About face! Forward march!
"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."
George W. Bush
September 12, 2002
"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. "
Dick Cheney
August 26, 2002
"We know for a fact that there are weapons there. "
Ari Fleischer
January 9, 2003
"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."
George W. Bush
February 8, 2003
"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And . . . as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them."
Gen. Tommy Franks
March 22, 2003
"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
Donald Rumsfeld
March 30, 2003
AND THEN THIS WEEK.....
Saddam did not have chemical and biological stockpiles when the war began and his nuclear capabilities were deteriorating, not advancing, according to the report by Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group.
AP News
October 6, 2004
UH OH!!!
SPIN BABY, SPIN.....
"The headlines all say no weapons of mass destruction stockpiled in Baghdad. We already knew that."
Dick Cheney
October 6, 2004
"The suggestion is clearly there by Mr. Duelfer that Saddam had used the program (the UN Oil for Food program) in such a way that he had bought off foreign governments and was building support among them to take the sanctions down."
Dick Cheney
October 6, 2004
Dade county comes to Michigan
Does the GOP have no shame? At least the democrats use old fashioned voting tricks, like registering dead people and pets to vote. But the GOP actually goes several steps further. If they think you are likely to vote for the other candidate, they first try to prevent you from voting. Then, if you manage to actually get yourself to the polls, they try to trick you into voting for their candidate by using deceiving ballots. If those 2 methods fail, they always have the local election boards and then the courts to help them in close elections.
Take a look at the actual Michigan absentee ballot below. Take special notice of the way the arrows line up on the presidential portion. That's right...a vote for Kerry is a vote for Bush! Unreal. No shame I tell you.
Cheney over Edwards
(My comments from last night.)
Tonight, Dick Cheney gave John Edwards the Abu Ghraib treatment. You could see it coming from a mile away. I only watched the first 30 minutes of the 90 minute debate, but I find it hard to believe that Edwards rallied. Cheney is just too strong. As much as I don't like Cheney, I do admit that he talks with authority, forms cogent arguments, and just has a presence that draws you in. He doesn't look 'great' tonight. In fact, he looks heavier than ever, and maybe that will work to Edwards' advantage in the eyes of the populous.
(End comments from last night.)
When I say that Cheney won the debate, I don't mean to imply that Cheney won on the facts. In fact, I noticed at least 2 or 3 blatantly false statements (read: lies) he made. But since it would require some digging or at least a decent memory of what he previously said to know that he was lying, I doubt it made much difference to the undecided voter.
Fortunately for Kerry, the VP debate probably means nothing. In fact, the only thing really at stake here was Edwards' future as a potential presidential candidate. I saw nothing in Edwards to suggest he would be a good candidate in a future election. Of course, I saw nothing in Bush either.
Kip Wells has surgery
The Pirates have reported that Kip Wells underwent surgery, though not on his elbow. Sources say that he underwent surgery to repair a carpal tunnel condition that was causing him numbness in his middle finger all season long.
I'm not sure what a pitcher does that would cause carpal tunnel, unless he's playing lots of video games or typing up his kids homework every night. Regardless, I know a few things about the typical carpal tunnel surgery. Essentially, the condition is caused by swelling in the carpal tunnel that in turn causes pinching on a nerve that helps control movement and sensation in your hand. To relieve the pressure on the nerve, they slice open the tunnel. That's about it. It's not really a cure, as the symptoms will come back if you don't change the behavior that caused the condition in the first place. Hopefully, Kip will be fine. As I've said before, his elbow is another matter altogther.
Fact of the day
Between their founding and the strike year 1994, the Expos outdrew the Pirates 15 times out of 26 seasons. And that includes 1979.
Of course, things fell apart after the strike erased the Expos window for competing and decimated the fan base in the process.
I just thought it was an interesting statistic. (Thanks to John Mehno, BCT)
Season of records
3 high profile records were broken this season. Everyone is aware that Ichiro set the single season hit record, finishing the season with an amazing 262 hits. Also well known is that Barry Bonds broke his year old record for walks, with an incredible 232! That figure is so unreal, that I really have a hard time grasping what it means. If you cut that number in half, it would still lead the league in almost any other season! That’s like someone hitting 90 hr or having 250 rbi. The only other figure in recent baseball history that I think compares is the 130 stolen bases Rickey Henderson put up in 1982.
Lastly, most people are probably also aware that Adam Dunn set the single season strikeout record with 195. I’m surprised that nobody has commented on the strange symmetry of these 3 records being broken in the same year!
Besides the trifecta of well known records, there were several other records that were broken or nearly broken, all of which by Ichiro and Bonds. Here are the ones I know of, off the top of my head:
Broken records:
Most singles – 225, I. Suzuki
Highest OBP - .609, B. Bonds
Highest OPS – 1.422, B. Bonds
Most plate appearances – 762, I. Suzuki
Nearly broken records:
Most times reached base – 376, B. Bonds (2nd all time to B. Ruth, 1923, 379)
Most at bats – 704, I. Suzuki (2nd all time to W. Wilson, 1980, 705)
Lastly, I wanted to make note of 2 players who had singularly remarkable and historic second halves of 2004. The first is the previously mentioned Ichiro. Check out his second half:
AB - 333
H - 143
Ave. - .429
OBP - .465
SLG - .517
Wow! 143 hits in the second half (76 games)! That projects to 302 over a full season! And check out the .429 batting average. Those are numbers we haven’t seen since the 1920’s. Ichiro truly had a season for the ages.
The other second half I wanted to spotlight belongs to Johan Santana:
GS - 15
W - 13
L - 0
ERA - 1.21
IP - 104.1
K - 129
Opp.Ave. - .149
Those numbers haven’t been seen since, well, since I stopped playing M-Network baseball on my Commodore 64. It will be interesting to see if this represents a new level of performance for these players, or if they simply had coincidental once in a lifetime streaks.
73 or 72?
According to the on-line Post-Gazette on Monday morning, the Pirates had 73 wins this season (40 at home.) Sometime last night, one of those wins must have been declared a draw because mlb.com has the Pirates' record listed as 72-89 (39 wins at home.)
That's what I call liberal bias in the media!
5th place
100 years from now, people will flip through their Baseball Encylcopedia (if we still have books) and see that the 2004 Pirates went 73 - 89, finishing in 5th place. Again.
Since it's all the rage right now, allow me to post my 2004 Pirate awards:
Team MVP: Jason Bay
Best Pitcher: Oliver Perez
Best Manager: Not Lloyd McClendon
Best Rookie: Jason Bay
Biggest surprise: Jack Wilson
Biggest disappointment: Kip Wells
Most likely to fall apart next season: Jose Mesa
Most likely to make the leap next season: Jon Van Benschoten
Least likely to return in 2005: Abraham Nunez (though, he's like a cockroach after nuclear war.)
As you might expect, I won't be posting as frequently on matters involving the Pirates. I am considering weaving some Steelers commentary in between the random off-season Pirate comments and political rants. In the coming days, I plan on posting my end of the season review, a preview of the off-season decisions the Pirates will have to make, and a list of things the Pirates need to do to contend next season.
