I was trying to give King fans the idea that they might post here while the King takes his Wagon Train Across America (tm), soon to be a major motion picture. But nobody other than good old Timbuktom is posting.

So, my friends (???), I will post again. I will tell a little about my acquaintance Sam Nemecek, World Class Fencer.

Samantha Nemecek (pronounced NEM-eh-chek) is the only world class fencer who ever has condescended to fence against me. When she did it, I was learning from her dad, and I was terrible. She felt sorry for me, or her dad told her to help with the retard students, or something, so she offered to fight me.

Sam and I squared off. Back and forth for a little while, and then she got sick of me. She stopped, and just stood in front of me, with her weapon stuck straight out. Just stood there, and I could not touch her.

I (crouched, knees bent, bouncing, jabbing, thrusting) could not make a hit. And she, if she wished, could kill me a dozen times, easily, never even apparently moving.

Since that time, Samantha has placed very high in the NCAA championships (she fights for Northwestern), and she shows up in all the international fencing web tournaments, and the international rankings. Plus her dad has won some sort of award as an international coach.

So... When are the Olympic Games? Next year in China, I think. Please take a look at the USA Fencing Team when those 2008 China Olympics show up on your TV. Look for Samatha Nemecek, Women's Foil. Bet on her.

If McCain had broken with W. Bush, and had adopted the Iraq Study Group's plans a few months ago, when the ISG report first came out, McCain now would be the Republican presidential front-runner, and he would be far ahead of all Democratic hopefuls.

If these two departing staffers are the people who conviced McCain to hold out for Victory In Iraq, they did him and the rest of the USA a great disservice. Now it's too late for McCain, and too late for Iraq. Maybe too late for the USA as well.

The "sic" is okay, and the "whom" is okay. It is the strange word order and combination of expression that merits "sic." Maybe it should have come at the end of the sentence.

"John Weaver has been my friend and trusted counselor for many years and to whom (sic) I am greatly indebted."

Georgie W. Bush left Harriette Miers waiting at the altar, after he proposed her for the Supreme Court. Miss Miers probably was at least a little cuckoo before that debacle. And I would not be surprised if that betrayal drove her quietly, yet irrevocably, over the edge.

She just might sit there in front of the Representatives, and tell some truths, or drop some heavy hints. W. Bush treated her like dirt on the national stage. She does not work for him anymore. She has no good reason to stick up for him.

Let's listen to what she has to say.

...or Antarctic Olives or Republican Rap.

But it could be a great new market category. The top two Molasses-Based Alternative Beverage Sector companies will make a lot more money than the 221st and 222nd companies in the Whisky business, even if they are the same two companies.

The Running of the Republicans! A new fiesta celebrating our Neo-Cons!

The White House doors will open... Fierce Karl Rove, Ann Coulter, and the rest of the charged-up right-wing whackos will charge out, with their horns lowered, jaws snapping, snorting, stamping, stampedeing.

A few courageous Democrats will scatter before them, and run like hell to the safety of the Capitol. Some of them will be stomped under along the way.

Then, there in the Senate Chamber, we may see a bullfight. I hope we will see it. But maybe the bulls will snort and prance, while our champion Democrats stay in the cloakroom and whine.

Will anybody come out, and kill these stupid bulls?

Tonight is Baseball's All-Star Game. The two major leagues play each other. The two major leagues are identical except for the Designated Hitter rule.

Makes no difference in the All-Star Game. No pitcher hits in the All-Star Game, because both sides have loads of great pinch hitters, and loads of great pitchers eager to step in.

And, the two leagues' teams play each other extensively now, in inter-league games during the regular season. So we have seen these guys already. At least we have seen many of them.

This is unlike the good old days (tm), about 1976 or 1977, at the All-Star Game I went to at Yankee Stadium. Even from deep in the left-ish center field stands, I was amazed that the Dodgers first baseman had unbelievably huge forearms, but otherwise he was a little guy. (Who was/is that guy? Los Angeles named an elementary school after him and his wife?? Her name was Cindy, I think??? And after they named the school after them, they divorced????)

I just remembered! Steve Garvey!

And Ron Cey, the National League third baseman was an amazingly little guy too. (I remember his name easily.)

It is different now. We see these people in our own American League ballparks. The All-Star Game is not such an alien encounter as it used to be.

I hate the Designated Hitter rule in my own hometown American League. BUT! The DH makes a big difference between the leagues. It is the only thing that keeps the leagues apart, and makes the All-Star Game like a foreign affair. So keep the DH. Just move it to the National League, and make my beloved American League pure again.

Back before the Designated Hitter, though, there WAS a difference between the two major leagues.

The American League was The League of Home Runs, and the National League was The League of Steals.

What was that lovely, lost thing? What can you say about those good old days?