Wait. What?

The February 14 cover-dated issue of Sports Illustrated, now on the stands,page 25, in the  "Faces in the Crowd" feature:

[Micah] Mason, a junior [basketball] guard at Highland High [Natrona Heights, PA], went 40 for 43, scoring a record 63 points...

Best I can figure, he made two three-point shots and 38 of those very rare and difficult one-and-a-half point pointers.

Weeping for Juan.

I got a chuckle out of this note by writer Peter Grier in a Christian Science Monitor blog post this morning about the much overblown and eminently stupid firing of Juan Williams by NPR...

The bulk of [NPR funding] comes from affiliate stations, corporate sponsors, and donations from individuals made to feel very guilty after they tune in to hear "Morning Edition" and find out it is fundraising week.

True 'dat.

The firing was about as bungled an effort as you'll ever see, but the idea that seems to be taking hold that it will have big political implications seems nearly as silly as the act it self. Yes, it will surely fire up the base base (not a typo, consider the first an adjective), but does anybody really think there is any significant number of people out there who give a damn and will change their votes because of this? Does anybody think more than a small portion of the base base (see, it's easy once you get the hang of it) even knows what NPR is? The funniest stuff to come out of all this are letters and calls to stations around the country by true believers saying they will never "watch" NPR again. That'll teach 'em.

Honestly, Williams should have been fired long ago, not just because his role on Fox is in obvious conflict with the stated NPR standards but mostly because his analysis was the sort of mealy-mouthed pap that NPR already has more than enough of.

I am curious, I must admit, as to whether that $2 million contract with Fox that was signed the next day had been in the works for a while or was an in-your-face move. And, either way, how does somebody who thinks Juan Williams is worth a multi-million contract keep his job?

"Tea Party my ass. This was nothing other than The Republican Party stealing the anger of a population that was fed up with The Republican Party's own theft of their tax money at gunpoint to bail out the robbers of Wall Street and fraudulently redirecting it back toward electing the very people who stole all the ****ing money!"

My goodness, who ever in the world is saying such blasphemy?

That awful Nancy Pelosi? That swearing and cursing Rahm Emmanuel? Perhaps the obviously rich and evil George Soros?

Well, no. None of those folks.

This guy.

Why are the kind of people I would never hang out with choosing to hang out with me?

I find it fascinating that the site is loaded down with right wing political ads via Google Ads. Do you suppose they target sites with opposing viewpoints deliberately? Maybe they just have all the money.

Pat Toomey? Newt Gingrich? Seriously?

It makes me want to take a shower.

I think I'd live on the streets first. Or maybe that place where all the preachy right-wing Congressional fornicators live cheap. Nah, on second thought, definitely the street.

According to the folks at Wonkette (a dicey leap of faith, I admit, but it appears to be the case), this is a current post on Craig's List:

Are we having fun yet?

Apparently some state senator in South Carolina wants to ban US dollars, insist that only gold, silver or barter be used to purchase stuff. Aside from the Texas secession movement and the Oath Takers,this sort of nonsense is what most makes me can't wait for the elections this November.

Trust me.