It's After 3am...Why Am I Doing This For?

Boring Coverage of the Race for the Right to Run in Another Race

After Tuesday’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is less than 180 delegates away from clinching the nomination. He narrowly lost Indiana, while winning NC by a huge margin. Overall, he picked up about 11 more delegates on the night than Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).

More importantly, Clinton’s thin victory in Indiana did nothing to enhance her ‘electability’ argument, especially since she got blown out in North Carolina. Her staff has resorted to claiming that Obama actually needs to win 2,209 delegates as opposed to the 2,025 number that I’ve worked so hard to memorize. Their ‘logic’ is that Florida and Michigan’s delegates should be seated even though both states violated rules that her campaign had supported back when it was politically convenient to support those rules.

The exit polls are showing the continued trend of Clinton’s supporters threatening to not support Obama in the general election. While the threats will probably lack action on a large level, I do think there’s a better chance of Clinton’s supporters voting for Senator John McCain (R-AZ) than the one-fifth of Obama’s supporters who say they’ll vote for the Republican nominee if Clinton is selected by the superdelegates. My thought has been that most of Obama’s supporters just won’t show up on election day if he isn’t the nominee.

There are six contests remaining: West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico. With the exception of Puerto Rico (and possibly West Virginia and maybe Kentucky), I tend to think Obama can win all of those primaries. And if Clinton can win any of those, it won’t be by enough of a margin to make much of a difference. It will come down to those superdelegates, and even though you shouldn’t count out a Clinton in a backroom fight, I just can’t believe they’ll override the popular vote and pledged delegate count.

Fun with Numbers

This is the greatest thing in the whole world. It’s a delegate counter that allows you to see what percentage of superdelegates each candidate would have to win in order to win the election based on the results of the remaining primaries. I’m not describing it that well but it’s definitely worth a look. Basically, it looks like Clinton is going to have to win about 80% of the remaining superdelegates and that seems extremely unlikely. Maybe if Clinton had access to this tool, she'd drop out. I don't know.

Show Him the Money!

And how great is the superdelegate system? Some fucking moron, Californian lawyer Steven Ybarra, who is also superdelegate, wants either Obama or Clinton to pay him $20 million for his vote. Yeah, what a great system.

Rush to Judgment

Rush Limbaugh, who was telling his Dittoheads to vote for Clinton to extend out the Democratic primary, has now decided that actually Obama is the weaker of the two candidates, thus the one easier to defeat in November. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) believes that Limbaugh is the one who pushed Clinton to victory in Indiana, “If it was not for Republicans taking Democratic ballots, [Obama] would have won.”

This is obviously pretty crazy since of the self identified Republicans (10% of the electorate), 46% supported Obama. The eight points she won out of a 10% bloc wouldn’t’ve considerably changed the outcome.

This past Sunday, Clinton said that Rush Limbaugh has always had a crush on her. Which led Jay Leno to say on Wednesday, “What is it with the Clintons and their magical power over chubby people? Chubby people can’t resist them!”

More bad news for Clinton

Before the Iowa caucuses, former Senator George McGovern (and one-time presidential candidate) supported Clinton. But he’s jumped ship now and has now endorsed Obama. I’m not being cynical but it does seem like McGovern doesn’t want to be backing a loser. He supported Clinton when she was a frontrunner and now that Obama is the frontrunner, McGovern has become ‘Obama Boy.’

Did his need to support a winner cause him to vote for Nixon in '72?

Dream Ticket: Take 112

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to former President Bill Clinton, is claiming that Hillary Clinton is negotiating for a spot on the ticket with Obama as vice-president. I think this is crazy. Number one: I find it somewhat hard to believe she would seek that position and second, I find it impossible to believe that Obama would agree to it. Would he really want someone THAT high profile as his number two? And would he want that number two to have Bill Clinton as a husband? I understand that Obama stands to lose some support from Clinton voters but if wins in November, the cost of having her as a vice-president might be too high to consider.

Hillary Better Than Bill?

This headline claims that Bill Clinton said that his wife would be a better president than he was. Then when you read the article, getting down to the very bottom, the actual quote is found. Earlier, his Chelsea Clinton had said that her mother would be a better president than her father and he said, “for this time in our history, I agree with my daughter.” That’s not the same thing as saying she’d be a better president than he was.

Last Thing About the Gas Tax Holiday...I Promise

More than 200 economists have signed a letter condemning Clinton and McCain’s plan to have a ‘Gas Tax Holiday.’ The number of economists that have come out in opposition to this haven’t deterred the two presidential candidates.

McCain attacked the group as basically being elitists, “Thirty dollars means nothing to a lot of economists -- I understand that. It means a lot to some low-income Americans.” That the $30 savings is likely to be counterweighted by an increase at the fuel pumps that will offset any savings wasn’t addressed by McCain, who had his economic credentials questioned throughout the Republican primary.

Clinton said, “I'm not going to put my lot in with economists.” You know, because when it comes to money, are you really going to trust someone who deals with numbers?

Several supports of all three candidates signed onto the letter.

Conservatives=Happy People?

Conservatives are happier than liberals according to a new study. This is largely because conservatives rationalize the inequalities that exist in the world. The study didn’t discuss moderates, so I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad.

Sniper Asks For Death

John Allen Muhammad, convicted DC Sniper, pulled a McVeigh (sorta) and has asked for his death row appeals be abandoned so Virginia “can murder this innocent Black man.” Now, most people who are claiming their innocence, don’t ask to be put to death. But then again, those who modify their 1990 Chevy Caprice to be able to sit in the trunk and shoot people while then speeding away…tend not to actually be innocent. “What? This car that you found me sleeping in…You think it’s mine? And this gun that matches the gun used at all the crime scenes…You think it’s mine too? You must be a racist.”

Speaking as someone who lived in the area at that time, the idea that both he and Lee Malvo haven’t already been executed is a miscarriage of justice. The fact that Malvo, the main triggerman in most of the shootings, was spared the death penalty is a further travesty. For Muhammad to turn this into a racial issue almost doesn’t deserve coverage.

And on to Sharpton

Al Sharpton was arrested during the recent protests in New York City following the Sean Bell shooting trial. Around 200 others protestors were also arrested after many of them were blocking traffic and otherwise making a nuisance. Sharpton claims this is about protecting civil rights but of course is violating the civil rights of drivers whose ‘crime’ was to be driving to work or wherever they happened to be going. But their civil rights don’t matter as much. And I realize there’s a difference between being shot/killed and being stuck in protest-related traffic but I really hate being in traffic and I think I’d rather be shot…so you know…

Sharpton wants to meet with New York Governor David Patterson (D-NY) but Patterson won’t see him…because he’s blind. Get it? Get it? The meeting is scheduled for Thursday. Remember when Sharpton used to always wear that jogging suit? Yeah, that was always pretty funny. I wish I had a jogging suit. I’d only wear it once probably but it would be a great day. I’d eat a hamburger and probably watch television. Oh, it’d be great.

Important Headlines

On my birthday, a new law will go into effect in Georgia that bans the sale of ‘Pot candy’ to minors. I hafta say, I’m not familiar with ‘Kronic Kandy’ and ‘Pot Suckers.’ Slight irony? The bill was pushed by State Senator Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna).

A study has come out showing how hard life is on the first born child. Indeed. I read the first half of the article and then I stopped due to a combination of boredom and illiteracy.

Packing Progress

I packed up my bedroom, bedroom closet and the bathroom. My storage closet and coat closet are already packed up. It looks like I just might be able to be ready to move after all. The move in date is unofficially a week from today. I just have the living area and kitchen left and I’ll be ready to go.

I have a strategy I use when packing. I pack for 10 minutes and then sit down and watch television. I then pack for 10 more minutes and then watch more television. It’s worked okay so far.

Why I Hate Birds

I went out to my car today and a bird apparently had decided to shit on my car. And I don’t mean a little bird turd. It was like a flying dog decided to take a dump on my car. It took up like half the window on the driver’s side. It was fuckin’ awful.

What I Watched on Television Today

In addition to the Braves game, I watched ‘Down in the Valley’ with Ed Norton. It wasn’t very good. Actually, I didn’t like it at all but I could watch him in pretty much anything. Except the ‘Illusionist’…and ‘The Painted Veil.’ Oh well…almost anything.

Right now, I have the television on mute and there’s an infomercial for some grants seminar about getting free money from the government or something and one of the pitchmen is former Representative JD Hayworth (R-AZ). The dude freaks the shit out of me. First of all, he’s funny looking. He’s one of those Republicans that came to office in the 1994 elections and he ran as one of those ‘I’m going to change Washington’ candidates and then was part of several financial scandals that included the Jack Abramoff/Indian casino thing and a scandal involving campaign payments to his wife. He’s a big mouth who says flamboyant things mainly so he can get his face on television. In his last campaign, which he lost in 2006, several Republican leaders in Arizona came out in support of the Democratic candidate because they didn’t like Hayworth. Now he apparently has his own radio show which will prevent you from seeing his funny face and oddly shaped head but you still will be tortured with his outlandish pronouncements.

As for the infomercial: It looks like a scam to me but surely the Honorable JD Hayworth wouldn’t be endorsing something of questionable integrity. Here’s a tip for you, don’t trust anyone who uses initials for a first name. If they don’t give you a full first name, they’re probably trying to trick you. Or they might be poor and can’t afford a ‘real’ name, which means you should be especially careful because they might try to steal yours.

Hey, is going from Congress to appearing on infomercials considered a downgrade?

What I’m Listening to on My Mp3 Player

I’m listening to a playlist of four albums that I just got (thanks to gift certificates I was given for being part of a special group of people): The National’s ‘Alligator,’ Bishop Allen’s two CD collection of EPs and the recently released ‘Pershing’ from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, a Missouri band that ranks somewhere between awesome and really awesome. The first album from SSLYBY featured the song ‘House Fire,’ which reminds me a little of Guster. Here’s the video for it and it’s a reminder that if you can ever find someone to race toy cars with, you should always be happy.



Final Thoughts

Lipozene commercials make me feel like I’m being asked to join a cult. And the worst part? I considered joining. I called the number and it turns out they’re selling a weight loss drug. Now, maybe I should’ve bought it but I say if it’s not a cult, I’m not interested.

I saw Steve Winwood sing on television. And I had Cap’n Crunch for breakfast the next day. Coincidence?

Thanks to POD, I now know that ‘story’ and ‘glory’ rhyme with each other.

For my coverage of the Atlanta Braves, please visit http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/djwright.

Gas Taxes, No-Spin Hillary and Tootsie Pop Experts

Gas Tax

Recently, both Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ) have called for a temporary moratorium on the federal gas tax for the summer months. The federal gas tax is about 18 cents per gallon and the money is used to fund transportation projects, including building and maintaining roads and bridges.

The plan is drawing intense criticism from economist and the other person running for president, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

It is likely that a drop in price will lead to an increase in demand that will cause the price of gas to rise at a level that will offset whatever savings the tax break will create.

Obama dismissed the plan as a ‘shell game’ that was motivated by politics. Clinton responded by saying that this is further proof that Obama is out of touch with Americans. And he might well be. Most Americans might think removing that gas tax is a good idea but it’s not the right thing.
In addition to not making a difference in the cost of gas, removing the federal tax would also cause the funding of several transportation projects around the country to be pulled. This would cost many workers their jobs.

Also, it’s quite possible that the full value of the tax cut would be passed on to consumers. The gas companies could claim that they have to raise the price of gas to protect supply (which would make sense) and then pocket a sizable portion of the gas tax, making it another tax break to oil companies.

Clinton said in an interview with Bill O’Reilly last week that her measure would be paid for by adding a ‘windfall tax’ to oil companies. The government would determine what’s an okay profit to make and tax any amount of above that, which is double taxing revenue that was already taxed once. Besides drifting the country even further toward socialism, it’s not effective because the prices can still increase to make up for the loss. In the end, any ‘windfall tax’ will be paid by consumers in the same way all corporate taxes are ultimately passed on and paid for by consumers.

The increase in the price of gas is clearly a problem and must be examined. But a quick and easy fix (an ineffective) isn’t the answer. Clinton and McCain know that. They’re just betting that the public doesn’t.

Hillary in the ‘No-Spin Zone’

Speaking of the previously mentioned interview on the ‘O’Reilly Factor,’ I actually forced myself to watch it. I generally have a policy of avoiding Fox News whenever possible, especially the ‘Factor’ but when I heard Clinton was going to be on there, I set my DVR to record and I just finished watching it.

The interview started with a discussion of gas prices, which I already referenced earlier. In addition to the temporary suspension of the federal gas tax and creating a ‘windfall profit’ tax, she vowed to take on OPEC. When asked how she would do that, she noted that nine of the thirteen OPEC nations are also in the World Trade Organization. She would file complaints with the WTO against those countries and push for legislation that would allow OPEC nations to be sued. She also called for drivers to change their habits but didn’t say what habits needed to be changed.

The second issue was a brief trip through tax policy including the payroll tax. She said she supported raising taxes to the 90s level. When asked if she’d raise the payroll tax, as Obama has suggested he would, she declined to get into details about her Social Security plan, other than to say she would put together a commission to look into it like President Ronald Reagan did in the early 80s.

The next question O’Reilly asked Clinton: Are you a polarizing figure? This was a very bizarre question to me because I couldn’t figure out how she was supposed to answer that. She said that she had more of a history of working across party lines in the Senate than Obama has, which is true, in part because she’s been there four years longer and has a longer history of doing anything there.

She went on to say that a president must be tough and be willing to fight so they can take on the oil, insurance and drug companies. This is part of the continued attack Clinton has waged on Obama about him being weak.

In the second half of the interview, the opening topic was about foreign policy, specifically Iran, which she agreed was one of the biggest threats to America and couldn’t be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. Her rhetoric against Iran has been alarmingly hot and O’Reilly didn’t press her too much on this matter because he agrees with the supercharged rhetoric.

As for Iraq, they both agreed was in a mess currently but she felt that the troops had accomplished their military goals, both removing Saddam Hussein from power and getting the Iraqis the security to hold open elections and giving the politicians the time to create a stable government. Because there is nothing left for the military to do, she supports pulling them out since what’s wrong with Iraq can’t be fixed militarily. O’Reilly suggested that Iran wants the US to withdraw and Clinton disputed that. She said that remaining in Iraq weakens our country’s ability to deal with the other problems in the world, which I took to mean Afghanistan/Pakistan and the situation in Iran.

As for Afghanistan, she supports adding troops to finish out the mission there, which includes fully taking out al Qaida and the Taliban. When O’Reilly brought up Pakistan’s role in this, she said he supported putting pressure on Pakistan to do more but didn’t specify what form that pressure would take. When O’Reilly suggested pulling aid from Pakistan, she declined to support that, though she didn’t unequivocally take it off the table.

When asked why she didn’t support torture, specifically waterboarding, Clinton questioned whether torture is an effective means of interrogation and she said that it wasn’t in our country’s best interest.

The final question dealt with illegal immigration. She was asked if she would crack down on sanctuary cities and she quickly said that she wouldn’t but then the discussion devolved into ‘What’s the definition of a sanctuary city?’ Her position, though not especially well articulated in the interview, is that illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes should be turned over to the federal officials but that local law enforcement agents shouldn’t be in the position of going door to door to enforce a federal law.

She noted that she voted for tougher border laws including putting up a wall along certain parts of the border, which is interesting because in one debate, she backed away from her vote on that issue, coming close to saying she regretted that vote.

And that was it. That was the interview. It probably lasted about 40 minutes over two nights. In all, I think she did a very good job. It took a certain amount of guts to go on a show like that. It’s notable that Obama has not agreed to do that. She showed a good sense of humor without being overly caustic, especially during the first part of the interview. She displayed a certain amount of charm at times and was not as robotic as she often comes across being. She was quick and sharp on most policy issues, being specific without appearing wonkish. She also was able to show a certain amount of combativeness but in a good way, not like her husband when he was interviewed by Fox News’ Chris Wallace. She had a very clear idea of what she wanted to do during the interview and she accomplished it.

Her willingness to go on the show displays an interesting shift in this election. Most primary elections have the candidates running to their respective extremes, only to run center in time for the general election. Because of the way this Democratic election season has gone, both candidates are scrambling for more moderate votes, keeping them from running too far to the left, which is why both have positively invoked the name of Reagan. In the end, they’re trying to retake the so called ‘Reagan Democrats.’ Whether her appearance is a positive step for her remains to be seen but just watching a primary where the center matters is certainly a good thing.

As for O’Reilly, I thought it was basically fair. I mean, he was still his typical asshole self but I don’t think he asked anything that was too unfair or nasty. I’ll give O’Reilly credit for not changing his style or agreeing to take certain questions off the table in order to get her to come on the show.

After each part of the interview, the remainder of the show was filled with various commentators judging the interview, both Clinton and O’Reilly’s respective performances.

Dick Morris gave his review but I was distracted because his suit looked too big and it made me wonder if he’s planning to audition for the upcoming Talking Heads reunion.

Dennis Miller criticized O’Reilly for being soft. While I liked O’Reilly having commentators on to mock him, it seemed almost self-indulgent on some level and it really got old. There was no reason to divide this interview into two parts other than to have two big rating nights.

In the end, both O’Reilly and Clinton came out looking pretty good and it was a decently informative interview.

Read My Book...Read My Book

Before the second part of his interview with Clinton, O’Reilly attacked Al Franken, who’s running for Senate in Minnesota, for not paying taxes. He said, “[Al Franken] has been dishonest his entire working life and if you don’t believe me, check out page 97 of ‘Culture Warrior.’” And this is a book written by…you guessed it, Bill O’Reilly. So, in other words, ‘If you don’t believe what I just said, read what I wrote.’ Yep, that’s there. Look at that.

Mandela: US Certified Terrorist

Guess who’s found himself on the US Terrorist Watch List? Nelson Mandela. It’s unclear what he did to put himself on there but several members of Congress have vowed to fix a situation that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called ‘embarrassing.’

Mandela was a member of the African National Congress, which was a banned anti-apartheid group back in the 70s and 80s. South Africa declared the ANC a terrorist organization and several countries added the group to their terrorist watch lists as well. The US was one of those nations. The State Department has been issuing temporary travel waivers to the former members of the ANC, including Mandela, who turns 90 this July.

Obituary

Albert Hofmann, the guy who invented LSD, died the other day at the age of 102. Without him, the world would have existed without the following:



Speaking of which…

John Lennon can be seen on film smoking pot and joking about putting LSD in President Richard Nixon’s tea. Yoko Ono is going to court to make sure no one can see this film, part of 10 hours of raw footage shot by Anthony Cox, Ono’s husband before she married Lennon. The footage was edited into a two hour documentary put together by World Wide Video. Ono is claiming copyright infringement.

The True Lesbians

And while we're talking about legal action: It turns out that there’s an island called Lesbos off the coast of Greece whose inhabitants are known as Lesbians. As you may or may not be aware, the word ‘lesbian’ has another connotation as well and that doesn’t please those from Lesbos and they’re asking a Greek court to fix the situation. How are they going to do this? Well, based on what I learned from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding,’ they’re going to use what all Greeks use for everything: Windex.

Exclusive Interview With an Expert

We’re in for a special treat today because earlier this week, I had the pleasure to interview the world’s most renowned expert on Tootsie Roll Pops. Because of Iranian threats and a partial fatwa issued, her identity must be kept secret.

DJ Wright: Let’s start off with the obvious. Why do the Iranians hate you so much?
Tootsie Expert: Well, I think they’re just anti-Tootsie Pop. Most terrorists have expressed concerns over what the Tootsie Pop could mean if introduced into Middle Eastern culture. It’s just—They view it as a threat.
DW: I greatly appreciate you taking the time to conduct this phone interview. You’re probably the least well known famous person who’s an expert on hard candy with a soft middle.
TE: It’s a pleasure to talk with you. I don’t grant interviews very often because of the obvious.
DW: The obvious?
TE: That’s correct, DJ. The obvious.
DW: What got you interested in Tootsie Roll Pops?
TE: It was the Owl. He explained that it took three licks to get to the middle of a Tootsie Pop and I thought I could prove him wrong.
DW: So your lifelong interest sprung from an attempt to prove an owl wrong?
TE: Owls mainly say ‘Who?’ and I figured, you know, how smart could he be? And you know what? I was able to get to the middle of a Tootsie Pop in a single bite.
DW: So in some ways, you’re an explorer, like Magellan or DeSoto.
TE: Yes but I’m more than that. I’m like Roger Banister. He broke the four minute mile, you know. So I think I’m a combination of Magellan and Banister. More Magellan than DeSoto. DeSoto was a clown. Everyone knows that.
DW: According to Tootsie Pop’s website, over 50,000 children have written the company claiming they know definitively how many licks it takes to get to the center and that most kids have estimated the number between 100 and 6,000.
TE: Well, I’m better than a child because if I were ever to get into a fist fight with one, I would be able to kick them in their tiny shins. That makes me better.
DW: Fair enough. Before this interview officially started, you mentioned your issues with brown Tootsie Roll Pops.
TE: I did. I don’t have any respect for them. Not in the least. First of all, brown’s not a taste. Everyone knows that in the world of lollipops, green is lime, purple is grape—
DW: But there’s no purple in a Tootsie Pop bag.
TE: No, there’s not…Not to the untrained eye. But what appears blue is actually purple. Purple has a very complex relationship with blue and that’s something I’d really love to talk about but we’d have to really get into a discussion of DNA and the history of psychiatry.
DW: Right, and I really want to keep talking about Tootsie Pops. What makes brown taste so bad?
TE: In general, brown paper is bad.
DW: How can you tell that?
TE: I can tell with something sucks. I guarantee you, brown is the last one eaten in any bag. You dump Tootsie Pops in a basket for people in an office to eat and eventually, you’ll be left with a bunch of brown. No one likes brown.
DW: I read on the Internet where you go to great extremes to avoid brown.
TE: Yes. When I buy a Tootsie Pop bag, I refuse to leave the store with brown. I open the bag and drop the brown Tootsie Pops on the floor. I’ve had complaints but I’m willing to pay full price but I won’t allow brown Tootsie Pops in my car. Anyone with integrity should follow my lead.
DW: What keeps most people from following your lead?
TE: There are weak people in this world. That’s why we have self-help sections in the bookstore. People need to get stronger before they do the right thing and sometimes the right thing means scattering brown Tootsie Pops on the floor at CVS.
DW: I understand there was a Halloween incident.
TE: I had a son that told me to save the browns and hand them out at Halloween and I refused. I’m not going to force brown on other people. It’s like the Bible says: Do unto others as you want the Tootsie Roll given to you.
DW: You’re a woman of deep convictions. Talk about convictions.
TE: It just pisses me off to see brown. I could live my life, every now and then seeing brown or I could say, “You know what? No, I’m not going to stand for brown.”
DW: You once wrote a 489 page essay about the shrinking middle of the modern Tootsie Pop. Now, the official position of the company was to issue a press release denouncing your essay. What say you?
TE: The company hasn’t been the same since Tom Medric left. Here’s the thing, I don’t like walking around with a stick hanging out of my mouth and so I would often suck on the Tootsie Pop until I could pull the stick out. I had the Tootsie Pop in my mouth and no one had to know. Pretty soon, I couldn’t do that anymore. I noticed the change in 1990. Billy was seven.
DW: Now who is Billy?
TE: He is someone who was seven in 1990. He turned eight the following year.
DW: How long have you been a Tootsie Pop expert?
TE: Pretty much my whole life. I’m a 100 year old expert. That’s alotta years, you know. That’s alotta throwing away brown.
DW: When I say Tootsie Pop, what do you think of?
TE: Childhood. I think about when I got my allowance, 25 cents a week. And that’s back when a week was still seven days, so, you know. I had to be careful with what I bought. I couldn’t afford to buy everything. I had to look for value.
DW: Talk about value.
TE: Well, a pack of gum had five pieces and was 10 cents. You could get a bouquet of Tootsie Pops, three in a pack, for 5 cents. The decision is easy. Tootsie Pops were the best value unless there was a brown in there.
DW: And brown’s no value at all.
TE: Not at all. Now, there was Chum Gum. You got two pieces for a penny and that was a great value. I loved the royal blue lettering. Of course, it wasn’t as good as Juicy Fruit but it was all about getting the best value for my money.
DW: Even as a seven year old girl. That’s inspiring. Best Tootsie Pop?
TE: I like them all. That’s hard. If I kept a secret and didn’t tell the rest of the bag, I’d go with red. Red’s great but you can’t go wrong with any of them, except for brown.
DW: Off topic a little: You won the amateur championship at Frisbee but you never went pro. Why was that?
TE: For years, I told people it was because the world wasn’t ready for me but the truth was: I never could get it to boomerang and you hafta be able to do that to turn pro. I was ashamed to admit that until last week.
DW: So that’s an exclusive piece of information.
TE: It is. Okay, my cell phone is getting too hot to hold in my hand. Bye.

And with that, she hung up but I think she taught us all a little about life and a lot about Tootsie Rolls. Truly, she is a roll model for all of us.

New Apartment

I was busy this weekend. I found a new place to live since my 60 days notice I issued my current complex is running out in a few weeks. I am going to sign the papers on Thursday and will be set to move in a week from then. And does this give me a lot of time to pack? The answer, boys and girls, is no, it does not give me a lot of time to pack. Which makes one wonder, why exactly am I writing this for instead of packing? And the answer, girls and boys, is that I don’t like doing things that I don’t like doing and I don’t like packing so I’m delaying it.

Which is why the word of the day is: Procrastination: n. [L. procrastinatio] – (prō kràsti náysh'n, prə kràsti náysh'n) – The act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off to a future time; delay; dilatoriness.

So in a couple weeks, I’ll be leaving Cobb County which is sad because I’ve grown to love Cobb over the last three years. But there is a nearby CD Exchange where I’m moving to though, so you know…

Important Headlines

New Jersey is considering a ‘sin tax’ on fast food. Note to self, next time I want a Big Mac, I should avoid driving to New Jersey to get it. Besides, South Cobb Drive is closer. Wait a minute, I'm leaving South Cobb and am going to a place with no established McDonald's. I'll never be able to have a Big Mac again.

The White House admitted the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner incident from five years ago was a mistake. If it takes five years for them to admit mistakes like this, can we expect such admissions to trickle out over the next 30 years?

Gretchen Wilson, 34 year old country music singer, finished high school. She had had to repeat 9th grade several times because evidently she misunderstood what the term ‘freshmen’ meant.

What I Watched on Television

I watched a few movies lately. One of which featured Reese Witherspoon as a stripper. And I was confused.

The movie was ‘Overnight Delivery,’ which is truly a bad, bad movie that also stars Paul Rudd playing…the Paul Rudd character that he pretty much always plays.

What I’m Listening to On My Mp3 Player

I actually don’t have my Mp3 player turned on right now. I don’t know what to say.

Random Thoughts

I will never drink four Rusty Nails followed by three and a half glasses of Ketel One before trying to redecorate a bathroom that is not my own.

I promise to never, ever trust in a zip code again. Never again, I say!

Last Thought

You know, I can’t come with a last thought because I saw this odd video that I think has ruined me for thinking for at least a week. The song is called ‘Konichiwa Bitches’ and it’s performed by Robyn. And yes, that’s the same Robyn who had chart success with ‘Show Me Love’ back in the 90s.

Robyn’s from Sweden and was born Robin Miriam Carlsson. When I was in seventh grade, a girl in my class changed her name from Robin to Robyn because it sounded prettier. Anyway, ten years have passed without hearing much from Ms. Carlsson and now we have this little video and song:

A Post of Pictures and Videos

Two In the Ring

On my other space, http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/djwright, I put together a quality post only to have Internet Explorer lock up and shut down, causing me to lose everything I had written, which completely sucks because it was about five pages of brilliance. One thing that I couldn’t get to post over there though was the following story because I didn’t know how to get the pictures to upload correctly. So I’m posting it here instead.

I got an email from HBO alerting me to a fight scheduled between Oscar De La Hoya v. Steve Forbes on May 3, 2008 at 10pm. De La Hoya was last seen losing a split decision to Floyd Mayweather and Forbes was last seen working on the ill-fated presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani.





I’m not sure why the 35 year old welterweight has decided to fight a 60 year old republican but I think it has something to do with the flat tax. De La Hoya’s camp has put out the flyer below and it seems like it’s done some damage to Forbes’ standing in Vegas.



Most oddsmakers are picking the Golden Boy to cruise to an easy win as he goes on to a possible rematch with Mayweather, who I can only assume is currently training to fight Ross Perot.

McCain v. The Map

Going into this election season, which began November 3, 2004, I couldn’t imagine a scenario where the Democrats wouldn’t win in 2008. And then slowly, one thing after another has happened to throw the result of November’s election into question. Mind you, it’s still hard to believe that Clinton or Obama can lose to McCain no matter how hard they try, and they do seem to be trying. But when you look at an election map like this article did, there is so much against McCain, I struggle to picture a series of events that would allow him to win.

Assuming there are states that the Republicans and Democrats can’t lose based on recent history and that there are some states that are likely to go one way or the other, the election seems to hinge on Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.



AP’s map shows Democrats favorites to win Oregon and Minnesota but I consider those states to be virtual locks for them (The article cites McCain’s position on climate change as putting the state in play, but both Democrats have similar positions on the issue, so I don’t see Oregon going Republican because of global warming). McCain is popular in New Hampshire and certainly brings the state into play but I don’t expect him to win it.

Wisconsin and Michigan are shown as leaning Democratic but are at least in play and maybe Republicans can win one of those, especially Michigan if Democratic voters are pissed off about the way their state was treated by the DNC. (Side note: I understand the argument on why the delegates were taken away but my point is more about how the voters will feel, not whether the DNC was right or wrong because that really doesn’t matter now. It’s about voter perception within the state when it comes to the general election). McCain might have a problem in Michigan after he cavalierly declared that the jobs the state had lost oversees weren’t coming back. While he was correct, the tone in which he said it was inappropriate for a candidate trying to win voter support.

Pennsylvania is listed as in play but leaning Democratic and I really don’t expect McCain to win that state in November but I can at least see where it’s possible. AP leaving Oregon as a potential battleground state seemed strange to me.

Of the battleground states where Republicans are likely to win, I fully expect McCain to win Florida, and he should win both Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

Missouri has been sliding over to the Democratic side lately and I wouldn’t be stunned if Iowa went for the Democrats. Ohio was the major battleground state and I said at the time that the winner of that race would win the presidency. It figures to be big this election as well but economics being what they are, I find it hard to believe that McCain can fare very well there.

The most intriguing state is Virginia, which should by all rights be Republican but the party has been plagued by poor campaigns run in the Commonwealth since 2001. Mark Warner, a democrat, defeated a shoddy campaign that year to win the gubernatorial election and was followed by Tim Kaine, who won the race in 2005 over Jerry Kilgore in another crappy campaign effort. George Allen seemed a lock for reelection in 2006 but he seemed intent on making it close and ended up losing to his democratic challenger, Jim Webb.

This year, Mark Warner will be running a Senate campaign to replace the retiring republican John Warner (no relation but interesting to note that the two Warner faced in each other in 1996, the one with the first name John winning by just five points, the same percentage that Mark won the race for governor just five years later). Given that M. Warner was a popular governor, the suggestions that Virginia might be moving to the left and the fact he’s facing a relatively unpopular former governor with high negative ratings (Jim Gilmore), I would expect the Democrats to pick up another Senate seat and that might benefit the eventual Democratic presidential nominee.

I expect the map of 2008 to look very similar to 2008. All it takes is Virginia to flip, which is actually kinda likely and then all Clinton or Obama would have to do is win in Missouri or Iowa and they would be the next president, even without winning in Ohio. And Virginia and Iowa flipping would only require a swing of 136,138 voters, meaning McCain, who will probably win more states, could win the popular vote but lose the election. (I don’t expect the winner of this election to lose popular vote but it’s possible given the way the election map is laid out and the way the last two presidential races have gone.)

Senator Chris Matthews?

‘Hardball’ host Chris Matthews, last seen being challenged to a duel by former Senator Zell Miller (D-GA), is reportedly considering running against Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) in 2010. Senator Specter is a moderate Republican who recently announced a couple weeks ago that his cancer had returned.

Six Flags: A Little Cheaper

Six Flags over Georgia will be lowering their adult ticket prices by $10. Guests will now pay $40 to get into the park. I haven’t been there in years because I don’t want to go by myself and I don’t know anyone who’d be interested in going. I think it’s because most people oppose Bugs Bunny but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Some People Don’t Know Zip

If you find the topic of zip codes interesting, this article will cure you of that strange and rare condition. Some people are really caught up in what zip code they’re in, petitioning the Post Office to have it changed so they can appear to be in Marietta instead of Smyrna. I say Smyrna is a fine zip code to have and there’s nothing to be ashamed of about it. As for 30363…it’s overrated like…like…uh, things that are rated but are rated higher than they should be rated.

Truly the Homeless Are Rich

This is a story about a girl who pretended to be homeless so that she could beg for money. She made $50 an hour, proving that all homeless people are actually making $104,000 of tax free income every year. The news story cites a source estimating 70% of those who panhandle aren’t in the situation they pretend to be in. Megan, the little lying bitch, the primary focus of the report is estimated to make $26,000 a year, working two hours a day. Her mother had a feeling she was panhandling but doesn’t know what to do about it.

But the best part of the story is the reporter who was required to follow panhandlers around for several weeks. Can you imagine what it’s like talking to him after work?

Hey, honey, how was work?
Oh, just followed Stan and Linda around today.
That Stan and Linda. What crazy misadventures did they get up to today.
Well, today they…

I liked it when he held up a stack of cardboard signs with words written in marker on them and started dropping them like he was Bob Dylan.


The Intilignt Zebra

Students kidnapped a zebra and put it in a campus building. My favorite line is when the zebra’s owner says that this was hard on the zebra and “it’s not like taking a goat over there.” Would he have objected less if one of his goats was stolen (or borrowed)? Here’s the thing, the zebra spent one day on campus and whether this was right or wrong, that zebra is now the most educated animal on that farm. Not only does he know what sound each animal makes, now he knows why.

Praying for Gas



A Washington, DC church went to a gas station to pray that God would lower fuel prices. God replied back, “You should see the price of gas in East Heaven. It’s crazy but what you can you do.” The church then went to the movie theater to pray for lower ticket prices and then to a television set to pray for better stuff to start coming on TV. I mean, where did all the comedies go?

Also, how did Sonny Perdue NOT already think of doing this?

Important Headlines

The Supreme Court has upheld Indiana’s voter ID law, which has the audacity to ask voters to prove who they are using a photograph instead of a piece of mail someone mailed to them. Indiana’s law is very similar to Georgia and Florida’s voter laws. The vote on the court was 6-3 with the majority opinion written by Justice John Paul (Don’t Call me George Ringo) Stevens. Supreme Court Justices were not required to show their license before casting their vote.

According to this analysis, gas will soon hit $10 a gallon. It’s hard to believe but with the way the price of gas has nearly doubled in the last year, it’s at least possible.

I thought I saw a headline that read: “Kevorkian Buys 4.7% of Ford” and I was stunned. I mean, the old guy just got out of prison, who would’ve thought he had the capital for such a large investment? Turns out it was Kirk Kerkorian, who I don’t know, though his name sounds made up. No, Kevorkian buying Ford shares is much funnier than Kerkorian doing it.

Coldplay is coming out with a new album, this one with a Spanish sound (?) and they’re going to give away their first single for free. For one week, fans (or I suppose non-fans as well) can download their newest song off the band’s website without having to pay anything. Some would argue that it’s still overpriced.

BREAKING NEWS

I just got an email from Pizza Hut! Can you believe it?! Can you?! They called me a valued customer. I totally rock! They want me to fill out a survey with my opinion. Not some other person’s opinion. They want mine! Did you get a Pizza Hut email? I didn’t think so (unless you did get one, which I’d argue I got mine first, so I still win).

What I Watched on Television

I watched a couple movies today. ‘Lucky Number Slevin’ and ‘Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices.’ I liked the first two acts of ‘Slevin’ but I was able to guess the ending, as most people would, and the 20 minutes of flashbacks to reveal what was fairly obvious, bordered on tedious. It wasn’t a horrible movie and I really did have fun for the first hour of it but it thought it was smarter than it was, which is a problem…because it wasn’t.

The ‘Wal-Mart’ movie was a ‘documentary’ but I refer to these as ‘advocacy pieces.’ Some good points were raised and certainly this is a company that warrants intense investigations regarding some of their business practices but I always felt like the director was leaving out points to bolster his own argument at the expense of accuracy. Either way, Wal-Mart doesn’t come out looking very good.

What I’m Listening to On My Mp3 Player

I’m listening to Elvis Perkins’ ‘Ash Wednesday.’ The song that’s playing is ‘It’s Only Me.’ Pretty much the whole album is incredible though. Elvis Perkins is the son of Anthony Perkins (from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’) and noted photographer Berry Berenson. His father died of complications resulting from AIDS in 1992 and his mother died in the attacks of September 11th (she was on board Flight 11, the plane that was flown into the World Trade Center).

I went to Best Buy several months ago to get the album and when I was asked what I was looking for, the employee told me that I must be referring to Elvis Presley. No, it’s Elvis Perkins, though before I found out who is parents were, I thought his name was fake: a combination of Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. He sounds like neither one of them. He’s a quiet, acoustic singer-songwriter who performs very well put together sad songs. Definitely worth a listen.

Random Thoughts

Was (Not Was), of Walk the Dinosaur fame, is scheduled to appear Friday night (or Saturday morning) on Conan O’Brien. My right eye suddenly went blind and I began shouting through my ears. But I think that was the standard reaction most people had when learning of their appearance on Conan.

The other day, I had cherry sherbert and it tasted like Play-Doh. Yeah, I ate Play-Doh when I was little. What of it?

The Reverend Returneth: Wright’s War

Just when you thought it was safe…Senator Barack Obama’s (D-IL) former pastor Jeremiah Wright resurfaced. When soundbites emerged last month that forced Obama to give a race relations speech, Rev. Wright was quiet but he gave an interview with Bill Moyers on PBS where he quietly and calmly defended himself. While this gave media outlets another chance to play the controversial clips, if it had ended there, the story would’ve died. Instead, Wright addressed the National Press Club (in an appearance that was arranged by a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter, making one wonder if this was part of a strategy to damage Obama). In his address (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6), he flamboyantly amplified his previous statements. Whereas the Bill Moyers’ interview didn’t hurt Obama, the National Press Club event did but it wasn’t nearly as bad as Wright’s appearance before the NAACP in Detroit (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, transcript). In both clips, he served to solidify the caricature that most people already see him as. Most of all, he further damaged Obama’s credibility.

Wright said, “[Obama] had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was [portrayed as] anti-American.” In another quote, he said, “If Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected. Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls.” Or in other words, Obama really does agree with me but he’s faking that he doesn’t so he can win an election. That kind of statement isn’t helpful to Obama. Surely Wright knows this.

Which raises the question: Is Wright doing this intentionally to hurt Obama? Is he mad at him because of the race speech given last month where he denounced some of Wright’s statements? Did he finally get tired of being called the crazy uncle of the family? Or maybe by watching America elect a black president, it undermines many of Wright’s negative beliefs about this country? I don’t know that the reason is but it’s certainly not helping Obama and Wright’s no idiot. He knows this is causing damage.

Conservative analyst, Michelle Malkin wondered, “Is he (Wright) working for the Hillary campaign?” Again, since the National Press Club event was put together by a Clinton supporter, it does raise that question. (Note: The Clinton campaign denies any involvement in that event)

Finally, enough was enough and Obama addressed the last few days of Wright’s various appearances. Anyone who’s watched Obama over the last year, could tell that he really seemed pissed off in this conference. “What particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing.”



His words were sharp and pointed and represented a clear condemnation as opposed to last month’s attempt to distance himself from the remarks while at the same time explaining them.

And just more rain for Obama, Al Sharpton accused Obama of “grandstand[ing] in front of white people” in the aftermath of the Sean Bell murder case against the NYPD.

A C-SPAN Only Event

Clinton challenged Obama to a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. Under her rules, she would get to where a top hat and he would have to defend slavery extending into Missouri.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates didn’t have a moderator because Brian Williams hadn’t been born yet. Instead, the two men took turns speaking for blocks of time, the first candidate speaking for an hour, the second for an hour and a half and the first candidate concluded with a thirty minute response. I don’t know if this is really want Clinton has in mind or not but it could be the most boring three hours on television since my cable went out and it took me three hours to notice.

Good News for Hillary

North Carolina Governor Mike Easley (D-NC) has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as the state’s primary approaches. How much help any endorsement really provides is debatable but it certainly doesn’t hurt her to have it. Obama is favored to win in North Carolina, currently possessing a 10 point lead in the state. If Clinton can win there, it will be a notable upset.

Is Hillary Pulling for McCain

Dick Morris wrote a column suggesting that Clinton knows she can’t win and is just trying to drive up Obama’s negatives so he’ll lose in November and give her a chance to run again in 2012. If Obama were to win in November, she wouldn’t be able to run until 2016 when she’d be 69. Again, Dick Morris wrote this, so you have to consider the source on this one. I’m of the belief that she thinks winning a flurry of contests at the end will allow her to make an effective argument to superdelegates that she’s more electable that Obama. While it’s an uphill battle, I don’t think she’s still in this race to simply sabotage the Democratic Party for 2008.

Rove Advises Obama

Former Bush strategist, Karl Rove offered unsolicited advice to Obama in the form of a Newsweek column. It’s tempting to dismiss Rove because he just might be 80% evil but he’s also a brilliant political strategist and his ideas are worth at least considering.

Let Obama Eat His Damn Waffle

The Republican Party has put up this press release to attack Obama on choosing to eat breakfast instead of answering a question about former President Jimmy Carter meeting with Hamas. He asked the reporter who was interrupting him while eating, “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?”

Hey, just leave him alone and let him his eat his waffle. It’s a scientific fact proven each day at Waffle House that the goodness of a waffle decreases proportionally as the time the waffle remains uneaten. For the RNC to pick up on this is absurd. I know, this is what politics has devolved into but does Obama have to be available to answer questions every second of every day?

McCain, Inmates and Great Deals

In Homewood, Alabama, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reportedly got quite a deal when his campaign set up a fundraiser. He was given an 80% discount off the full price and inmates in the local jail were provided to set up tables and chairs. When a Democratic fundraiser was held last year (and the year before), they were charged the full rates.

Jim Croce v. Alergies

I was catching up on television I had missed being down in Savannah because I’m that combination of obsessive and retarded known as, uh…Obsessive Retarded. So I was watching Conan O’Brien with Tina Fey and a commercial came on for Zyrtec.

The pitchwoman opens the ad saying, “You know that song, ‘Time in a Bottle’? Well, I got time in a bottle…just by changing my allergy medicine from Claritin to Zyrtec. Zyrtec’s a lot faster.”

You hafta wonder whether they’re required to pay Jim Croce’s estate for the reference. I bet they didn’t. I think that song’s been played in a commercial before but I can’t remember the product. But the thing that really struck me about this was how random the reference was. I mean, if it’s faster than Claritin, then fine, say it’s faster but to name check a song from the early 70s…I don’t know.

But it got me to thinking, what other songs could be used this way, you know without playing the song but making a reference to it in the commercial.

“You know that song, Magic Carpet Ride? Well, at Carpets of Dalton, all our carpets are magic and we’re a short ride from Atlanta.”

“You know that song, You Can’t Always Get What You Want? Well, when you try Target, you just might find get what you need.”

“You know that song, With a Little Help From My Friends? Well, with Bulldog Movers, you won’t need any help from your friends.”

“You know that song, Highway to Hell? Well, with a new Lexus, even the drive to Hell will feel heavenly.”

“You know that song, Have You Ever Seen the Rain? Well, after getting Lasik, you’ll be able to see the rain. Each and every drop of it.”

Jesus’ Assassination Threat

A teenager told police that he wanted to die so that he could go to heaven and kill Jesus. God heard about the threats and now St. Peter and St. Paul have been assigned to protect Jesus for a time yet to be determined.

Cruise Returns to the Couch

Tom Cruise is scheduled to appear on Oprah’s show this Friday and the following Monday. The two dates are great because that will allow him to apologize on Monday for whatever strange thing he did on Friday. The first show will be taped at Cruise’s home in Colorado because his couches are already reinforced so that he can jump on them for hours at a time.

A Frosty with Your Roast Beef Sandwich

“Wendy’s, Arby’s parent will merge.” This is like when your dad is about to marry this new strange lady is smells like bacon and onions and you keep saying that you won’t talk so much if he doesn’t marry her because you don’t like bacon and onions. But he says that it’s best for everyone but you know it’s not best for everyone. And no matter how many times you chant ‘bacon and onions,’ ‘bacon and onions,’ ‘bacon and onions,’ it just doesn’t matter. Damn you, Wendy’s. Damn you indeed.

Side note, Dave Thomas’ daughter, Pam Thomas said that her late father “would not be amused” by the takeover. Of course, taking the company public opens up these kinds of sales and that was a decision Thomas had made…even if Pam thought it smelled like bacon and onions.

Cows Say: Eat Mor Peetsa

Truett Cathy, founder and CEO of Chick-fil-a, has opened a pizza restaurant in Fayetteville. I’m not sure how good the pizza would be but I’d be willing to give it a shot if I were ever in the area. When asked if he was going to step down as CEO of Chick-fil-a, he answered, “Why would I? I’m only 87.” And the cows have told him he’s going to live to be at least 149.

He did make one good point though in the article. Hot dogs really are kind of underappreciated, you know, in the way that you might appreciate something but not as much as you should appreciate that something, thereby not appreciating enough.

Barry McGuire Would Be Thrilled

A study shows that humans faced extinction 70,000 years ago, only to be saved when the California Condor added us to the endangered species list until we increased in number enough to then threaten their existence. I don’t know, these kinds of studies are released every now and then and it’s not very clear to me what data they’re looking at and it just leaves me kinda skeptical about the whole thing. Not that it matters but…

Important Headlines

Cindy Sheehan is running against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) if she can collect almost 11,000 signatures by August 8th. The signatures must come from within the district, unlike the money she’s raised, the great bulk of $100,000 apparently coming from outside San Francisco.

The price of rice is increasing and according to this article, it’s possible that several governments could fall, especially if their country’s currency is actually rice.

Shirley Temple broke her arm last week, which is good and bad news for her. Obviously, breaking your arm sucks but I thought she was dead, so breaking her arm proves she’s alive. The 80 year old former child star should think of it that way. By breaking her arm, she proved to me that she’s still alive.

As has been allegedly long rumored, alleged actor Jimmy Fallon will allegedly be replacing Conan O’Brien when Conan allegedly takes over ‘The Tonight Show.’ The alleged Jimmy Fallon is allegedly 5 foot 11. Allegedly.

My Two Attempts to Pee

At the doctor’s office, I had to provide a urine sample and when the nurse gave me the cup, I asked, “Can we also check to make sure I’m not pregnant because I haven’t had my period in, like, forever?” She just stared blankly at me. I went into the bathroom and was given two minutes to pee. The door was unlocked and she would come in after me when those two minutes were up. I just kept staring at my watch, waiting for the door to open. I ended up not going at all. It was awful. I was given a three hour window to go again but a second failed attempt would count as a failed test. I wasn’t allowed to leave the building and had to drink water in a lobby filled with people making annoying noises. There was heavy sigher, lip smacker, business card flicker and loud baby. It was horrible.

I drank over a gallon of water and at one point, my hands started to shake and I felt like I was going to vomit. I was convinced that I was about to die of water poisoning. I was called back again, and ran through the same set of instructions as before. I had two minutes. Unlocked door. Wasn’t allowed to flush. I had to empty out my pockets and everything. I went back in the bathroom and…Again, I stared at my watch, waiting for the door to swing open. And then I started to pee and I was relieved. At the same time, I was embarrassed that it took two attempts. I gave the cup back to the nurse and said, “This pee’s for you,” you know like those old Bud commercials but I didn’t really sell the line and it didn’t get a laugh. Oh well…

What I Watched on Television

I watched Pardon the Interruption today, which didn’t win an Emmy. I wasn’t aware it was up for one but Tony seemed really upset about the whole thing and I feel bad for him. I bet those extended summer breaks and Dan LeBatard’s guest appearances hurt them. I’m taping the Braves’ game right now and will start watching that in just a second.

What I’m Listening to On My Mp3 Player

Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Mardy Bum’ off their first album. This is sometimes my favorite song from ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not’ but other times it’s not. Some people think that their most recent release, ‘My Favorite Worst Nightmare’ is a step back and maybe on some level it is but I was expecting a serious letdown and it while it wasn’t as good as their first effort, it was still pretty solid. They’re working off and on with their third album which is likely to come out in 2009.

Lead singer Alex Turner has been working with Miles Kane of the Rascals and the two released ‘The Age of the Understatement’ under the group name The Last Shadow Puppets. Their sound is more theatrical and overstated. I wasn’t hugely impressed with what I’ve heard from them. As for Kane, he played guitar on ‘505,’ the last song on the Arctic Monkeys’ last album, which is a great track.

Random Thoughts

Radio Free Europe was the victim of a cyberattack this past weekend. Where’s REM when you need them?

I find the new Reese’s ad campaign to be kinda disturbing. I’m looking at Peanut Butter cups in a way that probably isn’t 100% appropriate.

I don't think I'm ever going to drink water again. I tried to never pee again but after drinking over a gallon of water in less than an hour, I actually spent most of the afternoon doing just that.

Israel's Airstrike in Syria

When I was in Savannah, I saw on a press conference on Fox News where the Syrian Ambassador was denying US reports that on September 6, 2007, Israel had bombed a Syrian facility designed with the help of North Korea to produce nuclear weapons. I hadn’t heard this story since it broke after I went on the trip down south and I found it alarming for about four different reasons.

When the ambassador opened up the floor for questions, Fox News cut off coverage and Trace Gallagher restated what had just been said in the most patronizing, sarcastic way possible. I wish I had the video clip for the coverage because it was ridiculously awful. Okay, so Fox News is biased. Everyone knows that but the smarmy editorializing that Gallagher did bordered on parody. If Saturday Night Live had imitated a Fox News anchor saying what Gallagher said in the way that he said it, I would’ve said it was a little over the top but in this case…it would’ve been accurate. This is another reason why I can’t bear to watch Fox News for more than about five minutes at a time.

I flipped to CNN, Headline News, MSNBC and CNBC but most outlets were covering a shark attack and none were covering the press conference or talking about the story. Throughout my trip, I tried to learn more about this story but I never saw any more coverage on any of the all-news channels. I heard a lot more about the shark attack and Headline News, every 15 minutes was covering a swinger’s club in a neighborhood but no mention that Country A claimed that Country B was bombed by Country C while Country B was denying the facts of the bombing. To me, this was a fascinating story.

So as soon as I got home, I started reading everything I could and found that the best coverage was outside of the US since our own media is too busy talking about (insert one of the many examples of frivolous news coverage the media engages in on an hourly basis).

I found a report in The Specator that came out a month after the September airstrike that gives an interesting view of what the reporting was like at the time, although most of the media was looking somewhere else. The details in this report is startling. I vaguely remember the airstrike but I don’t remember that it was supposed to have been a nuclear reactor that was hit. Syria staying mum on it helped mute the story. Which makes you wonder why they didn’t protest loudly at something that is a violation international law.

For months, the US wouldn’t comment on the September strike, refusing even to confirm that it took place. Then on Thursday, the CIA held a series of briefings with Congress where they presented the following video:



After the briefings, the White House released a statement accusing Syria of operating a nuclear reactor for non-peaceful purposes and charging that North Korea assisted Syria in their nuclear program. Previously classified photos and videos were released for public viewing. The photos were apparently obtained by US spies who took a handheld camera into the facility.

Originally, Syria claimed the bombs fell on empty farmland and did no damage but now they are acknowledging that a building was destroyed, though when the International Atomic Energy Agency asked to inspect the site, Syria refused to grant permission. Syrian ambassador to the US, Imad Moustapha has pledged full cooperation with the IAEA while denying Syria has any nuclear program, not one for weapons or energy purposes.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the newspaper Al-Watan, that September’s airstrike “hit a military site under construction, not a nuclear site as Israel and America claimed… Does it make sense that we would build a nuclear facility in the desert and not protect it with anti-aircraft defenses?” He said, “Why did they raid it, we do not know what data they had, but they know and they see through satellites; they have raided an incomplete site that did not have any personnel or anything. It was empty.”

Assad maintains that there is no reason Syria would need a nuclear weapon because it wouldn’t fit their strategic goals within the region. Syrian officials claim they have nothing to hide from the world community and notes they signed onto the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty. Currently, no Arab nation has nuclear capability.

Moustapha also questioned the legitimacy of the pictures the US government has released, “They were showing me photos from inside a building somewhere in the world.” And even if they were real, he felt there wasn’t any proof that it was a nuclear reactor. “I had to remind them that it is on one hand preposterous. And on the other hand there is something silly about this. Not a single security guard. No barbed wire. It's just photographs of vacant buildings.” He referred to this situation as “Iraq déjà vu.”

Obviously, after the intelligence failures in Iraq, it’s easy to be skeptical of these new charges. That’s part of the reason some believe the US hasn’t pressed too hard on the issue of Iran providing IEDs to Shiite militia groups in Iraq.

A congressional aide speaking on the condition of anonymity said Friday that the “general consensus” in Congress following the briefing was that the presentation was “legitimate.”

Any reports from American intelligence are going to naturally be viewed with a certain amount of skepticism. According to Moustapha, “This administration has a proven record of falsifying and fabricating stories about WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). They have done this before. The difference is, the hope that this time the representatives of the American people and the American people themselves will be more careful in believing any such absurd, preposterous stories as the one we heard (on Thursday).” He predicted that the story will “implode from within” and “will be a major embarrassment to the U.S. administration for a second time -- they lied about Iraqi WMDs and they think they can do it again.”

The Washington Post’s Dan Foomkin also wrote a column pointing out the questionable track record of the Bush administration’s intelligence reports. He suggests that Israel was using their version of the Bush Doctrine of preemption and that the US tacitly approved of the action since, according to a senior intelligence officer within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Israel faced an “existential threat.”

Anthony Cordesman at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said, “Once again, the US intelligence community has created an unnecessary mess by rushing out a half-complete product, and failing to put the information in releases in proper context.”

Which does raise the question: Why remain silent after the strike and why release this information now?

A senior administration official claimed that they withheld this information to keep Syria from retaliating against Israel, leading to a region-wide conflict. Though other experts believe the silence might’ve been to guarantee Syria’s cooperation in the Annapolis peace talks that were being planned at that time.

The explanation of trying to keep Syria engaged in the peace summit makes sense but why release the pictures now? Couldn’t that provoke Syria to retaliate now?

President Assad was asked if Syria would respond and he answered, “Retaliation does not mean a missile for a missile, a bomb for a bomb or a bullet for a bullet…They (Israel) understand what we mean. We do not say that we will retaliate, i.e. we will bomb. You have to ask a different question; had Syria not been harming Israeli policy would Israel have carried out an operation of this sort? The truth is that we have the means to respond, but in our own way. We understand Israel wants to provoke Syria and possibly to drag Syria into war while we do not seek war. We have been clear about this point. We have other means and we do not necessarily have to declare them.”

The second reason the release might have occurred now is because, according to a senior administration official, Bush cleared the release of the information to get North Korea to come clean with their nuclear involvement and encourage other countries to agree to support sanctions against Iran.

This seems somewhat strained to me. The US delegation just met with North Korea earlier in the week and to release this information seems more inflammatory than anything else, which leads to explanation number three.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opposed releasing the information while Vice President Dick Cheney supported it, according to several rumors, to derail the six party talks (the nations included being the United States, North Korea, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan). One senior official said, “Making public the pictures is likely to inflame the North Koreans. And that’s just what opponents of this whole arrangement want, because they think the North Koreans will stalk off.

Could this release of information really be tied to an intra-administration dispute? A senior official in the State Department told ABC News that the release of this information “just made a difficult job impossible” regarding negotiations with North Korea.

The efforts by chief negotiator Christopher Hill, have been viewed as counter to the Bush strategy of toppling governments like North Korea’s rather than negotiating with them to find common ground. According to several former officials, Bush told aides time and again not agree to anything with North Korea that “makes me look weak.”

Hill’s negotiations also haven’t led to North Korea being more open. Under the previous agreement, they were required to reveal all information regarding potential nuclear proliferation but missed the December 31st deadline.

Which leads to the final possible reason this information was released when it was. There’s a suggestion that the US is revealing this information to get in on the table and move ahead with the six-party talks. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Jon Wolfsthal, “This could actually be an attempt by the Bush administration to throw out the garbage because this is an issue that they don't think can be resolved easily, that they don't think is as important as other issues.”

Sami al-Khiyami, Syria's ambassador to Britain, seems to view it that way as well. “They just want to exert more pressure on North Korea. This is why they are coming up with this story. This is political manipulation ahead of the talks with North Korea to exert more pressure on them.”

Whatever led to this release, the IAEA is angry they weren’t alerted before the strike was carried out. The head of the agency, Mohamed El Baradei released a tersely written statement saying, “Under the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty), the agency has a responsibility to verify any proliferation allegations in a non-nuclear weapon state party to the NPT… light of the above, the director general views the unilateral military action by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the non-proliferation regime.”

How long has the United States known about this possible reactor?

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the CIA received intelligence on the existence of this reactor in the summer of 2001 after spotting an unexplained building from a spy satellite. The investigation of AQ Khan, who was revealed as a major figure in nuclear proliferation in 2004, provided additional information about a possible Syrian nuclear program.

It wasn’t totally clear that it was a reactor or what the reactor was being used for. “U.S. intelligence had "high confidence" that the structure bombed by the Israelis was a nuclear reactor, "medium confidence" that the North Koreans were involved in building it, and "low confidence" that plutonium from it was for nuclear weapons.”

Alalam, an Iranian news website quotes an unnamed IAEA official who said, “When you look at the pictures, they show only raw construction. It was just the shell of a site, and the walls did not look like the ones needed for a plutonium reactor…[which would] need a lot of piping, there was nothing like that on the pictures.”

President of the Institute for Science and International Security, David Albright complained that the CIA didn’t explain how the plant was fueled, which “raises questions about when the reactor could have operated, despite evidence that it was nearing completion at the time of the attack.” He also noted that the lack of a processing plant “gives little confidence that the reactor was part of an active nuclear weapons program.”

Albright does believe that the facility was a reactor saying that when he analyzed commercial satellite photography of the site, he believed that it was a nuclear reactor but says, “It's not clear-cut it was ready to turn on.” He also thinks it’s too early to rule out possible a peaceful purpose for the reactor. “Civilian uses are possible and cannot be dismissed out of hand. I think the CIA and the White House have not shown that the only possibility for this reactor is that it was to make plutonium for nuclear weapons.”

Siegfried Hecker, the co-director for Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation, believes that the site wasn’t well suited for energy purposes and was likely designed to produce plutonium. “[The site] was the best path to bomb-grade plutonium. That was most likely the primary purpose of this facility.”

According to The New York Times, “two senior intelligence officials acknowledged that the evidence had left them with no more than “low confidence” that Syria was preparing to build a nuclear weapon. They said that there was no sign that Syria had built an operation to convert the spent fuel from the plant into weapons-grade plutonium, but that they had told President Bush last year that they could think of no other explanation for the reactor.”

Israel decided that it could no longer afford to wait and made the call to take the reactor out in a move similar to their action in 1981 when they bombed the nuclear reactor that was being built in Iraq, though the Syrian facility was reportedly less advanced than the one in Osirak, 18 miles south of Baghdad.

Syria has accused the US government of encouraging and participating in the attack. They believe the release of this information is part of a cover-up for US involvement in the strike. “This campaign launched by the US administration is aimed primarily at misguiding the US Congress and international public opinion... in order to justify the Israeli raid on Syria in September last year, which this administration apparently was involved in executing,” an unnamed Syrian government official said.

Senior officials within the US government said that the US military did not have any involvement in the attack and that while the US was notified in advance, they did not issue an approval. One administration official said that the strike occurred “without a green light from us…None was asked for, none was given.” According to Haaretz, the Bush administration, namely Secretary Rice, tried to convince Israel not to launch an airstrike on the possible reactor.

Again, the article in The Specator goes into great detail of the assault itself, which leveled the entire location.

According to Al Jazeera, the site that was destroyed has been rebuilt with a larger building in its place, though it doesn’t say what is there now. The BBC has pictures on their website of the location before the assault, afterwards and another that shows the new building that’s been constructed.

What is North Korea’s role in this situation?

If you can make the leap that this is a nuclear reactor, the connection to North Korea is a slight bit more tenuous. Though it should be noted that while there’s definitely a credibility gap for the Bush administration, previous assessments about North Korea have proven correct.

One undated picture showed the head of the Syrian nuclear commission next to a car with a Syrian license plate standing with the head of North Korea's Yongbyon reactor, the facility that the Syrian reactor supposedly resembled. Yongbyon is a 35 year old nuclear reactor in North Korea, which is no longer active but has yet to be dismantled.

North Korea hasn’t commented on whether they have assisted Syria in a nuclear program, only releasing a statement saying that the April 22-24 meeting with US delegation “was constructive and led to significant progress.” The State Department is refusing to discuss private conversations on the matter, instead saying that Pyongyang can respond publically if they choose. When asked what motivation North Korea would have to work with Syria and a senior intelligence official replied, “Cash.”

As mentioned earlier, there’s been impatience growing with Christopher Hill and the State Department’s negotiation efforts and Congress has threatened to pull funding for the US delegation.

The release of this information didn’t help relations between Congress and the President, which have been strained for a while.

Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, expressed frustration at being kept out of the loop on this issue for so long and said, “I think many people believe that we were used today by the administration because - not because they felt they had to inform Congress because it was their legal obligation to do that, but because they had other agendas in mind… Remember, it is the legal responsibility of the administration to keep Congress fully and currently informed on the issues that the administration is dealing with. I think we have a question as to whether the administration actually moved forward in that direction.”

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino responded to Rep. Hoekstra’s complaint, “Obviously we would be very disappointed that he feels that way...and hope he understands our tremendous respect for members of Congress.” She did note that “in the fall, we briefed 22 members of Congress, consistent with our obligations. He was one of them. There are tensions that exist between the executive branches and the legislative branches on a range of issues in regards to who should know what when.” Basically, she chalked it up to the inherent differences between the branches of government.

The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) echoed the complaints of Rep. Hoekstra, “The challenge we're having particularly with [the] administration today is that there is a veil of secrecy that gets in the way of our committee feeling comfortable that we're getting the kind of information that we're supposed to have to carry out our oversight responsibilities.”

What’s next for Israel?

Defense Minister Ehud Barak was supposed to come to the US on Sunday, April 27th to meet with Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates but the trip was postponed according to Haaretz following the CIA’s recent briefing about the September airstrike. The paper believes the visit was delayed because it might give the appearance of impropriety. The visit hasn’t been rescheduled.

Israel and Syria had been engaged in peace negotiations recently and it’s unclear what effect this information being released will have on those talks. President Assad said that he would be interested in peace talks with Israel but that any talks would have to come after President Bush leaves office. He said that the current administration “does not have the vision or will for the peace process.”

ABC News reported this past week that Israel might be willing to return Golan Heights to Syria as part of a peace agreement. When asked about the report, Israeli officials refused to confirm or deny the story but there have been back channel communications going on between Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Golan Heights was seized as part of the Six Day War in 1967. Syria tried to retake it by force in 1973 but failed and a ceasefire was negotiated the following year. It’s a strategic military area for Israel and has been mentioned as a mandatory starting point for any negotiations between the two countries.

Reportedly, Olmert gave the message to Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who then passed it onto Assad by phone, according to Buthaina Shaaban, a Syrian cabinet minister.

Former Prime Minister and current opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu objected, saying, “the Golan Heights must remain in our hands at times of peace as well, otherwise Iran will get there… I find it very surprising that the prime minister is ready to cede all of the Golan Heights before the negotiations have even begun. He is acting recklessly and like an amateur. This is not the way to attain peace.” Though it should be noted that Netanyahu, during his time in office, had signaled he was willing to give back the land as part of negotiations with Syria.

I look forward to seeing how the Bush administration’s decision to release the information will effect Israel’s peace negotiations with Syria, the six-party talks with North Korea and the United States’ attempts to get the world to rally behind additional sanctions for Iran.

Whether or not the American media decides to appropriately cover those consequences will also be interesting. I’m guessing if (insert young Hollywood celebrity here) shows up to a party without underwear, we might be forced to check out foreign coverage for the results of this administration’s actions.

Jimmy Carter: Bigot?

Israel’s UN ambassador apparently doesn’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about former President Jimmy Carter. Carter, according to Ambassador Dan Gillerman, “went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas.”

This statement is a slander against both men’s hygiene habits. Carter, according to Gillerman, doesn’t wash his hands and Mashaal doesn’t wash his and now they both are sharing the germs they didn’t wash off originally.

Gillerman also called Carter “a bigot.” Carter was unavailable to be reached for comment so we’ll never know whether he understands he was called “a bigot” as opposed to a spigot, something I would imagine he’s used to being called.

Important Headlines

Last week, US contracted ships fired warning shots at boats off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf. Just another thing to keep an eye on.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) said she will be the best quarterback for America. Mel Kiper was unable to be reached for comment

There’s a Dutch bill out there that will ban magic mushrooms. Opposition to the bill is led by Mario and Luigi, two Italian plumbers who say such an effort will make it much more difficult to save the princess.

Florida lawmakers consider bill banning ornamental testicles. Uh, I don’t know what to add to that. I…I just don’t.

Law enforcement officials in Congo have arrested 13 who are accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men’s penises. Again, I don’t really know what to add to that.

What I'm Listening to on My Mp3 Player

Bob Dylan's 'Nettie Moore' off his "Modern Times" album. The album isn't as good as his last two, but it has a couple of his best songs ever, I'm thinking of 'Working Man's Blues #2.' Like the album before, 'Love and Theft,' a controversy emerged about the writing of the songs, namely that Dylan stole some of his lyrics from people who wrote lines that were very similar to those that appear in the songs. 'Nettie Moore' was one of those songs off the newest disc, though not as blatant as 'Working Man Blues,' which is actually kind of embarrassing how similar it is to the poet Ovid. Ovid also gets 'borrowed' from on other songs on the CD as well. If I were Ovid, I'd feel honored but he died in 17AD and CDs hadn't been invented yet.

What I Watched on Television Today

I watched the Braves lose to the Mets 6-3. I'll write something about that series and when I do, it'll be posted at http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/djwright.

Random Thoughts

I was sitting on my couch and I thought of Mr. T and I thought I remembered seeing that he was going to be in an upcoming TV show or in a movie but I knew that it might’ve been a dream, so I went to the computer, checked Internet Movie Database. Turns out he has nothing going right now. It’s sad. Mr. T’s receiving more work in my dreams than in real life

Somewhere, right now, someone is listening to 97.1 The River. My guess is an Eagles’ song is playing.

I did three sit-ups and then looked in the mirror this morning and I was happy with what I saw…until I realized I was actually looking at the television and watching The Smurfs.