So let me see if I understand this: When Iraq’s Olympic program was run by a sadist who would torture and execute athletes for losing, they were welcome to participate. But now that the people of Iraq actually have control of their government and are trying to create an equitable system of sending athletes to the games, that’s unacceptable? Is the IOC serious? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

This is where we stand now: The IOC has awarded the 2008 games to a repressive dictatorship housed in Beijing; the game’s host has decided to institute segregation at bars and hotels; and the IOC has suspended freedom of speech for the duration of the Olympic games so as not to upset their fickle hosts. And now Uday Hussein has been judged a superior person than Iraq’s current Olympic officials. Wow. If this is what it means to be a citizen of the world, count me out.

I mean that quite honestly. I have no problem with this monster blowing his own brains out, and I don’t think you should either. But some would say “he needs to face his day in court” or “he’s mentally unstable,” as if this somehow mitigates his crimes. Or perhaps they would argue “he took the quick way out; he needs to face punishment.” But really, what punishment would be worse than a gunshot to the gray matter? He’s dead, and I’m glad he’s dead. Furthermore, society should be glad he’s dead: we won’t have to waste precious funds on “rehabilitation” of this (probably) un-rehabitatable (sp?) monster, and we won’t have to deal with his inevitable recidivism. If more criminals took this route, American society would be a better place.

The angle taken by most reporters and commentators wasn’t that Craig’s restroom conduct was particularly shameful. The press doesn’t object to same-sex sex at all, nor should it. Craig’s true offense, said the press and the clowns, was hypocrisy, which they consider an inexcusable crime. Craig had supported both federal and Idaho bans on same-sex marriage, had opposed hate crime legislation that would extend protections to gays, and had earned a perfect 0 rating (PDF) from the Human Rights Campaign, a gay lobby. And he had denied and denied any and all gayness while trying to recruit some action in a bathroom!

Although the Craig story and the John Edwards story, currently unfolding thanks to the National Enquirer, aren’t directly analogous, they have a bit in common. Edwards, too, may be a sex hypocrite. The tabloid called Edwards a cheater last October and the father of a love child in December, and last night the Enquirer posted a story about Edwards’ visit to his alleged mistress and child at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night.

Byron York adds his two cents in his column for The Hill:

The tabloid reports that Edwards visited Hunter in a Los Angeles hotel Monday night, leaving her at 2:40 Tuesday morning. When the Enquirer’s reporters confronted Edwards, the story goes, he tried to escape.
Critics might question the Enquirer’s involvement in all this. Perhaps, they might charge, money changed hands to make the story happen.

Maybe it did. But one reads an Enquirer story just like one reads a story in The New York Times. You look at the allegation and try to sort out how much evidence the paper is presenting.

For example, after carefully reading the Times’s front-page story alleging that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had had an affair with a lobbyist, one could only ask, Where’s the evidence?

That’s not the case with the Edwards story; there’s quite a bit of detail.

Yet the mainstream media continues to ignore the story. Is there any doubt at all that if this was a Republican (like, say, a senator trawling for sex in a bathroom, or, say, a senator caught up in a prostitution bust with a famous DC Madam) this would be kind of a big deal?

All this goes back to my point that Federer is losing his edge. Name one time in the last four seasons that he dropped this many early-round matches in non-majors. If anything, these tournaments should be easier to win, since they don’t attract all the top talent. He’s only won 2 tournaments all year (and only made four more finals), and one of those was against renowned match-thrower Nikolay Davydenko, who retired in the second set.

Again: I like Roger Federer as a player. He’s still amongst the two or three best in the world. But he’s not THE best in the world, and he’ll never be player he once was. The odds of him going the entire year without winning a major are looking better and better. The era of Roger is over, promptly at age 26. Geez…where have I heard that before…

As much as I might dislike bikers, I dislike drivers just as much. Especially in the Dec-Feb stretch of snow. Seriously: that’s exactly what I-95 and Route 1 look like every time it snows. I especially enjoy the idiot in the SUV who keeps gunning the engine every time he straightens out. Ugh.

Honestly: This kind of blows my  mind. I get that the Hawks are terrible, and that Childress will probably make more money in those three years in Greece than he would have in the States. But c’mon. This is just embarrassing. For the entire city of Atlanta. What an awful, awful place, both for sports and (apparently) to live in. How about we just contract that entire city, leaving nothing but the airport and a Coca Cola bottling plant?

*Courtesy of one Jonathan V. Last

Superman: Moderate Republican

Small town values and big city pragmatism inform Superman’s middle-of-the-road political beliefs. On the one hand, his upbringing in rural Kansas forms the bedrock of Superman’s values system. On the other hand, as Clark Kent, Superman works in bustling cosmopolitan Metropolis for a big city liberal newspaper, The Daily Planet. Superman is a fiscal conservative who has a healthy distrust of big government – don’t forget his arch-enemy Lex Luthor was President of the United States for a while. He’s moderate on most social issues like gay rights (Jimmy Olsen is his best pal) but is pro-capital punishment. Hey, Superman, it doesn’t matter if you cry after executing some Kryptonian criminals – you’re still pro-death penalty.

I realize this is two years old, but whatever. It’s too good to pass up.

I only know all this because I just finished reading his book, Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip–Confessions of a Cynical Waiter. It comes out in a week (July 29th), but you can preorder it today from Amazon. I highly encourage you to do so. Though the prose is sometimes a little stilted (and it feels like the author reached for a thesaurus one too many times) it’s an altogether solid effort, an excellent companion to the books like Kitchen Confidential. I still find it hard to believe that people can be so awful to waiters. Unless you’re receiving truly terrible service there’s no reason to cop an attitude with the people who bring you your food.

But what I most appreciate about this book is that, well, it reads like a book! A novel concept for most bloggers-turned-authors, I know. There’s a narrative arc, a sense of the people and places. It’s quite amazing. This is no Stuff White People Like: The God Awful Book Version Churned Out To Make a Quick Buck.

And in Dark Knight related news, the Regal Gallery Place was packed with bat-fans last night. This movie could crack $200M in five days…it needs to average $22M a day on Monday and Tuesday. Eminently doable. Even if it doesn’t, we could be looking at a $300M take over 10 days–let’s say the movie averages $18M on MTWR, then drops 60% or so from last weekend’s take…that puts it in the $290M range. $300M is not out of the question.