Kudos to the PGA, for holding its first tournament of the year at a pitch-and-putt course on Maui. The sponsors of the Mercedes Championship may want to consider holding next year's competition on a course that could at least challenge me. Try adding a rough, or sloping the greens, or placing a bunker or two in front of the greens, or something to prevent the winner from having to shoot 31-under par.

I have to admit, I did not see the twist coming at the end of Alias last night. It's to the credit of the writers and producers of the show that almost no one else did, either; none of the spoilers published on the various fansites even mention the reversal involving Sloane and his wife. In fact, the hints I had been receiving seemed to indicate that the big surprise was going to be in the next episode, airing after the Super Bowl in two weeks. Good job !!

Gee, what a surprise--the Bush Administration is now blaming Clinton for our deteriorating situation on the Korean Peninsula. Well done; I was wondering when they would get around to following their modus operandi; after all, admitting mistakes is something no Republican President has done since Francis Gary Powers was shot down. Economy bounces from recession to stagnation to recession, after Bush enacts an ill-conceived tax cut for millionaires; blame Clinton. America is attacked by terrorists, in large part because we seem to be more concerned about Iraqi oil that Al Qaeda; blame Clinton. Enron and other companies perpetrate a fraud on American investors for ten years, then help finance the selection of Bush to the Presidency; blame Clinton.

I'm certain that Jen and Barb's drinking will be blamed on Bubba, sure enough. Of course, it would be equally unfair to say that Bush is entirely responsible for each of those problems, particularly concerning corporate fraud. Nobody, myself included, likes to dwell on screw-ups. Nevertheless, however predictable this reaction might be, the tendency not to acknowledge its errors is one of the most troubling political aspects of this Presidency. The 50-50 split within the country necessitates that Bush make a special effort to draw the other half of the country behind his policies. In the aftermath of 9-11, he did that, speaking to us as Americans, not conservatives, and the nation supported most of his proposals to fight terrorism. Now that memories of that terrible day have faded, the partisan divisions have returned. No consensus has been formed about tax policy or Iraq, but this president seems to think that the country will give him a pass if he ties it in to the "war" on terror. Or if he just blames his predecessor. It would be nice if the country had a president whose word we could trust on matters of policy, someone who could admit to, and learn from, his mistakes. Someone like, say, Clinton.

The David Broder of SoCal bloggers, Matt Welch, has returned after a lengthy hiatus (if he's the broder of LA blogs, then I guess Kevin Drum is the EJ Dionne; I guess I'd be one of the Post's lame-o sportswriters, like Tony Kornheiser)

This is inappropriate on so many levels, I wouldn't know where to begin. "Justice" Thomas is still on the Supreme Court, and there's always the off-chance that one of the companies involved in the publication of his memoirs might have an issue or two that may one day be decided by the Court. Obviously, as hard as this might be to fathom, he might write something that is false, or even defamatory; in fact, since he probably won't admit he perjured himself back in 1991, I think it's a safe bet that he will do so. As pleasing as the thought of this bum being sued in a civil action while on the Court, especially in light of what he did to the previous President, such a suit would further damage the prestige and credibility of the judicial branch. More telling is just the fact that this is so classless.

The election is still some three weeks off, but if recent polls are to be believed, Ariel Sharon may be in some serious trouble. This was supposed to be a contest that would solidify the Likud Party's position in the Knesset, while discrediting the dovish wing of the Labor Party. It's not turning out that way, though.

The Fox Network lacks courage for not picking up Joe President; it would have been a perfect lead-in for 24.

He's not in my Humor section, since most of his posts are straight political takes, but every now and then, Jesse Taylor of Pandagon channels Peggy Noonan sooooo perfectly, I pee in my pants. We're barely two weeks into the new year, and he's already clinched a '03 Koufax Award for this brilliant parody.

Today's bankruptcy filing by the Ottawa Senators, the third such filing in the past eight years, is probably a good indication that the NHL may be the first of the major sports leagues in this country to seriously retrench. As much as I love the sport, ice hockey is a terrible TV draw (for example, two of the USA matches in the last World Cup got higher ratings on ESPN than all but one of the games of last season's Stanley Cup Final, even though the hockey games were on in prime time, while the soccer games started in the wee hours of the morning). Attendance around the league is wildly inconsistent. It draws talent from such a narrow base in North America that the star players in the sport are disproportionately from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Yet the NHL continues to play out the fiction that it is one of the major sports leagues in America, and maintains an assortment of franchises in the Sun Belt that are prime candidates to follow the Senators, Kings, and Penguins into bankruptcy protection.

Joshua Marshall has finally given Bush's Korean policy the doctrine it deserves: Strategic Ridiculousness.

It appears blogger John Ellis has lost one pound in the past week. Wow !!

The problem with hyping the "five men from Canada" into some elite team of international fugitives comes the next time the Administration wishes for us to take a threat seriously.

Big Brother once again punishes a man for freely exercising his Second Amendment rights. Or maybe it was because Tennessee State ran a poor transition game. Whatever.

I've always been partial to athletes who were absolutely hated by the beat writers covering them. Well done, Eddie Murray, for a memorable career, and for having the dignity and grace not to stick a bat down the throats of the scumbags of the fourth estate. Especially when you were with the Mets.

This might actually be a fun two years, if liberals are so willing. Bush's economic proposals are as tone-deaf as his father's; he actually believes that the reason the country is hurting is that Wall Street has to pay taxes on dividends !! He's just renominated Owen and Pickering to the federal circuit courts, only three weeks after the resignation of Trent Lott put an ugly spotlight on the piss-poor civil rights record of modern conservatism. The Administration "policy" about handling North Korea is almost deliberately incompetent, unable to distinguish between negotiations and "appeasement"; ironically, the reemergence of the PROK likely means that even if Bush starts a war with Iraq, the intended boost to his polling numbers will be as short-lived as they were for his dad. His reelect numbers are starting to plummet. And for the first time since 9/11, the Democrats are starting to fight back. Class Warfare, indeed. To the Barricades !!!!

Memo to Giants' fans: QUIT WHINING !!! Bad calls are a part of life, so get over it. Your whole raison d'etre seems to be based on the assumption that the refs would have called pass interference, then your kicking team would have made a field goal that it had botched on two separate occasions in the previous four minutes. Well, ask yourself this: how were the Giants' robbed if they couldn't hold a 24-point second half lead? Jeez, you guys are worse than those Cardinals' fans who still moan about Don Denkinger costing them the '85 Series.

The campaign to make Mother Theresa a saint hits a roadblock, in this well-reasoned piece by Jeanne d'Arc that peels away the hype, and suggests a more-deserving candidate, Archbishop Romero.

Rough day at work. I haven't been able to shake whatever sickness I have, and feel depleted and lethargic. I took on an appearance today at a confirmation hearing for a Chapter 13 debtor, but was not given a complete file, so I had to live through the embarassment of finding out the facts of my case in open court, in front of the judge, trustee, and opposing counsel. Still, I got the plan confirmed. Then I went to work on preparing another case for trial, but had repeated arguments with the chief trial lawyer, who was second-guessing everything I was doing. Finally, I just had enough, and went home. If it were up to me, I'd just tell her to go to hell, and let her handle the case the rest of the way, but it's my principal source of income right now.

I can gripe about this Administration's policy concerning North Korea 'til the proverbial cows come home, but Joshua Marshall has provided an encyclopedic analysis of the crisis. It's the reason blogs exist.

Interesting post by labor lawyer Sam Heldman on unjudicial behaviour by a certain Ninth Circuit judge, Alex Kozinski. I'm sure many of you have received links to various opinions by a certain Texas District Court judge, Samuel B. Kent. His opinions are often hilarious, nasty and cutting, very well written, and contemptuous of the fools who appear before him in his court. He is, in my opinion, the worst person on the Federal Bench. Similarly, Kozinsky is a rabid ideologue and bigot, whose opinions are in the same tradition (btw, his wife, Marci Tiffany, was the former US Trustee for the Central District of California, a political appointee by the first Bush, and a diletante whose obnoxiousness was tempered only by her aversion to hard work. For that, all local bankruptcy lawyers should feel some debt of gratitude). He is also very funny, which, unfortunately, is not his job.

In Los Angeles County, if you don't like the judge you've been assigned, you have at least one opportunity to recuse the judge, and you may do so for any reason, however petty. Although there are supposedly standards by which a Federal judge is supposed to recuse himself, it is an exceedingly rare process, and it's entirely up to the judge to decide whether he has a financial interest that may be affected (the appeals court might ultimately have a differing view, but such oversight is worthless when the parties have limited financial resources to challenge a bad ruling). At a time when the Federal Judiciary has become another political branch, and its judges have lifetime appointments, as well as unlimited power to settle scores and impose their beliefs on the parties that appear before them, such a policy invites the sort of judicial corruption exemplified by Alex Kozinski, Manuel Real, Lawrence Silberman, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia.

If a party to a Federal suit could recuse a judge at the beginning of a lawsuit, whether it's at trial or on appeal, it might discourage a judge from abusing his power in that matter. I have the impression that most judges, at least, aren't doing it for the paycheck. They love holding court, and gaining a reputation for being a local a-hole that parties either do not want to appear before, or wish to appear before them only because their views are so predictable, is one no judge truly wants.