June 2007 Archives

Mika Brzezinski (Zbig's daughter) is winning tons of praise for refusing to read a story about Paris Hilton on MSNBC.

But isn't their resemblance ironic?

(Keep in mind that Mika is 14 years older than Paris.)

Unless Al Gore runs, I'm 95% sure my vote will be for John Edwards. Take a look at this appearance by his wife on Wolf Blitzer as just one example. Also look at recent polling data that shows Edwards as the strongest Democrat in a general election. And most importantly, he's actually got a comprehensive economic platform to strengthen the middle class and reduce poverty. In short, he's the Democrat's Democrat.

In today's Seattle Times, Larry Stone offers an apology:

Sorry to be a party pooper, but as rousing as the Griffey homecoming was, and as much as Griffey has meant to this organization, the M's need to evaluate their upcoming personnel moves divorced from the emotional tugs of a magical weekend.

He goes on to argue, without offering much evidence, that what the Mariners need is another pitcher, not another hitter. Here's the evidence he offers:

Heading into Monday's game against Boston, the Mariners had produced 5.01 runs per game. The mighty Red Sox, percolating along with baseball's best record, had scored 5.05 runs per game, a barely perceptible difference.

That's really not a great argument. First of all, the Mariners are primarily chasing a wild card spot, and certainly not the top spot in the AL East. As we learned in 2001, you need a team set up for the playoffs, not just the regular season. To succeed in the playoffs, you need 3 or 4 good starters -- which the Mariners certainly have. Unless we're talking about getting a pitcher who is a true top of rotation guy, an outstanding regular like Ken Griffey, Jr. provides more value.

Secondly, the Mariners pitching may staff may have already received a huge upgrade as both Jeff Weaver and Felix Hernandez appear to be returning to form. (We'll see after tonight's game versus the Red Sox.)

The Mariners are currently 40-33. They rank 6 of 14 in runs scored per game and 11 of 14 in runs allowed per game. Clearly, they have a decent offense (in fact, it's a little better than the Red Sox, despite Stone's claim otherwise).

But while the Mariners pitching has been a sore spot, it's worth looking under the hood. Before Jeff Weaver went on the DL, the Mariners lost all six games that he had started. They are 2-1 since his return, during which time he's allowed 4 runs in 19.2 innings. Moreover, the curious decision to start a rookie during Junior's homecoming resulted in a 16-1 loss. The Mariners are 40-26 in all their other games, allowing 4.47 runs per game -- good enough for 4th best in the American League.

In other words, the Mariners pitching stats are heavily skewed by Jeff Weaver's historically awful start and Mike Hargrove's stupid decision to start a rookie in the highest profile Mariners regular season game since 1995.

If both Weaver and Hernandez continue to pitch well, the Mariners should actually have a decent starting staff with 3 pitchers -- good enough for giving the team a shot in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Mariners, a boring, listless squad, could benefit from a player with Griffey's persona, not to mention his bat. Only Richie Sexson has more than 10 dingers, and his batting average is a joke, almost not printable -- a totally obscene .212. He may end up as the first player in baseball history to have more strikeouts than at bats (sic).

Finally, it would just be fun to have Junior back in town. Baseball is about having fun. The fact that he'd probably help the team more than the addition of another arm (unless it's we're talking about a true #1 or #2 pitcher) is an added bonus.

Larry Stone has a lot of baseball knowledge, and I'm sure he's a great guy, but on this topic he not only wrong, he doesn't understand what it means to be a Seattle Mariners fan.

I was just up in Seattle for three days, including three Mariners games. It was great seeing friends and family -- but it was also pretty wonderful seeing Ken Griffey, Jr. take the field once again at Safeco, belting two homers, including a mammoth shot to right field.

There's been much speculation about whether Junior will or will not return one day to the Mariners. I would love to see him return, but I'll leave that debate to others.

Two things really struck me.

First, this weekend was by far the most enjoyable weekend of Mariners baseball I've experienced since 2001. I think it says something about how well (or how poorly) the Mariners have been managed over the last five or so years that the most fun that was had at Safeco Field came when an opposing player made his return to the ballpark.

Second, I've never seen anything weirder as a sports fan than the sight of 46,000 fans rooting for a player on the opposite team, even feeling joy when that player hits a home run to put their team down 2 runs to nothing. I think it underscores the biggest problem baseball has: its financial system, especially free agency. Two teams really stand out in Mariners history: the 1995 Mariners and the 2001 Mariners. Aside from Ichiro, the 2007 Mariners bear absolutely no resemblance to either of those two teams. Even Junior only played on the 1995 squad, giving us the iconic Seattle baseball moment when he slid into home after Edgar's double ("I can't believe it, the Mariners are going to play for the American League pennant!").

It's a real problem for baseball and for the Mariners that there is such little continuity between clubs. People want to root for more than just a uniform. Both football and basketball have better systems -- hopefully baseball will one day recognize the problem and fix it.

p.s.: It was really nice seeing Hargrove get thrown out of the game on Friday, finally showing some emotion. Hopefully he was pissed off not just at the umpires but at the fans for not only praising Junior but booing our own pitcher when he threw over to first with Junior at the plate. If so, it would show to me for the first time that Hargrove has some passion for the Mariners ballclub. It's obvious that while Mariners fans root for their team, their passion is not for the team's present, but rather its past. Its up to Hargrove, at least for now, to get fans excited again about the current crop of players.

Nothing like a like a line like this to calm the fretting of Mariners fans:

8 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 9 SO

Those numbers come from Felix Hernandez in his first dominant performance since the beginning of the season. Granted, at home against the Pirates who are tied for the 3rd worst offense in baseball, but I'll take it nonetheless.

Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come.

I was playing poker this weekend at The Venetian (I know, big shock). At my table was a guy from Florida with his wife or girlfriend (she was a pretty good player). Anyway, as the hours began to get early, he announced their penultimate hands. It's the first time I had ever heard that word used at a poker table, and he used it correctly (being UTG+1). Paul Phillips would have been proud.

The punchline of this story is that although he used the word correctly (as evidenced by his intent while being UTG+1), he never should have used it in the first place, as he ended up staying a few more laps, during which time (if memory serves) I bluffed him off a nice little pot with Tc5c.

The Felix Hernandez situation is just horrible. He's got another start scheduled for Thursday (one day before I head up Seattle to watch Junior play in Seattle for the first time in 8 years).

Since his outstanding first two games, he's had 8 starts, going 1-4 with a 6.63 ERA, averaging just under 5 innings per start. His WHIP is 2.03 which is really terrible.

He's still striking batters out (more than 1 per inning pitches), but he's letting too many runners reach base. You cannot be a successful major league pitcher with a WHIP over 2, no matter how many batters you strike out.

I hope these statistics simply reflect a young pitcher who is pitching tentatively, scared about the possibility of reinjuring his arm. I suspect, however, that he's still injured, and that we will never see the King Felix that we once expected, no matter what the organization says.

The only thing that gives me hope is that his slump could just reflect youthful arrogance -- he may not yet understand the importance of pitch location. (It also could reflect poor pitch calling by Johjima.) I'm not a big fan of Mike Hargrove, but his comments after Felix's last start support this idea:

"His command is just not where it was before he went on the disabled list," Hargrove said. "His stuff's still good, it's just that he needs to locate it better."

In other words, throwing three-quarters of his pitches inside the strike zone isn't a very good idea. Not when Hernandez keeps leaving them in the middle of the plate, missing his targets both on the inside and outside corners as well as down low.

"I don't care how hard you throw or how good your stuff is," Hargrove said. "If you don't locate it consistently, major-league hitters are going to hit you, and that's what we've seen happening with Felix."

I'm hoping that he's right. But I don't he is.

Thing is, not all of Hernandez's "stuff" has been good. His two-seam fastball sure isn't the same as it was back when he reeled off those season-opening wins.

"My two-seamer was working better than now," Hernandez said. "Now, I haven't got nothing.

"I still don't have it in the bullpen, either," he added. That's tough on a pitcher trying to establish his fastball early in games. Four of the Astros' first five batters notched hits off Hernandez.

The Mariners haven't had very good luck with young pitchers. It seems that history continues to haunt them.

Cool things you find on political blogs:

I've come to the conclusion that the mainstream media is Al Qaeda's YouTube. Terrorism sells (or at least the MSM thinks it does), so anytime Al Qaeda wants to reach out and scare someone, all they need to do is a "upload" a video to the lapdogs in the American press corps.

Last night, ABC became the latest network to subject Americans to terrorist propaganda when Charlie Gibson warned us of this "sobering development" in Afghanistan:

ABC News has obtained pictures from Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan of a Taliban graduation -- young foot soldiers being sent into battle against the U.S. and other western nations.

Gibson said the video showed "pictures of terrorist recruits being sent off on suicide missions around the world."

The video turned out to be a terrorist propaganda film.

The strange part? ABC knew it was terrorist propaganda all along -- yet still hyped the video, offering virtually no evidence supporting its central claims.

After Brian Ross finished reading his "report" on the video, Gibson asked an important question:

Is it released for any other purpose than to try to scare people, I guess, in the west?

Ross replied:

Clearly, Charlie, it's a propaganda event. We can see on the tape other camera men roaming around from the Al Qaeda propaganda operation.

If it's a propaganda event, why show it?

This is sort of funny: GOP gives standing ovation to Ala. senator who punched Dem.

I hope this post turns out to have not been important.

Senator Harry Reid:

My staff told me to make sure that I stayed away from presidential politics today. And I’m going to do that. Other — I’ve learned one thing in listening to all the debates and reading about all these people running for office, and the one fact I’ve learned, I can’t get out of my mind, is that Rudy Giuliani has been married more times than Mitt Romney’s been hunting.

Here's a montage I put together of every question answered by Barack Obama at the last Democratic Presidential debate.

Today while watching Fox News Sunday, I got an idea: it would be interesting to watch the interview portion of the program without the guests.

What in the world do I mean? It's simple: the questions Chris Wallace asks his guests expose his Republican bias. For example, on today's show he practically verbally fellated Tony Snow before picking fight after fight with Dick Durbin.

Since I record all my TV on a computer, I figured this wouldn't be a difficult task. Here's what I came up with:

It turned out to be a relatively easy project, but there was a bit of a learning curve, so it took me about three hours (yikes!). In the future, I suspect it would take me about twice as long as the clip I'm editing. Also, for this video, I used a trial version of Adobe Premier Elements, so you'll see a little Adobe logo in the upper right hand corner of the video.

Let me know if you thought this video was useful -- I might pull together some more of these in the future.

Genarlow Wilson was freed today. Amazingly, however, the prosecutor will appeal the Georgia court's ruling.

I loved the series finale of The Sopranos (appropriately, it was episode 86). I suspect that many people were disappointed, as the final scene was quite jarring and not immediately satisfying. I do think, however, that over time the brilliance of the ending will be recognized.

I just read a critic who seemed to think that the episode was a joke on the audience.

I couldn't disagree more. I think the episode actually allows the audience to come to their own conclusions about what happens. Every work of fiction is of course created by someone whose imagination has been inspired, but great fiction also inspires the imagination of its audience. If you knew every single detail about every single character in a book or movie, you'd be bored out of your mind; fiction actually depends on its audience to fill in the blanks.

For example, one scenario I imagine is this: Tony gets shot by the guy who entered the bathroom. AJ witnesses the murder is inspired to follow in his dad's footsteps, as was Michael Corleone in The Godfather after his father was shot and his brother murdered. (That cat is an obvious Godfather reference.)

But I can just as easily imagine a scenario in which that guy is just a creepy lonely guy who was staring at Carmella. I mean don't you think a hit man would be smart enough to avoid leering?

The Journey song was perhaps a bit heavy-handed ("Don't Stop Believing", ending on Don't Stop, though we all heard "Believing" echoing in our head despite the abrupt silence and black screen), but the entire episode seemed to revolve around the idea that the our notions of a beginning and an end are perhaps too simplistic. The last thing Tony does before meeting his wife and children at the diner is visit with the last surviving member of the previous generation. While at a meeting with his son's psychiatrist, Tony talks about his own childhood.

I had been public rooting for Tony to get clipped on the theory that it would make sure there is never a Godfather III-style Sopranos movie disaster. But once the episode started, I realized that I didn't want him to die.

It's odd now, part of me still wonders "what happened" after the ending, but I have to remember that whatever really happened, happened in my head (and your head). That's kind of cool. We now each own our little piece of the Sopranos story.

The Democratic Party faces another moral challenge this week as it considers whether to allow Hans Spakovsky to remain on the Federal Election Commission. Spakovsky, a leading player in the Republican Party's vote suppression operation, was a recess appointment by Bush and his merry band of white nationalists.

Will the Democratic Party kiss conservative ass as it has repeatedly done on Iraq, or will it finally act in its own political self interest, and do the right thing? Rejecting Spakovsky will deal a blow to the right-wing's racist policy of vote suppression.

It's a civil rights litmus test if there ever was one.

h/t: Too Sense

You probably know that John Edwards recently got a premium haircut that was extra-expensive because the stylist had to travel to him and unless you've been on Mars you certainly know there were no WMDs in Iraq when the Republican War in Iraq started.

But did you know that if you know both of these facts you are pretty unusual? The Fox News propaganda network reveals that 44% of Americans are aware that Edwards gets his hair cut by a good hair stylist. Meanwhile, as of last July, 50% of Americans thought that Iraq had WMDs before Bush launched his invasion.

The Republican media propaganda network has presented the haircut as an example of Edwards being out of touch with America. Blow-dried NBC anchor Brian Williams (who lists himself as a member of Rush Limbaugh's radio audience) even asked Edwards about it at a presidential debate!

Meanwhile, when Rudy Giuliani's campaign cancels a media appearance with a family because they aren't wealthy enough to help Giuliani project his message, the mass media is silent.

The question nobody has really raised, however, is whether Edwards' concern for his appearance is rational. Let's face it, if voters are more likely to elect someone who looks good (and has nice hair), maybe Edwards is just being smart.

The 1960 presidential election is generally considered to be the first contest of the television era in which looks could play a role in winning votes. So let's look at pictures of the candidates:

You see? The candidate with better hair has won every single Presidential election from 1960 to present. We're talking about 12 campaigns, which is no sample size. (1964, 1988, and 2004 might have been draws in the hair department and Al Gore did get more votes than Bush in 2000.)

So what would you rather have: a candidate for your political party that tries to look good on TV, or a President who invades a country based on false claims of WMDs, only to joke about it later?

Harrah's has welcomed Richard Brodie back to the WSOP, which is good news for him, but I still can't understand why they still won't allow a recreational player to play video poker in their establishments. There's nothing dumber than stopping someone from playing when the odds are in your favor and you've got deep pockets.

The Quiet Lion's return to the WSOP reminds me that his blog is the first place I learned about last year's WSOP main event chip scandal: 2.2 million chips were inadvertently slipped into play at the end of the event. (More here and here.) Reports suggest that things this year aren't offer a great start, either.

Little Green Footballs exposes its TDS as it defensively pimps an anonymous government source who claims (without offering specifics) that the JFK plot probe is widening (everybody in the real world knows that it has been overhyped).

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sounds off on the terrorist threat in the aftermath of the JFK plot:

(CBS) NEW YORK While questions continue to arise about the alleged plot to blow up a fuel pipeline beneath JFK Airport and surrounding neighborhoods, some are questioning why New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't had a louder voice since the plot was foiled on Saturday.

On Monday, Bloomberg finally weighed in, but his response was not what some would have expected.

"There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life," he said.

That "What, me worry?" attitude pretty much sums up Bloomberg's advice to New Yorkers on the terror plot. As far as he was concerned, the professionals were on it, so New Yorkers shouldn't let it tax their brains.

"You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist," he added.

Richard Brodie says he was banned from all Harrah's properties because he managed to win at video poker (the consequence of luck, not skill and not cheating).

I also heard a story that a guy witnessed a casino manager at The Venetian close a craps table because the guy rolling the dice was winning too much. I didn't believe the story about the craps table, but I do believe Richard -- which makes me wonder if the craps story is true.

Whatever the case, if you're a casino manager and you stop a recreational gambler from gambling, you're the stupidest person in the world.

UPDATE: There's intelligent life at Harrah's after all. Brodie can play.

(Via atrios) The lapdog MSM figures out a way to keep the JFK story alive. Wanna' bet against them getting suckered in again next time?

Credibility of JFK terror case questioned
BY CAROL EISENBERG

June 6, 2007

When U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf described the alleged terror plot to blow up Kennedy Airport as "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," which might have caused "unthinkable" devastation, one law enforcement official said he cringed.

The plot, he knew, was never operational. The public had never been at risk. And the notion of blowing up the airport, let alone the borough of Queens, by exploding a fuel tank was in all likelihood a technical impossibility.

And now, with a portrait emerging of alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas as hapless and episodically homeless, and of co-conspirator Abdel Nur as a drug addict, Mauskopf's initial characterizations seem more questionable -- some go so far as to say hyped.

"I think her comments were over the top," said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland. "It was a totally overstated characterization that doesn't comport with the facts."

Greenberger said he has no argument with police pursuing and stopping the alleged plotters.

"I think they were correct to take this seriously," he said. "... But there's a pattern here of Justice Department attorneys overstating what they have. I think they feel under tremendous pressure to vindicate the elaborate counterterrorism structure they've created since 9/11, including the Patriot Act."

Mauskopf declined to comment Tuesday, but Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) dismissed criticism of law enforcement as "the price of success when you haven't been attacked in six years. We've gone from criticizing them for not doing enough immediately after 9/11 to now criticizing them too much."

It's telling that the leader of the prosecution refuses to comment on article challenging the credibility of her claims that the plot was "chilling." It's not like she doesn't want to talk to the press in general -- just three days ago she held a press conference on the indictments.

At least all this baloney is keeping Jon Stewart's ratings up:

I think this was a great answer.

On Sunday, Brit Hume used the racist slur "spear chucker" on the nationally broadcast Fox News Sunday program.

I think he should be fired by Fox News for his comment, but many people disagree, arguing that Hume must have been unaware that "spear chucker" is a racist epithet used to demean blacks.

But Brit Hume is completely aware of the term's meaning. As duha at Daily Kos points out, Hume wrote an article about the phrase last year.

Columnist Creates Uproar With Racial Epithet to Describe Colin Powell

Monday, May 15, 2006

By Brit Hume

A newspaper columnist in Ohio has created an uproar among readers who objected to his use of a racial epithet to describe former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In a column attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell, The Cleveland Plain Dealer's liberal Metro columnist Sam Fullwood wrote that Powell "flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war."

Fuller, who is himself black, admits that he deliberately used "provocative, incendiary — but not hurtful — language" to "get people engaged," but says he doesn't consider the term to be offensive.

So Brit Hume says -- in his own words, not mine nor anybody else's -- that "spear chucker" is a "racial epithet."

And he uses that very same racist epithet on the air to describe a political opponent.

I know it is hard to believe that Brit Hume would use a racist slur on national television, but arguing that "he wouldn't say that" is a difficult task when in fact he actually did say that -- and he knew what he meant.

Fox News is an overtly racist network. We shouldn't let Brit Hume off the hook.

If this is true, I think it is fair to say that the Bush Administration has redefined lunacy.

The day after FOX News anchor Brit Hume used a racist slur to describe a Democrat, a different FOX news anchor announced the indictment of Rep. William Jefferson (who is black) while running B-roll of Rep. John Conyers (who is also black).

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is on the case:

As you know Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-LA) was indicted today on 16 counts of public corruption. See this link for TPMmuckraker's coverage of the case.

But apparently Fox News Channel can't tell one African-American member of Congress from another, in this case Rep. Jefferson from Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee ...

Not surprising coming from the network of Brit "I like slinging racist slurs" Hume.

Update: Maybe I'm being unreasonable. After all, Conyers, on the left, is almost a mirror image of Jefferson, on the right (sic). Even their hairstyle and mustaches are similar.

Update II: Here's Fox's limp apology. I didn't expect much from them, but at least they could have explained how in the world they made the mistake.

dnA at Too Sense has posted a hilarious Richard Pryor/Chevy Chase clip that should give you some insight into Brit Hume's use of a racist slur.

Brit Hume has crossed a line that no network news anchor should be allowed to cross: he used a racial slur to describe a political adversary of Senator Fred Thompson.

On June 3rd's FOX News Sunday, Hume called former Senator John Glenn a "spear chucker" which the Urban Dictionary defines as a synonym for the N-word. Here are first two Google links for the epithet:

Spear chucker: A derogatory phrase for a black male...

Spearchucker: a black person, aluding to native hunters in Africa

This is an open and shut matter. It is completely unacceptable for a news anchor to use this kind of derogatory language, especially when his network has a track record of overt racism.

Please contact FOX News and ask for Brit Hume's immediate dismissal.

Here's an example of FOX's outrageously racist programming:

Update: A friend just e-mailed me asking whether I thought the fact that Glenn is white mitigates what Hume said. My answer was no -- imagine if Hume had said "You wouldn't normally expect Duke Cunningham to be a Willie Horton, but he did get sentenced to 8 years in jail." It's also true that Hume's statement does not make a whole lot of sense, but that is pretty typical for him.

Update II: Brit Hume is completely aware of the meaning of the phrase. In 2006, he wrote a column about the phrase, calling it a "racial epithet." (Courtesy of duha at Daily Kos.)

Columnist Creates Uproar With Racial Epithet to Describe Colin Powell

Monday, May 15, 2006

By Brit Hume

A newspaper columnist in Ohio has created an uproar among readers who objected to his use of a racial epithet to describe former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In a column attacking Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell, The Cleveland Plain Dealer's liberal Metro columnist Sam Fullwood wrote that Powell "flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war."

Fuller, who is himself black, admits that he deliberately used "provocative, incendiary — but not hurtful — language" to "get people engaged," but says he doesn't consider the term to be offensive.

Words can't express how mind-bogglingly amazing it is to read this (emphasis added):

JFK TERROR PLOT: three under arrest; Feds: Anger fueled airport bomb plot
BY TOM INCANTALUPO

Newsday, June 3, 2007

The alleged plot to blow up Kennedy Airport's fuel system, intended to be more destructive and deadly than the Sept. 11 attacks, was driven by a deep-seated hatred of the United States and the West and now spotlights the Caribbean as another region of the world that increasingly poses a terrorism threat.

Newsday and other media outlets that relentlessly promote crap like this ought to be ashamed of themselves. Instead, their mangers count revenues from increased viewership and readership generated by sensationalizing the terrorist threat.

After nearly seven years of uninterrupted bull from the Bush Administration, it's pretty obvious that every single utterance it offers should be assumed false until proven otherwise.

Yet the MSM is largely lapdogging over this whole JFK plot, which is a clear case of mega-hype. The central villain is a 63 year-old American identified by a convicted drug felon who had no means to execute the plot and was described by one of the law enforcement officials as a "sad old guy." Apparently, this "chilling" terrorist plot was led by someone "who sells books on street corners and exports broken air-conditioners to Guyana."

I think the reason MSM does this is that terror sells: 24 is the best drama on broadcast TV, and whenever the news can offer a Jack Bauer-like scenario, it figures its ratings and circulation will increase. The medium is the message; OJ Simpson's trial never would have been the story that it became before cable news networks and televised trials.

Now, since terror instills fear, is exciting, and sells television ads and newspaper copies, the media has mostly abandoned its responsibility to tell the truth.

Fortunately, the structural problems inherent in our media system can be overcome through the internet. One of the most frequent attacks on blogs is that you can't trust them to tell you the truth. That critique has some merit, but compared to the mainstream media, blogs and internet-based journalists are the fountain of truth.

Felix Hernandez is scheduled to start tonight for the Mariners. It will be his fifth start since going on the disable list in April.

During Felix's first two starts this season, it appeared that he had finally fulfilled his promise and emerged as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. He struck out 18 over his first 17 innings, allowing just 8 baserunners and no runs.

But a pitcher's health is a fickle thing, and Felix hurt himself during his third start, pitching just one-third of an inning and giving up three earned runs. He was on the disabled list for nearly a month and since returning has given up 14 earned runs over 20 innings pitched for an ERA of 6.30. He's average just 5 innings per start, and has a record of 1-2. His WHIP is 2.0 (up from ~0.5). He's averaged one fly ball per inning (up from .75 in 2006), and is averaging 18 pitches an inning (up from 16 in 2006).

In his last start, Felix pitched six innings, giving up three home runs and seven earned runs.

I certainly hope he'll be able to turn things around, but I'm a bit pessimistic. I remember reading somewhere that pitchers who get hurt before the age of 23 have a much harder time recovering than ones who get hurt after the age of 23. Felix is 21 and has been throwing a slider, which is very tough on the arm, for years.

After Felix got injured, I asked a gambling friend of mine what odds he'd give me if I were to bet against Felix ever winning 10 games in a season, or, more cautiously, 15. He still hasn't given me an answer. Regardless, it's the beginning of the third month of the six month season and Felix already has three wins. Hopefully, after tonight's game, he'll have four. But I still wouldn't bet heavily on him getting 10 and certainly not 15.

This weekend, the Bush Administration highlighted its latest domestic anti-terrorist success: the apprehension of a 63 year-old American, Russell Defreitas, who plotted to blow up JFK airport.

How serious was this plot? Here's the government's view:

''The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable,'' U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it ''one of the most chilling plots imaginable.''

Or was it a tad less serious? Here's a more sober assessment:

Much of the U.S. government's case is built on information obtained with the help of an FBI informant who is not named in the complaint but is described as having been convicted of federal drug trafficking and criminal-conspiracy charges. The informant's sentence for his latest conviction "is pending as part of his cooperation agreement with the government," according to the complaint filed Friday and unsealed Saturday.

Defreitas "had some ideas" about what he wanted to do, said the U.S. law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But he was a long way of from being operational or even coming close to getting explosives or posing a direct threat to JFK." The official characterized the seriousness of the plot as "a notch below Fort Dix" — the recent case in which a group of Muslim men in New Jersey were charged with planning a sniper attack on the military base.

A notch below the Fort Dix Six? Good lord. These are the guys who planned to assault a damn fort with a couple of firearms. They trained with paintball guns and they got caught when they tried to burn a DVD at a local Circuit City store. That didn't stop Brian Williams from bloviating:

Good evening. A lot of government officials from the president on down have hinted over the years that if we ever really knew about all the unsubstantiated national security threats that are out there, we'd never leave our homes in the morning.  Of course most of those threats pass without us ever knowing about them, but this morning as millions of Americans were leaving home for work they heard about this story...six young men in their twenties, accused of planning to shoot up...Fort Dix in New Jersey. The FBI says this was a case of home grown terrorism inspired by the internet and thankfully foiled.

The corrupt new television news establishment, its meager intellectual talents already depleted by the the influx of its weekend crews, presented the JFK plot as confirmation of Brian Williams' poetry.

The L.A. Times, however, did some decent reporting.

...the scheme was so nascent that there was no developed plan for how the plotters would get explosives, let alone gain access to the tanks and pipelines they hoped to target

...officials downplayed the danger to travelers, stressing that the plot was far from 'operational' and that there was no intelligence to suggest an imminent threat in the United States. Officials also said there was no indication of any links to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

...The main figure in the alleged plot was identified as Russell Defreitas, a 63-year-old U.S. citizen from Guyana who worked at JFK handling cargo until 1995. He was arrested at a Brooklyn diner Friday night. Two other suspects were said to be in custody in Trinidad, while a fourth remained at large. ... a federal law-enforcement official said the suspect seemed more like a "sad old guy who's got a lot of spit and vinegar in him."

...

The case is the latest in a series of alleged domestic terrorist threats involving Muslims residing legally in the United States, including one last month targeting the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey.

And it appears to carry some of the same complications of those earlier investigations and prosecutions — including the reliance on a paid FBI informant with a lengthy criminal record, and questions about some of the alleged plotters' intentions and capabilities.

It seems like our nation's leaders are up to their same old tricks. They got some guys who wanted to do bad, for sure, but this not a case of Jack Bauer-style heroism.

It would seem quite obvious that even though these guys might not have had the capacity to carry-out such a dastardly plan, their plan would have had a devastating impact. Yet the Los Angeles Times debunks that myth as well:

Alleged plot's damage would have been limited
Jet fuel doesn't explode easily, experts say, and fire would not have spread along airport pipelines.

By Megan Garvey, Times Staff Writer
June 3, 2007

The premise is right out of a disaster movie: Ignite the massive fuel tanks required to keep an international airport up and running each day, stand back, and watch a chain reaction of explosions throughout the labyrinth of pipelines running underneath the tarmac.

But aviation experts cautioned Saturday that the alleged plot targeting John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York would have faced many hurdles, not least of which is the fact that jet fuel does not easily explode.

"The level of catastrophe that may be created is much more limited than most people would expect," said Rafi Ron, former head of security at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport. "The fuel that we are talking about is mostly jet fuel, which, unlike the gasoline most people put into their cars, is not that susceptible to explosion."

It is nearly impossible to escape the conclusion that the Bush Administration is once again lying to us about the domestic threats posed by terrorism. Even more galling, they are simultaneously weakening our national security by fighting the war without end in Iraq, which is now well on its way towards claiming four thousand American lives.

This is a good time to remember that on August 6, 2001, President Bush and his national security team were warned about 9/11 and did nothing to stop it. In a daily briefing from the intelligence community to the president, the Bush Administration was told:

Bin Laden determined to strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. ... The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S. ... Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in ---, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack. Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. ... FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.

Of course, the warnings were ignored and we all know what happened one month later.

But this presidential briefing should remind us that terrorists like Ahmed Ressam, of whom most Americans have never heard, and the 9/11 hijackers are the real terrorist enemy.

On the other hand, to the best I can tell, jokers like the ones apprehended this weekend, the Fort Dix Six, and the Seas of David cultists are all just a bunch of wannabes.

It's enough to make you ask: is there still a terrorist threat?

The 38th World Series of Poker has finally (sic) begun -- a little more than nine and a half months after the 37th WSOP concluded. It used to be that the WSOP was held every April, but beginning in 2005, it was moved to July. Now, apparently, it's been moved to June. Let's hope they quit changing the date around...one of this days, I might actually play in the main event.

The first event was a $5k mixed Hold 'em event, but the first huge-field event was the $1,500 no-limit event which began yesterday. 2,998 players entered, up from 2,776 last year, an 8% increase. This year's first event was on Saturday, compared to last year's on a Tuesday.

The second big-field event was $1,500 pot-limit. There was a huge drop-off from last year's numbers: the field size shrunk by 30%. There were 780 players in Sunday's event, compared with 1,102 in last year's event, which started on a Wednesday.

Even though the decline of the pot-limit event is disappointing, 780 players is still huge. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the WSOP plays out, especially in light of the declining rate of growth in poker's revenue and the absolute decline in the number of poker players.

Meanwhile, the field size at the WPT's Mandalay Bay $10k event, which overlapped with the start of the WSOP, shrunk dramatically, from 346 players this year down to 228 last year, a 34% drop. The first WPT event of the new season was the Mirage Poker Showdown which drew 309 players, down 20% from last year's 384 entrants.

The Washington Times reports:

RNC faces donor falloff, fires solicitors

The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, The Washington Times has learned.

Faced with an estimated 40 percent falloff in small-donor contributions and aging phone-bank equipment that the RNC said would cost too much to update, Anne Hathaway, the committee's chief of staff, summoned the solicitations staff and told them they were out of work, effective immediately, fired staff members told The Times.

Several of the solicitors fired at the May 24 meeting reported declining contributions and a donor backlash against the immigration proposals now being pushed by Mr. Bush and Senate Republicans.

Every donor in 50 states we reached has been angry, especially in the last month and a half, and for 99 percent of them immigration is the No. 1 issue," said a fired phone bank employee who said the severance pay the RNC agreed to pay him was contingent on his not criticizing the national committee.

Is it possible that as nutty as George W. Bush obviously is, the core Republican base is even nuttier?

Today is my younger sister Lily's birthday, tomorrow is my mom's birthday, and the day after that is my slightly-less younger sister Emma's birthday.

Yesterday my cousin Randy got a full-time job working for Microsoft, which is really exciting for me because it means steady access to discounts from their employee store.

I've also now extended my streak in cashless tournaments at the Venetian to 17, but I've now also won in 7 straight cash sessions ($3,028, $420, $95, $540, $228, $385, $808).

The Mariners still haven't won my confidence yet, but they've finally scored more runs than they've allowed, which indicates that they might actually be a decent, if not great team, certainly better than the Yankees have been and hopefully will be. I've gotten bored with the NBA in recent years mostly because the Sonics have sucked, but between LeBron James finally stepping into his own and their opportunity to draft Kevin Durant, I'm looking forward to becoming a fair-weather fan again.