Centerfield

Blair was a good leader. He was such a good leader he''s trying to hack the British Constitution and get the Parliament to declare itself to be decorative.

(yes, really!)

Oh, and London is an implementation of Panopticon, thanks to him.

"Was" a good leader?

All of a sudden I picture Blair in a Monty Python fashion saying, "I'm not dead yet!"

I have to say, I could never ever get a bead on which way Blair was flying. I pretty much knew where Margaret Thatcher wanted to go. Blair seemed to me to be a poll watcher, until Iraq.

On another subject, I do have to admit that I am interested in seeing CNN Pipelines real-time replay of 9/11 on Monday. Not sure if I will though. I will never forget my anger on 9/11 wanting us to nuke the heck out of Osama Bin Laden on that day. He was actually the first name that popped into my head after the second plane hit that day becuase I had just finished reading a lot about Bin Laden and Afghanistan the week before.

Paid $2.249/gallon for gas this morning. And I hear that in the Nations it's back under $2.

Gas has dropped to $2.43 here which is fabulous.

The heat wave has finally broken though the drought continues on. There are rumblings of NO watering except foundations which would mean thousands of dollars dying in and around my house. I find it utterly ridiculous that cities continue to issue building permits for hundreds of new homes but we don't have the water for the homes we already have.

We got adopted by a dog last week so maybe letting everything die in the backyard could be considered mercy killing. Has to be better than what the dog does to it.

Blair may have been unstable in his early days, but I think 9/11 changed him. I really think the WOT focused him. He is a true leader.

It's actually down to $2.85 a gallon at its lowest here in San Diego. I never thought I'd see under $3 again in California.

Isn't life here in California wonderful? In the San Francisco/Oakland area, we are delighted that we have (barely) broken $3 again. But for how long...?

5 years after 9/11, can we define our adversaries?

The next French leader visits?

Actually, Sarkosy, Merkel and Blair might be the unity required to resolve "situations" peacefully and to deal with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iran with a mixture of muscle and carrot cake. Good front to face down Russia and China with the US in tow. Ironic if Blair leaves now before things ratchet up a notch and many Europeans rethink their positions and their attitude towards Blair and even Bush. Brits say Blair is good on terrorism but disagree about Iraq. History, I suspect, has already confirmed the soundness of Blair's general view regarding terrorism (as for Iraq, he didn't plan Cobra ll or phase lV) while his being able to work with Bush is quite an amazing feat. A coalition of none would have been a bit embarassing. He's young enough to return when more validated.

I doubt that gas will remain low.

Read a great joke this morning:

While walking down the street one day a Senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises. The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by, and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity"

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, " Yesterday we were campaigning . . . Today you voted."

Oh, and Texas will win tonight, of course. I do have a reason or two; Texas D looks to be unbelievable despite the suspensions, McCoy looks promising, and Texas has depth to make you cry. In the meantime, I just don't see Ohio State as having #1 potential (see depth). Top ten at the end, sure, as the Horns probably will be.

My Texas season prediction: no championship this year, but no more than 2 games will be lost. Next year we'll have a real shot again, though.

I won't touch Ohio State/Texas-- way too close to call as far as I'm concerned. I only know it's going to be a great game. Notre Dame is obliterating Penn State right now (41-3 in the 4th quarter); Brady Quinn has thrown for 3 TDs and almost 300 yards, which is closer to what I thought he should have done last week. The key has been 5-for-13 on 3rd down conversions, supplemented by 4-for-4 on 4th down-- when you pick up first downs 9 times on 13 third downs or later, you're going to keep your drives alive.

Wyoming gave Virginia a really big scare, and lowly Vanderbilt almost stunned Alabama. So far it's been a great day, and we're only halfway through!

Sorry about the spam hit, I was out of town for the weekend. All fixed.

spam, spam, spam, spam....

Grumble on the game. Just wait, McCoy's turn will come, though. Vince and his talented predecessor Applewhite were awkward early, too. I thought McCoy lost with poise that bodes well.

We sure had no luck on our D. The suspensions themselves could maybe have been overcome, but adding Griffin to that made it very hard indeed. Though it's pretty hard to win a game with just one TD.

OK, Smith and the OSU O are the real thing. Still not convinced on their D, since it faced an essentially 1-dimensional threat.

Geaux Tigers! LSU won tonight 48-3 over Arizona. Our first real test will be against Auburn next week, at Auburn.

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