Pete vs. Joe (Thomas Sowell)

Shoeless Joe had a lifetime batting average more than 50 points higher than that of Pete Rose -- and 12 points higher than that of Ted Williams. Where Williams' highest batting average was .406, Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .408. And he is still not in Cooperstown.

A good commentary that makes the case that Shoeless Joe should be admitted the HOF before Rose, but Dr. Sowell wishes neither would happen. Sowell is one of my favorite authors, but I think there should be a distinction between betting on your team to win and throwing games. Rose's involvement with illegal gambling does question whether those gamblers could have blackmailed him as a result of his gambling debts. But did he?

First of all, baseball is bigger than any individual who plays it. Like so many things in life, the tangible things in major league baseball cannot exist without the intangibles -- of which the trust of the public is the most important. Once the public decides that it is all fake and crooked, this thriving sports empire collapses like a house of cards. Ballplayers who deal with professional gamblers jeopardize the whole game of baseball.

Sowell makes a good point here, but numerous players have been allowed back after illicit drug use, which can have a bigger effect on quality of play than gambling. Can’t Strawberry get into the same kind of debt with the mob by buying drugs? Can’t he be asked to throw ball games to make up for his debts? You can make a legal bet in Nevada. But cocaine is illegal everywhere.

Those who say that we should admit Pete Rose to the Hall of Fame and then "move on" and "forget about it" have profoundly misunderstood human beings. What we do today affects what other people will do or not do tomorrow. If you want rules to be forgotten, then just forget to enforce them.

I think Charlie Hustle is too competitive to throw baseball games, and that should be the point. If it can be proven that Rose tried to lose, then he should never step on a ball field again. I agree that Shoeless Joe should be admitted first, because Jackson only knew about a plan to throw the series, he didn't participate. Baseball should either lift the ban on Rose and Jackson or propose a no tolerance stand on all players that engage in illicit activity.

Ebert's Oscar picks

Not his personal choices but the buzz he has heard and the politics he understands.

Scorsese Grudgingly Campaigns for Oscar

It wasn't his best movie, but it may be his last chance to win. His skills seem to be diminishing. He's lost a step out of the batters box and doesn't make the move to the left very well anymore.

Ex-Clinton aide reveals Bill lost the nuclear codes

Former President Clinton lost the codes to nuclear war the day the Monica Lewinsky affair broke, was MIA in the fall of 1998 when a decision was needed on the killing of Osama bin Laden, and was "too busy watching a golf match" to OK a 1996 bombing mission in Iraq, says a blockbuster new book by Clinton's former military aide. Lt. Col. Robert Patterson.

You never know what to make of these things, but because Clinton's known behavior is so odious you figure it could have happened. The book written by Patterson should be interesting.

Dems: Bush, GOP need to fix U.S. economy

Rep. Robert Matsui of California delivered this message on Saturday.

"What have President Bush and Congressional Republicans proposed to do about these problems? The elimination of taxes on corporate dividends. Yes, that's their response," Matsui said. "So who benefits from this tax cut? Well, those earning $1 million or more a year would receive an average tax cut of $27,000 a year.

He wants a better economy? No he just wants to get in those class warfare arguments. What good is a strong economy if the rich get rewarded?

"Just two years ago, the federal budget was in great shape but record surpluses have turned to record deficits, and today our government cannot pay its own bills." he said. "The president's 2004 budget calls for a $1.8 trillion federal deficit over the next 10 years, and even this leaves out the cost of war with Iraq.

I agree, we better start cutting government spending.

"Of course, there's no money left for a meaningful prescription drug benefit," he added. "In fact, Republicans plan to cut $200 billion from Medicare."

Oh, you don't want a balanced budget either. You just want to spend more on govt. handouts.

While avoiding any specifics, Matsui said the Democrat's plan "puts money in people's pockets and helps get our economy moving again."

Right. A chicken in every pot.

"One of these tax breaks was for foreign gamblers who bet on horse races in America," he said. "I know that's hard to believe, but it's true."

I haven't heard of this one. I wish I knew who proposed it. Matsui did find a gem in an otherwise typical class-war attack. The Republicans are going to have to learn that pork and special favors stink regardless of who puts them forward.

The stock market fall began in March of 2000 and recession began in March of 2001. Both caused a drop in tax revenues. Unless someone can point to a policy that Bush implemented in the first 40 days of his administration, you'll have to look to Clinton's policies.

Allies Withdraw Iraq Resolution; Bush to Address Nation Tonight

We followed all of their rules, delayed action during the best months for war and only wanted them to live up to their own resolutions. The Security Counsel is a farce. But the United Nations can still be valuable for feeding the hungry and treating the infirm. I propose that Sally Struthers be named the new Secretary General.

Here's an interesting article on National Review about the same demonstration John talked about yesterday.

Mexico fears backlash from vote on Iraq

"If the perception of the average American is that his neighbor abandoned him at this crucial time, the stigma would last for generations and be made manifest in a multitude of individual actions," Mexican analyst and historian Enrique Krauze warned this month in a Mexico City newspaper.

Luckily for Mexico, Americans have short memories. People have already forgotten what happened on 911.

Krauze cited danger of commercial boycotts, restrictions on trade and widespread resentment at the White House, in local and state governments and in the U.S. press. He fretted that Mexicans living in the United States might suffer "discrimination, persecutions, etc."

I love this one, because what's going on in Iraq is no big deal, but Krauze is worried that Mexicans here will be “persecuted.” Saddam can beat and torture people endlessly, but what a misfortune it would be if Mexicans in America are looked at cross-eyed.

While Bush said he did not expect "significant retribution from the government" against Security Council member nations that didn't line up with the United States, he pointedly left open the possibility of a popular backlash.

You mean Bush can't guarantee that American citizens won't be angry about Mexico’s vote? Boy those Americans and all that freedom, where do they get off?

"The costs to Fox of taking the U.S. side would be very high, higher than they would have been if they hadn't received those threats," Smith said. He said Fox could not afford to be perceived as submitting to pressure from an American president. .

This is obvious by the way Mexicans have taken such as active part in their governance. What the last political party was in power for 70 years? And the Mexican people really love their country, even the ones that have to sneak into America to earn a living wage.

I watched an anti-war rally that was going on in DC today... I thought I would honestly listen and see what arguments they have to make against this upcoming war with Saddam. Here is what I heard.

"Bush is an unelected president" (some people are still bitter)

"America is trying to dominate the world and they must be stopped." (honestly, i don't get this one. Our history is filled with us liberating other countries from dominating dictators... the only time an American president tried to dominate a group of people was Abe Lincoln... and at least he had the manners to keep it at home.)

"Bush and Tony Blear (creative spelling on a protest sign) are the REAL dictators" (just shaking my head on this one)

"No blood for oil" (what...? France is the country that burns Iraqi oil. They have billions of dollars in Iraqi oil contracts. Its the real reason they are trying to prevent us (through the UN) from taking saddam out... if saddam gets removed or killed then their oil contracts will have to be renegotiated... The French should be ashamed.)

and here's a good one... "There's oil in Texas, why don't we bomb there?" (wow, how could someone come up with anything as stupid as this?)

John Conyers was nice enough to show up for this rally and speak his mind. He convinced me... that he is uneducated, not very well spoken and has a seething hatred for the "Bush Administration". He made no mention of why it is wrong to go to war with Saddam... just that Bush is evil.

In fact, that is ALL I heard people saying. That they hate Bush and his administration. Nobody really talked about Saddam or Iraq or any of that.

What I saw and heard was a group of uneducated (and very passionate) people that had themselves all worked up over something that they honestly don't understand.. and honestly are not even trying to understand.

Here is a fact. Saddam murdered approx 100,000 Kurds (some say it was 200,000) because of their race. It went without mention on this day.

The only criticism I have of Bush is that he is taking too long. The longer we wait the more lives we put in danger. Our military is the finest in the world, not because of advanced technology... not because of superior training, but because of the causes that we always fight for. It takes a unique kind of people to put their lives on the line to liberate their fellow man. That is something these protestors just don't understand.

Iraqis launch campaign of sabotage and defiance to undermine Saddam

Open acts of defiance by opponents of Saddam Hussein's regime have intensified in the past week, with saboteurs carrying out attacks against Iraq's railway system and protesters openly calling for the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator. . . members of the Iraqi opposition blew up a stretch of track on the Mosul-Baghdad railway, causing the derailment of a train. . . widespread acts of anti-Saddam vandalism. Posters of the Iraqi president, which adorn every public building, are being openly defaced and vandalised throughout the country. . .Demonstrations were also reported to have taken place in Kirkuk, where an estimated crowd of 20,000 marched on the Ba'ath party's main administrative headquarters demanding Saddam's overthrow.

Until recently anyone caught carrying out such acts would have received the death sentence. But the mounting acts of open defiance against Saddam's regime is indicative of the growing confidence being displayed by the main Iraqi opposition groups.

It must have leaked that Hans Blix is currently in Iraq inspecting for you know what.

To set an example, members of Saddam's security forces arrested a civil servant in the al-Hurriyya suburb of Baghdad on suspicion of preparing to leave the country. The unfortunate official was then tied to a pole in the street and passers-by were ordered to watch as his tongue was cut out and he was left to bleed to death.

Why is Saddam wasting his time killing dissidents? He could be sitting down with the rest of us trying to tackle this global warming problem.

TALKING FISH HAS RELIGIOUS REPRUCUTIONS

This is the kind of article that makes blogging so much fun.

According to two fish-cutters at the New Square Fish Market, the carp was about to be slaughtered and made into gefilte fish for Sabbath dinner when it suddenly began shouting apocalyptic warnings in Hebrew.

Nivelo, a Gentile who does not understand Hebrew, was so shocked at the sight of a fish talking in any language that he fell over. He ran into the front of the store screaming: 'It's the Devil! The Devil is here!' Then the shop owner heard it shouting warnings and commands too.

The animated carp commanded Rosen to pray and study the Torah. Rosen tried to kill the fish but injured himself. It was finally butchered by Nivelo and sold.

Can you imagine the city editor at the New York Post shouting that a London paper scooped them on this story?

MY DAY AT THE BALLPARK

As a quasi member of the media, I was able to interview Major League baseball players yesterday, and not just any ballplayers, but my beloved Yankees. Okay, it was a split squad spring training game, so most of the team was back in Tampa, but I did get to speak with Bernie Williams, Willie Randolph and John Flaherty. Most of the guys are experts as turning down the media. Randolph had to "work his boys" (throw batting practice). Bernie was on his way to the training room. Julio Franco was looking for his son. Bobby Cox had to run and meet someone. Braves coach, Glenn Hubbard just plain said no and then got up and plopped himself down on the other side of the dugout. And I really wanted to ask him if he ever grows that thick beard in the off-season.

Terry Pendleton did speak to me on camera and shared stories about the early 1990s when the Braves got good again and he won the MVP. I wanted so much to ask him about the time he got angry and left the field when a Braves hurler refused to retaliate after a beaning. Though I certainly understood Pendleton’s POV, I was afraid that he might take the question as being argumentative and I didn’t want to spoil the only interview that was going well.

John Flaherty was also a good guy. He smiled when I said that we miss him in Tampa, but wished him luck with a winning team. He told me that it just didn’t work out in Tampa the way he thought it would. He thought he was going to play for a contender there, and they certainly spent the money so who can blame him. Since so many good managers are catchers, I asked if he ever wanted to helm a Ballclub. He said that he has kids and is looking forward to a time when he no longer has to travel.

I approached rookie Bryce Terveen, a young Braves catcher in his first Spring Training. He was surprised that I would ask to talk to him and he was honest about how nervous he was to be in the BIGS even if for only one month. He said that the team had a big spread of food, including Chick-fil-A nuggets compared to a piece of meat and two pieces of bread he experienced in the minors. His family has yet to see him play, but his fiancée is expected soon.

The best interview of the day turned out to be 85 year-old Walter Victor, the Braves team photographer for the past 37 years. It was interesting that he had 5 photographs in the Hall of Fame, and that Eddie Mathews was a rummy, but I was really in awe when he described landing on D-Day. He had buddies die as they all did, and when I asked him about the French, he said that they were just as nasty in ’44 as they are now. He said the Germans were nicer after being defeated than the French were while being liberated. So nothing really changes. I had thought the French had short memories, but they probably remember just fine.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur offers explanation of her comments comparing Osama bin Laden to the American Founders

HER ORGINAL COMMENTS:
"One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown,"

Marcy Kaptur didn't say it was her own opinion, but that many people could hold such an opinion. After a statement like that, she could have easily explained how they aren't similar. The fact that she didn't is our own fault, because we continue to elect politicians who don't differentiate between our unique revolution that brought a democratic-republic to the world, and bloodthirsty campaigns whose only end is dictatorship.

HER EXPLANATION:
"You have heard much about my earlier statements on terrorism, and I just wanted you all to know that due to the political nature of what happened with my original statements, if my remarks have hurt anyone, I’m sorry,"

Ms. Kaptur’s post-modern musings weren’t meant to be anti-American, I’m sure. She’s probably heard any number of people say these things for years and probably surprised that she is in trouble for saying them too. These comments are fashionable among people who want to reform America as the land of the equal instead of the land of the free.

Look who voted for the ban on partial birth abortion

Doctors who perform the procedure, which they call intact dilation and extraction, typically deliver the lower part of a fetus and then collapse its head, opponents say. They call the practice barbaric and say it poses a risk to women.

Regardless of your feelings about abortion, it would take a pretty coarse person not to think that this procedure is barbaric. I cringe at the thought of doing this to puppies.

Sixteen Senate Democrats, including the party leader, Tom Daschle, joined 48 Republicans in backing the ban; 3 Republicans joined 29 Democrats and one independent in opposing it.

It was Daschle who kept this bill from reaching the Senate floor for vote during his short stint as Majority Leader. My Dad has a reputation in the family for being hard to talk into doing new things, but once persuaded he paradoxically embraces those things more than you'd think. Maybe Frist can introduce Daschle to some other goodies like Social Security reform and tax reduction. With enough time Frist may have Daschel golfing with Miguel Estrada.

CLINTON DOESN'T LIKE BUSH'S LEADERSHIP

The great thing about Clinton's post-Presidency is that he is so willing to share his thinking which makes his shortcomings as a U.S. President transparent. I suppose these remarks will move him up Arthur Schlesinger's list of great Presidents, but only an intellectual could take these positions seriously.

Right after winning UN Security Council support in November for weapons inspections, the White House "sent 150,000 troops to the gulf, which convinced everybody we weren't serious about UN inspections. That's how we got into this political mess."

Would the inspectors even be in the country without the troops? Maybe Bush guessed that since the first 16 resolutions didn't work, the 17th wouldn't do any good either. So if Saddam won't behave with all of those troops breathing down his neck, we're to blame for not respecting their process. Could it be that some dictators won't respond to the diplomatic route?

The U.S. should be strengthening the UN and other "mechanisms of cooperation," Clinton said. "We need to be creating a world that we would like to live in when we're not the biggest power on the block."

You can get a lot of people to agree on anything, but the U.N. has shown that such agreement doesn't proceed to action. The United Nations is a great place to denounce the United States on one hand, and appoint Libya the Chair on the Human rights committee with the other.

Yeah, and let's make-believe that someday we will live in a world where the United States is some small country at the behest of other more important nations. This would be a great way to run foreign policy. Demur to the struggling and failing nations now and hope that they pat us on the head when we fall apart. And don't forget, that world can be ours if we continue to elect the kinds of Presidents that sell our missile technology to communist nations for political donations.

THE DEMS PUNISH CONGRESSMAN JAMES MORAN

Moran said he gave up his position as a regional Whip for the House Democrats "as a way to demonstrate acceptance of responsibility" for his controversial comments at a March 3 anti-war forum in Reston, when he said, "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this."

This was a good move for the DEMS. Nixon, Packwood and Lott, showed that the Republicans won’t protect bad behavior, while the Democrats only did away with Torricelli when the polls showed he couldn’t win. After refusing to even read the evidence against Bill Clinton in the impeachment trial, the Democrats demonstrated that power is more important to them than leadership and character. Had they read the evidence and voted for conviction, they would have been rewarded with President Gore in 1998 and 2000.

BLIX HAS FINALLY FOUND SOMETHING

Unable to see the nose before his face, Mr. Blix in an interview with MTV said that Global Warming is a bigger problem than Iraq. Someone tell Blix that Iraq gets hot this time of year. If he had met the January 28th deadline, he'd be back in more temperate Scandinavia.

BLIX: You have the instances like the global warming convention, the Kyoto protocol, when the U.S. went its own way. I regret it. To me the question of the environment is more ominous than that of peace and war. We will have regional conflicts and use of force, but world conflicts I do not believe will happen any longer. But the environment, that is a creeping danger. I'm more worried about global warming than I am of any major military conflict.

So skip the sprinting dangers and worry about the creeping ones.

It’s so disingenuous to bring up Kyoto when it doesn’t even cover the most polluting nations in the world like China. And further, why can’t China be a danger to world peace once in a while? Geeze. The scientific evidence is varied as to whether the earth is even getting warmer and whether human beings can even effect that change. Whereas weapons of Mass Destruction will pretty much kill you now.

BOB GRAHAM MOVES LEFT

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., is back in the Senate. He voted against the ban on so-called partial birth abortions this morning and went to the Senate floor to say he'll vote against cloture on the Democratic filibuster on the Estrada nomination.
A new Orlando Sentinel poll of Florida Democrats shows that Graham is the runaway favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination. The poll also showed Graham with a rock solid 84 percent approval rating among Sunshine State Democrats

A Republican friend of mine in college interned for Bob Graham in his first term as a Senator. He was always quick to point out that Graham was a very conservative Democrat and conscientious man. So what's a little infanticide compared to a chance of being the most powerful man in the world.

MY CONGRESSWOMAN WANTS TO BRING BACK AMERICAN DEAD

Ginny Brown-Waite, a freshman Republican, said she decided to sponsor the bill after she was approached by a constituent who said he wanted to bring home his father, who was killed in World War II and buried in France. Some 74,000 American war casualties are buried in France and Belgium, including 30,000 from World War I. The host nations, while retaining sovereignty over the burial grounds, have granted the land in perpetuity to the United States as military cemeteries.

I appreciate the sentiment of reminding the French of what we gave for their country, but I'd rather the dead stay as a reminder to the French. My grandfather's brother was buried in France after his plane was shot down in World War II. I would have liked to have known him. Hopefully someday Iraq will be a thriving democracy that won't forget the dead Americans who made it possible.

Dixie Chicks Explain Anti-Bush Comment

TO A LONDON CROWD:

"Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."

BACKPEDDALING TO U.S. REPORTERS:

"We've been overseas for several weeks and have been reading and following the news accounts of our government's position," the group explains. "The anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding. While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost."

Another silly band of minstrels convinced that we should do nothing in the wake of 911, and that any civilian casualties as a result of the war are far more tainted than the killing that is already happening in Iraq.