I hope this isn't true, but CNN and others have run with it:

Yankees pitcher's plane crashes into Manhattan high-rise

Cory Lidle, a late-season acquisition by the New York Yankees, is feared dead afte an aircraft registered to him crashed into a high-rise in Manhattan. The North American Aerospace Defense Command does not consider this crash to have terrorist implications.

As lifted from a station in Madison, Wisconsin:

Overall in 2006, Lidle was 12-10 with a 4.85 ERA in 31 games, including 30 starts. He had a career mark of 82-72 with a 4.57 ERA in nine big league seasons with the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia and the Yankees.

My sympathies and prayers are extended to Mr. Lidle's family and those of any other passengers aboard the aircraft.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 05:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Bravo zulu, Detroit. You have officially earned the honor of bearing my post-season hopes.

Y'know, 'cause my team didn't bother to make the post-season. Thanks, Theo.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It is now known that North Korea (d/b/a the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) has claimed to have detonated a nuclear weapon. What is not known (to me, at least) is their larger point in doing so. At first blush, the point of a detonation is to figure out if the things works and to gather valuable data for determining yield and other such metrics.

That being said, the testing of a nuclear device does not occur in a vacuum. It is a political event as well. It makes a statement to the world community as a whole. So the North Koreans know that their weapon works and they have also said something to the world community. But what?

The reflexive reaction for this non-Korea scholar is, "A middle finger directed at Washington", but this may not be the case. It's not always about us, although it is not wrong to at least consider the possibility that it is. Comes now an alternative theory, one that I would not have come up with on my own:

Greg Pollowitz, a financial man who also writes for National Review, says in a public message to K.J. Lopez:

There's another possibility that isn't being talked about regarding why North Korea chose today to fire off a nuke. What if if North Korea's test was done more as a protest of a South Korean, Ban Ki-Moon, from heading the UN and had little to do with US foreign policy decisions?

There is more at the original entry; I suggest reading it for background. The theory is not inherently unreasonable; after all, another large Communist state in the region is very fond of using military tests and/or exercises to exert foreign influence on a very nearby state. The Communist Chinese have a reputation for attempting to intimidate the Republic of China every so often, and I believe that this reputation is well earned. The country that the DPRK is closest to (in my mind) is the PRC, and it is not impossible that Pyongyang would steal a page from Beijing's playbook. Thus, Mr. Pollowitz's theory is valid as of 11:20 here in the East.

I sincerely hope that the reported DPRK nuclear test was more a domestic policy statement aimed at Seoul, and not a foreign policy statement aimed at Washington, D.C.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ah, Torre, my old friend. Do you know the Commonwealth proverb that revenge is a dish best served cold? It is very cold in Comerica Park.¹

The Tigers have eliminated the hated Yankees in four games. This is favorable news. Since the Sox are out of contention, I'm having to consider alternative outcomes and their relative acceptability. Now that the Yankees are gone, the only truly hated team remaining is the Mets. The Dodgers will probably fall to them, but I'm counting on the Curse of the NL as my fallback scenario.

Life is now better since the Yankees are out of the postseason.

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¹ All the more appropriate since I was flipping back and forth between Star Trek II and various SEC football games this evening when I found out.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 01:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Drudge Report is now reporting that the AOL Instant Messenger exchanges dooming ex-Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) were part of an online prank.

This prank reportedly went awry when the messages fell into the hands of political operatives for the other side. Apparently, Drudge has confirmation from at least two sources so who knows what the truth of all this will be.

Curiouser and curiouser, although I'd certainly like to say that this is sort of the things that can happen when you trust kids with access to power. Bloody immature kids! I feel like asking a form of the question that the Marine general asked in Full Metal Jacket: "What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?"

I certainly don't expect a "Jungian thing" response, and I'm certainly not laughing.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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This is funny:

In the midst of the George Allen Jewish flap, I wrote a post I headlined "Sen. Macacawitz." The term caught on in political circles almost immediately. Now, a Democratic campaign staffer has been forced to resign because she used it publicly.

Which was my plan all along!

The story to which the loathsome Podhoretz refers is here. Apparently, the staffer was a field organizer for Al Weed, the Democrats' man against Virgil Goode in Virginia's Fifth Congressional District.

I really couldn't care less about the whole "macaca" thing, and I really could care less what Secretary Webb once wrote about women at the Naval Academy. I want Allen re-elected and residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on 21st January 2009, and not much short of a Foley is going to change my mind.

Despite the fact that I don't care about the 'macaca' thing, I'm snickering in the seat at "Macacawitz". It's always rather strange how people find themselves Jewish come election time. Me, I don't think I have any Jewish relatives, but if I ever run for anything, then I will discover them forthwith. Y'know, sort of like discovering long-lost family ties when someone with your last name dies with a substantial estate.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you're like me and are immediately attracted to black locomotives with white lettering, then the Train Simulator payware community has got a couple of things that you might be interested in. Before we go any further, let me say that I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in the companies or products mentioned below the fold: more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sorry, not interested. I don't care that some Florida congressman sent some inappropriate instant messages. I'm more interested in the trains going past the residence, or how the Gamecocks are doing.

I'll leave this to the fire-breathers on either side of the aisle.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 04:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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