I saw Gary Sheffield's comments and didn't think much about them. I figured he just didn't know or didn't care about the increasing numbers of baseball players overseas contrasted with the decline in baseball among American blacks. I didn't know about the economic differences in how American and foreign players are treated and apparently, once again when it comes to race, baseball is a microcosm of bigger issues. Not only do we see the division between America's racial minorities and new immigrants, but also how de facto segregation occurs even after mandatory segregation is gone. Just like our neighborhoods and schools, the different races now have different sports, and baseball is again showing us a bigger problem.

"We have more dirt to throw at them than they have at us."

If the Republicans remain this delusional another year and half, then Democrats should look forward to election day. I suppose they could be realistic but desperate, having nothing to hit back with and so hoping to throw mud at Schumer. Clearly, running investigations of major scandals is what senators are supposed to do, and someone has to run the DSCC. Or will Schumer's counterpart suggest both of them remain aloof from normal Senate activity?

Let's stop and think this through. Maybe, at least, something is going right. Hard to believe I know. Given the record so far, it's hard to believe any strategy actually put into effect could actually be a good idea. Certainly the part about arming Sunni groups made me wonder if we're being snookered. However, some other points come to mind:

You can't make peace with people you won't talk to. If at last we're talking to Sunni insurgents, this is a good thing. At some point, for peace to be made, the various factions (including us) have to talk to each other. No matter how long the killing goes on, they have to talk eventually. The sooner the better.

The Sunnis aren't a monolith. Many of us have criticized the bushies for not recognizing this, and treating all of them as "evildoers". Now that some at least have recognized this, let's praise instead of criticizing them for it.

We've been hearing for years the foreign fighters are a small minority, and that these are people making up the Al Qaida aligned groups. It makes sense Iraqis won't like these foreigners any better than the ones in US uniforms. It makes sense many Sunnis find Al Qaida's ideology noxious, and these are the same ones thought to be executing hostages on camera and starting the attacks on Shiite civilians to kick off a civil war. If other Sunnis have turned on them as news reports indicate, this is good and to be encouraged.

We war opponents have complained since the beginning that Iraq was the wrong country to attack when the real war is with Al Qaida. Bush is still to blame for opening a front where none needed exist and neglecting the real war in Afghanistan, but if finally there's an effective strategy to attack Al Qaida, this is to be praised. And no, I have no confidence that the government will be smart in how it follows up one right move, but let's offer a bit of praise on the rare occasion they do something right.

Minnesota is the state that had Tom Heffelfinger on the list to be fired, and his replacement, Rachel Paulose, had several staff demote themselves.

I admit I didn't read all the other letters, but in the ones I did read as well as the article itself, and in everything else I've heard on the issue, the screamingly obvious has been missed. The problem isn't porous borders, "amnesty", or scofflaw employers, it's poverty in Mexico. The last figures I saw showed most illegals are Mexican, and most of the rest are Central Americans who passed through Mexico. When the fact they come here for a chance to earn a living is mentioned, it's usually with a tone of, "sure, they just want to work, but what can you do? Not our problem." It seems to have become our problem, and the only solution is economic development in Mexico. Unless we're willing to address poverty in Mexico, we aren't serious about the issue, and no guest worker program, employer sanctions, border fences, or nativist yelling about an invasion will change that. Only more jobs and better wages in Mexico will change anything.

Go ahead GOP, make Thompson the new VP and/or your nominee. Democrats will content ourselves mentioning that he's a career lobbyist for corporate special interests --- mentioning it over and over again until "career lobbyist" becomes part of his name. http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8Q01A5O0.html

As long as you're talking to ESPN, how about Versus? Maybe they could do with fewer fishing shows. I might not watch just anything either, but I don't with the majors. Likewise with minor league hockey.

Just last night I was feeling frustrated that no pollsters would ask about impeachment. It would be interesting to have had the poll ask about Gonzo too, but the support for impeaching Bush and Cheney is just fine.