The Island

Headed to Puerto Rico for a few days. Back soon.

The Rundown

For one brief shining moment, it looked like John Kerry might have discovered some backbone. He gives his major foreign policy speech, and says decent, serious-minded things about sustained troop levels and taking on Saudi Arabia. But it was just a moment. In the (unscripted) interviews with the NYT and WashPost, Kerry proceeded to undercut and undermine every reasonable point he had made in the (scripted) speech - and somewhere, a press aide pulled out another clump of hair. And it turns out that his statement about "downplaying democracy" isn't a new one - in the past, Kerry has apparently always held that democracy was just another "system." So who to blame for the momentary backbone? Perhaps it was just another of those pesky overzealous speechwriters that he bashed a few weeks ago.

Today's article in The Washington Times on the ideological nature of the campaign is interesting - not necessarily because it's accurate (I don't think that the liberal v. conservative fight is as extreme as it would have been against Howard Dean), but because it seems to me that the President is approaching this political smackdown from a unique perspective. Read GWB's remarks at Concordia from a few weeks ago, and you get the sense that this really is going to be a campaign that puts compassionate neoconservatism at the forefront. I'm not going to say the language is as eloquent, but the overall point of this sort of speech has more in common with Lincoln than Reagan.

Jim Moran gets a little help from his friends. Moran is running another dirty campaign against a challenger for the Democrat nomination - if you're a voter in the district, be sure to take a refresher course on the man.

"We're not obsessed! We can quit any time we want to!"

In the annals of missed stories: Richard Clarke claims responsibility for the whole Saudi passengers thing that Michael Moore ranted about. So is he a folk hero no longer? Nope. I don't expect a retraction on this count.

Yes, the cicadas are loud and gross. But they're hardly Palmetto Bugs - no, they are not the same as Yankee roaches - they are big, and yes, they can fly (the rumor that they are South Carolina's state bird is thoroughly false, however). At least we're more than halfway done with the whole onslaught.

I wish Prof. Byron the best of luck with his tie issues.

The NFL June 1st cuts are rolling on in - Kurt Warner is almost assuredly headed to New York, and Vinny Testaverde will almost assuredly head to Dallas. The other June 1 pickings are slim - but of the rest, I think Jeremiah Trotter, Jason Gildon, and Kenyatta Walker all have the capability to fill major needs for 2-3 years. And adding Eddie George to an Oakland backfield that already has Hambrick, Zereoue, Wheatley and Fargas would be interesting.

Shaquille O'Neal advances. And no, I have nothing nice to say about those referees.

The Simple Answer

In response to the Senator from Massachusetts:

They call their policy "accommodation." And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer - not an easy answer - but simple...

We are told that the problem is too complex for a simple answer. They are wrong. There is no easy answer, but there is a simple answer. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right. And this policy of accommodation asks us to accept the greatest possible immorality.

Ronald Reagan

Caption Contest

The Christian and the Pagan

There's been a mini-debate regarding Troy going on between Mark Butterworth (an intelligent fellow that I hadn't previously read) and me via Paul Cella. Basically: Butterworth and Cella are outraged by the film, while I am disappointed in it but think it's worth seeing. Read the comments on the thread, including this one from yours truly:

But secondly - and more importantly - I still think of the Trojan War as essentially a pagan epic, while I think of LOTR as an inherently Christian and Catholic epic. Thus, I would've been a lot more upset by a mangling of Tolkien's work than Homer's. This doesn't excuse the latter, it just means I don't see the story as sacred - the hollow and pointless story the filmmakers settled on is lousy, but what can you expect any more?

Butterworth responds with this point - essentially, that Homer’s epics transcend their pagan roots and become something more meaningful and important:

I'm hearing from a number of people that they don't think Troy is that bad: A cheesy, popcorn movie that entertains

I can't challenge those artifacts of criticism, but I don't see Homer's works as pagan epics. The insight into the nature of God (through the manifestation of "gods") in the ancient world doesn't deserve our scorn. Homer also illustrated the Greek moral culture of Hospitality, reverence for the bodies and souls of the dead, sincere petitionary prayer, reverence for the transcendant, and insight in how people experienced God.

Along with the ideals of Arete which is more than just Honor, Homer was striking chords that are Christian today.

Add to the romance of Paris and Helen, the married love of Odysseus and Penelope, and you get a profound imagination extolling the virtues of human life against the tragic sins and centrifugal selfishness of humans.

People can become better humans and Christians by understanding Homer.

I can't dispute that final point, and I won't - on this, I essentially agree with Mark and G.K. Chesterton (be sure to read this quotation). In my view, The Iliad falls into the Philippians 4:8 category - "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any virtue and anything worthy of praise, think upon these things."

There are certainly elements of this epic that put it in that category. But I would make one caveat, something that I believe is significant: what divides Homer's epic from Christianity - indeed, what divides all pagan epics from the ultimate truth - is the absence of merciful salvation from a higher power.

The gods who make up more than half of the story in Homer's poem are vindictive, spiteful, jealous beings. They use humanity alternatively as pawns and as amusements. There is no love lost between the immortal and the mortal. And ultimately, the great heroes of Troy are those who fought the will of the gods - the greatest Trojan hero of them all, Hector, falls entirely because of the gods' aid to Achilles, perhaps the greatest pagan hero the world has ever known.

The study of Homer is like looking at a beautiful painting - it can tell us something important and valuable about human nature and the world we inhabit. But like all pagan works of art, there is ultimately nothing in The Iliad but the hollowness of manufactured beauty - lovely to behold, but there is no God.

Portrait of a Memorial as a Dog Park

What a travesty.

Yes, the pictures are pretty. So is the real thing. As I stood in the World War II monument today, I saw stars, inscriptions, wreaths galore - a cacophony of patriotica. And those fountains are quite nice.

But so what?

There's nothing awesome - in the proper meaning of the word - about this monument. There's no stories of victories won or cities liberated or captives freed. It's essentially a ring of blocked out wreath-laden stones with "Rhode Island" and other state names written on them. For a moment, I got the distinct feeling that I'd stumbled on an ALEC meeting.

There's no sense of "this is why we fight." There's no sense in "we shall never surrender." There's no sense of "this was our finest hour." There's only the feeling of vague unease, as if you're willing yourself to be moved by something that just ... doesn't.

The whole thing could just as easily be an oval effigy dedicated to the Triumphant Return of the Mighty Postmoderns. It is clumsy and bureaucratic. It has no classic line or form. It is as graceless and hollow as the lobby of a modern governmental building.

Memorial Day is supposed to be dedicated to the honored dead. But I saw no heroic dead at the World War II memorial. The complaint that no soldiers are depicted is sadly true: "It is freestanding sculptures of fighting men that should ring the sunken plaza, not the silly pillars, whose symbolism of the states and territories is superfluous."

Those who seek a real monument should stay away from this dog park on Memorial Day. Go somewhere that shows us what victory looks like. Go somewhere that reminds us why we fight. Go somewhere that actually honors the heroic dead - named and nameless.

We are often tempted to ask ourselves what we gained by the enormous sacrifices made by those to whom this memorial is dedicated. But that was never the issue with those who marched away. They only saw the light shining on the clear path to duty. They only saw their duty to resist oppression, to protect the weak, to vindicate the profound but unwritten Law of Nations, to testify to truth and justice and mercy among men.

They never asked the question, "What shall we gain?" They asked only the question, "Where lies the right?"

Winston Churchill

Learned While Watching the 24 Finale

Heroes drive Fords.

Evil terror dudes, on the other hand, drive ugly Chevy Malibus.

Good to know.

The Rundown

A good speech overall by the President. Some people are criticizing that the "specific" plan isn't specific enough - but compared to what Sen. Kerry has offered, it's positively comprehensive. Kerry doesn't have a plan - he just wants whatever you want until election day, and then after that he wants whatever 51% of us want. That's a scary thought that only gets worse when you consider what we're up against.

Michelle Malkin has the best response to Cutler and Cox: "This female Beavis and Butthead duo illustrate what normal Americans hate about the Capitol scene: narcissism, moral bankruptcy and self-congratulatory media-political incest."

Stanley Kurtz responds to his critics on Scandinavia - the fact that the left is still trying to insist that the Scandinavia examples don't apply just shows how damaging the simple, reasonable, fact-based arguments against same-sex marriage truly are. Read more from Kurtz on the Netherlands in this piece, which breaks some more ground.

At least Andrew Sullivan isn't alone when it comes to accusing the Virginia legislature of bigotry - now the activists are threatening to start a "boycott Virginia" campaign. This story continues to be hyped when all logic and sensible interpretation of the law in question defies the position of the same-sex marriage activists. Just answer me this: does your ability to hold a joint bank account arise from being married?

Pete Coors will go by the Big Ten if elected, and he supports the Federal Marriage Amendment. If there's a reason not to support him, I don't see it.

Even if you didn't follow the link to Bill Cosby's speech last week, be sure to follow this one: it's amazing how the black community is going into contortions over what Cosby had to say. Mfume is not alone in freaking out whenever someone starts preaching personal responsibility.

Fred Barnes and Michael Moore make for an interesting pair - turns out Moore has written up a specific and silly lie that's absolutely ludicrous if you know Fred at all. How far is Moore from this, really?

I thought liberals were supposed to be bitingly funny - but all Ralph Nader can come up with is calling the President A Messianic Militarist?

MTV will launch a network designed for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. It's going to be part of the basic cable lineup next year. But didn't they already have that? Or wait - will they play music videos there? Cause then even I might watch.

This is a pathetic piece of Saddam Nostalgia that really turns the stomach. Kudos to Best of the Web for ripping it up into teeny shreds.

My own prediction on this supposed blockbuster: Day After Tomorrow never dies, but it just fades into nothingness. I think people have had their fill of disaster movies, and just don't want to see this kind of thing in the wake of September 11th.

The best example of liberal media bias in the past five years is right here: And this is just the ideological self-rating!

The Court of Appeals ruled against Maurice Clarett, but the case is going to continue, and Clarett will file a motion to go before the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. At this point the whole thing is basically moot - Clarett is older than more than 25 members of the rookie class, and by the time the case is over, he'll already be eligible to play. But it'll be interesting to see what happens if this gets all the way to the top.

One last word on the Troy debate: yup, I like Gabe's version better.

Russ Potts Crosses the Line

I hadn't seen this article before. State Sen. Russ Potts has now officially crossed the line. The man who boasted that he was the first pro-life Chairman of the Education and Health Committee, the man who said on multiple occasions that he was "100 percent pro-life," is embraced as a hero of the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition.

Read the following, keeping in mind that Potts has "strongly hinted" that he's going to run for Governor in 2005. And considering the current state of the party, we can't rule out the possibility that he might win the nomination.

"We are at a crossroads," said Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, whose chairmanship of the Senate Education and Health Committee helped defeat a series of anti-abortion bills in the General Assembly before it went into extended session. "We have a battle on our hands here, and this battle will be won by the energy in this room. And we've got to move this party to the middle. You govern from the middle."

...Potts, serving his fourth term, narrowly won a primary victory last year over a Republican, Middleburg businessman Mark Tate. The race was so close because "intelligent women like you didn't vote," Potts told the audience.

Ah, I see. Insulting your constituents is always a great way to work. Or was it that close because Virginia women are smart enough to see that Russ Potts lies whenever his lips move?

NFL Notes

-Playoffs? What Playoffs? The NFL has no offseason. So let's play a little game of quarterback shuffle.

-Well done, Kerry Collins, well done. For all the prognosticators who said that Collins should have stayed in New York – you’re idiots, and you’re wrong. Just compare the situations from Collins' perspective, and give a fair assessment of Oakland's offseason moves. It's not even close.

In New York: the most hyped quarterback to come out of College Football since… well… Peyton Manning sitting behind you on the bench, ready to take away the job as soon as you falter or throw your first INT; fans who expect to win now, despite injuries, age, and major holes; a front office that still fails to see the need for a reload of youth; a one year contract that would’ve required you to lower your salary to stay; you’ve got a new coach who’s already pissed everyone off; and after two years of horrible play, still no offensive line to speak of.

In Oakland, you’ve got a new coach and a new system that’s a better fit for your talents; your chief competition for the starting job is a guy who’s going to retire next year anyway; you can play for a three years and earn good money living it up in California; you get to throw to Jerry Rice (great hands) and Jerry Porter (great speed); the fans will love you if you succeed, think your bad-boy image is an asset, and will eat your enemies alive; the media is like a promotional operation by comparison to NYC; Teyo Johnson is going to be just as good as Shockey, but without the mouth; instead of facing blitz-mad D's like Philly and Dallas four times every season, you get to go all pass-wacky against the likes of Kansas City and San Diego four times a year (that's a gift for the TD/INT ratio, let me tell ya); Norv Turner is a nice guy, and he won't cuss you out like Coughlin would; plus he's still a slobbernocker guy, and he's going to have you hand off to Wheatley and pitch to Fargas two out of every three plays - the third, you get to throw a long bomb, and chicks dig the long bomb; and best of all, you’ve got two of the best young offensive linemen in the league in Robert Gallery and Jake Grove. And those boys are mean - just plain mean.

No contest. The Raiders aren't a championship team - I can already see a 9-7 season, with a slump near the end as the defense's age becomes a factor - but they're a heckuva lot closer to a run than New York is, and it's a far better situation for Collins all around. John Facenda and The Autumn Wind win by a landslide.

-Then there's the strange case of Tim Couch. Couch is willing to go to the Green Bay Packers, but he only wants a one-year deal - and his agent is making noise like he's willing to stay in Cleveland.

Now I understand that the Packers - who really are America's Team at this point, and in my mind they've been that since 1996 - provide a dangerous situation. Anyone coming in to lead that team and replace Brett Favre will almost certainly do a lousy job... because no one can successfully replace Brett Favre. There's only one #4, period.

Tim Couch knows that, and he probably fears that prospect. While Couch is a good QB, and could actually live up to his initial billing if he was on a team with a running game and an O-Line (both of which Green Bay has in great amounts), he hasn't taken pressure well ever since his playmate/girlfriend Heather Kozar left him for Cade McNown. He gets rabbit ears, he plays poorly at home, and he gets nervous and rattled.

[Note: This is not an unmanly sentiment - any man has the right to be emotionally scarred if they are dumped for the likes of Cade McNown]

So facing the prospect of the biggest pressure backup situation in the league, Couch wants a one year deal, so he'll get a chance to play if Brett goes down (not bloody likely) and then go out on the open market next year. But this makes no sense to me, and Couch should get someone to slap him upside the head and tell him to forget those rabbit ears.

Consider: when did Lambeau Field ever turn on one of their own? It just doesn't happen. And what about the ability to have Ahman Green in your backfield - doesn't that count for something? Not to mention that the Packers are more and more becoming a run-heavy big set team, one that will protect Couch and allow him time. Yes, it's a pressure situation - but Couch should jump at the chance to play there, and ask for a 5 year deal right off the bat.

I mean, come on - does he really want to end up being a backup somewhere else? At this point, the starting jobs are all spoken for or have set competitors, with the possible exception of Miami (if Feeley looked as bad as they say he did, they out to consider trading for a vet).

-I feel Bill Simmons' pain: "I'm still coming to grips with the Corey Dillon trade, if only because it's the first time the Pats made a trade that I had actually already made in 'Madden.'"

But maybe he should be referencing "ESPN Football" now, considering that they won the best sports game award outright at E3. The Mel Kiper feature sounds especially interesting, and I'll have to at least rent this game to check it out. It's always been my feeling that while ESPN's football game (and the Sega 2K series, as it was called before 2003) is that it had better graphics and gameplay options, but suffered from a lack of franchise depth and an overall ugliness to the design - even though the textures and faces were better than Madden, the players all seemed to have boxy torsos and no shoulders, and ran like they had a pole strapped to their back.

If they've fixed that problem, I'd be interested in giving a different game a shot - but Madden is still the gold standard, and the fact that ESPN lacks an NCAA Football Game (to import players in franchise mode) is a real negative in my mind. You can find more here and here.

The Death of Shame

The Rundown

"According to USA Today, the Kerry campaign now has $28 million dollars in the bank. After hearing this, Mrs. Kerry said: 'That is so cute!'"

Conan O'Brien

Scroll down to read where Mrs. Heinz-Kerry talks numbers, and then answer this: was she using European measurements or something? Either that, or she's trying to bring back "Rubenesque" as a positive description.

Gregg Easterbrook has his one valuable point of the month, concerning the new status of single people in America:

"[I]f marriage loses its classical definition of a union between one man and one woman, acquiring a new definition of "benefits granted to any two people who make a legal commitment to each other" - since last Monday this has basically been the definition of marriage in Massachusetts - singles may have reason to be ticked off. Why shouldn't they get the benefits, too?"

Michael Kinsley has the answer: David Brooks is not merely a liberal. He's French.

We can't ignore border issues any longer. Whatever side you're on, you have to acknowledge that it can't stay this way. The status quo is not an option.

Sen. Clinton acknowledges that yes, there are pro-life Democrats.

Looks like Ken Salazar may not have a cakewalk to the nomination in Colorado's Democrat Senate primary. The AG was beaten at the state convention by more liberal school administrator Mark Miles, who now takes the top billing on the August 10th primary ballot. Salazar will probably still win this thing, but a tougher primary race will soften him up for the general.

Bully for Hofstra.

Doesn't this say more about historians than anything else? Doesn't this say more about a society that tolerates such things? Doesn't this say more about who is in the Washington Post's sphere of influence?

I can't stand Wonkette, but this stuff on Kerry's slogan is a good laugh.

From the Browns Insider: “The Poston brothers are infamous for contentious negotiations and training camp holdouts. Winslow admitted that he laughed at the recent Internet parody satirizing Winslow and the Postons' upcoming negotiations with the Browns.”

Finally, Political truth is stranger than fiction: "[Sen. Robert] Byrd, who took up the fiddle in the seventh grade, said he harbored dreams of being a professional musician as a youngster."

The Many Faces of Helen

Despicable Paris, handsomest of men,
you woman-mad deceiver. How I wish
you were never born, or died unmarried.
That's what I'd prefer, so much better
than to live in shame, mocked by others.
Now the long-haired Achaeans laugh
when you appear as champion - champion of beauty -
But have no strength, nor character, nor courage.

Hector's rebuke: The Iliad, Book 3

It's safe to say this topic has been worked to death. But the weekend is coming up, and it's worth advising you to see Troy if you haven't already. It's a comic book-style film, so it's worth the theater experience. Just try not to go expecting to see anything more than a popcorn flick, try not to notice that the other women in the film are far more Helen-like than Helen, and try not to remember that Brad Pitt is now 40 - and yes, he's actually a good actor.

Getting into plot-based nitpicks would be pointless - there's so much in the film that's off, it's like getting mad at Baz Luhrmann for Romeo + Juliet. All the great storytelling and epic buildup is thrown out in favor of traditional movie story arcs. I was only really frustrated by how poorly the good supporting characters are employed - Ajax goes down like a rube in the first major conflict, Menelaus is dispatched at the get-go, and the gods are all off camera or trapped on Turner Movie Classics with Claude Raines. Robert lists some of the more glaring issues, and those are just the big ones.

I was almost as frustrated by the reviewers, who all did their best to pretend that they actually read The Iliad in college, instead of skipping that class for Sociology 101 with the better looking professor. I don't know how many reviewers made reference to Homer's description of the death of Achilles - but Homer never described Achilles' death. That was Ovid. And neither of them came up with Achilles' heel as his weak point - that was Statius, and then only in passing.

In the end, for all the time the on-screen characters spend talking about how epic the war is, the larger context of the superhuman relation to the human - in other words, the very elements that made the story larger than life - are completely absent.

But hey, it's summer, and it's muggy out. Go do your part for capitalism and see a good flick. Just don't expect an epic.

Limits of Understanding

Just playing some catchup now, but I'd be one weak blogger if I didn't note that Ramesh had an excellent explanation of Del. Bob Marshall's Virginia law - you remember, the one that had folks murmuring about Neanderthal values and Sullivan and Goldberg at odds?

Here's what the law actually says:

A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited. Any such civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created thereby shall be void and unenforceable.

Bob Marshall has been called many a name in his day, but foolish is not one of them. The law will do what he claims it will do: prohibit recognition only of domestic partnerships that bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage.

Simply: If you can get something from the law - a privilege or obligation - outside of marriage, then it's not a "privilege or obligation of marriage" now, is it. If I have a privilege as a brother or a business partner, it in no way arises from the privileges and obligations I have as a married man.

This is pretty basic stuff. If Sullivan continues to get hung up on this sort of thing, he's either lazy or being purposefully stubborn in his belief that you can't be opposed to same-sex marriage without being a bigot.

But Which Team?

In response to some requests related to the life issue, I've posted the full article from Roll Call a week ago on the ramifications of what went down in Pennsylvania. Measure the Specter victory in honest terms.

The Rundown

The President and Stanley Kurtz have reactions to Marriage in Massachusetts. It's also worth reading this convincing and practical argument on why the marriage issue can't be left to the states.

Was this Kerry statement on judges made on purpose, or was it a flub? If it was intentional, it could be interesting what Kerry is trying to get across here, particularly by reminding the pro-choicers that he voted for Scalia. Maybe someone on the campaign is smart enough to realize that they can now avoid the litmus test accusation.

You can already see the political ramifications of the Virginia GOP's pro-tax stance: presumed Gov. nominee Jerry Kilgore has to run against his own party on the issues. And I think he'll win.

On balance, this was not a bad deal, though I personally wouldn't have made it. It's clear that the White House was thinking: no one else wants to be recess appointed, and we don't think we can make this issue play outside of the base, and they care about the ones who are already publicized - so there's no benefit to keeping these other nominees hanging in limbo. I'm glad that Leon Holmes got through, but that's the only real win in the deal.

Safire has the best take on the coverage of the Sarin gas shell. Or non-coverage: Only at the NYTimes is a gallon equivalent to "small traces." The find is significant, as Joe Carter points out effectively.

Andrew Sullivan is Horace Greeley. And that's a nice way to put it.

Bill Cosby's honesty on the anniversary of Brown v. Board provokes a strained response from Mfume and his fellow henchmen.

Embryonic stem cells - not so valuable after all. According to a study by C.A. Cowan and others in the New England Journal of Medicine, over time embryonic-stem-cell lines develop severe chromosomal deficiencies, including a form of cell change found in cancer. And that's just the first problem.

Here's an interesting GMU study on developing child intelligence.

Oversupply meet little demand; the low carb biz losing steam.

Baseball in DC is still unlikely in my opinion, but it's a heckuva lot more likely to happen than Baseball in VA. One tax hike is one too many for the Old Dominion.

ESPN is sued for stealing stats - whether it's true or not, that's an ingenious way to catch an online thief.

This article on Mark Brunell makes him out to be the most faith-hungry player I've ever heard of. Of course, I still think he'll be on the bench by mid-season.

Finally: Can Star Wars: Episode III be saved from George Lucas? The short answer: No. The long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooo. Of course, there's always the chance that your brain's defensive mechanism will kick in and it'll curl up and die while you're sitting in the theatre.

Game Seven

It seems so fitting that the season all came down to Chris Webber.

The past was heavy on that court. The history of Game Seven losses. The missed free throws. The stone cold slumps. The disappointment. And no one has more demons in his past than Webber - the time out, the payola, the last minute collapses.

The prognosticators said the pressure was on Minnesota - but they'd never been this far, never tasted a Game Seven. They didn't know what to feel or think. They didn't know how a screaming crowd sounds when an opponents' three goes down like a guillotine. They didn't know how to react. So they could only react one of two ways: with fear, or with determination.

46 minutes. 32 points. 21 rebounds. 5 blocks. 4 steals.

That's determination. Determination is the pregame ritual, clapping the handful of rosin together, an over the top homage to MJ. Determination is Sam Cassell playing on one leg and a bad back. Determination is all but 14 points coming from the TWolves big three.

The ghosts were swarming Webber tonight.

But he didn't let them stop him for most of the game. He was playing at 70% health, but he played hard. He made the shots he should have made, until that last one. He wasn't the star who turned cold - that was Peja, who was 3-12 from the field, with 8 points and 7 rebounds... in 46 minutes. That's from the guy who ranked 2nd in the NBA in points per game for the regular season. Unbelievable.

If the Kings had won, no one would point out how hobbled Webber was, how he's lost the burst he once had, how the once mighty CWebb is on the edge of just being another role player. There would be no need for someone to blame. But now there is someone to blame. And on a Kings team where age and salary is a factor, Divac and Webber are likely to be gone.

The inbounds pass across the court, into Webber's hands, he sets, he blinks, he shoots, a good look - I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in ghosts - and oh, it goes in... and out.

T-Wolves win. CWebb goes home.

New Improved Marriage

In Massachusetts today, what was once a public institution - a union ordained by the Almighty and blessed by society as the wellspring of children and family - has now become one more affirmation of sin.

D-Day, H-Hour came at midnight, where same-sex marriage licenses were first distributed - and continue as we blog. The reaction is as might be expected. Hadley Arkes has a useful documentation of who let this happen - how four justices and one weak response ended up separating one state from countless other state laws that defend and uphold traditional marriage.

There was an interesting point over the weekend in a extremely skewed NYTimes piece, as expressed by Cheryl Jacques of the Human Rights Campaign. She called the pro-traditional marriage ballot initiatives election year stunts, which are "all about the president energizing his base and dividing and conquering in this election ... Gay and lesbian people are just being used as pawns."

Who are the pawns here, really? Was it conservative Supreme Court judges who forced the issue on Massachusetts? Was it FRC that asked the Human Rights Campaign to become the enemy of families? Was the mayor of San Francisco trying to give the President an election-year issue and put John Kerry in a tough position? Was it conservatives who decided to rekindle the culture wars? Was it Jim Dobson who whispered in Justice Kennedy's ear, telling him to write the most expansive opinion possible in Lawrence v. Texas and declare that the state must recognize a right to any sexual relationship?

No - it was the activists who pushed this issue, who attacked marriage and family, who started this fight. And Americans who believe in tradition and morality will respond.

This description of the preparations for the Massachusetts reaction includes this note. Expect more like it in the future:

Much of the attention will focus on Boston's Arlington Street Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation where gay and lesbian newlyweds will walk down the aisle throughout the day Wednesday in back-to-back wedding services.

"Come make history!" proclaims a sign outside the rust-colored downtown church, which was established in 1729. "Arlington Street Church will be open for Civil Marriage License Signing."

Do Not Underestimate Phil Jackson

He did it again. That evil genius did it again. One lucky shot deserves another, says the giant.

Anyone want to say that was fixed?

This is the honest truth, coming from a bonafide genuine certified Laker-hater: when it comes down to those final tenths of a second in the game, and the Lakers are down by a score to my team (which is of course the Kings, but on game night also includes every team that the Lakers play against), I do not mumble superstitious curses or invoke the ghosts of former greats. Because I do not fear the players on the court. I do not fear Kobe. I do not fear Shaq.

I fear the Zen Master. With famine and slaughter, he has returned.