Centerfield

Well, I'll get the open thread going by saying... I'm baaaaackkkkk! I took a break from even reading blogs for the past month and a half. Watching the political games be played in the aftermath of the hurricanes that devastated my state was just too much. The typical political b.s. is hard to take in the best of times. To watch it while a million of my neighbors were suddenly rendered homeless was too much to take.

Plus, I started a new job 6 weeks ago, so I don't have NEARLY as much free time as I did when I was simply handling my own little solo law practice.

But I think I'm ready to stick my toe back in the water. See you all around!

Wow I'm exactly in Pat's shoes. I've been out of the political loop for over 2 months.

Aside from the Miers story, I can't believe this isn't getting more attention.

Welcome back, Pat and Scott. here in Boston we were anxiously awaiting the end of the world series so that we could throw some logs on the hot stove of baseball's offseason. Congrats to CWS fans, BTW. You can best enjoy the fuming of Cubs fans by taking the high road, IMO, instead of nose-rubbing.

My sense today is that the drumbeat that Bush's 2nd term is in very deep doo-doo is getting louder by the day. The republicans I know and read are professing deep dissatifaction on a variety of counts. Under these circumstances, Bush's preference for loyalty as a guiding principle is being tested as never before. I saw a clip of him getting off a helicopter, and frankly he looked both shell-shocked and barely able to conceal a deep irritation.

I don't see Bush as the sort of guy that's going to take at all kindly to the notion that other power factions within the GOP have any right to strong arm him. As each day that passes inevitably makes his role more lame duck, he becomes less-suited to the task, unless he decides to just give up and go along and try to hand out what favors he can and make a few people on his side happy. My money is not on this happening any time soon.

Forcing the Miers withdrawal has emboldened some, and I see these groups as at serious risk of overplaying their hands, as misunderestimating how much they can push Bush around. Powerful career politicians are prone to taking the view that things like the Miers fiasco are "just business," not personal. But GWB is not much like Michael Corleone, he's more of a Sonny. Seems to me that those who have just triumphed in an act that GWB views as an ultimate disloyalty might want to watch it with the crowing.

I'd say the chances are good that Bush is currently looking for a way to make an example of one of the ringleaders among those he views as disloyal. It might not be public, but I expect Bush to look for ways to let those pushing him around know that he's still President for 3 years.

Welcome back guys. Pat, good to hear about your new job...hope things are calming down a little bit over there.

I've been sporadic in my postings lately as well...try to comment every now and then, but work is sometimes busy and initiating a post sometimes takes more time than I have.

Baseball really isn't that big down here, but the world's largest outdoor cocktail party has officially kicked off in my hometown, so there aren't a lot of people actually doing productive work today. Florida/Georgia Hall of Fame Luncheon this afternoon, huge party downtown tonight, and then kickoff tomorrow afternoon. Should be a fun weekend.

What are the odds on Harriet Miers being indicted today?

This is a new form of adversity for Bush, and one I don't think he'll react well to. My gut tells me that there will be a number of temper tantrums going on behind closed doors. I imagine aides saying, "Fix your hair, straighten your tie and smile. We have to go outside now."

And now for something completely different - I see the funniest stuff at my job. I just saw a fax from the Society for Protective Coatings. I'll bet they have a lot of fun, and that their favorite snack is M&M's. How many other such narrowly focused organizations exist? I'm sure good information gets shared by them, which has a positive effect on our economy, but I still can't help but finding absurdity in such things. Maybe I'm just a caveman at heart.

The Society for Protective Coatings? That's a good one.

I was grading papers last night and semi-watching Primetime and heard something that made me literally laugh out loud. Let me insert my belief in kindheartedness towards animals here...I don't believe in animal cruelty. Now that I've said that...

The gentleman that trained Flipper was on talking about dolphins and how their "smile" wasn't really a smaile--you could kill them and they would still smile. Anyway, he was talking about cutting a bunch of dolphins loose from their contained space where they were awaiting sale. He spoke of how the "dolphins had gotten their lives back", much in the same way as someone who had spent months in jail on trumped up charges. He proceeded to talk about how the "dolphins could go back home to their families that night." I'm sorry...I don't espouse dolphin trapping, but I found the comments hilarious.

WHQ, you don't know the HALF of it. as an editor, i once spent a fair amount of time doing research, as textbook items require substantial back-up data.

When I first started doing this, I was extremely amused to find out that there was a giant 3-volume set of books, all 2+ inches thick, called the "encyclopedia of associations." It's probably on line now. Includes addresses, contact info, year of founding, # of members claimed, annual dues, and general description.

Thumbing through this and the US statistical abstract tels you an awful lot about the world...

The Catfish Institute
the Association of Bedding and Furniture Law officials
the American society of sugar beet technologists
society in opposition to human-animal hybridization
association for research and enlightenment
vampire information exchange
united states national committee of the international peat society
american society of dowsers

society in opposition to human-animal hybridization

Dr. Moreau, we hardly knew ye!

association for research and enlightenment

Is it possible to be more generic?

FWIW, I am a Charter Fellow in the International Academy of Malt Scotch Whiskeys, and have been for over two decades. Honestly.

I founded the Tequila Lounge Society for an Uproarious Millenium Twilight. Of course we had to disband about 5 years ago. Paganism in the suburbs has waned considerable ever since.

Uh, considerably...

Cards all the way next year.

and my Wildcats will rule the NCAA

I have a bit of an unusual request. I've always wanted an outdoor hot tub, and periodically contemplate getting one. When i do, i worry about the cost for electricity in heating one during the winter in New England.

But getting a straight answer is hard. Salesmen lie or obfuscate, and strangely, I think friends are prone to doing this as well. It's related to that phenomenon of the brother in law who always says it took him 15 minutes less to get there than you did, or that his 6 cylinder truck somehow gets 5 more mpg than your 4-cylinder.

Anyway, anyone have a good estimate or source on that? When I have looked, I've found unintelligible stuff. Ideally, I'd like someone from a northern climate who could tell me something like "we bought one last year and used an extra x kilowatts per month from november to april compared to the previous year."

BTW, I know that you CAN heat these with gas, but I'm not going to consider that right now. Oh, and if it helps you to not hector me about consuming extra energy on a luxury item, feel free to just assume that I don't give a sh!t about the environment and am 100% hopelessly unpersuadable on the issue, so you should just save your breath.

I can't help you Brian, but I needed the laugh.

What about this? What's Ahmadinejad's major malfunction?

(I hope that link works. I've never done that before.)

Wildcats? Who?

The 'Horns, now, we're already on top of the BCS. Seems a little likelier somehow.

Admittedly, strength-of-schedule could take us off there before the Rose Bowl happens. But the Big XII Championship is likely to put us back.

Ahmadinejad is just engaging in the classic blame-the-Jews action to distract attention from the ills of theocratic reign.

Welcome back, Pat and Scott! We've all missed you!

Yes, Pat, I still owe you an email, but things have been up in the air recently, including me and my mom. (pun intended) When we touched down in Houston on Wednesday, the Southwest pilot said at the end of his fasten-your-seatbelts speech. "Welcome to Houston Hobby.....Go Sox!"

Of course, there was a loud chorus of boos from the cabin, so the pilor laughed and said "I just had to see what the reaction would be."