I'm a little surprised by how negative people's reactions to Merv are. As a latchkey child of the 70s I spent many afternoons with Merv's show. I think the description of it as being bland and like spending time with grandpa are apt. I frankly don't remember too many specifics of the show at all. But it was a part of my childhood in the pre-cable days of maybe 6 TV channels. I suppose I was too young at the time to know or understand much about his politics. And it is too bad that he could never just come out already, but he was from a different generation and time.

Has Sony recalled any of their own products? I had an S laptop that seemed to run nice and cool but my new SZ laptop runs very hot with or without the battery in place. It causes me some concern.

Since I haven't read the study I don't know exactly how they measure this, but could it also have to do with India's well-documented drop in the number of girls/women? Between the aborting of girl fetuses and general preference for boys over girls I would think that might have something to do with India's situation.

I can't watch more than about 3 minutes of Flipping Out. That guy is just such an annoyance I can't understand why any of those people want to work with him. I suppose they think they are going to make big bucks somehow but it sounds to me like he is leveraged to much that with his big expensive houses that he could very well end up bankrupt in the collapsing market. I also have to wonder a bit about why his ex-BF stays in this business partnership when it's obvious that the guy is such a total narcissist.

I happened to catch Solitary on the Fox Reality Channel last night and I couldn't turn it off. 9 people volunteer to be tortured for a chance to win a measly $50K. I think the best part is the disembodied voice who refers to the competitors are her "guests". Talk about a cruel show.

And I see he also dragged out his favorite old saw "we have to fight them there because if we pull out they will come here". Does anyone out there other than Bush actually buy this? Has anyone ever directly challenged this assertion? And if we are attacked here while our army is still in Iraq what will he say then?

Let me start by saying that I find baseball boring and no fun to begin with. But I enjoy the LLWS precisely because the kids seem to be playing for the fun of it. There are plenty of smiles and hi-5s when they make a great play or hit a home run. I like to see the teams from other countries compete on a more level playing field with US teams, altho I think they should mix them in pool play instead of making US and international brackets.

Sure there are parents who are overboard and ESPN has to turn everything into a human interest melodrama. But they do that with everything they show these days. The coaches have to be on their best behavior because they are mic'd up. And Brent Musberger is still insufferable and painful to listen to. And they showed the same 4 commercials over and over and over. It's cool to watch those guys play baseball-tennis once or twice but I don't need to see it every half inning.

But for the most part the kids in this tournament are pretty good players and the level of defense is generally quite good.

It must also be a generational thing, but I found it heart-warming in a way to see these 12 year old boys openly expressing their joy and affection for each other. Maybe that will go away the older they get but I don't think I've ever seen so much hugging among boys as that Georgia team displayed. And they seemed to have genuine empathy while consoling and hugging the Japanese players right after the championship game. It gave me an odd sort of hope for the future and that is saying something for a cynic like me.

just because he nominates these guys doesn't mean they will be confirmed, especially in the current environment. of course the Dems haven't exactly shown a lot of backbone lately either...

I suppose it could be that for the adults LL is all about amassing power, winning at all costs, etc. But the kids appeared to have learned sportsmanship somewhere. Which I suppose would make their achievement that much more laudable if it didn't come from their parents and coaches. However, I suspect that at least some of it came from those places. I also believe that being in the spotlight on national TV makes the coaches put their best face forward.

this is even better than the GOP state senator in Florida, I think his last name is Allen, who was arrested recently in a park restroom soliciting yet another undercover cop. You'd think the cops would have better things to do than sit around in bathrooms waiting to catch Republicans, but there you are. This moron then went on to claim that he was afraid for his safety because the cop was black and that's why he solicited the guy to go somewhere more private with him. Of course he's another one of these "family values" types.

I can't believe I am going to say this, but in fairness to the Rightwingers all you had last year were reports on a blog from anonymous people saying they had sex with the guy. Now you have actual arrest reports and guilty plea. So while before one could somewhat plausibly say that it might not be true, now you have the guy admitting guilt. Two pretty different animals.