It's probably worth pointing out that if you'd simply reversed your What the Heck picks, you would have tied for first place.

Maybe the Wrigley Corporation could step up and buy the naming rights. Then they could have Wrigley Park at Wrigley Field.

Please start taking your meds again. We'd all appreciate it.

Thanks.

Perhaps the real, sad reason that this story has not gained traction in the mainstream media is not it's no longer considered newsworthy when the Attorney General of the United States tells an obvious, blatant lie.

Petraeus' purvey is Iraq. It makes no sense to think that Petraeus, any time soon, would voluntarily argue that more of his troops need to be sent from Iraq to Afghanistan. This would be like asking Eisenhower if he thought it was a good idea to send some of his troops to the Pacific, or Grant in 1865 if he wanted to send some of the Army of Potomac men to Sherman out west.

A nit, but the Grant example is incorrect. As of March, 1864, Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and general-in-chief of all of the armies of the United States. General Grant would have been exactly the person to make decisions such as moving troops from the Army of the Potomac to the western theater.

Major General George Meade remained the head of the Army of the Potomac until the end of the war, but was overshadowed by Grant who attached himself to the Army of the Potomac and made the strategic decisions. But Grant was commander of all of the armies, not just the Army of the Potomac.

I agree with the others that it's stupid to have a line painted on a wall so that if the ball hits above the line it is a homerun. Just set the height of the wall where you want a home run to be.

Didn't some old ball parks have a line with metal sheathing above the the home run line? That way, there was a distinctive sound when the ball hit above the line. I seem to remember one park where this sheathing stuck out from the fence and had a beveled edge. When the ball hit the sheathing near the edge, the beveled angle made the ball bounce off the wall in such a way to make it obvious that it had hit above the line.

If there are going to be stadiums with this stupid convention, it ought to be possible to figure a way to determine for sure whether the ball hit above the line without going to instant replay.

Steny Hoyer, I'm embarrassed to admit, is my representative. I've been sending him an email every day since Glenn made me aware of his "compromise" bill. This is my latest:

Dear Mr. Hoyer:

The one time the Democrats in the House stood up to Mr. Bush, and now you are flushing it down the toilet.

The Republicans are laughing at you. I guess they are laughing at Democratic voters too, for thinking that electing a Democratic majority would actually make a difference. But they are definitely laughing at you and your cravenly, spineless colleagues. They expected you to cave in, but even they didn't expect you to capitulate so completely.

"I think the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped to get," said Senator Christopher Bond. That says it all.

Words can't express how furious and betrayed I feel. The fact that you struck this deal secretly and lied about it shows that you know what you are doing is wrong. This bill betrays everything you said when voting against the previous bill.

I can only assume that besides having your face nestled in Mr. Bush's posterior, you have your hands in the telecom companies' pocket. While this would make an interesting picture, it's no position for a Democratic Congressman to be in. You are disgracing yourself and your office.

Sincerely,

John H. Gillette

I just wanted to say that I think you're doing a great job on the anthrax investigation. Not that that is anything out of the ordinary; you are doing some of the best journalism I'm reading at the present time. I really appreciate your efforts and only wish some of the mainstream media would be so thorough and clear.

But let's look at who's most likely making the playoffs this year:

NY Mets -- $138M (#2 overall)

Boston -- $133M (#4)

Chicago White Sox -- $121 M (#5)

LA Angels -- $119M (#6)

LA Dodgers -- $119M (#7)

Chicago Cubs -- $118M (#8)

Philadelphia -- $98M (#12)

Tampa Bay Rays -- $44M (#29)

The Rays, after years of high draft picks and relying on green talent finally panned out, toppled the mighty Yankees! Parity does indeed exist..

6 of the 8 probable playoff teams are from the highest 8 payrolls. 7 of 8 are from the highest 12 payrolls. That's not parity. That's a Yankee team getting old and the Devil Rays having a fluke season.

It's possible for teams to win with less money the way Oakland has, but it's still a lot easier when you can spend more on players.

You could have tied for first in picking division winners simply by going by payroll. Both of the Chicago teams and the two LA teams had the highest payrolls in their divisions.

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet.” -- Damon Runyon

Sorry, you would have only gotten three division winners right. Detroit has a higher payroll than the White Sox. Still, it would be an improvement over your actual picks.

5 of the top 8 payroll teams are in the playoffs.

Obama has never said that “his tax plan would mean a tax cut for 95 percent of workers and their families.”

What he’s said is the 95 percent would not see an increase. The number getting a tax cut under his plan would be somewhat lower. Either you have misquoted McCain and Palin, or they’ve lied once again.