Beanball Biggio

A favorite player in our household, Houston's Craig Biggio set the record for being hit by pitches yesterday.

Don't wanna holiday in the sun

The Russkis lost the solar sail.

Yeah, the coverage sucked...

But the cycle's passed, so it's too late now.

At least, that seems to be the media's reaction to the Downing Street Memo at this point.

I'm especially disgusted byt this paragraph in the Strib's response:
"I love a good campaign in which informed, engaged citizens come together eagerly to debate issues. But there's something about these e-mail campaigns fomented by political websites (and Downing Street is just the most recent -- they erupt across the spectrum of politics and issues) that smacks more of Astroturf than grassroots. Ombudsmen around the country chat regularly about the latest campaigns; the technique isn't fooling anyone. It's also important to remember, however, that some of the Downing Street reaction, such as the e-mail from Bootz, was genuine and spontaneous -- although Bootz says he later went online to urge others to contact the media."

Sorry, but my outrage about the silence over this wasn't part of a "campaign." I also don't think that Bootz stopped being authentically outraged when he encouraged people to ask the media to cover the story.

Boo, strib, boo.

Suburban art

There are people living outside of Minneapolis? I know nothing of Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities (and a few blocks of Duluth and St. Peter). Lucky for me the McKnight Foundation just released a snazzy little interactive map to arty places outside the cities.

Democratic campaign gaffes

I tell ya. Those swift boat vets claimed Kerry had shot himself in Vietnam. Now we know it's not true. Kerry shot himself in the foot last year.

Guliani on ice

Lordy. I guess he wants to up his profile before he runs for president or senator or something.

Spinnin' Nixon

Rewriting history is nothing new for repubs, but why doesn't anybody notice that Gerald Ford was the one in the oval office?

Pass the puck.

The NHL might play next season, but will we be able to watch the games? Fortunately, the league will air some games on NBC, but it looks like they'd do that as often as ABC did in the past. Which is to say, they'll air the first game of the season, and then nothing until the playoffs. Sigh.

Also, I like that ESPN posted this article about how they won't be offering a sports service to fans. But I don't like that it's an AP article, and not an explanation from the network itself.

Pawlenty of articles about our guv

The City Pages today ran two really good articles about our guv, one outlining his nascent presidential campaign and another discussing his recent missteps, focusing on the state budget fight.

Pawlenty for quite a while had garnered a lot of good will just by not being Jesse Ventura -- Pawlenty hasn't been great, but he hasn't been crazy, either.

But as memories of Ventura fade away, Pawlenty's ambitions put him forward into the spotlight. And it turns out he ain't so great.