Red Line Delayed Again This Morning

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. This is literally the 10th time this month that the Red Line has been delayed during rush hour.

Red Line 100% guaranteed on time 60% of the time

A Slogan for DC

DC is looking for a new city slogan, I would like to throw my hat in the ring with the following top ten list of new slogans for our nations capital.*

10. Washington, DC.....City of Partisan Bickering
09. CHERRY BLOSSOMS, GET YOUR CHERRY BLOSSOMS HERE!!
08. Washington, DC....stand to the right or get out
07. Washington, DC....we build ball parks at no extra charge!
06. Washington, DC....no longer ranked #1 in murder!
05. Washington, DC....home of Congressional subpoena power!
04. Washington, DC....soon to be bush free!
03. Washington, DC...every tenth visitor gets a free dime bag courtesy of the mayor for life!
02. Come for the monuments, stay for the congressional investigations!
01. Vote free since 1790!







*Just in case Letterman ever reads this, the top ten is yours I'm just borrowing it ok?

An Accomplishment for Bush

Bush has so few accomplishments in his time in office I thought that it was time that I highlighted something he has done very well.....stink:

The latest USA Today/Gallup poll finds 34% of Americans approving of the job George W. Bush is doing as president. His approval rating has been highly stable in recent months, averaging 36% since last October, and 34% so far in 2007. Bush was last above 40% approval in September 2006, and his run of six consecutive months below 40% is one of the longest in Gallup's polling history.

Nice streak Dubya, but this is common right?

Given the rarity of approval ratings below 40%, extended runs of sub-40% approval ratings are also uncommon. A review of Gallup historical data finds only nine instances in which a president consistently had approval ratings below 40% for three months or longer. Only six presidents endured such a run, with Truman, Jimmy Carter, and Bush suffering through such a fate on multiple occasions.

Well, at least he didn't get another comparison to Herbert Hoover. Keep up the awful work George!

P.S. Once your term is over you and Rove can join forces as rap battlers.

Do You Have The Time (Line)?

Surprisingly it looks like the spending bill on the war in Iraq will make it through with the time line in place. True to form Dubya has promised to veto anything that forces him to admit that Iraq is a never ending quagmire.

"President Bush accused congressional Democrats Wednesday of meddling in Iraq war policy and setting a deadline for a U.S. pullout that would have disastrous repercussions for both countries."

Please. Bush has no credibility to accuse anyone of creating a disastrous situation in Iraq. That responsibility lies solely with him. Congress has a responsibility to monitor and distribute tax payer money, they are not meddling, they are doing what they should have done years ago. No one in their right mind would keep paying for a plumber if he couldn't fix a leak, so why should tax payers keep paying for a foreign civil war that has destroyed America's military, popularity in the world, and made us less safe at home? Democrats (and a few republicans) have insisted that if Bush wants the money he is going to have to accept compromise and a time line. This of course prompted Bush's usual "they don't support the troops" rally cry which seems to finally be falling on deaf ears.

"Why doesn't he get real with what's going on with the world?" Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said after Bush's speech. "We're not holding up funding in Iraq and he knows that. Why doesn't he deal with the real issues facing the American people?"

Clearly he doesn't deal with the real issues facing the American people because that is not whose best interests he is concerned with, he is more concerned with his own. The election of 2006 was a mandate for Democrats. They won by listening to Americans and promised more oversight with regard to the war. Now they are actually living up to that promise, but Bush simply does not want to believe that he is wrong. He is.

There is no question that this war is a disaster and was a huge waste of life and treasure, it's nice to see that Congress finally has the juevos to says enough is enough. There is no way the bill can survive a veto, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

Busy Today

I'll post this afternoon if I get a chance.

Drawing a Blank

Attorney-gate is in the eye of the storm right now, opening day is still a few days off, and its a quiet and grey day in the Nation's Capitol. I'm at a loss for topics today so any help would be appreciated. Here are some random ideas, but I'll entertain all comments:

My alumni softball team won it's first game in over a year this weekend.
I've learned that the kennel I volunteer at has an unnaceptably high kill rate.
I think that I may have lost a regular pool partner in favor of a "healthy lifestyle."
Hot dogs, neither hot, nor made from dogs....discuss.

(Spell check seems to not be working)

What Would War With Iran Look Like

In short, it would be a disaster. Unfortunately unless the current political climate cools we are quickly heading in that direction. This wouldn’t be the type of conflict we have grown accustomed to over the past two decades. Casualties would be severe, acts of terror would sky rocket, and a draft would be all but certain. A war with Iran wouldn’t just be us against them either, it would quickly escalate into a regional conflict that would no doubt involve Israel, Syria, and possibly Saudi Arabia. It would be a no win situation for the United States. The aftermath of such a conflict would destroy what's left of our credibility in the Middle East for generations, and Osama Bin Laden would be completely justified in the eyes of the Arab world.

Analysts agree that if a conflict with Iran becomes a reality the US and Israel would launch a massive air campaign dwarfing any bombardment in the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars. The first targets would no doubt be nuclear facilities, although US intelligence is terrible on where and or how deep these installations are. No doubt this would lead to huge civilian casualties which would embolden the Iranian population to fight. Iranian defense planners have stated publicly that they have learned from the cases of neighbouring Afghanistan and Iraq. They are acutely aware of the U.S. military’s heavy reliance on aerial strikes and have planned accordingly for just such an attack. And unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran does have a competent Air Force.

Israels conflict with Lebanon last summer was a preview of the type of rocket melees we could expect. This time we wouldn't be talking about Hamas and their home made rockets though, we would be talking about return fire from highly sophisticated Iranian rockets that would not only be raining on Tel Aviv, but also on the Green Zone in Baghdad. It is not out of the question that some of the Israeli return fire rockets could be tipped with tactical nuclear missiles, especially if Israel is on the brink of collapse.

While US forces would most likely not initially invade Iranian territory, Iran would no doubt invade Iraq. The 150,000 US troops scattered across the country would be up against a wall, and an escalation to approximately 500,000 combat troops would be necessary. The problem is that the US does not have that many fit for duty units...so...hello selective service.

If this scenario were to happen it is certain that suicide bombers would find their way to the streets of major American cities. It would be a severe psychological blow to a population that is used to seeing war only through a TV screen, and not as a daily reality.

Oil prices would sky rocket if such a regional conflict were to take place, most likely leading to a global economic crisis. Particularly if oil wells are targeted (which they most certainly will be) the price of a barrel of oil could triple (not to mention the environmental tragedy).

So how realistic is this scenario? Put it this way, we have already dispatched an additional carrier group to the region, the Iranian's have been preparing with war games, and uranium enrichment talks are falling apart. With this latest news regarding the capture of 15 British sailors, I would put the chances of conflict at about 40 / 60......and that is downright terrifying.

HOLY CRAP

Britain's Ministry of Defense confirms to CNN that Iranian naval vessels have seized 15 British Navy personnel on patrol in the Persian Gulf.

--More on this as it develops

Yankees Won't Give A-Rod More Money

Alex Rodriguez has a choice at the end of this season, stay in New York, or leave fast enough so that the door doesn't hit his back side on the way out. Either way he is not getting any extra money from the Yankees.

"Alex has a significant contract. The most significant in baseball history," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday. "He has a decision to make. It's in his contract. It's a right he's earned."

I suppose he has earned that right to some extent. He did win an MVP, and for all of the frustration with him he is far from wasting as much time and money as Carl Pavano. But the guy just can not preform in clutch situations, and he is no doubt the most over paid and over rated player in all of MLB. I think Yankees GM Brian Cashman agrees with me, even though he could never really say that publicly.

"He's under contract; he can opt out of it if he wants," Cashman said in a telephone interview with The New York Times on Wednesday. "That's really his decision. It has nothing to do with us. There's nothing we can do about it. It's something he negotiated. If it becomes a distraction, it's because it's part of his deal. He controls that and no one else."

It's nice to see Cashman preemptively thwart any public whining for a raise on the part of Rodriguez. It shows that the Yankees have learned from their mistakes and are no longer going to throw money at players who look good on paper but weep when faced with a game winning situation. Of course this new attitude wouldn't be possible if the big boss wasn't getting too old to interfere with the day to day.

Frankly, short of a miraculous turn around I can't see A-Rod staying in New York after this season. I may be contradicting my previous post on the subject, but it is going to take more than a ring for fans to embrace A-Rod. It's going to take consistent performance, a better attitude, and a constant (and honest) show of support and respect for his teammates. So far spring training has been good for A-Rod, but it's a long season.

Side Note:
(Andy Pettitte has back spasms and may miss his next scheduled start. This should be a big cause of concern for us all. I'll monitor the situation and report on it in a post to come in the near future)

Attorney-Gate

The scandal surrounding eight terminated US Attorneys is on its way to becoming one of the biggest political and constitutional showdowns since Watergate. In fact this similarities between this scandal and Watergate are becoming too obvious to ignore (just like the comparison of Iraq to Vietnam).

I hypothesized yesterday that the Bush administration clearly has a lot to hide by refusing to let Rove and Meyers testify under oath. Bush’s statements on the subject not only support that idea, but also raise deeply alarming concerns about what else may be lying under the surface. In reaction to this whole disaster Bush said:

"We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants," Bush said Tuesday. "The initial response by Democrats, unfortunately, shows that some are more interested in scoring political points than in understanding the facts. ...

That’s just it Mr. Bush, Senator Leahy IS trying to understand the facts. Clearly Bush would prefer a secret meeting (since that is how he and Cheney spoke to the 9-11 Commission) but truth is evasive when the only explanation offered is done in a dark room with no windows, no promise to tell the truth, and no record of what was said. But wait, for this administration truth and facts are two completely different things. Here is a little passage from Nixon regarding the refusal of a White House Counsel to testify....tell me if it doesn't sound familiar.

The White House managed to prevent Watergate’s political fallout from affecting the 1972 election. But Nixon had hardly begun his second term when the dam broke. In February 1973, L. Patrick Gray, Nixon’s nominee to succeed the late J. Edgar Hoover as head of the FBI, revealed during his confirmation hearings that he had allowed John W. Dean, a White House legal counsel, to sit in on FBI interviews of Watergate suspects. Nixon refused to allow Dean to testify before the Senate Watergate committee chaired by Sam Ervin (D-N.C.), citing the doctrine of executive privilege. Gray’s nomination was all but dead. “Let him hang there,” John D. Ehrlichman said memorably. “Let him twist slowly, slowly, in the wind.”

The Justice Department released 3,000 documents to Congress in an attempt to show transparency. However, according to Leahy redactions in the documents make them unworkable. "Instead of freely and fully providing relevant documents to the investigating committees, they have only selectively sent documents, after erasing large portions that they do not want to see the light of day," he said. Can anyone say 18 1/2 minutes of missing tape?

Bush claims that it is extraordinary to think that one of his aids could testify under oath and in public. This is simply not true. Click here. This is also not an instance where executive privilege is relevant. National security is not at stake here, although national integrity (or what's left of it) is.

Senator Leahy will get his subpoenas which will no doubt lead to a long and bitter court battle over what executive privilege means, and ultimately it will be a thorough examination on our system of checks and balances. If Rove and Meyers are not forced to testify it will be nothing less than the beginning on an executive monarchy in our country in which the executive branch has the final say on the powers of the legislative. Bush has already been America's scariest nightmare, and our worst President. If he gets his way on this he will have finished off our way of governing completely. If only the founding fathers could see us now, they would probably just head back to England.

In conclusion, there is no doubt in my mind that the administration and some republicans conspired through the justice department to strong arm US Attorneys into prosecuting democrats to shape the outcome of the 2006 Congressional elections. There is also no doubt in my mind that Bush knew about this, and in fact was an active player. So I suppose that Bush has every reason to fight Leahy and the Democrats tooth and nail, because once the public really understands what this whole scandal is about Bush will finally be seen for what he is, a crook. (And I didn't even write anything about the abuses of the patriot act)

(03-22-07 Post Script Courtesy of CNN)

• No e-mails released on firing of U.S. attorneys during a 16-day period

•Investigators interested in period between November 15 and December 2, 2006

• Last e-mail before gap asks whether issue should be raised with the president

Rove and Meyers to Testify

But not under oath, so it really makes no difference. Bush and his gang clearly have a lot to hide......go get em Pat!

I Love Pool

As most everyone knows Dana and I belong to the Amateur Poolplayers Association. Our team plays league games every Monday night and I’m happy to report that we have both vastly improved our skill level. It’s been a great experience to have a sport that we can both compete in together, and frankly nothing is hotter than a girl who knows how to play pool.

For me, this whole obsession started as I trained for our annual Octathlon last November. Matt and I decided that we were terrible at pool, but since it was one of the events we started practicing everyday at lunch. In a little over 6 months of regular playing not only have I improved, but I am happy to say that I have not lost one bit of enthusiasm for the game. Although I admit I still have a lot to learn, and definitely need more practice.

As for the league, the way the APA works is actually surprisingly scientific. Each player is scaled on a rating between 2 – 7, with 7 being the best. Your rank is determined by averaging a number of factors including matches played, games won, and the number of shots or “innings” per game. Once you have a skill level rating (men automatically start out at a 4 and women at a 3) there is a chart that dictates how many games a player must win to win the match. So in other words when two teams face each other say for example the player from team A is a 2 and the player from team B is a 3. Player B must win three games to win the match while Player A must only win 2 games. For a team of five, a team must win 3 out of 5 matches to win the game for the night.

The league plays with table scratches and gives a player ball in hand. In other words if the cue ball does not hit a ball, strikes an opponents ball first, or a hit ball does not touch a wall you can pick up the ball and put it anywhere on the table. To my surprise you also do not need to call every shot, you can just get lucky and make one in. This was a little frustrating at first, but in the heat of competitive combat it has certainly helped me more than it has hurt me.

So the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all is that last night I won my match. Good. But last week I lost to a 2 who never should have beat me. Bad. And as a result my current skill level sank. Ugly.

Regardless, if any of you wants a game I'm on. Anytime, anywhere....it's your rack.

YOU GO PAT!!!

"I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this"

Patrick Leahy from the great state of Vermont did what I have been hoping a Democrat would do since 2001.....he grew a spine. Pat appeared on the Sunday talk show circuit this weekend and went on record to say that he will subpoena Bush’s aids to testify about their role in the growing scandal surrounding the firing of eight US attorneys. It is widely believed that should that happen Bush will evoke executive privilege to keep them from testifying. But when asked about the possibility of a compromise for private one on one meetings with former Bush attorney and Supreme Court nominee Harriet Meyers and presidential adviser Karl Rove, Leahy responded "I want testimony under oath. I am sick and tired of getting half-truths on this."

Pat, I couldn't agree with you more.

We need to know what is going on here. Gonzales claimed that the terminated attorneys were all fired for performance reasons, but members of Congress soon learned that all eight had received good performance reviews. Gonzales also said that the White House wasn’t involved. Then we found out they were, but that it was Harriet Meyers idea and hers alone. That is until we heard about a few emails that Karl Rove had written himself about the subject. As if it couldn’t get any worse, yesterday we learned from Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein that one of those attorneys who was fired just happened to be involved in the investigation of a close friend of republican Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who as you may recall pleaded guilty to accepting over two million dollars in bribes and is now serving an eight year sentence.

COME ON!!!! How many more trips around the damage control circle are we going to be subjected to before the administration and the Justice Department admit to this for what it is....a politically motivated attack on critics of the administration!!!! Did we not learn anything from the Scooter Libby trial? Speaking of which, could it be that Cheney had a role in this? If so certainly there would be some serious calls for his resignation as well.

Last week I called on Gonzales to testify under oath. There is no question that he must do that now, but that is no longer enough. Gonzales must resign or be fired. As for Rove and Meyers, I will reserve judgment until such time as they testify, I doubt they will, but let's just say I'm less than confident that they would be absolved from any wrong doing if they do.

To put it very bluntly, Gonzales may serve at the pleasure of the President, but the President serves at the pleasure of the people. I hope that Bush has finally learned the lesson of Rumsfeld and Brown, that loyalty to the President does not equal satisfaction with the American public.

Manual Labor

This weekend I went to my friend Eric's house to help him with some household projects. I have to say there is something so satisfying about good old fashioned manual labor. It really makes me feel like a man, simply put it was a great man-cation.

My man-cation began with a drive to the dump in Eric's beat up old Ford F-150, aka the Pig. It was really a classic Southern Maryland experience since the Pig kept losing power and we had to drive in the break down lane for the entire half hour trip. Now I know that this sounds crazy, but for some reason I love going to the dump. Something about throwing stuff on the ground and breaking things is really relaxing to me, don't ask me why. It was especially vindicating since I got to finish off his solar power driveway lights that I first tried to destroy (accidentally) about a year ago with the help of another friends car.

Eric had mentioned that he also needed some help moving wood. I guess that I didn't realize that when he said some wood, he really meant enough wood to heat his house for a decade. It was a little daunting...but then I got to use a chainsaw for the first time which was nothing short of fricking awesome. In fact, I enjoyed that chainsaw so much I was ready to chop down enough trees to build an addition to his house. Then the rip cord broke and my dreams of being the next Paul Bunyan snapped right along with it.

I also met Eric's horse Robert. While I was absolutely terrified that at any moment Robert could decide to end my life with one swift kick from his massive back side, it sparked an interest in horses that I never realized I had. I always knew that they were intelligent animals, but watching Robert communicate with Eric and with his horse girlfriend was really amazing. I found myself wanting to know everything about horses, and even though they scare the living day lights out of me it struck me that for thousands of years humans relied on horses for almost everything and yet for me just the thought of getting too close to one seemed so foreign and uncomfortable. It challenged me, and now I feel that I must go horseback riding sometime in the near future if anything just to overcome my fear, but mostly because I feel like I am missing out on something by not knowing what it is like to take a horse out for a long ride and experiencing that sort of connection with such a powerful and important animal.

As a post script to my blog on Friday, you will all be happy to know that while I did not go out to a bar or drink green beer on St. Patrick's day, I did make it to Eric's friends house for a St. Patrick's day party. Not to disappoint, they had green plastic hats and I found myself wearing a green bow tie with green LCD lights and a baseball cap that read "today I'm Irish, tomorrow I'm hungover."

So all in all it was a great weekend. I got to stroke masculine side which is so often oppressed by life in the city, and I managed to fulfill my St. Patrick's day obligations.

St. Patrick's Day

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day which means it is the one day a year that every two bit dive bar in DC will be able to charge an outrageous cover charge and will be jam packed with people wearing a tee shirts, pins, or plastic hats that have a combination of one of the following slogans:

"Kiss me, I'm Irish"
"Every body's Irish on St. Patrick's Day"
"I (Shamrock) Beer"

Believe it or not I am not a huge fan of St. Patrick's Day. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a drop of Irish blood in my body, maybe its because all things Irish remind me of the red sox, or maybe it’s just because I’m getting tired of the drinking holiday’s because they are always a let down. This year's draw was supposed to be that my friend Matt had planned on purposely cutting his hair into a mullet. But now that he has decided to delay this it seems like St. Patrick's day 2007 will be yet another typical night of people dressed in the aforementioned cheesy outfits and waiting in long lines to purchase green beer.

As I write this post it stikes me that I really have no idea what St. Patrick's day is even about. I had always thought that it was the day that this Irish dude named Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland. On further research (if wikipedia counts as further research) it seems that "Patrick" (whose real name apparently was Maewyn) is famous for converting the Irish pagans to Christianity in the 5th century. Presumably he did this while wearing a green plastic hat with a fake green Afro, and was absolutely hammered all the while. Otherwise one would think that it would be a day of religious reverence rather than a day of social vice, right?

Regardless, I no doubt will join the revelers tomorrow night if only because Dana will be gone for the weekend and I don't need a trumped up holiday as an excuse to hang out with my friends at a dive bar. I may even wear some sort of Irish paraphernalia, but I know I'll hate myself for it in the morning.

A-Rod Wants to Stay in New York

A-Rod has indicated that he would like to retire a Yankee, if the fans will have them.

"It's a do or die situation," he said on WFAN-AM's "Mike and the Mad Dog" show. "Either New York is going to kick me out of New York this year, say 'I've had enough of this guy, get him the hell out of here,' and we have an option. Or New York is going to say, 'Hey, we won a world championship, you had a big year, you were a part of it and we want you back."

With that I give you my ode to our tepid third baseman:

Alex Rodriguez please do not cry
We all know that you’re a pretty good guy
It’s just when you act like sad little baby
It makes us think keeping you is only a maybe
The thing is Alex, when you under perform
It makes us think your are no better than the norm
And as long as we still pay you so much for your bat
You better make us proud that you wear our hat
So stop giving them reasons to send pictures of you with a purse
So stop making it obvious that your relationship with Jeter is terse
Throw out your tissues, and away with your issues
Help us get a ring, with your bat make some contact
Then at the end of the year we can discuss your new contract
But without a win this year you’ll become a vagrant
But such is the life of a lesser paid free agent

March Madness

Few posts today, I am glued to the Internet watching the tournament. As far as the NIT, way to go UMass defeating Alabama at the last second of overtime. More posts soon.

CARL!!!!

This picture has nothing to do with Pavano, I just needed a little pick me up after last nights loss to the dreaded, hated, stupid ass red sox. (Click here for the box score)

But I digress.

So how did Pavano do last night?

Yankees on the mound: In his second Grapefruit League start -- after being excused for personal reasons from his scheduled start Friday against the Devil Rays -- Carl Pavano went three innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk, striking out two. Ross Ohlendorf was charged with the loss, allowing three runs on one hit and one walk in one inning.

I have a few theories on what happened to Pavano last night.

The "Bruce Got Into His Head Theory" - After reading my post yesterday Carl Pavano was so nervous about impressing me and everyone else that he cracked under the pressure.

The "Girlfriend Stubbed Her Toe Theory" - Prior to the game Pavano's oft ill significant other accidentially kicked a chair with her left foot which required immediate medical attention. Pavano couldn't keep his thoughts straight as a result.

The "It's Just A Spring Training Game and I Shouldn't Read Too Much Into It Theory" - I'm going to go with this one. Joe Torre seemed to think that at least mechanically Pavano looked good. So while Pavano continues to frustrate at least that is some good news.

Maybe I'm being a little hard on the guy, especially since the rumors seem to indicate that Pavano may stay in New York for some time to come. Bottom line, it was a loss to the red sox which is awful no matter what in my book.

Yankees allowed Pavano to attend to girlfriend

Yankees fans across the nation collectively sighed and slapped their foreheads after hearing that Carl Pavano skipped out on Friday's spring training start so that he could attend to his sick girlfriend. As for me, this is not the type of crap I want to hear a mere three days after voicing support for the guy. Since I know that he will most certainly read this post, Carl, here is some advice from probably the last person in the world who is for some reason still willing to give you a chance to prove yourself. It's a little session I call "loving honesty"...and I use the term "loving" with extreme caution. Here goes:

1) Carl....she's your girlfriend, not your wife, not your mom, and not your sister. She hasn't been paying you millions for the last three years to sit on your injured butt and wreck cars. While I applaud your sense of duty to her, attend to her after the game. She'll understand. You have a ton to prove to EVERYONE don't forget.

2) Joe Torre let you do this so that your head would be clear for tonight's start against Boston. DON'T LET HIM DOWN!!! At this point no one is going to take anymore excuses from you and if you make Joe look bad...you're done. Simple as that.

3) Make a public statement about how very badly you want to be a big part of the Yankees this year, and how much you appreciate managements patients with you....even if you don't. This is your one last chance to not only stay a Yankee, but to stay in Major League Baseball.

4) Remember what Mickey said to Rocky...."women weaken the legs". You'll have plenty of time to attend to plenty of sick women next year, and for the rest of your life after that if you don't shape up and prove yourself this year. Make baseball your priority, even if it means sacrificing some of your personal life.

Got that Carl? Good, I don't want to have to tell you again.

Giving the Dog a Bone

Every weekend Dana and I volunteer to walk the dogs at the Montgomery County Humane Society. Since neither of us live in a place where we can have a dog of our own it gives us the chance to pretend like we have our own pack. It has been a mostly rewarding experience for both of us, but every now and then I am appalled by the staff's behavior and their attitudes towards volunteers. One woman who works at the shelter in particular has gone out of her way on a weekly basis to give me a hard time about which dogs I walk.....and basically about not doing her job for her. Specifically I am talking about the awful state of the cages in the kennel. Half of the dogs are forced to sit in a cage surrounded by their own feces for hours on end. While Dana and I do make a habit out of cleaning out cages before putting the dogs back in, we are only volunteers. The kennel staff actually gets paid to make sure the dog cages are clean. I've been told that there is a new 15 minute rule in which the cages are checked every 15 minutes to see if they require cleaning. I was there for three and a half hours this weekend and saw one poor dog (who was a little too aggressive for me to dare to enter the cage) sit next to a pile of poo for the duration of my time there. I understand that a job is a job to a lot of people, but we are talking about poor homeless animals who are scared and lonely for human contact. I wish that kennels across the country would really consider this when reviewing their hiring techniques and staff.

On the 2007 Yankees

It's been seven long years since my boys in pinstripes have won a World Series, but I have to say that this year I am surprisingly optimistic about our chances. For most of the decade pitching has been the Bombers Achilles heel, but this year so long as Pettitte stays healthy, Mussina stays consistent, and Pavano doesn't drive anywhere...I'm feeling all right. Throw in Chien-Ming Wang and I think we may finally have nipped that shortfall in the butt. Of course one could argue that there are still a lot of questions surrounding Pavano's return since he hasn't pitched in the big show for years, but since we paid 35 million for the guy I'm at least willing to give him a chance.

The Yankees offense should once again be stellar, especially once Bobby Abreu returns from a right obliqe strain. Giambi is feeling good, there is no reason to expect anything less than greatness from Jeter after his career season in 06 (also see MVP highway robbery), and Cano will only continue to improve. The big question offensively (at least for me) is how A-Rod will preform. He has a lot of demons to exercise in New York, and a lot to prove if he is ever going to be embraced by the fans. I'm on the fence about him, I really wouldn't lose any sleep if we just cut ties and let him go...but, if I am willing to give Pavano a shot I guess I'll give A-Rod one last shot too.

Sadly, Bernie Williams has declined a non roster invitation to spring training, and it looks like he will not be in the outfield this year. You have to respect Bernie for being a class act player throughout the years. We would have been up a creek without him last year after Sheffield and Matsui's injuries, and his experience no doubt helped immensely in the development of Cabrera. There are volumes that I could write about the importance of loyalty in baseball, but I have to say that the Yankees made the right decision to not to throw money at him.

So my prediction for the Yankees in 2007...World Series Champs!

Has Bush’s Day of Reckoning Finally Arrived?

It has been yet another bad week for the Bush administration. Libby’s conviction, public hearings on the disgraceful treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed, and revelations of strong arming and terminating US attorneys for political purposes. Is anyone really surprised by all of this? I have been saying for years that Bush’s day of reckoning would come, and when it did it would be bad....really bad.

So now what?

Scooter Libby’s trial painted an alarming picture of a White House who will stop at nothing to discredit and destroy anyone who acts in opposition to the (Vice) President’s policies. In the wake of these disclosures the public must demand full disclosure on exactly what happened behind the scene at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the lead up to the war. I am not calling for yet another presidentially appointed “independent” counsel, I am talking about subpoena’s from Congress, and public hearings under oath. The Democrats promised to do this during the election, now it is time for them to keep their promise.

Walter Reed is a tragic, and utterly disgraceful example of how much Bush, who despite his rhetoric, really couldn't care less about the troops. In public Bush accuses Democrats of not supporting them, yet privately he cuts the budget for veterans benefits. Regardless, everyone shares some of the blame here, not just Republicans. For all of their hawkish talk about their admiration of our service men, where were John McCain and John Murtha (just to name a few) through all of this? If they were truly as involved as they claim to be in the welfare of our soldiers shouldn't they have been concerned about conditions at our country's “premier” veterans hospital long ago? This problem needs to be remedied immediately in a bipartisan manner, and with the appropriate funding.

Gonzales’ justice department has been an institution of deplorable jurisprudence which rarely if ever challenges Bush’s policies. Waterboarding, Guantanamo Bay, and now the ousting of 8 US Attorneys are just the tip of the iceberg for how far Gonzales is willing to go to help Bush, and presumably secure himself a seat on the Supreme Court. Gonzales must testify at the very least about any political pressure that was applied to those attorneys who were released during the election, and he must do so under oath.

So will any of these things ever actually happen? It’s in Pelosi’s court right now. But I suggest that she and the Democrats act now, and work on growing one of these.

Clemens causes stir by attending Yankees game

It is amazing how a 44 year old pitcher can cause such a stir just by attending a spring training game. At an age when most pitchers have long ago hung up the cleats and are more concerned with their slice rather than their curve ball, Clemens somehow still draws the interest of the best teams in the game. Unfortunately that includes the attention of my beloved New York Yankees. Now 4,604 strikeouts with a 3.10 career ERA is nothing to scoff at, but the last thing the Yankees need at this point is another pitching dinosaur who under preforms. Clemens would only pitch half the season at best. No one knows if he can even pitch 10 games without losing the last of what he's got. It's just not worth the price to find out. Let the Red Sox do that. From the standpoint of the fans, Clemens will also need to overcome that little issue of abandoning NY the first time he "retired". Simply put, Clemens adds no value to a team already filled with all stars and its fair share of Senior citizens.

On the bright side there is some encouraging news about Philip Hughes. It seems that the Yankees are actually going to hold on to a young top pitching prospect for the first time in years. That said, we'll see if management has learned it's lesson about selling off the farm.

My First Post

After learning that Matt's girlfriend Jen has decided to start her own blog, I realized that it was my turn to become obnoxiously hipster-ish and write one of my own. Since it's free I figure that I have nothing to lose. So I suppose I will start off with a mission statement or what I plan to write about until I become entirely too bored with writing....so here goes:

1. Politics
2. Random Musings
3. Major League Baseball
4. Whatever strikes me as worth while
5. Life at the office

Let's start out with number 5 since in about 5 minutes I'm off to a free lunch courtesy of a vendor. I hate these things. While the free food is nice, I always feel like I've been suckered into a cheap vacation with the caveat that I have to sit in for a half day speech on the benefits of buying a time share. These meetings are a quasi-professional venture into the B rate selling techniques of copy vendors. Listen guys, the client is paying for the copies not me. If you can get me a 2 cent per page cheaper rate that's fine and dandy, but really all I want is someone who will make me look good with the end product. Next week a vendor wanted to take us to Fast Eddies. I mean don't get me wrong, I have practiaclly put Steve the bartender's kids through college, but class it up a little.....we're not animale. But I guess that's the life of a paralegal, keep the free food and beer coming and I'll listen to your pitch.