Hillary Is Wrong

Yesterday in an interview, Hillary Clinton said one of the reasons she's still in the race is because historically primary season isn't decided until June, or later.

Then she put her foot in it. She said we all remember Robert F. Kennedy being assassinated in June of 1968 after California's primary. Lots of people (mostly Obama supporters) are outraged by her bringing up RFK's assassination, and are implying that she meant that she's in the race because maybe Obama will be assassinated.

I watched her remarks (video here) and didn't think that was her point. She was trying to claim that it was OK that the Democratic primary isn't over because it isn't even June yet. But her statement was very wrong, for two fundamental reasons:

1) You can't use an assassination as an analogy. (I would also advise against using any analogy which includes Hitler, the Holocaust, or 9/11.)

One of the principles of communication is: It doesn't matter what you say. It's what the other person hears that is the essence of communication. If you are trying to say, the campaign in 1968 continued through June, say that. Don't bring up an assassination which is TOTALLY UNRELATED to the point you are trying to make, other than temporally. By bringing up the murder of RFK, Hillary begs to be misinterpreted. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. But I can totally see where people find what she said deeply offensive.

2) The California primary isn't in June any more. The second reason what she said is wrong, as well as stupid, is that the primary calendars in 1992 and in 1968 were totally different than the accelerated 2008 calendar. The reason Bill Clinton and Robert F. Kennedy were in the California primary in June is that the California primary used to be in June. This year, the primary in California was on Super Tuesday, in February. Hillary won the California primary. But Super Tuesday wasn't the knockout blow that Hillary's campaign had counted on. Obama won the next 10 contests and essentially knocked her out of the race with his superior organization. There aren't enough primaries or enough delegates left for Hillary to win.

It's over, Hills. Move on. Challenge Harry Reid for Senate Majority Leader. Get a killer Cabinet position. (Oops, sorry, no pun intended.) Angle for a Supreme Court bid. But please, no more references to historical tragedies.

We Love Lists

PerrspectivesBlog: John McCain's Top 10 Out-of-Touch Moments

Go to the post at the link above for a full description of McLame's gaffes and positions.

1. Economic downturn is "psychological."

2. "Great progress economically" during the Bush years.

3. eBay is the answer for poverty and recession.

4. "Tear down" New Orleans?

5. Irresponsible, undeserving homeowners.

6. Work a second job, skip a vacation.

7. "Protect the privacy" of Cindy McCain's tax returns.

8. Opposed to SCHIP expansion, McCain speaks at children's hospital.

9. Baghdad safer than some American neighborhoods.

10. "I'm not running on the Bush presidency."

Meet John McCain's Top Adviser, Charlie Black

Charlie Black is the banality of evil. He's all button-down and corporate, while he's being paid by military juntas and dictators to lobby for them in Washington. His wife is a lobbyist, too. What a pleasant couple.

WaPo: McCain's Rules on Lobbying Face Test
Power Couple Working on Campaign

[Charlie Black's] wife, Judy Black, is a national co-chair of the fundraising group "Women for McCain," and she has a vibrant lobbying practice that includes a foreign client and several companies with business before the Senate Commerce Committee, where McCain is a senior member.

Judy Black works at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, a firm that earned $12.9 million in lobbying fees last year. She is listed as an agent of Dubai Aerospace Enterprises, whose partners include the government of Dubai, according to forms filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Since 2004, she has also represented telecomunications companies AT&T and Global Crossing Ltd., which have matters before the Commerce Committee.

You know she's an immoral person when you learn the first job she lists on her resume: Vice president of Tobacco Institute, 1978-1986. Ewwww.

RightNow!: Judy A. Black, PoliticalChick Spotlight

Sign Get Well E-Card to Senator Kennedy

moveon.org: Get Well Soon, Senator Kennedy

A Side of Parsley

Here's the ABC Report on "Reverend" Rod Parsley that apparently caused McCain to distance himself from the whacko:



Here's what McCain said about Parsley in accepting his endorsement:

"One of the truly great leaders in America"

"A moral compass"

"A spiritual guide"

I Can't Stop Laughing

Public Citizen, White House for Sale
From John McCain's website:

[T]oo often the special interest lobbyists with the fattest wallets and best access carry the day when issues of public policy are being decided.

So high-minded!

A man who still has 115 lobbyists working for him oughta know .

McCain's Top Adviser Lobbied For Bloody Dictators

Charles Black, John McCain's chief political strategist: Made a fortune of blood money

WaPo: Charles Black, Foreign Agent

McCain adviser Charles Black and his lobbying partners have represented some of the world's most notorious leaders. Now, that work is prompting calls by Democrats for Black's firing from the campaign. Here is a sampling of clients: [UNITA, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Phillipines, Zaire]

WaPo: McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized
Foreign Clients Included Notorious Rulers

Longtime uber-lobbyist Charles R. Black Jr. is John McCain's man in Washington, a political maestro who is hoping to guide his friend, the senator from Arizona, to the presidency this November.

But for half a decade in the 1980s, Black was also Jonas Savimbi's man in the capital city. His lobbying firm received millions from the brutal Angolan guerrilla leader and took advantage of Black's contacts in Congress and the White House.

Justice Department records that Black's firm submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act detail frequent meetings with lawmakers and their staffs and lavish spending by Black and his partners as they attempted to ensure support for Savimbi, whose UNITA movement was fighting the Marxist Angolan government.

Then in his 30s, Black already had established himself as a pioneer of the revolving door between campaign consulting and lobbying, having been a senior adviser on President Ronald Reagan's reelection campaign before returning to K Street. And his clients, as often as not, were foreign leaders eager to burnish their reputations.

In addition to Savimbi, Black and his partners were at times registered foreign agents for a remarkable collection of U.S.-backed foreign leaders whose human rights records were sometimes harshly criticized, even as their opposition to communism was embraced by American conservatives. They included Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea, among others.

Here is just a little information about some of the bloody dictators Charles Black represented. He made money off blood diamonds, illegal ivory trade, ethnic cleansing, and plain old thievery. No wonder John McCain still has 115 lobbyists working for him. His top adviser would literally take money from anyone, no matter how corrupt, no matter how murderous. He already has. And he's McCain's top guy.

Guardian (uk): Jonas Savimbi, Obituary, February 25, 2002

Jonas Savimbi, who has died aged 67, was, for 20 years, a figure as important in southern Africa as Nelson Mandela, and as negative a force as Mandela was positive. For the past 10 years, using the proceeds of smuggled diamonds from eastern and central Angola, he fought an increasingly pointless and personal bush war against the elected government in which hundreds of thousands of peasants were killed, wounded, displaced, or starved to death.

CNN: Mobutu Sese Seko Obituary, September 7, 1997

In 1965, Mobutu seized power with the backing of the military and tacit support of Western countries, who saw him as a bulwark against communist expansion in Africa. He established a one-party state, banning all other political organizations but his own.

Over the next three decades, Mobutu led one of the most enduring regimes in Africa -- and, said his critics, one of the most dictatorial and corrupt.

Despite the country's obvious natural resources, including copper, gold and diamonds, much of Zaire's population continued to sink further into poverty. But Mobutu, known for his trademark leopard-skin hat, amassed a personal fortune estimated to be as much as $5 billion, with homes in Switzerland and France.

NYTimes: Anatomy of an Autocracy: Mobutu's 32-Year Reign

IndependentOnline: Nigeria's 'evil genius' [Ibrahim Babangida] enters election race

In 1986, shortly after coming to power, he executed his bosom friend and then minister of the Federal Capital Territory, General Mamman Vatsa, and dozens of other officers convicted of involvement in a failed coup plot against him.

Scores of military officers and civilians convicted of involvement in another failed coup attempt four years later were also executed despite local and international plea for clemency.

For many though, Babangida, with his toothy smile, is synonymous with corruption, the depreciation of the country's currency and general economic mismanagement.

He is widely believed to have syphoned off tens of millions of dollars during his time in office and he looks the most wealthy of all the 2007 presidential hopefuls.

His critics allege he mismanaged or stole the some 12 billion dollars Nigeria made from oil sales during the Gulf War.

"Babangida promoted the culture of corruption into national ethos," one newspaper columnist wrote.

"If God were a Nigerian, Babangida would have attempted to bribe him," said another.

Independent (uk): Obituary: Siad Barre

[I]n the early hours of 21 October, Siad led 20 army officers and five police officers in a bloodless coup d'tat.

Significant political figures were detained, the constitution suspended, the national assembly closed, political parties banned and the Supreme Court abolished. The country was renamed the Somali Democratic Republic and on 1 November the conspirators constituted themselves the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC).

[]

The complex security paraphernalia and the paramilitary organisations so typical of all repressive states, whether of the right or the left (and Somalia was a confused mixture of both), were installed. The new National Security Service (NSS) began to run its own interrogation and detention centres and even courts. Prison conditions for a growing number of political and other prisoners were uniformly harsh and torture was rife.

[]

To Siad, the mnemonics of liberation fronts merely hid angry clan groupings. Once so identified, whole areas were devastated. Among the first to suffer were the Majeerteen. But it was confrontation with the Isaak, the largest clan in the north, which revealed the depths which Siad and his relative-generals were prepared to plumb. The word ''genocide'' came to be used by international human rights observers.

Ted Kennedy, Living His Own Words

[A] good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

- Edward M. Kennedy
Address at the Public Memorial Service for Robert F. Kennedy


Boston Globe: Legions he aided now praise Kennedy
Ordinary people recall his extraordinary help

Kennedy is best known as a legislative powerhouse, a tireless legend at courting allies and cutting deals, and as the battle-scarred face of the nation's most famous political family. But out of the spotlight and behind the scenes, his constituents say, the senior senator and his staff have cut through red tape to change countless individual lives, advocating for even the narrowest personal needs with a ferocity and attention to detail that still inspires awe in those on the receiving end decades later.

Few causes, it seems, have been too small to warrant his aid, be it helping an Ethiopian maintenance man seek immigration papers for his family; encouraging the activism of a young diabetes patient from Plymouth; or calling top officials in the military to stop a Westford stepmother from being deployed to Iraq.

As the well-loved senator begins his fight against brain cancer, people who have benefited from his service said they are praying for the recovery of a man who heard their cries and answered when it seemed impossible amid the din of politics.

May 22nd is Pastor Renouncing Day for John McCain

Yesterday I wrote about "Pastor" John Hagee and his unbelievably offensive sermon claiming that Hitler was sent by God to force the Jews to Palestine. Apparently that video making the mainstream media was enough to make McCain "renounce" his endorsement from Hagee; not to be outdone, Hagee then withdrew his endorsement from McCain. ABC News ran video (watch at this link) of crazy McCain endorser "Reverend" Rod Parsley in which he

describes Islam as "anti-Christ" and Mohammed as "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil."

Here's the "Reverend" Parsley in action, interspersed with McCain's wet kisses to Parsley after he endorsed him:


NYTimes: McCain Cuts Ties to Pastors Whose Talks Drew Fire

Senator John McCain on Thursday rejected the endorsements of two prominent evangelical ministers whose backing he had sought to shore up his credentials with religious conservatives.

Mr. McCain repudiated the Rev. John C. Hagee, a televangelist, after a watchdog group released a recording of a sermon in which Mr. Hagee said Hitler and the Holocaust had been part of God’s plan to chase the Jews from Europe and drive them to Palestine.

Later in the day, he also rejected the endorsement of the Rev. Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio, whose anti-Muslim sermons were broadcast on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday.

CNN: McCain officially rejects Hagee endorsement

ThinkProgress: McCain rejects Parsley’s endorsement.

Big Papi to Play "The Babe" at Yankee Stadium

Left, National Baseball Archives via Associated Press; Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
In a nod to Babe Ruth’s famed called home run, the All-Star home run derby at Yankee Stadium is planning a contest in which a fan will try to call a shot for David Ortiz.
NYTimes: Who’s Calling the Shots, the Yankees or Ortiz?

The Yankees were upset when they found out about a promotion that would cast David Ortiz of the Red Sox as a modern-day Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium during the All-Star Game festivities.

Who better to play the rotund home run hitter with a giant personality? Who would the Yankees have play the Babe? Jason Giambi, the juicer? (Maybe before he calls his shot, he could reenact his grand jury testimony and show the boys and girls how he shot his testosterone "in the ass". That would be heart-warming.) A-Rod, the pretty loser? (A-Rod's unfortunate habit of caving under pressure might affect the TV schedule; it could take him days to hit a home run on command).

No, Ortiz as the Babe is perfect. Babe did start off as a Red Sock, after all. And like Ortiz, Babe was renowned for his larger-than-life personality. While Babe did not own a Bedazzler and is not known for rhinestine-studded sportcoats, you can imagine him wearing one with Ortiz in some Red Sox-Yankees promotion for MLB.

Just In Time For $4 Gallon Gas

BBC News: Scream painting back on display

Gotta Love Ted

Senator Edward M. Kennedy and his wife, Victoria, stood yesterday at the helm of the schooner Mya at the Hyannis Port Yacht Club. "It's really nice to see him out there doing what he loves . . . I'm sure it's good tonic," Senator John F. Kerry remarked. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

Boston Globe: Showing resolve to fight, a family takes to the sea
In hospital bed, senator talked about sailing

Who Will John McCain Fight For?

He'll fight for rich people:

WaPo: McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers.

But not for veterans.

A couple of weeks ago, John McCain talked about the importance of increasing the size of the U.S. military. To entice more volunteers, he said, the government should focus on incentives: “[O]ne of the things we ought to do is provide [the troops with] significant educational benefits in return for serving.”

A few days later, McCain announced that he’ll oppose a bipartisan measure to renew and expand the GI Bill for a new generation of veterans.

Got that? Give away valuable public land to some rich guy who gave McCain some campaign cash. Give nothing to patriotic citizens who volunteered for our nation's military.

McCain Sought Endorsement From Anti-Semitic Pastor John Hagee

"Pastor" John Hagee is nuts and John McCain solicited his endorsement of McCain's Presidential campaign. If you get cable TV, you can probably watch Pastor WhackJob two or three times a day, spewing hatred and soliciting money (he is a thief, like all the TV religious charlatans). In the clip below, he says Hitler was sent by God to drive the Jews to Palestine. Yes, listen to the video, he really says that. Tristero (below), blogging at Hullabaloo, is exactly right. What kind of person would go out of his way to seek out such a maniac to endorse him? And then not disavow him when he learns what a nut he is? A man without a moral compass: John McCain.



Hullabaloo: Fishers, Hunters, And St. John McCain

In fairness to PyschoPastor Hagee, his anti-Catholic screeds (calling the Church "The Great Whore" and the like) should not go unremarked. He's not merely an anti-semite. He hates everyone who doesn't think (I use the term loosely) like him.

Nor, despite the size of his congregation, is Hagee the real issue. McCain's character is. A fool who would actively seek out this loon's endorsement. A moral coward - yes, coward - who would equivocate about denouncing such ideas and the bigots who hold them.

Such a person is not a serious candidate for president. Which is not to say he has no chance; he does. But only if the mainstream media gets away with refusing to expose him for what he is. I hesitate to leap on the paranoid bus and say the media is actively suppressing knowledge of how crazy Hagee is in order to prop up McCain, but if Bruce Wilson's documentation of Hagee's intoleration - and McCain's refusal to dissociate himself with him - doesn't lead to headlines and tv news stories, then there is little choice but to think They are up to no good.

Clinton and the Florida Primary: Against It Before She Was For It

Then
Now
In 2007 Hillary Clinton signed the DNC pledge saying that she would not campaign in Florida; nor would she participate in the Florida primary. She issued this press release on September 1, 2007:

9/1/2007

Clinton Campaign Statement on the Four State Pledge

The following is a statement by Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle.

"We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process.

And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role.

Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar.

Many Democrats elected not to participate in the Florida primary, as they knew that under DNC rules the primary would not count.

Neither Clinton nor Obama campaigned in Florida, and Clinton won the state overwhelmingly. Now that she is behind in the delegate count, she wants those delegates counted based on the primary she agreed that she would not participate in -- last year, when she thought the nomination would be hers after Super Tuesday.

Yesterday Clinton, who originally was in favor of stripping Florida of its delegates, argued that not seating the Florida delegation based on the primary she promised not to participate in, was like the struggles against: women's suffrage, civil rights, Florida 2000, and Zimbabwe.

Since no one has died during the Florida delegation fight, these claims are patently absurd. I wish Clinton would just drop out. She lost. She hired a poor team to run her campaign, and they ran her into the ground. I don't like the way the DNC handled Florida and Michigan, but that doesn't mean that her way is correct either.

I want the Democrats to stop spending money on primary foolishness and move on to the general election.

Surrender Hillary. For the good of the party; for the good of the country.

Excellent Suggestion

James Andrew Miller, WaPo: Next Stop, Supreme Court?

It's likely that the next president will face at least one Supreme Court vacancy. Obama should promise Hillary Clinton, now, that if he wins in November, the vacancy will be hers, making her first on a list of one.

The next Supreme Court justice should be a woman, as Bush appointed no women (and no minorities) to the Court during his tenure, despite the resignation of the first (of two) woman ever to serve on the Court. And Clinton would be an excellent justice, just as she has been an excellent Senator, hard-working and able to build coalitions across the political aisle. We will need someone of her skills to keep the hard-righters on the Court in line over the next few decades.

Senator Kennedy Diagnosed with Malignant Brain Tumor

(Bill Greene/Globe Staff)
Senator Kennedy was joined in a Mass. General solarium today by his son Patrick; stepson Curran Raclin; son Edward M. Kennedy Jr.; daughter Kara Kennedy; and wife, Victoria.
Fuck.

Boston Globe: Sen. Edward Kennedy diagnosed with brain tumor; prognosis seen as poor

US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the veteran lawmaker from Massachusetts who is the last surviving brother in the legendary Kennedy family, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, his doctors said today.

[]

The usual course of treatment for the tumor -- a malignant glioma -- includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy, Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the neurology department at the hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary care physician, said in a statement.

The doctors said decisions regarding the best course of treatment for the 76-year-old senator would be determined after further testing and analysis.

But other specialists said that the diagnostic details released by the hospital indicated that Kennedy has terminal brain cancer and most likely less than three years to live -- perhaps much less.

"Unfortunately, it's a really serious tumor," said Dr. Patrick Wen, clinical director for neuro-oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Mass. General's description of the tumor as a malignant glioma probably means the tumor is at stage 3 or 4 on a four-point scale of severity, with 4 the most serious, Wen said.

"The average survival for a Grade 4 tumor is 14 or 15 months," he said. "For a Grade 3 tumor, it's two to three years. Unfortunately, the older you are, the worse it is. The biology of the tumor is worse, it's more aggressive."

Mass. General did not mention any plan to operate to remove the tumor, and specialists say that is probably because it is located in an area of the brain, the left parietal lobe, with many important functions, including speech and language. Tumors in this region can affect the ability to understand spoken and written words.

The McCain Campaign Slogan: Lobbyists-R-Us!

You may have read that John McCain fired five (5) lobbyists last week.

Yesterday, his fifth campaign staffer was forced to quit in a week. This time one of his most important advisers, Tom Loeffler, self-jettisoned after reports that his lobbying firm had pulled in up to $US 15 million in fees from the Saudi Arabian Government since 2002.

But that's just the tip of the McCain Lobbyists Express iceberg. McCain's campaign is run and bankrolled by the very lobbyists he claims to be free of.

McCain's campaign has also been guided by lobbyists. [Rick] Davis, the campaign manager, is a former lobbyist who represented major telecommunications companies. The campaign's senior adviser is Charles R. Black Jr., chairman of BKSH & Associates, which represents drug companies, an oil company, an automaker, a telecommunications company, defense contractors and the steel industry, among others.

Former congressman Tom Loeffler (R-Tex.) was brought in to shore up the campaign's finances and operations. Yet he maintains his day job as chairman of the Loeffler Group, whose clients include oil, auto and telecommunications companies, as well as a tobacco firm and an airline.

Other occasional McCain advisers include lobbyists Timothy P. McKone of AT&T, Robert S. Aiken of Phoenix-based Pinnacle West Capital, John W. Timmons of the Cormac Group and John Green of Ogilvy Government Relations. Also at Ogilvy is a major McCain fundraiser, Wayne L. Berman.

Their firms' clients have been a significant source of contributions to McCain's campaign. Executives for the clients of Ogilvy Government Relations gave at least $271,000 for McCain's presidential bid. Loeffler Group client employees donated $118,500, according to a Washington Post analysis. BKSH clients' executives gave $24,000.

Five may have resigned, but there are plenty of lobbyists left on the McCain campaign. 115, to be precise:

Tom Matzzie, HuffPo: John McCain's Lobbyists (the list)

Here is the full list of the 115 lobbyists still working or raising money for John McCain:

Robert Aiken

Grant Aldonas

Philmore B. Anderson

Rebecca "Becky" Anderson

Stanton Anderson

Susan Auther Andres

Robert Asher

William J. Bailey III

William Ball III

David Beightol

Rhonda A. Bentz

Wayne Berman

Steve Betts

Charlie Black

Judy Black

Kirk Blalock

Carlos Bonilla

Christine Burgeson

Kerry Cammack

Kirsten Ardleigh Chadwick

Rob Chamberlin

Susan Charlton

John Clerici

Josephine "Jo" Cooper

James Courter

Bryan Cunningham

Alfonse D'Amato

Ashley Davis

Kurt Davis

Rick Davis

Mimi Dawson

John Diamond

Frank Donatelli

Melissa "Missy" Edwards

Kevin Fay

Christian Ferry

Chris Fidler

Thomas Jr. Fiorentino

Sally Furman

Samuel K. Geduldig

Ben Ginsberg

David Girard-di Carlo

Michael Glassner

Juleanna R. Glover Weiss

Phil Gramm

John Green

Janet M. Grissom

Wes Gullett

Kristen Gullott

Kent Hance

Robert Harding

Vicki Hart

Robert van Laer Hartwell

John D. Heubusch

Deborah Hohlt

Richard Hohlt

Gaylord T. Jr. Hughey

Peter Huntsman

Aleix Jarvis

Greg Jenner

Christine Jones

Nancy Johnson

Mary Kate Johnson

Ned Johnson

Charles N. Kahn III

Mike Kennedy

William Kilberg

Steve Kuykendall

William "Bill" Lesher

Jack Lichtenstein

Gail MacKinnon

Peter Madigan

Mary Mann

Paul Martino

Mary McAuliffe

John McGovern

Mike McKay

Timothy McKone

Alison H. McSlarrow

Kyle E. McSlarrow

Michael E. Meece

David A Metzner

Susan Molinari

John Munger

Ken Nahigian

Susan Nelson

Jack Oliver

Steve Perry

Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer

Steve Phillips

Elise Pickering

James L. Pitts

Timothy Powers

Anthony Principi

Michael Racy

Sloan W. Rappoport

James Rill

Steve Roman

Matt Salmon

Joseph Samora

Randy Scheunemann

Katie Stahl

Milly Stanges

Aquiles Suarez

Fife Symington

Jeri Thompson

Dirk W. Van Dongen

David Vennett

Raymond T. Jr. Wagner

Jeffrey Weiss

Richard "Dick" Wiley

Tony Williams

James Woolsey

Joseph Wright

Fred Zeidman

From the World of Sports

Jon Lester jumps into Jason Varitek's embrace after completing his no-hitter.
Hank Aaron still considers himself the Home Run King. So do the rest of us, Hammerin' Hank. We don't count those juicers against you.

In preparation for the Eastern Conference Championships, meet the Detroit Pistons. Here's another Pistons preview.

Further proof that Danny Ainge is a Mormon: He has six grandchildren. Six!

We won't see Carlos Tevez at Giants Stadium in June; he's been left off Argentina's squad for the friendly with the USA.

Video of the end of Jon Lester's no-hitter:

No No No No!

"He's not just a good kid because he threw a no-hitter," Terry Francona said. "He's a good kid because he's a good kid."
(Reuters Photo)
Jon Lester pitched a no-hitter for the Red Sox tonight. Amazing. The miracle boy, 24-year-old cancer survivor, who already came back to win the last game of the 2007 World Series last year, with another career moment. The local TV news just reported that he had invited his girlfriend's parents to see him pitch tonight. I imagine they were suitably impressed!

He pitched really well, but an amazing diving catch in centerfield (video) by who else, wonder boy Jacoby Ellsbury, in the fourth made it possible.

Boston Herald: Photo by Matthew West
Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury dove to catch Jose Guillen’s line drive to end the 4th inning.
Everyone is always excited when a pitcher throws a no-hitter but you could see all the emotion from the players and coaches who watched Lester battle and come back from his cancer diagnosis. If you didn't have a tear in your eye as the game ended you are one cold MF.

Another record-setter tonight is Jason Varitek who is now the only catcher in the modern era to catch four no-hitters (Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholz, and now Lester). If Curt Schilling hadn't shaken him off with two outs in the ninth of his no-hitter last June and thrown the slider Varitek called for (instead of the fastball that got smoked) Varitek may have caught his fifth no-hitter tonight.

The last two no-hitters in the majors are now the Red Sox (Clay Buchholz's in September being the previous.)

ProJo Sports Blog: Here is the full list of no-hitters for the franchise:

May 19, 2008: Jon Lester, vs. Kansas City
Sept. 1, 2007: Clay Buchholz, vs. Baltimore
April 27, 2002: Derek Lowe, vs. Tampa Bay
April 4, 2001: Hideo Nomo, at Baltimore
Sept. 16, 1965: Dave Morehead, vs. Cleveland
Aug. 1, 1962: Bill Monbouquette, at Chicago
June 26, 1962: Earl Wilson, vs. Los Angeles
July 14, 1956: Mel Parnell, vs. Chicago
Sept. 7, 1923: Howard Ehmke, at Philadelphia
June 3, 1918: Hub Leonard, at Detroit
June 23, 1917: Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore, vs. Washington
Aug. 30, 1916: Hub Leonard, vs. St. Louis
June 16, 1916: Rube Foster, vs. New York
July 19, 1911: Smokey Joe Wood, vs. St. Louis
June 30, 1908: Cy Young, at New York
Sept. 27, 1905: Bill Dinneen, vs. Chicago
Aug. 17, 1904: Jesse Tannehill, vs. Chicago
May 5, 1904: Cy Young, vs. Philadelphia

Boston Herald: Jon Lester to Royals: No way
Sox lefty unhittable at Fenway

Boston Globe: Lester throws no-hitter against Royals

Joy of Sox: JON LESTER PITCHES A NO-HITTER!!!

AP: Cancer survivor Lester throws no-hitter vs Royals

Get Well Soon, Christie Rampone

ussoccer: U.S. Captain Christie Rampone Has Surgery to Remove Her Gall Bladder
# 12-Year National Team Veteran Will Be Out Several Weeks

CHICAGO (May 15, 2008) -- U.S. Women’s National Team captain Christie Rampone had surgery yesterday morning to remove her gall bladder at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, Calif. The procedure was performed by Dr. Craig Smith.

Rampone, who played the full 90 minutes against Canada on May 10 in the USA’s 6-0 victory over Canada at RFK Stadium, should be able to return to training in several weeks.

The laparoscopic surgery is deemed minor, but was necessary as Rampone had been suffering from abdominal pains. The surgery is usually done if the organ is inflamed or obstructed, and the incisions during the procedure are very small.

Barack the Vote: Oregon

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., looks out on a sea of supporters at a campaign rally on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland, Ore., Sunday, May 18, 2008.
(AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens)

Chicago Tribune: A record crowd of 75,000 gathers for Obama in Oregon

The Truth

Rocked the Garden yesterday.

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: Pierce stars in his moment of Truth

Highlight video:


Pierce's 41 points led the Celtics to a 97-92 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 last night. The game was a tense affair throughout. Even though the Celtics led from the start, the Cavaliers were never out of it. My one friend kept saying, if the Celtics just keep LeBron under 50 we'll win. King James was magnificent but had less of a supporting cast than Paul Pierce. Delonte West had 15 points but no other Cavs starter was even in double figures. Paul Pierce had the game of his life, not only scoring but having to defend LeBron. That guy is just a beast. When LeBron took his third three-pointer in the 4th quarter after making two in a row -- that would have cut the lead to 2 points -- we all had our hearts in out throats. But Pierce kept scoring, and the Cavs got cold, and that was all she wrote.

Doc Rivers had a good game too. His decisions to play Eddie House over the slumping Sam Cassell, and to give PJ Brown significant minutes (the Boston Herald called Brown the "AARP Player of the Week"), were the difference in the game. And, sad as it was to see, he was absolutely right to bench Ray Allen for much of the fourth quarter, as without his jump shot Allen is just deadwood on the floor.


In the post-game press conference Pierce claimed his free throw in the final minute that bounced high up and improbably in was tapped in by the ghost of Red Auerbach. He really semed touched, but if you watched the entire post-game, the "Red tipped the ball" idea was given to him by TNT's sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya in her interview (on this video, starting at about 4:35)on the sidelines just after the game ended. Here's Pierce talking about Red in the media conference:



Green Bandwagon: Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: - Game 7: The Paul Pierce Game

Paul Pierce had one of the biggest games of his career. He shot 56% from the floor and 91% from the line. On top of that he had 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. And those assists don't account for the two times he got Leon Powe to the line. He was dialed in and even called the final 3 minutes the toughest 3 minutes of his life. Keep in mind the fact that he was brutally stabbed once and almost died. I'm assuming he's completely blocked that out.

On to Detroit.

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