Everybody Loves Reyes

Not to impede on the territory of Toasty Joe, but there's a cool article in this week's Sports Illustrated about how the NL East is now home to the three best shortstops in baseball: Hanley Rameriez, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins:

Rollins, Reyes and Ramirez represent the next step in the evolution of the shortstop, from speedy, slick-fielding slap hitter (Phil Rizzuto, Luis Aparicio, Ozzie Smith), to thickly built slugger (Cal Ripken Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada), to an even more versatile, physically explosive prototype. "They're unbelievably athletic, freakishly strong and fast," says Uggla of the NL East trio. "They have a lot of power, but they use their speed and gap shots to get on base." Through Monday they were on pace to average .339, with 232 hits, 46 doubles, 34 homers, 66 stolen bases and an astonishing 177 runs scored apiece.

The never modest Rollins though, put himself as the best of the bunch in terms of present value:

"It's probably me, Reyes and then Hanley," he says.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see who gets the nod for starting NL shortstop at this year's all-star game. My money is on Reyes.

Iranian Nose-Thumbing

Iran took out an advertisement in the April 20th edition of the International Herald Tribune seeking contract bids for two large scale nuclear power plants. From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:

The ad...includes an e-mail address for a "Mr. Esmaeili," the address of Iran's Permanent Mission to the U.N. in Vienna, and a bank-account number at Austria Bank-Creditanstalt, complete with SWIFT code, for interested bidders to pay a nonrefundable fee for a set of bidding specifications. The ad further spells out that any ensuing bids are to be accompanied by a bid bond, all leading to the appointed day, Aug. 8, when the bids are to be opened at Atomic Energy Organization of Iran headquarters in Tehran.

The ad includes a telephone number in Austria. I phoned yesterday and reached a man, who in broken English, gave me the number of the Iranian ambassador's office at Iran's Permanent Mission to the U.N. in Vienna. A polite woman answered, and confirmed, in good English, that, yes, the ad was genuine.

The International Tribue is owned by the New York Times and reaches more than 240,000 readers in more than 180 countries. According to The Jerusalem Post, a similar ad also ran in the Financial Times on April 25.

Gridlock

The Foreign Minister of Iraq, Hoshyar Zebari, has written a heart-felt pieces in today's Washington Times pleading for the world not abandon them:

Last weekend a traffic jam several miles long snaked out of the Mansour district in western Baghdad. The delay stemmed not from a car bomb closing the road but from a queue to enter the city's central amusement park. The line became so long some families left their cars and walked to enjoy picnics, fairground rides and soccer, the Iraqi national obsession.

Across the city, restaurants are slowly filling and shops are reopening. The streets are busy. Iraqis are not cowering indoors. The appalling death tolls from suicide attacks are often high because of crowding at markets. These days you are as likely to hear complaints about traffic congestion as about the security situation....

So why should the world remain engaged in Iraq?

There is no denying the difficulties Iraq faces, and no amount of good news can obscure the demons of terrorism and sectarianism that have risen in my country. But there is too much at stake to risk failure, and everything to gain by helping us protect our hard-won democratic achievements and emerge as a stable, self-sustaining country....

The Baghdad security plan was conceived to give us breathing space to expedite political and economic development by "securing and holding" neighborhoods across the capital. There is no quick fix, but there have been real results: Winning public confidence has led to a spike in intelligence, a disruption of terrorist networks and the capture of key leaders, as well as the discovery of weapons caches. In Anbar province, Sunni sheikhs and insurgents have turned against al-Qaeda and to the side of Iraqi security forces. This would have been unthinkable even six months ago....

Contrary to popular belief, most government ministries are located outside the Green Zone, and employees drive to work every day despite death threats and attacks on colleagues and families. We government ministers are always at risk of assassination. When a suicide bomber attacked parliament last month, the legislators sat in defiance in an extraordinary session the following day. I am particularly inspired by the commitment of the young diplomats in the Foreign Ministry, a diverse mix of Sunni, Shiite, Christian, Arab and Kurdish men and women who serve their country without subscribing to religious or sectarian divisions.

Only with continued international commitment and deeper engagement from our neighbors can we establish a stable democratic, federal and united Iraq. The world should not abandon us.

"We get to the top and I start crying"

Ever wonder what'd be like to drop acid, smoke crack and then go on a roller coaster? Apparently, it's not very fun.

Set Your DVRs

This Sunday at 9pm, NBC is airing a two-hour documentary looking back at Saturday Night Live in the 1990s. The previous specials on the 70s and 80s were excellent, as they were through the decade year by year, speaking with the writers, cast and guests of the time.

Having gone to high school and college throughout the '90s, this era sticks in my memory the most, with cast members such as: Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Norm MacDonald, Phil Hartman, Cheri Oteri, David Spade, Tim Meadows, Will Ferrll, Chris Farley and Dana Carvey.

My brother, my friend Sean, and I may be the last people over 21 still watching SNL every week (the cast these days is excellent and perhaps as good as its ever been. The writing...not so much).

Anyone have a favorite sketch from the 1990s?

This Capitol City of The Wise and the Witty!

Stephen Colbert's performance at last year's White House Association Correspondent's dinner, where Presidents are traditionally roasted, was deemed a bit too biting by the administration ("Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias."). To remedy the situation, this year the White House brought in a conservative comedian, Rich Little.

It's like something out of the Simpsons. And yes, it's from this year's dinner. In 2007:

News of the Day

Pakistan downplays radioactive ad:

Pakistan's nuclear authority has said there is no cause for concern after it published press adverts for information on "lost" radioactive material.

The adverts urged members of the public to inform officials if they found any "lost or stolen" radioactive material.

They were published in major Urdu-language newspapers in Pakistan.

A spokesman for the nuclear authority said that there was a "very remote chance" that nuclear materials imported 40-50 years ago were unaccounted for.

No word if the radioactive material was exchanged by Pakistani terrorists for a bomb made out of used pinball parts.

Vegan couple found guilty of killing malnourished baby

A Superior Court jury convicted a vegan couple of murder and cruelty to children Wednesday in the death of their 6-week-old, who was fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice.

Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31, will receive automatic life sentences for starving the boy, who weighed just 3 1/2 pounds when he died.

Defense lawyers said the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to the lifestyle of vegans, who typically use no animal products. They said Sanders and Thomas did not realize the baby, who was born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

But prosecutor Mike Carlson told the jury Tuesday during closing arguments: "They're not vegans. They're baby killers!"

The jury deliberated about seven hours before returning the guilty verdicts.

"As you know, my position is clear – I’m the commander guy.”

Can't say I won't miss quotes like these:

President Bush coined a new nickname for himself — ‘’the commander guy” — on Wednesday, as he criticized Congressional Democrats in a speech to the annual gathering of the Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade group....

“The question is, ‘Who ought to make that decision, the Congress or the commanders?,’’ Mr. Bush said. “As you know, my position is clear – I’m the commander guy.”

In other news, tonight the Republican's hold their first Commander Guy debate in Los Angeles. Ten candidates are participating in the 90-minute event. Tune in tonight at 8pm on MSNBC.

"It's a far-left propaganda thing"

Top rated radio and Fox News host Bill Reilly was recently a guest on an Irish television show where he was questioned about quotes he made referring to the poor as "irresponsible and lazy" and the Iraqi people as "prehistoric" (the actual quotes can be found via the links).

When the Irish host said that he found both remarks on Media Matters for America's website, O'Reilly responded by attacking Media Matters as "an assassination website" and a "far-left propaganda thing." More remarks:

O'REILLY: Those cards you have in your hand came from one of the most vicious websites on earth. All right? And there are a hundred of them. And if you run for office in America, or you're me and you go on every night, those people will assassinate your character every single day. They will lie about you, they will defame you, they will slander you. And we can't sue, unlike the British system. If you're famous in America, you can't sue.

So, put yourself in a position of, "Do you want that kind of life? Do you want your family threatened every day, like my family is? Do you want that?" So the good people say, "We don't want this."

KENNY: Yeah. And if they've ever done anything remotely sinful or wrong or --

O'REILLY: Oh, they'll make it up. They'll make it up. You don't have to do anything. They'll make it up. So, good people --

Apparently the great sin here is that Media Matters quoted O'Rilley accurately. Not surprisingly, he is concerned about being another victim of internet's "gotcha" era. Media Matters is responsible for exposing to a wider audience Don Imus' "nappy headed ho" remark. Yet I find it astounding that he would attack Media Matters so viciously for making clips and accurate transcriptions available on its website. If you said it, take responsibility - either defend yourself or apologize. But don't blame it on some shadowy, extreme left-wing George Soros conspiracy.

The Brig

***LOST SPOILERS***DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE***

Also, reading this post will expose me as the giant, giant nerd I am.

Another excellent episode of LOST (although as always, that's up for debate). A couple of thoughts, in no particular order:

• I predicted over a year ago that Locke's father would indeed be the real Sawyer (that's not really that impressive - I've made a lot of predictions that haven't come true). Tonight's episode finally resolved that story line which has been dangling since season 1. I hate to say that I took some satisfaction seeing Sawyer reach back to his bad-boy roots and actually kill the old con man. He'd become so warm and fuzzy lately that I didn't think the writers would let us see something that brutal. Josh Holloway put in what is probably his best performance of the series.

• Great seeing Black Rock again - it made the scenes between Sawyer and Locke's dad all the more creepy. I thought it odd Rousseau just popping in for some TNT. My guess is we're going to see her use that dynamite some time before the finale.

• Locke's father claimed that he came to the island after being rear-ended in a car accident, upon which paramedics hooked him up to an IV, and he woke up in a supply closet on the island. Two things are interesting: (i) Having him believe that he was in hell or purgatory was a nice wink by the writers to the fans. That theory has been kicking around since the early days, and although it was not explicitly refuted, I don't think there's more to it. Where-ever they are, it ain't hell; (ii) This car-accident business sounds like the work of the mysterious yet powerful Mittelos Bioscience / Dharma / Wigmore people (whichever). These were the same people who had Juliet's ex-husband serendipitously hit with a bus so she would take a job on the island. I see no reason why they just didn't do the same with Locke's dad. This suggests two things: the all-powerful organization is the "big-box metaphor" Ben describes and that despite the destruction of the submarine, there is still a means of getting to and from the island.
  

• I don't think anyone was surprised to learn Naomi was part of an organization hired by Penny Wigmore, Desmond's true love, to try and find him. Naomi's people are stationed on a barge a mere 80-miles off the island. While surveying from her helicopter, the clouds randomly parted and she was able to find the island. I'm not sure what to make of her arrival and what implications it'll have for the show. Considering they're not being rescued any time soon (because that would be the end of the show, no? Although I wouldn't put something like that past the writer's of Battlestar Galactica), what role will she play?
  

• Jack and Juliet have a secret, but what is it? Is Jack colluding with her to sabotage Ben's infiltration plan? Whatever happened to Jack in his post Hydra-station days with the Others has yet to be revealed, and whatever it is, I suspect it's important.
  

• Why did Ben tell Locke about their plan to kidnap the pregnant women? He seemed rather caviler disclosing that fact.
  

• Whatever that pole Locke's father was tied to in the Other's camp seemed to be a relic from the past - the same past responsible for the four-toed statue we saw briefly in last season's finale.
  

Thoughts? Theories? Frustrations? Only three episodes left until we have to wait all the way till January, 2008 for Season 4. Next week's (entitled "The Man Behind The Curtain") appears to show us the Dharma Initiative in its heyday (!) and the revelation of whatever cards Jack and Julia have been holding up their sleeves.