From The Independent: "So that's it for another year. In households up down the land, children will be putting their tennis rackets back in the store room. Tim Henman is no longer around to emulate. In spite of a wave of optimism, the 29-year-old from Oxfordshire is not going to win Wimbledon, any more than David Beckham will be lifting the silverware at Euro 2004.

As Henman suffered his latest setback yesterday, soundly beaten in the quarter-finals by Mario Ancic, a 20-year-old from Croatia, the land of Goran Ivanisevic, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2, he prepared himself for the type of recriminations that usually follow.

Having been unable to advance to a fifth semi-final in his quest to become the first Briton to win the men's singles title since Fred Perry in 1936, Henman was asked how his disappointment on this occasion compared with other years.

"It think it's worse, actually," he replied. "That's the honest answer." Will he ever lift the trophy? "It's a question I ask myself a lot," he admitted. "It's obviously a big talking point, given the nature of this environment and the tournament being in the UK and me really being the only player right now. I've never hidden behind the fact that this is the tournament I'd love to win the most. And the reality is that I don't have an endless number of years.""

And if so, which one's worse? From Josh Marshall: "this does seem to be the general direction -- a slow upward drift [for President Bush] based on a recovering economy contending with the majority's belief that the president's foreign policy is fundamentally flawed."

I have re-posted the referring script that became infested with links from sites that had not referred to my site at all..... It is now hosted by truefresco.org, & is policed a bit by the sound of it. If I start to see suspect sites I'll remove the link again.

Reminds me of Mike Davis' City of Quartz... From Kausfiles, (& I can't find a permalink....) "Disintegrating L.A., Part 2: Neolib urban theorist Joel Kotkin recognizes the distinct possibility that the city of Los Angeles will fragment through a series of successful secessions. He's for it! ... Everything Kotkin says (about L.A.'s failures) makes sense, but he doesn't deal with the key objection to secession -- namely what happens to the heavily-poor rump once all the more affluent areas have bailed out? (Again, don't think the rich West Side won't move to form its own nice "right-sized" town once the middle-class San Fernando Valley shows the way.) ... Maybe there are reasons the South Central ghetto would improve if the city it's in lost its middle and upper-class tax base. But let's hear them. ... And why won't those "entrenched" public employee unions quickly entrench themselves in the new towns as well? ..."

Reflecting my new slightly-library interests - Check out links to all these reading lists for the summer from Rebecca Blood.

I remembered my password for blogrolling, & went a little crazy linking to a few more political sites and a lot more book & library sites. I've spaced into clumps of 5 too. Next I might change the templates for my main page, archive pages and post pages, but not tonight.

Hopefully in time to make the election a really tough time for the incumbent... From Talking Points Memo: "Consider for a moment. Who is Dick Cheney? What do we know of him? None of us like being questioned or critized. But in him the disinclination runs particularly deep. He prefers to act in secrecy and is a man to whom government transparency has all the allure that a shaft of sunlight has to a vampire. When challenged, violence seems always to be his preferred method of response, that of first resort --- often a literal sort on the world stage, but with bureaucratic (viz. Plame) and what we might call verbal violence at home. By verbal violence I mean specifically tough talk and threats meant to frighten people away from challenging him further, to knock them on their heels. Even this new case -- saying Leahy et al. had it coming -- is but another example. When that doesn't work, he gets sloppy.

Cheney et al. can see all sorts of bad business coming down the pike in the next few months -- much of it already on the public radar screen, some of it still clogged up no doubt in back channels, newsrooms and new rounds of dirty-tricksterism. It seems clearly to be getting to them."

but which way will it all fall? "For Mr Bush, the gamble has yet to pay off. The transfer of power has come at a time of increasing violence in Iraq and diminishing public support for the war at home. Iraq's gruesome images dominate evening television newscasts and the issue is stuck squarely at centre stage in the election campaign. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll out late last week showed that for the first time since the start of the war, most Americans - 54 per cent - believe it was a mistake to have sent US troops to Iraq. When the war began last year, three out of four supported the idea to send in US forces.

The poll's findings marked the first time since the Vietnam war that a majority of Americans labelled such a big troop deployment a mistake." Read the whole thing at the Financial Times.

There isn't time for you to get a seat on the Supreme Court between now and November, so if you want to affect the outcome of the election you'll have to do it the boring traditional way. VOTE!! I don't care how you vote, I just care that you do.... It was so close last time that you CAN make a difference.

Register through Michael Moore's site or with the Federal Election Commission.

Here's the reason why people who go door-to-door need to be able to articulate and defend their position. I wish this particular stumper had done a better job... because there is a solid argument to support her position. (well, OK, maybe not hers, but Kerry's....) Lileks hit her with "My tiresome, shopworn, oft-told tale, a piece of unsupportable meaningless anecdotal drivel about how I turned my tax cut into a nice staircase that replaced a crumbling eyesore, hired a few people and injected money far and wide - from the guys who demolished the old stairs, the guys who built the new one, the family firm that sold the stone, the other firm that rented the Bobcats, the entrepreneur who fabricated the railings in his garage, and the guy who did the landscaping. Also the company that sold him the plants. And the light fixtures. It’s called economic activity. What’s more, home improvements added to the value of this pile, which mean that my assessment would increase, bumping up my property taxes. To say nothing of the general beautification of the neighborhood. Next year, if my taxes didn’t shoot up, I had another project planned. Raise my taxes, and it won’t happen – I won’t hire anyone, and they won’t hire anyone, rent anything, buy anything. You see?

“Well, it’s a philosophical difference,” she sniffed. She had pegged me as a form of life last seen clilcking the leash off a dog at Abu Ghraib. “I think the money should have gone straight to those people instead of trickling down.” Those last two words were said with an edge.

“But then I wouldn’t have hired them,” I said. “I wouldn’t have new steps. And they wouldn’t have done anything to get the money.”

“Well, what did you do?” she snapped.

“What do you mean?”

“Why should the government have given you the money in the first place?”

“They didn’t give it to me. They just took less of my money.”

That was the last straw. Now she was angry. And the truth came out:

“Well, why is it your money? I think it should be their money.”

Then she left.

And walked down the stairs. I let her go without charging a toll. It’s the philanthropist in me."

From MTV NEWS: "For months a hotbed of controversy, "Fahrenheit 9/11" is now the hottest film in theaters.

Despite the fact that it was only projected onto screens in 868 theaters across the country — almost three times less than the other nine films in the box-office top 10 — "Fahrenheit 9/11" easily took the #1 spot in its opening week, and broke a box-office record, according to early estimates.

With $21.8 million in ticket sales, the Michael Moore film became the first documentary ever to debut at #1, according to The Associated Press. This total would also make the film the top-grossing documentary ever, apart from concert films and movies made for IMAX theaters. The previous record was held by Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," which has taken in more than $21.5 million since it opened on October 11, 2002.

The film's opening success was aided by a two-theater opening in New York on Wednesday, June 23. "Fahrenheit 9/11" explores the war in Iraq, the way President Bush dealt with the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the government's ties to terrorist groups."

"WIMBLEDON, England -- Wimbledon organizers scheduled play on the middle Sunday for only the third time in the tournament's 127-year history as rain washed out all matches for the second time this week.

A steady drizzle delayed the start of play at 11:15 a.m. and continued all afternoon. Organizers waited until 6:35 p.m. to call off all matches.

Earlier, All England Club chief executive Christopher Gorringe announced that play will be held Sunday -- traditionally a rest day in the two-week championships -- to reduce the backlog.

The last time that happened was in 1997, after no matches were played on the Thursday and Friday of the first week because of rain. The only other time matches were held on the middle Sunday was in 1991."

"LOS ANGELES - A police officer caught on videotape pummeling a suspected car thief with a flashlight said he delivered the blows because another officer warned that the man was carrying a gun, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

John J. Hatfield told investigators that another officer attempting to handcuff 36-year-old Stanley Miller after a car chase Wednesday felt a metal object in Miller's pants, the newspaper said, citing anonymous sources.

Hatfield tried to subdue Miller by kicking him and striking him 11 times with a metal flashlight. The object mistaken for a gun was later revealed to be wire cutters in Miller's right front pants pocket."

As I believe Matt Lauer said in an interview the other day: How are they treating suspects when there's no news helicopters overhead....

and, by the way, we're just wrapping up the year & they're just getting started.

From the BBC: Australia 51-15 England

"Australia gained sweet revenge for their World Cup final defeat as England were put to the sword in Brisbane.
The Wallabies were ruthless as they ran in six tries to condemn the world champions to a third heavy defeat on their southern hemisphere tour.

Wing Clyde Rathbone led the rout with a hat-trick, with Jeremy Paul grabbing a brace and Lote Tuqiri adding a sixth. Richard Hill and Lawrence Dallaglio scored a try in either half but England were well beaten by the end."

From Time Magazine: "Over the past five years, blogs have gone from an obscure and, frankly, somewhat nerdy fad to a genuine alternative to mainstream news outlets, a shadow media empire that is rivaling networks and newspapers in power and influence. Which raises the question: Who are these folks anyway? And what exactly are they doing to the established pantheon of American media?"

From Lileks: "Look. We don't have to agree on the big hard issues, but we can certainly agree that we share common values that set us apart, and that it profits no one to identify the opposition as something outside the American experience. Liberals are not Communists. Republicans are not fascists. We have a nice window of opportunity here where we can come together by choice, instead of being thrown together by events. I say we get a head start on national unity." Bill Clinton said the same thing on TV this week. The debate needs to be about real things, not about charicatures and parodies and cartoons of reality. More Lileks: At some point, I fear, the political discourse of 2004 is going to seem horribly irrelevant and misplaced in the face of some loud new wretched horror; it will seem as oddly disconnected from reality as the Condit / Killer-Shark news reports of August 2001. An indolent luxury."

"SOUTHERN ILLINOIS -- With Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jack Ryan pulling out of the race, speculation turns to who might replace him.

Ryan dropped out four days after divorce records he fought to keep sealed were opened Monday. They included allegations by his former wife that Ryan asked her to have sex with him in front of others on two different occasions at racy clubs in New York and Paris.

As embarrassing as those claims were, hurting Ryan more was outrage by Illinois Republic Party leadership who contend the candidate misled and lied to them when saying there was nothing in the records that would damage him."

From the Detroit Free Press: "One of Eric Clapton'sguitars has sold for $950,000, a world auction record for a guitar. The instrument, called Blackie, is a composite (i.e, Frankenguitar) Fender Stratocaster that Clapton used on stage during much of the 1970s and 1980s. Clapton auctioned dozens of his guitars at Christie's in New York and raised $7.4 million for the addiction treatment center he founded in Antigua, where he has a home.

A 1964 red Gibson that Clapton used during his years with Cream sold for $847,500, a world auction record for a Gibson guitar; the 1939 Martin guitar that Clapton used on the "Unplugged" album went for $791,500, a world auction record for a Martin guitar."

From ITN News: "Veteran DJ Tony Blackburn has been suspended from his radio show for repeatedly playing Cliff Richard records.

Bosses at Classic Gold Digital warned Blackburn in an e-mail that playing Cliff tracks was against company policy.

But the DJ responded by tearing up the warning live on air and defiantly playing two Cliff hits back to back - We Don't Talk Any More and Living Doll."

How, just out of interest, do you play "We Don't Talk Any More" defiantly? I can't think of anything less defiant.

My picture links in the bottom right seem to be missing.... don't know why, because I haven't messed with my template today.

"NEWARK, N.J. -- A concert promoter and Democratic activist is gathering signatures in an effort to draft Bruce Springsteen for a benefit concert to oppose President Bush's re-election bid.

Promoter Andrew Rasiej wants to hold the event at Giants Stadium on Sept. 1, during the Republican National Convention in New York, but said it's contingent on Springsteen's agreeing to be there, which he hopes would lead other artists to join in.

A Springsteen spokeswoman, however, said he will not play.

"Bruce Springsteen will not be performing at any events tied to the Republican or Democratic conventions," spokeswoman Marilyn Laverty said."

From Yahoo: "TEHRAN (AFP) - The release of eight British Royal Navy personnel detained by Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards has been delayed until at least Thursday as further negotiations are needed on the modalities of the handover, a British diplomat told AFP.

"We have been in discussions all afternoon and evening. There is an agreement that the soldiers will be handed back, but we still have to discuss how it will happen," British embassy spokesman Andrew Dunn said.

He was speaking by telephone from southwestern Iran where the unit was detained on Monday.

"There is a natural break in the talks. We will take it forward tomorrow (Thursday)," he said. "We are discussing the modalities."

The diplomat declined to say if he was confident that the release would go ahead.

"The discussions are moving forward. We are making progress. We hope that continues tomorrow," was all he would say."

As Arnie would say... "Modality this!"

The Graham Norton Effect. I'm interested to see how Graham translates to a US audience, after seeing his run on Father Ted and his original UK show. I won't get to see it, of course, because I don't have Comedy Central...

but I think Jeri deserves better....

From Reuters: "CHICAGO - Fortune seems to smile on candidate Barack Obama's campaign to capture a U.S. Senate seat for the Democrats in Illinois, as the Republican nominee became his latest opponent to be embroiled in a sex scandal.

The latest windfall to blow Obama's way came in revelations this week that Republican Jack Ryan was once accused by his ex-wife, TV actress Jeri Ryan, of taking her to sex clubs. She said he tried to coerce her into having sex with him while others watched, according to their divorce records.

Ryan has stood by his denial of four years ago -- he claimed the couple went to one "avant-garde" Parisian club and quickly departed -- but there are rumblings among some Republicans in the state that Ryan should quit the race. He says he will not but the issue has caught the attention of party leaders at the highest level."

Smoking Gun has the document and a commentary.

Not a library... a center: "The mission of the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation is to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence. To accomplish this mission, the Foundation currently focuses its work in five critical areas:

Battle against HIV/AIDS
Racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation
Citizen service
Economic empowerment of poor people
Leadership Development

The Foundation works principally through partnerships with like-minded individuals, organizations, corporations, and governments, often serving as an incubator for new policies and programs. Former President Clinton established the Foundation and advances its mission by using his vast public and private networks to initiate research, dialogue and action."

Update: Link to all the Presidential Libraries from the National Archives Office of Presidential Libraries.

From the Chicago Sun Times: NEW YORK -- Kelly Ripa will be a ''Live'' star for five more years.

The "Extra" TV show reports Ripa, who landed her co-host role beside Regis Philbin in February 2001, will be paid about $40 million under her new ''Live With Regis and Kelly'' contract, or $8 million a year.

Philbin, 72, has two more years on his current contract."

from Reuters: "After burning its rocket for 80 seconds, SpaceShipOne sped up to more than three times the speed of sound and then coasted to its peak altitude, making Melvill weightless.

Melville said he released a bag of M&Ms chocolates to see if they would float in the cockpit.

"It was amazing, these M&Ms were going around everywhere," he said.

The flight marked the first time that a non-government spacecraft reached the altitude considered to be the boundary between earth's atmosphere and outer space.

Allen and SpaceShipOne's builders were expected to next try for the Ansari X Prize, which is $10 million for the first team that sends three people, or an equivalent weight, on a manned space vehicle 62 miles above the earth and repeats the trip within two weeks."

on opening night, June 25th - From MoveOn.org: "Fahrenheit 9/11 opens with footage of Bush administration officials putting on their TV makeup. Paul Wolfowitz sticks his comb in his mouth, slathers it with spit, brushes it through his hair, and grins a toothy grin. Colin Powell eyes the camera nervously as a makeup artist dusts his face. And, moments before President Bush goes on TV to somberly announce the beginning of the Iraq war, we see him goofing around, making funny faces at the folks behind the camera.

These candid portraits encapsulate the genius of Moore's documentary. Compared to his other films, there's little pranking or moralizing. Moore basically stays out of the picture: he doesn't have to indict the Bush administration, because with powerful and indisputable video, Bush and the rest indict themselves...

In the hands of other directors, the content could easily feel exploitative. But Moore is grounded by a patriotism that rings through every frame of the film. Compassion and love of country give the film its striking authenticity: it's clear that what stings most about the President's behavior, for the subjects of the film, is Bush's betrayal of our country's soul.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a film with the power to change hearts and minds. It's brilliant, funny, moving, and authentic. And together, we can make it a huge success."

There's even a positive Fox news review. Check it out. The number of anti-Moore and anti-movie sites is pretty amazing. These include:

Moorewatch.com
Michael Moore Hates America
and Moorelies.com

(I link to them for their comedy value and not to advance their agenda...) and I'm not sure I liked the tone of the Today Show teaser for Moore on Dateline either.... I'd be interested to see the whole thing on Friday.

Comedy Central's Election Headquarters: "Every four years, tens of dozens of Americans line up in front of antique, steam-powered voting booths to elect a new emperor. And every four years, Comedy Central heroically covers this mutant cross between a really boring circus, a national popularity contest, and a post-apocalyptic Thunderdome.

Can't decide which slick, promise-breaking fat cat to vote for? That's what we're here for. Welcome home, patriotic citizen - we feel your pain."

Ran across this as I was browsing..... If I didn't already have a million tons of scripts running in the right-hand column there I might dream one of these up....