Tuesday, August 12, 2003

This Evening

One of the best political-type websites I've found (and certainly the sanest) is Spinsanity. On it, three very smart gents take apart various news items, speeches and commentaries that fudge or distort the facts. They're very fair about this, going after Democrats as well as Republicans, and Conservatives as well as Liberals, and doing it in a fine, well-researched and non-inflammatory manner. I've been recommending this site for a long time and will continue to do so. So you might as well visit there.

This evening, I was honored to break bread (pasta, actually) with one of its editors, Ben Fritz, whom I met via e-mail exchanges. We talked about politics and the Internet and comic books and how dumb Fox News looks for suing Al Franken and all sorts of things. He's a bright guy and I wanted to use the occasion to plug Spinsanity again and also to direct you to another website in which he is involved. Dateline Hollywood showcases Ben's sillier side. There, he and partner Gil Cunha bring you the latest in phony Show Biz Gossip. Phony Show Biz Gossip is just the same as Real Show Biz Gossip except that it's more accurate. Or as a writer for one of the tabloids once told me, "I believe 70% of everything I read about Hollywood, including the stuff I make up out of nowhere."

• Posted at 11:21 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Here's E. J. Dionne with one of those political commentaries that I think is right on the money.

One of the things we have to remember is that when a politician (any politician on any side) says, "This is an outrage," he or she generally only means, "This is an outrage when the other side does it, not when we do it."

When folks like Bill Bennett complain that America has lost its moral compass, and that they no longer express indignation over things that warrant it, I always think: That's because people like you have turned moral indignation into something that's only to be used to slam political opponents.

• Posted at 1:21 PM · LINK

Pete Rose

This website, the reliability of which is unknown to me, is claiming that a deal has been reached for Pete Rose to return cautiously to the world of baseball, including possible entry into the Hall of Fame. A spokesperson for Major League Baseball denies the report but the website is standing by its story.

So one of two things will happen here. Either Rose will shortly be reinstated, whereupon the spokesperson for Major League Baseball will be shown to be a fibber. Or Rose won't be reinstated, in which case we'll know the reliability of that website. There's also a third possibility, I suppose: They decided to reinstate Rose but since the report leaked, they'll go back and change their minds. But that seems unlikely.

Maybe there's a fourth possibility. Maybe they're decided to reinstate Rose but they're denying it so that Pete has a chance to get some bets down on his reinstatement before it's announced.

Or a fifth: They have no intention of reinstating him but Rose has planted the rumor so he can get some bets down that he won't be reinstated.

Can a guy be ruled ineligible for the Hall of Fame for betting on whether he'll be ruled eligible for the Hall of Fame?

• Posted at 11:48 AM · LINK