Baseball and Stuff: Good All Stars ... Dontrelle Willis [Clemens did w/o incident] should have got a chance to pitch, over either Woody Williams (2 runs) or Russ Ortiz, and it was sad in a way that the NL All Stars blew a 5-1, fifth inning lead, but it was all in all enjoyable. Armando Benitez, who probably couldn't have done worse in the eighth than Eric Gagne (who decided to give up his first save since last summer here ... WHEN IT COUNTS!!!), looked a bit lonely when he was introduced. He now is with the Yanks, for Jason Anderson (young kid, seems to have some potential from the little I saw of him) and two other prospects. Maybe, he will do good as a right handed set-up man ... does suggest the desperation of the Yanks though. They, as much as anyone other than the Braves and the Phillies, know his history. As to Gagne, he helped complete the AL come from behind effort that we saw in Game Six of the Series ... and probably shouldn't have faced two run homer/Blaylock. But then, Dusty Baker left pitchers in too long in the Series as well, didn't he?

I might have saw the first summer blockbluster that I actually fully enjoyed in a summer blockbuster way ... Pirates of the Caribbean, which is no prize in the plot department, but Johnny Depp is fun, as is the movie on the whole. As a fan of the British show Coupling, it was fun to see its "Chandler" sort character play an English naval captain. The movie needed at least one good naval set piece ... battle it had left something to be desired ... but its scale on the whole still was blockbuster worthy. I'm also a sucker for historical fiction, including the tongue in cheek kind.

The President is having a bit of trouble these days with some statements he made in regards to Iraq ... the implication being he defended the path to war based on flawed evidence. Meanwhile, economic numbers continue to look bad, conservatives are upset at his protectionalist moves in regards to free trade, and the administration continues to support big government that interferes with our lives. This led me to start a new series discussing why Republicans and conservatives should feel wary about the guy. One post (targeting doctors who talk about medicinal marijuana use with their patients) that links to my other post (international trade plus "ethics") suggests my overall strategy.