Gregory Pratt

I hope the Republicans rip him to shreds on this in the primaries so he never makes it anywhere in the general election as Democrats don't have the guts to use these truths to club the man into whatever hole he crawled out of. See, Republicans are the ones that go after your strength and rip it to shreds. Just ask John Kerry. Truth is, Giuliani is a bad man, and he's as sleazy as can be. If this is what it takes to knock him out of the race, so be it.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 09:26 AM) I like her. She stands up to everyone. You can call her whore all you want but shes still here. Personally, I preferred it when her husband stood up and walked away from her than when she "stood up" to George W. Bush with her silly little camp. I would leave my wife, too, if I married a woman who would exploit my Republican son's death in combat to attack the War. Of course, I wouldn't have a Republican son. But the point stands that she ruined her family by turning her son's death into a parade, especially since he was a big army man who supported the war by all accounts. Color me cynical about Cindy. Mods, I hope I didn't cross the line with that commentary. If I did, please edit it. I just firmly believe her husband did the right thing in leaving her and am commenting that I'd do the same. I don't think it's too outrageous, definitely not when you consider the things she says.

The thing that makes me sick is he was told not to bother with the Special Olympics because of the Kennedy's involvement with it. Someone who used to be high up in the Administration (either in the Faith-Based realm or Paul O'Neill) said that these guys were more interested in inbreeding than the mod and are more vindictive than Nixon, but that's ridiculous. Here, from my Office of the Independent Blogger entry, I'll highlight the other things that bother me because mentioned specifically, they're even more disturbing. I know someone once referred to this regime as the "Mayberry Machiavellis" and it's far better than they deserve.

TV reporters aren't reporters. They're "presenters." That's what the BBC refers to them as and I generally agree. There're exceptions to every rule, of course, but I don't get the news from these shows.

QUOTE(longshot7 @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 04:29 PM) If so, they should have kept him as a heel. People (men) don't want to cheer him. And he can't be both. I'm sick of all the washed-up wrestlers like Lanny Poffo & Jacques Rougeau commenting on this Benoit/steroid stuff. Hannity & Colmes can't find CURRENT stars to comment? Mr. Kennedy had a GREAT rant about this on his blog. www.ken-kennedy.com Current wrestlers are generally not being allowed to comment by WWE, so there's some reason for it, but I'm sure Fox isn't breaking down the WWE's doors for credible sources.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 12:43 PM) That war on terror seems to be working quite well. Full article Taking this news as proof that the war's going poorly isn't exactly accurate. Success in the War on Terror will be a very hard thing to measure.

I'd bet on Hafner being better than Thome for the rest of the season. I'd be stunned if Thome stays healthy.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jul 12, 2007 -> 07:00 AM) One of Hawk's greatest lines was when someone shattered his bat hitting a foul ball. "He'll have to get himself a new piece of ash". Drysdale was crying. You're old!

I believe that Harriet Miers has set women back fifty years. I say that with my tongue in my cheek, but there's truth to it. I don't believe a woman will be nominated to the Supreme Court for quite awhile. Whether or not it's right to pin that on her or Bush is up to others to decide, but Miers is an idiot.

Parable of the Snake Cindy Sheehan, they hardly knew ye, and you they, but I — I have always known, my dear, that you were a snake and a maniac, and now they who supported you through your megalomania, even they now know because you are threatening the Speaker of the House with your presence in her next election if she doesn’t introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Bush in the next two weeks. I can hardly fathom how anyone thought you were some kind of hero at any point in any place. I’ve always said, You used your son’s death for sleazy political purposes that ran against his own views, even, and nobody should take anything you say seriously. You’ve turned your son’s tragedy into your own through your delusions of grandeur, and you’ve become as power-hungry as the man you despise. Worst of all — you think you can defeat the Speaker of the House or do her damage? Woe is the world. Woe! And to all the Democrats who may be stunned by this news, I present you the Parable of the Snake. Word of the Lord.

I really enjoyed writing my latest political entry. It's posts like these that I'm proudest of. (Spin) Doctor Doctor I regretfully inform you, Dear Reader, that I've been hired by the Office of Internet Relations in the White House Office of the Press Secretary by the acting secretary to the White House Deputy Press Secretary on orders of the White House Press Secretary to provide commentary on the President's behalf in order to maintain an informed and orderly nation. Before I begin, I must ask you, Dear Reader, to turn up the classic song, (Spin) Doctor Doctor, Give Me The News: I've Got a Bad Case of Trusting You and become an informed r(R?subliminal)epublican citizen. (Spin) Doctor Pratt (not to be confused with TV Doctor Pratt) on the news that the President ordered Harriet Miers not to testify before Congress despite their summons: "The President is committed to the advancement and success of women in free and soon-to-be free societies everywhere. To that end, he has requested that former Counsel Harriet Miers not appear before the Congress. Many Americans have criticized the President as 'stubborn' and reluctant to learn from, let alone concede to, his mistakes, but this shows us the President refuses to set women back another fifty years. He learned from the first time he set them back fifty years: with Miers' nomination to the Court." (Spin) Doctor Pratt on the news that the military clumsily posts sensitive, classified information to the public via the Internet: "The President is committed to democratic values everywhere. To accuse the military of endangering our military with malice or incompetence is to misunderstand: the President is endangering our soldiers with liberal thought, and so we can trace the 'problems' to the Founding Fathers though it must be re-stated that we don't believe there to be any problems: the President simply believes in the first amendment, as do his critics, which makes their criticism a baffling one." (Spin) Doctor Pratt on the news that the former Surgeon General (under President Bush) is leveling the Administration with criticism, including the claim that Bush made him mention Bush three times per page per speech; forced him to attend political meetings; suppressed his reports on stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues, and second-hand smoke; and, most disturbing of all, told him to avoid the Special Olympics because Ted Kennedy and his family were involved with the organization and, "Why would you want to help those people?": "The President has no comment."

Kalapse, who's Pedro Alvarez' agent? (I'll be surprised if it isn't Boras.)

Stupid Like a Fox Fox News advertised Linda McMahon, wife of Vince McMahon, as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor tonight. The problem with that was, Linda is in China, and there’s no way she could make it (not that she had agreed to — she hadn’t, as far as I can tell, and it wouldn’t make sense for her to agree to when she’s in China and knew she would be for months now). Now, what do you think Fox News did (and, as far as I can tell, intend to do right from the beginning)? If you answered, “They aired an interview of her from 2002 and mixed it with clips of ‘Backyard Wrestling,’ (which is not representative of professional wrestling and has absolutely nothing to do with Benoit’s murder-suicide unless we’re going down the “Wrestling Creates Monsters!” route) you’d be right! I guess Shrill O’Lielly didn’t get the memo from Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes and Douglas Feith: It’s Steroids, Stupid! which is still the wrong message, but at least it’s their message, consistent and true (for them) even if it should be: It’s Journalism, Stupid! Treat It As Such. Worship It. Treasure It. Before Someone Takes It Away. On case-related news, That Doctor is a bad man.

My two latest articles: The Story Continues Benoit's doctor has been connected to the death of Michael Durham who is known as Johnny Grunge of the old ECW tag-team, The Public Enemy. And yes, Dear Reader, that doctor and others like him are facilitating the destruction of human lives and families because they're willing to give prescriptions by the barrel to professional athletes for extra dollars and in hopes of brushing up with fame for five minutes. There's more important news out, though, and that's that some tests have been completed" on Benoit's toxicology report. The last quote baffles, of course, but I take it to mean: "yes, we found steroids in his system, but a lot of other different, more-consistent-with-rage-and-tempers-and-depression drugs." We'll see what happens when the full reports are out, though, but there's still more news coming out of this story: Doctor Astin's office has been raided a third time for information on his dead patients, and Johnny Grunge's wife has gone out on record to criticize Doctor Astin, as he should be. There is another bit of news I'd like to touch upon before we head into the media. Famed wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer is saying that a handful (at most) of people at the top of WWE knew about the murder-suicide on the night WWE aired its Tribute Show to Benoit and is criticizing them for claiming not to have known when, he says, he knew by six o clock. I'm not sure what to make of the news -- wrestlers had all sorts of things to say, and Triple H, who is married to the boss' daughter and holds all the politics clout...well, he had nothing negative to say about Benoit, nothing tentative, and so I wonder if it simply isn't true, or if it was all speculation. Like I've said before, WWE had a short amount of time to make a decision: air a tribute? Tribute show? Let the show go on? Ignore it for a day? Whatever they came to would be criticized heavily, and so I cut them slack in airing an emotional tribute when all the confirmed news they'd known was, "He and his family are dead." Briefly, I'd like to direct you to the Larry King transcript, where he interviewed John Cena of WWE, Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Ted DiBiase and Steve Blackman, even. He asked fair questions and got fair, straight up answers. It's how an interview should be done -- without an agenda, without pointed questions. He asked about steroids and made other points, but he didn't scream at his guests -- "DON'T YOU KNOW HE WAS TAKING ENOUGH STEROIDS TO GROW A HIPPO? ISN'T THAT CONVINCING AND SHOCKING?!" And since we're on the subject, we should touch upon Fox' continuing coverage of Chris Benoit's death, as it's just as important as the Larry King show. It was a much better show than the rest of what's been on Fox, but I take exception with Rougeau's comments. I'll accept them as having less an agenda than the media's, though, as he was a wrestler, but I think he's as wrong as can be. "100%" blame on steroids? No way.

That's kind of heart-warming. Kind of disgusting. Kind of disturbing. I've always rooted particularly for Latin players. Not because they're Latin and I'm half-Latin, but because of the place they've grown up and the life they might live without baseball.

A History of Violence According to the latest People magazine, Nancy Sullivan-Benoit, too, had a history of violence. "Years before" marrying Chris, the magazine reports, she pulled a knife on her now ex-husband Kevin Sullivan, who was also a wrestler and a promoter (in fact, he booked Nancy and Chris into a storyline relationship that turned into a real-life storyline that led the Boys to say that Kevin Sullivan "booked his own divorce"). This, of course, leads me to believe that the violence between the couple might well have been a mutual truth. That is certainly the case in many relationships where couples will fight one another. It is of course true that there are relationships where there is only one abuser but in others, it is a two-way street. You might ask, "Why didn't they leave one another?" and I don't know the answer any more than you do. Probably a mixture of love and a sense of responsibility to each other would be my guess, but it's just a guess. That isn't to gloss over Benoit's hideous crime or justify it -- not at all, not at all -- but the story begins to make more sense if it's looked at as a domestic dispute gone terribly wrong. At this point, I'm absolutely unwilling to believe that Benoit planned any of it, which I base on the nature of domestic violence, the time between each killing, and the alcohol he was found laying next to. If you're interested in reading the story in People, go, in order: here, here, here, here, here and here. It's an excellent piece, although the photos in it left me feeling cold and hollow. A few days ago, I believe I mentioned the news that Nancy Benoit left a note in a security deposit box saying that if something happens to her, Chris is the man. Fox News is reporting that that is false as told them by the investigators. So Nancy left no note saying that Benoit was the one, if she were found dead. There is nothing else to report today. I must tell you now, though, Dear Reader, that I will be gone tomorrow to the University for Orientation. If I have Internet access, I'll post. If not, expect my return on Tuesday, and I'll have an update on John Cena's appearance on Larry King along with whatever further news breaks. This weekend's been a slow one for news as the talk shows are, for the most part, off.

Now that I think about it, I really hope this doesn't bite us. Buehrle starts to lose velocity and ow! No location can save him. But I'd have definitley given him this contract, so it's all good.

Ozzie said he likes the way Floyd threw the ball? Well, what's he supposed to say? He can't throw him under the bus for sucking. From what I hear, Floyd works hard, respects his elders, minds his manners, whatever. It's not like there's a reason for Ozzie to trash him. You don't embarass your players further when they pull a Floyd.

If I had any faith in Reinsdorf to hire a good GM, I'd be in favor of firing Kenny Williams for a variety of reasons, and I've been one of his biggest supporters, but with our luck, we'd wind up with Darin Jackson or Ron Kittle or Karkovice or some other former White Sox player GMing. I have no faith in anyone in this organization, though. Not JR, or KW, or the coaches. The only one I like is Ozzie, but he's definitely not the answer at GM or Owner. Ha Ha Ha.

I said it before: the IL sucks, Gavin Floyd's been through AAA too many times to give it much credence, the Major Leagues are his next test. I'm not saying he's a bust because of yesterday. I've always thought he was a bust. I'm just saying, he had to go out and prove something, and he didn't. Like in the spring when he allowed Danks to win a job Floyd had been handed on a silver platter to take. I hope Floyd gets a few more shots. I want him to pitch at least five more games. Just to see. But his "live arm" isn't what's advertised (no, like I said -- he is not in the mid-90s "consistently") and his control's not better and his presence is terrible. I just don't see how the Gavin Floyd era will end well.

Big Sexy? Not to My Eyes Former professional wrestler Kevin Nash was on Hannity & Colmes last night. The interview began with Colmes asking Nash if 'roid rage is a big problem in the wrestling industry; Nash said no. They asked him if he has done steroids; he said, No. They asked him if he had rages on the steroids; he said, no. After, they asked him if he thought that steroids could've caused it and he said, "You can't discount anything" but he clearly was, and then he pointed out that Benoit had been drinking and if you check our prisons there have probably been more alcohol-related crimes than steroid-related crimes. At which point will the media start asking about doctors and stop asking these ridiculous questions night after night about 'roid rage? It's becoming absurd -- they ask the same questions, get the same answers, and spout off with the same nonsense each and every night. It was good of Kevin Nash to point out that they didn't care about the truth or facts or alcohol (I'd have pointed out renegade doctors) because it isn't "sexy." Someone had to say it. A few days ago I wrote about Marc Mero as an unfair source and a couple of days later I wrote about regretting it because he appeared on MSNBC with Steve Blackman and was a fair, impartial source. He appeared on Grace's show with Blackman but this time, they had a huge argument when Mero told him to "be honest" so that they can make a difference and save families that have been abused by wrestling drugs. Blackman took offense and said, "You can't say I haven't been honest." Mero said, "You keep saying you haven't taken steroids" and they argued over it but then Marc Mero threw a fit about how Blackman should try to "make a difference" (essentially arguing that Blackman is killing people by not "speaking out," whatever that means). Blackman then spoke of personal responsibility in an attempt to defend the industry and WWE. Mero then spoke about how wrestling needs to be regulated, something I agree with in principal but not entirely due to logistical issues I've discussed before. Then Nancy Grace tried to paint professional wrestling as an industry that encourages wife-beating and violence. Steve Blackman said, "I don't see the correlation." I was troubled by Mero's...enthusiasm, I suppose. It's nice that he cares, but he's screaming at Blackman for no reason and he's all too willing to make the industry out to be a devil's. I'm in favor of what he's saying -- since day one, I've been discussing their schedule and how it all needs to change -- but he needs to calm down and speak with eloquence, not in huge decibels. There are two other stories coming out today that merit notice. Fox News Channel reports this afternoon on Chris Benoit's mother wishing investigators acted more quickly on information that her late son was buying massive quantities of steroids. The anchor asked a criminal defense attorney, Geoffrey Nathan, about the mother's statement. He said federal law enforcement may have looked the other way because they are hesitant to ruffle the feathers of big-time athletes. Arthur Aidala, a former prosecutor, said there will be more investigation into Benoit's doctor, Dr. Astin. "He's a drug dealer who had permission to sign his name to a prescription," he said. The anchor noted that the doctor is at risk of charges of manslaughter. The prosecutor said it could be tough to go that far, but definitely he's on the hook for potential drug distribution charges. There we have something else that should be investigated: prosecutors, and their unwillingness to ruffle the feathers of doctors and athletes. Doctors, too, as I've been harping on for several days, but these two issues -- which are far more important and complicated than what the media's been discussing -- will continue to be ignored, alas. I just can't believe the government knew that he was abusing steroids and they did nothing to him or his doctor. I'll bet that happens a lot. Here, finally, is the obituary of Nancy and Daniel Benoit. It's very sobering.

Why get him when Rowand is available?

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Jul 5, 2007 -> 06:57 PM) Tank is no longer on the Bears. I'm sure if he was on steroids (which I don't know and won't state), he wouldn't be the only one.

Clearly the Pratt Presidency has been good for this here place

More on Benoit's Mental State Most people are interested in Benoit’s toxicology report because they want blood proof that he was using and abusing steroids. I’m interested in his toxicology report so that I can know just what he was using when he killed his wife and then snapped on the rest of his family. I want to know what transformed a man who loved his child and was kind to everyone into a man who committed a despicable double-murder suicide. This testimony by generally-unknown wrestler John Walters is baffling and disturbing, and it shows us — along with all the other universally kind words said of Chris Benoit — that the monster who murders his children, robs a bank or destroys a life doesn’t live in a dark apartment near an alley in an inner city far away from us: he lives right next door, inside your house, and sometimes inside of you. A friend asked me today what I thought had happened with the Benoit situation. That is, “What do you think caused him to do it?” I told her that I have no answer and don’t know more than anyone else, but if I had to guess, I’d say that Nancy told Chris she was leaving him because of their marital problems, he had a fit, they fought and then he killed her. He spent several hours soul-searching and for some reason or other decided to kill his son and himself, which would explain the timeframe, the alcohol by his body and the rambling, confused text messages he sent the WWE. I don’t know what happened, though, and I have no excuses to make for him, but I’m having trouble believing that Benoit planned to murder his wife and kids for a significant amount of time and the act doesn’t necessarily point to that, either. To me, it seems like 1/4th tragic, terrible accident, 2/4s drug and alcohol induced stupor, 1/4th anger/sadness. Like I said, I don’t think there are any excuses, but that’s what I’ve been thinking, based on what I know. The following is more insight into Chris Benoit’s mental state (source PWmania): If you look at the whole situation, a picture begins to form of a man who had problems with his wife and drugs, but loved wrestling, wrestlers and his child. When you add in the strains of being a professional wrestler, the damage done to a human’s psyche by drug abuse, the fact that he seemed off and paranoid for awhile but continued to show support for younger wrestlers — I think we’ve got a more complicated picture than “Maniac Plans Murders.” We’ve got a tragedy, and the reason it’s a tragedy (besides the fact that two innocent people are dead, including a child) is that a man who isn’t easily depicted as a monster, who didn’t live a poor life, who wasn’t known for trouble, lost his grip on reality. In related news, the rumor on the Internet is that the two wrestlers named in the indictment of Benoit’s doctor were Mark Jindrak, who doesn’t wrestle with WWE anymore (and didn’t amount to much while there), and Rey Mysterio Jr., who is a “Cruiserweight” (read: lightweight) and a fan favorite. If that’s true, it should be interesting to see what consequence Rey Mysterio suffers.