The Hound Of Ulster

THESE are everywhere nowadays. I think they’re starting to take over Chavez Ravine. Pretty soon, they’ll outnumber the players.

“He’s a very smart guy,” Colletti said. “He’ll be involved with us in scouting, evaluating players, player development areas, amateur draft areas. He’ll be a great sounding board for me.”

…

“He’s someone that I trust and know, and really most importantly, respect,” Mueller said. “I think that’s what created even more interest in staying in the game of baseball. Once I understood there was no chance I would ever be able to play again, I called Ned. When both of our interests were high, I thought this was a great move and a great decision.”

Mueller will be paid the $4.5 million the Dodgers owe him for next season, and as Colletti said with a laugh, had signed a contract at a much lower level of pay for the 2008 season.

Getting paid $4.5M? Wow. Better be a “very special assistant to the GM.”

And Ned also says “we’re” getting close on Nomah. I’m OK with that, even if it’s not really a great move - though ESPN’s Phil Rogers LIKES it.

INF Nomar Garciaparra
Three of his last six seasons have been severely impacted by a variety of injuries, but he’s somehow kept his career batting average at .318. He played in 122 games last season after the Dodgers shifted him to first base, logging his most games since he played 156 for Boston in 2003. The husband of soccer star Mia Hamm, Garciaparra is a fitness freak who should get healthier as he moves into his 30s, and away from the middle infield. Los Angeles has redoubled its efforts to keep him after J.D. Drew exercised an out clause in his contract. Garciaparra seems a better fit for the American League, where he can split his time between the field and designated hitter.

Aside from the DH part, he seems to think Garciaparra still has something left. At least it’s not at crazy as THIS. Or THIS.

OK, that Bonds one isn’t crazy. It’s just irritating. He’s still an offensive force, even if he’ll bring a complete circus to town. And now that Thomas is gone, Billy Beane needs another bat from somewhere. But throwing Bonds at a rookie manager? That’s just mean.

(The Gonzalez one does seem crazy, though. About half a year ago, the Reds had Felipe Lopez at SS. Not a great glove, yeah. But for that price, I’d like my SS to do more than just field. Course, K has a lot of middle relievers now, so it’s not a complete loss.)

And even that is way less crazy than this:

…the Dodgers are also in the scrum for Soriano, and his agent’s response to their inquiry would seem to confirm that the former Washington left fielder will make the biggest killing this offseason. The price quoted the Dodgers was seven years for $120 million — $1 million more than the deal given to Carlos Beltran by the Mets two winters ago.

That’s over $17M-per-year.  This new market is killing me.

Bond looks PROMISING - at least from an economic standpoint.

The film, which features Daniel Craig’s first outing as the super-spy, sold £1.7m of tickets in the UK on Thursday.

The figure is more than twice as much as the previous record-holder, 2002’s Die Another Day, took in its first day.

Unfortunately, that article’s mostly about piracy. But I’ll know for myself before too long. Tomorrow, I think.

Amy has an interesting COLLECTION of links, with this dynamite quote from the Gonzaga student paper:

The Gregorian Schola, which sings the music for the Gregorian chant Mass in the Jesuit House Chapel, provides a refreshing break from the traditional Catholic Mass.

I think I knew someone who was connected with that Schola. Pretty sure. And I doubt she needs to look up the meaning of the word “traditional.”

Conservatives GIVE more, apparently.

Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right in America — and it’s making him nervous.

The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income.

…

When it comes to helping the needy, Brooks writes: “For too long, liberals have been claiming they are the most virtuous members of American society. Although they usually give less to charity, they have nevertheless lambasted conservatives for their callousness in the face of social injustice.”

…

The book’s basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.
Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone’s tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don’t provide them with enough money.

The book’s conclusion doesn’t surprise me. The fact that it was written does.

I had a hard time blogging on this one, because it seemed so very uninteresting. But it’s newsworthy, I guess - though perhaps only in its utter “unnewsworthiness.”

K-Lo tries to be ENCOURAGING, with fairly moderate success.

And Jonathan Martin DISCUSSES how it all came about.

Roy Blunt’s convincing victory was a bit more surprising to members because he was part of the “old guard” DeLay-era. Rep. David Hobson, a veteran Ohio appropriator, said he thought the Blunt-Shadegg race “would be closer,” but said Blunt “worked it very hard.” Moreover, Hobson said, the Whip post is “not a policy position,” but is about “counting votes…a mechanical deal.”

Other members took similarly pragmatic views in backing the incumbent team. For Rep. Jim Gerlach, a moderate Pennsylvanian who’s survived two close re-election contests in a row, Blunt (and Boehner) were just known quantities. “The [House GOP] Conference is very comfortable with these members,” he said.

Not all were pleased at the re-election of the two top House Republicans. Rep. Jeff Flake, a frequent Leadership critic who draws cameras for his candor, observed that Republicans “were slow earlier this year to recognize the problem and now we’re slow to recognize how we get out.” Flake, an Arizonan who backed Pence and Shadegg, said the 29-seat loss hasn’t “sunk in yet” for many in his party. Barton, who mounted his own race for Minority Leader until dropping out and backing Boehner, agreed that many were “still in denial and shellshock.”

The most interesting thing about that is the fact that there is a Republican named Flake. That’s unfortunate, in a lot of ways. Though this particular version seems anything but.

Both K-Lo and Martin make similar POINTS, though.

The message that I heard from many, many members today about why they stuck with Boehner and Blunt struck me as very similar to what Michael Dukakis was fond of saying in 1988 during his contest with Bush 41: “Competence not ideology.”

Great. I just love the way those two things are opposed to each other. Ah, well.