A January memo from seven career employees at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel details their concern with OSC head Scott Bloch stifling an investigation into whether or not federal politics played a role in the trial and conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.
The memo is both broad and detailed in its list of concerns.
At the same time, it details cases where Bloch insisted on pushing ahead with CYA investigations that weren’t front-burner items.
I’m guessing that Siegelman is going to want Bloch as well as Rove testifying in his appeals process.OSC employee memo shows Bloch sitting on Seligman case
May 11, 2008
Maddux gets 350 and needs just five more
Greg Maddux, in his fifth shot, finally got win No. 350 Saturday night, just the ninth pitcher to hit that mark.
Five more puts him past Roger Clemens and wipes the Rocket off the list of most winning pitcher since Warren Spahn.
That said, Mad Dog needs to retire after this year. An ERA of 4 with Petco as your home park is pretty high. And, it’s been over 4 each of the past five years.
Five more puts him past Roger Clemens and wipes the Rocket off the list of most winning pitcher since Warren Spahn.
That said, Mad Dog needs to retire after this year. An ERA of 4 with Petco as your home park is pretty high. And, it’s been over 4 each of the past five years.
La Russa gives Izzy a ‘mental health’ break
Given the way Jason Isringhausen has been blowing saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, is his removal from the closer’s role a mental health break for him or for Redbird skipper Tony La Russa?
Or for us fans?
La Russa said he eventually expects Izzy back in the closer’s role. Right now, Izzy has a .297 BAA and an ERA on the high side of 7.
Closing a game can be kind of overrated, but I don’t think Russ Springer and Ryan Franklin are the long-term answer, either. Franklin is having a decent year so far, but has never been a closer, and is as old as Izzy. Springer is 40. They have a combined 10 career saves.
The Cards are talking about trading in-the-doghouse Anthony Reyes to the Rockies. I would take Brian Fuentes, but would like to try to get a middle infielder, also. Maybe Jonathan Herrera.
And, couldn’t the team have known about Troy Glaus having allergy problems before trading for him?
At the same time, ex-Cards outfielder Jim Edmonds is slugging, not batting, .222. I said they should have let him walk after 2006, instead of giving him that two-year extension. At least they didn’t have to hold onto him the second year.
Or for us fans?
“I’m just pitching like a second grader,” Isringhausen said.
In 2007, Isringhausen had just two blown saves the entire season. Even though he has 11 saves this season, he also has failed to convert four of his last seven chances.
“We should have five more wins in the win column, in my mind,” Isringhausen said. “We should be out in first place even more. They can’t keep sending me out there when I’m pitching the way I’m pitching. I’m going to have to figure out some kind of remedy. I’m sure that remedy will give me some time off from the role - and get someone in there who can do a better job right now.”
La Russa said he eventually expects Izzy back in the closer’s role. Right now, Izzy has a .297 BAA and an ERA on the high side of 7.
Closing a game can be kind of overrated, but I don’t think Russ Springer and Ryan Franklin are the long-term answer, either. Franklin is having a decent year so far, but has never been a closer, and is as old as Izzy. Springer is 40. They have a combined 10 career saves.
The Cards are talking about trading in-the-doghouse Anthony Reyes to the Rockies. I would take Brian Fuentes, but would like to try to get a middle infielder, also. Maybe Jonathan Herrera.
And, couldn’t the team have known about Troy Glaus having allergy problems before trading for him?
At the same time, ex-Cards outfielder Jim Edmonds is slugging, not batting, .222. I said they should have let him walk after 2006, instead of giving him that two-year extension. At least they didn’t have to hold onto him the second year.
Science briefs – new sun probe, mass extinctions, designer physics
New sun probe for less than $1 bil?
Johns Hopkins says it can create a new solar exploration satellite, one to go nine times closer to the sun than Mercury for less than $750 million. Such solar probes have been discussed before, but price has always been a major roadblock.Our galactic journey causes mass extinctions
Evidence is mounting that our rotation about the Milky Way can trigger large comets descending into the inner Solar System, causing mass extinctions like that of the dinosaurs 65 years ago. But, some scientists that hold to a modified “panspermia” says these comets could also have brought beneficial microorganisms to Earth.I’ll have a 2009 Calcium-43
Designer isotopes of various elements is supposed to be thehot new field in nuclear physics. How hot? Possibly as hot as nanotech.Learned helplessness in open societies
It exists, it may be exacerbated in some way by occurring in an open society, and will be a challenge for the future.Another Obama stumble – Malley resigns as Middle East advisor
Barack Obama Middle East advisor Robert Malley has stepped aside after The Times (London) asked about his connections to Hamas.Malley told The Times that he had been in regular contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza and is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work for a conflict resolution think-tank and had no connection with his position on Mr Obama’s Middle East advisory council.
“I’ve never hidden the fact that in my job with the International Crisis Group I meet all kinds of people,” he added.
Malley, a respected commentator on Middle Eastern issues and part of President Clinton’s negotiating team at the Camp David talks, has come under attack in recent months from right-wing bloggers. Yesterday, asked if Obama campaign was aware of his contact with Hamas, he said: “They know who I am but I don’t think they vet everyone in a group of informal advisers.”
You know somebody was nudging John McCain about this; hence his Obama “hearts” Hamas comments last week.
(Sidebar: It’s interesting that Raw Story didn’t have the Times story linked at its website; it’s also interesting that it didn’t quote from any of Malley’s comments. And that’s why I’m a skeptical liberal.)
Of course, conservatives are already rubbing it in, noting that World Net Daily reported these contacts five months ago.
Frankly, both Obama and WND are wrong.
I said Obama was wrong last month to criticize former President Carter for meeting with Hamas. But, it’s time to pander for Zionist-supporting Jewish voters in Florida, I guess. And, of course, WND et al are wrong in their blank-check Zionism support.
Western ranchers want welfare but won’t admit it — hypocrisy alert
Neither will their PR flacks like Bonnie Kline, in a less-than-stellar article from the normally top-notch High Country News.
When your opening sentence is:
The truth?
Large predators kill less than one-tenth of one percent, or 0.1 percent of Western cattle. Weather kills nearly four percent.
When your opening sentence is:
The extremists who are on a mission to eliminate the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services would do well to spend time with ranchers who live and work on our Western landscape.
The truth?
Large predators kill less than one-tenth of one percent, or 0.1 percent of Western cattle. Weather kills nearly four percent.
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