W3J Readership Growing Exponentially!
Ken Shepherd, of Maryland Student Legislature fame, is a sometime reader of our blog, according to Liz. She talked to him at an MSL Alumni meeting last night. Welcome aboard, Ken!

Marc

OK, Maybe Getting Rid Of Cable Was A Bad Idea
Lingerie Bowl 2004 will be airing on PPV during halftime of this season's Super Bowl. Coaching the opposing panty-clad squads will be Jim McMahon and Lawrence Taylor. Take it from my man LT:

"This will revolutionize the way the Super Bowl will be viewed", Taylor said. "Who would not want to watch attractive women playing tackle football in lingerie?"

Marc

Angry Talk Express, Burlington Cannonball, MapleMobile
Whatever you want to call it, Howard Dean has pulled away from the field in the Democratic primaries. Two numbers of interest from Zogby:

Dean Stretches Lead Over Kerry in New Hampshire Primary to 42% - 12%
Dean Regains Slight Iowa Lead in Neck and Neck Race With Gephardt, 26% - 22%

The Iowa lead seems slight, until you consider (as this post on PoliPundit does) that Dean is not restricted by the public financing spending limits that Gephardt is, and that the Dean campaign is going to put 5,000 people on the ground in Iowa, or one Dean worker for every 20 Iowa caucusgoers.

Couple these political facts with the free ride Dean is getting in the media (see this Hardball transcript where Dean refers several times to the 'Soviet Union' - a Quayle moment if ever there was one) - and Dean is unbeatable. The other campaigns are latching on to a post-New Hampshire strategy out of desparation, but it ain't happening.

The seven February 3 primaries are: Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. This AP story reports:

The former Vermont governor has run TV ads in four of the states, more than any other candidate.

According to a survey conducted by The Associated Press, Dean has more paid staff than his rivals in Arizona (11), New Mexico (nine) and Oklahoma (seven). He and Gephardt have three in North Dakota.

Don't forget about Dean's internet organization and again, the lack of spending limits.

Game over, man, game over.

Marc

He makes more sense than any of 'em.

Tony

Really?
Some 13 million viewers tuned in last night to the debut of "The Simple Life," starring hotel heiress and star of a recently released sex tape Paris Hilton and her pal (and Lionel Ritchie daughter) Nicole Ritchie. More people watched the first episode of this show than watched the first episode of this year's The Bachelor and Average Joe, by a combined total of 2.5 million people. I know it's only television, but that's alot of people who want to watch sexy dames live like poor peoople. I guess people's interests were piqued because of the whole sex tape thing. Just when I thought so-called reality televison was hitting the skids, this is bad news.

Not to be outdone, NBC will be bringing a new reality series in I think January where people will compete to win a six figure job from Donald Trump. There's nothing I'd rather watch more than uber-ambitious preppies fighting for fame and fortune at the feet of The Donald. Okay, maybe the Paris Hilton sex tape.

Tony

Sveiks!
Hey Draper, you know that car in your alley with the bumper sticker that says 'SVEIKS!'? Well, thanks to the magic of Google, I found out what it meant. It means 'welcome' in Latvian. So know we know - and knowing is half the battle.

Marc

Evers Burns In Mobtown
Hey, the guy who runs the Terrapins stats site emailed me to say that Evers Burns coaches basketball at Howard County Community College.

That means that Evers himself will be in town December 17th, coaching the HCCC Dragons against Baltimore City Community College. Who's going with me? I want to get something autographed!

Marc

I would have expected more from South Africa
Tiger Woods is very angry over the details of his engagement having been leaked by the owner of the South African game preserve where Tiger vacationed after the President's Cup in South Africa. I understand he wants privacy, and he's probably entitled to it, but let's not seem so shocked, shall we. What did Tiger expect of a small-time South African huckster? Maybe I'm being a litle hard on Tiger, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for him. For staters, I don't know where to begin. Should I feel sorry because he's about to marry a superfoxy Swedish model, or because he has millions upon millions of dollars that he can never spend, or because he's at the top of his profession and has millions of undying fans? Now that's a noodle scratcher.

Tony

The Next Kathy Lee
Here is Elisabeth Hasselbeck, wife of the current Redskins starting QB. She is most famous for her appearance on the second season of Survivor, but has many other "accomplishments":

Prior to her work on television, Ms. Hasselbeck designed shoes for PUMA, working on their street lifestyle design, while living in Boston. She does not stray far from the world of industrial design and fills her time painting, designing note cards and personalized planners, running, as well as relaxing with her husband, family and friends.

Ms. Hasselbeck grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. She dedicated the winter of 1997 in Belize to teaching children in the rain-forest, and spent three weeks in Italy in 2000 developing her designs to completion.

Marc

Sometimes, I Wish I Had Cable
The Terps took out 15th-ranked Wisconsin in OT last night. This looked a lot like Joe Smith's breakout game against Georgetown in his freshman year - a big early season win from a team nobody expected much of. Unfortunately, Jamal Smith is a senior. Smith (Jamal) had 25 points and 12 boards, and is averaging a double-double on the season.

Marc

Addendum: I just spent some time walking down Terps b-ball memory lane here. Man, did I hate Chris Kerwin.

We Three Jerks Exclusive!
Stills from the second Paris Hilton sex tape! My sources say it reveals the horny heiress' ailurophilia and kinky tree fetish, in the now-familiar night-vision setting. Paris' feline co-star is reportedly in talks with the WB network to host a sexy new reality show tentatively titled "Puss N Booty".

Oh, wait, that's my cat under the Christmas tree. Ah, well.

Marc

Brrrr...
Hey Draper, Liz pointed out something funny: On your page, the ads at the top are all for heating pads and such, because you write so much about being cold. Tell Joe we missed him at the Senator last night. ZUZU'S PETALS!

Marc

Back to the ol' Salt Mine
I had a steel tariff post all set until I read Marc's. Scooped again. However, I do have some news regarding plans in East Baltimore to raize an entire neighborhood in order to clear space for biotech industries. I think the plan's risky, and the benefits are far from guaranteed, but I think it might just work out. Although I'm generally pessimistic about massive economic overhauls with long odds, East Baltimore has been in dire straits for some time, and all other conventional means of help have failed. This plan is a tall order to fill, and if it's a failure it will not only hurt the city and its residents, but O'Malley's political future as well. I think it bodes well for O'Malley that he's taking on such a project when he's preparing to launch a gubernatorial bid in the not-to-distant future. After all, if he just ignored the problems of East Baltimore a little longer he could have run for governor and nobody would have accussed him of failing East Baltimore, because nobody expects action. As a citizen of Baltimore and a political observer, I take O'Malley's action as a sign of his confidence in the idea and his committment to try to figure out ways to help the city, even when nobody expects him to.

Okay, it's Monday. You know what that means. Norman Chad, baby. This week he breaks down all the NFL coaches on the chopping block. And speaking of sports, I've been unable to determine whether Annika played from the Men's tee or not during the Skins game. The WashPost article I've linked too doesn't make it clear. I'm going to search for it later, and possibly write a question to PTI, but if anybody finds real proof either way, post it.

Finally, because Sundays help me get through the week, I've checked the upcoming football schedule. My prediction is that we'll get the Ravens and Bengals at one on CBS, and if we get a FOX one o'clock it could be Skins and Giants OR Dallas and Phila. At four o'clock, if CBS gives us a 4 we could get Jets - Bills, OR KC - Denver, OR Miami - New England. If, as I expect, CBS does a Ravens post game show, then we'll get the only 4 o'clock that FOX will offer: Arizona and the 49ers.

Tony

P.S. I saw It's a Wonderful Life at the Senator last night. It was one of the better movie-going experiences I've had. It really was something to experience the movie with a theater full of people instead a living room full of family. The movie was certainly funnier, and probably a little more heartwarming than it usually is. Also, Donna Reed was a stone-cold fox.

TMQ Returns
And I didn't even realize it. It's on NFL.com here. I don't know if this is the permanent address or what. Enjoy.

Marc

Issue #3: What Did You Have For Breakfast?
WRONG! You all had Special K with banana.

From the Post via Instapundit:
Bush has decided to repeal the steel tariffs. Huzzah! The Post speculates that this will hurt him in steel producing states like Pennsyltucky and West by God Virginia, but help in Michigan, where auto manufacturers use steel. Hopefully W learns a lesson from this one.

Also from the Post via Kausfiles:
Kerry and Lieberman were the only two Senators not to vote on the prescription drug benefit. What a couple of weenies! As Kaus points out, the whole reason Kerry telecommuted to the Des Moines debate was so that he could vote on the damn bill. This reminds me of all the "abstains" from SGA - except these guys want to be president, where you might have to make a few tough choices.

Also, a shout out to Senators Lott, Sununu, Nickles, and McCain for voting against this geriatric welfare scheme. And further praise to John McCain (oh, how it pains me to say that) for calling attention to this administration's "spending like a drunken sailor" on Fox News Sunday.

Marc