From a letter in San Diego Union-Tribune:
After following the Chula Vista Little Leaguers, I have concluded that the pros should be watching them and following their example. All the youngsters are involved in community service. There are no trash-talking players, prima donnas or temper tantrums. When the Chula Vista players were hit by wild pitches, they shook it off; the dugouts did not clear with fists flying as so often happens when the “big boys” play.
I’d add, the great Duke Snider wrote in his autobiography that even at the height of his career he’d made a small fraction (even less, inflation-adjusted) of today’s pro ballplayers. Snider wrote that if he and fellows made as much, they would have played less energetic ball, to prolong their careers. Besides being overpaid, today’s pro baseball has become over-boring.
ElBaradei’s Swan Song is off-key.
My friend Barry Rubin writes Iran enters its Stalinist phase.
NEWS FLASH: Ted Kennedy becomes eligible to vote in Chicago.
Cat Fight
As for Glenn "Sock Puppet" Greenwald, Joe Klein is a wee bit upset about Glenn releasing private communications, so, Joe released this other communication on his Time magazine blog
For the past several years, Greenwald has conducted a persistent, malicious campaign to distort who I am and where I stand. He is a mean-spirited, graceless bully. During that time, I have never seen him write a positive sentence about the US military, which has transformed itself dramatically for the better since Rumsfeld's departure (indeed, he ridiculed me when I reported that the situation in Anbar Province was turning around in 2007). I have never seen him acknowledge that the work of the clandestine service--performed disgracefully by the CIA during the early Bush years--is an absolute necessity in a world where terrorists have the capability to attack us at any time, in almost any place. Nor have I seen [him] acknowledge that such a threat exists, nor make a single positive suggestion about how to confront that threat in ways that might conform to his views. Therefore, I have seen no evidence that he cares one whit about the national security of the United States. It is not hyperbole, it is a fact.
Well, like most on the Left, you never hear or read anything positive about the military or the CIA, and rarely do they acknowledge that the threats exist. Except, of course, when they are trying to score cheap political points. So, yes, Glenn Greenwald can be considered anti-patriotic. But, Joe ends with this
I agree with Greenwald on some things, and appreciate his insights on others. But he is a thoroughly dishonorable person--as he proved by releasing my private emails--and, when it comes to his oft-trumpeted belief in the right to privacy, a stone hypocrite as well.
That's what Joe is upset about: releasing of the communications. Not the military bashing, CIA bashing, and the other stuff in the above communication. Emails. I've read lots of Joe's stuff in the past, and went back through a few months here and there, and, I can't find anything positive about the military or CIA, either, so, I think we can put Joe in the classification of Patriotic Hater, too.
Re: Will’s Loss of Nerve
Strange that a column calling for a new direction in American policy avoids all discussion of what that direction would mean beyond an immediate reduction in American casualties. Will can’t justify his recommendation within the larger framework of what he used to be comfortable calling the Long War. So he avoids the topic altogether.
His column represents September 10 thinking, only worse….[read for why]
Love this line from interesting sociological study:
The results underscore the importance of avoiding the breezy generalities of what might be called Evolution Lite, an enterprise too often devoted to proclaiming universal truths about deep human nature based on how college students respond to their professors’ questionnaires.
Virtual ivy: why the US needs more e-colleges
The study, released by the US Department of Education, found that many types of online education for a college degree are better at raising student achievement than face-to-face teaching is….
The rapid rise of e-learning may finally help burst the bubble in rising tuition costs, which now average more than $25,000 a year for a degree from a private bricks-and-mortar institution.
Belushi at the computer? Nah. Not as much fun.
(Admit it. Don’t you wish I’d, instead, shown a photo of a sexy coed in a toga?)
Professors Embrace Online Courses Despite Qualms About Quality in major study at public colleges and universities. Incentives, surprise, and support are keys.
College isn't for everyone
In a paper called "America's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs," two economists—America University's Robert Lerman and Georgetown's Harry Holzer—say that there are still plenty of jobs that don't require college but pay above the national average. The catch is that for high school graduates to get these jobs, they need to upgrade their skills through apprenticeships, community college, on-the-job training, certification programs, etc….
“Supporters of the free market should not allow opponents to characterize the marketplace as a form of rationing, let alone an unjust one. Instead, supporters should defend the free market as morally just because it respects individual rights.”
I agree with Boortz:
I strongly believe we're in a fight to save our Republic. People like this pastor do more harm than good. Hold down the rhetoric about Obama folks. Don't make it personal. Concentrate on his past, his inexperience, his fealty to socialism and totalitarian world leaders. On a personal level he gives every indication of being a pretty decent dude and we're not going to get anywhere hoping that something evil happens to him ... something other than not getting a second term that is.
Michelle Malkin nails excuse for disgusting ad. – Advertising Week called the print ad “tasteless and nightmarish,” but that’s putting it mildly.
On this one, I’m closer to Ed Morrissey than his landlord Michelle Malkin on Obama’s speech to the nation’s school children after Labor Day. Although Obama hasn’t backed vouchers for Washington, D.C. kids, he has backed strong standards in the schools over the teachers unions’ objections. As Ed says, “If Obama sticks to education and personal achievement in his speech, there should be no controversy.” I told my son’s principal it’s a great idea if not politicized. Is that too much to hope for? – PowerLine has a smart take on how Inexpressibly Lame the address will be viewed as by the students. Zzzzzz!
Greatest Line Ever? Too good to give you a preview. See for yourself.
Marine Corps continues to prosecute, or should I say persecute, SSgt Wuterich. His court martial charges should be dismissed, as were LtCol Chessani’s, for undue command influence. Wuterich’s lawyers are expected to so argue at Wuterich’s upcoming next hearing. Wuterich’s court martial has been delayed while prosecutors, the weakness of their case already made evident in losing against all other Haditha Marine defendants, have desperately and zealously fought to get outtakes from CBS’ 60 Minutes interview with him, hoping to find anything. A previous judge had quashed the prosecutors’ subpoena, but this latest higher ruling does properly say CBS does not have a confidentiality privilege based on either military or constitutional law. – 
The view of every Marine who has spoken out is that HQs Marine Corps is kissing John Murtha’s butt because Murtha so influences Marine budgets. Sadly, I, a proud former Marine, agree. We won’t forget. 
FYI, Here’s the young me in Vietnam
And, here’s a cartoon drawn by a Major I worked with that I’ve kept. (My focus hasn’t changed much!)
Re: yesterday’s note about whether Pelosi is banning patriotic music, a weak excuse from a Leftist blog, unless you like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge, or Golden Gate Bridge in Pelosi’s case. “The CD that had been in the congressional muzak system for ‘a long time’ was a ‘patriotic tunes CD.’ The CAO’s office wanted to test a program giving people a choice of multiple CDs and decided to try out a jazz CD because it’s ‘what a lot of companies have when you’re on hold.’ However, based on the feedback they received, they simply decided to go back to the old system.” So, why change out the patriotic music in the first place, for elevator music no less? Don’t spit in my eye and tell me it’s raining!
Doug Ross’ RED ALERT: White House plans massive operation to harvest personal information on millions of Americans from social networking websites... The targeted sites include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and others – any space where the White House “maintains a presence.” Ross concludes, “Obama makes Nixon look like a rank amateur.” True, but inaccurate. Nixon probably would have, too, if he had the technology. So, aren’t there any Nixon-haters with integrity to call out Obama? Don’t count on it. -- Whew!
Fascinating: In Risk for Payoff, Industry Seeks Cancer Drugs.
“As long as the marketplace does not distinguish between modestly effective drugs and dramatically effective drugs, there won’t be an incentive to shift resources to a greater emphasis on a larger benefit,” said Dr. Neal J. Meropol, an oncologist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia who has been studying drug prices.
Many executives dispute this, saying they would produce drugs offering bigger gains if they knew how. But they must balance their portfolio of experimental drugs between long shots and some drugs that have a better chance of making it to market and sustaining the enterprise.
“If you always swing for home runs, you strike out a lot,” said George A. Scangos, chief executive of Exelixis, a biotechnology company with 11 cancer drugs in clinical trials. “It’s not the companies’ profit motives,” he said. “It’s largely the difficulty of hitting home runs.”…
So even though a drug might work well for patients whose tumors have a particular mutation, when the drug is used for a broader population, it shows only a small effect.
One solution is to try to determine which patients should get which drug based on the genetic profile of the tumor…. “What we’re looking for,” said Dr. Rothenberg of Pfizer, “is not a small benefit in a large group, but a larger benefit in a smaller group.”
Mickey Kaus asks of Obama’s Budget Director, “mightn't this be a good time to reassure us that you are not insane?”
One whole Two-Bits without any pretty girls to ogle. So, Theo reminds me to get out of here to the beach for my daily thong count.
