may disagree with them, people who oppose abortion rights, support the death penalty, or believe that the federal government should play a more limited role in enforcing civil rights are part of that broad mainstream; a judge who believes in the superiority of the white race, or that public school classrooms should be devoted to Bible study, or that government should play no role regulating private property, is not. It is an opinion that I have come to through first-hand experience appearing in court; the best judges are men and women who differ enormously on political issues: the best judge I have ever appeared before was a Reagan appointee, while two of the biggest stiffs in the Central District were appointed by Johnson and Carter. The two worst judges on the bankruptcy panel are liberals, but so is the best judge.

On the other hand, ideology should not only be a factor in determining who should be approved to sit on the Court of Appeals, it should be the preeminent factor. Considering the circumstances by which this President gained office, the Senate must exercise its discretion in vetting his appellate nominees; if any doubt exists about where a judge stands, he must be defeated (so sorry, McConnell and Estrada). And under no circumstances can the Senate approve any nominee for the Supreme Court until February, 2005, so long as the Democrats are in control. The notion that the federal courts are undermanned at the moment is true, but its only relevance derives from the backlog in District Court judges, not from a shortage of appellate judges (after all, if a District Court seat is not filled, that means that no cases can be assigned to that courtroom, increasing the number of cases that get assigned to other courts, and justice gets delayed; if an appellate seat is not filled, that only means there are fewer judges hearing appeals, but the appeals still get heard, albeit by fewer judges).

Well, I'm getting off the track here. Judge March may have been a real, er, witch, at times, but I got over it. We all have our idiosyncrasies, and if having a stinging wit is the worst thing you can say about a person, I can live with that. It's a shame other people didn't. I will miss her on the bench, and hope she has a successful career in private practice. I especially hope that she is not blacklisted the same way Rose Bird was by the local bar, after she was voted out of office. The bankruptcy court of the Central District will never be the same.

The post-9/11 anniversary bounce the GOP received has dissipated. If the election were to be held today, Democratic Congressional candidates are favored by 7 points in the most recent preference poll. Far from being hawkish on the issue of invading Iraq, the preferred solution (according to the Newsweek poll) for dealing with Saddam is assasination or some similar covert action, rather than a full-scale war.

Just a reminder that tonight is the second season premiere of Alias. For those who can't wait til 9 pm (8 p.m. Central), here are some spoilers. Here's a hint: contrary to what you may have seen on the ads, Syd's mom does not shoot JGarn to death in tonight's episode.

FINAL RYDER CUP UPDATE: Euros were on fuego early and pulled away late to upset the U.S., 15 1/2 to 12 1/2. Crap.

RYDER CUP UPDATE: So much for Tiger Woods not being able to win at the Ryder Cup...a pair of victories today, and the US and the Euros are tied going into the final day, 8-8. Since tie scores are broken in favor of the champion, if the US splits the twelve matches tomorrow (and frankly I would be surprised if the US didn't pull away in the head-to-head matches, considering our superior depth), we retain the Cup for two years.

Back when he was known as Brian Williams, and played for the LA Clippers, I saw him a couple of times on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, which, for those of you who live outside of Southern California, is a three-block long outdoor shopping, restaurant, movie theatre and sports bar paradise, and is one of the few desegregated communities in the city. At the time, I never thought much of it; the Promenade is sort of a magnet for the local basketball stars, and its not unusual to share a drink with some minor celebrity (in my case, John LeClair and William Macy). In the middle of the Promenade is a giant book store which specializes in hard-to-get political tomes, operating as a sort of fulcrum to the activities outside, and it was there that I remember seeing Williams browsing through the stalls. I suppose if I had been more astute it would have registered with me how unusual it was for a professional basketball player to be hanging in a bookstore known for its collection of hard-to-get Chomsky polemics, but then again, you usually see a lot of unusual things on the Promenade.

The U.S. and the Euros split the difference in the Saturday morning rounds of the Ryder Cup, with Europe maintaining its one match lead into the afternoon. The U.S. had a chance to tie the score, or even take the lead, but the nicest guy on the tour, Scott Hoch, missed a short putt on 16 that would have given the Americans a one-hole lead; he and Scott Verplank ended up losing to Monty (must have been some great karma to get stuck in that foursome) and his partner, Bernhard Langer. And yes, Tiger Woods finally won !!

The brother of Bison Dele, and chief suspect in his disappearance, died tonight in a California hospital. Their mother will hold a joint memorial service next week.

RYDER CUP UPDATE: US rallies to cut the Euro lead to one in afternoon play. My take is that Europe better have a big lead going into Sunday, or the superior American depth will just wear them down in match play. Tiger Woods, however, lost again; this is one competition he simply hasn't mastered yet.

(2006 Update HERE)

Blogging has been rather light this week, thanks to an increase in bankruptcies. Perhaps not the best timing, considering the recent good fortune this site has had, namely getting linked to by Eric Alterman's web site on MSNBC. Who knows how long that will last; I would be lying if I didn't admit that it's an incredible honor to have a writer I admire take notice of my work.

For those of you who may be visiting for the first time, understand that this is not primarily a political site; I have other interests, and frankly do not care a penny-farthing about who's sleeping with Andrew Sullivan, or whether Kausfiles spends too much time obsessing about the NY Times, or what the deeper significance is of Snitchens' departure from The Nation. I don't link to them anymore, so their only reason for existence in my world is to be cruelly mocked when they link to some moron like Michael Ledeen or Lucienne Goldberg. In fact, one of the great things about reading other blogs is the realization that being able to think about the world, and to write about said thoughts in a clear, accessible and provocative manner, is not the restricted province of professional journalists and academics whose names happen to be in someone's Rolodex. Anyone who visits Eschaton, or Rittenhouse, or MaxSpeak, or Matt Welch (or, for that matter, Volokh Conspiracy or Megan McArdle) knows that those writers are simply not in the same class as Kaus or Sullivan or Michael Kelly: they are far superior. Agree or disagree with them, or with writers like James Lileks or Dan Perkins, you feel like a smarter person just for reading them, more so because they treat you with respect.

Well, I'm not in their league. What I try to do here is to give you a sense of who I am, and what I believe. My weekends are pretty much devoted to the watching of sports at my favorite pub, Joxer Daly's in Culver City, so I talk about that quite a bit; it's safe to say that a lot of the opinions expressed here get fine-tuned first with my fellow publicans, over a pint of Beamish. I'm also a bankruptcy lawyer, so you're going to read a lot of posts here about my practice, and how I feel about the "reform" act currently before Congress, and the like. If the President does something to piss me off, I'll write about it too, but its not a priority; its just that lately, everything he does pisses me off. I would just as soon write about Bill James, or Phoebe Nicholls (coming soon!!), as Tom Daschle. I try not to link to other bloggers, or to quote verbatim what someone else has posted, because cut-and-pasting isn't my thing; I don't intend to be the liberal version of Instapundit. And if you have anything you'd like to say to me, the comments link is at the top right corner. Thanks for visiting.

Perhaps not the best news to wake up to...the Euros are already up 3-1 in the Ryder Cup. Among the losers this morning was one Tiger Woods, who has a simply atrocious record when playing for his country.

Now it's Gephardt's turn to be shocked, shocked to discover Bush is playing politics with national security. In any event, this is perhaps the best explanation for the dramatic turn of affairs on Capital Hill the last couple of days.

I've never downloaded a song off the internet in my life, but I can't imagine a more pathetic class of victims than the recording industry. Music consumers should boycott the songs of all groups and singers who continue to whine over this issue.

Finally. Angels 10, Rangers 5 (F)...the next attempt to exorcise the ghost of Donnie Moore shall begin in the Bronx next week. At the very least, it should be fun to visit the Matt Welch site the next couple of weeks.

Investigators now believe that Bison Dele, his girlfriend and the boat's captain were killed first, then tossed overboard, as far back as July 7. The most likely suspect remains comatose, but his family has already decided to terminate life support, perhaps as early as today.

A reminder to those of you who live within a 200-mile radius of Los Angeles: get your collective asses down to Joxer Daly's this Saturday to see the greatest bar band in all of christendom: the Samurai Homeboys. I can't promise you that the lead singer will walk into a ceiling fan and continue singing without missing a beat, like he did last time, but they will give you four solid hours of rock and soul.

For those of you who haven't cancelled your subscriptions to Salon yet, there is a pretty interesting takedown in Spinsanity on the chickenhawks' use of a certain term to describe opponents of their Iraq policy: appeasement. By the way, the term has gotten a pretty bad rap over the years, thanks to Neville Chamberlain and Stanley Baldwin, but wasn't that also Great Britain's policy towards a certain nation in the Western Hemisphere, from about 1814 to 1917? From the Monroe Doctrine to "54:40 or Fight" to kidnapping British envoys on their way to meet leaders of the Confederacy, Her Majesty's Government was always willing to look the other way whenever the US presented a causus belli, a policy which ultimately paid rich dividends. To summarize: appeasement with dictators, bad; "constructive engagement" with emerging democracies that allowed legalized slavery and tolerated genocidal policies towards aboriginal natives, good.

OK, I admit I'm starting to be a little concerned about the Angels....

The Senate is now making noises about drafting its own resolution concerning Iraq, rather than rubber-stamping W's. When even a conservative Democrat like Ben Nelson is questioning Bush's policy, it stands to reason that the support in the "homeland" is only an inch thick on this issue. His hissy-fit on the German election, his changing rationales and flip-flops on why we need to bomb Baghdad, the level of mendacity on issues of policy exceeding that of Clinton's on the issue of interns, together with the tanking economy, paint a very unpleasant picture of a man not fit to be Commander in Chief.

"Michael Kelly" or Neal Pollack: you make the call !!

It seems Zell Miller can't even get the backing of his fellow faux-Democrats in the Senate. Just days after Miller announced his support for a "compromise" bill co-sponsored by Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, the White House had to helplessly watch as the Democrats, with the backing of Senators Breaux, Lieberman, and Nelson, agreed to pass their own version of the Homeland Reorganization bill, which contains more protections for workers than the President's bill did. Not only was Miller unable to bring along other members of his "party", but GOP Senator Lincoln Chafee abandoned the White House as well. Although the President has promised a veto, it is mainly a face-saving gesture; unless he wants his grand domestic proposal to go the way of the bankruptcy reform act, the final version of the bill will be much closer to what the Democrats are proposing than the one passed by the House. Part of being an effective leader is not only knowing when to compromise, but whom to compromise with.

After a three-year wait, the Ryder Cup competition is renewed this weekend. Just a reminder, in 1999, the US came from way back on the final day to edge Europe, with Justin Leonard nailing a long putt on 18 to edge Jose-Maria Olazabel, leading to a mob celebration; for obvious reasons, the Euros were none too happy. It was scheduled to be played last year, but was postponed a year due to September 11. Although the teams are supposed to represent the best players from the US and Europe over the past year, the line-ups were frozen from the year before, which as circumstances developed, favors the US. ESPN already has the likely American teams for the first two days. Tee time is midnight Friday P.S.T.

ED--My mistake: Leonard hit his long putt to clinch the Ryder Cup at the 17th hole, not the 18th. By the way, if the Euros have a similar celebration this year, here's hoping that it happens near Scott Hoch's lie.

The Angels' Rally Monkey now has its own website. We rule !!!

Those of you who wish to read the full transcript of Al Gore's speech yesterday(complete with applause lines and laughter cues) can go here. It really is an astonishing speech, a rare moment of courage at a time when Congressional Democrats seem more concerned about November than their responsibilities as a party in opposition. More importantly, the People's Choice makes a compelling argument attacking the Ashcroft Doctrine abrogating due process, especially the high profile but increasingly bogus arrests of "suspected terrorists", at a time when almost all the 2004 hopefuls are silent on the issue. As I said before, if Lieberman is the nominee next time, I vote for Nader.

In the same post that loony right blogger Andrew Sullivan uses to excoriate Al Gore and other members of what he calls "the left" for "an abdication of seriousness", and in which he attacks Prof. Krugman and MoDo for using the collapse of the economy as a diversion from the "real" problem facing America, the all-important showdown with Iraq, he manages to link to a column celebrating the return of chest hair in men. As Dr. Evil would say, "Riiighhht".

Is there anyone out there besides this Slate writer who honestly believes The West Wing is a better show than Six Feet Under. I mean, besides anyone free-basing Metamusil every hour.

And so it goes...one day after Schroeder pulls victory from the jaws of defeat by running against American foreign policy, it now appears that Tony Blair's perceived sycophancy may be costing his party, as a new poll now shows the Tories only five points behind Labor (or is it Labour?).

Page 15 of the LA Times Sports Section this morning has a simple ad, set amidst the Kings training camp report and a preview of next weekend's Ryder Cup: Mick Fleetwood Call Randy in Ohio. Just in case the former Fleetwood Mac drummer wasn't keyed in on the Times' coverage of Tiger Woods' victory in the AmEx Championship, and didn't catch the article announcing the return of Adam "Grateful" Deadmarsh to the Kings' lineup, please pass the word along.

Speaking of which, I managed to get an entry into the Joxer Daly's Hockey Pool, even though I didn't get back from my uncle's memorial in Kernville until after the draft ended. My friends put me in a group with a couple of other drafters, and I got to enjoy the best of both worlds: participation in this year's contest without having to draft, and thereby reveal my lack of expertise in the sport. In the past, I've usually just picked the same four or five players, which was fine when Martin Rucinsky, Derek Plante, Ryan Smythe, and Daniel Alfredsson were still in their primes, but has now placed my teams fairly consistently at or near the cellar. But no longer...as this year, my teammates actually knew what they were doing, and have awarded me with a fine selection of worthies.

Finally, a breakthrough: America's funniest living pundit, "Michael Kelly", gets a long-overdue opportunity to publish something outside of the stiff confines of the Washington Post. And its a beaut; Kelly truly does for punditry what Neil Pollack does to blogging (thanks to Atrios for the link; btw, check out the photo he has of W. in the classroom today). Hopefully, this brilliant satirist will get more opportunities to be published. If only "Martin Peretz" could get the same break....

After reading this article about my competition in the SFV mayor's race, I'm beginning to think my write-in candidacy is doable. So why isn't Kausfiles bitching about the LA Times' non-coverage of my campaign?

According to the LA Times, the brother of Bison Dele is in a coma, and is "brain dead". In all likelihood, the most likely witness to whatever happened to the former NBA star will never regain consciousness.

It took about 155 games, but I finally made an emotional connection with the Dodgers last night. I don't know if it was the gutty pitching performance by Hideo Nomo, the late comeback, or the two-run rally in the ninth off of Trevor Hoffman, but I finally got it last night. On Wednesday, I attended my first game of the year, a depressing, dull loss to the Giants, where the only joy I got out of the experience was the companionship of my friend Deborah, who is just getting into the game; it must have been like how my dad felt, taking me to a game when I was just a lad, and I would say things like "do the best you can" when Steve Garvey or Willie Davis came up as the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, so as to take the pressure off them. The Dodgers this season were just another team to me, not as fun or interesting as the Angels; the Sheffield trade seemed to remove the one player on the team who gave a rat's ass about winning, so for most of the season I didn't care how they did, even though they were in contention from Day 1. I guess for me it's always about just one player; if I can identify with someone, no matter how obnoxious or arrogant or incompetent he is, then the team follows. Last night it was Nomo, a consummate professional, throwing some wicked stuff and laying down a perfect bunt in the fifth inning to set up the tying run; all night long, he had this look in the dugout, a cross between determined and pissed-off, that was so unlike the typical frat-boy attitude that has permeated the team since they broke up The Infield in 1982. This was someone who was upset that the team wasn't going to make the playoffs barring a NoCal collapse, that he had to share a locker room with the same morons who were now counting on him to carry the team, again, and he just wanted the damn ball. LOVE IT !!!

According to Google, this is one of the top sites for surfers seeking info about Bush's verbal miscue last week (ie., "fool me once...won't get fooled again"), which for a time led to two of the biggest days in traffic in the five month history of Smythe's World. Since all I did was accurately transcribe the quote, without comment (snarky or otherwise), in my thought-of-the-day box, above, it was a bit of undeserved good fortune for yours truly; by the way, I found the accurate quote from the White House's own website; for their part, the media amended his remarks to reveal what they thought the President meant to say, inserting a "...fool me twice, shame on me" at the end, as if he were a teenage prospect from San Pedro de Macoris, valiantly attempting his first interview in English. According to this Bush expert, however, the gaffe may have been less of a misstatement than previously thought, and more of a character flaw that could prove devastating to the Republic.

It seems that if W and the GOP were serious about compromise on the Homeland Security Bill, they will have to do a better job than Zell freaking Miller. C'mon, if you want to convince real Democrats in the Senate on the sticking point of employee rights, you'll have to find a senator who's not from a right-to-work state to be your water boy.

Sorry for the lupicaesque cliche, but MEMO TO COMISKEY PARK: feel free to evict any fan who takes off his shirt during the game, especially if he (or his son) is covered with tattoos. Left untreated, such a situation always ends tragically.

This may be an unfair comparison, since, granted, I'm not a tennis expert or anything, but, looks aside, Andy Roddick is pretty much a male version of Anna Kournikova, except she may win a Grand Slam event sooner.

Admittedly, I didn't think this was a big deal when I first saw the headline. I mean, "Seven Mets Suspected of Using Pot" is not exactly a coffee spit-take sort of story, especially since the big drug story in sports last year concerned allegations that 75% of the NBA (you know, basketball players, as in, real athletes) were using. If it's only 7 players, the Mets clubhouse has to be a den of bible-thumpers. Having been publicly called out by TalkLeft on this story, though, I must confess that however much I would like to see pot legalized, thereby making its legal status consistent with the public's moral consensus on the subject, I have no problem with a team setting standards on drugs and alcohol that are much higher than those of the rest of society. Professional athletes are not jazz musicians, who might need to smoke pot to take the edge off after a night of performing; they get paid substantial sums to be in the ultimate physical shape, and the steady usage of marijuana is seemingly not conducive to hitting a 98 mph fastball from Eric Gagne (I could be wrong about the subject, though; I have it on good authority that one of the few decent players on the Detroit Tigers won't play unless he's baked). But I would hope that the club's policy on drugs would be consistent with its policy concerning beer, booze, and fast food; if the Mets want an explanation as to why their team went south this year, they should look to the star catcher who sees nothing wrong with getting hammered after every game, or the first baseman who apparently views weighing 300 pounds as his career objective.

Please read the text of the draft resolution, to be approved shortly by Congress, giving the President unlimited authority to start a war with Iraq and any other nation he sees fit. As neither of the Senators from California are up for election this year, there is little I can do to vent my displeasure at the ballot box concerning the craven manner in which the Democratic Party has once again acted. It is perhaps telling that the one senator who is most likely to do the right thing on this issue, Paul Wellstone, is the one facing a challenge from the Green Party. Ironically, quick passage of the bill will probably assure a big election night for the Democrats, because it will neutralize the Iraqi war as a political issue seven weeks before the election; after the resolution is approved, foreign policy differences will not be a big factor in local congressional races. But its passage will only show how unfit the current Democratic party is to govern, and why control of Congress just doesn't matter, in spite of the handful of judicial nominees the party can stall in the Senate.

My uncle's memorial service is Saturday up in Kernville, so I will miss most of the year's grand social event at Joxer's, the Hockey Draft. Every year, the hockey fans in the bar get together and draft players by according to the number of points they will score. And this continues for about ten or twelve rounds (of picks, not beer). It costs $50 to enter, it's open to the public, and the winner gets a grip of money and a lot of Molson. And remember, its a contest, not a pool.

Frankly, I'm surprised this sort of thing hasn't happened more frequently. Part of the charm of going to a baseball game is that the players and the field are relatively accessible, so it isn't difficult for any fan who so desired to jump onto the field and join the festivities. For years, "Morganna" became a cult celebrity by simply running onto the field and kissing an athlete, with what had to be the acquiescence of the home team. About six or seven years ago, some nutcase attacked Randy Myers of the Cubs after he gave up a game-tying home run in the 9th inning. In the same ballpark last year, Chad Kreuter of the Dodgers was assaulted by a fan while catching in the bullpen; when he and his teammates responded, they were showered with alcohol by the assorted rummies. Considering the ease with which guns can be obtained, it's inevitable that at some point, some drunk fan is going to run onto the field and kill someone.

OK, I defended LA columnist Jill Stewart last week, but this was too good to pass up. A while back she won a libel suit that had been filed against her by a local politico whom she had called a "poverty pimp", and her subsequent article about the suit was filled with smug, self-congratulatory praise, repeating the slur in almost every sentence (btw, attacking left-of-center African Americans is her specialty, along with implying that unionized teachers are the spawn of satan; several years ago, she actually started a jihad against a local black Democrat in the State Assembly for using his family's house as his residency for his district, when, in fact, the cad had occasionally been spending the night with a member of the opposite sex in another district !!). In any event, check out this letter to the editor entitled "How un-PC" (scroll down a bit), written in the same spirit.

The latest word is that Bison Dele, along with his boating companions, were killed by his brother with Dele's own handgun (no doubt following a heated discussion about the Second Amendment). Since this appears to be in French jurisdiction, the death penalty won't be involved, if and when they capture him.

(ED.-Tonight ESPN is reporting that the brother of Bison Dele has been apprehended, but that he is in a coma.)

Believe it or not, we are still looking for contributors (amateurs, preferably) to the new college football weblog, Condredge's Acolytes. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

One of the more laughable rumors (being taken seriously by Kausfiles not surprisingly) is the claim that Ahnolt is about to enter the California governors race as a "write-in" candidate. Just besides the logistical difficulty involved in getting several million people to spell his last name, there is simply the problem that among most voters, particularly in the Golden State, the Terminator is viewed as something of a right-wing joke. The entire point of floating such rumors is to gratify the ego of the celebrity, who can pretend that he is not simply an action star but a person of substance as well. In a few years, I guarantee you that we will hear of Rob Reiner (or Sylvester Stallone, or Ben Affleck) doing the same thing, and hopefully the LA Times will not report those rumors as credible either.

Tom Daschle may do nationally what Gray Davis has done for California: make the Green Party the only legitimate route for liberals to take. The Senate's craven action in scheduling a vote on a war with Iraq before the November election not only circumvents efforts by the U.N., our European allies, and most of the West to remove Saddam short of war, but it also indicates that the Democratic party is too compromised to offer anything remotely resembling a "loyal opposition". There has been one party, though, which has used its influence in the halls of power to ask the tough questions about Iraq, and in particular the futility of engaging in unprovoked hostilities in that region: the Republicans !!

Fortunately, our leaders in Congress have been focused on more serious issues, like debating whether to honor the Williams sisters (thanks to Adam Felber for the link).

As noted below, the French police and the FBI are now treating the disappearance of Bison Dele and his girlfriend as a murder investigation, with the focus being on his brother, who was detained shortly after they went missing on an identity theft charge, then released. Dele's catamaran was found late last week, and according to one tip, investigators are looking into a possible fight on board that led to the murders. The more I find out about Dele, the sadder this story gets.

According to TalkLeft, a longtime crime reporter for AP was let go recently because he allegedly invented sources to boost his articles. Of course, I'm shocked. I mean, who could believe that such a thing could happen in American journalism. The poor guy will probably have to wait weeks before he will be allowed to sub in for Chris Matthews on Hard Ball. Or even worse, he might have to go into entertainment or sports journalism !!!

I just found out that my Uncle Sid passed away last weekend. I hadn't seen him since my dad's memorial about four years ago. His memorial is up in Kernville this weekend, and I'm trying to figure out something to say my grandmother, who has now lost two sons. What I did knew of his biography wasn't all that pleasant: he served in the Navy, was agoraphobic, alcoholic, smoked two packs of Camels, suffered through severe depression, and couldn't hold a steady job. Whenever we visited, though, he was always the most interesting person in the room, and I loved the fact that he practically lived in the public library, reading everything he could get his hands on, and developing a thorough knowledge of politics. About ten years ago, he came out of the closet, which is rather late in life for that sort of thing, but it seemed to put him more at ease in fighting his demons. I feel bad that I didn't know him better.

Keith Olbermann points out the obvious mistake made by the Shoney's patron last week when she decided to tip off the authorities about the "terrorists" in the next booth.

Speaking of snitches, my sympathy for Noelle Bush is unabated in light of this article. It must be hard enough kicking a cocaine habit and being Jeb's daughter without having to share a rehab center with Linda Tripp. Any liberal who gets any sense of schadenfreude from that story deserves to spend time in purgatory with Christopher Hitchens.

The real scandal about the resignation of Bob Greene, the MJ-toesucking hack from Chicago, isn't that he had a consensual relationship with a legal age high schooler ten years ago, but that he was forced to resign after the whore apparently tried to blackmail him. I had thought one of the cool things about Bill Clinton overcoming Ken Starr's witchhunt several years ago was that it was going to become much more difficult in the future to extort a public figure because of his sex life; after all, if Clinton could have an affair with an intern, lie about it, only to have the public forgive him and turn on the assorted drunks and perverts who later tried to impeach him, than maybe a public figure who is gay, or an adulterer, or had a messy divorce, or is a single parent, or whatever would have an easier time in the future being judged on the substance of his views. I guess I was wrong. Greene should issue a statement saying that the only people who can judge him is his family, and then sue the fishwrap.

So far, I am getting good reviews for the new "look". The links and my e-mail address are now aligned properly. And today would have been F.Scott Fitzgerald's 106th birthday, had he taken better care of himself.

Those of you who have ESPN Classic will no doubt be thrilled to know that it will be rebroadcasting tonight, for the first time in over two weeks, the fourth game of the 1993 World Series. Tomorrow, in between the half-hour team films it shows in lieu of replaying an actual NFL game, will be the woman's semifinal of the 1988 Australian Open. And don't forget, there's twelve straight hours of the "award-winning" SportsCentury this Friday !!

Well, I guess none of it is going to interfere with my watching the two big series involving the Golden State's baseball teams this week. In most years, if the Dodgers and Angels were in contention late (as happened in 1978, 1982, 1985, 1995 and 1997), most of the local attention would be on the Dodgers; the Angels have always been more of an after-thought for the local media, and if you live north of O.C., they are viewed more as an appetizer than the main course. This year, its been different. Even though the Dodgers are a game back, with a huge 4-game series with Giants starting tonight, almost all the local attention is on Anaheim, which has, for all intents and purposes, assured itself a playoff spot (after '95, though, nothing is certain). It's easy to see why: the Angels are an exciting, never-say-die team, while the Dodgers, now in the midst of a season-ending choke, are a team whose bland, boring nature reflects the personality of their manager, Jim Tracy, and come up well short in comparison not only with the Angels, but more importantly, with the team that has been its local rival for the affection of SoCal sports fans for over three decades, the Los Angeles Lakers. As a team, they haven't played with a sense of urgency since Kirk Gibson was here, and its no wonder that one of the truisms of LA sports is that the baseball season doesn't really begin until after the Lakers playoff run ends.

French police are treating the Bison Dele disappearance as a suspected homicide. That's about six weeks later than they should have done so, and about three months earlier than the DCPD did with Chandra Levy.

The LA Daily News has a cover story today about gangs, with a handy map showing where each has its territory in the Valley. My mom lives in an area controlled by Barrio Van Nuys (I always thought that we were a part of Mara Salvatrucha territory, so that may be an indication that the power of the Salvadoreans is slipping), and I used to reside on the outskirts of the Canoga Park Alabama gang. (More)

Well, I've changed the template, but I still haven't figured out a way to make the links (now on the right) cover a single line in a neat, orderly fashion. If this template isn't as good as the one I had before, let me know.

For most of us, blogging is a hobby, a fun way to pass dead time at the office, to relieve anger and stress (for me, especially; this site has been almost as good as therapy), to allow latent narcissistic tendencies to run riot, and to communicate with people you've never met. Let's hope that the people behind this collaborative blog have more free time in the future...a medical logistics support unit stationed in Afghanistan (thanks to Matt Welch for the link). Hopefully, the chickenhawks preparing for our upcoming adventure in Iraq will visit this site, to get some perspective on the people who actually serve (and die for) this country when we go to war.

Any doubts about the courage of Oscar de la Hoya were forever dispelled tonight. He took a beating the first five rounds tonight, shook if off, and relentlessly bullied Fernando Vargas to pull out a terrific 11th round TKO. Hopefully, this will put an end not only to the ridiculous "who's the real Mexican" debate that existed concerning the two native-born fighters, but also the sniping concerning the manliness of de la Hoya. I have no idea what his sexual preference is, nor do I much care, but from what I saw tonight, the man can fight !!

When I first began my write-in campaign to be SF Valley Mayor, I never considered the possibility that another "Steven Smith" might try to crash my party. As I recall, there was another "Jesse Jackson Jr." on the ballot this year in Illinois running against the incumbent Congressman, and now the mayor of DC has had to sweat out the past few days, hoping that the eight other "Anthony Williams" that are registered to vote in the District didn't try to claim victory. Obviously, my name is even more common: just looking at the phone book for the West Valley, I see a whole grip of Steven Smiths, and even a few Steven E. Smiths; that's not even taking into account the "S. Smiths" in the phone book who have my name, or the Steven Smiths with unlisted numbers. And that's just the West Valley.

Obviously, having a name that common can be a blessing as well as a curse. I've always had the gut feeling that my bar results, my application to Berkeley, even my applications for credit, were being judged not on what I accomplished (thank God) but on what someone else with the same name did. Incidentally, for a time there were three different bankruptcy attorneys in the Los Angeles area named "Steven E. Smith". Besides myself, and, of course, my late father, there is a partner in a prominent debtor's firm in Century City with the same name. On one occasion, I represented my dad in a hearing, back when he was a Chapter 7 Trustee. Representing the debtor, of course, was Steven E. Smith. So we had a good chuckle when we made our appearances: "Good morning, Your Honor, Steven E. Smith Jr. for the Trustee, Steven E. Smith", then, "Steven E. Smith for the debtor". I guess you had to have been there....

While most of the attention of political mavens Tuesday was on the tight battle for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor, a surprise result in Minnesota may have even bigger ramifications: the upset defeat of the endorsed candidate for the Green Party nomination for the Senate seat held by Paul Wellstone. In a race in which neither of the major candidates has held a lead larger than the margin of error, the elimination of a third party candidate who threatened to bleed significant support away from the progressive incumbent greatly improves the chances the Democrats will maintain control of the Senate.

For some time I've linked to Scoobie Davis' blog, which I have found to be well-researched and a lot of fun, even if he hasn't yet posted nude photos of Erika Christenson. Those of you who visit his site regularly know that for the past couple of months, he performed an encyclopedic take-down of 40-something faux blonde pundit Anne Coulter, culminating in a classic interview. Now, its Rush Limbaugh's turn to get "scoobied".

The latest news on the Bison Dele disappearance is not good. His catamaran was discovered in Tahiti, with the name of the ship painted over. Apparently, it had been there since July. In the meantime, his brother, who had been detained recently for attempting to use Dele's passport as identification to purchase gold bullion, has gone on the lam.

The House leadership has pulled the "Bankruptcy Reform" Act from the floor without a vote, apparently to protect the feelings of about four dozen arch-conservatives who refuse to go along with the compromise version approved in conference, that would have made debts incurred from illegal abortion-protests non-dischargeable. The abortion issue is clearly a red herring: liberal Democrats used it to block passage of a bill supported by powerful lobbies, while the wing-nuts in the GOP probably came to realize that any "reform" that would make it more difficult to file a bankruptcy in the middle of a double-dip recession would be a hard sell to the voters. Sometimes, in life, you just have to accept your small victories as they come....

Can you imagine what would have happened if luxury liners were still allowed to underman lifeboats, some 90 years after the sinking of the Titanic. This article points out that the mistakes and blunders that characterized the tragedy of September 11 may be repeated because of the lack of a public inquiry into those events. The whole point of such an inquiry isn't simply to get people on the record with what they recollect, or to have some panel make recommendations to prevent such snafus in the future. It's to put a human face on the screw-ups, such as the Base Commander at Pearl Harbor, or the head of the White Star cruise line; embarassment and shame have always been an effective way of overcoming bureaucratic lethargy.

I'm beginning to wonder whether Florida should be allowed to remain in the Union, after yesterday's debacle. How many strikes do they get? Going back three years, there was the 2000 election, and the racist goon squad tactics used to disenfranchise black voters, to trick elderly Jewish voters into selecting an anti-Semite for President, and to prevent the votes from being accurately counted afterwards. It is one of the most barbaric states in its use of capital punishment (ie. "ole Sparky"). Its child welfare department has lost hundreds of kids under its supervision, and is now being run by a religious fanatic who has publicly supported the Biblical policy of "smiting" miscreant children. Speaking of which, last week a prosecutor was able to con two different juries into convicting two children of murder in Florida, even though only one of them could have done the act, and the fact that they were children !!! Furthermore, the governor's daughter decided to celebrate her stay yesterday in the rehab clinic by getting caught possessing crack, the tragedy of which is compounded by the fact that Florida has some of the most draconian drug laws in the country. Oh, did I mention Little Elian? Rather than dumping Jeb, that state may need to be taken over by the Marines for a few years.

Well, enough about what I think...how did the events of a year ago affect Goldie Hawn?

Isn't this tragedy happening in the same state that Darryl Strawberry is currently doing time?

This is a very strange and sad story, one that might ordinarily be covered by Domenick Dunne were all the victims white. When Bison Dele was a local prep standout back in the late '80's (when he was known as "Brian Williams"), there were the usual predictions that he was going to be a certain Hall of Famer, but it never quite panned out. He did play on the 1997 champion Chicago Bulls, among other teams. I seem to recall that he had problems with some form of depression, but the authorities are looking at a possible identity theft/murder by a relative.

I'm not planning on any big 9-11 post this week, so this will have to do. I will always remember the feeling I had when I first saw the bulletin on the AOL screen that morning that a plane had crashed into the WTC, and thought at first that it was one of these private aircraft being flown solo by an amateur pilot, and resumed my surfing for about fifteen minutes. Then the AOL screen stated that the WTC had collapsed, and I knew that this would be a day I would always remember. The horror and pain that day have not gone away, nor has the anger that another human being could plot such a thing.

Nevertheless, of all the articles I have read on the subject, this one, by Jill Stewart, best encapsulates how I feel. From the "Let's Roll" bric-a-brac (and the popular mythology, largely based on unsubstantiated rumors and hearsay, about Flight 93) to NYC's efforts to steal the Oscar Awards to the Bush Administration attempting to exploit the attack in order to boost the GOP in November, as well as to justify performing a Pearl Harbor on Baghdad, the baser elements of American culture and politics are raping the memories of the brave firemen and innocent clerical workers at the Pentagon and the WTC. A critic writes that this sort of view is a typical "PC", "California" view, at variance with the rest of the country, as if that were a stinging rebuke (and btw, anyone who thinks Jill Stewart, who is just barely to the left of David Horowitz, is politically correct has got to be the biggest moron in all of christendom; hey, I'm PC, buddy, and Ms. Stewart is never at our meetings). In fact, if anything symbolizes the stereotypically facile "Hollywood" reaction to the murders of September 11, it's the repetitive, maudlin tributes and mourning (classical music on the Food Network?) that that critic seems to demand from everyone. How we remember those events is an individual decision, not something to be imposed by some sort of Stalinoid mandate.

Andrew Sullivan always has his funniest stuff at the beginning of the week...check out his pathetic tribute to Madonna and Guy Ritchie, whom he compares with Bush and Blair. Does that make the British Prime Minister W's sperm donor?