Why the Democrats are wrong and other meanderings

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Location: Metro Phoenix, Arizona, United States

I'm too lazy to type anything about me. Read my blog and I'm sure you'll eventually learn a few things.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Lights, please

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.'"

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Merry Christmas.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Illness

I managed to lose five pounds this morning, but not through any pleasant means. I also called into work sick for the first time ever which I think is a decent accomplishment. I've had (more or less) the same job for five and a half years, and a couple short-term jobs prior to that. Sure, I've had some illnesses during that time, but they tended to be minor or occur on my off days. I can't even recall a previous instance of vomitting this decade (though I distinctly recall doing so in Fall 1999). Doing better now, and, hopefully, will be back to work tomorrow night. In the meantime, I'll take advantage of there being nothing to do and do some blogging.

Friday, December 15, 2006

"I'll tear up this ticket but I'm, uh, still gonna have to ask you for a bribe."

Simpsons Top 100 Countdown
#16 A Fish Called Selma
Season 7, Episode 19 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

Troy McClure is a washed-up former movie star, out of work due to public rumors about his bizarre fish fetish. When he visits the DMV to get the corrective lenses restriction removed from his driver’s license, he bribes Selma with a date. After he receives positive press from being seen in public with a woman, his agent encourages him to further the relationship. They get married, and eventually Selma learns that their whole relationship is a fraud. She decides she can live with it until Troy wants to have a baby to further his career and she can no longer tolerate the charade. Memorable moments include the Muppets, Homer’s explanation of Muppets, DeLorean, Wiggum, Abe Simpson, various mentions of Troy’s personal life, Troy talks with his agent, anecdote, smoking, proposing, television banter, leading lines and letdowns, the musical Planet of the Apes, meeting the Simpson kids, bachelor party, Homer at the wedding, revealing the sham to Marge, wedding cake candy, wedding night activity, revealing the sham to Selma (both by her sisters and by Troy), convincing Troy to have a baby, naming the baby, trying to make a baby, and the ending credits news report about Troy (there was more to the ruination of his career than his fish fetish).

"Let's see... I'm an elk, a Mason, a communist. I'm the president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance for some reason...ah, here it is. The Stonecutters."

Simpsons Top 100 Countdown
#17 Homer the Great
Season 6, Episode 12 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

Homer gets suspicious over the secrets Lenny and Carl are hiding from him, so he follows them one night to the meeting of their secret organization, the Stonecutters. Turned back at first, he manages to get in because his father is a member. Before long, he gets kicked out, but they discover a birthmark on him which signifies that he is their “chosen one” – a new leader of the organization. The power goes to Homer’s head at first, but he grows tired of it and, spurred on by Lisa, starts using his power to get his fellow members to do various community service projects. The membership rebels, abandoning their 1500 year old club for their new No Homers organization. Memorable moments include Stern Lecture Plumbing, traffic accident, parking spot (flexible reality annoys me, but it was a good joke), chairs, secrets, stalking, Homer enters the meeting, egg council, Grandpa’s memberships, Homer’s entrance to the meeting take 2, number 1, initiation, secret handshake, secret tunnel, parking spot reprise, jealousy, Stonecutter membership pack, Stonecutter history, phone message, schedule, singing, desecration of the sacred parchment, burning the underwear, stone of shame, stone of triumphant, power going to Homer’s head, painting, removal of the girl, Homer’s triumphs at games, Homer’s entrance at the elementary school, Stonecutter daycare, painting a building, meeting with the grand council, Baskin Robbins, No Homers, monkey Civil War reenactment, special rings, and initiation part two.

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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

I Might Start Kicking Myself

I just turned down a dayshift position. There are a few mixed feelings.

Random stuff

William Jefferson won reelection to the House of Representatives from Louisiana's second district. This proves, once again, that scandal-plagued Republicans get kicked out of office while scandal-plagued Democrats as long as they can escape conviction.

I recently obtained the first three volumes of Looney Tunes Golden Collection. As amusing as they are, what's interested me most is seeing the copyright dates and realizing just how old many of them are. I also recently purchased Police Squad!, the extremely short-lived television series precursor of the Naked Gun movies; I've watched four of the six episodes so far.

I'm currently reading Without Remorse by Tom Clancy; it seems to offer an interesting suggestion if we ever want to get series about the war on drugs .... Purchased alongside that book was Who's Better, Who's Best in Baseball by Elliot Kalb; an interesting book ranking his top 75 baseball players of all time with a short chapter devoted to each, and a chapter at the end devoted to numbers 76-100. I've skipped around a bit so far, flipping through it and reading a few entries that caught my eye. I also recently finished reading all the Peanuts comics from 1958 (on to 1959-1962 for that series), and a bunch of Zits comics, plus purchased a Get Fuzzy collection. Lots of reading going on, not much of it very serious (at least, that of it which is in book form).

The mainstream media do not seem much interested in Jimmy Carter's plagiarism. It was once a serious enough charge to sink Sen. Joseph Biden's (D-Delaware) presidential ambitions (in 1988; they're renewed for 2008). A gif file can be found on this page overlaying the map in his book with the original image, along with links to more on the story.

Traffic is a lot worse going in to work at 6pm than at my accustomed hour. It doesn't help that both work sites are located near malls. Traffic leaving at 6am is also worse. Well, at least my work week ends at midnight tonight, and I'll have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off for what I think is my longest weekend since my last vacation (though it will only be half an hour longer than a couple of weekends that were more recent).

The UPS man arrived just before I left for work last night, delivering my latest Amazon package, and putting the majority of the Christmas presents I intend to give out within my possession. Still need to get something for all three of my grandparents. Sure, they'd appreciate stuff like McDonald's gift certificates, but I like something that shows a little more thought, or perhaps just more variety. My grandfather once got about $50 in McD's gift certificates for Christmas; I was somewhat surprised to learn this Thanksgiving that there existed a time when he was not fond of the place (leery of trying it, that is).

A recent Gallup poll showed that Americans believed Mark McGwire should be in the Hall of Fame by a 57-35 margin, while the split on Barry Bonds is 48-44. This makes little sense to me as Bonds is inarguably the better player, and, while nobody accuses Bonds of using steroids before the late 1990's (usually 1999), the accusations against McGwire seem to be more that his entire career was steroid-enhanced. Still, it doesn't look like McGwire has the votes to be elected, at least this time around. I'll get around to posting my hypothetical Hall of Fame ballot at some point.

What's up with non-Christmas music being counted as such? On the all-Christmas music station, I've heard Linus and Lucy being played, and, while it's a good song and it did appear on A Charlie Brown Christmas, it is not a Christmas song. Also, as I recall, Let it Snow never mentions Christmas, only snow, which somehow makes it a Christmas song. Same with the similar Baby, It's Cold Outside and with other songs I can't now recall. Dan Fogelberg's Same Old Lang Syne mentions Christmas Eve in passing, but is not really a Christmas song. I mean, by that logic, Brick by Ben Folds Five (which involves a girl having an abortion, though not explicitly mentioned in the lyrics) mentions the day after Christmas and should be included as a Christmas song as well. My Favorite Things is also not a Christmas song. Perhaps it's better to hear these than some horrible covers of some of the more familiar (and actual) Christmas songs, but it still greatly irritates me that they are classified as such.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Other Free Agent Signings

I posted a quick remark on Jason Marquis the other day because it was an especially bad signing and needed to be vented immediately.

Here are some other bad signings (keeping in mind that it's hard to summon up too much anger/frustration/bewilderment over anything less than $5 million/year, single year contracts, or players taking a cut in pay):
Carlos Lee (Houston Astros, 6 years, $100 million) -- "A nice, round figure" -- the term can apply to the total contract salary, or to his emerging physique. The guy's putting on weight, which isn't going to help his fielding or baserunning and adds increased risk of injury. His price tag won't be completely outrageous the first year of his contract (as he'll only be making $11 million, not counting his signing bonus), and maybe even the second ($12 million), but he doesn't look like the type of player who ages well and is slated to make $18.5 million in each of the last four years of the contract (2009-2012). He's going to be a major albatross around the Astros' necks towards the end of this deal.
Gil Meche (Kansas City Royals, 5 years, $55 million) -- Sure, the Royals had to pay above market value to land the guy, but this was a bit much. I don't really understand all the hype behind Meche; he hasn't really proved himself, and, as he's 28, there must be hope that he's a late bloomer (the peak age for baseball players is typically 27). His WHIP last season was 1.43 and his ERA was 4.48, and these were both improvements over the last two seasons (both of which had ERA's over 5, and a combined WHIP over 1.50). I'd say that Meche was the most overrated pitcher on the market this year, discounting what the Cubs seemed to think of Jason Marquis. Ted Lilly doesn't seem much better, but next to Meche, taking off one year and $1 million/year makes his deal seem not so bad. A certain chemist might have an opinion on the matter.
Danys Baez (Baltimore Orioles, 3 years, $19 million) -- He put up some nice save totals in the past, but one look at his ERA and WHIP will tell you that he's not the kind of dominant reliever that kind of money should get you. Eric Gagne (admittedly more of an injury concern) only received a 1 year, $6 million contract.
Juan Pierre (Los Angeles Dodgers, 5 years, $44 million) -- Strange in that the Dodgers seemed to be getting relatively good deals on their other free agent signings (in length and/or cost).
J.D. Drew (Boston Red Sox, 5 years, $70 million) -- If he could stay healthy, I wouldn't complain so much, but he gets injured entirely too much to make so much money. Thus far in his career, he's failed to play in 110 games in any odd-numbered year, and even the even-numbered years don't show quite the regularity you want (starting with 2000: 135, 135, 145, and 146 games played -- not bad here and there, but when you miss a month's worth of games when you're "healthy", it's cause for concern). He's only had 30 homers once (31 in 2004), 20 homers two other times (27 in 2001 and 20 in 2006), 100 RBI once (100 in 2006), 75 RBI one other time (93 in 2004), hit .300 while playing 110 games once (.305 in 145 games in 2004), slugged .500 while playing 110 games once (.569 in 2004), slugged above .520 in one of his seasons of under 110 games once (.613 in 2001, not counting .972 in 14 games in 1998), walked 90 times once (118 in 2004), and had 20 doubles twice (28 in 2004 and 34 in 2006). I love stats. I've always thought Drew was overrated, but I was expecting some better numbers when I started.
Gary Matthews, Jr. (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 5 years, $50 million) -- Coming off a breakout season in which he set personal best in batting average (.313), homers (19), doubles (44), triples (6), RBI (79), runs (102), on base percentage (.371), slugging percentage (.495), walks (58), at bats (602), and, well, just about everything, he was looking to cash in. The thing is, he's 32 and I wouldn't expect much improvement from him (much more likely, 2006 will remain the best year of his career). The guy had never managed to hit .276 in a season before.

This is not an exhaustive list of players getting overpaid, just some egregious ones. Frank Thomas and Nomar Garciaparra are too likely to get injured to be worth their contracts, for instance. Prior to the season, I would have complained about Alfonso Soriano's new contract, but this season's numbers have quieted me on that front (which by no means is to say that I think he's worth every penny).

Some other new contracts worth talking about (or not, but I'm typing about them anyways):
Jason Schmidt (Los Angeles Dodgers, 3 years, $47 million) -- You could argue that he's getting paid too much, that he's declined, et cetera, but, in this market, I give the Dodgers credit, as I thought Schmidt would manage at least one more year at the same rate or higher.
Andy Pettite (New York Yankees, 1 year, $16 million) -- According to Jayson Stark, he left the Astros over $2 million. Assuming the report is correct, he was ready to take a $14 million offer from Houston, but one was not forthcoming. Personally, I lean more towards the theory that it had about as much to do with the Astros' efforts to trade for other pitchers (most notably, Jon Garland). Professional athletes are known for their big egos, and I think the trade rumors offended Pettite's as much as the offer of "only" $12 million. It seems that if Pettite was essentially using $14 million as a starting point, he might have come down a bit from that if the Astros had worked harder at negotiating. But, essentially, I view the whole Pettite thing as one big "whatever" in the universe of the 2006 offseason. Sure, it makes a difference, but I'm more interested in its potential impact on what Roger Clemens might do. Hopefully, he pitches more than half a season this time around. I hate to see a player like Clemens walk away while he can still play as well as he does (though, admittedly, for some players, I hope for a hastening in their decline), and I also hate the circussurrounding Clemens's midseason courting and signing. He's had huge problems with run support the last two years -- maybe a return to the Yankees could cure that.
Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants, 1 year, $16 million) -- I thought some option for a second year was going to appear for awhile there, but apparently not. Bonds proved he could still hit towards the end of last season (after people had started to write him off). With his knee strength built back up and the bone chips removed from his elbow, he should do decently well next year, and Hank Aaron's record is just about as good as gone. However, I believe that to calm the steroid-related debate over whether he truly deserves to be considered the top career homerun hitter, he'd have to top 800 (and even if he topped 1000, you'd still have some people saying he doesn't deserve to be considered #1). That would require coming back for at least 2008, and, barring a big rebound, I can't see Bonds playing beyond that, at least not without moving over to the American League to become a gimpy DH (such as Frank Thomas).

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"At last, an excuse to wear makeup!"

Simpsons Top 100 Countdown
#18 A Star is Burns
Season 6, Episode 18 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

Springfield has been rated the least popular city in America. The town holds a meeting to come up with ideas for countering the notion and resurrecting tourism. Marge suggests the town hold a film festival and, unlike most of Marge's ideas, it is universally popular. She invites Jay Sherman (the title character from the short-run television show The Critic) to be a guest judge. Homer, jealous of Jay, demands that Marge include him as a judge as well. When it comes time to judge the contest, Homer doesn't take his job seriously, but Marge eventually gets him to do so, at which point he votes for the "right" film. There's also a nice subplot with Burns trying to win the contest through less than savory means. As an aside, Matt Groening absolutely hated this episode, and demanded that his name be removed from the credits; he hated the whole crossover bit and made a huge stink about it. Memorable moments include Eye on Springfield opening credits and programming, Bart's business, Abe's hatred of the metric system and his incredibly fuel inefficient car, filming movies, attractiveness of film critics, letter to Jay Sherman, loafers, name card, solution to the pimple/boil mystery, The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons (I had the video tape in my youth), dispelling perceptions of ogrehood, non-union Mexican counterpart, awards, Homer's attempt at cleverness (though I'm really not sure about that Jimmy Carter bit), MacGyver, respecting intelligence, Oscar Mayer weiners, lock of hair, auditions for the role of Burns, brilliant police work, groin injury, Barney's movie, lack of death, Burns's movie, Boo-urns, the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet, the inside happenings of Homer's head (parts one and two), ironic award, beer nuts, and groin injury reprisal take two.

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Saturday, December 09, 2006

Stupid Signing

The Cubs have been really active this offseason, and, while you can squabble about the dollar figures, they've generally made good signings. Not today. True, Jason Marquis was a starting pitcher for the world champion, but that's more than a little misleading. He was 14-16 in 33 starts this year, which isn't too bad -- not great, but not too bad. The problem is, despite having a respectable enough record, his ERA was an absurd 6.02. He was left off the postseason roster for being so bad. For all this, he made $5.15 million. The Cubs decided that he deserved a raise, and offered him a three-year contract worth about $7 million per year. If they'd offered a three-year contract worth $7 million total, I'd think it was't a good move, but I wouldn't complain. But, $7 million a year? For Jason Marquis? The guy had a good 2004, was good enough in 2005, but an atrocious 2006. It's not like he has a track record before 2004, either. Most of the most bone-headed signings in baseball are made to pitchers who either had one good year, or who had several that were a few years in the past with all evidence showing that's exactly where his good years will remain. Russ Ortiz, for example (who was always overhyped to begin with). People weren't inclined to believe me when I said, in the deal's immediate aftermath, that the Russ Ortiz signing was a bad move. They accepted that it was too much money, but said that was only so that the Diamondbacks could rise back to the level of competitiveness (players usually need more money to come to lousier teams -- witness recent, better, signigns by the Tigers and Blue Jays (the latter weren't really lousy, exactly, but playing in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox hurts)). I feel rather vindicated by the results. This time, at least, 99% of the baseball world should recognize what a horrible signing it was. I'd be ticked about this deal even if it was wiht a team I hated (though I might laugh a bit at it), but that it was with the Cubs ticks me off even more.

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Thursday, December 07, 2006

"I'll admit I used the city treasury to fund the murder of my enemies, but as Gabbo would say, 'I'm a bad widdle boy.'"

Simpsons Top 100 Countdown
#19 Krusty Gets Kancelled

Season 4, Episode 22 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

There’s a hot new kids’ show in town, and Krusty's ratings tank. His show gets cancelled, and he falls on hard times, as he had not saved any money from his many years in show business. Bart and Lisa see him on the side of the road and, after noticing all the celebrity connections he has, suggest a comeback special with many celebrity guests. It happens, it works, the end. Memorable moments include Springfield Squares, the teaser campaign for Gabbo, the Gabbo intro, Krusty’s mannequin, eastern European cartoon, Quimby getting away with murder, Johnny Carson, Krusty’s attempts to get money, Gabbo’s bad side, Kent Brockman’s bad side, Krusty’s rivalry with Luke Perry, Bette Midler, Chilly Willy, wall gazing, milkshakes, folding couch, getting back in shape, Sideshow Mel, Krusty’s backstage discussion with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Luke Perry shot out of a cannon, the love tester, and snapping Wiggum’s undies.

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Pearl Harbor Plus Sixty-Five Years

Yesterday, 7 December 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government had deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives were lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Wake Island.

This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces-with the unbounded determination of our people-we will gain the inevitable triumph-so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, 7 December, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Doin' the Links Thing

Stanley Kurtz asks if atheism has killed Russia.

Eric Kaufmann takes a sociological look at whether demographics are making Europe more religious and believes Europe will adopt a more American style of modernity (i.e., modern and religious) in the Novemebr issue of Prospect. Can't say I agree with all of it, but an interesting read for those who are interested in reading such things.

The House of Representatives is set to return to a five day work week. I could write a decent amount about this, but, overall, it seems that Steny Hoyer is making up a schedule that is not too painful for a Marylander like himself, but causes pain for west coasters and especially for the congressmen from Alaska and Hawaii. A Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon work week always seemed rather silly, but he doesn't seem to be compensating the additional weekly hours with any extra weeks off (not sure they can have an official week off while the Senate is in session, but surely they could schedule some sort of unofficial one where they're in session, but nothing remotely important is scheduled). Being a good conservative, I think Congress does far less damage when it's out of Washington than when it's there.

A great write-up of the incident with US Airways and the imams by Debra Burlingame, the sister of the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 (which hit the Pentagon on 9/11). Had I not already booked my plane tickets for later this month, I'd give US Airways some serious consideration.

Werner Heisenberg's birthday was Tuesday. In that spirit, a joke, which I stole from here: Werner Heisenberg, out for a drive, is stopped for speeding by a policeman. "Do you know how fast you were going?!," yells the irate cop. "No," replies Heisenberg, "but I know exactly where I am."

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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

"I don't think this contest is over yet .... I believe there is still a little something called ‘The Swimsuit Competition'."

Simspsons Top 100 Countdown
#20 Deep Space Homer
Season 5, Episode 15 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

Homer has that Rodney Dangerfield feeling, while NASA is looking for an average Joe to send into space so they can improve their television ratings. Watch this episode to see what hilarious hijinks ensue when they seek a mutual solution to their problems. Memorable moments include X-ray machine, union rule 26, Burns’s segue into the Worker of the Week Award, the award winner, reading the writing on the skull, respect of the tv, three musketeers, ratings war, tv shows, Homer’s harassment of government officials and quest for Tang acquisition, cudgel use, Beverly Hillbillies reference, press conference, opposite of shame, emotions, trials, second’s position relative to first, toasting, Barney’s escape, the two sweetest words in the English language, Itchy & Scratchy & placement of parental advisory, touchtone phone operation, cargo sedation, children’s letters to God, use of Mission Control equipment, the dangers of ruffled potato chips (presumably in opposition to the lack of inherent danger posed by the non-ruffled kind), horrible freedom, James Taylor (including revised lyrics), Kent Brockman selling out the human race, gingersnaps, mysterious camera outside the space shuttle, news summary, tv endings, media hero, and the obligatory 2001 reference.

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Another Group of Links

"Organic" chicken is bad for you. Well, not really, but it's not as good as the mass-produced version, and, really, that's usually enough for the usual suspects to claim something is "bad" for you.

A mother had her son arrested for opening his Christmas present early. Makes me glad I never did that.

A quotes page I came across. H.L. Mencken's "For every human problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong." is what led me to the page, but there are many quotes there I enjoy, including Harry Browne's "In my experience, people who are truly compassionate rarely use the word 'compassion'. Those who do talk compassion generally intend to be compassionate with your money, not their own. It's wrong for someone to confiscate your money, give it to someone else, and call that 'compassion'."

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Monday, December 04, 2006

Links for Today

A Welsh race relations officer got in trouble with the law for calling a policeman a "white bastard pig." I don't think there's really much more to say to that.

A write-up of which states Hillary (or, presumably, some other dem) would have to target in 2008. My main objection is the inclusion of Kentucky on the list. While Clinton did win it twice, he was greatly aided by Perot's presence, and never won even 46% of the vote. GWB, on the other hand, never won less than 56% of the vote, and Kerry failed to even get 40% in 2004. If Kentucky falls into the dem column in 2008, they'll probably also pick up (nearly) every other state he mentions in his rundown. Of course, it's the same old list of swing states (plus Kentucky).

Thomas Sowell's column from Monday. While he's always good, he mentions, somewhat in passing, one of my pet peeves -- the wrong devotion of some to the "innocent until proven guilty" mantra. It applies to a court of law, not to everyday opinion/decision making. If you think someone has been stealing from you, but don't have proof, are you going to just presume them innocent and not take precautions to keep them from stealing from you (again)? Plus, there's always my favorite example, OJ Simpson. Only the most hardcore followers of the mantra dispute his case. I'm not saying we should rush to judgment while we're short on facts; I'm merely saying that it's possible to have a well-informed opinion of someone's guilt without a jury delivering a guilty verdict (and, of course, this applies to more than strictly legal matters).

The Arizona Board of Nursing is upset with the Heart Attack Grill because it has termed its waitresses "nurses" -- a term for which you're supposed to have a degree and blah blah blah. Now, I could muster some outrage if it were a matter of people actually impersonating nurses, but no reasonable person would mistake them for such. Are they going to go after people who wear the "sexy nurse" costume on Halloween next? Also, check out the Quadruple Bypass Burger from the Heart Attack Grill.

John J Miller analyzes the 2008 Senatorial contests. As I previously mentioned, not many obvious chances for Republican pickups, though most analysts would have considered Allen and DeWine safe bets shortly after the 2004 election.

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The Modern Media in a Nutshell

There's a cheating scandal at Columbia's J-School. What's more, it was an ethics class.

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Barry Bonds and the Giants

There was a lot of talk about the Giants possibly ditching Bonds and deciding to "go younger" with their team. Well, so far this offseason, their signings (both of their own free agents and those coming from other teams) include Dave Roberts (34), Rich Aurilia (35), Ray Durham (35), Pedro Feliz (31), and it looks like they're close to signing Bengie Molina (32). They did let Moises Alou (40) get away, don't appear interested in Steve Finley (41), and Mike Stanton (39) did sign with another team (though in his case it doesn't seem to be because the Giants weren't interested), but, still, this hardly seems like a team embarking on a youth movement. Although there have been ups and downs, it currently looks like Bonds (42) will be returning to the Giants, and, barring injury, breaking Aaron's career homerun record.

I've also seen a few writers scoff at the Giants' belief that they're in the running next season (as some writers seem to do nearly every year), but the team was in the thick of the playoff hunt until they collapsed with about two weeks remaining in the season. It doesn't seem unreasonable to believe they could contend again -- and remember, the Cardinals didn't exactly blow everyone away in the regular season last year, but they still won the World Series.

Just to toss a link out there, ESPN has some interesting "expert" predictions on what to expect from the winter meetings.

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Basic Bookkeeping Update of Little Interest

First, I've discovered that I can post from work (or, perhaps more accurately, re-discovered). I'm not really sure I'm supposed to be doing so, but it appears that I can.

Second, I've switched to Blogger Beta. What all this entails, I'm not exactly sure. I know it allows labels for posts, which, assuming they work like livejournal, should allow you to click the label and then see all posts with that label. Pretty spiffy. It's even possible that I'll go back and retro-label old posts, assuming I don't decide to do something better (or, well, different) with my free time.

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