The Bush administration, in developing a potential approach for toppling President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, is concentrating its attention on a major air campaign and ground invasion, with initial estimates contemplating the use of 70,000 to 250,000 troops.

10:31:34 PM  comment []    

In the previous inning, he played first and had two putouts, one unassisted.

He has great coaches. With each game, they've added a bit more structure and complexity. In today's game the introduced take and hit signs from the third base coach. They taught them to step out and look at the coach before each pitch. They had instructions to take pitches until the first strike. In his first at-bat, Milo followed his coaches instructions and ended up striking out swinging. When he got up again, he was instructed to take a 3-1 pitch. He did and walked. In his final at-bat, he worked the count to 3-2 and I saw the coach give the take sign. Huh? My compliant son took strike three.

Later, the coach apologized to Milo. He thought it was another 3-1 count.   

10:02:17 PM  comment []    

Can there be a decent left?

The radical failure of the left’s response to the events of last fall raises a disturbing question: can there be a decent left in a superpower? Or more accurately, in the only superpower? Maybe the guilt produced by living in such a country and enjoying its privileges makes it impossible to sustain a decent (intelligent, responsible, morally nuanced) politics. Maybe festering resentment, ingrown anger, and self-hate are the inevitable result of the long years spent in fruitless opposition to the global reach of American power. Certainly, all those emotions were plain to see in the left's reaction to September 11, in the failure to register the horror of the attack or to acknowledge the human pain it caused, in the schadenfreude of so many of the first responses, the barely concealed glee that the imperial state had finally gotten what it deserved. Many people on the left recovered their moral balance in the weeks that followed; there is at least the beginning of what should be a long process of self-examination. But many more have still not brought themselves to think about what really happened.

Even my super-liberal mother is offended by the myopia of the "true believers". Me too.  

9:59:48 PM  comment []    

In his first postseason series, Griffey homered five times, including twice in Game 1 though the Mariners lost the opener to the Yanks. Jim Leyritz won Game 2 with a two-run homer in the 15th inning at Yankee Stadium. With the Mariners trailing 2-0 in the series, Randy Johnson won Game 3 in Seattle, then went to the bullpen. Edgar Martinez drove in six runs in Game 4 when the Mariners rallied from a 5-0 deficit to win. And in Game 5, David Cone pitched until his arm smoked, the Mariners rallied from three deficits, Johnson pitched in relief and Martinez doubled home Griffey in the 11th to -- whew! -- give the Mariners the win, the series and so much more.

I was at game 5. I had no voice at the end. I hugged strangers when we won. Magic. Here's a better description:

But in the 11th, Joey Cora led off with a bunt single, followed by Griffey's single after which Martinez ended the game -- and the series -- with a line-drive double into the left-field corner.

At the crack of the bat, Griffey didn't just run, he sprinted.

He didn't just sprint, he flew.

He didn't just fly, he became a human blur.

The moment Griffey scored the Kingdome turned into America's largest asylum, touching off a celebration that lasted for nearly 30 minutes and could be heard all the way into the visitors' clubhouse.

And tonight, a little more Mariner magic: Seattle 1, NY 0  

9:17:15 PM  comment []    

The documents, discovered by Israeli intelligence officers, contain a list of 102 deceased Palestinians whose families have each been paid 20,000 Saudi riyals — the equivalent of $5,340 — by the Saudi Interior Ministry.

9:27:02 AM  comment []