GAME 5: Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. CRAP. Crap. Crap.

My first visit to a dentist in over a decade (sorry, my ancestors were English) confirmed the bad news I had been trying to avoid, that I have several cavities, and that the metal fillings on my other cavities would have to come out. Also, that my lower left pre-molar would need to have a crown, but I kinda knew that already, since it broke in half during the sixth inning of Game 1 Saturday, and had been slicing a hole in my tongue ever since. My compliments to the dentist, who actually got his education and training in the old Soviet Union, for the very professional manner in which he examined me, after he confirmed that I had insurance.

Excellent synopsis in TAPPED of recent GOP efforts to intimidate black and Native American voters by fabricating "voter fraud" controversies. In light of what happened in Florida two years ago, when a concentrated effort to remove black voters from the rolls on the bogus (and factually incorrect) ground that they were "felons", the media would do well if it considered the source the next time these allegations arise.

GAME 4: Giants get lucky, scoring three in the fifth set up by an infield hit and a fair/foul/fair bunt single, and the winner in the eighth following a passed ball, to beat the Angels, 4-3. The Angels' offense stunk after the 3rd inning; this time it was the Giants that kept blowing scoring chances.

Having been burned before on making predictions on teams I care about, I will avoid doing so here, but this pundit feels that the winner tonight better be the Angels, or they're cooked. I can see his point, but I would also add that Baker may have made a questionable move starting Reuter in Game 4 rather than tonight, and not Jason Schmidt. Under that format, Schmidt could have come back on three days rest and pitch in Game 7, if necessary. Instead, after tonight, the Giants lose their ace for the series, and will have to pitch Hernandez instead; a big factor, if you saw the Angels tee up on him in Game 3 (the other move would be to bring Reuter back on three days rest).

Next to follow the Anna Nicole route: Angeline Jolie ?!?

Freed from the burdens of having to attend any campaign fundraisers this morning, The Governor and Mrs. Bush paid a visit to daughter Noelle this morning, the first time they had seen her since she was sentenced to jail last week. Although they couldn't be troubled to attend her sentencing hearing last week, they did show they had their priorities straight when they permitted a campaign contributor and family friend to visit her over the weekend.

GAME 3: Again, Anaheim has no problem solving the Giants' starting pitcher, and breezes to a 10-4 victory that wasn't even as close as that score would indicate, as the Angels left 15 runners on base. Ramon Ortiz looked sluggish in the opening inning, ran out of gas in the fifth (when he allowed homers to Aurillia and, natch, Bones), but still got the win, and the Angel middle relievers faced only one batter over the minimum in four innings. K-Rod and Troy both got the night off, and should be rested for Game 4, which features two rookie starters. Long live our benevolent ruler, Rally Monkey !!

One of the first things I do every morning is link to "The Note", ABC's on-line posting of political gossip, news, and data. Its filled with snarky asides, and is very much the fave with bloggers who specialize in snarky asides. However, one annoying habit it has is to play up the Beltway spin about the political drift of the country; much of the time, it reads like a Karl Rove blastfax. In the past couple of weeks, it has hyped "scandals" involving Democratic Senate candidates in Iowa and South Dakota, long after those stories were discredited or minimized. The typical "Note" will usually begin with how Iraq is completely dominating the news cycle, so therefore the American people aren't going to be concerned with the rotten economy, and will elect a GOP Senate.

Nevertheless, I still like reading it, since it does give good gossip, but this morning it did something that I absolutely despise in journalism. It granted anonymity to a source for no good reason. In case you don't bounce obsessively around the internet, or don't subscribe to the Washington Post, the big political story today concerned an article published this morning by Post political writer Dana Milbank, which basically stated that the President is a liar. Not in those words, of course; this is the new, right-friendly, Don Graham Post, but still, saying the Boy Prince has a "malleable" interpretation of the truth is awfully close to the hated "C-word". The story itself wasn't extraordinary for being a scoop, but for the fact that it was published at all.

The reaction by "The Note" was as follows: it quoted a "senior Administration official" who blasted Milbank and took exception to the claim that three of the examples used in the article were dishonest. So why, may you ask, was the source not quoted by name? After all, whoever said it wasn't going to lose his job for defending the President. It wasn't under oath. He didn't defame Dana Milbank. I doubt his life will be in jeopardy.

As I see it, there were two reasons why the "senior Administration official" would be granted anonymity. One, it's Karl Rove himself, and printing the attack under Rove's name would confirm what most of us already believe, that "The Note" is basically his spinsheet (not to mention the fact that Rove does not have the best reputation for veracity either). Or two, their anonymous source is someone with so little credibility that printing his name would diminish the credibility of the assertion. It's kind of like when a sportswriter refers to what "informed sources" say about a player from Georgetown or UCLA around draft time: his informed source could be Jerry West, but more likely it's Donald Sterling, and giving the source anonymity allows him to publish whatever he wants without losing credibility in the eyes of his reader. After awhile, of course, the reader begins to mistrust much of what he reads.

Well, in any event, it's a pet peeve of mine. I just wish the news media would show its cards a little more often. After all, they are in the truth business.

I don't think the Supreme Court decision to permit the California Coastal Commission to compel public rights-of-way through private beachfront property will have much effect. The Commission is one of the most corrupt entities in American politics, having much in common with traffic ticket collection in Brooklyn or construction permit approval in Chicago. The governor (or the Speaker of the Assembly) typically appoint their flunkies and hacks, who are expected to defend the interests of private beach owners on the coast. With this governor, it will be a warm day in Frisco before he allows the Coastal Commission to pave a bike path through David Geffen's back yard, even if it does belong to the public.

Either the life of an econ prof is really sheltered, or the estimable Paul Krugman laid an egg with this morning's column. It may well be true that SEC lawyers have to type their own briefs, and do their own copying. In the real world, most lawyers (and almost all good lawyers) do the same, including the lawyers at the megafirms that represent the stock cheats the SEC lawyers are prosecuting. That has become routine in the era of the personal computer and the internet; no one dictates anything to a secretary anymore, unless you want to find yourself replaced/passed over for a promotion by an attorney willing to do the work herself. Secretaries still do much of the routine clerical work, such as filling out court forms, assemblying and copying multiple pleadings, debriefing clients, etc., but the average attorney can expect to spend most of her day in front of a monitor (unless she's at a depo, in which case she will spend the afternoon in front of a laptop). It's not simply a matter of cost or convenience; an attorney needs to type everything important simply to maintain a high level of quality for his work. One of the most important classes I took in high school, and the only one that had any real-world applications to the practice of law, was a one-semester typing class in the 10th grade (btw, the rest of Krugman's column is dead on; in matters of policy, Bush is the most dishonest President since Nixon).

Some random thoughts about American foreign policy: if the reason we're not picking a fight with North Korea, but might go to war with Iraq, is that North Korea claims to have nukes, whereas Iraq doesn't, which we only know because the North Koreans themselves admit having nukes, not from any intel the CIA might have, what's to stop Iraq from claiming that it's now a nuclear power; wouldn't that mean we'd have to give peace a chance with the Iraqis as well. Also, if the principal reason we aren't fighting North Korea is that they are a threat and could fight back, whereas Iraq isn't now a threat, but could be in the future, aren't we simply wasting resources fighting Iraq that could better be used against North Korea, a country that actually has weapons of mass destruction (of course, North Korea is not an oil exporter). Just asking....

GAME 2: Outstanding !!! Angels take BP off the vaunted Giants' pitching staff, K-Rod shuts down all nine batters he faces on only 27 pitches, and Percy, after giving up the obligatory home run to Bones, gets the save in one of the highest scoring (and longest) games in World Series history, 11-10. For all the talk about how this was a must-win for the Angels, the pitching match-up last night was the one that probably most favored the Giants, with their best starter going up against the least effective starter in the playoffs for Anaheim. So far, the Angels have showed no fear pitching to Bonds, who has not backed down himself. Of interest now is the Game 4 starter; with Lackey pitching two innings last night, will the Angels come back with him on Wednesday, or do they pitch Washburn on three days rest?

GAME 1: Tough loss, with the Angels blowing numerous chances and losing 4-3. Washburn didn't back off from pitching to Bones, for all the good that did. I seem to remember that one of the neat things about the first World Series game at each city would always feature a complete introduction of the team rosters, much like the All-Star Game, rather than just the starting line-up. It gave the fans an opportunity to cheer the team as a whole, from stars to utility players. I don't know if its one of the things they have given up for TV, but they don't do that anymore. Also, no TV coverage of the first ball: I guess if you're not a President, Fox won't show that ritual--so sorry, Mrs. Autry. I'm hoping that the pattern of the first two series holds, and the Angels can recover from a Game 1 loss, and give SoCal another title (Way to go, Galaxy. Viva, Carlos Ruiz)

Tonight the first ever World Series game in Orange County will be played, and for some of the longest-suffering fans in the sport, its not a moment too soon. This article is a heartfelt tribute to those much-maligned folks, written by an Angels fanatic who now lives in Hollywood, and is a must-read for anyone who may be tempted to think of Southern Californians as "laid back" Hollywood types.

The other team to ward off contraction, the Montreal Expos, will probably stay put another season. Unlike the majority of baseball pundits who seem to demand that the franchise move out of Quebec to Washington D.C., I have no great interest in seeing that team move. From the late-70's on through to the mid-90's, the Expos were one of the top draws in baseball, and the city of Montreal has a long history in the sport (Jackie Robinson's career in white baseball started there). Inept ownership, combined with the '94 strike killing off the chances of the Expos' best-ever team, have caused the recent slump. If the team were to move, I would favor San Juan over D.C. (which, win or lose, never supported the Senators) or Portland, Oregon (small media market--likely replay of the Tampa fiasco).

It's times like this when I'm proud to be p.c. Earlier this week, I noted that a prominent warblogger had made a derogatory remark about Jews and the handicapped, either in jest, in irony, or in just plain bigotry, about Charles Krauthammer. Although I disagree with just about everything Mr. Krauthammer has written (he seems to belong to that strain of neo-conservatism that always seems to blame African-Americans first), I would rather get fitted for testicle piercings than refer to him, or anyone else, as a "crippled Jewboy". In any event, I figure that was what "fiskings" are all about, except this time aimed at someone who wasn't Arab, black or leftist, and I decided to get on with my life.

Which was probably a big mistake, since I immediately got e-mail from people who pointed out that the article in question is mostly a defense of Krauthammer, and that therefore calling him a "crippled Jewboy" was ok. Apparently, the belief is that if you actually like and admire someone, you have open season to fire racial or ethnic slurs at them, in much the same way Quentin Tarentino might use the word "nigger" a couple hundred times in one of his scripts. Sorry, I'm not buying. Besides the fact that the slur is only tangentially related to the rest of the piece (in the comments section, fellow blogger Max Sawicky points out that Krauthammer's religion is not otherwise mentioned in the underlying article, and his handicap mentioned only indirectly), there just something about his choice of words that's just so, so snobbish: the writer reminding you of the differentness of the target, even a target he happens to like, while he himself is "normal".

What a relief it must be to Kim Jong-il that his country isn't sitting on a pool of oil.

Giving in to temptation, I finally motivated myself to watch a few minutes of The Bachelor tonight. I have yet to encounter a more debasing, repugnant example of entertainment. Every woman who appears on that show is gorgeous and pathetic; the whole show reads like a wet dream of Steven Bing's. Eventually, some network is going to air a series that consists of nothing more than Kobe Bryant vacationing on an island with at least one groupie from every NBA city. And of course, people will watch.

What might make this a more interesting Fall Classic than most is the fact that the Angels and Giants have played each other with some degree of frequency in the recent past: besides interleague play, the teams see each other a ton in the Cactus League, and probably have played nearly as many games over the last five years as either team has played against New York. I'm going to be working quite a bit the next couple of days on a World Seriesblog that I'm starting, which, like Condredge's Acolytes, will be open to whoever has an interest and wants to post (and, I might add, is able to keep his posts clean; there are children who read these things). It goes up tomorrow, so if anyone is interested, contact me at your leisure, so long as you do so before the Series ends. In addition, I may driving up to enemy territory (ie. Frisco) on Friday to complete my sister's moving arrangements, or I may not; everything is in flux, depending on whether I can make arrangements.

Man, is the Material Girl so over or what? Even Camille Paglia doesn't think she's hip anymore....

I find nothing even remotely amusing about the sad story of Noelle Bush, who has to confront her addictions in the bright spotlight generated by someone else's notoriety. Bloggers of the left who find schadenfreude in her misfortune, or in the sorority girl hijinx of the First Twins, are no different than the warbloggers who moan with pleasure everytime a member of the Islamic faith sets off a bomb.

I was hoping that "Michael Kelly" would have a follow-up to his hilarious attack a few weeks ago on Al Gore, in which he explained how terrorists who were supposedly dead somehow managed to kill a couple hundred people in Bali over the weekend. Incredibly, this week he decides to focus instead this week on that notorious phony and appeaser, Jimmy Carter, and how that former President stole W's Nobel. You know, every time I post a link to "Michael Kelly" people either take him seriously or ask me if he's kidding. IT'S A JOKE (oops, I think I just norah'd Eschaton).

Reading a London newspaper article on baseball is much like listening to a report on same on NPR: it's just a little too high-brow for my taste. To their credit, though, the English do have enough good taste to employ journalists who at least know something about the sport, which is something to respect and appreciate the next time someone like Mitch Albom, Jim Rome or Allan Barra decide to "opine" about soccer, or some other sport that those vulgar foreigners dig.

One of the more intriguing policies that studios follow when they have a really bad movie on their hands is to make it disappear, which is detailed in this article. Just from the description, I would love to be able to see D-Tox before it goes straight to video. Just wondering: since almost everything Hollywood makes nowadays is crap, and you still have to spend over twenty bucks on tickets, popcorn, soft drinks and parking to see it, and since even the best movies are demonstrably worse than the best TV (admit it, what's better, The Sopranos or A Beautiful Mind? The Shield or Gladiator? Alias, or any James Bond movie since The Spy Who Loved Me?), why even go to a theatre?

I may have defamed the late heavyweight champion Sonny Liston last week, in juxtaposing a quote of his with the behavior of the "chickenhawks" in Washington. In particular, even "the Bear" wouldn't have done anything so cowardly as to question the patriotism of a Senator who lost several limbs in Vietnam, particularly when the attacker sat out 'Nam with a "knee injury".

"Comments" are back, at least on a trial basis, for those of you who care. Direct links to posts can be done via the square to left of "comments". If you have any problems accessing this site, then by all means e-mail me with your gripes, and I'll put an end to all that.

Screw the East Coast parasites: all the World Series games this year should start at 7:35 p.m. local time, when night baseball is supposed to be played. I sincerely doubt that Jerrod Washburn or Troy Percival is going to give Bones an intentional pass with the bases empty. Bring on Frisco. BTW, it's neither the I-5 series (since the 5 continues north around 65 miles from the City) nor the 101 series(as that highway ends 50 miles north of Anaheim). C'mon, we have a battle between two California cities that are as politically and culturally different as any two cities in the country: we have to be able to come up with something better than a road to call the upcoming battle.

Check out this classic version of "fisking", in which a conservative commentator refers to Charles Krauthammer as a "crippled Jewboy". Of course, we all know the real anti-Semites are on the left....

The horrific bombing this past weekend in Bali, and the recent reemergence of Osama Bin-Laden should be a sobering reminder to those who thought that the "war on terrorism" was nearing an end, and that Al Qaeda was finished. Unfortunately, the irrelevant sideshow concerning Saddam Hussein and his alleged "weapons of mass destruction" (memo to Bush: a bomb that can kill a couple of hundred people at once is a "weapon of mass destruction", even if seeking out such perpetrators doesn't benefit the campaigns of John Thune or Saxby Chambliss) has returned the nation to its pre-9/11 mindset, when our adversaries were countries and dictators-of-the-month, not moral concepts.

My late granddad always had a soft spot for the Angels: even though they played out in Anaheim for almost forty years, he always referred to them as "L.A.", since that was the old PCL team out here. He's been gone now for a couple of years, but wherever he is, I think tonight he's got a s***-eating grin, and just waiting for "Frisco" or whoever to win the NLCS and get their asses kicked next week.

In a little less than four hours, the Anaheim Angels will attempt to win their first-ever A.L. pennant, and exorcise some of the ghosts that have haunted this franchise since it was created back in December, 1960. Yesterday was the game I thought was most likely going to favor the Twins, with their best pitcher going against an Angel pitcher who wasn't even in the rotation until September, and it turned out to be the most one-sided of the series, although that appearance was deceiving: the Angels didn't score until the seventh, and broke the game open with five runs in the eighth off an unimpressive Minnesota bullpen. As this article reminds us, yesterday was the 16th anniversary of the Fifth Game, the darkest day, at least on the field, in the history of Southern California sports. Attempting to end that jinx will be Kevin Appier, going against first game winner Joe Mays. Go Angels !! Avenge Donnie Moore !! Long live our wise and beneficent ruler the Rally Monkey !!!

Finally, some truth, to overwhelm the pro-Twins propaganda coming from the national media (compliments of Counterspin).

Tonight my sisters and mom took me out for a belated birthday dinner at Tiramisu in Sherman Oaks, and I didn't feel guilty in the slightest for peeking at the TV over the bar to catch Game 3. Washburn either pitched splendidly, or the Twins suck against lefties, but in any event, the Angels bookended homers by Anderson and Glaus to win 2-1, and now lead the ALCS by the same margin. Rodriguez got the decision, and now has three post-season victories, giving him three victories for his career. The Twins now have a do-or-die game, with Angel nemesis Brad Radke on the hill for Minnesota. Normally, I would be inclined to think that if the Twins don't prevail tomorrow, the series is all but over, but then again, I felt the same way in '86, after Clemons couldn't win Game 4 in the ALCS against Sutton. I'm at Joxer's tomorrow for the duration, with a morning pit-stop at Over-Under to see if the Michigan Sorority Goddess shows up to watch the battle with Penn State, and a possible trip to Venice late night to see the Samurai Homeboys at O'Brien's.

Beltway pundits who believe that The Bell Curve is a brilliant analytical study of race and intelligence probably should not be the first to call a political ad, "homophobic", especially when it isn't.

How would you like to get a home loan from this guy?

The critics are raving about Madonna's latest film, which solidifies her well-deserved reputation as the female Ben Affleck. A few months ago, when I held the Miss Overrated 2002 beauty pageant / scholarship contest, I inexplicably omitted the 40-something Material Girl, whom I always had the impression was someone that people who were not sexually attracted to women thought was what a sexually attractive woman looked like. As much as I like her singing, I've always thought she looked rather scuzzy and vulgar, having more in common with Ann Coulter or the ladies of the W.W.E.

Leave it to the Euros to ruin W.'s day: this morning it was announced that former President, and notorious traitor and appeasor Jimmy Carter, has won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND REVIEW:

U.S. Senate Vote on Iraq Resolution
[*up for reelection in 2002]

Democrats Yes
Baucus, Mont.*; Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Breaux, La.; Cantwell, Wash.; Carnahan, Mo.*; Carper, Del.; Cleland, Ga.*; Clinton, N.Y.; Daschle, S.D.; Dodd, Conn.; Dorgan, N.D.; Edwards, N.C.; Feinstein, Calif.; Harkin, Iowa*; Hollings, S.C.; Johnson, S.D.*; Kerry, Mass.; Kohl, Wis.; Landrieu, La.*; Lieberman, Conn.; Lincoln, Ark.; Miller, Ga.; Nelson, Fla.; Nelson, Neb.; Reid, Nev.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Schumer, N.Y.; Torricelli, N.J.

Democrats No
Akaka, Hawaii; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif; Byrd, W.Va.; Conrad, N.D.; Corzine, N.J.; Dayton, Minn.; Durbin, Ill.*; Feingold, Wis; Graham, Fla.; Inouye, Hawaii; Kennedy, Mass.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.*; Mikulski, Md.; Murray, Wash.; Reed, R.I.*; Sarbanes, Md.; Stabenow, Mich.; Wellstone, Minn.*; Wyden, Ore.

Republicans Yes
Allard, Colo.*; Allen, Va.; Bennett, Utah; Bond, Mo.; Brownback, Kan.; Bunning, Ky.; Burns, Mont.; Campbell, Colo.; Cochran, Miss.; Collins, Maine*; Craig, Idaho; Crapo, Idaho; DeWine, Ohio; Domenici, N.M.*; Ensign, Nev.; Enzi, Wyo.; Fitzgerald, Ill.; Frist, Tenn.; Gramm, Texas; Grassley, Iowa; Gregg, N.H.; Hagel, Neb.; Hatch, Utah; Helms, N.C.; Hutchinson, Ark.*; Hutchison, Texas; Inhofe, Okla.*; Kyl, Ariz.; Lott, Miss.; Lugar, Ind.; McCain, Ariz.; McConnell, Ky.*; Murkowski, Alaska; Nickles, Okla.; Roberts, Kan.; Santorum, Pa.; Sessions, Ala.*; Shelby, Ala.; Smith, N.H.; Smith, Ore.*; Snowe, Maine; Specter, Pa.; Stevens, Alaska; Thomas, Wyo.; Thompson, Tenn.; Thurmond, S.C.; Voinovich, Ohio; Warner, Va.*

Republicans No
Chafee, R.I.;

Others No
Jeffords, Vt.

After Daschle's cave-in on authorizing an invasion of Iraq, can there be any reasonable argument for maintaining the current Democratic control of the U.S. Senate? Daschle not only betrayed those who opposed giving this President such a broad mandate, based as it was on lies and contempt for the citizen, but he also undercut the raison d'etre for a Democratic Senate: slowing down judicial nominations. No true liberal can countenance the slaughter of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians simply to prevent the appointment of conservatives to the appellate courts. A good rule of thumb should be, if your Senator or Representative votes against authorization, vote for him; if he votes for authorization, and he is a Democrat up for reelection, don't vote at all in that race, and let the chips fall where they may.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(2006 Update HERE)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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