( 11:48 AM )
Run Run Rudolph
Just watched Ralph Nader on Meet The Press and I have to admit that I disagree with most of the "liberal intelligensia" who have begged him not to run. I'm all for a Nader candidacy - I won't vote him, but at least he'll be the one person on the campaign trail who speaks the truth about corporate interests controlling Washington. And I'm all for that message being heard (of course, after the talking heads analyze Nader's announcement to death on Monday, no major media outlet will stick a microphone in front of Nader again).
And to all the nutjobs that bitch and moan about Nader throwing the election to Bush - get over yourselves. I voted for Nader. No Nader in the race, no vote from Mike Webb. Assuming all the Nader voters would have gone for Gore is dead wrong, and as Ralph pointed out - there were Libertarians, Socialists, and others on the ballot that "stole" votes from both candidates. So get over it.
Alright - gotta run. I've got tix to see King James make his New York City debut against the Knicks at the Garden.......
( 8:32 PM )
Yankee Rose
I was at work when I got an email from the Yankees saying the A-Rod for Soriano deal had been approved. So I immediately went to Yankees.com and ordered tickets for an April game to show my own personal approval of the deal.
Is the trade bad for baseball? Hmmm - I don't know. But I can guarantee that the Yankees will have the best road attendance record in MLB. I mean what baseball fan wouldn't want to see these guys in action? And it's got everyone talking about baseball again - just in time for spring training.
As a Yankee fan, how can I be upset with Steinbrenner for spending whatever ridiculous amount of money to make his team the best? The other owners all have the same option, but most of them will just pocket the luxury tax money Georgie is gonna pay them instead of trying to make their teams better. And face it, spending loads of money on players doesn't necessarily equate success. Just ask the winners of the last two World Series - the Marlins and Angels.
So bad for baseball? Well if generating excitement in your sport is bad for the sport, then this is the worst. Perhaps a better question might be what does your team's owner plan to do to make his team better?
( 8:09 PM )
You Better Move On
Just reading AP headlines on the front page of Salon.com and had a funny thought. "9/11 panel to get more access to memos," "White House aides testify over CIA leak," and "White House releases Bush military record" combined with bad press over Bush's Meet The Press interview, WMD lies/intelligence investigations and his bad budget numbers and it looks like the smirk is about to be wiped off our president's face.
Sure MoveOn.org is seeking a censure of Bush for his lies (like they did for Clinton about his), but negative Webb thinks it's time to start dropping the I-word - impeachment. Is it such a stretch to think systemic mismanagement and outing a CIA agent, being AWOL from the military and intentionally misleading (or at the very least exaggerating) the threat Saddam posed to Congress and the public are "high crimes and misdemeanors"? Methinks not.
But since people seem to think Smirky is such a likable cad, he'll probably make it through. Darn. I just had a vision of a Kerry-McCain contest shaping up for Fall 2004......
( 3:28 PM )
XXX
( 12:33 PM )
Meet The Mets
Just finished watching Smirky on Meet The Press and it was quite disappointing. W was his usual inarticulate self - holding his ground and repeating himself - but Russert didn’t challenge him on some premises. For instance, Shrub (I don’t respect Bush, so I can’t help but belittle him with stupid nicknames like he heaps upon others) maintains that Saddam was a “threat” and had the “capacity” to build WMDs. However, no one ever reminds the public that Saddam allowed UN weapons inspectors into Iraq and they were coming to the conclusion that he didn’t have any. They were pulled out when Bush more or less said he was coming in. All this nonsense about bad intelligence and the necessity to go to war could’ve been avoided if the inspectors had an opportunity to finish the job. If Saddam was truly a threat, the international community could’ve acted together to remove him and build a new government in Iraq. Since Bush would not wait, it’s fair to believe he did not want the UN weapons inspectors to succeed one way or the other. Russert never brought up the inspectors and therefore already answered his “war of necessity or war of choice” question.
And on the subject of Bush’s service in the National Guard, when Russert asked Bush about releasing his records to show that he was not AWOL, 43 said sure - his records had already been released and thoroughly examined. And then the liar turned the argument and said people shouldn’t denigrate service in the National Guard. Asking Smirky about his service in no way is disrespectful to serving in the Guard. What is disrespectful is blowing off your service and using your father and grandfather’s political contacts to get honorably discharged. While Russert got the ‘I’ll release my records’ concession, he didn’t push the point that the records don’t show if W. reported for service while he was working on a campaign in Alabama. The gap in service was the point of the question and for some reason Russert did not press it.
Shame Timmy. The president rarely speaks to the public, so when that opportunity shows itself, it’s a shame that you didn’t press him for better answers. Too bad - you just turned Meet the Press into another losing organization like the New York Mets.
( 11:16 PM )
Ted, Just Admit It / I'm A Loser
It's time to admit that when it comes to politics (and especially presidential politics) I'm a big time loser. For one, I've NEVER voted for a winning candidate having supported Bill Bradley, Jerry Brown, Bruce Babbitt/Jesse Jackson, Jesse Jackson, and Ted Kennedy in primaries and Ralph Nader x 2, didn't vote in '92 (just moved to NYC and wasn't registered), Dukakis, and Mondale. That's a remarkably consistent record of picking the wrong person and just more proof of how completely out of touch I am with the rest of the voting public in America.
And if you needed further proof that I have no idea of what I'm talking about when it comes to politics, just read my 1/15/04 RAT "Primary Primer."
So I'll spare you analysis of tonight's primary results and will refrain from saying something stupid like John Kerry has this thing won. I could, however, start supporting him so that Edwards could win, but I don't want to jinx any other Democrat. So I just decided that I'm going to vote for Rev. Al Sharpton when NY's primary comes so that I can keep my imperfect record intact (and because I really am supporting him). So that's the deal.
(PS - you know, it's amazing how you can start writing these things and somewhere along the way completely forget the point you originally wanted to make. I'm not even high. Sigh.)
( 10:34 PM )
Miss You Much
Yeah, I was tired of all the damn political "commentary" too, so I had to take some time off and get a new loop going in my brain. I didn't, but I did watch the Stupor Bore half time show yesterday. Somehow, we all saw Janet Jackson's breast, but we just weren't sure we really saw it. And already the FCC has chimed in that it's going to investigate how this could have happened while they let CBS get away with squashing freedom of speech by not showing the completely reasonable MoveOn ad. Uh-oh - straying into politics.
Anyway - I thought I had some points to make, but probably not. But:
1) The halftime show has sucked for quite some time, however, yesterday's attempt at being all things to all people was extra ridiculous in its horribleness.
2) The game was good. I'm all about the 'quick to the ball' defense, so I had no problem with the shutout going 25 minutes into the game. And during Carolina's final drive, I suggested that Carolina run a draw play to take some time off the clock. I know they were moving the ball well by passing, but it seemed like they were moving the ball at will, so 45 seconds off the clock coulda been it. Of course Karsay's out of bounds kick didn't help. But at least it was a good football game to watch.
3) I know pitchers and catchers are reporting in less than 2 weeks, but really, we've got another 2 months until baseball begins. This is a tough time of the year. It's hard to force myself to watch college basketball games, so I don't know what I'm going to do with my weekends. Maybe move out and back into my apartment....(seriously - Ikea online here I come)....
4) Did anybody hear Jack White's version of "Sittin' On Top Of The World"? I thought it was pretty tame. Lots of people have covered it, but the best version I've ever heard is by Bob Dylan who sounds SO relieved that "my baby's gone...I don't worry...cause I'm sittin' on top of the world."
5) Orcutt's old band the Phoebes played with a Detroit garage/punk/r&b band called the Dirtbombs, and we listened to one of their albums at the 11th Street Bar. Looks like they just released an album late last year, so I gotta grab it and hype it as the first best record of 2004.
6) This week or next week's Village Voice will have their critics poll. It's basically an ultra version of what we did here in the 2Walls community best of 2003 list, but it's by far the most accurate and representative list of the best music of the past year. And even though the White Stripes and OutKast will place 1 and 2, it's still what the Grammy's SHOULD be based on.
7) Uh-oh - something on my computer is jamming and it's probably going to crash, so let's post this before we lose it. See ya later this week - undoubtedly with a complaint about Kerry being my party's standard bearer......
Late
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