Bud Selig joined the crowd that came out to see Barry Bonds. All the commissioner saw was a long fly and an 0-for-4.Bonds went hitless and stayed put at 753 home runs in the San Francisco Giants' 8-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, moving no closer to the record 755 held by Selig's good friend, Hank Aaron.
Bonds started the series opener in the city where Hammerin' Hank began and ended his career — and on the 31st anniversary of Aaron's final home run, no less. He hit No. 755 on July 20, 1976, at now-demolished County Stadium.
It would have been fitting to see Baroids tie or break the record in the same city as Aaron, on the same night 31 years later, but alas. Maybe today or tomorrow. Soon enough for sure.
Mark me as neither a Bonds fan nor a hater. Big Head Barry cheated, but so did McGuire, Sosa, Canseco, Palmeiro, et. al. My opinion is that if MLB so despised steroid use then they could have taken action in the last century. But baseball needed big hitters breaking records in the '90's as it struggled to recover from the debilitating players' strike and cancellation of the World Series in 1994.Because his name is Steve Francis, he's the most intriguing of all the moves (new Rockets GM Daryl) Morey has made in his remarkable offseason. Morey probably can't comprehend that part of the story. He simply can't know how invested fans were in believing Francis and Cuttino Mobley would be part of a third championship.Francis eventually came to symbolize an organization's failures rather than its successes. Yet his failings were those of a spoiled kid. They were never malicious. So he skipped a flight to see a Super Bowl.
Big deal. Check this week's headlines. Skipping a flight seems almost irrelevant.
And, to show my thanks to all of you who'll go see SiCKO this weekend, I'm going to send one of you and a guest on a free weekend to the universal health care country of your choice! That's right. You'll get to pick one of the three industrialized countries featured in the movie where, if you get sick, you get help for free, no matter who you are. All you have to do is send us your ticket stub (make sure it says SiCKO on it and has the name of the theater and this weekend's date on it -- Friday, Saturday or Sunday - July 20th, 21st, 22nd). Attach the stub to a piece of paper with your name, address, phone number and email and send it to: 'Sicko' Night in America, 888c 8th Avenue, Suite 443, New York, NY 10019. (Yes, you have to use that old 18th century device called the U.S. Postal Service, and it has to be postmarked on or by Tuesday, July 24th). First prize is a weekend in the city of your choice: Paris, London or Toronto. This includes airfare, hotel, meals and, most exciting, a representative from their fine universal health care system who will give you a personal tour so you can see how they treat their fellow citizens. You'll meet people who pay nothing for college and citizens who are in the fourth week of their six-week paid vacation. Oh, and you'll have time to see the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben or whatever they have in Toronto that is old and tall. (If you don't have a passport, we'll pay for that, too!)
If you sit around wondering how many Texans have sat in the United States Senate in the 91 years since senators began being selected by popular elections in 1916, the answer is 17. State Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, in the 2008 election would like to be chosen as the 18th.
Jabbing at the Republican incumbent, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, as a "cheerleader" for the administration of President George W. Bush "for a variety of failed policies," Noriega said a change in representation is necessary to bring a change in direction.
"A lot of the problem we see today is (that) stubbornness is not a foreign policy," Noriega said.
Noriega, a sturdy 49-year-old legislator who has worked in educational administration, on Monday announced formation of an exploratory committee at a press conference on the state capitol's front lawn.
Noriega, with buzz-cut hair and an erect military bearing, chose a backdrop of the memorial to those who died at the Alamo, to underline his 26 years in the armed services, including a stint in Afghanistan with the Texas Army National Guard.
"Growing up in Houston, my family taught me the importance of serving my community," Noriega said in a prepared statement. "I've been privileged to serve this country as a soldier, my state as an elected representative, and Houston as a community leader focused on education. The call to service has been a big part of my life, and I am taking the next step in answering that call."
"Standing in the shadows of this monument, I'm reminded of our state's great tradition and our duty to speak out when things have gone off the rails," Noriega said. "Today, our nation is headed in the wrong direction, led by those whose choice is to divide Americans to maintain power.
"They ignore the will of the people about the war in Iraq. They ignore the needs of the people for health care, college education, and a better standard of living. They ignore the lessons of our history: that America's strength lies in our unity and diversity.
"John Cornyn represents the worst of these trends," Noriega said. "And it's time for him to go."
Noriega rose to lieutenant colonel while training Afghan troops. Asked what he would do about the war in Iraq, Noriega said he would follow the withdrawal timetable laid out by the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former President Bush's Secretary of State, James Baker.
Noriega's wife Melissa, who sat in for him in the Texas House of Representatives while he was in Afghanistan, was elected June 16 to the Houston City Council. After he returned, Noriega was tapped to run a National Guard border security operation, and then by Houston Mayor Bill White to coordinate relief for refugees from Hurricane Katrina who fled to Houston.
Though Noriega took aim in his press conference at Cornyn, his first major hurdle is Democrat Mikal Watts, a wealthy plaintiff's attorney from Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Watts, 39, has already donated and loaned millions of dollars to his campaign. By keeping his campaign war chest abreast of the Republican's, Watts hopes to demonstrate that he can go toe to toe on television advertising.
Noriega, who is not personally wealthy, obviously hopes his Hispanic surname will help offset Watts' dollars. Hispanics lean Democratic, and can account for between a third and half the vote in a Democratic primary.
The Alamo memorial also was undoubtedly chosen to help soften any negatives Noriega's surname may have for non-Hispanics. During times of battles over immigration, and talk of a fence along the Texas-Mexico border, the memorial serves as a reminder that during Texas's war with Mexico, Hispanic Texans as well as Anglos fought and died at the Alamo.
Asked what impact his surname might have on the contest, Noriega said "I'll let the voters decide that. I'm an American."
Cornyn told reporters he'll wait to see who Democrats select as their nominee before responding to attacks.
Noriega's exploratory committee is chaired by Paul Hobby of Houston, who was the Democratic Party's near-miss candidate in 1998 for state comptroller, and son of Bill Hobby, the former longtime Democratic lieutenant governor.
Noriega "is a rare mix of passion, competence and integrity," said Paul Hobby, who said he'd known Noriega for years. "Rick can and should win. I want to turn on CNN and see him representing Texas in the United States Senate. Rick is competent and practical; he is not slick or partisan. That is what we need right now -- credible leadership."
Virginia "Ginny" Schrader was not getting much "help" at all from the DCCC in July 2004. She was running an uphill battle against Republican Congressman Jim Greenwood, who had won his previous race with 62%. Schrader herself had won a primary with only 60% against a frequent Republican candidate who had switched parties. As of the June 30th filing report, she had $7,000 on hand. Her chances, to put it mildly, were slim to none. Despite Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional district having voted for Gore in 2000, Greenwood's moderate social views (he was pro-choice, for example) enabled him to win reelection easily, over and over again. This race would be no different.
410PM: I used Politics1.com to find Schrader's website, and quickly noted her main positions on the issues, her biography and the district demographics (it voted for Gore, for example). I then set to work typing up an article on the front page of DailyKos. As I did, I checked PoliticsPA.com to confirm the news, and found out that Schrader had just $7,000 in the bank.
440PM: I finished the article, and published it on the front page. This is what it said:Breaking News: GOP Congressman Greenwood (PA-08) Leaving Congress This Year
I just read this at PoliticsPA.com and in a breaking news e-mail from RollCall.com. Congressman Jim Greenwood, a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional district, just announced he will not seek reelection this year, instead removing his name from the ballot. The Democrat, Virginia "Ginny" Schrader, is an attorney who has just $7,000 in the bank as of June 30th. Greenwood's district voted for Gore in 2000 by a decent amount, and the GOP is now scrambling for a replacement.
Schraeder's website is [ Note: Link is now inactive]. A good place to contribute to would be at ACTBLUE at [Note: Link is now inactive], as it will track the donations recieved for the campaign.
I would suggest that we get involved ASAP. This seat is a Democratic-leaning one, and is too good to miss. Schrader is a liberal-to-moderate, pro-choice Democrat. In addition, she supports civil unions and is against Bush's positions on Iraq and the Patriot Act. She is an attorney who ran for State Rep. in 2002 and lost by a respectable margin.
This is completely out of left field, folks, and it gives us another opportunity for a pickup. Ginny Schrader is the luckiest candidate in the nation today, but can her luck hold?
In my rush to post the article, I mispelled Schrader's name at one point. I also forgot to include her ActBlue account, which I added later on at one poster's urging. In addition, I as of then had not figured out HTML, so there was no bolding or italics in the post. Reading it today when compared to my "modern" work is like comparing Sumerian clay tablets to a Medieval manuscript in its aesthetic beauty.
And yet my appeal worked. I didn't know Ginny Schrader from Adam; in fact, nearly all of the bloggers who responded that day didn't know her either. But people gave, people wrote kind words and let others know the news: that a Congressional seat could be won that had been not been looked at before.
By the end of July 20th, Ginny Schrader had raised $30,000 from the Internet.
July 18 - Dembloggers posts video of a Hackett ad that Republicans claim creates a false impression of support from George W. Bush. On the same day, Baker posts an email he has received from the Democratic Party that helpfully informs him: on "August 2 there will be a special election to fill a vacant seat in Congress representing the 2nd Congressional district in Southern Ohio."
July 19 - Blog for America, the blog of Democracy for America, announces DFA's endorsement of Hackett. The timing coincides with National Blogosphere Day, which blogs across the internet celebrate by urging donations to Hackett's campaign. In eight hours, Paul Hackett's ActBlue page pulls in $55,000.
July 20 - Grow Ohio reports that the blogs brought in $80,000 in a single day. Swing State Project reports Hackett currently tops Schmidt in Cash on Hand. Hackett's money comes from a network of individuals from around the country, each averaging around $50 a donation. According to the FEC reports analyzed by the blogs, Schmidt's money has come from PACs in average donations of $1,785. Grow Ohio, Swing State Project and OH-02 offer daily information on get-out-the-vote campaigns around the district.
Ned Lamont was the biggest single recipient and he matched, dollar for dollar, all the money that came in-- something he will continue to do through the end of the primary. Nevertheless, a story in today's NY TIMES by Mike McIntire and Jennifer Medina illustrates what a tough, tough task Ned has taken on himself. Forget for a moment that Joe Lieberman has become a millionaire many times over since he was elected to public office. (Unlike Ned, he is not a man who built a business, got audited, paid taxes and wages; Lieberman just won elections and, like most corrupt politicians... wound up very, very rich.) The headline of the TIMES story says a lot: "Lieberman's Donors Include Many Who Favor Republicans."
Older, cheaper diabetes drugs are as safe and effective as newer ones, concludes an analysis that is good news for diabetics and may further hurt sales of Avandia, a blockbuster pill recently tied to heart problems.The clear winner: metformin, sold as Glucophage and generically for about $100 a year. It works as well as other diabetes pills but does not cause weight gain or too-low blood sugar, the analysis found. It also lowers LDL or bad cholesterol.
"It looks to be the safest," said Dr. Shari Bolen, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who led the review, which was published online Monday by the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Consumer Reports also published a consumer guide of the results. Besides metformin, it rates glipizide and glimepiride, sold as Amaryl and Glucotrol, as best bets.
Metformin and glipizide are the two I have been taking from the outset, and the only two I have ever used to control my blood sugar. (I also take Tricor for elevated triglycerides, Lipitor to elevate my good cholesterol -- I have never had an issue with high LDL -- as well as a mild diuretic called Triamterene to control symptoms of Meneire's, and Lyrica for diabetic neuropathy in my feet.) In addition to the prescriptions, I take some over-the-counter yet doctor-recommended remedies, including low-dose aspirin therapy and a fish oil capsule (omega 3's also help lift HDL) with each meal. I do not inject insulin; all of my meds are oral.
