Hot Hot Heat National Weather Service says:

EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH POSTED FOR THIS TIME FRAME AS DANGEROUSLY HIGH
HEAT AND HUMIDITY LEVELS WILL BE THE BIG STORY THROUGH THE SHORT
TERM. THE MERCURY IS EXPECTED TO CLIMB INTO THE MID AND UPPER 90S
THROUGHOUT THE REGION BOTH TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY WITH SOME 100
DEGREE PLUS READINGS LIKELY IN THE METRO AREA. WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE
LOWER 70S EACH DAY...HEAT INDICES WILL REACH THE 105 TO 113 DEGREE
RANGE ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND POSSIBLY SLIGHTLY
HIGHER THEN THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL ALSO BE
OPPRESSIVE WITH METRO READINGS REMAINING AROUND 80 DEGREES.

If you didn't believe in Global Warming, you will now.

How to cope? Well, I guess we can just crank the A/Cs, sapping more energy, in turn burning more coal, polluting the atmosphere, and making it hotter all over again. That's what I'll do, at least.

Another idea: Watch Do the Right Thing, one of my all-time favorite movies, which takes place, coincidentally, on one of the hottest days in New York history. And, to cut down on the A/C, watch it naked.

(picture from Do the Right Thing with a helpful suggestion of how one might stay cool this week)  ¶ 2:54 PM 0 comments

  Connecticut Rallies for Lamont   ¶ 10:20 PM 0 comments

  Thoughts on Lamont/Lieberman With just 10 days left until the Democratic primary, the Lamont/Lieberman race is at full throttle. And because I haven't written much on it lately, I'll do so now.

First of all, let's put this in perspective. Joe Lieberman hasn't faced a competitive Senate race since he knocked off Lowell Weicker 18 years ago to take the seat as the junior Senator from Connecticut. 18 years is a long time. Back this past December, I wrote about the possibility of Lowell Weicker challenging Lieberman in the general election as an independent, anti-war candidate. Back then, Ned Lamont was just a entrepreneur with a political streak who was also looking to support Weicker (or anyone else) who wanted to step up to the plate and challenge Lieberman. Of course, though we all hoped someone might actually be able to give Lieberman a run for his money, the point was more the "protest" of it all. Contest the race, make Joe sweat a bit, and maybe, just maybe, get him to become less of a Bush lap dog.

So, Ned Lamont jumped into the race. Lieberman blew him off at first, staying in Washington (I'm sure there were a few White House sleepovers in there) and worrying about issues like restricting children's access to violent video games. What did Ned Lamont do? Though the TV cameras and the Hartford Courant weren't watching like they are now, he went around to some of the smallest, most out-of-the-way towns in Connecticut (for such a small state, it's amazing that it has 169 towns). Places that Joe Lieberman hadn't visited for almost two decades, if ever. Ned sat down and talked with the Democratic Town Committees. Just like a CEO running a successful business (which Ned has obviously done) he took the pulse of the market. He listened, he learned, and, most importantly, he connected with the true grass-roots of the Connecticut Democratic establishment. He worked day in and day out, fundraising up a storm and learning the backwoods of Connecticut better than he probably ever thought he would.

[For more on how it all went down: check out this awesome New York Magazine profile of the race - a must read for anyone with either a passing interest in Connecticut politics or a love of the classic David vs. Goliath story.]

And that pretty much brings us to today. Those polls that once showed Lamont earning 10% of the vote? Well, now they show him up 51% to 41% over Lieberman. The thing that really makes it all hit home for me: Joe Lieberman, former Vice Presidential candidate, one of the most well-known politicians in the United States, had to enlist the help of perhaps modern American politics' biggest Rock Star, William Jefferson Clinton, to help him win a PRIMARY race over a guy whose previous biggest claim to fame was starting a cable company that wired college dorms. Not to take anything away from Ned, because he is awesome, but just think about that for a second.

Things to watch over the next 10 days:

• Volunteers from all over the country will descend upon Connecticut to work on this race. How will Connecticut Democrats respond to them? Howard Dean's crew in Iowa ended up turning Iowans off. I suspect Lamont will have more people on the ground (not counting the unions, which are for Lieberman).
  
• What will turnout be? Conventional wisdom says low turnout benefits Lamont, since his supporters are more dedicated. On a hot, sleepy Tuesday in August, a lot will be decided.
• If Lamont wins, what will happen to Lieberman? He has called in every favor in the book - particularly the Bill Clinton one - but Bill (along with the vast majority of Democrats) has pledged to support the winner of the primary in the general election. My guess: if he loses, the Democratic Party will lay on him heavily to withdraw his independent bid.
• Even if Lieberman pushes on with an independent "Connecticut for Lieberman" bid, political science says that he will be seen as a loser, and people don't like to vote for losers.
• If Lieberman wins, how does he patch things up with the Democratic base? The guy is so self-obsessed and self-important, that he might not even care (and will thus seal his fate for the next election in 6 years time).
  
• How many more mistakes will Lieberman make? Just yesterday, he printed these buttons entitled "The Hug", showing him alongside Bill Clinton, which was meant to counteract this amazingly funny and effective float, "The Kiss". (Go watch the video) However, Joe forgot the Golden Rule of Democratic political campaigns: make sure you get union-made buttons. Oops. But he's been making huge mistakes and mis-reads the whole time - one or two more could cost him the race.
  

For those of you who can't be bothered with all the words, I will turn again to my buddy Stephen Colbert, the most important man in news, for an overview of this race:



I will have more throughout the week. If you've read this far, then you deserve my prediction: Joe Lieberman wins the primary, but never comes close to enjoying the kind of political success he has in the past, and eventually retires a broken man. Harsh, but true.

For more: LamontBlog
  ¶ 8:01 AM 0 comments

  Colbert on board Stephen Colbert has joined my counter-attack against the war on manliness:



Once again, Stephen Colbert proves why he is the most important man in news.  ¶ 11:15 PM 0 comments

  You Heard it Here First   ¶ 3:47 PM 0 comments

  The Sin of Manliness Originally I discussed this situation here, but still the persecution of Floyd Landis continues. A man, simply for being too manly (i.e. having lots of testosterone) is robbed of his career and his success. An ESPN columnist asks, "If Landis is taken away from us, what's left for the fans?" I say, do not let them take him from you:



Nowhere in the MSM (mainstream media) is anyone even questioning this. Did anyone not just stop and think, "Hey, perhaps this guy is just suffering because he lives in a world ruled by Women and The French? Where testosterone has no value and estrogen is king (or, uh, queen)?

Floyd, even if no one else is with you on this one, you can count on Cicero Jones Global Worldwide Media Associates, Inc. to stand by your side. Manliness, like skateboarding, is not a crime.  ¶ 11:03 PM 0 comments

  Another reason to hate the Yankees They steal your tax money! 

From the Village Voice, via Hotfoot :

City documents newly uncovered by the Voice reveal that the New York Yankees billed city tax- payers hundreds of thousands of dollars for the salaries of team execs and high-powered consultants to lobby the city and state, thanks to the team's sweetheart lease deal engineered by the Giuliani administration."You've created this weird circular situation where the city is, effectively, paying with taxpayer money to have itself lobbied for potentially more taxpayer money," says Common Cause's Megan Quattlebaum, one of several government watchdogs who were dumbfounded when the Voice told them last week about the deal. "Taxpayers would not be pleased at all to hear that the city is subsidizing someone to come back and hold their hand out to lobby for more."

  ¶ 2:16 PM 0 comments

  Tour de Manliness So, Floyd Landis, the winner of this year's Tour de France, has tested positive for "high levels of testosterone." The French, who run the show, are outraged as they believe this invalidates his victory. However, I am here to defend Floyd. I am not a cycling guy, so I might not know the ins and outs of all of this stuff, but I have to say: so what? Ok, let's assess the situation:

• I think it is medically proven that French men have low levels of testosterone. I believe this can be further backed up by a google image search for " french guy". Therefore, the standard they set for an acceptable level of testosterone is far lower than that of the typical American male.
  
• According to ESPN.com, Floyd is from a town named Farmersville, PA. Farmers are known to have higher levels of testosterone, due to so much exposure to the soil. Also, they often work in the fields with only a pitchfork and no shirt, which I think, somehow interacting with the Sun or something, leads to Vitamin D, which makes testosterone.
  
• Floyd Landis has this crazy thing going on where his hip is all messed up, right at the joint where his leg bone goes in (sorry for all of the advanced medical terminology, but that is the only way I know how to explain it). So, instead of getting hip surgery though, he just decided to work it real hard so that the leg bone basically wore a new joint/groove/whatever into his hip. Are you f-ing kidding me? I mean, that has to require massive amounts of testosterone - basically creating a new joint without the help of medicine/surgery.
• Floyd has been known to not only kill, but also eat, his vanquished opponents during and after races. Perhaps he has aquired some of the little testosterone they had in their bodies, raising his own levels.
• The French are extremely sad because they have not won the Tour de France in several centuries. And actually, I believe they have only ever won it when racing on unicycles. Since the introduction of the BIcycle, they have never won (I will check with Elias sports bureau on this, but 99% sure). So they are just looking for anything to take the title away from Floyd and finally get one for themselves.
  

Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that, though Floyd might have high levels of testosterone, that is mostly due to his American manliness. Furthermore, the French are just trying to do anything they can to salvage some sort of national honor. I firmly believe that when the facts become known and fully understood, Floyd will be vindicated. You heard it here first.  ¶ 12:10 PM 0 comments

  New York: #5 So, Forbes.com, that all-knowing beast of urban savvy (even I'm not sure what I meant by that), has posted some sort of ranking of the major cities of the U.S. on a whole variety of factors: it's called Best Cities for You. Overall, New York is number 5. Gothamist is confused, and rightfully so. New York is rated "best city for singles" and when Gothamist posted as much on their site, Forbes wrote back to say that no, New York is just number 1 in that category because it has the greatest number of single people. Ok, well, if you go to the chart, entitled " Best Cities for Singles", New York is number 1. So, Forbes needs to get its act together. Anyway, the point is that no way should NY be #1 on that list -- not that it is a bad city for singles, but I am sure someplace like Austin is better. New York's lowest rating is in the "job" category - apparently, it is hard to find a job in NY. Really? I mean, it might be pretty competitive out there, but NY has tons of jobs. And, I am not sure if I got this right, but who had the number one nightlife? Yeah, obviously: Cincinatti.

I don't even know why I just wrote about this.

UPDATE: Chosun responds:

I saw this today too, and was kinda confused. They rated the cities based on a series of factors including nightlife, cost of living, online singles, etc. Funny thing is, I read that NYC was the #1 city in the US for single men (D.C. was #2) only a few months ago. Either way, I think it's pretty clear that NYC is a great place to be if you're single.

For Chosun, any place is a good place to be if you're single. I know the guy; he does well.  ¶ 3:28 PM 1 comments

  Choosing a team to root for in the English Premier League Bill Simmons, aka the Sports Guy, one of the best sports writers out there, is getting into soccer. He loved the World Cup, and has now set out to follow an English Premier League team for at least a season. He solicited recommendations from readers, and got hundreds. In this column, he gives an overview of his selection process and announces his pick. I particularly like his reason for not picking Manchester United:


Anyway, can you imagine knowing a foreigner in their mid-30s who was looking for a baseball team and announced, "I'm going with the Yankees!" Wouldn't you hate that person? I don't want to be that guy.

So true.

For the last few years, my team has been Fulham (of London), principally because they have two Americans (Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra) and are a bit of an underdog that doesn't have much money but tries to find creative ways to win.  ¶ 11:44 PM 0 comments

  Who is a blogger?   ¶ 11:42 PM 0 comments

  Lamont pulls into the lead over Lieberman   ¶ 8:08 AM 0 comments

  Commentary from a Friend Stuck in Lebanon: Who Should Pay? I just received the following email from a friend stuck in Lebanon. We will see if it makes it onto Anderson Cooper's show - it should, because it makes some very good points:

I just wrote the following to CNN (as part of their Anderson Cooper Blog 360). I doubt it gets posted. So if you know of any blogs or whatever that may be looking for a perspective on the ground here in Lebanon, forward along.

I happen to be one of the US citizens stuck in Lebanon. In regards to your question, "Who should pay for the US evacuation," here's a novel idea. Why don't we cut back foreign aid to Israel (namely the Israeli Defense Forces) and use these funds to evacuate US citizens. The irony is too thick. We Americans are to blame for this catastrophe given our unconditional support of the Jewish State of Israel. Our tax dollars created this mess by financing Israel into the war machine that is currently charging through one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited, and now we're asking US citizens to pay for their own evacuation. It drives me crazy, and it should drive everyone in America crazy. US foreign policy is completely ignorant of the rest of the world. And I place the blame squarely on the Republican Party. Clinton made strides in the 90's to correct the situation in the Middle East. And together with prime ministers Rabin and Barak in Israel, it looked like Israel and the US were honestly looking to make peace. But ever since Bush and Sharon (the Republicans and Likud) came into power in 2000 and 2001 (ironically, both were elected around the same time), the whole world has been spiraling out of control.

The Republican Party has a long history of horrific foreign policy, which makes sense given that the majority of republican constituents are land locked in states like Kentucky and Oklahoma. And to return to the question at hand (who should pay for the evacuations?), why don't we also pull troops out of Iraq and abandon the current invasion (let's please stop calling it a war and let's refer to it as what it truly is). All of this reminds me of another Republican blunder in foreign policy (although perhaps on a smaller scale). In 1979 president Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party supported the successful Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua against a corrupt and oppressive dictatorship. Within one year, after republican Ronald Reagan took office, the United States decided to support a "contra-revolution" and coordinate a war against the Sandinista party. Republican paranoia was convinced that Russia could potentially invade the US through this small, remote Central American country if the left wing Sandinistas were in power. The result, almost a decade of civil war in Nicaragua, leaving it war torn and the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. I feel as though the Bush administration and the Republican Party will repeat this blunder. It will continue to support Israel unconditionally, even if it means the ruin of a beautiful country like Lebanon.

Michael Harley, New York City, NY

  ¶ 10:20 AM 0 comments

  Bush's Plan for Mideast Peace Our beloved President didn't even realize his mic was on at yesterday's G-8 lunch in Russia.  However, lucky for us, it was, as we now know his 18 point plan for bringing peace to the region:

"What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over," Bush says with his mouth full as he buttered a piece of bread.

  ¶ 12:00 PM 0 comments

  Good Health(care) BusinessWeek recently published an article on the Veterans Administration and the healthcare it provides.  I was under the impression that VA hospitals were just about the worst place to receive medical care - historically, this was certainly the case.  But apparently, somewhere in the middle of the Clinton administration, a serious (and successful) effort at reform was made within the VA:

Instead, the VA was reinvented in every way possible. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, then the VA's Health Under Secretary, installed the most extensive electronic medical-records system in the U.S. Kizer also decentralized decision-making, closed underused hospitals, reallocated resources, and most critically, instituted a culture of accountability and quality measurements. "Our whole motivation was to make the system work for the patient," says Kizer, now director of the National Quality Forum, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health care. "We did a top-to-bottom makeover with that goal always in mind."

In fact, the VA healthcare system is now in such good shape, VA hospitals and clinics are constantly rated "best in class" within the healthcare industry.  And, most interesting to me, the VA plan is being seen as a model for a national, single-payer healthcare system:

The biggest lesson? A nationwide health-care network that gets its funding from a single payer can institute mighty changes. Proponents of national health-care reform extrapolate even further. "The VA proves that you can get better results with an integrated, organized, national health-care system," says Dr. Lucian Leape, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and a leading expert on hospital safety. "We will not achieve even close to the level of quality and safety we need [in the U.S.] as long as we have individual practitioners and hospitals doing individual things."

Of course, Bush's War has already led to a huge increase in the number of veterans seeking treatment at VA hospitals.  How the system handles the influx over the next few years will be one of its biggests tests.

How good would a single-payer healthcare system be for the US economy and all Americans?  Better quality care, no massive healthcare costs to weigh down employers, and true accountability.
  ¶ 2:19 PM 0 comments

  One Red Paperclip Chosun brought One Red Paperclip to my attention today - and it is apparently quite a big day.  I urge you to go to the site to find out what it is all about yourself, but my less than fully educated view: this guy started on a quest a year ago, with only a dream and one red paperclip.  His goal?  Initate a series of trades that would, eventually, lead to him owning a house.  Today, he will receive the keys to that house.  Where's the house?  Some small town in Saskatchewan, where, on Labor Day weekend, he will throw the biggest houseparty the province has ever seen (or so he promises).  It's a pretty cool story, involving things like a fish pen, Alice Cooper, and a Hollywood movie role.  Go check it out.
  ¶ 11:18 AM 0 comments

  Wow: World Cup Suicide Attempt From Chosun:

  ¶ 10:35 AM 0 comments

  Ned Lamont: His Coffee Sucks During the World Cup coverage, I dropped off my coverage of Connecticut's Democratic Primary for Senate a bit. For those not in the know: Joe Lieberman, former Democrat, is being challenged by Ned Lamont, a political novice but good guy. What has happened since I last talked about this race? Oh well, it's now on the national news every night, the polls are neck and neck, and what once seemed like a long-shot to take out the Bush-loving Lieberman now actually appears pretty likely. Also, Lieberman announced he would not support Lamont as the Democratic nominee if Lamont wins the primary. Lieberman would instead run as an independent candidate. In order to make this happen, he has been collecting signatures and just yesterday founded his own political party. The name? I am not making this up. It's "Connecticut for Lieberman." Umm, Joe, thanks for the ammo.

Check out Ned's latest ad, even for those of you who don't have any interest in the race, you gotta admit it's pretty funny:

  ¶ 9:11 AM 0 comments

  Zidane Attacks!

You, too, can be like Zizou. Just go here, use your cursor to grab the Zidane figure and use it like you'd use your head.

  ¶ 5:19 PM 0 comments

  What was up with Zidane's headbutt? NY Times World Cup blog, in what one assumes is one of its final posts, looks into the whole thing here.
  ¶ 4:16 PM 0 comments

  World Cup Wrap-up Ok, so it's over, can you believe it?  Well, yeah, part of it seemed like it was over awhile ago (the, um, American part).  So let's revisit some of my predictions, found in this post here:


U-S-A all the way. Well, not really, but they'll get out of their group (though historically, they have SUCKED in Europe.)
-Well, I guess they came reasonably close to getting out of their group, but I think the emphasis was more on sucking in Europe this time.  0 for 1.

Germany suffers a major disaster of some sort.
-Germany had a great tournament, and Americanized coach Jurgen Klinsmann silenced the critics.  However, I think you could classify what happened to them in the semi-final as a disaster -- and I'm sure plenty of Germans feel it was major.  Giving up 2 goals to Italy in the final minutes of extra time, only a few heartbeats away from perhaps winning in PKs and going to the final -- that qualifies.  1 for 2.

Italy plays an entirely inspired cup, in spite all of the soccer scandals that people are now saying will distract them.
-Um, yeah.  I nailed this one.  They never gave up an opponent-scored goal during regular play, and as a result are now proud owners of that shiny Cup.  2 for 3.

Brazil sells lots of shoes for Nike, with those awesome Joga Bonito ads (yeah, I know they feature different players and teams, but have you seen that one of the Brazilian team kicking it around in their locker room?)
-I don't know about this one.  Did their poor performance vs. France lead to a decline in Nike shoe sales?  Only time will tell.  Those ads were great.  No rating.

Trinidad & Tobago (you know, my second favorite team) does something cool, highlight-worthy, even if they get their butts kicked otherwise.
-Yeah, and they didn't even get their butts kicked.  A gritty draw vs. Sweden, plus nearly tying England as well, certainly qualifies.  3 for 4.

A few final thoughts:

The US truly was in the Group of Death.  They didn't play particularly well, but they still had a chance on the last day, and were it not for a bad call or two, who knows?  A great point I read somewhere: The scheduling of the games in the group worked out best for the Italians, worst for the Americans.  Italy got to play the dangerous but low-on-experience Ghana squad in the first game, and got to finish out the group vs. the Czechs, who were skilled, experienced, but old, and didn't have the legs to compete in 3 games within such a short amount of time.  Plus, Jan Koller, that massive striker the Czechs have, scored vs. the US right away, then got hurt, then no one else had to face him for the rest of the tourney.  Sucks, huh?

There is a contentious debate regarding the US team, the role of our domestic Major League Soccer in developing players, and the corresponding role of the European leagues.  Donovan, The Goat who still plays in MLS after two failures in Europe, might have proven that his return to the domestic league prevented him from pushing himself to the highest levels, and thus pushing himself to perform better on the world's biggest stage.  Oguchi Onyewu, on the other hand, plays in the Belgian league (not even a top 3 league in Europe) and showed a true confidence and focus during the big games.  BUT -- what about Clint Dempsey, who was perhaps the most exciting player for Uncle Sam's team?  He plays in the MLS.  Same goes for Jimmy Conrad, who came into the Italy game after we went down to 9 players, and was a rock at center back vs. the charging Italians -- he plays for Kansas City.  The debate will rage on, some players will go to Europe, some there already will come home to end their careers (Claudio Reyna playing for NY, anyone?).  Anyway, I have no idea if this blog will still be around come 2010 and South Africa for the next cup (I will be THIRTY! wtf?).  But rest assured I will continue to blog about US Soccer, plus anything else interesting in the Greater Football Universe.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

  ¶ 11:48 AM 1 comments

  To Buy or Not to Buy Farecast (finally) goes Beta.  However, the Beta only allows you to plot ticket prices from Boston and Seattle.  I eagerly await the inclusion of NYC.  ( NY Times)  I covered this somewhere previously, but I don't remember when(?)
  ¶ 10:25 AM 0 comments

  Happy 4th of July In it's traditional contrarian fashion, the NY Times looks at 10 days that most changed American history and finds that July 4, 1776 was not one of them (the Declaration was signed two days earlier, and not ratified for a month).  Anyway, it's an intriguing list and well worth a read.  One day that caught my eye?  January, 12, 1848, deemed, " An Ill-Advised Speech":

His timing couldn't have been worse: With the Mexican War almost won, a freshman congressman rose to deliver a blistering attack on President Polk and his "half-insane" aggressive militarism. Almost from the moment he sat down again, the political career of Representative Abraham Lincoln seemed doomed by the antiwar stand he had taken just when most Americans were preparing their victory celebrations.

  ¶ 9:58 AM 0 comments

  Bush is Not Incompetent So says George Lakoff:

Joe Biden recently said, "if I had known the president was going to be this incompetent in his administration, I would not have given him the authority [to go to war]." Had Bush actually been incompetent, he would have never been able to lead us to war in Iraq. Had Bush been incompetent, he would not have been able to ram through hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts. Had Bush been incompetent, he would have been blocked from stacking the courts with right-wing judges. Incompetence, on reflection, might have actually been better for the country.

  ¶ 12:10 PM 0 comments