I’m no armchair general office guy, but it seems to me that Johnny Damon has been the key to Red Sox success. At the top of the lineup, he gets on base, and that helps when the #3 and #4 slots come in. He may be more important that Manny or Ortiz (although, of course, not both of them combined). … Read More
Love Lasts A Year
Italian scientists (and really, what else would they study?) have proved it: Some couples may disagree, but romantic love lasts little more than a year, Italian scientists believe. The University of Pavia found a brain chemical was likely to be responsible for the first flush of love. Researchers said raised levels of a protein was linked to feelings of euphoria … Read More
Pat Did It
Headline from a 2003 news story about Pat Robertson’s plea to change the judiciary: Praying For Supreme Court Shake Up Today’s headline: Pieces Fall From Supreme Court Facade
The Dysfunctional White House
From the New York Daily News: For the moment, Bush has dismissed discreetly offered advice from friends and loyalists to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and bring back longtime confidant Karen Hughes from the State Department to shore up his personal White House staff. "He thinks that would be an admission he’s screwed up, and he can’t bring himself … Read More
Knee Jerk Punditry – A Comedy In Three Acts
ACT ONE (The Setup): Prominent Democrat Joseph Biden writes an op-ed in the Washington Post suggesting a broad outline for withdrawal of troops from Iraq: "Over the next six months, we must forge a sustainable political compromise between Iraqi factions, strengthen the Iraqi government and bolster reconstruction efforts, and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces." ACT TWO (The Knee-Jerk Reaction): … Read More
About Time
Ever wonder how James Dobson’s Focus On The Family can get away with all the politicking they do, yet still remain a tax-exempt as a not-for-profit institution? Well, the truth is, they can’t get away with it. Not legally, anyway. Which is why this was inevitable: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today filed an Internal Revenue Services … Read More
Whack-A-Democrat
Ezra Klein (via another) makes an interesting observation: John Dickerson makes a good point on the laughably bungled attempt to mar Murtha: This is what happens when a party goes into campaign mode without a single opponent. With no specific person to target, the Bush administration ends up taking on all members of the opposition at once. The White House … Read More
The Suicide of Col. Ted Westhusing
Col. Ted Westhusing, 44, . . . was no ordinary officer. He was one of the Army’s leading scholars of military ethics, a full professor at West Point who volunteered to serve in Iraq to be able to better teach his students. He had a doctorate in philosophy; his dissertation was an extended meditation on the meaning of honor. In … Read More
Kiss Of Death
This is the kind of news story that I’m embarrassed to blog about, but I do anyway: A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday. Christina Desforges died in a Quebec hospital Wednesday after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the … Read More
That Word Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means
Redstate asks a stupid question — well, two of them. When the history of the decision to go to war in Iraq is written, there’s one fact that I have to believe will get more attention than it does today: the fact that Saddam Hussein hired terrorists to murder George H.W. Bush…. Put yourself in Bush’s shoes: if you were … Read More
The Duke Is Done
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleads guilty to tax evasion, and taking bribes from defense contractors in order to secure lucrative defense contracts. Josh Marshall, who kept on this story from Day One, is happy, but notes that Cunningham is still on the Appropriations Committee. Not for long, I’m guessing.
Where Would Jesus Shop?
Christians Underground, a website for all of the oppressed Christians who make up the vast majority of this country, weighs in on the "War on Christmas" with this observation: On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving 2005 I visited Manhattan to go to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and to see the displays in the front windows of two famous Fifth … Read More
Iraq: The Movie
Bruce Willis wants to make a pro-Iraq war movie, and the right wing blogosphere is all excited because there hasn’t been a good realistic war-is-fuckin’-awesome movie since the "Rambo" series. Sadly for the wingers, there’s been much technological innovation since the "Rambo" series, and it seems that anybody can make a war movie these days, downloadable from the Internet: A … Read More
AIDS Relief in Africa: Strings Attached
AIDS in Africa could reach pandemic perportions: The HIV/AIDS scourge on the African continent could worsen in 2006 if developed nations do not deliver on their financial pledges, the U.N.’s top AIDS official in Africa said on Monday. Stephen Lewis, U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said treatment, prevention and care programs on the continent will start losing out … Read More
Bush Was Against Troop Pullout Before He Was For It?
It was only a week or two ago when Bush/Cheney were labelling war critics, who were advocating troop withdrawal from Iraq, as a bunch of "cut and run" cheese-eating surrender monkeys (or words to that effect). But now, the Los Angeles Times writes that Bush will give "a major speech" on Wednesday "in which aides say he is expected to … Read More