I recently saw the new Star Wars.

In the interest of seeing the glass as 1/16 full, I present the following two positive points about it:


a) It was undeniably better than the last two movies (nos. 1 and 2 in the sequence)

and

b) None of us ever have to see another Star Wars movie in theaters again. It's over.

Remember when the reason we went to war in Iraq was because they were hiding weapons of mass destruction? Or remember when the reason we went to war in Iraq was because of the connections between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden? Or remember when we were at war in Iraq to bring democracy to the Middle East?

NOW, it turns out, we're at war in Iraq because that's where all the terrorists are, and of course we have to fight the terrorists. Well yes, there are terrorists there. And yes, those terrorists are there to kill Americans. Is it not blindingly obvious that the terrorists are in Iraq ONLY because we are there first? I mean, can anyone seriously doubt that we are the cause of the terrorists in Iraq right now?

Thirty years ago, we cut and we ran out of Vietnam. Thank God we did. It was a war that could not be won. However, we were in Vietnam for 15 years before that. I hope we don't wait thirteen more years to get out of Iraq.....

I hate to say it, but I wonder whether Kevin Millar was on steroids last year. Consider his numbers.

His slugging percentage sure has dropped, hasn't it?

I'm sometimes a fan of Christopher Hitchens (especially his thoughts on Henry Kissinger), but here undoubtedly gets it right here.

Airport security is absolutely stupid. For all of the reasons he mentions, and many others:

-Either it is justified or it is not justified to make everyone take off their shoes in before going through the x-ray machine. But the government has yet to come up with a consistent policy.

-What's more dangerous, nail clippers or a big hardsided laptop? For that matter, what's more dangerous, a small pen knife or a big hardsided laptop? Obviously, it's the laptop. A laptop would be a pretty effective club, I bet. Of course, they can't ban laptops, because that would be too inconvenient.

We have a "security system" that ends up filtering out only those things that aren't too inconvenient, which is to say, not real security.


Hitchens doesn't mention that all of this is also useless. If a terrorist took over a plane these days, everyone would rush the cockpit, because everyone knows that they're already dead anyway. This is a classic instance of fighting the last war.

No surprise why the Sox are mediocre this season.

Millar: .237 (hellooo, John Olerud!)
Mueller: .264
Bellhorn: .244
Payton: .226

I guess I can't insult Bellhorn after his homer in Game 7 last year, but still. .244 is .244. I don't care how many walks you have.

By the way, who's Jay Payton and how is he getting so many at bats????

When this is the bottom half of your lineup, you're not going to score a lot of runs....