Taliban Resurgence. Pro-Bush Downing Street Memo Spin. Red Sox Notes.

I'm back after a slight relapse of my flu-like symptoms with the following stories that piqued my interest:

The Taliban Is Back...But Did They Ever Really Go Away?

The latest news from Afghanistan is not good. The following Rueters excerpt explains why:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban guerrillas said they executed a district police chief and seven other policemen on Sunday out of 31 police they were holding prisoner in the troubled southern Afghan province of Kandahar.

The capture and killing of the men has created a fresh crisis for authorities in Kandahar, the province worst hit by a surge of violence in recent months that has raised fears for parliamentary elections on Sept. 18.

In separate violence in neighboring Helmand province, guerrillas killed a judge, an intelligence official and a guard in the district of Anad-i-Ali to the west of the provincial capital Lashkargah on Friday night, a provincial spokesman said.

Full story: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8831193

In light of attacks like this one, why on earth do President Bloodthirsty Moron and Vice President Potty Mouth keep insisting that they defeated the Taliban? Better yet, why does our "liberal press" continue to give these assholes a free pass every time they make such fake claims?


Pro-Bush Downing Street Memo Spin

Lisa Hoffman of the Scripps Howard news service has come up with what is probably the most brainlessly blatant excuse-mongering for President Bloodthirsty Moron and his cabal of neocon dirtbags.

Full story: http://www.sitnews.us/0605news/061905/061905_shns_iraq_hoohah.html

This one is long, so I've pasted the whole damned thing and interjected my comments where appropriate.

There's a mighty hoo-hah blowing across the ocean from Britain, one amplified by blasts from American bloggers about the timing of President Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq.
An unofficial Capitol Hill hearing Thursday, chaired by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is likely to add spin to the swirling controversy that centers on what's come to be known as the "Downing Street Memo," a once-secret report on a meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair held with aides in July 2002.
At it, they discussed what was characterized as Bush's "determination" to invade Iraq - even though the White House was publicly denying such a decision had been made. The threat of weapons of mass destruction was concocted to justify a war, the memo implied.

The memo didn't "imply" any such thing--it came right out and said that that was what the White House was doing.

To believe the bloggers, who have launched a coast-to-coast e-mail assault, the "mainstream news media" were snoozing at the time, either deaf to the war drums or uninterested in challenging Bush. The bloggers and Conyers also are outraged that little press attention is being paid now to the memo.
But a quick Google search of news stories at the time shows that the United States' steady military buildup and its possible intentions were in fact chronicled in great and continuous detail beginning in the spring of 2002. Perhaps the bloggers' misinformation about the earlier coverage dampened interest in the memo.

Could this buildup have had anything to do with the fact that President Bloodthirsty Moron, with the help of his good friend British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was, as we bloggers have always maintained, shuffling the deck to prepare for his precious invasion?

Was there a devious White House decision, even before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to concoct a rationale for ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who had bedeviled America since the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War and who had plotted to assassinate President George H.W. Bush?

Yes. Ever hear of a group called the Project For the New American Century? This is a group that is made up of people who would make up most of the Bush cabinet like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz. These clowns have been around since 1997 and ackshully urged President Clinton to invade and occupy Iraq at that time. Clinton told them to go piss up a rope.

If there was, it was hardly necessary. While it was the first for the George W. Bush administration, the 2002 military buildup was at least the fifth time the United States had massed fighting forces and materiel to confront Iraq since the end of Operation Desert Storm. Each time, the use of force was under full contemplation and, in several cases, used.
In President Bill Clinton's two terms alone, there were three such major mobilizations. Two came in response to Saddam's obstruction of international weapons inspectors. Hoisting a 5-pound bag of sugar to dramatize the amount of anthrax Saddam's regime was believed to have, then-Defense Secretary William Cohen traveled to Capitol Hill and TV news studios warning Saddam to relent - or else possibly face pre-emptive attack.
The last buildup - which in January 1999 brought U.S. forces in the Gulf to seven times their normal level and cost taxpayers more than $1 billion - was the Clinton administration's response to escalating Iraqi military provocations against American warplanes patrolling the "no-fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq.

Miss Hoffman's concern for US taxpayers is really touching, but she conveniently omits the fact that Bloodthirsty Moron has thrown $320 billion dollars at Iraq. Who the hell does she expect will pick up the tab for this effort?

It didn't work. In the first seven months of 1999 alone, U.S. pilots reported they had faced Iraqi antiaircraft artillery fire from Iraqi ground forces 91 times, had been targeted by enemy radar in preparation for attack another 54 times and had been shot at by surface-to-air missiles 24 times.
Saddam's response to U.S. demands that he cease? The strongman merely upped the reward he was offering to any Iraqi soldier who could bag a U.S. warplane and pilot.

Apparently Miss Hoffman is unaware that when fired upon our military aircraft show a remarkable tendency to return fire against their attackers.

The trajectory to crisis continued into the 2000 election year. No matter who won the presidential contest, it was clear that Saddam and Iraq would likely present the first major foreign-policy conundrum to whomever ascended to the Oval Office.
At the time, Saddam had the edge. He was gaining global sympathy with his complaints that U.N. economic sanctions - imposed after the Gulf War to keep Saddam from rebuilding his military and arming it with weapons of mass destruction - were causing the Iraqi people terrible suffering due to the food and medicine shortages that resulted.
While we know now that Saddam was siphoning off billions of dollars of "oil for food" aid that was intended for Iraqi families, at the time his plaint drew growing support from European nations, who were close to calling on the United Nations to lift sanctions.

This is nothing but a distraction from the main argument. Besides, 60 percent of this money ended up in the hands of US-based contractors like Halliburton.

U.S. allies in the Middle East, who had backed the no-fly enforcement and America's military buildups as a proper response to Saddam's aggression, were similarly peeling back their support. Saddam had lately taken up the Palestinian cause, funding the families of suicide bombers and otherwise inserting himself in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
His anti-U.S. tirades were well received in the region, and his stature was growing around the globe for his success in yanking America to the brink of war over and over for years.
At the same time, the Pentagon had growing worries about the no-fly patrols, which were designed to stifle any Iraqi military moves against its neighbors and to protect the Iraqi Kurds and Shiites, who were victims of the alleged war crimes for which Saddam now stands accused.

Yes, crimes that we helped him to commit by selling him the very biological weapons he used against these people.

After 10 years of daily flights, the patrols, which reached a total of more than 216,000 sorties, were costing some $1 billion a year and wearing out warplanes and pilots. The escalation of Iraqi attacks meant the missions would only cost the military more and be even more dangerous. Many Pentagon brass grumbled that something had to be done.
But what? Periodic pinprick cruise-missile attacks, such as those launched against Iraqi military targets in 1998's Operation Desert Thunder, Round II, had little effect, except on the Pentagon's budget.
Relax economic sanctions? The Clinton administration denounced any such move as a misguided capitulation that would allow Saddam to re-arm, including with chemical and biological toxins.

Again, does Miss Hoffman mean the biological toxins that we sold Saddam in 1984 with Donald Rumsfeld as the main salesman?

Abandon the no-fly patrols? That would break America's belated pledge to protect Saddam's victims, thousands of whom died after U.S. forces left them vulnerable after the Gulf War. No more overflights would also give Saddam a free shot if he wanted to repeat his 1990 invasion of Kuwait or any other neighbor.
Clinton left the festering crisis to his successor. But even before Bush was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2001, Saddam demonstrated his own resolve to continue to force the issue.

Jesus Christ, first this dizzy bitch claims Clinton was asleep by pretending that our aircraft were as defenseless as clay pigeons, then she claims he was too tough by continuing economic sanctions, then she claims again that he was asleep by implying he wanted to abandon the defenseless aircraft flying patrols? She can't seem to make up her mind. Then again, what can we expect from a representative of the media that was fed the lie that Clinton's military moves against Iraq were a "wag the dog" distraction from the Minica Lewinsky mess?

In early January, Iraq's aggressive targeting of U.S. no-fly patrols increased. By the end of January, more than 60 such incidents had been recorded - far more than in previous months. The newly minted Bush administration said the nation's Iraq policy was under review, and that a new approach clearly was called for.

Here she goes again by implying that our Air Force was a useless, defenseless organization. Please note that she gives no casualty figures. Draw your own conclusions about that. In addition, during the debates with Vice President Gore, Governor Bush claimed the opposite of what becmae an eventuality in Iraq--namely that he WOULD NOT BE INCLINED TO ENGAGE IN NATION BUILDING. The next paragraph shows how serious he was about this promise. It also indicates that, in this matter as well as many others, he was not a man of his word.

On Feb. 16, 2001, less than a month after Bush took office, he issued his first military order: permitting U.S. warplanes, in retaliation, to attack Iraqi surveillance radar and communications sites located outside the no-fly zones.
And what did Saddam do? He turned that bombing into fodder for his anti-U.S. campaign, and received a sympathetic response from many U.N. member nations.

Well, that's the end of this mysterious article. Sort of a weak ending if you ask me, but then again the article is filled with justifications that are easily explained for anyone who was alive and awake at the time these events took place. This is the type of reporting one would expect from Fox News. It is this type of reporting that allowed Bush, Cheney et al to do what they have done, not only in Iraq, but here at home regarding economic policy, energy policy and almost every other policy upon which they've laid their filty paws. To ignore this is to either be a true believer in what these madmen are doing, or it is simply the reporting of a bought and paid for hack.


Red Sox Somewhat Hot...

The Red Sox shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates today 8-0 for their fifth win in their last six games. Starter Matt Clement pitched seven strong innings with nine strikeouts to earn the win. David Ortiz hit a two-run triple and Jay Payton hit a two-run homer to pace the offense.

A potential problem is that Manny Ramirez was hit by a pitch above the left ankle on Saturday night. He came out of that came, and sat out today's game. His defensive replacement was Kevin Millar, normally the everyday first-baseman. Millar is a barely adequate defender at his normal position. He is well below adequate in the outfield where his lack of foot speed and weak throwing arm are a double liability. A better alternative is to play Payton, who is swinging a hot bat, in left field and to put Millar back at first base. Ackshully, it would be better to sit Millar down in favor of John Olerud who, despite his sporadic playing time, is hitting well. Of course, Millar has also hit well of late, and since he is a favorite of Manager Terry Francona, he will likely continue to see the majority of the first base action when and if the Manny situation settles down.

On the positive side, most of the regular position players seem to be hitting well. Likewise, the starting pitching is in good shape, and the bullpen was given a boost when Alan Embree, who has been pounded lately, pitched the final two innings without giving up a run.

Next up is a trip to Cleveland to play the suddenly red-hot Indians, winners of eight straight. The Tribe is averaging over seven runs of offense per game during their hot streak, so the Sox pitchers will have their work cut out for them as the week begins.

New 100 Meter Dash Record. Murdering Racist Swine For $1,000.

New 100 Meter Dash Record

Asafa Powell set a new world record in the men's 100 meter dash. Details via the following ESPN excerpt:

ATHENS, Greece -- Asafa Powell set a world record in the men's 100 meters Tuesday, clocking 9.77 seconds at the Tsiklitiria Super Grand Prix meeting.

On a warm summer's night on one of the fastest tracks in the world, the 22-year-old beat Tim Montgomery's previous record of 9.78 set in Paris in September 2002 to become the fastest man ever over the distance.

"This goes to show that the no one knows how fast a man can run," a smiling Powell told reporters. "I am just happy to have set the record on a track where Maurice Greene also broke the world record."

American Maurice Greene set a record in 1999 when he ran 9.79 seconds in the same stadium, which hosted the Summer Olympics last year.

Powell, 22, already had the world's fastest time this year, a run of 9.84 seconds at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 8. He also ran a 9.85 on June 9 in the Czech Republic.

That's damned fast. I wonder why stories like this don't get the amount of coverage that accompanies say, the Kentucy Derby or the Indy 500?

Full story: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2084983


I'll Take Murdering Racist Swine For $1,000 Alex

I have no words to preface this story. I'll let the following Google News excerpt do the talking:

The Ku Klux Klan is making a presence at the jury selection of the trial against ordained Baptist minister and Klansman Edgar Ray Killen, who allegedly murdered three civil rights activists that were working to register black voters in Mississippi in 1964. Jury selection began at the Neshoba County Courthouse in Philadelphia, Mississippi on Monday, June 13, 2005 for the trial against Killen.

The trial against Edgar Ray Killen is being held in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a small town with a population of only 7,000. The KKK's reputation is one of using scare tactics and intimidation of the inhabitants of small town Mississippi in order to silence any opposition to their hate-filled agenda.

J.J. Harper, the imperial wizard of the KKK, has requested that all Klan members be at this trial. One can only wonder what the potential jurors are feeling as they are being questioned by the attorneys for such an important trial, knowing that the KKK is standing outside the courthouse.

Good question. An even better question would be, isn't this type of organization subject to scrutiny and to have its members detained as a provision of the USA Patriot Act? Or is that piece of legislation only to be used to harass people like Tommy Chong for selling bongs over these Internets?

Full story: http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/5780/index.php

The murdered men, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerne, who were helping register blacks during the "Freedom Summer" of 1964 and were investigating a church burning the night they disappeared galvanized the civil rights movement and helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

How ironic is it then, that the Senate is officially apologizing for never having enacted anti-lynching laws in the Deep South? Have we really moved forward in our understanding of racial equality when it takes more than 40 years to deliver justice in a case like this?

Non-Michael Jackson Related News!!! New Earthlike Exoplanet Found!

Earthlike Exoplanet Found

In this, one of the few, if not the only Michael Jackson-free blog on these Internets, I give you a story about the discovery of what is thus far the most Earthlike exoplanet, in terms of mass, orbiting one of our closest stellar neighbors, a red dwarf called Gliese 876. The following excerpt from Sky and Telescope gives more details:

June 13, 2005 After three years of maintaining secrecy while collecting more and more evidence, a team of astronomers today announced finding an entirely new type of planet orbiting a dim star 15 light-years away. The object is the lightest known extrasolar planet orbiting a normal star, with a mass between 6 and 9 Earths and most likely 7½ Earth masses. At a National Science Foundation press conference this afternoon, Geoffrey W. Marcy (University of California, Berkeley), R. Paul Butler (Carnegie Institution of Washington), and four colleagues called their find the most Earthlike world yet discovered outside our solar system.

While that is technically true, the planet is truly weird by any Earthly standard. The new world orbits the red-dwarf star Gliese 876 at a distance of only 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers, or 0.021 astronomical unit) with an orbital period — a "year" — that is only 46 hours long. It's so close to its little star that the star must appear in its sky as a fireball 12° across — some 24 times as wide as the Sun in Earth's sky, or about the size of a tennis ball held at arm's length.

As a result, the planet's temperature should be some 200° to 400° Celsius (400° to 750° Fahrenheit), well above the boiling point of water at Earth's atmospheric pressure but perhaps below the boiling point of water if the world has a thick enough atmosphere, barring a strong greenhouse effect. Whether it has an atmosphere at all is unknown. It could consist of bare rock, rock swathed in an atmosphere as thick as Earth's or Venus's, or it could be a Uranus analog, a hot "ice giant" in which a massive atmosphere rich in cosmic volatiles (water, methane, ammonia) comprises a fair fraction of the objects' entire bulk. If the world is rocky it would be a little less than twice Earth's diameter in size, and its strong surface gravity would probably keep its topography relatively flat.

Full story: http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1530_1.asp

Of course, given the information described in the excerpt, this planet is almost certainly uninhabitable, but the point that planets smaller than the gas giants that have been found, some of which are five to ten times more massive than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, exist and are right in our own back yard, in a manner of speaking.

I don't want to get too political here because this is a HUGE story. It is much bigger than any celebrity trial, sporting event or any of the other fifteen disposable headlines the major networks pass off as "news". This story really IS news. It is news because it is something that is completely unexpected and unseen in our time. The only way this story could be bigger is if we could somehow detect the presence of life on this world. Maybe then we would start to see reporters re-discover the skills they lost when they decided to become purveyors of fluff or mouthpieces of the Bush administration. Maybe. But then again maybe not because when Paris Hilton does her Latest Stupid Thing of the Week, these idiots will trip all over themselves once again to see who can be the first to type it up.

Flu Sucks. Food Poisoning Sucks. Put Them Together...

Hola amigos. I'm back, and am at about 60% capacity after having been laid low by a combination of flu and food poisoning late last week, hence the lack of new posts.

I was unfortunate enough to watch the Red Sox continue to stumble in the National League parks as the interleague schedule resumed last week. The Sox were lucky to escape St. Louis with one win in the three-game series there, and have thus far lost the first two games of their three-game set with the Cubs, having lost a game yesterday that they should have won. They try to avoid a sweep tonight, and I have the added misfortune of having to watch the game on ESPN and listen to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Miller is fine, but Morgan is the most irritating man behind the mic in the business today. The over-under on the amount of Big Red Machine references in nine innings is 30.

Anyway, the Sox are struggling badly. Johnny Damon, David Ortiz, Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek are the only players doing anything offensively. Manny Ramirez looks completely confused at the plate. Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar and Mark Bellhorn are doing almost nothing with the bats. Edgar Renteria, who looked like he was waking up from his early slump, has fallen back into a funk. The pitching staff is getting bruised, especially the bullpen. Alan Embree has been terrible, and Matt Mantei has been wild. Mike Myers and Mike Timlin have been good. Long man John Halama might be given another chance to start if Tim Wakefield has another rocky start tonight. Closer Keith Foulke has been hittable, but is showing recent signs of regaining his dominance.

Stay tuned for some music reviews. I have some things to say about the latest releases from Bruce Dickinson, John Norum and Edenbridge. Blog at ya later!

Holier Than Thou Assholes For $200

I'll Take Holier Than Thou Assholes For $200 Alex

I ackshully caught this nonsense on TV as I got home from my wage slavery containment facilitah. The story was so nutty I had to go to the Internets for verification. I knew that it would be just the sort of item I could present to you, my loving audience. I proudly present the following ABC News excerpt:

June 7, 2005 — The newest battle in the culture wars is being waged on the telephone lines. In a departure from the standard telemarketing calls aimed at selling long distance service, United American Technology has taken telemarketing to a whole new level.

The Oklahoma-based long distance carrier, which describes itself as a Christian conservative company, is seeking like-minded customers by bad-mouthing bigger rivals for their "sinful" behavior.

"Our base, which would be a conservative base, really does not like the same-sex marriage that has been pushed down our throat," UAT consultant Carl Thompson told ABC News.

UAT niche markets its service by railing against Internet pornography, homosexuality, and then criticizing competing phone companies it claims promote both.

Many major corporations — ranging from huge hotel chains to telecommunications firms that carry cable television and Internet services — have profited, in one form or another, from adult entertainment.

Gee, how in Hades did they overlook their close friends in the Catholic Church?

But some say UAT takes its politics too far. New York City comedian Eugene Mirman was so astonished by a UAT call he received, he recorded it. Mirman believes he was contacted — as something of a joke — because he donated $51 to the 1996 presidential campaign of Republican Alan Keyes.

"I got a phone call," Mirman said. "It was a recording and it said: 'Hi, I'm the mother of three, and I don't support gay marriage. If you don't support gay marriage press one.' I have something hooked up to my phone to record phone calls, and so I scrambled and found it … Every time they would call, I would record it because it was crazy."

In one of the "crazy" exchanges he recorded, the telemarketer starts her sales pitch by asking about Mirman's stance on same-sex marriage:

UAT TELEMARKETER: OK. Eugene, did you press 1 to oppose same sex marriages?
MIRMAN: Oh, I pressed it, yes.
UAT: OK, that's great to hear. Now are you against same-sex marriages?
MIRMAN:: Well I want to destroy it, yes.
UAT: OK, that's great to hear. And Eugene -
MIRMAN: With the fist of God, we will smash them!
UAT: Exactly. Uh, Mr. Mirman, our organization is dedicated to people such as yourself who want to stop same-sex marriages and to quit doing business with companies that promote and profit from the homosexual lifestyle.
MIRMAN: Some companies profit from homosexuality?
UAT: That's correct.
MIRMAN: By selling sex favors?
UAT: No. Such as AT&T, what they do …
MIRMAN: AT&T sells sex favors?
UAT: No, no. What it is is they own the Hot Network, which is a hardcore pornography channel … They also give millions of dollars to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance group.
(AT&T actually has sold its division that owned the Hot Network, but Thompson says that's immaterial since the company still makes money off phone sex calls.)

There is more, but I don't want to deprive you of the laughs you'll get when you read what Mirman does with this stupid sack of shit. Full story: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Business/story?id=827643&page=1

The sad thing about all this is that this kind of crap no longer surprises me. These holy rollers aren't going to be happy until they succeed in turning this country into a totalitarian Christian nation, and woe be to anyone who doesn't buy into their specific delusions.

But, on a lighter note, for some extremely twisted comedy, check out Eugene Mirman's web site: http://www.eugenemirman.com/

The New Cruelty, Extreme Pain Edition.

In a terrible decision, the US Supreme Court decided by a 6-3 vote that the federal government is the only entity qualified to decide how much pain severely ill patients can suffer, and exactly what substances they can use to alleviate some of that pain. Sad Yahoo News excerpt:

WASHINGTON - People who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, overriding medical marijuana statutes in 10 states.

The court's 6-3 decision was filled with sympathy for two seriously ill California women who brought the case, but the majority agreed that federal agents may arrest even sick people who use the drug as well as the people who grow pot for them.

Justice John Paul Stevens, an 85-year-old cancer survivor, said the court was not passing judgment on the potential medical benefits of marijuana, and he noted "the troubling facts" in the case. However, he said the Constitution allows federal regulation of homegrown marijuana as interstate commerce.

Then why not regulate it the way you would regulate any other crop that grows all over the goddamned country and stop acting like we are asking you to turn your own feces into gold bullion.

The Bush administration has taken a hard stand against state medical marijuana laws, but it was unclear how it would respond to the new prosecutorial power. Justice Department spokesman John Nowacki would not say whether prosecutors would pursue cases against individual users.

Bullshit. They'll go after every poor slob they can. Look at what that asshole Ashcroft did to Tommy Chong for selling bongs over the Internets.

In a dissent, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said the court's "overreaching stifles an express choice by some states, concerned for the lives and liberties of their people, to regulate medical marijuana differently."

Can you believe that? Justice O'Connor acting in a sane and sensible manner! Just as shocking is that fact that Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas dissented along with Justice O'Connor.

The problem here is that we have a loud segment of the Family Values Asshole Brigade pissing and moaning about a bunch of people they don't know and will never meet to the extent that they have insinuated themselves into those persons lives in the same way that Tom DeLay and President Useless tried to o in the Terri Schaivo case. Rather than address what is a medical issue, it has become a law enforcement one, which is truly ridiculous.

Of course, this might never have been an issue if this country would come to its senses and adopt a policy of total and effective health care coverage, but we mustn't think such thoughts as long as Senate Majority Leader Frist continues to insist on screwing the very constituents he claims to be helping when he lies about the true costs of Medicaid. But what the hell, its just another useless federal program like Social Security...

I'll end this rant with this declaration: To criminalize behavior that by it's very nature is beneficial is the real crime, and thanks to the suddenly federalist Supreme Court, nobody can decide how to manage extreme pain by themselves. Funny, but I don't recall any such moral ambiguity over the "interstate commerce" aspect of firearm distribution...

Red Sox Take Two Of Three From Angels. Sunday Afternoon Horror Movie.

Red Sox Take Two Of Three From Angels

The Red Sox managed to rebound from Saturday's hideous bullpen explosion to beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, United States, North America, Western Hemisphere, Third Stone From The Sun, etc.

The final score was 6-3 behind the solid pitching of starter Wade Miller, Mike Meyers (who got his second win of the weekend), Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke who enjoyed a 1-2-3 ninth for what was probably his easiest save of the season. The Sox got huge RBIs late from David Ortiz and John Olerud. The team will now head to St. Louis and Chicago to play the Cardinals and Cubs. We will most likely see David Ortiz and first base (despite Kevin Millar's HUGE weekend at the plate after two nearly silent months...), since the NL does not use the designated hitter. We will also be treated to the spectacle of seeing the Red Sox pitchers hit, which I must say, even as a fan of the NL style of ball, is not a thing I look forward to viewing.


Sunday Afternoon SCI-FI Movie, Courtesy Of H.P. Lovecraft

After the game I turned on the Sci-Fi channel to see a film titled "Dagon". There are only a handful of movies that have been adapted from Lovecraft's stories, most of them terrible (perhaps the best rendering was a film called "The Resurrected" that starred Chris Sarandon in the adaptation of the short novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward").

The action centered around two couples on a boat ride that goes horribly wrong as a storm rises from nowhere. One couple decides to take the small life raft and go for help. When the couple lands they find an eerie priest with webbed fingers and pallid, clammy skin. He takes the woman with him to get the police while the man goes on a fishing boat with a couple of characters who say nothing, but look a lot like the priest in that they also have webbed fingers, etc.

Right away I knew that the story that SHOULD have been credited was Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". The tale was first published in 1942 in Weird Tales, and it is one of several Lovecraft classics. This one dealt directly with an entire community corrupted by one man, Captain Obed Marsh, who sailed around the world and came back home to Innsmouth (an ancient Massachusetts seaport) with more than just a little treasure. He learned how to communicate with the Deep Ones, the ocean-dwelling elements of what would become known as the "Cthulu Mythos". As a result, the town prospered as long as there were plenty of sacrifices to the sea god Dagon. In time, some of Dagon's minions began hooking up with the citizens of Innsmouth, with the result that a good portion of the population became part fish.

Anyway, aside from modernizing the characters, and adding a smattering of Spanish and Portuguese into the mix, the story as told by this film was actually fairly passable, which came as a pleasant surprise. The sense of isolation that is a staple of Lovecraft's stories was effectively conveyed through the actions of the hapless couple as they struggle to escape the sinster denizens of this nightmare town.

If you haven't seen the movie or read the story I won't spoil either one for you. But if you like your horror with a healthy dose of other-worldly helplessness, I think you'll like both the movie, and the original story, as well as Lovecraft's other stories.

Deep Throat Analysis By Way Of Talk Radio.

A lot of people are weighing in with opinions in all the furor over the revelation that Deep Throat was W. Mark Felt, the FBI's Number Two man during the Watergate scandal. I heard an interesting conversation on National Public Radio this afternoon on my way home from my wage slavery containment facility. The participants were men who were on the scene during the height of the scandal. William Doyle Ruckelshaus, Jeb Stuart Magruder and Charles Wendell "Chuck" Colson were on hand for the listening audience. Before my humble analysis of their respective efforts to state their cases, I did the following research into their backgrounds. Research courtesy of Wikipedia.

William Doyle Ruckelshaus: Ruckelshaus served as the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, was subsequently acting director of the FBI, and then Deputy Attorney General of the United States.

In a 1973 event known as the "Saturday Night Massacre", Ruckelshaus and his boss, Elliot Richardson, famously resigned their positions within the Justice Department rather than obey an order from President Richard Nixon to fire the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, who was investigating official misconduct on the part of the president and his aides.

Full story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ruckelshaus

Jeb Stuart Magruder: Magruder's first major political job was managing the successful run of Donald Rumsfeld for the House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962. Magruder was appointed to the White House staff in 1969 as Special Assistant to the President. He worked for H.R. Haldeman and Herbert Klein, Nixon's Communications Director for the Executive Branch. Magruder served in the White House until 1971, when he left to manage the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) as Deputy Director, and assistant to CRP Director and former Attorney General John N. Mitchell. The campaign to re-elect the President was extraordinarily successful, winning 49 of 50 states and the District of Columbia, and Magruder went on to manage Nixon's inauguration in January 1973 as Inaugural Director.

In April 1973, Magruder began cooperating with federal prosecutors. In exchange, Magruder was allowed to plead guilty in August 1973 to a one-count indictment of conspiracy to obstruct justice, defraud the United States, and eavesdrop on the Democratic Party's national headquarters. On May 21, 1974, Magruder was sentenced by Judge John Sirica to 4 months to 10 years for his role in the failed Watergate burglary and subsequent coverup; he served seven months of the sentence in a prison near Allenwood, Pennsylvania. After his sentencing, Magruder said, "I am confident that this country will survive its Watergates and its Jeb Magruders."

Full story: http://www.answers.com/topic/jeb-stuart-magruder

Charles Wendell "Chuck" Colson was the chief counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973. His later life has been spent working with his nonprofit organization devoted to prison ministry called Prison Fellowship. Colson is also a noted speaker and author expressing his own personal faith.

As an atheistic intellectual and former U.S. Marine, Chuck Colson was a "tough guy" White House insider during the Nixon administration. Known as President Nixon's hatchet man, Colson could be counted on to break the china - do whatever was necessary - to achieve the desired political ends of his boss. Colson was very loyal to President Nixon. He bragged, "I’d walk over my own grandmother to re-elect Richard Nixon." The phrase that joined the American lexicon was the rather more entertaining " ... run over his own grandmother ... " as if with an automobile. Currently, a variety of other verbs and prepositions are sometimes used, but the sense is preserved: ruthlessness.

Colson was involved in the Watergate Scandal, and in 1974 voluntarily agreed to a plea of nolo contendere (no contest) to obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair. Some months before this plea, Colson became an evangelical Christian. Editorial comics in several U. S. newspapers, as well as magazines such as Newsweek and Time, ridiculed the decision, claiming that it was cynical. He spent much of his prison sentence at Maxwell Correctional Facility in Alabama. He was released in 1976.

In October 2002, Colson, along with several other prominent American evangelical leaders, was a co-signer of the Land letter to President Bush which outlined a "just war" endorsement of the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq.

Full story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson

Okay, here we go: The discussion centered around Mr. Felt's motives. Ruckelshaus seemed to indicate that Felt must have thought he had no choice in exposing the Nixon camp's activities the way he did because he (Ruckelshaus) and his boss, Attorney General Elliot Richardson resigned rather than follow the Presdient's orders to fire lead prosecutor Archibald Cox. Ruckelshaus also dismissed the idea that Felt's actions were triggered by his having been bypassed to head the FBI.

Magruder acted as if the whole ugly chapter in our political history was a mere inconvenience, and expressed the view that Felt was a simply a malcontent who betrayed his president. No surprise here, after all Magruder was the head of the committee to re-elect Nixon. Note also Magruder's ties to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Colson was a bit more shrill in his criticism of Felt. He claimed that Felt passed up a chance to be remembered as a great policy man for a cheap footnote in history as the man who brought down a president by betraying his oath of office. Colson, as you can plainly see from the Wikipedia bio, is nuttier than an Almond Joy bar. Perhaps the only person in Nixon's crew that was nuttier was G.Gordon Liddy.

Let's look at Colson's analysis. How many of you can name the current number two man in the FBI? Uh-huh. I thought so. That argument makes no sense at all. As for the idea that Felt betrayed his oath of office, well, did it occur to Colson that the very president for whom he committed his crimes was just as guilty of that same offense?

At least Magruder's view, as unlikely as it seems to me, has some rational plausibility. Colson's does not, unless you happen to believe that extreme loyalty to a man who showed his complete and utter contempt for the American people is an honorable thing. That's why I included the piece about Colson's jumping on the Iraq War bandwagon in my excerpt. Colson would be an ideal fit in the current administration. Come to think of it, so would Magruder...

After the three men were finished, I switched to the local knuckledrag radio station to hear the paranoid tones of Mr. Jay Severin. Yesterday Jay was on the fence as to whether Felt was a hero or a rat. He implied that Felt had misused his position, and had likely committed serious crimes in exposing Nixon as a criminal. Today he seemed to relax that position somewhat when a caller gave him the Goodfellas ruling: "Henry Hill was a rat. Mark Felt might not be a hero, but he ain't no rat." The implication that Hill, by having been a career gangster who turned on his people, was the real definition of a rat. Felt, by comparison, was not directly involved with Nixon's crimes and therefore is not a rat.

Jay then surprised me by implying that there are times when one must break the law in order to bring to light a more malignant crime. He cited several instances of civil disobedience that fit the definition of criminal acts, but that eventually exposed the supporting laws as unjust. I don't think I completely agree with Severin's comparison as it relates to the Felt case, but it was encouraging to see Jay straighten his posture a little bit.

In the end we have a case of a man who blew the whistle on one of the most controversial presidents in our history. Nixon did do some good things. He appointed the first head of the EPA. He re-opened channels of communication with China. However, he extended the Vietnam War and murdered millions of South-East Asians who had no part in the conflict. He then subverted the law to apparently try to place himself in a position not unlike that in which we see President Bush today.

Richard Nixon deserves to be remembered with scorn and disgust. Unfortunately, the men in his party who came after him used his Watergate model to bring us to a place that I think Nixon would look at with a deep sense of pride. Just as unfortunately, the so-called "liberal media" has relinquished its responsibilities to report what is happening, not what the administration tells us is happening.

I'll end this piece with two questions: Where and who are the next Woodward and Bernstein? Even more intriguing, who will be the next Deep Throat?

Special thanks to Ken Kanniff, Connecticut's Most Wanted Gangsta for giving me a good kick up the backside for the laziness exhibited in what passes for my last two posts.

Deep Throat Revealed. Potty Mouth PO'ed. Krugman Cranks Okrent. Sox Beat Orioles.

Let's see. Deep Throat is W. Mark Felt, the number two man at the FBI during the Watergate scandal. Potty Mouth Cheney is deeply offended at Amnesty International's assertion that the US is guilty of grave human rights violations regarding Iraqi detainees at Gitmo and elsewhere. Paul Krugman is making Daniel Okrent eat it raw over Okrent's brainless and unfounded claims that Krugman cooks his numbers in the same manner that the Bush administration does. Of course, by now every other blogger out there has done, or is doing something about these stories, so I'll just step aside and leave them to it.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox just beat the Orioles at Fenway 5-1, thanks in large part to a fine seven-inning performance by starting pitcher Wade Miller, and a four-run fifth inning against Oriole starter Daniel Cabrera. The win evens the four game series at one win each as the two teams meet again tomorrow and Thursday. Unfortunately, Johnny Damon left the game after hitting the wall in deep center going after a triple by Jay Gibbons. Damon ended up with four stitches over his right eye, and is probably day-to-day.

Not a hell of a lot else going on as I'm in a bit of a lazy mood after the three-day weekend. I hope to have some better stuff tomorrow.

Red Sox Weekend In The Bronx

The Red Sox managed to take two out of three games from the Yankees in Yankee Stadium over the weekend. Things didn't get off to a good start when, on Friday night, the Sox squandered several chances to bury Yankee starter Randy Johnson.

Among those chances were two of the stupidest moves third-base coach Dale Sveum has ever committed. He sent two runners home on back-to-back plays and got them both thrown out by huge margins. The first was when Mark Bellhorn was sent from second base on a single to left field. The conventional wisdom was, "Hey, you've got a converted second baseman (Tony Womack) out there, why not test him?" Why not?
A. Because as an infielder he charges balls more aggressively than many outfielders.
B. Because when Womack picked the ball up, Bellhorn was still a full step away from third base!
Womack's throw was on the money and in plenty of time to get Bellhorn.

Sveum's second dumb-ass move was sending Johnny Damon, again from second base, on a ball that rookie second baseman Robinson Cano knocked down. Cano quickly sprang up and fired a strike to Posada to nail Damon. From there the Yankee bats wore Sox starter Tim Wakefield down, and then buried reliever Alan Embree.

Little did anyone suspect that the Sox would have an offensive breakout game Saturday afternoon. Beginning with Yankee starter Carl Pavano, the Sox pounded the Yankees for 17 runs on 27 hits as Sox starter Matt Clement gave the team yet another strong performance.

Sunday night featured a David Wells - Mike Mussina matchup, and the Sox scored first on a LONG two-run homer by David Ortiz (the first of two off Mussina) into the third deck in deep right field. Wells gave the lead back by surrendering solo homers to Derek Jeter and Gary Sheffield, but after that he was nearly unhittable and left the game with one out in the ninth as closer Keith Foulke got the final outs in the 7-2 victory.

As part of my annoyance with the erratic play of the Sox, I had to endure the even more erratic work of the ESPN broadcast team of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Morgan was a Hall of Fame player, but you'd never guess such a thing from the idiotic things he says during his "analysis". He tried to sell the audience on the notion that the Red Sox are not a patient team and that they don't have a high on-base percentage. In 2004, the WORLD SERIES CHAMPION Red Sox led the major leagues with a team on-base percentage of .360. There were many more such misleading statements out of Morgan's mouth, but they all blended in to background noise after a while.

The Sox begin a homestand tonight against the suddenly slumping first-place Baltimore Orioles, who, after a ghastly come-from-ahead loss yesterday saw themselves swept by the Detroit Tigers. The Sox are now in second place in the AL East.

Tom DeLay's Legal Troubles Continue. Light Sabers Don't Kill People, People Kill People... Red Sox Swept In Toronto.

Tom DeLay's Legal Troubles Continue

In a move that could well prove to be the first crack in the foundation that has the potential to being the house down on his crooked ass, House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R - Arrogant Prick) saw the treasurer of his PAC found guilty in Texas District Court of not having reported a shitload of money that was diverted to run several state campaigns for DeLay wannabes.

Yahoo News excerpt:

AUSTIN, Texas - The treasurer of a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay broke the law by not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, a judge ruled Thursday in a lawsuit brought by Democratic candidates.

State District Judge Joe Hart said the money, much of it corporate contributions, should have been reported to the Texas Ethics Commission. The judge ordered Bill Ceverha, treasurer of Texans for a Republican Majority, to pay nearly $200,000 in damages. It will be divided among those who brought the lawsuit against Ceverha — five Democrats who lost state legislative races in 2002.

That sounds like a stiff fine until one remembers that DeLay steals that much money before lunchtime every day.

The civil case is separate from a criminal investigation being conducted by the district attorney in Austin into whether the PAC funneled illegal corporate contributions to GOP candidates for the state Legislature. Three of DeLay's top fund-raisers and eight corporations were indicted last year. Ceverha has not been charged.

DeLay has not been charged with any crime and was protected by congressional immunity from having to testify in the lawsuit, but he has been barraged on Capitol Hill with allegations of unethical conduct.

Which is why Howard Dean looked like such a doofus this past weekend when discussing this matter with Tim Russert. Of course, if Russert had any integrity at all he would have attacked DeLay when these matters first became public knowledge in the same manner in which he went after Bill Clinton during the impeachment nonsense...

Under Texas law, corporate money can be used by PACs for administrative purposes, but not for direct campaign expenses. In his ruling, the judge dealt with the election code reporting requirements, not with the how the money was spent. Hart found that contributions of corporate and non-corporate money totaling $613,433 should have been reported by Ceverha, along with expenditures of $684,507.

Ceverha's lawyers argued in court that the PAC operated legally despite confusing state campaign funding laws. The plaintiffs welcomed the judge's ruling as good first step in rooting out illegal corporate spending during the 2002 Texas elections. "It sheds light on the illegal acts of Texans for a Republican Majority," attorney Cris Feldman said.

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050526/ap_on_go_co/delay_committee_lawsuit

I can't wait to see what the gargoyles on Fox News have to say about this. O'Reilly and Hannity will be absolutely red-faced with fury that the poster boy for arrogance has been given what at this point is a mere slap on the wrist. I wonder if they'll pretend that this ruling is another case of the new conservative bugaboo, "judicial activism"? I just hope that the rest of this bastard's shady behavior can somehow be dragged out into the open. I'd bet that DeLay would end up exploding on the witness stand like Colonel Jessup in "A Few Good Men". Now that is something I would gladly pay to see!


Light Sabers Don't Kill People, People Kill People...

The following Yahoo News excerpt details the kind of stupidity that gives science fiction fans a bad name.

The Force--let alone common sense--was definitely not with them.

Two British Star Wars fans sustained critical injuries after constructing their own light sabers from fluorescent light tubes filled with liquid fuel.

According to British media reports, a 20-year-old man and his 17-year-old female friend were filming a mock duel in homage to Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith, the latest chapter of George Lucas' record-breaking franchise. The duo were reportedly emulating one of Sith's key battles, a light-saber clash between Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker.

The two Brits suffered severe burns when their homemade sabers exploded. The two had been videotaping their clash. They have been hospitalized at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire since the accident Sunday.

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/16633

In a related story, Charlton Heston took time away from his busy National Rifle Association schedule to comment on this unfortunate incident. "It is important to remember that these light sabers were of the homemade variety, and were therefore not subject to the rigorous tests that normal firearms routinely undergo," said Heston, who was gracious enough to take a few moments from an appearance at the annual Vegetarians In Favor Of Animal Testing convention in Afterbirth, Kansas. "I would urge people to exercise the type of good judgement when using these instruments as they would if they were handling a normal sidearm. After all, light sabers don't kill people, people kill people..."


Red Sox Swept In Toronto

The Red Sox lost 8-1 in Toronto to the Blue Jays tonight. The loss finished a three-game sweep as the Sox now face a weekend series in the Bronx against the surging Yankees. The Sox lost 9-6 as the bullpen blew up on Tuesday, then switched to the wiffle bats Wednesday losing 6-1. The wiffle bats were still being used tonight as rookie lefthander Gustavo Chacin kept the Sox off balance for six solid innings picking up his fifth win of the season. Wade Miller was roughed up for six runs in just two innings in his worst appearance in a Red Sox uniform.

The loss drops the Red Sox into third place in the American League East behind first-place Baltimore with the Blue Jays and Yankees in a tie for second place in the division. This team is just plain flat. To illustrate this point, Kevin Millar doubled with two out in the 8th inning. So he takes his lead as Kevin Youkilis digs in to bat. Suddenly, acrobatic Blue Jays second baseman Orlando Hudson glides in and takes a quick throw from reliever Pete Walker, and bang, Millar is picked off. How the hell anyone can get picked off in the 8th inning of an 8-1 game is the big mystery here. It's not as if Millar, still gimpy from the foul ball he hit off his "inseam" a few nights ago, was going to steal third. It's just another nagging sign that this team is playing dead-ass baseball.

I'll Take Religious Revisionist History For $200 Alex. Voyager 1 Leaves The Solar System.

I'll Take Religious Revisionist History For $200 Alex

In a story so ridiculous it reads as if it had been written by one of the madmen on The Onion, we have a religious fundamentalist with a lot of cash, and a plan to build a museum dedicated to the proposition that, among other things, the earth is, based on irrefutably logical calculations from the Bible, only 6,000 years old. Thanks to Senior Correspondent Em Jeigh for the leg work. Excerpt from livescience.com:

PETERSBURG, Ky. (AP) -- Ken Ham has spent 11 years working on a museum that poses the big question -- when and how did life begin? Ham hopes to soon offer an answer to that question in his still-unfinished Creation Museum in northern Kentucky.

The $25 million monument to creationism offers Ham's view that God created the world in six, 24-hour days on a planet just 6,000 years old. The largest museum of its kind in the world, it hopes to draw 600,000 people from the Midwest and beyond in its first year.

You'd think that someone with the ability to raise $25 million could find something a little more constructive to do with their time than something as goofy as this enterprise. I wonder if the trolls in Kansas who are busy trying to eradicate evolution from being taught in their state's public schools showed Mr. Ham some generosity?

Ham, 53, isn't bothered that his literal interpretation of the Bible runs counter to accepted scientific theory, which says Earth and its life forms evolved over billions of years. Ham said the museum is a way of reaching more people along with the Answers in Genesis Web site, which claims to get 10 million page views per month and his "Answers ... with Ken Ham'' radio show, carried by more than 725 stations worldwide. "People will get saved here,'' Ham said of the museum. "It's going to fire people up. If nothing else, it's going to get them to question their own position of what they believe.''

News Flash Ken: No it's not. The poor fools who believe this nonsense will flock to you to hear pleasing tales that don't rquire them to think about anything that goes against their indoctrinated beliefs. The people who think that you're a nutjob with too much money and time on his hands will simply stay away and mock you from a distance.

Ham is ready for a fight over his beliefs -- based on a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. "It's a foundational battle,'' said Ham, a native of Australia who still speaks with an accent. "You've got to get people believing the right history - and believing that you can trust the Bible.''

News Flash Number Two: Ken, baby, nobody is denying you the right to think silly thoughts. Hell, nobody is even denying you the right to build a shrine to display these idiotic ideas. What you need to know is that until there is compelling evidence to support your views, they remain wishful speculation at best, and coercive demagoguery at worst. And lest my eight readers think I'm being a bit harsh towards Mr. Ham, I urge you to read the next paragraph I've selected from the story:

Among Ham's beliefs are that the Earth is about 6,000 years old, a figure arrived at by tracing the biblical genealogies, and not 4.5 billion years, as mainstream scientists say; the Grand Canyon was formed not by erosion over millions of years, but by floodwaters in a matter of days or weeks and that dinosaurs and man once coexisted, and dozens of the creatures -- including Tyrannosaurus Rex -- were passengers on the ark built by Noah, who was a real man, not a myth.

Let's grant Mr. Ham the courtesy of accepting his claim that Tyrannosaurus Rex and Mrs. Rex were passengers aboard the Good Ship Noah. T. Rex was a forty-foot long, twenty-foot tall, six-ton killing machine. Despite these facts, Mr. Ham apparently believes the following:

A. That Noah could have been peacefully herded such a monster on to his ark.
B. That such a monster would have simply eaten whatever Noah gave it and left Noah, his family and the other animals alone.
C. That once the ark washed up on the slopes of Mount Ararat, such a monster would not have turned on the ark's occupants, animal AND human, in a fit of ravenous hunger when confronted with a dead landscape.

So if you, like Mr. Ham, can believe such things, then you are probaly well qualified to hold a cabinet post in the Bush administration.

Although the Creation Museum's full opening is still two years away, already a buzz is building. "When that museum is finished, it's going to be Cincinnati's No. 1 tourist attraction,'' says the Rev. Jerry Falwell, nationally known Baptist evangelist and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. "It's going to be a mini-Disney World.''

Well at least this project is being endorsed by someone with impeccable scientific credentials. For a moment I was wondering if all voices of rational thought had been too shy to speak up about this matter...

Full story: http://www.livescience.com/othernews/ap_050523_creation_museum.html


Voyager 1 Leaves The Solar System

Voyager 1, a relic of a time when NASA was doing some terrific work, is nearing the edge of the solar system and will soon head out into interstellar space. Yahoo News excerpt:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's Voyager 1 has reached the final frontier of our solar system, having traveled through a turbulent place where electrically charged particles from the Sun crash into thin gas from interstellar space.

Astronomers tracking the little spaceship's 26-year journey from Earth believe Voyager 1 has gone through a region known as termination shock, some 8.7 billion miles from the Sun, and entered an area called the heliosheath. Voyager watchers theorized last November that the craft might be reaching this bumpy region of space when the charged solar particles known as the solar wind seemed to slow down from a top speed of 1.5 million miles per hour. This was expected at the area of termination shock, where the solar winds were expected to decelerate as they bump up against gas from the space beyond our solar system. It is more than twice as distant as Pluto, the furthest planet in our system. By monitoring the craft's speed and the increase in the force of the solar wind, Voyager scientists now believe the craft has made it through the shock and into the heliosheath.

Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 on a mission to explore the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. The pair kept going, however, and the mission was extended. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, the only spacecraft to have visited these outer planets. Both Voyagers are now part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain.

Both Voyagers are capable of returning scientific data from a full range of instruments, with adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to keep operating until 2020. Wherever they go, the Voyagers each carry a golden phonograph record which bears messages from Earth, including natural sounds of surf, wind, thunder and animals. There are also musical selections, spoken greetings in 55 languages, along with instructions and equipment on how to play the record.

Nothing to add here except to say that this project was as ambitious as it got in the late 1970s. The tremendous amount of information we gained about the outer solar system can be of tremendous value if we ever decided to get off our collective asses again and begin to seriously explore the outer planets and their moons.

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/space_voyager_dc

Nuke-Yuh-Ler Opshun Uhvoyded...For Now Anyway...

Nuke-Yuh-Ler Opshun Uhvoyded...For Now Anyway...

A bipartisan panel of Senate Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement whereby three of President Useless Moron's federal judicial nominees will get up-or-down confirmation votes. In return for the Dems throwing the Repubs this bone, the majority promised not to change the rules of the voting process to a simple majority.

Yahoo News excerpt:

WASHINGTON - Breaking years of gridlock, the Senate cleared the way for confirmation of Priscilla Owen to the U.S. appeals court Tuesday amid fresh debate over an ambiguous compromise on President Bush's current and future judicial nominees.

"Years of gridlock". Gee, could this be the same gridlock we saw when Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott pulled the same moves on Bill Clinton's nominees?

The vote was 81-18 to clear Owen for a final vote after Democrats abandoned four years of blocking action, well above the 60 votes needed to cut off debate. That made confirmation a mere formality, expected either late in the day or Wednesday.

So why even bother with a confirmation hearing now? Just get the damned rubber stamp out and be done with it.

At the same time, senators disagreed over the precise meaning and staying power of Monday night's centrists' compromise that averted a showdown over judicial nominees — including any to the Supreme Court — and the Senate's own filibuster rules.

Funny, but I don't recall the Republicans struggling over any ambiguity when they were picking off Bill Clinton's nominees like clay pigoens.

Majority Leader Bill Frist said the agreement, "if followed in good faith, will make filibusters of judicial nominees in the future, including Supreme Court nominees, almost impossible." At the same time, he said his ability to seek a limitation of the rights of Democrats to filibuster "remains on the table."

In other words, Frist reserves the right to bitch and moan the next time the Commander In Geek nominates another group of thugs that the Democrats can't stomach. Then we'll see another "negotiation".

Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada disagreed, and said so quickly. "The agreement that will allow Justice Owen to receive an up-or-down vote also had the effect of taking the nuclear option off the table," he said, referring to Frist's threat to strip Democrats of their ability to filibuster. "This agreement makes clear that the Senate rules have not changed. The filibuster remains available to the Senate minority."

That sounds to me like Reid is saying he'll use a weapon he has no intention of even bringing to the fight.

Under Senate rules, opponents of legislation or a nomination can prevent final action by erecting a 60-vote hurdle, a parliamentary device known as a filibuster.

Republican Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, one of seven Republicans and seven Democrats to sign the accord, sided with Frist's interpretation, although he and other members of the bipartisan group of negotiators said they expected good faith to prevail.

Those who say otherwise "are the same ones, I think, who said we would never get an agreement," said John McCain, R-Ariz. That accord was sealed Monday evening around a table in McCain's office.

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050524/ap_on_go_co/filibuster_fight_21

That last portion of the excerpt is a puzzler. McCain is one of the few well known Republicans who can consistently pass for human. But whenever he inserts himself into these types of situations, his own party inevitably stabs him in the back. In addition, the nitwits on the local knuckledrag radio station are calling him an outright traitor.

What I don't get is why McCain stays in this party in the first place. His 2000 presidential campaign was torpedoed by the lies of the Bush camp. The stories about Bush staffers calling voters in the deep south before their state's primary elections to tell them that McCain had fathered a black baby is just one sick example. Another is the insinuation that McCain was unstable due to his imprisonment during his Vietnam service (such service President Douchebag went to extraordinary lengths to avoid) and was therefore unfit to lead this nation. So what did McCain do when his campaign died? He endorsed the very man who slandered him on the campaign trail!

The real joke here is that McCain is ostensibly a candidate for President in 2008. Wanna bet that the Frist-Santorum tag team puts the fork to him early and often during the primaries? I'll have to get a sporting line on this action from my colleague, the esteemed Ken Kanniff, Connecticut's Most Wanted Gansta. Stay tuned!

Weekend Catch-Up. Sox Take Two From Braves.

Catch-Up Time

This weekend was a busy one that included my first ten-pin action since my work league ended back in early April. I went with Shy Stef from Inside Sales and we rolled four games. I managed to rack up scores of 164, 182, 190 and 190 for a four-game total of 736, or a 184 average for the day, a mere 18 pins above my average for the 2004-2005 season. Stef had an up and down afternoon with scores of 82, 137, 93 and 129 for a total of 441, or an average just a hair over 110.

I've been experimenting with a new delivery for most of the last season because I've gone about as far as I can throwing a straight ball. I've tried to put a spin on it, but I can never get the necessary rotation. The damned ball just spins on it's side. But after watching some of the other players I hit upon a new delivery (for me) that consists of getting as far to the right of the approach (I'm right-handed) and letting the ball go with my hand perpendicular to the ground instead of parallel. When I'm hitting the pocket the results are usually pretty explosive because I throw hard. Now I just have to work on my single-pin spare accuracy...

Sox Take Two Of Three From Braves And Other Baseball Musings

The Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park yesterday 5-2 behind the pitching of Matt Clement. Clement tossed a complete game and only had one rough inning, the fourth in which he allowed the two Braves runs.
But until the Sox got John Smoltz out of the game (112 pitches in 4 2/3 innings) and broke through against Bobby Cox's bullpen, they'd squandered opportunities to score in every inning.

Among the culprits was Edgar Renteria who just plain stinks right now. Over the weekend he must have left 200 men on base. His defense was nothing special either as he made two errors in the series to raise his total to eight, which leads all AL shortstops. He also got tossed out of Saturday night's game after looking at a borderline strike three in the bottom of the ninth, so that can't have helped his state of mind. I know this guy is a good player, and at times a great one, but right now he looks lost.

Speaking of lost, Mark Bellhorn looks as if he's trying to break his single-season club record for striking out. Last year he whiffed an amazing 177 times in 138 games to shatter the previous record of 162 set by Butch Hobson in 1977. Bellhorn takes a lot of pitches -- too many if you ask me. He gets behind in the count way too often, and then the pitchers just toy with him. How much longer can the Sox put up with his anemic bat?

Another Lost Boy is first baseman Kevin Millar. He fouled a pitch off of the "inseam" of his left foot (in the words of the immensely talentless Sox announcer Don Orsillo) late in Saturday night's game, and was replaced yesterday by Kevin Youkilis who got a key RBI single when the Red Sox finally got to Smoltz in the fifth inning. I hope Youkilis stays in the lineup, even if Millar's "inseam" injury isn't too serious. The kid can hit, and he is more mobile around the first base bag than Millar, although that isn't such a hard thing to manage.

Among other weekend baseball highlights was watching the Saturday Yankees-Mets game that pitted Randy Johnson against Kris Benson. Johnson wasn't sharp and the Mets got him out of the game in the seventh inning after relief pitcher Dae-Sung Koo hit a long double to center field over Bernie Williams. Koo then scored ALL THE WAY FROM SECOND BASE on a Jose Reyes sacrifice bunt that catcher Jorge Posada fielded. After making the throw to first, where rookie second baseman Robinson Cano covered, Koo saw that Posada was sort of hanging around about a third of the way down the first base line. Koo kept going, and Posada recovered to take a throw from Cano, but Koo slid in head first and was called safe (although replays indicate that Posada may have tagged him on the shoulder before Koo's hand touched the plate). Koo, who replaced a tiring Benson in the top half of the seventh, struck out all three men he faced. What is amazing is that the double came in just his second professional at-bat! Koo, 35, had spent several years pitching in Korea and Japan without ever once coming to bat. When he stepped in against Johnson, Koo, a lefty batter, nobody would have even guessed he'd even get a foul tip much less hit a 390-foot double. That, to me, is what makes baseball such a great game -- anything can happen.

Unfortunately, the Mets couldn't hold a 3-1 lead for Pedro Martinez yesterday as they let sloppy defense and erratic relief give the Yankees a gift 5-3 win at Shea Stadium. That bullpen bothers me. I haven't seen enough of Koo to know if he's real or not. Roberto Hernandez is washed up. Braden Looper is a terrible closer. Mets General Manager Omar Minaya is going to have to find Willie Randolph a legitimate closer if the Mets are to contend for the NL East.

Quick Notes

Not much else to say today. I know that the wingnuts are trying to portray Howard Dean as a traitor by claiming he dislikes Tom DeLay more than Osama bin Laden on Tim Russert's Butt Boy Sunday program. They are also attacking the Tillman family and saying that should shut the hell up about the fact that the army lied about the way their son Pat, the former NFL player, was killed by our own troops, and his death in combat used as a Bush campaign slogan before they came clean. To the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys of the world I offer the late, great Frank Zappa's most heartfelt curse: May your shit come to life and kiss you.

Talk Radio Goon To Kill Michael Moore? Don't Blame Bill O'Reilly If Michael Kinsley Gets Beheaded! Condi Buys Kuwaiti Bullshit About Women Suffrage.

Talk Radio Douchebag Wants To Off Michael Moore

The following story comes by way of Media Matters. The entire story is excerpted below:

Clear Channel radio host Glenn Beck said he was "thinking about killing [filmmaker] Michael Moore" and pondered whether "I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it," before concluding: "No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong?"

From the May 17 broadcast of The Glenn Beck Program:

BECK: Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong? I stopped wearing my What Would Jesus -- band -- Do, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, "Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore," and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realize, "Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death." And you know, well, I'm not sure.

Beck's program is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks (owned by radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications on more than 160 radio stations across the country to an estimated audience of 6 million listeners. He has previously falsely accused Moore of "taking help and money from Hezbollah" and called Michael Berg, who criticized the Bush administration after his son Nick was beheaded in Iraq, "despicable" and "a scumbag."

Full story, just so you don't think I'm making this shit up like Ann Coulter: http://mediamatters.org/items/200505180008

What kills me is how these right-wing talk radio shitheads continuously cry that conservatives are under constant attack by mean-spirited liberals. Even if this was true, and it is not, does that give assholes like Beck the right to say things like this? Sure, this type of speech is protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution, and rightfully so. HOWEVER, when Harry Reid grew a temporary pair of balls a couple of weeks ago (as described in a previous post here) and called President Loser a loser, he got beaten up but good by the Fox phonies and their wannabees. Reid then apologized for his temporary lapse of sanity and begged Bill Frist not to give him an atomic wedgie.

Maybe the question should be re-phrased. How about this: If assholes like Beck have the right to say things like "I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore", then doesn't it logically follow that I, or anyone who is rightfully outraged by his outburst, can say something like "I'm thinking about ruining Glenn Beck's life"? Notice that I avoided using the "k" word. I wouldn't want any overly sensitive conservatives to get bruised feelings or anything. Instead, I would hope such ruin would come about as the result of massive boycotts of those companies and organizations that sponsor his show, but since his audience is likely to be of the same mindset as he is, that seems to be a slim hope. Maybe the FCC should investigate. After all, if they went after Howard Stern for twenty-odd years for saying sexually explicit things on HIS radio program, then it follows that they should be just as vigilant, if not more so, in prosecuting this ass clown for broadcasting his wet dreams on the public airwaves.


Bill O'Reilly Suggests A Headless Michael Kinsley Will Wake Liberals Up

Now we hear from Fox Foghorn Bill O'Reilly, aka The Man Who Is Never Wrong, And Even If I Was, It's All A Liberal Plot To Discredit Conservatives. Okay, so it's a long-winded title, but then again, it's owner is similarly long-winded. Well, lest you begin to think of my typing in a similar fashion, here is another excerpt from Media Matters where Big Bad Bill suggests that liberals will only "wake up" to the common sense of not giving Gitmo detainees legal representation when Michael Kinsley is beheaded by Al Queda. Read on:

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly said that Los Angeles Times editorial board wouldn't understand his objection to legal representation for detainees at Guantànamo Bay, Cuba, until terrorists "grab [editorial page editor] Michael Kinsley out of his little house and they cut off his head." He further opined: "And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, 'Perhaps O'Reilly was right.'"

From the May 17 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: No, no. I want you to read it. Go to LATimes.com. I want everybody in the country to read this editorial, 'cause it just -- I mean, you'll be sitting there pounding the table like I did. How can they -- how can they think this way? How can anyone think this way? You know, "Shutting down Guantànamo and giving suspected terrorists legal protections would help restore our reputation abroad." No, it wouldn't. I mean that's like saying, well, if we're nicer to the people who want to KILL US, then the other people who want to KILL US will like us more. Does that make any sense to you? Do you think Osama [bin Laden] is gonna be more favorably disposed to the U.S. if we give the Guantànamo people lawyers?

E.D. HILL (co-host): No, of course not.

O'REILLY: I mean, but this is what they're saying. It is just -- you just sit there, you go, "They'll never get it until they grab Michael Kinsley out of his little house and they cut his head off." And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, "Perhaps O'Reilly was right."

Full story, again, for similar reasons as stated in the previous story: http://mediamatters.org/items/200505190003

Hey, at least he wasn't offering to do the cutting himself like Big Man Beck probably would have done. Still, I find it interesting that O'Reilly uses Kinsley as the example to state his case. Why Kinsley? He used to be good when he was on Crossfire with Pat Buchanan, but he seems to have burnt out and has all but disappeared from the scene.

Speaking of Buchanan, I wonder why O'Reilly didn't use HIS name as an example? Maybe it's because, as a staunch conservative, Pat has too much moxie to ever be taken hostage by Al Queda. Hell he'd probably "put a size ten cordovan where it would do some good" to the first terrorist stupid enough to try to mess with him. Just as he did to a police officer when he protested having been pulled over in his car as a young man, a story he proudly recounted in one of his books. Ah, law and order, extremist right-wing style! What it lacks in effectiveness is compensated for by its intricate subtlety...


Condi Buys Kuwaiti Bullshit About Women Suffrage

A mere 14 years after we "liberated" Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, the Kuwaiti government granted women in their country the right to vote in elections. Secretary of State Condi Sleazy Rice congratulated the Kuwaitis on such a quick move into the 20th century. Of course, most of the rest of the world resides in the 21st, despite the best efforts of the Bush Administration to bring it back to the 13th. But then again, she wasn't about to antagonize an important Bush family business partner over a little thing like giving women the same political rights as men. Anyway, I proudly offer the following Yahoo News excerpt:

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice congratulated Kuwait on Thursday for granting women the right to vote and said the conservative state can be a political model for the Middle East.

Kuwait's parliament extended political rights to Kuwaiti women Monday, but religious fundamentalists who opposed women's suffrage succeeded in attaching a clause requiring future female politicians and voters to abide by Islamic law.
It was not clear whether that meant a strict dress code or just separate polling stations and election campaigns.
"It is a historic decision. It is a courageous decision," Rice said after a meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah. "With the empowerment of women, societies are complete. And now as Kuwait moves toward other reforms, it will do so with its entire population active in that process."

Al Sabah noted that it took six years to get the suffrage bill through Parliament. The change will take effect with the 2007 parliamentary elections.

So congratulations to the Kuwaiti parliament for acknowledging the fact that women are people too. But wait, there is always someone to rain on the parade:

Islamic conservatives called the law a "bombshell" and accused the government of bowing to foreign pressure. They believe women's participation in politics contradicts Islam's teachings and complain it will allow women to mix freely with men.

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_kuwait

Hmmm, maybe this "democratization " of the Middle East isn't the grand idea the Bush Administration claims it is. After all, if a non-hostile Arab - Muslim country takes 14 years after the consensus shows that they've been "converted" to democracy, what is the over-under on Iraq doing likewise? 50 years? 100? 200? Given the fact that the American colonies declared their independence from England in 1776, and women were given the right to vote in 1920, a mere 144 years later, maybe we shouldn't hold our collective breath...

George Galloway Bitch Slaps Norm Coleman. Dubya's Latest Lose-Lose. Sox Slammed In Oaktown.

George Galloway Shows Democrats How To Fight Back

It figures that Senate Democrats need a lesson in toughness from a Scottish Member of Parliament, but they got it as George Galloway made Norm Coleman (R-Bitchslapped) soil himself during a session to discuss improprieties involving the UN oil for food program.

Here are some of Galloway's best lines from the Yahoo News story:

"Everything I said about Iraq turned out to be right, and you turned out to be wrong, and 100,000 people have paid with their lives."

"You have nothing on me ... other than my name on lists ... many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad."

"I have a rather better record of opposition to Saddam Hussein than you do, and than any member of the British or American governments do."

"I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein at a time when British and American governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas."

"Have a look at the real oil for food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad when 8.8 billion dollars of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch."

"Have a look at the other American corporations that stole not only Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer."

"Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country selling, the proceeds of which went who knows where."

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050518/wl_uk_afp/usuniraqoilbritainpolitics_050518092417

Nothing more to add, except to say that I hope Harry Reid was paying close attention. Way to go Mr. Galloway!


Cuban Militant Gives U.S. Tough Choices

And if Mr. Galloway's insolence didn't cause the administration to throw a fit, their latest manifestation of Banquo's ghost, in the form of Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles surely did.

ABC News excerpt:

MIAMI May 18, 2005 — Freedom fighter or terrorist? Illegal alien or persecuted Cuban refugee? The Bush administration faces a tough choice in deciding what to do with Luis Posada Carriles, wanted on suspicion of orchestrating the deadly 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.

Posada, a 77-year-old Cuban exile, was being held Wednesday at an undisclosed location in the United States while U.S. immigration officials decided his fate. He was taken into custody Tuesday, two months after he slipped into the United States and asked for asylum.

The Bush administration has at least three choices: extradite Posada to Venezuela, where he is wanted in the airliner bombing that killed 73 people; send him to a third country willing to accept him; or let him stay in the United States.

Full story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=769413

Well, as stated in a previous post, it looks like the Bush Administration is once again in the awkward position of having to put the fork to a former employee. I can't imagine what Posada was thinking when he entered the U.S. Did he really expect his crooked bosses to protect his murderous ass? Bush is in a lose-lose situation here. He can have Posada sent to the plush accomodations at Gitmo, or, he can let him walk and look like the biggest hypocrite on the planet all because we have a 46-year-old hardon for Fidel Castro. Either way, it will be fun to watch this buffoon try to make up what passes for his mind about this situation. But then again, Uncle Dick and Puppet Master Rove have probably already decided what is going to happen...


Sox Shelled As David Wells Returns To Action

The Red Sox got clubbed 13-6 by the Oakland Athletics this afternoon in a game that saw the return of David Wells to the starting rotation. Wells didn't make it out of the second inning, giving up nine hits and seven runs. The loss ends the Sox west coast swing with a 2-4 mark. The team has the day off before resuming play at home against the Atlanta Braves, who are currently in first place in the NL East.

The Sox are plain flat right now. They look as lethargic as they did when GM Theo Epstein decided to make Nomar into a scapegoat. Will something similar happen this season? Some felt that Johnny Damon would be a likely candidate to be thrown under the bus because of his book, Idiot, in which he dissed his wife in what many considered to be a tasteless manner. Well, that may be true, but until his recent hot streak was snapped, he was hitting .380, so unless he goes into a real slump, say the type of funk in which we currently find Kevin Millar, he ain't going anywhere.

And speaking of Millar, is there a poorer defensive first baseman in the AL? I mean besides David Ortiz. And since Kevin isn't hitting worth a damn, his ugly glove work becomes more magnified. I think we may see more of Kevin Youkilis at first base if Millar doesn't straighten himself out -- and soon.

A final note: Thanks to Ken Kanniff, Connecticut's Most Wanted Gangsta for keepin' it real by getting the answer to last week's trivia question. Ken correctly identified actor David Leisure as the one who played Joe Isuzu in those famous ads back in the day. Nice job Ken. Thanks for playing!