Two days left: China 205, USA 201. We're playing for gold in water polo and male/female basketball and volleyball, plus I'm optimistic they can hold onto the baton in the 400-meter relay. China will win gold in ping pong. Of course, there are lots of other medals coming out these two days, and I have no idea who's favored (Taekwondo, canoe, synchronized swimming, etc.).
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Absolutely brutal couple of days at the office. I'll be back there today, researching an issue that will probably get a small blurb in the national press (I'll blog more about it when it's no longer confidential), and then I'll be relaxing with some friends and beers.
Note: Blogging will be light next week, for a variety of reasons.
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Remember to use the Amazon button to the right when ordering books. Please tell your college-age students, too. I could rake in serious petty cash (oxymoron?) with fall-book buying coming up. If you don't use my button, use someone's.
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The plagiarist? Really? Senator Barack Obama has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, Mr. Obama announced in text and e-mail messages early Saturday. The article says Biden is a Roman Catholic who favors abortion rights (which is like a member of MADD favoring drunk-driving rights . . . just as MADD fights drunk driving, the RC fights those who attack the helpless). All this time, I didn't know Biden claimed RC affiliation. (The reference to MADD when combined with the fact that Biden lost a daughter to a drunk driver was a coincidence. I hadn't read to the end of the article when I wrote my thoughts above, and I didn't think the coincidence merited a revision.)
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Zmirak describes the "almost famous" people he's met over the years in NYC. Good stuff.
* The painter who hasn't lifted a brush in seven years, who works as a tour guide, and introduces herself as “an artist.”
* The opera singer who never made it past the chorus, who flounced offstage complaining about “misogyny.” She's now a “former diva.”
* The conservative journalist whose refusal to work lost him, over time, several primo apartments (they expected him to pay rent!) and most of his front teeth. He has planned for some 25 years to personally re-found the Jesuits.
* The Irish-American violent alcoholic who fancies himself a Sinn Fein “freedom fighter”–which is easier since he has never been to Ireland.
* The chef who got booted from kitchen to kitchen–and explained that her cuisine was simply too sophisticated for New York City. While working as a maid, she would tell people, privately, she was one of the four best chefs on earth.
* The therapist who plans to form a private Catholic army (made up of his male patients) who will fight for the Church around the world, and “subdue the global sex slave trade” using martial arts.
* The museum employee who dresses for Sunday Mass as Cardinal Richelieu–complete with a real, live goatee. Bless her heart!
* The Bronx kid who lived in Ireland in his 20s for 18 months–and has talked with a full-on brogue ever since.
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Steve Sailer on Obama's half brothers. Interesting stuff.
