Beautiful day

Manifesto, Sporting Goods, Incoherent ramblings

It is an absolutely beautiful day in Manhattan making it even more of a travesty that I'm not spending the day walking around and doing something tangible.

I'm inspired by the Mets' breakout last night. Sure it was against a bunch of second rate pitchers, but hey, they finally scored some runs. Jose Reyes, for all his on-base percentage problems, sure can run. The kid has 7 triples in the last 10 games. His quote, "As soon as I see the ball in the gap, I'm going to third base." (from the NY Times). That's amazing.

Next, the NY Times provides us with two interesting editorials (get 'em while they're free).

First, Tom Friedman writes about international opinion on the U.S. prisoner situation at Gitmo.

Why care? It's not because I am queasy about the war on terrorism. It is because I want to win the war on terrorism. And it is now obvious from reports in my own paper and others that the abuse at Guantánamo and within the whole U.S. military prison system dealing with terrorism is out of control. Tell me, how is it that over 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody so far? Heart attacks? This is not just deeply immoral, it is strategically dangerous.

The real story, as Mr. Friedman notes, is that some of the largest complaints aren't coming from our "enemies" but from our allies, Britain, Australia, and Canada. (Do I have to call them "supposed allies" now?) It is amazing what a free media will report when they aren't cowed into believing that accurate critical reporting "undermines the war effort." I'll restate what has been said more eloquently and forcefully a million times before me, if you think that reporting on torture undermines the war effort more than the torture itself, then you are a horse's ass. If you can't see the illogic in that criticism of the media, then this country is further down the path of irrationality than I would have ever believed.

Finally, Paul Krugman's editorial scares the hell out of me. Just another reason why most of my savings are in liquid assets.