Blood money
Here's another great example why the media sucks. While they're spending all their time covering Scott Peterson, Koby Bryant, and Michael Jackson,they've barely touched this story. It is quite sickening.

James Baker, who worked for the first President Bush and "fixed" the Florida problem for GW, has been appointed to restructure the debt of Iraq. Baker is a swell guy. He's currently representing Saudi Arabia against the families of the victims of 9-11 who are seeking information from Saudi Arabia on Al Qaeda funding.

Not coincidentally, Saudi Arabia happens to be owed $30.7 billion from Iraq, plus $12 billion in reparations from the first Gulf War. Did you know the Administration blocked veterans from the first Gulf War who were tortured as POWs from collecting money they won in a judgement against Iraq? The Administration said the money was needed to rebuild Iraq. Wonder if they'll block the Saudis from collecting their money?

Is money the only thing these people care about? How much money is enough? Have fun, Jim Baker. Take all that money to hell with you when you go.

The Party of Personal Responsibility
I just heard a news flash that Rep. Bill Janklow from South Dakota was found guilty of manslaughter for speeding through a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. Janklow, who had numerous citations for speeding and blowing through traffic signs and lights, blamed his diabetes.

And needless to say, Rush is tap dancing like Gregory Hines to avoid further problems with his drug addiction.

And of course, the current Administration has built up a $500 billion deficit. Before you blame it all on homeland security and defense spending, remember that discretionary spending exclusive of those areas is up by more than 20 percent. Up next is the massive Medicare drug benefit. Now, we're going to build a permanent station on the moon! Will some good conservative tell me where the hell this money is coming from and why they don't feel bad about dumping all that debt on their children?

I put it to you, Greg
I could never quite put my finger on what it was about John Kerry that I didn't connect with. Now, I've got it. It's in the way he speaks and how he reminds me of a character from one of my favorite movies. When Kerry is on the stump, he always has a moment where he sounds exactly like Otter (Tim Matheson) from "Animal House." It's the courtroom scene when the Delta House is on double-secret probation. The moment is when Otter addresses the court and says to Greg Marmalade from the rival fraternity: "I put it to you, Greg..."

Watch the movie again and you'll hear shades of that moment in every John Kerry stump speech.

Snow,snow, nooooo!
Anyone else ready to lose it because of the snow? Last year, it took until February for me to flip out. Then, I scheduled a trip to spring training in Florida for me and my then-pregnant wife. We might go again this year.

On Saturday, I went to the URI-PC game in Kingstown to collect signatures for Wes Clark. That idea was shot down immediately when we entered the wind tunnel leading up to the Ryan Center. It was like one of those movies where guys hiking Mt. Everest have to be chained together. Security inside the lobby wasn't too keen on us collecting signatures so we instead bought tickets from a scalper and went to the game.

And URI won. I remember, when I was growing up, URI used to lose almost every time they played against PC. Now, they've won two games in a row. It was fun being at the game, even if the college students all look impossibly young. It's hard to believe I ever looked that young although I'm sure I did. See the attached photo, then compare it to the picture of me with Wes Clark. Holy hairdo change!

Overlooking Faults
For those who loved Bill Clinton, it was easy to overlook his sleazier side. For those who love George Bush, it's easy to overlook the way he's spending money like a drunken sailor. And so it goes.

I write this because someone I know got sent to jail this week for at least three years. He was guilty and I guess he deserved what he got. Still, that doesn't matter to me. I don't like the thought of him going to jail. It kills me. But there's nothing I can do about it. That's human nature.

Holy 38th!
I turned 38 years old yesterday. It's a strange age that doesn't mean too much. You're not really on top of 40 yet, but you're close. I don't know if I feel a whole lot different than I did when I was 30. I don't drink anymore so of course, I feel different in that way, but I mean in my attitudes.

I still get pissed off about indifference and ignorance. I still hate to see people in positions of power do nothing but grab more power and help out those who are already well-off. I still like movies from the seventies and I like baseball more than ever.

Now, I've got a six month old and a wife. That's a major change and it's for the best. There's no feeling like knowing you married the exact right person. I did and we had a son who's an unbelievable joy.

Happy birthday to me!

Thought you'd like to know...
You probably haven't heard about this story, but it's a little mini-Watergate for the information age. A staffer for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch improperly obtained memos from the secure computer networks of Democratic senators Kennedy and Durbin. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and Sean Hannity. Of course, this is no big deal. Hatch is only one of the most powerful men in politics. The fact that one of his staffers hacked into the computers of Democratic senators and distributed information to right-wing news sources is no cause for alarm.

And because of that damn liberal media, I'm sure you'll be hearing about this story ad nauseum. What? You haven't heard anything about it. Don't worry. You probably won't.

Also, to everyone who screamed about Clinton, Somalia and Black Hawk Down: here's your chance to speak up again since the soldiers who had their throats slit in Iraq were also dragged through the streets. Please substitute Bush's name for Clinton's and repeat everything you said during Black Hawk Down. Funny how no one mentions Somalia once similiar stuff happens to Bush. Also a memo to the same people: Were you as upset by the more than 200 Marines who were killed in Lebanon when their unprotected barracks was blown up by terrorists? Or were you really mad when Reagan turned tail and pulled them out of Beirut because of the attack? Just wondering.

Bad luck jinx
As a post-Thanksgiving favor to my friend John Daley, I will now tell the story about the time I was fired from a Chinese restaurant. While at URI, John and I got jobs working as waiters at a Chinese restaurant in Newport, owned by the family of a guy in our fraternity. We worked there for a while until one Sunday when the owner's wife Penny pulled me aside at the end of the shift. Penny Pincher (as we called her) told me not to come into work anymore. I had to push her for an answer and she finally gave it: I was bad luck and had brought a jinx on her restaurant. Before this could even sink in, she told me there has been a previous jinx at the restaurant and when they fired him, business immediately got better. I told John not to tell anyone, but of course, he did and people started calling me Jinxy. The funny part is, within a week of getting the jinx tag,an Italian restaurant that I also worked at, had a fire in the kitchen and had to close for a week. Aaaah! The bad luck jinx!

Free money and sex
Loved how the Medicare bill got rammed through. It's an awesome bill! Just terrific! You'll see... in 2006 when it's supposed to be enacted. Why is it going to take so long? Because when the public sees that the bill was created by the drug and insurance companies and the Republicans basically are throwing away taxpayers' money, people are going to get pissed off. But what do the politicians care? It's not their money and by then, GW will be halfway through another term.

By the way, whatever happened to fiscal conservatism? Here's a huge entitlement that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars -- where's the money coming from? I've always felt it was a mistake to put a former cokehead in charge of the country's credit card, but what do I know.

Oh, one more thing: how about those family values on Neil Bush? People used to rag on Roger Clinton but he looks like Ghandi compared to this Bush brother. Not only was Neil taking huge consulting fees from all these overseas interests for doing nothing (that's how you define success if you're a Bush), he also slept with a bunch of women while he was in Asia. He said he didn't think they were prostitutes; they just knocked on his hotel room door late at night and the women had sex with him. That happens all the time -- on late night Cinemax!

Neil emphasizes that he never paid the the women. Of course, his hosts might have. And he was married at the time. I'm sure Rush will say it was Clinton's fault because he lowered the bar of morality so much that Neil figured why not. Maybe this is what GW was talking about earlier this year in his big speech about the scourge that is the international sex trade.

Is that throw-up on your shoulder?
When you don't have kids, you really don't care much about people who do. Not that you don't wish them well or want to see their baby pictures, but in reality, you rarely ever think of parents and their travails. I know I didn't.

Now that I have a five month old son, no one cares about the fact that my son is teething. I don't blame them. When my friends who are new parents used to tell me (a) they didn't get any sleep the night before, (b) their kid was sick, or (c) their newborn threw up on everything, I secretly chuckled. 'Sucker!' I thought. Like I said, I didn't care.

Now I care. I'm up with my son early, even though it's my wife who does most of the work. God bless her. I bet Anthony Quinn didn't get up early with his kids when he was a new father in his 80's. Not that I'm that old, but sometimes I feel it. Did I tell you my kid was teething?