Replace the asterisk with a tiny hypodermic needle

Barry Bonds is a fraud. Jason Giambi (who by the way hit two home runs in Game 7 of the Yankees-Red Sox series in 2003 -- should the Sox be celebrating their SECOND STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP?) is a fraud. Gary Sheffield is a fraud. Jeff Bagwell is a fraud. Sammy Sosa is a fraud. They and all their steroid friends should be kicked out of the game.

The Baseball Encyclopedia should adopt a new asterisk for the current generation of law-breaking cheaters: a tiny hypodermic needle next to all of their statistics in the record book.

And if Shoeless Joe Jackson & Pete Rose can be banned from baseball & the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball games (the sin is cheating, right?), all these fakers should be barred from the game & the Hall for cheating to obtain their fraudulent individual stats.

It pains me to say it, but Marian Jones is a fraud. I watched the interview with Kelli White last night. The feds confiscated the same type of calendar for her illegal steroid use as for Marian. So we know that Marian was shooting up for her 2000 Olympics triumph. So sad. I watched her win the Women's Basketball Championship game with North Carolina in 1994 & always loved her. But she's a cheater, & I've lost all respect for her.

I used to be up on all the major professional sports in this country, but now I stick to women's college sports and international soccer.

Here's the best article on the steroid scandal, by the incomparable Tom Boswell in the Washington Post: The Truth Lies in the Numbers

Another Hacktacular Homeland Security Chief

Kerik Nomination is a Ticking Time Bomb

Click the link to read the whole article. Here's its sad beginning:

Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani.

Errand boy for the Saudi royal family.

Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy.

Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq - then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it.

Oh, the bullet points on Bernie Kerik's real-life resume just go on and on. But is this really the guy we want standing between us and the terrorists?

George W. Bush apparently thinks so.

Here's the story on Kerik covering up for his top aide Picciano after "Pitch" threatened his girlfriend with a gun: Kerik bailed out pal, sources say: Covered up '98 assault, they claim

I'll Have a Blue Christmas

The holidays are upon us. I've been getting blasted with Christmas music in stores for weeks now. Aisles are dangerously crowded with....stuff. All kinds of stuff.

I must say, I have a Grinch-like reaction to all of it. After 9/11 I didn't buy any gifts for adults, just contributed money to charity. But eventually I've been drawn back into the whole commercial thing.

This year I'm trying to do my Christmas shopping by buying locally. If I must shop at national chains, at least I try not to spend money at businesses that contribute heavily to the Republican party. This year I'm trying to Buy Blue!

I'm not the only person thinking about this issue. Here are some websites with information on national chains and their records of donating vast sums of money to the Republican party:

Choose the Blue

Project Blue Christmas

Boycott Bush

More thinking on this topic from Democratic Underground's Economic Activism and Progressive Living Group

Cranberry Relish

This year my Mom & I made the best Thanksgiving meal ever. We really loved our cranberry relish:

Cranberry relish

1 bag fresh cranberries, washed & picked over
1/2 cup apple cider
3 T. Splenda
4 T. elderberry jam
Zest of one orange; reserve 1 T. for garnish

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until about 2/3 of the cranberries have burst. Refrigerate & serve cold with reserved zest.

You may want more sweetening -- or even to substitute sugar for the Splenda. You could use any seedless jelly or jam, but the elderberry made for a mysterious flavor.

Tom Ridge Resigns

Today Tom Ridge resigned as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Am I the only one who hears "Deutschland Uber Alles" in my head when I hear the word homeland?

Who will replace the man who advised Americans to duct tape themselves into a plastic-sheeting-covered room?

I think they should give the job to that old TV guy MacGuyver. He was great with a roll of duct tape.