Edwards: The Slate blog (not the blowhard Kaus, who just loves this type of thing) has some good remarks about the matter. One good thing is that he made the public statement alone, asking Elizabeth not to be there. BTW, again, she -- like most spouses probably -- wanted this private. FU to all those blowhards who think him trying to cover it up is soooo horrible. As if spouses want this sort of thing to be public. Grow the f up, people. Oh, and about his future. Since when was he some big guy anymore? You never hear about him.
[And Also: Talking Points Memo suggests this story will force the press to also treat McCain fairly equally on marriage issues of this sort, though it fails to actually reference his first marriage. He wasn't a public figure on the level of Edwards at the time, it just helped start his career. And, he didn't stay with his wife, but married one of his affairs. Since much coverage, including emotional editorials, on Edwards don't seem to reference McCain, I wonder how much we really should expect on the equal time side of things.]
Sports: I appreciated when Brett said in his first Jets* press conference that his attempts to go to a team in the Packers own division, a lost cause if there ever was one, was competitiveness and/or vindictiveness. A nice bit of honesty. With all that went wrong for the Yanks, it just is only fair that they don't make the playoffs. I will believe it when I see it. The same might be said for the Mets getting to the playoffs, but equity-wise, it would not be upsetting if they did not. The fact rookie Pelfry has more wins than than their ace, not helped by his penchant for leaving after around seven (though when you have 4-0 lead or 3 run in the ninth ... well, you should win the game), is annoying.
At least, after it looked like he might have a shot early, Ian Kennedy lost vs. the Angels. Still, pretty sad -- two innings plus, and after they got him to lead. His positive spin, including talking about not having a bad game for awhile (yeah, you weren't in the majors for awhile ... who cares about minor league?), was rather lame. I'm tired of the complaints about Ponson, that we can't trust him etc. As John Franco, the former Met, said on the WFAN today ... he keeps them in games. The guy has the #4 spot. Given the Yanks bats, he can give up runs or so forth, and still do a good job.
Anyway, I don't wish Ian ill will or anything. It just is that I'm tired of the team and believe in some competitive justice. Back in the day, they paid a lot and could pay more for that extra leg up. Now, they are bleeding all over, and still are a season sweep of the Red Sox or so away from a wild card spot. Come on. Rasner should have started too -- he comes in and does what Ian should have done -- four plus innings, good enough to keep them in the game. Well, enough if he started (after Ian's mess, they didn't have enough wiggle room to survive a few more runs). Good -- finally -- pretty smooth game by the Mets.
Books: I recently picked up a trio of books** (all fairly quick reading, which is good these days -- the NYT had an article a few Sundays ago on reading online ... one plus is the ability to read a lot more perspectives than available when you read the whole book) that have potential, but saw a fourth that also is promising. It is a collection entitled True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood and Abortion. I quickly skimmed the final essay, "The Raw Edges of Human Existence: The Language of Roe v. Wade" by Francine Prose, a writer who discusses how impressed she is with the um prose of the opinion.
As someone repeatedly annoyed with those who ridicule this flawed, but still in various ways still impressive, opinion (there is another bio of Justice Blackmun out, but the author is a bit dull, if workmanlike), I deeply appreciate this. The use of literary criticism by someone who is not just an author, but has written about such analysis and criticalreading (see her link), a non-lawyer view to boot, is especially useful. It is an interesting perspective mixed in with generally personal stories. Stories we all know about personally in some form as well, but don't always come out in the simple minded narratives that sometimes dominate.
Real people who might have a thing or two to say about some of the blowhard remarks about Edwards, even if he deserves one or two of them.
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* Who needs him? They won the first pre-season game without Brett or Chad (the likely match-up for Game 1)! What's the line for the first game he will miss, now that he is in NY? Five?
** Obtained the now usual route of library reserves and first seen via book store travels with an assist from blogs, the library and reading another book by the same author. Soooo many books available by these routes.