I'm on the Washington Post (online)

I don't know how these things happen, but last night while I was reading the Washington Post I read words that seemed very familiar to me: my own!

Howard Kurtz excerpted my post on the baseball hearings in his Media Notes Extra column on Friday!

Here's how Howie (or more likely, one of his minions) cut and pasted my post:

The MainSt.USA blog: "Conveniently, Sammy Sosa has lost his ability to speak English . . . Jose Canseco is an idiot, but he's the only honest player on this panel...Mark McGwire has shrunk a great deal from his playing days . . . Congress is full of cowards. No one has even managed to make McGwire take the 5th Amendment, although it's clear that the 5th is his fallback position. They're letting him get away with "I'm not here to talk about the past" and offering to become a spokesperson against steroids which is just ridiculous. So we know: McGwire was juiced. Roger Maris still owns the single season home run record as far as I'm concerned. The only guys who have exceeded it are Bonds, McGwire & Sosa, The Juice Boys."

I wonder how they found me?

And if you're reading again, Howie, or as one of the players might have addressed you during the steroid hearings, Mr. Kurtz, a real journalist would identify himself as married to Sheri Annis, a Republican media strategist who runs a company called "Fourth Estate Strategies" selling her right wing media expertise. A real journalist would say that before every column, kind of like "I approved this message", so we'd all know where you're coming from. In baseball terms, the Kurtz/Annis family bats right and throws right. Right, not left, not center, right. Just so we're clear. I know I'm just a lowly pajama-wearing blogger, but we like to know these things up front.

If you're reading this blog after clicking on the link in the Post, leave a comment, please.

Colonel Mustard in the Study with the Candlestick

I don't know how I missed this yesterday, but Sammy "I No Speaka Da English" Sosa gave a very lawyerly answer to the question, 'Did he do steroids?'. Tom Boswell in the Washington Post heard what I didn't: an answer with a loophole big enough to drive a hypodermic needle through.

And what of Sosa? He spoke in a soft voice. He brought an interpreter and a lawyer who read his statement for him despite the fact that those of us who know him from the baseball beat realize that he is perfectly fluent in English. That Sosa statement was a 99.9 percent total denial of any use of steroids. However, cynics may parse his words in search of legal loopholes.

"To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything. I've not broken the laws of the Unites States or the laws of the Dominican Republic," Sosa's statement read. "I have been tested as recently as 2004 and I am clean."

It is an awful world we live in. Within minutes of the statement's dissemination a veteran baseball writer said, "So, I guess that doesn't quite cover taking steroids orally if they were prescribed legally by a Dominican doctor." .

I was so busy laughing at Sosa's assertion that he didn't use steroids that I missed the essence of his statement: He didn't deny it completely. Of course he didn't. He's one of the players whose steroid use made him resemble Mr. Potato Head.

Roger Maris and Henry Aaron are the home run kings, and these guys are the Juice Kings.

Baseball Hearings

I'm laid up today, so have watched much of the baseball hearings. A few observations:

1. Conveniently, Sammy Sosa has lost his ability to speak English. His statement is read by his translator. I laughed out loud when the translator read that Sosa denied doing steroids. Just look at a picture of him from 1999. He's a juicer. During the hearings he has perfected the befuddled look I remember well from doing worker's comp hearings with clients for whom English was a second language, supposedly, although they did fine speaking with me outside the hearing room. I sincerely doubt that his English is this poor. (n.b., see #7, below) As the hearings go on, his answers become more and more confused. "I don't know" is his favorite answer.

2. Jose Canseco is an idiot, but he's the only honest player on this panel. He is being the honest idiot he is. At least he is answering the questions about baseball steroid use somewhat honestly. Sadly, he truly believes he is a hero for writing his book! He testifies that the hearings are taking place solely because of his book. He takes the position that steroids are a huge problem during the hearing, while in his book he sings the praises of steroids. Dolt.

3. Mark McGwire has shrunk a great deal from his playing days. Sammy Sosa is also very much smaller than he was in "The Year That Saved Baseball". Neither has the steroid acne today.

4. Congress is full of cowards. No one has even managed to make McGwire take the 5th Amendment, although it's clear that the 5th is his fallback position. They're letting him get away with "I'm not here to talk about the past" and offering to become a spokesperson against steroids which is just ridiculous. So we know: McGwire was juiced. Roger Maris still owns the single season home run record as far as I'm concerned. The only guys who have exceeded it are Bonds, McGwire & Sosa, The Juice Boys. I'm with Jim Bunning -- throw those tainted records out.

And why Roger Maris isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame, I can't believe, that's another injustice that should be rectified.

5. The most powerful testimony by far was from the parents of the two young men who committed suicide after taking steroids. They must be furious watching these baseball players avoid the questions.

6. The funniest testimony has to be from the doctor who advised MLB on their steroid policy. He was combative from the get-go, for reasons that are unclear to anyone watching the hearings from the outside. He got members of Congress to shout at him! Didn't look like he was enjoying his 15 minutes of fame.

7. New entry for funniest moment: Dennis Kucinich addresses Sammy Sosa in Spanish, and Sosa answers in English! Second language duel-off!

8. Saddest testimony: All these multimillionaire baseball players saying they didn't see much steroid use, or they just can't say. Curt Schilling denying what he said three years ago about players using steroids & human growth hormone (difference between then & today: Today he's a player rep! Deny everything!) All I gotta say to you guys is, no guts, no glory. Slink off. Shame on you all.

I reiterate my call for the tiny hypodermic needle to be placed next to all of the records of the juicers. In addition, Mike Greenwell (I saw him hit for the cycle in Fenway Park!) should be awarded Conseco's MVP award.

Sports Movies

ESPN has a couple of articles on their site about the greatest lines in sports movies:

Top 100 Sports Movie Quotes

From some players, their favorite lines from the movies:

Sports Movie Liners

Both of these articles missed a few great lines:

"Attitude reflects leadership, Captain."
- Remember the Titans

"Coach: What are you?
Players: Mobile! Agile! Hostile!"
- Remember the Titans

"Sex and golf are the two things you can enjoy even if you're not good at them."
- Tin Cup

"Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers!
Skip: Lollygaggers."
- Bull Durham

I got my idea for this post from Basegirl, who loves Jason Varitek & his favorite quote.

Hey, what Red Sox fan doesn't love the Captain of the World Champion Boston Red Sox?

I'd also like to point that Curt Schilling in his testimony today worked "World Champions" into the first sentence of his opening statement. Good job Curt! (You d***ed Republican.)

No More Snow on Kilimanjaro

Via Billmon, here's a picture of Africa's tallest mountain. Global warming has melted all the snow that covered it for centuries.

Modernizing Hemingway

The Real Cost of War

When Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi resigned on Dec. 8 after four years of service, he said: "It is now time for me to move on to fresh opportunities and different challenges." The Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter states that the real reason for Principi's leaving the Bush administration is a burgeoning scandal developing around the massive use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in Iraq. Executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, Arthur N. Bernklau, wrote in the newsletter: "The real reason for Mr. Principi's departure was really never given, however a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of the 'Gulf War Syndrome' has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the U.S. Military." Not mincing his words Bernklau continued, "Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability, a rate of 56 percent. In Vietnam the rate of disability was 10 percent."

This was a UPI piece, reprinted in the Washington Times (that liberal bastion) and I found it via the Art Pottery, Politics and Food blog. Here's the original link: The Laughing Man

Courthouse Shootings

Today's news has been dominated by coverage of the shooting at the courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia. It seems pretty clear that the shooter, a criminal defendant in custody who was being transported from jail to the courtroom, took a gun from the lone deputy who was escorting him. The incident may have been prevented or the carnage lessened if the deputy had no weapon, or if the handgun was concealed.

I've been in many courthouses over the years & it always amazed me that while everyone had to go through security to get into the court building, many police officers appeared in court with guns hanging outside their uniforms. I can see a state trooper brushing by me in court one day as I sat in the attorney area in front of the bar, his gun at my eye (and hand) level as he passed by. I could so easily have reached out & grabbed that gun, not that I had any desire or intention to do so.

I don't think that court officers in Massachusetts wear sidearms. {5:10 p.m., just heard on NECN that I am correct; court officers in Massachusetts do not carry guns.} I recall seeing batons, but no guns. However, the deputy in Georgia who was escorting this man was wearing a gun.

In addition, and I hesitate to say this, most (not all) of the court officers I have known were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. If they were, they wouldn't have been court officers. It's the lowest level job in law enforcement, one step above security guard. Many court officers, in Massachusetts at least, are patronage appointments -- brothers-in-law of state representatives, etc.

99% of the time the court officers sit around & do nothing. They're processing prisoners from the jails, escorting them into court, then sitting in the courtroom waiting for something to happen. Not much does. I think they get complacent sitting around while nothing happens.

When I was a law student, I worked for the public defender's office. I handled arraignments & cases where the penalty was a sentence of less than 6 months. One day I was assigned a client for arraignment who had been in a bar fight. My client was a big man, a Vietnam veteran who'd been in & out of trouble for years, disheveled, obviously hung over, and angry. I met with him in lockup & explained what would happen at his arraignment, including, as my supervisor had informed me, that he would likely be granted bail of a few thousand dollars. While I was meeting with him, the probation department discovered that he was wanted on several outstanding warrants. When he was brought into the jury box, instead of the simple arraignment I had explained to him, he was "popped" (to use the court vernacular) and the judge ordered he be held on the outstanding warrants, and transferred to Walpole immediately.

My client became enraged. I was standing next to the jury box where he stood. He turned towards ME and lunged at me, his hands reaching for my throat. Suddenly I was flying in the air, over the bar towards the spectators' section. One of the court officers had picked me up & put me down out of harm's way. I was a little put out to be treated so cavalierly -- would a MALE law student have been thrown around like that? -- but also appreciated the rescue.

My client was furious with me. Like I had failed to show up for court after being granted bail on his old cases. Completely misplaced rage. Like the poor judge & court reporter & deputy who were killed today, I was the object of great anger, totally misdirected. I shudder to think what would have happened that day if someone were carelessly standing next to my client, wearing a sidearm.

Why Joe Biden Sold Out Working Class People & Voted for the Bankruptcy Bill

Because he's in the pocket of MBNA & the credit card lobby, natch.

from attytood.com:
Delaware: America's First State...in Democratic sellouts

It's especially disgusting to learn that MBNA has also bought off Biden's son, to the tune of a $100,000 "annual retainer" to "advise" them on bankruptcy issues.

His first advice was probably, "Buy off my dad. We're both for sale."

Paul Krugman said it best: [A]ny senator who votes for the bill should be ashamed.

Christopher Lydon returns

UML to Produce National Christopher Lydon Radio Show

Oh how I've missed Christopher Lydon. I usually keep my radio set to WBUR, the Boston public radio station which formerly carried his excellent show, The Connection. He always had smart guests & brought out their best with his witty commentary.

Jane Christo, the recently deposed WBUR tsar, dumped Lydon 4 years ago when he wanted licensing rights for his show (like the Car Talk guys have). While objectively I could understand that WBUR didn't want to give him money it could keep for itself, I always wished some compromise could have been reached.

Instead Lydon was canned and we got a parade of inferior hosts, culminating in the current ANNOYING host, Dick Gordon. Gordon over-enunciates everything he says, even his own name. I can listen to him for a few minutes, then I start shouting at the radio. I've just stopped listening to The Connection, I hate him so much.

And he's one of those "one the one hand, on the other hand" fake journalists who thinks that giving both sides of the argument equal time & stature contributes to public debate. Like he'd do a report on global warming and give some crackpot that says there is no global warming equal time, without even noting the huge scientific evidence for global warming. Please.

So, welcome back Chris. I'll change my radio pre-sets for you.

Don't Buy the Social Security Fear Factor!

While Bush is criss-crossing the country on Bamboozlepalooza, trying to sell the country on eviscerating Social Security, Democrats in Congress are rallying to stop him.

Here's a great article by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-Wa) who is senior Democrat on the Ways & Means Committee (and by the way, the psychiatrist/congressman who was in Fahrenheit 9/11!) on why Bush is all wet on Social Security.

The Legacy of Barry Bonds

Yesterday I took care of my friend's kids while she was at class.

The ten year old said he had something to show us. He sat on the couch, mimicked shooting a needle towards each of his shoulders, then popped his arms up and pumped his fists in a muscleman pose, shouting "BUFF!"

"I'm Barry Bonds!" he cried gleefully.

Getting a White House Day Pass

Jeff Gannon, a/k/a "The Presstitute", got a day pass into the White House Press Briefing daily for two years. So it must be pretty easy, no?

The FishbowlDC blog has been trying to get in on a daily pass for three days now, with no success.

Surprised? I didn't think so.

Best Alex Rodriguez Nicknames

He calls himself A-Rod, but here in Boston we call him

A-Fraud
F-Rod
Slappy McBlueLips (credit to Joy of Sox blog)
A-Lot
Pay-Rod
A-Wad
K-Rod

ICR: One of my favorites. Here's the explanation:

ICR
From Baseball Think Factory Wiki, the free encyclopedia.

ICR is one of the many nicknames given out by Yankee fans in Game Chatters, this one coined by sjohnny. ICR is short for "Inanimate Carbon Rod", and is the nickname given to Alex Rodriguez in lieu of "A-Rod". The reason for the nickname was A-Rod's poor performance in 2004 with runners in scoring position. Many sent ICR to the nickname graveyard after his game-tying double in the 2004 ALDS Game 2.

The phrase "Inanimate Carbon Rod" comes from a Simpsons episode where an inanimate carbon rod is named Employee of the Week at the power plant instead of Homer. This insult leads Homer to become an astronaut, where he averts a catastrophe (after starting it) on a shuttle mission using an inanimate carbon rod, which receives much more acclaim than Homer does.

What I'm reading today

And you were expecting a list of books? Here are the top five blogs I visit daily:

1) Eschaton
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
Duncan Black is an economist in Philadelphia. I don't always understand his economic analyses, but his rapier wit always makes me laugh. Updated constantly. This has been at the top of my bloglist ever since I first heard the term "blog".

2) DailyKos
http://www.dailykos.com/
Markos Zuniga runs this political community weblog. Many regular posters with different talents. Right now SusanG and NYBri are hot on the trail of the Presstitute, but you can find stories on everything that's hot on the left side of the aisle.

3) Steve Gilliard's News Blog
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/
I just discovered this blog a few months ago. It's a spin-off from the Kos blog (Kos lists him as a "site alumni"). Black New Yorker, always edgy take on the news.

4) Talking Points Memo
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
Joshua Micah Marshall. Very smart guy. Currently obsessed with defeating Bush's crazy destroy Social Security scheme. Has adopted the phrases "Conscience Caucus" and "Fainthearted Faction" to label supporters & opponents of the scheme, but I can't keep those cutesy little terms straight. So it's a bit of an insider's club these days.

5) Women's Hoops Blog
http://www.womenshoops.blogspot.com/

Formerly known as Sara & Ted's Women's Hoops blog. Keeps me up with women's basketball (since it is so rarely on TV I rely on the internets to keep me up to date.) Follows the games & the issues. This is where I learned about the Rick Lopez case in Colorado. Ewww.

That's my top five. This month I've also been reading AmericaBlog (http://www.americablog.org/) for its coverage of the Presstitute, and as spring training is in full swing, The Joy of Sox (http://www.joyofsox.blogspot.com/)

Jeff Gannon, Presstitute

I have dubbed Jim/Jeff Guckert/Gannon "The Presstitute".

For obvious reasons, as his occupation immediately preceding his tenure in the White House briefing room was prostitute.

You say prostitute, I say presstitute, let's call the whole thing off!

Kind of like Bill O'Reilly & his falafel.

What is it with those wingnuts anyway?

Powerfully Hobbled

Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes

Yes, today the Washington Post tells us that wearing stiletto heels is powerful.

Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.

Hogwash. Perching your body atop two thin pegs just makes it impossible for a woman to run. The body's weight is concentrated on the balls of the feet, and the heel is taken out of a woman's walk. If you can't put down your heel, you can't use the long muscles in your legs. If all your weight is on the balls of your feet, they hurt unmercifully. A woman in stiletto heels is hobbled.

The Post thinks she's more powerful because those heels are so sexy:

Countless essays and books have been written about the erotic nature of high heels. There is no need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels and why so many men are happy that they do. Heels change the way a woman walks, forcing her hips to sway. They alter her posture in myriad enticing ways, all of which are politically incorrect to discuss.

"There is not need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels....." Well, maybe there is such a reason. If heels were so great, wouldn't men wear them? They've taken up manicures, moisturizers, and face lifts. But men have never taken to heels, and certainly not to heels which are smaller than the foot that sits above them. Maybe the reason "why so many men are happy that they do" has more to do with the hobbling effect.

I'm going out for a walk. In my flat bottomed shoes.

Democrats Need a Spine Implant

David Podvin: 'A who's who of who sucks'

Here's the beginning & the end of the article - click the link to read the rest.

The United States Senate is a place where those who can't tell the difference between right and wrong perpetrate evil with the complicity of those who can. Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy can certainly tell the difference, but like his Democratic colleagues he doesn't allow that ability to affect his behavior.

When considering the nomination of Condoleeza Rice to be Secretary of State, Leahy noted that Rice was an incompetent National Security Advisor who had repeatedly deceived the American people. The senator then said this: "My vote in favor of Dr. Rice is difficult to explain. It is more the product of a belief than a cold analysis of her record. I believe that Dr. Rice is capable of learning from her mistakes and changing her ways. That she will rise to this new challenge. That she can be a good Secretary of State."

Leahy's vote is not difficult to explain. He is a coward whose stated principles have no practical significance. This real life Barney Fife is so obsessed with capitulating to an administration that has tarred Democrats as unpatriotic that he gave Rice the benefit of the doubt even after admitting there was no doubt.

**********

Liberals must ultimately assume responsibility for the sorry quality of their senators. Until primary voters stop supporting invertebrates like Leahy and Lieberman and Biden and Feinstein, the Republicans will maim the United States with impunity. The essential counterbalance to evil is resolve. For that quality to radiate again from the Democratic Party, a newly vigilant rank and file must at long last refuse to accept anything less.

Random Jottings

-- Harry Reid has been a great choice to lead the Senate Democrats. While the left blogosphere wailed when he got the job, I was happy -- he's the guy who worked on Jim Jeffords for a year to get him to switch from Republican to Independent (see "The Jim Whisperer", on salon.com). Therefore saving us from total Republican domination of government, until this year.

-- Censorship is everywhere. I watched "Remember The Titans", the Denzel Washington film about the first integrated football team in Alexandria, Virginia two nights ago with my friend's two kids. It was being shown on the Disney Channel. When they showed the scene in the lockerroom where Ronnie Bass kisses the quarterback (who has accused Bass of being a girl, or "one of them", for having long hair) Disney cut out the kiss! This made the next two scenes incomprehensible -- the other players reaction's to the kiss, and a subsequent scene in the cafeteria where the character Petey asks Bass if he's "like that".

Apparently Disney, which gives domestic partner benefits to gay couples, can't show a man kissing another man, even in jest. Sad.

-- Good news for US Women's National Team fans: April Heinrichs has submitted her resignation as coach of the national team. She was a terrible judge of talent (two time National Player of the Year Abby Wambach barely got on the 2003 World Cup squad) and a pathetic tactician (unless you like boot-and-chase soccer). Farewell & good riddance Ape.

The Corporate Media "Finds" Gannongate

In the New York Times today:

Frank Rich
The White House Stages Its 'Daily Show'

Maureen Dowd
Bush's Barberini Faun

And the Washington Post covered the story yesterday, albeit on the first page of the "Style" section:
Howard Kurtz
Online Nude Photos Are Latest Chapter In Jeff Gannon Saga

I'm waiting for an article by one of those pathetic "journalists" who sat in the White House press room with this fraud for two years & never even googled his name. Reporters? They hardly deserve the moniker.

Gannongate

I know it's been a few weeks since I last posted, so it has to be a bombshell.

Jeff Gannon, who was admitted to the White House press room for two years despite questionable credentials & the use of an alias, was a gay prostitute who peddled his services over the internets. AMERICAblog has the story:

A Man Called Jeff

WARNING: Clicking on the above link sends you to an article that contains screen captures of pornography.

Here's the end of the AMERICAblog story:

Why does this matter?

So in the end, why does this matter? Why does it matter that Jeff Gannon may have been a gay hooker named James Guckert with a $20,000 defaulted court judgment against him? So he somehow got a job lobbing softball questions to the White House. Big deal. If he was already a prostitute, why not be one in the White House briefing room as well?

This is the Conservative Republican Bush White House we're talking about. It's looking increasingly like they made a decision to allow a hooker to ask the President of the United States questions. They made a decision to give a man with an alias and no journalistic experience access to the West Wing of the White House on a "daily basis." They reportedly made a decision to give him - one of only six - access to documents, or information in those documents, that exposed a clandestine CIA operative. Say what you will about Monika Lewinsky - a tasteless episode, "inappropriate," whatever. Monika wasn't a gay prostitute running around the West Wing. What kind of leadership would let prostitutes roam the halls of the West Wing? What kind of war-time leadership can't find the same information that took bloggers only days to find?

None of this is by accident.

Someone had to make a decision to let all this happen. Who? Someone committed a crime in exposing Valerie Plame and now it appears a gay hooker may be right in the middle of all of it? Who?

Ultimately, it is the hypocrisy that is such a challenge to grasp in this story. This is the same White House that ran for office on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. While they are surrounded by gay hookers? While they use a gay hooker to write articles for their gay hating political base? While they use a gay hooker to destroy a political enemy? Not to mention the hypocrisy of a "reporter" who chooses to publish article after article defending the ant-gay religious-right point of view on gay civil rights issue.

Who in the White House is at the center of all of this? Who allowed this to go on in the People's House? Who committed the crime of exposing Valerie Plame? Jeff Gannon has the answers to these questions, and boy we know he loves to talk.

Let him talk to Patrick Fitzgerald.