Typical of this White House

"They will offer more lectures, and legalisms, and carefully worded denials. We offer another way, a better way, and a stiff dose of truth. "

Dick Cheney - 2000 Republican Convention Acceptance speech

More Neil Steinberg...

Let's try a little thought experiment, shall we?

I put a big bag containing $1 million in crisp new $100 bills in front of you and promise that it's yours if you correctly answer this question: What city hosted the summer Olympics in 2000? Only five years ago ... and a million bucks is yours ... could you do it? Me neither. Which is why, even before the London attacks, all of New York let out a collective sigh of relief after the International Olympic Committee, a scary bunch of Eurotrash if ever there was one, decided to hand it to London in 2012 — I bet they're looking forward to that now. I won't bother exploring the many other reasons New Yorkers are happy — money saved, inconvenience avoided, to name two.

But I will point out how superfluous the Olympics have become. Back before the Soviet Union fell apart, the Olympics had a certain dramatic tension — would we beat the Russkies? Was that East German lady weightlifter really a man?

Now they're just a cattle casting call for the next two years of Nike ads. Host the Olympics? I wouldn't even want to watch the Olympics. Think of the events. Swimming. Pole vaulting. The high jump. All fine activities — for high school and college athletes to participate in, and for their friends and families to watch. But for other people? Strangers? Did you ever say to yourself, "What I'd really like to do this weekend is watch a javelin toss?" Bet not. And I haven't even mentioned gymnastics. Those poor little girls. What kind of twisted parent would permit their child to toss away youth irretrievable trying to land a triple flip? Again, fine for a 5-year-old at the Parks Department. At the Olympic level, it's child abuse.

I won't keep you in suspense: Sydney, Australia, hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics. And no, you don't get $1 million if you knew the answer. I was being hypothetical.

Nice Quote

“It is important for families to hold together in the face of loss. They must cling to each other, despite the impulse not to, despite the differences that come welling up at unexpected moments such as these. The tendency over time is for a family to become a puddle, drying in the sun. When what it needs to be is a river, inevitably replenishing. The water rushes in, remains for too brief a span, then rushes away, irretrievable. That is sad. But the river remains, deathless, enduring. A refutation of death, to those who hold fast to it.”

Neil Steinberg

Greg Oden to Ohio State

It is a tough break, but this guy is only staying for a year as it is, so what’s the huge deal?

Davis bashers will use this as fuel, but unless OSU wins the championship, how are we really burned?

The biq question is: can we beat Duke at home?

Upset Special

Bracey Wright drafted by an NBA team!

He now has a few more weeks to get his passport and visa for Turkey.

Farewell to Polish Joe

Joe Borowski got released today. He was on the Score and showed LOTS of class. His arm may be dead, but he will hook on somewhere.

Good guy.

Idiot Cub Fans

Classic 2005 Cub Fan reaction last night: Corey makes the great catch and turns it into the double play. Of course, it was helped by another bad call by Joe West. Basically a makeup from an earlier terrible call against the Cubs.

Crowd roars and gives Corey a standing ovation. Baseball being what it is, he led off the next inning. Another standing ovation.

After striking out, the same "best fans in baseball" boo him lustily.

As Lee Elia said, "they talk about the great fucking support the players get around here. I haven't seen it this fucking year. They're really really behind you...my fucking ass."

The Right Fielder in Baltimore

It’s not yet July, and Sammy is getting booed at home in Baltimore. From Tom Boswell:

“There was a reason the home crowd razzed Sammy Sosa as he stranded five runners, went 0 for 4, grounded into a double play and booted a ball in the outfield to set up a Yankees run.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062800012.html?referrer=email

Some other funny quotes about his manager’s decision not to have him sacrifice bunt, and a familiar quote at the end about his current state of mind. Sammy pressing and trying only to hit home runs? Shocking!

Published again-ish

Some really interestingly good questions...especially the first one:

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/askthewriter/cs-050530paulsullivansanswers,1,5036095.story?coll=cs-cubs-ask-headlines

Andrew Sullivan's Correct Take on Durbin's Gitmo comments

I wish I were savvy enough just to put a link, but I am not.

When you read the account Durbin was citing you notice an important thing: the detainees were thoroughly dehumanized, robbed of any personal dignity, left in extremes of heat and cold, shackled, covered in their own urine and excrement, with one having apparently torn parts of his hair out, and left without food or water for up to 24 sleepless hours. Durbin could have quoted worse incidents - and there are many, far worse cases - but he wanted to ensure that his incident was testified by an FBI official. The moral question that Durbin is absolutely right to raise is a simple one: two years ago, would you have ever believed that the United States would be guilty of such a dehumanized treatment of a prisoner in its care? If the particulars had been changed, would you have believed that such a thing could have happened in a totalitarian regime's prison? Does the way in which human beings have been completely robbed of dignity, treated cruelly and turned figuratively into "barking dogs" shock your conscience? The moral question is not simply of degree - how widespread and systematic is this kind of inhumanity? It is of kind: is this the kind of behavior more associated with despots than with democracies? Of course it is. When a country starts treating its prisoners like animals, it has lost its moral bearings; and, in the case of the United States, is also breaking its own laws (and, in this case, the president has declared himself above the law). I don't know about Hugh Hewitt, Bill Kristol or NR, but I supported this war in large part because I wanted to end torture, abuse and cruelty in Iraq. I did not support it in order, two and a half years later, to be finding specious rhetorical justifications for torture, abuse and cruelty by Americans. I'm sick of hearing justifications that the enemy is worse. This is news? This is what now passes for analysis? They are far, far worse, among the most despicable and evil enemies we have ever faced. Our treatment of their prisoners is indeed Club Med compared to their fathomless barbarism. But since when is our moral compass set by them? The West is a civilization built on a very fragile web of law and humanity. We do not treat people in our custody as animals. We do not justify it. We do not change the subject. We do not accuse those highlighting it of aiding the enemy. We do not joke about it. We simply don't do it. This administration - by design, improvisation, desperation, arrogance, incompetence, and wilfull blindness - has enabled this to occur. They must be held accountable until this cancer is rooted out for good. It has metastasized enough already.