Another Bush Flip-flop: It appears we're not "turning the corner" after all.

The Politics of Hate: Well, this is a shock: the man behind the "Swift Boat" allegations has turned out to be a bigot who has spent a little too much time posting his anti-papist and anti-Muslim views on a white supremacist hate site. Jerry Corsi, co-author of the latest chickenblogger manifesto, Unfit for Command, was quoted making the following witicisms last year on freerepublic.com:

"'Islam is a peaceful religion -- just as long as the women are beaten, the boys buggered and the infidels are killed.' In another entry, he says: 'So this is what the last days of the Catholic Church are going to look like. Buggering boys undermines the moral base and the lawyers rip the gold off the Vatican altars. We may get one more Pope, when this senile one dies, but that's probably about it.'...(I)n a March posting, Corsi discussed Kerry's faith, writing: 'After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judaism? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?'" (above quotes courtesy of the Associated Press)

Wink, wink.

The Bush campaign, which no doubt hoped that it could skate into the convention without having its own side constantly remind the public that John Kerry served in Vietnam, and certainly not wishing to be implicitly attacking the credibility of the decorations other veterans have earned over the years, reacted angrily to the absurd notion that they had anything to do with the controversial ads or their politically extreme auteur (btw, who knew that anyone in this country still used the word "buggered"?). Masochistically, the wingnuts have begun to obsess over whether Kerry actually entered Cambodia (as he has said several times, including a coy allusion written in his battlefield journal in 1968 [see bottom paragraph]) during his tour of duty, or was merely on the border; either way, it's a distinction that cannot fail to make Kerry's battlefield exploits seem more intriguing to swing voters. It seems Kerry has the same good political fortune in the enemies he has drawn that Clinton had back in '92. [links via Atrios (who has more on the partisan insights of Mr. Corsi) and Kevin Drum]

In what has to be considered a death knell for the prosecution, the accuser of Kobe Bryant has filed a civil action seeking mucho dinero. Since an obvious defense is always going to be that the alleged victim is trying to scam money from the NBA star, the filing of the civil action before trial all but concedes that point. In addition, the civil complaint publicly regurgitates, in graphic detail, the act in question, openly defying the gag order issued by the court. We can assume the prosecution will drop this in a matter of days.

As far as the civil case against Bryant, I have felt all along that this would be the more preferable arena for both sides. Because the sole issue of consequence from now on will be money, the Laker star can either settle or not settle, depending on how much he can afford to spend, without any further erosion of his public image or having to register as a sex offender (not to mention the threat of prison). His attorneys can also delve more freely into the plaintiff's past than they could in a criminal case (as, of course, can her attorney). On the other hand, the plaintiff can build a case against Bryant based on simple assault, without any of the baggage that a rape charge entails before a jury; the fact that she had sex with another man hours later, while material in defense of a charge that her injuries were caused by Bryant, is now less important, merely a factor that may or may not be weighed by a jury if it awards damages. And, of course, the burden of proof is a lot easier to sustain in civil court.

U.S. 76, Serbia-Montenegro 60: Do you believe in miracles !?! For the second straight game, our motley collection of the well-fed and the underachieving overcame a hostile crowd, and stunned defending World Champion (and 4 1/2 point favorite) S&M on its home court. Tim Duncan's 16 points led the way for the scrappy Americans. Team U.S.A. jumped out to a quick lead against the over-confident Serbs, who apparently thought all they had to do to overawe the competition was have Bodiroga and Radocevic show up. Fat chance. Bring on Turkey !!

Now that's what I call a "baby bounce": 32k new jobs !! I think the conventional wisdom has been that Bush will go into the election with a growing economy, albeit one with tepid growth. The employment figures over the last three months indicate that another recession/jobless "recovery" is on the horizon (if we're not already there), so that assumption will have to be revised. Expect to see more bogus ads of the "Swiftboat" variety from the Bush camp if the economy continues its Triple Salchow into the toilet.

Why Dennis Prager should not be allowed near children....

It was one year ago tonight that my sister added a new generation to my family. Happy Birthday, Charlie !!

I'm with the President on this issue....

U.S. 80, Germany 77: One day after getting blown-out by Italy, the lightly-regarded Americans came back to upset another former member of the Axis Powers on a last-second half-court shot by Allen Iverson. Relying on such elaborate trickery as "passing to the open player", shooting "high-percentage shots", and "moving without the ball", the over-confident Germans, who almost qualified for the Olympics, were unable to put the U.S. away, and finally succumbed to the scrappy Dream Teamers. Making the victory even sweeter is the fact that all but one of the players on Team U.S.A. play in our own domestic professional league, the "N.B.A.", which may finally earn the credibility it deserves to put it on a par with established leagues in Europe, Asia and South America. Iverson, in particular, was impressive behind the three-point arc, leading some to favorably compare him to Italian star Gianluca Basile.

Italy 95, U.S. 78: You had to figure that Giacomo Galanda would give Tim Duncan a hard time today. Olympic basketball is really the only time an American can feel comfortable rooting against the U.S.

Excellent (as always) Krugman column, on TV coverage of last week's convention, and how the success of Fox News has come to color the political coverage of other networks, including CNN. Kerry's so-called "Baby Bounce" fits in with this type of "journalism"; take an outlying poll (Gallup) that shows Kerry losing ground, ignore the half-dozen other surveys that show the reverse (including, more importantly, the state-by-state polls that show Kerry pulling out to a sizeable Electoral College lead), remove the election from its context as a sharply divided battle between two implacable adversaries (did anyone seriously believe Kerry was going to leave the convention with a twenty-point lead?), and you have what Eric Alterman has called a successful case of "working the ref" by the GOP. Media whores, indeed....

You ever read an obituary in which the most surprising aspect of the story was that the deceased had still been alive just a few days ago. Well, who knew that it took until last week for the last Tammany Hall puppetmaster, Carmine de Sapio, to join the Church Triumphant.

Anyone with questions why Paul DePodesta traded away his all-star catcher, top set-up man and starting right fielder for Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi and a top minor league prospect in the middle of a pennant race would be well-advised to note the ages of the players traded and the players acquired, and, especially, the discrepancy in the on-base percentage between Choi and both Paul Lo Duca and Juan Encarnacion. Lo Duca was a fan and media favorite, whose solid defensive play and hustle had allowed DodgerNation to get over the loss of his more illustrious predecessor, but his play in the second half the last few seasons had left a lot to be desired, and his defensive numbers were declining precipitously.

Night of the Living Kerry:  That was a nice piece of oratory tonight.  Of course, the Big Guy had me at "I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty."  This was a good round, maybe a critical round in the fight; let's see how strong a finisher he is.  Choosing to frame his speech around issues that Bush has been perceived to be strong, national security and social values, is a cagy maneuver, and his use of the time-honored GOP line about how the Federal Government should exercise the same discretion towards its budget as the average American family must have been a punch to the kidneys of Karl Rove.

I had heard awhile back that the Bushies were going to upstage Night of the Living Kerry by announcing the capture of Bin Laden (as it turns out, the Pakistanis did capture someone today), but this stunt reeks of desperation.

I have watched about an hour of live coverage from the Convention so far, mainly the speeches of Bill Clinton (one of the best he's given) and Barack Obama (terrific content, but I have a feeling that the buzz was over how well it went over to a live audience; on TV, his flat delivery made him seem more like a good motivational speaker than the second coming of WJB).  What can I say, it's been a slow news week...actual substantive contributions from the blogosphere can be found at WaMo and Reason, which have avoided the sort of treacly cheerleading and navelgazing that typify most of the other credentialed bloggers at the Fleet Center. 

Who said no news would happen at the Democratic Convention.  It turns out "Atrios" is a 32-year old econ prof at Bryn Mawr named Duncan Black.  TalkLeft has the candid photo...and he's definitely not Sidney Blumenthal.

Like most Angelenos, I tend to believe that the baseball season doesn't start until sometime after the Lakers' playoff run has ended, so it took me until the end of July to see my first game of the year at Chavez Ravine. Largest crowd ever for a regular season game at Dodger Stadium last night, and perhaps the loudest, most rambunctious group of fans I can remember since the early-80's, we saw the home team defeat the Padres, 3-2, on a walk-off home run in the ninth by Adrian Beltre. Most impressive was the fact that hardly any of the fans left early; being able to time our exits for the most apt point before the final out has always been a matter of pride for the locals, a symbolic act that placed the fan in control of his fate, not the team, but the fact that the Dodgers have perhaps the most dominating closer in the history of the game has reversed the equation. The whole point of going the last few seasons has been for the anticipation of seeing Mr. Game Over himself, Eric Gagne, so the natural order of things has been thrown askew; now, we have to stay til the ninth inning.

Another factor in the behaviour of the fans might well be the fact that we have access to two forms of rapid transit (the Red Line and the Gold Line) that have stops near the stadium. Both lines offer shuttles on Friday night that take you right to the Stadium, so the convenience of not having to fight the traffic (or pay for parking) now exists if you live in Pasadena, Hollywood, or the East Valley. Tickets have always been ridiculously cheap for games, so the fans tend to be less upscale than Lakers, and the crowd in the upper levels of the stadium (where I sat) is demographically similar to what you might get at a Magic Johnson theatre on a Saturday night. The ever-present transistor radio is now more likely to blare Jaime Jarrin than Vin Scully, an unqualified cultural blessing for those of us who eagerly yearn for the day when the Anglo minority can finally assimilate into the melting pot that is Southern California.

The decision tonight to permit the defense to introduce evidence that the accuser of Kobe Bryant had engaged in sexual activities with other men in the seventy-two hours prior to her medical exam, including a partner in the brief period after her encounter with the Laker franchise player, should bring this matter to a head in the next few days.  The judge's decision is the correct one, and further attempts by the prosecution to beat this dead horse have more in common with pre-1965 attitudes concerning miscegenation than any desire to seek justice.   

The controversy over Sandy Berger took another turn this morning after White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan admitted that the White House counsel's office was informed of the pending criminal investigation into Berger just before it was leaked to the press on Monday.  With the investigation pretty much dead in the water (the FBI hasn't even bothered to interview the "target", and reportedly has no plans to do so), this should probably go from being a comedy of errors starring an absent-minded bureaucrat, to yet another example of the Bush White House leaking confidential and/or classified information to the media for base political ends.