Boyd

Nordlinger points to this column by Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star and often of The Sports Reporters on ESPN. The topic is the lack of black AP Sports Editors. The answer, as always is, start at the bottom, pay your dues, good things happen. Will it be harder if you're black? Yes. Will it be harder if you don't work at it? Impossible. White or black.

Update: An excerpt.

There are no easy solutions when it comes to diversity, and the villains in America’s struggle to diversify the sports world are nowhere near as obvious as the media would have you believe.

It cannot all be pinned on white racism. No way. And unless we, African Americans, move away from explaining and defining these topics totally through the prism of white racism, things will not change. Not because of white backlash. Because we will continue to fail to prepare our youth for the opportunities that are out there to be snapped up.

Case in point: Jackson stated in his “column” that he tells black high school and college students that they have a better chance of making it to the NBA than they do of becoming a sportswriter.

The stupidity of such a comment could be laughed off and attributed to the writer’s desire to be viewed as a bigger star than LeBron James if I weren’t aware that many black youths have swallowed the self-defeating myth that white racism will prevent them from experiencing mainstream career success.

Nordlinger:

Here is a question: If you have a deadly enemy, and that enemy places itself among innocents, what do you do? Do you fight back, or do you decide you can’t, owing to the civilian casualties that would result?

If only that question were hypothetical.

As has long been said, just about the worst thing Arab aggressors do to Israelis is force them into a situation in which they kill innocents. (Golda Meir: “When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons. But it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.”)

VDH:

Iran promised to wipe Israel off the map, and then gave Hezbollah thousands of missiles to fulfill that pledge. In response, the world snored. If tomorrow more powerful rockets hit Tel Aviv armed with Syrian chemicals or biological agents, or Iranian nukes, the “international” community would urge “restraint” — and keep urging it until Israel disappeared altogether. And the day after its disappearance, the Europeans and Arabs would sigh relief, mumble a few pieties, and then smile, “Life goes on.”

And for them, it would very well.

You either think Israel has the right to exist or you don't. Despite the efforts of the world's best bureaucrats and diplomats, Israel's enemies insist on clarifying this question.

Warren:

I am myself amazed, and troubled, by how many Israeli officials continue to speak as if the goal were a trade-off with Israel's mortal enemies. But the thing about mortal enemies is, there's nothing to trade but your head.

CNN:

With a poster of the burning World Trade Center behind him, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant appeared on tape Thursday calling on Muslims to join the fight against Israel and "rise up seeking martyrdom and attack the crusaders and Zionists."

The problem with these terrorist types is twofold. First, they have delusions of grandeur. They can't abide being a worker bee like all the rest of us. They actually think they're special. Second, they're lazy. Get a job, you bums. Engage in commerce like everybody else and give up running around playing army.

Murphy:

Floyd says he didn't do it, and I want very badly to believe him.

Me too.

VDH:

The good life sometimes can be lost quite unexpectedly and abruptly when people demand rights more than they accept responsibilities, or live for present consumption rather than sacrifice for future investment, or feel their own culture is not particularly exceptional and therefore in no need of constant support and defense.

We should tread carefully in these challenging days of our greatest wealth - and even greater vulnerability.

Whittle:

Now “progress” and “civilization” are ironic terms, in sneer quotes, muttered with that pathetic, bored tone of cynical nihilism started by the narcissistic brats that I have been ten years behind for my entire life. Today, I try to exercise and watch my weight only so that I may live long enough to see the last of these radical hippies die in their sleep.

This is a command. Read the whole thing.

Proportion in war is like letting someone in the British Open with a 30 handicap and giving him the trophy for only shooting 100 over par.

Did something very cool last night. It was Cub Scout night with the Indians. Watched the game and afterward camped on the field. How cool is that?

We were supposed to have a clinic with some of the players, but the game went extra innings and didn't end until close to 11. The players split. However, it's all good. We played a pickup game with about 15 kids in the outfield until 1. Yep. You read that right. I'm sure the neighbors were happy with us for the stadium lights being left on. Also, some rock band played on the concourse for about an hour after the eleventh inning. Judas Priest, Rage Against the Machine (who are totally communist, no matter what Killian thinks - check the reading list on their site JK, the Cookbook notwithstanding), Green Day, Beastie Boys, etc. So if you live around Beaumont St in Burlington, you were up late.

Camping wasn't bad at all. Bermuda grass is a lot softer than the rocks and roots we normally find to sleep on. And once you got used to lying in a pool of your own sweat, it was really fairly pleasant.

Got up this morning, played catch for about twenty minutes on the warning track and took off. We were planning on doing this all again tonight with the Grasshoppers, but for some reason they restricted camping to Boy Scouts only in Greensboro. Shame.

Update: I understand the Grasshoppers game was rained out. Karma, baby. Instant Karma. Shine on Hoppers.

TSG:

You know how Red makes the comment that, after a life spent in Shawshank, he can't even squeeze a drop of pee without asking for permission first? I feel like that's happening to us. American sports have been ravaged by TV timeouts, ticket price hikes and Jumbotrons that pretty much order fans how to act.

Right. I despise things that are contrived. We take another couple of steps every year with pro sports. You don't even realize how bad it is until you drop down a couple of levels below major college.

Saw this at Baute's the other day.

I ask John one last question: what’s the bone of sport, the koan, the holy of it? And out of his mouth pops a single word to carry like a talisman, a prayer, a lodestar: joy.

Update: Don't misunderstand me if you follow the Simmons link, I still hate soccer and under no circumstances will I be picking an EPL team to cheer for.

AP:

In a stunning turnaround a day after he was all but written off, American rider Floyd Landis moved back into contention at the Tour de France on Thursday, winning the final Alpine stage in a solo finish to jump from 11th to third.

He's only thirty seconds back now having made up almost eight minutes. I watched him some last night on OLN. He was definitely suffering as bicycle people say.

As much as I love Lance Armstrong's power, it's a lot of fun watching this race without a favorite.

VDH:

Finally, the world is accepting that the Middle East problem was never about so-called occupied land -- but only about the existence of Israel itself.

Today at 5:00pm: With the mercury rising, a cool swimming pool looks more inviting than ever - but we'll show you why you should think twice before diving in.

Uh oh. Evidently I'm too stupid as to have been unafraid, up to this point, of swimming pools. Thanks, News 2, for keeping me alive.

In the spirit of smartening up the local population and making this a more enlightened place to live, here are some other potential story ideas. Fox 8 and WXII, you are welcome, as well, to this bounty in the name of community service.

• When you're hungry, you want to eat - but we'll show you why this could kill you.



• When you want to go somewhere, you might want to drive - prepare to die.



• When you get married, you may want to bed your new spouse - bad idea.



• When you're tired, you go to sleep - find out at 6:00 what percentage of us never wake up.



• If you're poor, you may be thinking of getting a job - do we have to say it?



• When you breathe out, you will automatically breathe in - careful.

Sportscenter has been showing these snippets every morning at about 6:30 of sick kids meeting their sports heroes through Make-A-Wish. This morning they had a 10 year-old whose dream was to meet Derek Jeter. He goes to Yankee Stadium and Jeter is taking BP. Jeter meets him and introduces him to the rest of the team. Reggie Jackson comes by and asks the kid if he's got about an hour so he can tell him about Reggie. Then Reg asks who is his favorite Yankee - Jeter or Reggie. The kid says Jeter. He never saw Reggie play. Reggie is incredulous and asks Jeter if he can believe that the kid never saw Reggie play. Jeter pauses and says, "Well, Reg, I never saw you play either."

Friedman making his usual sense via Guarino. I like the thoughts Joe picked regarding privatizing Iraqi oil. The gist is that if the people have something to lose, they'll not get as agitated.

On the rise of China:

The final outcome in China will not be decided until there is a showdown between the political tyranny on the one hand and economic freedom on the other—they cannot coexist.

On the current state of American medical care:

There is no direct relation between the patient and the physician. The physician is an employee of an insurance company or an employee of the government. Today, a third party pays the bills. As a result, no one who visits the doctor asks what the charge is going to be—somebody else is going to take care of that. The end result is third party payment and, worst of all, third party treatment.

On current prosperity:

You hear all this talk about economic difficulties, when the fact is we are at the absolute peak of prosperity in the history of the world. Never before have so many people had as much as they do today.

On the government spending money it does not have:

Sooner or later, government will want to raise funds without imposing taxes. It will want to spend money it does not have. So I hesitate to join those who are predicting two percent inflation for the next 20 years. The temptation for government to lay its hands on that money is going to be very hard to resist.

On education vouchers:

If you want to subsidize the production of a product, there are two ways you can do it. You can subsidize the producer or you can subsidize the consumer. In education, we subsidize the producer—the school. If you subsidize the student instead—the consumer—you will have competition. The student could choose the school he attends and that would force schools to improve and to meet the demands of their students.

The coup de grace:

No one spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.

Beirut's Daily Star via E&P:

Israel's actions in Gaza and Lebanon are now creating a new generation of militants who will stop at nothing to wreak revenge against America and Israel. If the current pattern holds, this next generation of militants will outdo their predecessors, just as Hizbullah, Hamas and Al-Qaeda have surpassed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organization. They will take the current global conflict to even more uncompromising and terrifying levels.

Put aside for a minute the idea that it's Israel's fault that there are terrorists, 'if the current pattern holds' there's nothing to do but escalate this thing in a major way. The editorial seems to take the position that terrorists hold all the cards, which isn't really the case at all, now is it? This is why there's war - one side doesn't realize they're beat and it's takes a lot of killing and destruction to make them understand that reality.

Update: Derbyshire:

I ... understand that our civilizational confidence is going through a rough patch — that the West is currently indulging itself, in the way that people and civilizations will indulge themselves when they believe they can afford to, in guilty agonizings about our past imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and so on. I am sure these pleasurable guilt-spasms will pass, as all things do pass. In the meantime, just look at us — at our wealth, our power, our capability. And look at them — the jihadis! This is war? Nonsense. This is war on the scale of WW1, WW2, or the Cold War? Nonsense on stilts.

Don't guess you can blame them for not knowing they're beat when many of us don't really know it ourselves. You know, they really ought to have democracy and be nice to each other and to us and all that. However, if they reject it and want to continue down their current path, the absolute best they can hope for is to destroy NYC with a nuke and while this would be a most terrible thing for us it would be the end of them.

Final score. Burlington City Pee Wee Tournament Bracket B Baseball Championship Game. It's coach pitch. Most of the kids played tee ball together last year.

Almost everyone on our team is 7 by now. Couple of 6 year-olds. What a season. Finished 2nd in the division at 8-4. Won 3 games in the tourney to wind up 11-4. I can't even begin to explain how far the players (and coaches) have come. Brian Baute is our head coach. I am one of three assistants. I have had more fun with this team than you can even begin to imagine. Way more fun than the kids have had. Brian has had fun too. Maybe more than me. He has been a most excellent coach for these kids. We've seen it all. Bad teams. Good teams. Over-the-top coaches. Lousy coaches. Everything. Brian has struck the exact right balance of intensity and positive support. There's no point to doing this if you aren't going to try to win games. However, you don't want to get too carried away for all the obvious reasons. Our kids have had a blast under him. They've handled winning with class. They've handled losing with class. They've played loose most of the time. I couldn't be more proud of them.

Championship Game Recap

You read the score right in the title. It was a slugfest. The Elon White Sox prevailed in 6 innings as the away team (we were the away team every game of the tourney because Brian doesn't know how to call heads or tails correctly apparently).

We started last night at about 7:30. We scored 7 in the top of the 1st. They scored 2 with no one out when lightning halted play.

We were rescheduled for tonight at 6:30. Thought we were going to be rained out again with both teams declared co-champs, however we got started at 7 when the approaching storm veered south. They resumed where they left off and took the lead 8-7, I think. We might have only scored two in the 2nd to go up 9-8. They scored 5 in the bottom of the second to make it 13-9. Top of the 3rd, we exploded. Went up 23-13 and had to switch sides due to the 10 run rule in Burlington City. They scored some more. We scored some more (Brian's got the book, maybe he'll fill me in). Ended up 40-26 going into the bottom of the 6th. They scored 3, but we got the necessary outs. Game over. Kids were so happy. Parents were so happy. Coaches were ecstatic.

Let me brag on Jack. I don't think he struck out (They get five pitches from a coach to put the ball in play. If they don't, they're out.) during the entire tournament (15-20 times up). He may have actually had a hit in every plate appearance now that I think about it. He also played shortstop for us. He was a stud there. He caught a line drive in the 2nd game that was huge to keep them from rallying. He tagged several runners and got several forces at 2nd. He also made good throws across the diamond to 1st and did a solid job of cutting off the outfield. Great kid.

Now on to fall ball in Swepsonville. We'll see what the rest of Alamance County has for us. Also, I'm the head coach for Payne's tee ball team which is made up of 3-5 year-olds. We'll play fall ball a little later at Mt. Hope. It's non-competitive and they try hard when they aren't preoccupied with playing in the infield dirt. Can't wait for that either. Anything to keep my offspring away from soccer.

Update: Better recap here. By better, I mean what really happened.

TSG:

Q: Enough about Barbaro. To quote Ralphie Cifaretto ... "It was a [bleeping] horse!" If he placed at the Derby, he'd be an anonymous Euroburger right now. Instead, he's getting the "President's colon" treatment. Can we move on?
--Kernberg, Dorchester, Mass.

SG: That was this month's "Really evil e-mail that made me laugh out loud." By the way, I think Barbaro has replaced the Bonds home run chase and Clemens' comeback as the ongoing "major" sports story that nobody seems to actually care about.

PTI spent five minutes last night on this. They had a reporter babe in front of a horse pasture with a horse bone in her hand showing you what happened. Can. We. Move. On. Please.

Outstanding Deaf Jamaicans. Be a great band name.

Championship game PPD.

Getting monster traffic for me today. Already 200 hits. 'Wonder why,' thought I. Could it be folks wanting to find out about Jack's baseball team or folks wanting exposure to capitalist fever?

Nope. This because people are looking for this. Well, at least they aren't looking for Britney Spears nude or Angelina Jolie nude or the Olsen twins nude.

Collins:

There is of course a reason for the popularity of soccer in the lower and middle grades in America. Any child with a mother who drives, or knows someone whose mother drives, can play. Non-contact. Lots of running. No big uniform or equipment expense. An endless season. And endless opportunities for socializing among parents arrayed in folding chairs on the sidelines. The bloodless nature of the play is reflected in the benign attitude on the sidelines. Ever hear of an irate Dad punching out a soccer referee?

Right. Suburban, ninny mothers. Soccer for American kids is like something that was dreamed up in a homeowner's association meeting.

Homeowner's Association Activities Director: Hmmm, let's see, we need a sport where the kids can wear colorful uniforms, run around a lot, everyone can play, no one gets hurt, everyone has an excuse to ride in each other's minivans and absolutely, positively no one cares who wins.

HAAD: ...

HAAD: Got it. Football.

Mothers In Audience (collectively): Gasp!

HAAD: I'm so sorry. Didn't mean to give you all a heart attack. Soccer.

Following the saga? More of a breather in round 2. We won 25 to 12 or something like that. Our best game of the year both offensively and defensively. The other team played very well, we just played out of our minds. Burlington City has a ten run rule where you switch sides when someone goes up by that amount. We were at it the whole game. I don't think they ever got three outs on us in an inning. However, after last night's nail biter no one was breathing easy until it was actually over.

Championship game is Thursday against an older, more experienced Division II team (we're Division III). This will be our first meeting. I will attempt to remain composed in the presence of the children.

Here's a season recap.

Surowiecki:

When Ben Bernanke took over from Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, five months ago, one of his goals was to make the Fed a more open institution. Whereas Greenspan specialized in tortuously oblique sentences parsable only by semioticians—he once said, “Since I’ve become a central banker, I’ve learned to mumble with great incoherence”—Bernanke advocated a plainspoken style. If the Fed was clearer about its intentions, he figured, markets would be less volatile. But, instead of smoothing markets, Bernanke’s public statements have confused them, earning him a reputation for flightiness, a quality that no one wants in a central banker. He’s been called “Blundering Ben” and a “loose cannon,” and investors are saying, Will Bernanke please shut up?

Let’s hope not. While Bernanke’s attempt to open the doors of the Fed wider has had a rocky start, it’s the logical next step in a welcome trend toward transparency that started under Greenspan.

Short-term market moves are not that important. Transparency is however. Bernanke is absolutely doing the right thing.

Whittle:

The forces of ignorance and barbarism – bearers of ruin and despair wherever they make camp – are growing in confidence. But beside their will to destroy and die they have nothing. These Death Cult barbarians think this is all they will need – that, and an initial alliance with the forces they most despise. I still hold out hope that they will crack open a second book – a history book, say – that might at the eleventh hour give them some insight into the avocado nature of the Civilization they seem determined now to assault: soft and pulpy on the outside, impenetrably tough and hard within. They are going to do more than chip a tooth on us, these raving, bloodthirsty lunatics: they are about to make, I think, the same mistake that others have made before them – to see the Cindy Sheehans and Michael Moores as representative of a corrupt and dying culture, rather than what they really are: somewhat entertaining animal acts we Westerners use to pass the time while waiting for the next opportunity to pull the gloves off, and kick some new inhuman, barbaric horde onto the ash heap of history, where reside Aristocracy, Slavery, Fascism and Communism, holding in common only the mark of our boots on their asses.

Our enemies do not want to see us get to the point where we think we have a chance to lose.

Not when there's Pee Wee Baseball to play.

I did turn it on about 9:30. That is a beautiful ball park. Next summer I might take Jack on an East Coast baseball trip, but how about a Midwest trip sometime - Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. Very doable.

Update: Back to the Pee Wee game. It was 21-19 us. 21-10 going into the bottom of the last. They reeled off 9 runs. Everyone was going crazy. I was having a heart attack. The kids were ambivalent.

All it takes is someone to blog about it.

July 7th, 2006 started off like every other day, I woke up. Two seconds later I was asking myself where I was and two second after that I realized I really wasn't dreaming and that I was in Texas ready to play in the big leagues! I laid there for a couple seconds and tried to think of what was going on around me. It was too much for me to take, my head was running a millions miles a second. I got up and opened the window shade and stared at what I was seeing in front of me...Ameriquest Field.

Increase legal immigration.

WSJ:

Those migrating here to make a better life for themselves and their families would much prefer to come legally. Give them more legal ways to enter the country, and we are likely to reduce illegal immigration far more effectively than any physical barrier along the Rio Grande ever could.

I was impressed with Orson Scott Card's essay on immigration this past week in The Rhino (as yet unposted due to some Neo-Luddite reason that having more people read what you're writing is bad for folks in the newspaper business). In it he essentially says that the people who currently make up the US population (you and me, unless you're not from here) aren't special. We benefit due to our being born in a place made great by the folks who immigrated here long ago. I'll go along with this.

Why do 300 million Americans live better than billions of Chinese and Indians and Africans? Are we inherently better people? Smarter? More industrious? Forget it. It's the system. Allow people to be free and get government officials and bureaucrats and other autocrats off their backs and who knows what wonderful things they'll do.

Penalty kicks. It's like if the World Series got to 3 games to 3 games and they decided the thing with a home run derby.

Update: King Kaufman agrees.

...if you think the Italians were happy and relieved after that penalty-kick win, imagine them after a genuine goal, achieved by playing, you know, actual soccer for a few hours.

Hey, if you're going to be wrong, may as well be wrong in spectacular fashion.

AP:

LeBron James won't be leaving home anytime soon.

Cleveland's All-Star forward agreed Saturday to sign a contract extension of up to five years and worth as much as $80 million with the Cavaliers, a huge relief for the rising team and its fretting fans who worried he might be planning an escape.

Update: At least I know the difference in the Greensboro City Council and the Guilford County Commissioners.

NYT:

At Dickinson, some professors and administrators have begun to notice a similar withdrawal among men who arrive on campus with deficient social skills. Each year, there are several who mostly stay in their rooms, talk to no one, play video games into the wee hours and miss classes until they withdraw or flunk out.

This spring, Rebecca Hammell, dean of freshman and sophomores, counseled one such young man to withdraw.

"He was in academic trouble from the start," Ms. Hammell said. "He was playing games till 3, 4, 5 in the morning, in an almost compulsive way. From early in the year, his teachers reported that he was either not coming to class or falling asleep once he was there. I checked with the Residential Life office, and they said he was in his room all the time."

and...

"There was so much freedom when I got here, compared to my very structured high school life, that I kept putting things off," said Greg Williams, who just finished his freshman year. "I wouldn't do much work and I played a lot of Halo. I didn't know how to wake up on time without a mom. I had laundry problems. I shrank all my clothes and had to buy new ones."

and...

Ms. Smyers, also at American, said she recently ended a relationship with another student, in part out of frustration over his playing video games four hours a day.

"He said he was thinking of trying to cut back to 15 hours a week," she said. "I said, 'Fifteen hours is what I spend on my internship, and I get paid $1,300 a month.' That's my litmus test now: I won't date anyone who plays video games. It means they're choosing to do something that wastes their time and sucks the life out of them."

I'm telling you, these things are evil. It's why I had such a hard time with The Matrix. Let's be real, hardly anybody is taking the red pill. Just be the battery and live well. The machines' mistake was that they didn't make everyone Donald Trump or Nelly. If you had all the money in the world, jets and women, what are you going to do - give it all up to be a corporal and fly around in a dirty, grimy world fighting robots?

Aljazeera:

A YouGov survey conducted recently for The Daily Telegraph showed that the majority of Britons now believe that the culture and the actions of the current U.S. government is making the world a worse place to live in.

Of the 2,000 respondents polled by You Gov, fewer than one quarter said that the Bush administration’s policies make the world a better place, whereas three times that many, said they believe the United Sates America's influence in the world is 'predominantly malign.'

77% of respondents disagreed with the statement that the U.S. is "a beacon of hope for the world", and 83% said that America doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks.

And after I stood up for them. Well, you know what guys, just take it. I know you had it a while back, but give it another go.

You think it's easy being the top dog? Everybody wants you to do this and that, get prices down, get prices up, don't invade Iraq, invade North Korea, buy our stuff, don't sell your stuff. It really gets old. We're going to check out one of these days like Hank Rearden and John Galt and then let's see where we are. The Chinese and the Russians and the North Koreans and the terrorists will all fall right in and you'll be one big happy family.

TSG:

The first day that teams could offer max extensions to rookies from the 2003 draft class: July 1, 2006. We know that Denver offered one to Carmelo (quickly accepted), Miami offered one to Wade (quickly accepted), and Cleveland offered one to LeBron (NOT accepted -- plus, neither LeBron nor his agent has commented publicly and it has been six days and counting). The silence has been deafening. Repeat: Deafening. In fact, it's developing into the biggest sports story of the summer and nobody seems to give a crap. But they will. Just wait.

LeBron's gone and no one will care no matter how long Bill waits.

Two problems. Cleveland and LeBron. Everyone knew LeBron was gone from Cleveland at the first opportunity. He's more Kobe than MJ. MJ relished going to Chicago and turning the team around. LeBron doesn't seem to have the same type of desire. MJ was bigger than any stage. LeBron just wants on the biggest stage. He's not an original no matter how much money Nike spends trying to make him so.

Second problem is the bigger problem. It's Cleveland for crying out loud. Just like Shaq bolting Orlando for LA, this is going to happen and LeBron is ending up somewhere cool. (Simmons is right that Isiah not clearing cap space to make a run at LeBron is just another inexplicable move in the final year of the Thomas reign in NY. They ought to just close up shop and forfeit every game up there until the contracts of their current players expire.)

Making his way back from Tommy John surgery, JD Martin. All the articles I see about him recently talk about his curve ball. However, his fast ball is wicked as well. Unhittable (at least for rookie level minor leaguers). I saw several of his starts with Burlington when he was just out of high school and he was in a different league than his competition. Most of his innings were 1-2-3.

Shame about pitchers and the injury factor. Kind of a crap shoot. Not only do you have to be great, but durable as well.

Also, thanks to Chip for this site.

And Chip, you promised a long time ago to get off that MSN Spaces platform.

Samuelson:

Al Gore calls global warming an "inconvenient truth," as if merely recognizing it could put us on a path to a solution. That's an illusion. The real truth is that we don't know enough to relieve global warming, and -- barring major technological breakthroughs -- we can't do much about it. This has long been obvious. Let me explain.

From 2003 to 2050, world population is projected to grow from 6.4 billion people to 9.1 billion, a 42 percent increase. If energy use per person and technology remain the same, total energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (mainly, carbon dioxide) will be 42 percent higher in 2050. But that's too low, because societies that grow richer use more energy. Unless we condemn the world's poor to their present poverty -- and freeze everyone else's living standards -- we need economic growth. With modest growth, energy use and greenhouse emissions more than double by 2050.

On the other hand, once everyone gets rich, population will peak and then start to decline. So maybe if we can just wait it out, the earth will start to cool and we'll be back on track for an ice age.

Derbyshire:

It is there, in the judgment area, that GWB falls down as a president. He trusts his own instincts too much, is too sure of his own spiritual convictions, and has too little understanding of the lives of un-rich people. He’s not stupid, but has no curiosity, and is short on intellectual humility.

I don't mind much if a person is a person of faith. In fact, I often quite prefer it. However, when you're a leader, you cannot substitute your faith for reasoned judgment. You owe it to your peeps to do what you do based on logic. Otherwise it's just arbitrary. 'God told me to do this or that' can be perverted in myriad ways and even if you're sincere, there's no way to know if the next guy will be sincere too.

I think Derb makes a pretty good stab at GWB's problem. He's effective at times, but you get the feeling that he's carried along by events instead of in control of them. It's as if he doesn't have the capacity or the will to get his hands around policy. It's almost an issue of too much delegation.

The kids and I went to see the Burlington Indians last night and the fireworks extravaganza afterward. Rookie ball is totally about pitching. Danville's starting pitcher was unhittable. Their relief pitching threw batting practice. It's always been this way as long as we've been going. You're never out of a game nor do you ever put a game away. As good as a starting pitcher might be, he's pulled after forty or fifty pitches regardless of what's happening in the game.

All that aside, let's say you're a woman who weighs about 215 and you have a daughter around twenty who weighs, oh I don't know, about 190. When would you ever think it a good idea to get matching tattoos on your lower back, put on too tight tank tops (your daughter's embroidered with the words Baby Phat), go heavy on the eye makeup, stretch your jeans to get in them, haul yourself to a baseball game where you parade yourself up and down the aisle beside the seat I'm sitting in and periodically plop yourself down in the middle of said aisle?

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

Having made a friend this year who happens to be from England, I'm a little more ambivalent about the holiday than in years past. However, I fail to see how grilling hamburgers and blowing one's fingers off should cause offense to anybody, so we will continue to celebrate vigorously at my house. Although, we may tone down the anti-British rhetoric a bit especially given their recent defeat in the World Cup to some Third World nation called Porch Gal (sounds like a creature of the American South).

On the bright side chaps, while you may have lost America as a whole, you did gain Madonna, albeit on the downward side of when you would have wanted to bugger her, but Madonna nonetheless.

Took the family to see the Durham Bulls play yesterday. First time we'd been since First Horizon opened last year. Used to be that I couldn't imagine a better minor league experience than the Durham Bulls - high quality of baseball, beautiful stadium, - however, as good as it is, Greensboro beats out Durham in several important ways. Let's compare, shall we?

Quality of baseball - Durham, hands down. This is a AAA club with players you'll know from Sportscenter. Greensboro officials have said several times that the quality of ball isn't the thing, it's the experience (someone compared minor league ball in GSO to running the world's largest theme restaurant). To an extent this is true. However, tons of folks in Durham go to games for the baseball, so there is a segment of the population that good play appeals to. Greensboro should aggressively pursue a AA club. Plenty of AA players go straight to the major leagues.

On a related note, Delmon Young, the Bulls right fielder is the real deal. He's the guy who recently served a 50 game suspension for throwing a bat at an umpire. He's back and is hitting .374. The Devil Rays must feel pretty good about where they are to leave this guy in the minor leagues. Might be that they think he's too young (he'll be 21 on 9/14) to handle the majors. There is the bat incident and his brother is Dmitri Young of the Tigers who's had his share of difficulties off the field.

Stadium - Durham gets high marks for a manual scoreboard, the Bull on top of the left field fence and for posting the sports pages over urinals. However, Greensboro wins on stadium design. Many steps to navigate at DBAP which is tough when you're trying to get 8000 people out of the place. However, the most important thing is that the powers that be in Greensboro had the good sense to build a wide concourse behind the seating bowl and put the concessions there. I've seen this design at Turner Field and elsewhere and it's perfect. You can get something to eat and still see what's going on on the field. With Durham, you've got to go out of the seating area and even then, the concourse is too narrow. People get jammed up very easily. Reminds me of War Memorial in this respect, just not nearly as bad.

Concessions - Greensboro hands down. Only thing I could find even close to a microbrew at DBAP was Sam Adams. Mostly Bud, Bud Light, Coors and Yuengling. Ugh. Who drinks these anymore? Durham does have a sushi area, but it was closed last night. Otherwise, I might have to reconsider a bit. Listen, stadium people of the world, would it hurt to serve good food? I mean really good food? You already charge $4 for a dog. Up it to $5 and give me something great. Or outsource to neighborhood restaurants and let them handle it. Why have Domino's when you can have Elizabeth's.

Neighborhood around stadium - The area around DBAP is thriving. They're converting old tobacco warehouses into offices, shops and restaurants (with lots of outdoor dining!). They've even got a river. Also someone told me they're planning on building condos overlooking the stadium just beyond the left field fence. That will look very cool. However, Greensboro's skyline is way more scenic and if Bellemeade Village or whatever it's called turns out the way it's planned, Greensboro will take this category. I do have to give Durham kudos for their two new, brick parking decks that only cost $2 to park in for games.

Mascots - Durham easy. Wool E. Bull is superior to that yellow, larvae looking thing they've got wandering around Greensboro.

Staff - Durham has made major strides here. Used to be quite surly. Now when you pay $5 for a lemonade, they say 'Have a nice evening at the ball park.' Greensboro could improve.

Stuff for kids - The play area in Durham is only for kids five and under. However, they do have a rock climbing wall and an inflatable slide they set up in the concourse beyond right field. Greensboro wins. The play area in right field is fantastic. Your kids can play and you can still watch the game.

Stuff for adults - Durham doesn't have anything to compete with the Grandstand.

Lawn - Durham's lawn is way too steep.

Intangibles - We've came up with two foul balls in the history of our family. Both have been at DBAP. Second was last night courtesy of a guy one row back.

So there it is. The most important thing is stadium design. The rest is execution. So even where GSO lags Durham, it's way easier (less expensive) for GSO to make up ground.

Update: I am reminded that we have a foul ball from the Grasshoppers as well. Somewhere. Hopefully not in with my practice balls.