That’s “Black African American” in case you get him mixed up with a “White African American” (Charlize Theron?) He doesn’t sing “White Christmas” either.

President Bush, November 8, 2007:

“If you lived in Iraq and had lived under a tyranny, you’d be saying, god, I love freedom — because that’s what’s happened. “

Except if you lived in Iraq, you might not be living in Iraq, because you were one of the hundred(s) of thousands of people killed by the violence there, or one of the 1.2 million Iraqis who have fled the country.

Or you might be one of the 2.3 million internally displaced Iraqis, who have been chased from their homes by ethnic cleansing. In which case, you might be saying, “I wish I still had a home.”

Or you might be a newly orphaned child saying, “I miss my Mommy and Daddy!”:

My guess: whatever she is saying, it’s not “God, I love freedom!”

From the NYT:

Those lobbying against Mr. Colbert included Don Fowler, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the husband of Carol Fowler, the current chairwoman of the state party.

“For somebody to make light of that process as if it were his own little play toy, that is offensive,” he said. “We would be the laughing stock of America. Electing the president is serious business.”

From the LAT Homicide Blog - I didn’t see it anywhere else, which is sad, and indicative of the amount of crime we have that just doesn’t get reported, except in the Homicide Blog.

Calabasas: Jackson K. Bussell, 28, a Native American, died after being struck in the head during a boxing match against Javier Garcia at the Sagebrush Cantina in the 23500 block of Calabasas Road.

Bussell, by many accounts, was winning the match, except the last round. The match was declared a draw. Afterward, he appeared to be having trouble, according to LAPD West Valley homicide Det. Joel Price. He sat down on a chair in the middle of the ring, and paramedics–who were attending the fight as required–tried to treat the fading, 132-pound boxer. He kept saying, “I’m tired,” over and over, Price said. They were his last words. He collapsed and was rushed to Northridge Medical Center in grave condition. He was on life support, then pronounced dead Friday, Sept. 21, at 3:15 p.m.

Price said the sanctioned match appeared to meet all the state-required safety criteria. Paramedics were present, and although Bussell had taken a head blow earlier this summer, his medical records showed him clear to fight. This case was reported to the Coroner as a homicide, and will be investigated as such, although criminal charges probably will not result, Price said. The Homicide Report uses the Coroner’s definition of homicide–death by the hand of another–hence Bussell’s inclusion on this report. He was from the Klamath tribe of Oregon, Price said.

9/25: Update from from the LA Times here.

I didn’t know Grace Paley had died. A brief story:

On an assignment, I went to a restaurant in Tribeca to cover a party. I got there early, so for a while it was only me and an elderly couple. Because they were so quiet & inconspicuous, I figured they were tourists.

When the old man went to the can, I went over and said, “I’m [insert name of devastatingly handsome man here]. I’ll be your reporter and waiter tonight. Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, that’s very sweet of you,” she said. She gave me a drink order. “Nice to meet you. I’m Grace Paley.”

I kept my cool and wet her whistle.

Associated Press
August 14, 2007 12:15 p.m.

NEW YORK — Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees’ dynasty years and beloved by a generation of fans for exclaiming “Holy cow!” as a broadcaster, died Tuesday. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by the Yankees. Mr. Rizzuto had been in declining health for several years and was living at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J.

Mr. Rizzuto, known as “The Scooter,” was the oldest living Hall of Famer. He played for the Yankees throughout the 1940s and ’50s, won seven World Series titles and played in five All-star games.

I miss him already.

First this:

President Bush was treated a year ago for what appears to have been Lyme disease, the White House said yesterday in disclosing the results of his annual physical exam.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection that, if left untreated, can cause arthritis and other problems. Symptoms can include lethargy . . . .

So where is Bush now? Seems he’s resting:

It’s August in Washington and the city is emptying out.

Members of Congress left over the weekend and won’t be back until Sept. 4. President George W. Bush goes tomorrow to his family’s seaside compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, for a long weekend before heading for his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Call it a recess, call it a break, just don’t call it a vacation.

For lawmakers, it’s a “district work period,” time to meet with voters, raise money or take “fact-finding” trips overseas. White House officials stress the president has regular briefings and is on call 24/7 for any emergency when he’s in Crawford, where he has spent 418 days as president.

That’s about 14 months of his presidency, at Crawford alone.

Who knew Wisconsin was so wild! LSD, undewear … you’d never know it from looking at this guy’s mug, but there really is nothing wrong with fresh, new underwear every day.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Officers in Sheboygan said a man has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from a landlord in the area over the course of several years and then used some of it to buy underwear.

Investigators said Harju spend the money on a variety of things, including vintage cars and an endless supply of underwear.

“He never had to use underwear twice. He would just buy new underwear and never wash or change them,” DeCecco said.

Source

So wrong on so many levels. Not to mention that if you give someone massive amounts of drugs, their organs won’t be in great shape.

A San Francisco transplant surgeon was criminally charged today with allegedly attempting to hasten the death last year of a 26-year-old disabled man on life support in order to harvest his organs more quickly.

The charges are the first in the nation against a physician for his role in a transplant and are sure to raise further uneasiness about a somewhat controversial practice in which organs are retrieved before a patient is brain-dead.

The San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office accused Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 33, of dependent adult abuse, administering a harmful substance and prescribing an unlawful controlled substance without legitimate medical purpose.

The surgeon allegedly ordered massive amounts of narcotic painkillers and sedatives for Ruben Navarro, a physically and mentally disabled man, “to accelerate Mr. Navarro’s death,” according to a written release from the district attorney. In addition, Roozrokh is accused of administering Betadine, a topical antiseptic, into Navarro’s stomach.

Navarro died in 2006. No organs were recovered because he did not die within the 30 minutes after being removed from life support.

Jonah Goldberg’s tome gets all the attention but (in the interest of magnanimity) we ought to mention the another winger tour de force stuck in publishing purgatory. I speak, o’ course, of Roger L. Simon’s memoir.

Near as I can figger, the first mention of it was on his own blog on September 4, 2004. “In part due to this blog,” Simon wrote, “I will be writing my first non-fcition book, a kind of political memoir of the Hollywood left. I will announce more of the publishing details on here next week as they are finalized.”

Nineteen days later — not a week, as he promised — Simon gave us some more details, in a post titled “Peter Collier’s Mistake”:

I mentioned on here a couple of weeks ago that after decades of making things up - writing novels and screenplays - I was now really going to make things up by writing a non-fiction book. I neglected to mention the publisher that is taking this wild risk. It is Peter Collier whose relatively new house Encounter Books has a growing reputation for serious political works.

There wasn’t another mention of it until February of ‘05, when he reported that

…I figured out the MacGuffin of the book I am writing. Yes, it is a non-fiction memoir but it still has a MacGuffin. I am structuring the book somewhat as a mystery - the mystery of why I changed my views and others haven’t. I found a key in the past, my little Rosebud. But I won’t say what it was. That will have to wait for the book…

A month and a week later (March 22, 2005) he reminded us that the book is “a memoir with political overtones.”

Finally, in August of ‘05, we learn some details! Simon divulges that his home is

the very spot where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe slept for most of their brief marrige. Yes, my office was once their bedroom and my desk is exactly where their bed would have been

and that readers will learn how Roger

found out that it really was true and that, as a previous owner told me, “the studio” had saved her from bankruptcy by “renting the house for Joe and Marilyn.”

Hot!

April ‘05, a Simon commenter asks if his book is titled Left at Hollywood and Vine and “are you further along the road to publication?”

Since then, there’s been no mention of the book at all. (The Encounter site isn’t terribly helpful, since Simon isn’t listed as one of the house authors although the Writer’s Rep site confirms the title and suggests that the book in February.)

What happened?

Anyhoo, I’ve placed a call to Encounter’s publicity department — “Hi! This is Alex DeLarge from the New York Press…” — and I’ll update as needed.