Batgirl, I would like to applaud your masterful use of current headline news to tell the story of our Twins' latest victory. Cheney really said that? On the Senate floor? Not at the post-session barbecue, or passing in the halls, but in the Senate chamber? Isn't there a Dick joke in here somewhere? As a mentor of mine says, this is the real news, people.

Speaking of news, according to ESPN and some other major media sources our dear sweet Johan has in fact passed both Mr. Schilling and Mr. Pedro in strikeouts, 100 to 93 to 97. How hot is that?

Batgirl, you read the Washington Times? The paper owned by ex-con and cult leader Sun Myung Moon? You know Moon, the guy that got crowed Lord of Something-or-Other in the Senate Office building a while back? (Did Mark Dayton sign out the room or was it the republican senator?) Teehee indeed!

Substantively, AT is of course, right in that Santana is now #1 strike-out pitcher. Also, this is the last year of Radke's contract. There is no way to contenance giving him another huge one at his age. He's a ticking time bomb due to his age.

Something I was thinking was, how nice would it be to have Kenny Rogers back in the rotation? Radke, Santana, Silva, Rogers, Lohse - nasty!

AT: Yes, Cheney really said it on the senate floor to Leahy. HOWEVER the Senate was not actually in session so he didn't violate any rules. You see, it's against Senate rules of procedure to cuss while the Senate is in session but they weren't technically at that time.

Maybe the 2,000+ investigations into the Bush/Cheney administration (alright, it's closer to 20) are starting to tell on him, after all he just got grilled on the Plame felony matter not last week. Although maybe he's feeling better since his energy taskforce gets to go right on meeting in the backrooms.

Glad to see the moratorium on mixing baseball and politics has ended, Batgirl! As I was saying a few weeks back about statistics and the economy, it may not be economical for Johan Santana to throw the number of pitches needed to get all those strikeouts, but it is statistically pleasing.

As for you, Halliburton Breath: Don't mess with Vermont! Sen. Leahy has more class in his right fingernail than you have in your entire conflict-of-interest-laden being. Shame, shame, shame.

And Brewer fans, stay outta the way of those light rail cars this weekend. They hurt if you get hit by 'em.

Interestingly enough while the Senate enforces quaint decorum, House members have beat each other with sticks before on the Floor of the house of Respresentatives. It's much more fun to be a member of the House =D.

I'm a big fan of the moratorium, for reasons that will likely become increasingly obvious below this post (and for that matter, directly above it). Go Twins.

Dear Ms Ru,

Batgirl does not, in fact, read the Washington Times, but she did see the description of such excerpted somewhere and found it quite amusing. The Washington Post, in fact, printed the expletive.

Batgirl repeated the above story without judgement, merely as an amusing anecdote, and amusing anecdotes are something we can all get behind. Big political fights in the comments section are not. Batgirl is a uniter, not a divider.

Sincerely,
Batgirl

p.s. Thank you for the correction on Johan/strikeouts. I've made the requisite changes above.

One can tussle about politics as well as baseball and still remain civil -- a lesson that maybe we can share with Vice President 'Burton. (That kind of has a nice BooBerryesque ring to it.) I know this to be true, as some of my dearest pals have political stripes radically different from my own. Some of them even want to give Terry Mulholland another chance or two, which even I find to be too much of a concession to outdated thinking from the left. Hurry back, JC! (No, that's not a religious sentiment.)

Johan "Majority Whip" Santana

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Dear Batgirl,

I WAS mistaken on the investigations. There are not 20, there are 9.

Considered the rest, I pointed out that no actual rules violation took place in regards to the vulgarity. 50 U.S.C. section 421 is the law in question. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of extending executive privaledge to the VP and specifically in regards to an energy taskforce coordinated by the VP.

These are a-political substantive facts.

Finally, I was not aware of a political moratorium. I will of course observe it. In regards to the Washington Times I fail to see if I engendered any insult, just the dubious nature of the owner. If you chose to see it as an insult (hell I read the Washington Times on occasion) then I regret that occurance.

Thank you.

Mimiru,

There was never any formal moratorium on political chatter, only some informal peacemaking that went on after I chided the use of statistics awhile back and made a reference to the economic recovery I sometimes read about. Not a big deal. It's all in the presentation. : )

I'm seeing a most dubious owner poll in your post...

My candidates:
The Seligs
The Moons
The McMahons
The McCombses
The Murdochs

Do you sneak peaks at the New York Post, Fox News Channel and Billy Koch-in-relief highlights too? They're on my list!

Dear Ms. Ru,

You did nothing of the kind. Worry not. Batgirl, of course, only reads sports sections.

Sincerely,
Batgirl

Dear Batgirl,

Thank you, and let us put this mis-step behind us and focus on capitalizing on the Whine Sox being beat about by Zambrano today. Tomorrow may be a day of division and political strife, but today... today it is nearly time for a Twins game.

Concilliatorily,
Mimiru

Evil Owners? Seligs! Hands down!

Fellow bat-readers,

I found Batgirl's article to be about government, not politics. It is funny that suhc a powerful leader goes around cursing in the halls of utmost decorum. It makes me giggle like when I'd listen to Ice-T as a teenager. Plus, Johan as "Majority Whip" and "Junior Starter" are delicious constructions.

However, I agree with Mr/Ms kw in that I hope we can uphold the moratorium on politics in the comments. These sort of things get a lot of people hot and/or bothered, and I will very quickly find these comments to be much less fun and helpful. (Politics makes me fall like a sports fan without a local team. A few years ago I really liked this one team, but recently, I haven't like they way they've been playing, but haven't had any new respect for the other team. Who to root for in a Yankees/Braves World Series?)

I see that some dissent has been sowed among us Twins faithful. What shall we reap? The Bitch Sox jumped to a 5-0 lead against their crosstown rivals. Coincidence?

Go Twins!
amr

Speaking as one citizen, I see this as a practical matter. We all pretty much know who we're voting for this November (if the single-digit "undecided" poll figures are correct). Both sides of the aisle have their "facts" and favorite authors and witty putdowns and assurances that they're on the Truly Enlightened side of the debate - no minds are going to be changed, so the result of any comment-board chat on the subject of national politics is clenched teeth and wasted pixels. Is it really worth the hassle? Why even start?

Mr./Ms./Elf amr is correct, as usual. Dissipated energy from the center of the Twins Nation - this blog, natch - causes disturbances in the Baseball Universe as a whole. Cheer for the Minnesota Twins today (or die)!!

As much as I wish I were an elf (so I could be in that Will Farrell movie with Bob Newhart), I feel I should confess my true identity:
Mr. amr

Actually, this year undecideds constitute 20% of the electorate. What happens is if someone is undecided they ask "As of today, do you lean more toward John Kerry, the Democrat, or Bush, the Republican?" (Depending on the poll, it may or may not include Nader)

Only those who remain undecided after the leaning question are considers "undecided" but if they're only slightly leaning then they really haven't made a firm decision, hence remaining undecided.

In regard to kw's notion of wasted pixels, I have a question: How many wasted pixels are there in a Cheech & Chong movie?

RD: Zero. It's all analog, man.