Smythe's World

My lil' nephew wishes you all a Happy Halloween !!

Dixiecrat Watch: Former Lester Maddox aide (and gay rights opponent) Zell Miller has endorsed George Bush in the 2004 election.

Awhile back I removed all the pseudonymous sites from my blogroll, out of fear that I might have legal exposure if one of those sites made a defamatory statement or criminal threat against a third party. As it turns out, that fear was unfounded, although I kept the general policy of not linking to anonymous sites. I made an exception for Eschaton, the wildly popular website of the blogger known as "Atrios". I figured that since I went to his site several times a day anyways, and people whose judgment I trusted, such as James Capozzola, vouched for him, I might as well.

In any event, the issue in the blogosphere the last couple of days (mentioned here on Wednesday) is the threatening letter sent from an attorney for another blogger, Donald Luskin, accusing "Atrios" (whose real name is "Donovan McNabb") of libeling him by calling him a "stalker" of esteemed columnist Paul Krugman, and of tolerating the presence of third-party commenters, who supposedly said even crueler things. Obviously, a successful lawsuit would irreparably damage the internet, and the fact that Luskin has jokingly admitted to being a stalker of Prof. Krugman in the past makes this an example of everything people hate about the legal system. For those of you who are interested, though, TalkLeft has a legal analysis of blogger liability for third-party comments with which I concur.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the post-Vail era in Laker history has been the "revelation" that Kobe Bryant is not a popular person within the Laker organization. For a number of writers, the fact that he remains a beloved figure with fans is difficult to fathom; after all, if Shaq doesn't like him, and reporters think he's an a-hole, and he's currently facing rape charges to boot, then how dare the fans give him a standing-o at Staples. This article is typical of the emerging meme, that for fans to disbelieve the rape charges against Kobe is itself an outrage, even though, as this writer puts it, no one has seen the evidence yet.

In fact, the reason why the fans are waiving "Free Kobe" signs is the same reason political activists thirty years ago were demanding freedom for Hurricane Carter: they believe that the charges are bogus, and that the notion that Kobe Bryant may spend the rest of his life in prison for the actions of that night is itself an outrage. To put it another, they think (with good reason after the preliminary hearing) that the accuser is lying, that real rape victims don't party up a storm and boast about their assailant's "size" several days after the attack, as this woman supposedly did, or, when she was examined only hours after the attack, wear a pair of undergarments stained with another man's semon. Rape is not a victimless crime, not when the accused may go to prison for a long, long time, so where is the injured party here? The fact that Kobe can afford Atticus Finch to represent him does not make him any more guilty, nor does it make his fans sexist pigs for supporting him.

And, in any event, since when does Shaq have any credibility as a team leader? The Lakers' drive for a fourth straight title was thwarted last year when Shaq chose not to get surgery until the last second, and played most of the season out-of-shape. Until Kobe became "the Man", the go-to guy on the floor, O'Neill had won a total of zero rings, and having the Mailman and Payton on the floor with The Big Diesel this season will not mean a thing come the last week of May against the Spurs (and considering how the Lakers obtained The Three Tenors who starred opening night, it would be hypocritical for fans to disparage Kobe's wish to test the free agency waters at the end of the season).

Fact of the matter is, the fans like Kobe because they see in his drive to excel, his passion for the spotlight, something they hadn't seen since Magic Johnson. I fell in love with the guy in Game 5 against Utah in 1997, when he threw up two airballs in overtime with the game on the line. This was someone who wanted the ball, who knew he was a star, even if his talent wasn't at that level yet, and the unbelievable yarbles of a rookie off the bench insisting that he was The Man won me over, even if it ended the Lakers' playoff run early that year. I suspect that a lot of other Laker fans share that feeling, and that is why the sports media is barking up the wrong tree on this one.

Another thin-skinned wingnut is heading to the courts. It's amazing that for all the whining conservatives do about "frivolous lawsuits" and trial lawyers, they're the first ones to threaten litigation when their feelings are hurt.

Death Is Just a Statistic Dept.: This is a truly despicable quote, which, which, heaven forbid, is awful.

"Professor" Camille Paglia, on blogging:

Blog reading for me is like going down to the cellar amid shelves and shelves of musty books that you're condemned to turn the pages of. Bad prose, endless reams of bad prose! There's a lack of discipline, a feeling that anything that crosses one's mind is important or interesting to others. People say that the best part about writing a blog is that there's no editing -- it's free speech without institutional control. Well, sure, but writing isn't masturbation -- you've got to self-edit.

I'm so glad we got that cleared up. You should also read her tribute to Rush Limbaugh; it's easily the funniest thing I've read this year !!

I doubt this bill will ever get out of committee, or be signed by Herr Ziffel if if comes to that, but a pair of influential legislators in California have finally put the NCAA's feet to the fire by introducing a bill that would forbid colleges in the Golden State from obeying regulations mandating amateurism for student-athletes. It's always amazed me the amount of newsprint that gets wasted on investigating whether some booster gives a campus superstar a loaner to drive around town, and perhaps some spending money for dates and such, as if it were a sin to receive something that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow if the beneficiary weren't a college athlete. Colleges rake in hundreds of [CONTINUED]

Mickey Kaus has an already much-commented-on piece defending blogs as a method of communication, or journalism, or whatever the hell it is. Most of his argument is devoted to justifying the one thing that all blogs have in common: that the editor and the author are the same person. A "blog" with a third-party editor, such as the SacBee columnist Daniel Weintraub, is entirely different fauna, like comparing a man with a mannequin, or a Sierra Nevada P.A. to a Samuel Adams.

If I have an argument with Kaus, it is over a specific weakness that blogs have which he seems to gloss over (in comparing this type of journalism to Matt Drudge, for instance), something that might be alleviated with an editor, but is really more a reflection of the blogger himself. That is, the lack of due diligence paid to making sure you get the post right. Sometimes, it's just a matter of using spellcheck a little more faithfully. But more often, it is the nasty habit a lot of bloggers have of publishing something because it sounds like a good story, rather than checking to ensure its accuracy. Spreading discredited stories undermines our craft, and it happens all too frequently with blogging.

For example, last month several right-wing bloggers picked up and ran with the story that actor Ed Asner had made some glowing remarks about Joseph Stalin, to the effect that he was "misunderstood" and that he would love to portray him in a movie. The story came from a conservative radio host who was recounting a conversation he had with the man some time ago. As it turns out, the Limbaugh-wannabee had gotten it wrong, and to his credit, retracted his accusation; an audio recording of the conversation revealed that Asner had merely noted the lack of movies and TV portraying Stalin, and had stated that he would like to take a crack at the role.

Those in the blogosphere who had so uncritically linked to a story smearing one of our most distinguished actors reacted with outrage towards their source's retraction, when a sense of humility would have more appropriate. Did any of these people think to contact their source for this story, to see how legitimate it was (the way a real journalist-blogger e-mailed me to find out how much of my October 6 posting on Gray Davis was truthful)? Did they exhibit any skepticism about what was clearly hearsay evidence? Obviously not. Asner's alleged quote fit within the prism of their ideological worldview, one that views any leftist thought as per se treasonous, and they fisked away. Those who bothered to make a correction blamed their source, rather than questioned their own methods.

This isn't the only example that comes to mind; some of you might recall the bogus definition of the MeChA slogan that made it's way from racist websites to bloggers to Fox News. Nor is this limited to the right; if Michael Moore were to claim that President Bush relieved himself on a homeless person while on the way to this morning's press conference, you can be rest assured that MWO would link to that account before the afternoon, just as it tried to spread a rumor about the homosexuality of one of Bush's judicial nominees last spring. Since not all of us can hire factcheckers to work on our vanity sites, it is incumbent on bloggers to act ethically when posting, and that means treating all outside information with skepticism.

Attn Alias Fans: The Russian word for "Peace" is mir, nor "Irina". However, "Irene" is the Greek Goddess of Peace, and that sort of sounds like "Irina". Now go back to your chat rooms.

Outside the window of my Warner Center office, I can see the first evidence that the worst fire in almost a decade has finally reached Los Angeles County. The hills above Chatsworth are aflame, and the air quality outside looks like it came from a Mexican location scene from the movie Traffic. For the first time, we're starting to see ashes floating down from the sky. The fires so far have been in relatively sparsely-populated areas to the north and east of the city; if they extend to the Valley itself, the damage, in terms of property and lives, will increase geometrically.

BTW, my esteemed bloghomie Matt Welch will be in the No-Spin Zone tonight, speaking on the efficacy of the government insuring hillside residences in fire zones. No doubt, O'Reilly will blame it all on the Clintons.

The SF Chronicle gives my brother's club a good write-up. I've always wanted to go to The Smell, and even wanted to have my 40th birthday there, but then I realized the lack of a liquor license would mean that I would either have to pay for the drinks, or I would be telling the invitees to "BYOB", and that didn't seem right. Though I probably missed Deerhoof. [link via LA Observed]

Frank Rich doesn't have a twice-a-week column anymore, so when he does opine about politics, it is well worth reading. Here, he attacks the complacent media coverage of The Bush Debacle, and the slow emergence of a press willing to call this Administration on its lies. Disappointingly, he doesn't mention his own paper's sorry track record in this area. The post-Raines coverage of the war and its aftermath has been toothless, particularly over the Plame Affair, where it has been completely outclassed by the Washington Post.

Speaking of the New York Times, a much-derided historical footnote has been in the news this past week. A Russian historian at Columbia, hired by the Times to investigate the reporting of long-deceased correspondent Walter Duranty, has concluded that the 1931 dispatches from Moscow that won him the Pulizer Prize were, by and large, Stalinist propaganda, and has privately urged that said prize be revoked. Duranty, who played the same role with Stalin that Howard Kurtz plays with the current President, with a little Krauthammerian tolerance for authoritarianism mixed in, has been a target for some time; back in the 1930's, his "reporting" was attacked by none other than Leon Trotsky, and Ukrainian groups in this country have more recently focused on his subsequent whitewashing of a famine that claimed the lives of millions. In fact, much of the commentary about the Pulitzer's investigation of Duranty has focused on his coverage of the famine, even though it had nothing to do with the original award.

Here's hoping the Pulitzer Prize Board does the right thing and rejects the efforts at revisionist history. Duranty was a disgrace to journalism, and his stories aided and abetted one of the great mass murderers of history. But the people who dole out the Pulitzer Prize didn't care at the time that it was honoring someone who was explaining away a tyrant's actions, and who was rationalizing the emergence of a totalitarian state. Duranty's columns at the time frankly mentioned that Stalin was an absolute dictator, but said it didn't matter. In 1932, the Pulitzer Prize Board could have cared less.

Revoking an award should be done only if the honoree cheated to win (ie., Janet Cooke making up stories, or JFK winning the award for a book that was ghostwritten for him), or is subsequently discovered to have done something totally inconsistent with that honor (ie., the Hockey H.O.F.'s efforts at revoking the membership given to Alan Eagleson, founder of the player's union, after he pled guilty to embezzling money from said union). It should not happen just because we have changed our minds about obsequious journalism about mass murder. In sports, it is akin to revoking OJ Simpson's Heisman Trophy because he subsequently killed two people; no matter what sort of rat the Juice became later in life, he was still the best college football player in 1968. Letting Duranty keep his dirty honor reminds us that achievement and character are completely different concepts.

UPDATE: The Great Duranty lives !!

I love my nephew !

It's not online, but this week's New Yorker features an article by Jeffrey Toobin about the difficulties prosecutors have in constructing a winnable criminal case against former Enron executives and BushLite Crony Capitalism poster-boys Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. One problem is the unwillingness of lower-level executives to rat out their former bosses; none of the trials are scheduled to commence until the middle of next year, reducing any sense of urgency on the defendant's behalf to cop a plea. The trial judge presiding in the Andrew Fastow case, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Hoyt, is an interesting character in his own right, sort of a Southwest version of Janice Rogers Brown. Nominated by Ronald Reagan, Judge Hoyt, an African- American, once opined in a 1997 environmental case that

"...physical differences among races were the product of their environments. 'Why do you think Chinese people are short? Because there is so much damn wind over there they need to be short. Why are they so tall in Africa? Because they need to be tall. It's environmental,' he said. 'I mean, you don't jump up and get a banana off a tree if you're only 4 feet. If you're 7 feet tall and you're standing in China, then you're going to get blown away by that Siberian wind, aren't you?' "

So much for Yao Ming. He later recused himself. More recently, Judge Hoyt threw out the conviction last August of a man who had driven a truck into an abortion clinic, holding that the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was unconstitutional.

As it turns out, State A.G. Bill Lockyer still believes that Ahnold Ziffel should be investigated, even though he voted for him. With the potential for more post-election bombshells about the governor-elect to come out, it's refreshing that at least one Democrat in Sacramento has an instinct for opportunism.

Elsewhere: Slate.com has an hilarious dialogue on the World Series, between Charles Pierce (the sportswriter from Friday Altercation) and Allan Barra; where else can you hear the Yankees middle relievers described as a "trip to Mordor"? Prof. DeLong has a scathing piece on Justice Scalia, who recently recused himself from hearing the Pledge of Allegiance case due to his personal relationship with one of the interested parties (ie., "God"), and the logical ramifications of his judicial philosophy. And Spinsanity tears a new one into NaziPundit.

This is an indication that I'm getting old. Yesterday's LA Times had a profile of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who, it turns out, is an alumna of my high school, Harvard-Westlake. Except when I was going there, it was just "Harvard", and had an oh-so-strict policy about not admitting women onto our ivied corridors. The school went co-ed well after I graduated (in 1981; famous classmates: film directors Brad Silberling and Andrew Fleming, and novelist Ben Sherwood), which means she, like the Collins Twins, was born after I started matriculating there. I suck.

I used to live in an apartment on Bunker Hill that claimed in its advertising that it was "adjacent" to the soon-to-be-built Disney Center. That was fourteen years ago, just after I passed the bar and was earning good money for the first time. Unfortunately, the Disney Center wouldn't even be started for another ten years, and my memories of living and working in Downtown Los Angeles were bleak and depressing. Nothing ever happened there until the Troubles of April 1992, but by then I had returned to the glamour and excitement of the Valley.

Anyway, tonight the Frank Gehry-designed concert hall opens to the public for the first time. In the past year, two major architectural accomplishments (Our Lady of Angels Cathedral opened last year) have been completed in the Downtown area, and the people of this community are starting to get a civic center that they can go to, rather than escape from.

William Greider, on the late Vermont Senator George Aiken:

George Aiken was a conservative Republican of the old school -- a conservator of cherished values and regular order in governing institutions, not a radical right-winger like the present crowd. In private life, Aiken was a nurseryman. He wrote a celebrated book in the 1930s, "Pioneering in Wild Flowers," in which he described his self-learned methods for propagating the rare species of wild flowers hiding in his native woodlands. It's still in print and still a charming and educational book to read.

Aiken could see the future even then. Eventually, he realized, development and aesthetic tastes would put unbearable pressure on the pink lady slipper and other natural gems. To prevent their extinction, he explained, Vermont and other forested states needed laws prohibiting their harvest in the wild (those laws are now standard). Instead, people could cultivate the plants for sale from seed or cuttings, thus multiplying the supply and protecting the species in wild places from human predators.

He was, in other words, a wise, plain-spoken environmentalist before that term came into usage. One misses his type in public life, especially in the Republican party.

Not willing to be outdone by recent events in Texas and California, Florida Governor Jeb Bush has assertively moved to reclaim for his state the distinction of being the Moron Capital of America by signing this legislation, which gives him the arbitrary power to impose force-feeding on comatose patients, in defiance of the wishes of the next-of-kin.

Just in time for Halloween, an important public health warning.

State A.G. Bill Lockyer claims to have voted for Ahnold Ziffel, saying he opposed the recall, thought that the slate of replacement candidates was a "crappy list", but "...chose Schwarzenegger in the replacement election because he stood for 'hope, change, reform, opportunity, upbeat problem solving.' He added, 'I want that. I'm tired of transactional, cynical, dealmaking politics.' No word on whether the state's top law-enforcement officer, who was hinting in the days before the election that a criminal prosecution of The Pig might be warranted, is now soft on workplace groping, although he did add that while he now believed the charges against the governor-elect, "I'm convinced Arnold didn't really understand that he was caught up in frat boy behavior". Boys will be boys !!

A good encapsulation of everything wrong with Disney's decision to can Gregg Easterbrook may be found here. For those of you who don't follow controversies in the blogosphere or on the pages of the New Republic, Easterbrook is a very fine writer, famous for his oft-contrarian work on environmental issues, religion, and, of all things, pro football, who used an unfortunate choice of words in a blogpost concerning the movie Kill Bill, which made it seem like he was anti-Semitic.

One of his targets in his post was Michael Eisner, long-time CEO of Disney, parent company of ESPN.com, which terminated Easterbrook's hilarious football column, "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" (ironically, Easterbrook had criticized Eisner, among others, for being a Jewish movie executive who had greenlighted the Tarentino bloodfest, presumably in contradiction to the religious tenets of Judaism; TMQ is famous for its soft-core descriptions of pro football cheerleaders, which is not entirely consistent with the religious beliefs of most Christians).

As with the controversy over Rush Limbaugh's remarks several weeks ago about Donovan McNabb, I feel the corporate reaction of purging the officious commentator only exacerbates the problem. Even though I view most charges of "political correctness" skeptically, as an excuse by others to justify racist opinions, it doesn't mean that the phenomenum doesn't exist. Censoring ill-phrased comments is appropriate, and Limbaugh and Easterbrook were rightly attacked for the remarks they made. I thought that Rush never should have been hired by ESPN in the first place, and I disagree with most of Easterbrook's takes on pro football (he seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the running game).

But forcing the offender into some public Maoist self-criticism ritual is precisely the wrong approach, one that guarantees that a large portion of the public is going to view such opinions as forbidden fruit, and speaking such opinions as courageous rather than bigoted. In particular, ESPN has apparently removed TMQ from its website altogether, and its football parade ads that were so ubiquitous at the beginning of the season have been all but pulled, due to the conspicuous participation of Mr. Limbaugh. Down the memory hole....

Once Limbaugh was hired, ESPN knew what it was going to get from him. His statement, while wrong in the specific (McNabb isn't overrated b/c he's black; he's overrated b/c he's a quarterback), was not racist per se, and is certainly no more outrageous than some of the things Howard Cosell used to say on MNF. He was hired for his opinions, and when he was wrong, Tom Jackson and Steve Young certainly had the right to stand up to him.

Many of the same people who jumped down Easterbrook's back on this case do not hesitate to impose similar criteria on Clarence Thomas every time a civil rights case is brought to the Supreme Court, or on Catholic politicians where the issue of abortion is concerned (or, for that matter, on Jewish writers concerning the domestic policy of Sharon). Political discourse in a free society often means saying something that does not sound pleasant to the ear, and when an attempt to do so goes awry, the speaker should be argued with, not bullied by the rest of us.

Things not to do ever again: watch a Bruins game at the Rose Bowl. It is a depressing place, with none of the amenities a sports fan has come to expect when attending games. The game itself was boring (alma mater is now oh and four in games I've attended), the crowd was docile (who could have thought that 60,000 fans could make so little noise, on a day when their side was winning), and I actually had to use my cell phone in what was a futile attempt to get the SC-Notre Dame score. The word "stalinist" gets thrown around loosely, much like the words "racist" and "fascist", but there has to be a way to describe UCLA's unwillingness to announce any score that might favor their crosstown rival. When my friend Deborah asked, with a minute to go, if I wanted to leave to catch the shuttle to Old Town, I enthusiastically supported the motion; as it turns out, I missed CAL's only impressive drive of the game.

Well, I went and saw the Corvids tonight, and for those of you who might expect me to snark away at my less than ideologically-pure bloghomies, well, I can't help you. They were actually pretty good, much better than a band that has supposedly never performed live should be...it just makes me wish I had had the gumption to have abandoned my fledgling legal practice in the early-90's and sought asylum in the Czech Republic. Busking, pitchers of Budvar, smokin' fatties with Vaclav Havel...all of that must have been better than 3-day depos on CERCLA litigation in Riverside County, or helping my dad appraise the art collection of Peter Bogdanovich during his Chapter 7.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the American track and field program is as dirty as the East German women's swim team used to be. What is even more pathetic is how mediocre we are in track events: looking back on the '72 team, which was thought at the time to be a huge disappointment, what with Ryun and Pre getting shut out and two of our best sprinters not showing up for their prelims, the U.S. was still competitive in just about every running event. Today, the only events Americans have a prayer of winning are the sprints, and even then it's a battle just to win a medal.

In the end, this scandal is going to spread far beyond the U.S. track team....

Two new ballot initiatives to look forward to on the March ballot: an attempt to revoke the law permitting illegal immigrants from qualifying for drivers licenses, and a petition to revoke the LA ordinance banning lap dancing. And by the way, those of you who want to see some candid snaps of yours truly, check out this one, taken at my b-day party two weeks ago.

This probably won't shock anyone, but a lab in the Bay Area has been busted for distributing a designer version of anabolic steroids, THG, to an unknown number of American athletes. For what it's worth, the lab is run by one Victor Conte, who is the "nutritionist" for Barry Bonds, among others. Those athletes who've been caught using THG will be suspended for up to two years, making them ineligible for the 2004 Athens Games.

L.A.'s paper of record has some well-chosen words of praise for a blogger of renown:

Tonypierce.com, one of the most popular L.A. blogs among other bloggers, would seem to be written by a fictional character, but it is not. Tony Pierce, a Hollywood resident who works for a television station, calls it his busblog, though it began as a bus commuter's record of travails.

Then women started e-mailing him, so he claims, and the travails improved.

"What I think people really like on my site are my stories about picking up chicks," Pierce said. "People have this image of L.A. as a place where if you don't drive a Mercedes and aren't super good-looking and rich, you won't get any chicks. They love to hear about a guy who takes the bus to work who still gets a lot of chicks."

In fact, Pierce writes long screeds on the historical misfortunes of the Chicago Cubs far more often than he does tales of seduction, which, when they do arrive, have a kind of lovesick charm to them. He writes about L.A., sometimes adoringly, sometimes scathingly, sometimes both.

But would it have killed the Times to actually link to the Great Man's site?

YUCK !! After defeating their pretend-rival, the Boston Red Sox, for the umpteenth consecutive time (the BoSox have not won a game that mattered against the Yankees since 1904), we are now left with the World Series that absolutely no one outside the metropolitan area of either city wanted to see. Yanks in five, but who cares. The football season just started in earnest.

As in Vietnam, the complaint by hawks has been that the media exaggerates the bad news in Iraq, while ignoring positive developments: schools being built, guerrillas being routed, hearts and minds being won. This has the effect of compelling journalists to report stories more in line with government propaganda, until reality rears its ugly head.

It will be hard for the Administration to spin this story. According to the Pentagon, thirteen soldiers have committed suicide since engagements started back in March, or more than ten percent of the non-combat related fatalities among U.S. troops. Half of the soldiers polled by that notorious leftist broadsheet, Stars and Stripes, describe their unit's morale as "low" or "very low", and almost half said that they did not intend to reenlist once their hitch expires.

The Rumsfeld P.R. offensive has triggered negative reaction amongst the grunts as well ("a dog and pony show"), an opinion seemingly borne out by the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, who "told reporters he was personally worried that when he and other top officers visited troops, they were only allowed to talk to 'all the happy folks.' 'I want to see the folks that have complaints. And sometimes they won't let them near me,' Myers said when pressed about the Stars and Stripes newspaper survey...." Soldiers who took part in the survey expressed concern that statements of complaint had triggerred punishment in the form of "Article 15"s, which could lead to the loss of pay, reprimands, and extra work duties.

One thing I love about reading English newspapers is their occasional coverage of American sports. They make everything seem so high-brow...check out this column on Bartmangate:

Late on the evening of Tuesday 14 October in this the 95th year of the suffering of the Chicago Cubs, Steve Bartman did what any baseball fan does when the ball comes his way during the game.

He tried to catch it. By doing so, he has turned himself, in the Cub part of the Windy City at least, into a villain beside whom even the likes of Saddam Hussein pale.

Mr Bartman has not invaded other countries or murdered anyone, but, for fellow Cubs, devotees his crime is infinitely more serious.

By raising his hand when he did, he possibly cost their beloved but benighted team the chance of winning its first World Series since 1908.

It reminds me of a line a sportswriter in the Times of London came up with before England was to take on West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final: "if on the morrow we shall lose to Germany in our national sport, let us remember that we vanquished them twice this century in theirs."

Sportsblogging should be left to people who know what they're talking about. I predict that Steve Bartman will become a beloved figure to the people of Chicago right around the time that Donnie Moore gets a high school named after him in Anaheim. Having been in the same position that Cub fans are now in back in 1986, I can testify that a loss like this haunts fans til the day they die, and can only be alleviated, in time, with a championship. Moore eventually went mad from the hostility he received from fans and reporters after Game 5, even though any sane person realized he was pitching with a wounded limb and shouldn't have been out there in the first place. Bartman was doing what fans do at baseball games (he wasn't the only one going for the ball), and the Cubs collapse was aggravated by a misplay on a double-play grounder later in the inning, but he would need to be a stronger man than I to continue to live anywhere near that city.

CRAP!!!

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight: After countless hours and taxpayer funds were spent trying to prevent the Kobe Defense Team from receiving info about the alleged victim's previous hospital stays, the prosecution now has to ask the court to get the records of said visits that they accidentally mailed to the defense team.

Dusty Baker is 27 outs from becoming the black Gene Mauch.

The place where the Oscar-nominated writer and "screener"- fetishist collector "takes some hits" can be found, below, in the Ahnold Ziffel Update on October 9. Blogger has trouble with archiving links, surprise, surprise.

LA Times editor John Carroll defends the Times coverage of Gropergate (reminding us, again, that the argument that most of the sixteen women who came forward were "anonymous" is the highest degree of bullshit). Conservative columnist Jill Stewart has a weak response, repeating old gossip about Gray Davis, using an anonymous (natch) source to claim that Mr. Carroll is obsessed with Ahnold, and reporting the gripes of an author of a Clinton-bashing bromide that he wasn't used as a source in the Times article.

Eventful week for yours truly. Went and saw Annette Summersett Thursday night with her new band at the Universal Bar and Grill; even for a Yooper, she is truly as talented as she is gorgeous. On Friday, I made a rare appearance at Joxers to watch the Cubs and Michigan pull out miracle wins.

Saturday I watched sports all day, then went to a veritable "blogapalooza" in Laurel Canyon. Everyone who counts in the SoCal blog scene made it, and the wine and pizza lasted forever, thanks to our host, Brian Linse. I even got to introduce myself to Mickey Kaus, who was gracious enough to tell me where the bathroom was (btw, most bloggers don't live in their mom's basement--that's an outdated stereotype). "Armed Liberal" was there, and he was surprisingly a) nice, and b) unarmed. And I got to converse with Kevin Drum, aka CalPundit, about the joys of being owned by cats.

And, of course, the Arvin Sloane of the blogosphere showed up, ominously informing me that the Recall, the possible Cubs-Bosox World Series, and the first Corvids gig next Saturday were just "Part I" of his master plan for world dominance; he's always just one step ahead of the rest of us. The night was marred only by Howard Owens' unwise decision to remove his clothes and start yelling into the night, "RECALL THIS !!" (for a candid photo of yours truly, check out the photo of "Emmanuel" and "Kate"; I'm in the background trying not to fall over. And a more sober account of the festivities can be found here, for those who actually want to know what went on).

Frank Rich, on Ahnold Ziffel:

Mr. Schwarzenegger's credo was laid out quite specifically in his autobiography, "Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder": "A certain amount of people are meant to be in control. Ninety-five percent of the people have to be told what to do, have to be given orders."

This philosophy, which he has repeated elsewhere and never retracted, sums up his politics far more than conventional conservative-vs.-liberal, Republican-vs.-Democrat paradigms. The budget deficit? Failing public schools? Mr. Schwarzenegger will make things right by terminating the malefactors from on high; let the other 95 percent of "the people" get out of the way. What was the plan? "Hasta la vista, car tax!" Such know-nothingness is not Nazism; it's too idea-free even to qualify as fascism-lite.

And for those of you who were hoping that the election last Tuesday would bring an end to the scandals, here's a story about how the Schwarzenegger campaign, either deliberately or recklessly, made a false criminal accusation about one of the women who had accused him, and how local AM and internet scumbags repeated the slur.[link via Mark A. Kleiman]

Two interesting bits of miscellany before I go watch Oklahoma-Texas...Kobe's attorneys actually have the goods showing that the oft-mentioned vaginal tearing in the alleged victim may have come during a prior sexual encounter earlier that night[link via TalkLeft]...and my former schoolmate Stephen Bing is putting part of his vast fortune into the Recall Arnold movement[link via Politics in the Zeros].

Even the "liberal" New Republic...sells out to the Saudis. [link via Alterman]

If you're looking for jokes about Rush Limbaugh today, you've come to the wrong place. Empathy is the soul of liberal politics, and it ain't selective; the fact that Rush wouldn't feel compassion for someone else with the same problem is irrelevant. And, as it turns out, William Greider agrees.

Professional Courtesy: Iranian judge and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize, the first Muslim woman to do so. It's always good to see another member of the bar so honored.

Fans of the All-Blacks, the Wallabies, and the Eagles: I have no guarantees on this other than the owner's word, but Culver City's swingingest Irish pub, Joxer Daly's, will be picking up every game from the Rugby World Cup, which starts this morning and continues through the end of November.

For those of you visiting from Hit and Run: the anecdote you seek was written October 6, so scroll down. For some reason, none of my past posts are linkable.

Ahnold Ziffel Update: The honeymoon has begun. Already, the conventional wisdom is that the election Tuesday was a glorious triumph for "democracy", with pundits (here, here, and here) celebrating the high turnout, the greater number of votes for the winner, and all the things you might expect when you are trying to gloss over the fact that the largest state in the union has just elected a sexual pervert to its highest office. One blogger went so far as to compare this past Tuesday to the fall of the Iron Curtain !!

Today, Ahnold Ziffel appointed a "bipartisan" team of advisers to assist him in the transition, and with few exceptions it runs the gamut of the political spectrum from A to B. Any question that the next governor would end business-as-usual in Sacramento was quelled when he named an assortment of GOP party hacks and Wilson-era retreads to his team; his pet "liberals" include Susan Estrich, who only last week was shilling for him against those dastardly women who finked to the LA Times, and Tammy Bruce, the only person who has ever made OJ Simpson seem sympathetic. And, of course, "good government" Democrats are no doubt excited that the lame duck mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, will be joining Team Ahnold.

Either Mr. Bryant's defense team has some devastating piece of evidence it is about to spring in the next day or so, or we have just witnessed several hours of legal malpractice the likes of which has not been seen since F.Lee Bailey defended Patty Hearst. There is simply no other way to justify the decision to go ahead with the preliminary hearing.

UPDATE: Never mind.

New vs. Old Media: Local billboard legend "Angelyne" edged blogger fave-babe Georgy Russell in the Recall ballot.

The estimable Kevin Drum advises California liberals to ignore tonight's result and focus on the bigger picture, which is to unseat George Bush next November. It's hard to argue with that; for all the talk about the significance of this result, it should be pointed out that a) there are not really significant political differences between Ahnolt and Gray, and b) that Ahnolt is a faux outsider, ie., although this was his first election, he comes from the class of people that usually dominate our government: lawyers, businessmen, celebrities, and heirs. If George B. Schwartzman had won tonight (and considering that the only thing he had going for him was that he was next to Ahnolt on the ballot, his ninth place finish is impressive), or if Georgy Russell had won (and yes, I admit it, I voted for her !!), that would be a sign that something historic had taken place. People like Schwartzman or Russell usually do not get elected to high office in this country, to our discredit.

But at some point, liberals have to fight back, or we risk being like the lowly gofers and A.D.'s that the next governor used to grope on his rowdy sets. We can either continue to be victims, or we can start to play hardball ourselves; it seems to me that's the only way to run a competitive race against George Bush. Being an Uncle Tom Democrat, willing to look the other way when we get bitchslapped, isn't a solution.

And we do have two things going for us. First, the charges that have come out in the past week aren't going away; even though the election is over, other women will continue to come forward, and it will put him further on the defensive. Although he won, the charges did take their toll on Tuesday [link via Calif. Insider]. As with the Clarence Thomas confirmation, the Republicans will find that they have won the initial battle, only to lose the war. And second, the transition will last several weeks. Democrats can graciously congratulate A.S. for his victory tonight, without having to worry about how they look when they change the tone next month.

So let's tip our caps to the winner, and give him the same honeymoon the Republican Party gave Gray Davis.

Mickey Kaus, on A.S.' character problems:

The difficult problems with Schwarzenegger have to do with his character--not even his credentials or abilities. He's certainly smart enough--if you interview enough politicians, you realize that a) they're not so brilliant (Willie Brown is an exception) and b) you can be a good leader even if you're not brilliant. He's also, by all accounts, geniunely funny, with an instinct for honesty. (Can you imagine Bill Clinton saying "where there's smoke, there's fire"?) But Schwarzenegger has two really troubling characterological defects:

a) He's a crude serotonin victim who enjoys bullying men and women alike. Everyone knew there were stories like the LAT presented last week. I've heard even more. He's not a groper the way Clinton was a groper--Schwarzenegger seems to actually have a cruel streak in which he enjoys humiliating others. With women, there's a sexual component--but there are plenty of stories of him humiliating men. (And at least one of the groping incidents seems designed to humiliate the woman's husband more than the woman.)

b) He may not even be a social egalitiarian. This is one way to reconcile the accounts from famous actresses of "Arnold the Gentlemen" and the repulsive stories told by "below the line" film personnel. Of course Schwarzenegger's charming to the people he needs to be charming too--such as fellow movie stars. But he lords it over people he can lord it over when he can get away with it. Let's just say this hierarchical behavior is not un-Germanic. But it is un-American. You'd think it would be especially troubling to someone, like me, who proclaims social equality the distinguishing goal of liberal politics.

And he voted for him, too !!

Florida 9, Chicago 8: Unfortunately, I saw most of this game from an empty bar that had the volume down, so the electric moments in this game were lost from where I was sitting. I'm not sure the Cubbies are going to be very competitive in this series when Wood and Prior aren't starting; perhaps the Lizard should come back with Prior in Game 5 on 3 days rest.

Phoe-Nix Update: Prime Suspect 6 will air in the U.K. in November.

Well, I voted. I did the right thing, and voted against the recall. I did not vote for any of the major replacement candidates, and since I intend to support an immediate recall of the almost-certain winner, I won't lose any sleep over that vote. In the meantime, here's an excellent piece on the pathetic attempt to spread a rumor through the media that Gov. Davis has battered women.

UPDATE: Drudge is reporting that the early exit polls show that both the recall and Ahnolt are going to win easily. Tomorrow, we begin the process of Recalling the Pig !!

What to do, on your fortieth birthday, when your family is out-of-town, and your friends are recuperating from a long weekend? Why, if you're me, you order two tacos (one beef, one chicken) and a beef burrito, w/out cheese, from Casa Vega for pick-up. And, as always, you pick the cheese out of the tacos, and chow down as much of the bean burrito as you can, because they always screw up the order, and I can pretend I'm a kid again, when going to the Roscoes-of-the-Valley with my parents and siblings on a Friday night was the highlight of the week.

I am going to vote against the recall. I have absolutely no idea who I'm going to vote for to replace Gray Davis. With little in the way of drama as to the result, I have a choice between the party candidate (Cruz), my ideological soulmate (Carnejo) and the best man with the worst politics (McClintock). And Larry Flynt, too. Ahnolt has this race in the bag, with the near certainty that a new recall effort will start Wednesday morning to oust the Austrian version of Roman Polanski in the March primary, when the new voters, the young white males who will make the difference tomorrow, will be less likely (and less motivated) to vote.

This piece by Joan Walsh really hits the nail on the head about the repugnant behaviour by our next governor. One of the truest tests of character about anyone is how well you treat people you don't have to be nice to. It could be the janitor in your building, or the girl behind the counter at McDonalds, or the brother of your worst enemy: if you can maintain at least a minimal level of politeness and decency, without any expectation that you will receive some material benefit from doing so, you're o.k., in my book.

The thing about each of the next governor's victims has been that they could do nothing to enhance his career, put money in his pocket, or improve his social status. They weren't his employees, nor his equals on the set. They were waitresses, bit actresses trying to earn a SAG card, assistant producers, gofers. He didn't just treat them like the help; he lorded his sense of superiority over them, just because he could.

UPDATE: I forgot all about this candidate. A group of Ahnolt's brownshirts beat her up yesterday at one of their torchlight rallies, but she seems to have taken the incident in good cheer. Georgy's got my vote !!! [link via Hit and Run]

An account of my indirect dealings with the governor of this state:

Years ago, my dad was a Democratic Party activist in California, closely associated with Jesse Unruh, the legendary Speaker of the Assembly during the Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan governorships. He ran campaigns back before there was big money to be had in that field, and in non-election years, he would support his family by doing odd jobs for the legislature (in particular, he helped draw the lines during the "one man/one vote" redistricting in 1964). During that time, he became very close to future lieutenant governor Mervyn Dymally, who appointed him to a government commission in the mid-70's and generally made sure that any patronage that was his to offer went my father's way.

Another benefactor was Ken Cory, who for years had the distinction of being the only elected Democrat from Orange County, and who served several terms as State Controller. Among the plums at his disposal was a position called "Inheritance Tax Referee". I still have no idea what that position did, but after the first Steve Smith passed the bar in 1977 (when he was the age I turned today, 40), his friend Ken Cory appointed him to a twelve-month term. For a struggling lawyer with a wife and four mouths to feed, it was a lucrative plum. My dad, being a paragon of virtue, actually took the position seriously, and spent a great deal of time administering the estates he was assigned; it later led to his appointment as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee.

Anyways, Unruh wins reelection to a fourth term as State Treasurer in 1986, but by this time, years of wine, women and song are beginning to catch up with him. Gray Davis is elected State Controller that same year. Davis and Unruh had never been exactly close, since the future governor had made his bones in a futile run against him for State Treasurer, but he clearly knew that Unruh remained a powerful figure in the state, and that he needed to kiss up to him. My father, who had been one of Dymally's men in state government, loathed Davis, reflecting the general disdain Unruh's people had for Jerry Brown and his people.

Well, the story goes that on his deathbed, Unruh got Davis' agreement to continue reappointing my father to the aforementioned Referee position. Actually, the state controller had two options: he could simply rollover the term for another twelve months, or he could make a six-month appointment, which was a subtle way of telling the appointee that he should not depend on this source of income in the future.

Unruh dies in 1987. Sometime in 1993, I'm working for my dad when he receives his notification of reappointment. For a six month term. In fact, the "six" was typed over a white-out mark on the certificate, with the number "twelve" having clearly been expunged, right above Gray Davis' freshly-inked signature. No doubt, Davis, after having discovered that with Unruh dead, he no longer had to be nice to my old man, had not only decided to terminate my father's position, but had done so in a way that it would be noticed by him (he probably had flung an ashtray at his assistant when he realized what he had been doing the previous six years). My father always thought it was funny that someone could be such an a-hole, and he always had a good laugh about it. I, on the other hand, have never forgotten the incident.

Four more women have come forward...eventually, stories about Ahnolt molesting women are going to become so mundane, it will be hard for the LA Times to justify putting them on the front page. The important thing to note about these incidents is that half of them have nothing to do with movies or movie sets, which is perhaps the biggest reason they're being reported (and certainly the principal reason that the victims are speaking on-the-record). Schwarzenegger has never had to deal with real journalists before, and he can't handle it.

And of course, Gray Davis has to show why he is so beloved by the people of California by raising the specter of a criminal investigation. One of these days (like tomorrow!), I'm going to have to tell you my own little Gray Davis anecdote....

Off to my 40th....

Kausfiles has an easy solution to the controversy over Ahnolt's "Hitler tapes": play them for one of his media shills (ie., William Bradley). After all, A.S. now has the ownership rights to the Pumping Iron outtakes.

Wonderful evisceration by Bob Somerby, on hatchet-job hypocrite Susan Estrich. I'm beginning to think that Michael Dukakis "lost" the '88 election for the same reason that the White Sox "lost" the 1919 World Series.

Another day, three more women with stories to tell about the next governor:

(Carla) Baron, then 28, said she was a stand-in for lead actress Kelly Preston. She said the stories reported this week about Schwarzenegger reminded her of the feelings of powerless and humiliation she experienced.

Baron said she was standing next to a food service table with Schwarzenegger and his longtime stand-in shortly after Shriver left the set. The men suggested making a "Carla sandwich," Baron said. The stand-in moved behind her while Schwarzenegger stood in front. "I said something along the line of, 'Boys, the sandbox is out back,' " Baron said.

"Arnold said, 'No, I think we should make a Carla sandwich,' " she said. With Schwarzenegger facing her and the stand-in behind, they squeezed her between them, Baron said. After they separated, Schwarzenegger, who had just been smoking a cigar, bent her over and pushed his tongue in her mouth, she said.

"There was this tongue just lunging down my throat," Baron said. "I am in shock at this point. I wanted to throw up from the taste. It was worse than licking an ashtray. It was like an ashtray of human flesh." (emphasis added)

Of interest is the fact that Kelly Preston, who co-starred with Schwarzenegger in the movie Twins, was one of the women who came to the support of Ahnolt after the infamous Premiere article two years ago, claiming that he was a gentleman on the set. I have a feeling A.S. probably doesn't make it a habit of groping A-list (or B-list) actresses; the power dynamics are much different.

William Greider gives his two cents on the recall:

Like many others, I hope Davis survives, but it won't be the end of history if he doesn't. It might even provide a new beginning if rebuked politicians absorb the message. Arnold may prove to be a clown or perhaps shrewder than people suppose. Either way, the Golden State will survive, still struggling with all of its deep problems. Given my understanding of where we are in corrupted representative democracy, we need more earthquakes -- lots of them. Who knows, maybe we will get another next year in Washington.

Two interesting, but opposing takes on the Limbaugh / McNabb controversy, by journalists David Neiwert and Allan Barra. As odious as I find Limbaugh, his politics, and his willingness to debase political commentary, I do not feel any sense of schadenfreude at his fall. Drug addiction is a disease, and I certainly hope for his recovery; I sense that neither he nor his dittoheads would feel much sympathy if the patient was Bill Clinton or Jesse Jackson.

He is not a new phenomenum, in any event. In the 30's, perhaps the most popular media figure of the day wasn't Clark Gable or F.D.R.; it was a radio priest named Father Charles Coughlin. One of the popular political writers was a gentleman named Westbrook Pegler. Like Limbaugh, each of those men had views that today would euphemistically be called "radical centrist"; that is to say, they were virulent bigots, who found easy scapegoats for the problems of society and used ad hominem attacks as a favored debating ploy. In the end, society turned their back on them, just as it has now begun to do with Rush Limbaugh.

Another woman has come forward:

Joy Browne, a psychologist whose advice program is syndicated to nearly 200 stations nationwide, described on the radio an encounter with Schwarzenegger that took place during an interview about the documentary, which was released in 1977.

Schwarzenegger fondled her legs under the table during the interview, she said. Then, she said, he left his Gold American Express card in the studio and insisted that Browne personally return it to his hotel room.

According to Browne, who was in her late 20s at the time, she took her young daughter along to return the credit card. Schwarzenegger, she said, answered the door in tight pants, wearing no shirt. He had champagne. He asked her if her daughter could "take a walk for a while?" She declined.

Rob Stutzman, a Schwarzenegger spokesman, said Thursday that the candidate had no recollection of the alleged incident.

Also, a woman who had been anonymous in yesterday's article is now on-the-record, further dispelling the myth that the Times story was based largely on anonymous sources. No word yet whether the Times will also report that Gray Davis has used the F-word on occasion.

An interesting follow-up to the piece last month on boxing: the LA Times interviews several judges about what it is they use to determine who wins a round. For anyone who follows the sport, the subjectivity involved is frightening. BTW, we may be getting the fight at my b-day bash tomorrow; all the more reason for my followers to attend.

From today's New York Times:

In a part of the interview not used in the film, Mr. Schwarzenegger was asked to name his heroes — "who do you admire most."

"It depends for what," Mr. Schwarzenegger said, according to the transcript in the book proposal. "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker."

In addition to the transcript, Mr. Butler wrote in his book proposal that in the 1970's, he considered Mr. Schwarzenegger a "flagrant, outspoken admirer of Hitler." In the proposal, Mr. Butler also said he had seen Mr. Schwarzenegger playing "Nazi marching songs from long-playing records in his collection at home" and said that the actor "frequently clicked his heels and pretended to be an S.S. officer."

Mr. Schwarzenegger, in a telephone interview on Thursday, said he did not recall making any of the comments attributed to him or engaging in any of the behavior described by Mr. Butler.

I have just one question: Is it possible that his memory is so bad he can't recall whether he used to goosestep to the beat of his favorite "Nazi marching song"?

Garry Trudeau is right. The next recall movement starts October 8. California is either going to elect a bully who is unable to keep his hands off women, or it will retain a governor that everybody hates. Lousy choice.

The latest Field Poll shows Ahnold comfortably ahead of non-candidate Bustamante, and the recall prevailing by a wide margin. Obviously, with the events of today, particularly the revelation that A.S. one time admitted to admiring Hitler, that poll is already out-of-date. Bustamante has quit even running a semblance of a campaign; one can certainly sympathize with a mediocrity who probably never intended to be governor, and found himself completely outmatched by the responsibility. More discouraging is the fact that McClintock has lost ground: even though I disagree with almost every position he's taken, his campaign has been one of the few honorable notes in this election. Even if Ahnolt takes a hit with his newfound backers among women and moderates, I doubt McClintock will be able to capture enough of their votes to prevail.

Although I have enjoyed watching the G.O.P. ditch all semblance of principle in backing a man whose licentiousness is more like the American Spectator fantasy version of Bill Clinton, and whose politics are to the left of Zell Miller, much less every other significant Republican in the country, the end result will probably be that my home state will be governed by this leech for the next few months. Let's just get this over with, get our petitions ready, and do it right next time.

Whether it be DiFi or Riordan, ALL IS FORGIVEN !!!

Mickey Kaus has been directing people to this bit of anti-Gray Davis invective from 1998, by "journalist" Jill Stewart. Unlike the L.A. Times piece, she relied entirely on unnamed "sources" to paint a picture of a violent and ill-tempered future governor, one who used the f-word and the like in front of subordinates. Loud and abusive bosses are a pain to work for, but it's not quite as bad as having to worry about your boss groping you in public (or your boss saying that he "admired Hitler"). Ms. Stewart should go back to stalking Kevin Murray.

Another woman has come forward to claim A.S. once demanded that she and a friend get in his car, or that he would rape her. No word yet as to whether this was one of the "playful" antics referred to earlier this morning.

At this point, what's really driving this story isn't the fact that the Times published this at the last second, but that Ahnold waited until election eve to confirm that these allegations were largely true.

UPDATE: The New York Times quotes a campaign spokesman for the actor, Todd Harris, as saying that some of the allegations in the LA Times article were true, and some were not true. He did not say which. It also mentioned that the woman, above, was heckled by supporters of A.S. with shouts of "lesbian" and "liar" after she made her accusation.

Men Behaving Badly: Ahnold denied the LA Times article, but "apologized" for being on some "pretty rowdy sets". LAME !! He has now given the press license to investigate what other incidents he might be referring to beyond what the Times reported, while validating the underlying inquiry.

The Times article names names and lists witnesses, and four of the six incidents weren't even on movie sets: one was at the gym; one, in an office; one, in a restaurant; and one incident, in a hotel room during an interview. He can hardly say that this is "trash politics", as his shills suggest, if he admits that he has something to apologize for, if not those incidents. In any event, since he doesn't refer to specific events or persons, it is hard to take his "apology" seriously. My bet is that while Republicans won't care at this stage, his gains amongst moderates and women over the past two weeks will disintegrate.

The LA Times reports that our next governor is a bit of a creep !! Anyone who has lived in this town could have told you that, and named five other actors who are even worse. [link via CalPundit]

With the baseball playoffs starting, ArchPundit has a timely scoop.

RECALL UPDATE: It's over !!! Davis is toast. Bustamante is an ambulatory stiff. Pete Wilson Ahnold is our next governor.