Politics: I caught a re-broadcast of a radio appearance of Wes Clark late last night on C-SPAN. He was pretty impressive. He has a certain easy charm, not totally comfortable like a seasoned pol, but clearly there. You saw it especially when the show was in commercial or after it was over (the camera lingered), the latter showed him talking with the host about her own child's time at preschool (making sure to get his policy points in). [more] [comments on data mining included in full discussion]

Good take on the candidates. 134 undervotes not counted, election decided by 12 votes, and only a flawed paper trail in the electric voting machine to check. This is the sort of problem that 2000 should have prevented by 2004, surely in Florida!

Sports: One of the more touching stories of last season was Roger Clemens' final season, including his extended attempt for that elusive 300th win (including against the Cubs, the game stopping for a spell when a player was hurt). Now, it seems that he will be coming out of retirement (one a lot shorter than the new Redskins coach) to join his pal Andy Pettite over at the Astros. Besides giving the team a killer rotation, it kind of makes all that sentiment (especially his World Series appearance) a bit of a cheat. Perhaps, if he said "this is going to be my last year, except if it's not" things would have been a bit better. When was the last time 4/5ths (if one counts Jeff Weaver, which I admit is a dubious proposition) of the Yankee rotation playing other places a few months after the World Series?

4th and 26??? Okay, I'm not quite over that yet. You get in with a miracle (thanks to the Cards), you leave with a miracle (just not yours). Now it's up to Carolina to beat both the Number 1 and 2 seeds ... they are half way there, and the Eagles tempted fate already. If the Eagles soar and the Colts win, well that would be just a bit too much. Anyway, Rush "The ACLU believes in me" Limbaugh was at the game. Wasn't he the guy who cut a hedge in McNabb's neighbor's yard for tickets?

Moron Award: I mentioned recently a tragic fire near my neighborhood that killed two relatives of a soldier in Iraq. My local paper had an update and it seems that a depressed teen started the fire in a failed "suicide while looking like a hero" attempt. The idea was that he came from a strict religious family and just killing himself would have been dishonorable, thus his plan to make it look like he was trying to save people in the building. Apparently, he got the idea because of a failed arson attempt on the same building last year. Suffice to say, he started the fire, but didn't die or look like much of a hero in the end.

[Meanwhile, another item discussed a woman who committed suicide, thus complicating a case against her sister, who killed the father and attacked her. And some people wonder why I get so caught up in football games -- better than thinking about this sort of thing, right?]