Adventures in Aramaic
Those of you who check this blog regularly may notice that this post appeared, in slightly different form, as part of the David Broder - Jules Witcover post. But now, I've got more info. Because I'm always striving for excellence and am at the eternal service of you, dear reader.

Mel Gibson has been taking some heat about his rather bloody movie "The Passion" about the last days of Jesus Christ, filmed in Latin and Aramaic. The controversy surrounding the film involves some Jewish leaders who are prepared to protest it over the depiction of Jews as being primarily responsible for the death of Christ. The Rabbi in the article notes that there is some real anti-Semitism out there, and this movie should probably be left alone. By the by, this thing is suppossed to come out next Ash Wednesday, and I am very curious to see it.

Now for the new stuff. While looking for the above pic, I stumbled onto a very interesting site for conservative Catholics who reject the reforms of Vatican II and refuse to celebrate the mass in anything except Latin. Gibson's movie has been very well recieved by this group, as one might expect. Trust me, this site is worth a look see, particularly the section where people email questions to an online priest and he rails against protestants, the pope and pagans in general. (How 'bout that? A little alliteration treat to get you through the day.)

Tony

Big Feet
David Broder and Jules Witcover have been at it for a long time. The Boys on the Bus called them "Big Feet." They are of a dying breed of informed, curious and thoughtful journalists covering politics today. They've both got interesting pieces in their respective papers today. Witcover, however, seems to be off his nut in his quiet belief that Gephardt's slow and steady "strategy" in Iowa is his key to victory. Broder tackles Campaign Finance laws, and the prescedents set by Bush, Dean and Kerry.

Tony

I'm old & I want stuff
Several Democratic candidates, attending a forum sponsored by the AARP, chastised the organization for their recent support of the Republican-sponsored prescription drug legislation. I have to admit, when I first read the headlines that said "Democrats scold AARP," I was excited. But then, like the Orioles at home, the Dems let me down yet again. The condemnation was met with thundering applause and support by the AARP members in attendance, who are upset with the organization's support of the legislation as well as their plans to spend $7 million to help pass the bill.

Here's a delightful nugget from the Post's story:

"I don't know all about it, but I can't trust big companies and Republicans when it comes to Medicare or Social Security or things like that," said Rose Haley, 70, a registered Democrat.

And the Sun:

"I thought AARP was on our side," Archambault said. "I don't like them spending so much money trying to influence Congress on this."

Tony

Len Bias
Yesterday would have been Len Bias' 40th birthday. Bias died in a College Park dormitory of a cocaine overdose some 17 years ago. At the time of Bias' death, I was not following College Basketball like I do today. However, Wilbon remembers the emerging star as a man who could have altered the course of history in the NBA.

Tony

So Long, Leon
The Bucs deactivate Keyshawn, meaning he will not play the rest of the year or travel with the team, but he will get paid. I love it! It's too bad they didn't cut him entirely, but then they would have lost out on free-agent compensation when he signs with someone else.

The bad news: Keyshawn wants to spend the rest of the season as a TV analyst.
The bad news, pt. 2: Now the Skins can get Terrell Owens AND Keyshawn next year - dueling Leons!

Marc

We're Here, We Queer, And We Don't Want Any More Deregulation!
Dean thinks "re-regulation" is the answer to our woes. Gott in Himmel.

Marc

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you blog
A-Rod took home the AL MVP trophy yesterday, becoming the first player since Andre Dawson to do so from a losing team. What's most galling about this is not that Rodriguez didn't have a good year, I'm sure he did. However, the award is supposed to go to the player who is most valuable to his team. In order for this to carry any water, that team has to have been competative at some point in the season, which the Rangers never were. As Marc said yesterday, if Rodriguez hadn't played for the Rangers, they would have lost games 12-6 rather than 12-8. By the by, A-Rod is trying to get traded in order to play for a competitive team. Competitive tems, however, are having a hard time with his $25 million a year contract, because their money's already tied up in the things that make them competitive, like, for example, pitching.

Is anybody surprised that the Raiders are the team currently on the hot seat regarding the designer steroid controversy? Wilbon's not. Plus, he's got some great stuff on how big a dick Bill Romonowski is.

I've got two, count 'em two, soccer links today. Norman Chad explains (as if it needed any explanation), why the MLS's playoff rules make the league, and the sport itself, a joke. If that doesn't fill your soccer hole, Freddie Adu, the 14 year old soccer phenom has just signed with the D.C. United. Yeah, that's right, you heard me. (There's some good, nutty stuff in here about how the MLS signs players to the league, and not individual teams.)

And finally, we all know that there's traffic on the Wilson Bridge, but find out what else is nearly lodging into the torsos of motorists.

Peace & Love,
Tony

If it looks like a TGIF...
Click on this picture of the Columbia TGIF, er, Rocky Run, and check out the "neighborhood" joint on the web.

Tony

BBC World Service
And now, a report from the American presidential campaign by BBC correspondent Elisabeth Nelson:

Fundraiser was less star-studded than expected (in that no celebrities were there). I manned the registration table for letters A-D, so I waited all night to give George Clooney his nametag. (He was "comped" to the event.) I met an eccentric man named Mr. Coupe. He was introduced to me as someone's "multimillionaire friend, Mr. Coupe." He sported a pretty sharp monocle. I was hoping to spot him later with a martini in hand. Dan, the guy I work with, discovered that if you approach the bar and confidently ask for a drink, rich people talked to you. I discovered that the volunteers were working a hell of a lot harder than Dean's VA staff (though his VT staff worked their asses off).

I met a husband and wife and their two teenage daughters who smelled of old money and had all maxed out to the campaign. It was sad to meet a 15-year-old with a higher checking account balance than mine. There were many attractive, rich men there. Unfortunately for a woman that I knew at the event, all were gay as there was a GLBT reception for Dean taking place. The event was jumbled because there were three events taking place at the same time (regular old donors, donors who maxed out and the GLBT reception--most of whom had maxed out as well). We gave stethoscopes to the maxed out donors so they could get in to the VIP reception. As one man pointed out to me, it looked like an AMA convention.

There was a great blues trio playing all night, as well as Sally Kellerman , the woman who played "Hot Lips" in the M*A*S*H movie. She sang all night. After his stump speech, Dean left the stage. A few minutes later, when the blues trio resumed playing and the room had nearly cleared out, I heard some cheering and yelling. I ran in to check it out and Dean was jamming on the stage playing the harmonica. It was way better than Clinton's sax playing.

We left the land of the wealthy for a local bar, where another Dean FR was also taking place. This one was $55, so the crowd was slightly different, though most of the rich people walked down the street to this event, too. The bar was PACKED. I was standing behind a pole, watching Dean's shadow on the wall. I also saw something completely frightening--a Dean groupie. She was reciting parts of the speech, almost in tears as he went on, screaming with joy. She scared the hell out of me. After the speech, Dean walked out down this roped off passageway. People screamed and SHOVED to get to the rope to touch him as he walked by. He has reached rock star status. It's weird for me to think that in January, I met him at an event filled with the state's biggest political people, and many of them didn't know who he was.

Thank you, Elisabeth. Next, in cricket news, Sri Lanka strolled to a stunning 10-wicket win with 36 overs to spare in the first one-dayer at Dambulla.

It was a remarkable return to action for Sri Lanka, who had not played for four months, while England came crashing back to earth after Test and one-day whitewashes against Bangladesh.

Marc

I Hear Them Hindoos Worship Cows
I had suspected that anti-foreigner sentiment played a part in Bobby Jindal's loss in the Louisiana gubernatorial election. This AP report confirms that Democrat Kathleen Blanco got 38% of the white vote, a better result than usual for a Democratic candidate in Louisiana.

I was in Louisiana during the David Duke election, and I remember my relatives (in northern LA) and all their neighbors posting Duke signs. I can only imagine these people not being too excited about an Indian governor. White folks crazy.

Marc

Attention Deanyboppers!
Liz is going to a fundraiser in DC tonight for Howard Dean. Supposedly, some celebrity types will be there, including Rob Reiner. I'll get the goods from her and post tomorrow.

Marc

Charm City Vortex
We, three, here sitting are breaking new ground. We, this post, together writing. What topic worthy the three minds together? Steel tariffs? How much of a shit hole this city is? The general lack of laughs the Simpsons are giving these days? Not sure, our minds and bodies are glutted and full of cheese and bacon, and eggs.

So bear with us. This is not a science and certainly ain't pretty.

Draper: Don't you hate pants?
While we can certainly all agree that pants are beat, that they are not top drawer, you should wear them old sport. It is what there is to do. You can't not wear pants. Could you? Maybe that is the new ground to be broken. Let's all unite against them, pants. Or anything else. Who will come with us...join one of our causes? Anti-pants? Yes, it is good.

But, there are certainly bigger issues. Aren't there? We, three Jerks, think so.
Oingo Boingo? Merits, demerits? Anyone? Anyone?

Marc: Issue #1: Steel Tariffs
This clusterfuck is all the "Diabolical Genius" Karl Rove's fault. He tried to suck up to a dying industry and ended up pissing off every company that uses steel - and the EU to boot. Tariffs are a intellectually bankrupt and economically suicidal policy, and it is an embarrassment that this president is willing to use them for political gain.

Issue #2: Mallism
Let's talk about a plague that has swept the service industry in this nation: the scourge known as Mallism. When I go into a goddamn bar and ask for a hot toddy, I don't expect a mug of hot water, a shot of bourbon, and a packet of Equal. This is what happens when your desires don't fit into the mall template - when there isn't a button on the screen with a picture of a hot toddy on it.

You can get a pineapple martini or a dreamsicle smoothie or any other pile of puke that's on the menu, but when you ask for a drink that your grandfather would have ordered, the whole Mallist bar grinds to a halt. Barf.

Okay, I've said enough. I'm going to turn the mike over to T-Bone. Peace out.

Tony: Issue #3: Drinking
It's no secret that I enjoy an adult beverage now and again. In fact, it's no secret that I never pass up an opportunity to indulge in libations whenever I get a chance. But why? Because drinking, when done properly, is the perfect antitode to the Orndoff Principle. (For the uninitiated, Orndoff Principle: Everything now is worse than it used to be.)

Drinking is one of a shrinking number of safe-havens we have in a world where the Eagles wear black, Kenny Chesney sells more records than the Derailers and Marc can't even get a goddamn hot toddy at a bar. Alcoholic beverages are also the last to be bottled in glass, with old-fashioned corks, and caps that don't screw off. And this, in fact, is why things like beer in plastic, Smirnoff Ice and anything besides gin and vermouth being called a Martini makes me go Draper with rage and disgust. When you drink you can still live in the world your grandfather inhabited. Where men wore hats, women liked being dames and you could have a couple at lunch, tell Betty to hold your calls, and kick back with a cigar in your office. Why do I drink? The loneliness? Yes. The inflated sense of self-esteem? Well, that too. But the real reason, the best reason is because drinking is top drawer, old sport.

Long winded wank. That Tony. Marc, too. They both have a lot to say about a lot. Of nothing, mostly. But, this ain't called We three wise Men. Jerks, with opinions, not right, or wrong. Well, we'd say they were right, but not always. They are filthy fucking liars and angry, angry men. Anyway. Enjoy, disagree...hopefully. Agree...scary.

Draper

Drugs will ruin your life, and your career...unless...
You play a big three sport in the US.

Case in point...four big sports doping stories broke this week.

Read the cycling industry point of view at Velonews.

As I am sure that you guys know, somewhere between 5 and 7% of MLB players are on performance enhancing drugs of some kind. The penalties for being caught on this shit are ridiculously light. It takes being caught 5, yes, 5 times to receive the worst penalty, a one year ban. Wankers.

Mike Anderson of the Broncos (oh, the Denver Broncos) gets caught with pot for the 2nd time and has to sit out a measley 4 games.

Track and field stars from both the us and Britain have just recently been tested positive for a heretofor undectable steroid thingy...and are fucked, supremely and then banned from competition for 2 years.

And this poor bastard...Javier Pascual Llorente tested positive for EPO, a blood booster, at this years TdF...the only one of 189 riders. He is out of racing, out of his livlihood for the next 18 months. And he deserves it, cheaters should be punished. BUt, the thing that galds me is the stigma around sports like track and cycling and swimming for christ sakes...saying how they are rife with cheaters, that you can't believe the results 'cause they are all doped to their eyeballs. But, if you look at the numbers and the measures that the governing bodies of these niche sports take to ensure that their atheletes are not cheats it looks not like they are the ones with the problems but rather these marquee American sports, the ones with the money. I don't like it. Anyway. I know this is a complaint that is nothing more than that...nothing will ever change...the big three sports in America are a multi-billion dollar industry. Just, their filled with cheats and dope fiends. See Bill Romanowski...both a cheat and a dope fiend...anyway.

Here's to you Mr. Llorente...for your 18 months as a roofer...take care.

Paw-ka-tucky
You know Pawtucket, Rhode Island as the home of "Soupy Pizza," a Red Sox minor league affiliate and the birthplace of Pawtucket Pete, Peter Griffen's beer of choice. Now, know it as the part of Rhode Island that's on fire. Literally.

Tony

I'm Accepting Matching Funds
Most of these links are from yesterday, but they're going up today because the blog was inexplicably down yesterday.

As most of you are probably aware, John Kerry has also decided to opt out of the federal matching funds and the spending caps that accompany them. Clark will be staying within the caps, out of "respect for the system," or so his campaign spokesperson says. Clark is actually recieving some heat for blowing off a December New Hampshire debate in order to attend a fundraiser in New York City. This may turn out to be a bigger deal then one might expect. New Hampshirites are a pretty provincial people, and if Clark appears to not be taking the state's primary seriously he could pay a price. Not that he's aiming to win the thing, but I think he needs to do no worse than a tie for third in order to get any kind of momentum out of the contest.

Apparently E.J. Dionne has got the power of the mind meld, because his latest column deals with the concept of Dean as Goldwater, a favorite Marc topic.

The last political link of the day: From the this Sunday's Post's Outlook section, a UMBC professor examines whether or not the Democrats even need a Southern Strategy. He suggests that by focusing on the "new Southwest" Democrats will fare better and be able to forge winning coalitions by forgoing the South entirely. He makes several salient points, but I don't find myself agreeing with his overall thesis. Nonetheless, worth a read.

Finally, read Wilbon's slicing and dicing of JoPa. Actually, it's a rather gentle explanation of why Paterno needs to give it up, but I just like sticking it to Draper. A great Wilbon column as usual, but I think this thing wins title of the year. But then again, I'm a sucker for Peter O'Toole references.

Peace & Love,
Tony