Edward Alehands

If I had a tongue like that, I'd never leave the house. As it was, I had trouble leaving today after a Saturday night of bar-hopping in the city. A giant self-guided walking circle of self destruction with 3 bike-riding buddies that began at Monk's for beer and dinner, moved on to Bob and Barbara's for some local jazz and culminated at Doc Watson's for - well - I don't remember. I'm a dangerous drinker when I'm not driving. I think psychologically I figure that as long as I'm being picked up and dumped off without using my car keys, I can test my limits, and they were tested. All arrived home safely, though, and I imagine by now my friends are arranging my intervention. I think I was still legally intoxicated when I woke up at 9 this morning. Good times.

I'm not watching either the NHL Hockey playoffs or the NBA basketball playoffs, but I understand something strange happened on Saturday. NBC bailed out of the Ottawa-Buffalo game a 5pm on Saturday so they could show pre-race coverage of The Preakness, whose post time was 6:05. Viewers were told that the overtime period would be shown on Versus, which is on cable and has about 40 million fewer potential viewers. The winning goal was scored at 5:20, so NBC could have stayed with the game and left viewers in the dark as to the fascinating lineage of Mint Slewlep. HINT TO NBC: No pre-game show should ever take precedence over an actual game. It's almost as bad as the lousy job ESPN does with the LPGA. The difficulty for NBC came when they had to decide which irrelevant sporting event was more important to the hundreds of viewers tuning in.

Speaking of irrelevant: CRAWFORD, Texas - In a biting rebuke, the White House on Sunday dismissed former President Jimmy Carter as "increasingly irrelevant" after his harsh criticism of President Bush.

Carter was quoted Saturday as saying "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." The Georgia Democrat said Bush had overseen an "overt reversal of America's basic values" as expressed by previous administrations, including that of his own farther, former President George H.W. Bush.
Which prompted this response from the White House:
"I think it's sad that President Carter's reckless personal criticism is out there," White House spokesman Tony Fratto responded Sunday from Crawford, where Bush spent the weekend. "I think it's unfortunate," Fratto said. "And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments."

Those Crawford bylines always make me nervous. I think Fratto's response speaks volumes about the arrogance and lack of respect with which this administration views critics. They think they are right about everything, and whatever you think is irrelevant and wrong. It is why I feel as though people who scream for impeachment are better off screaming at their dog. We are stuck with this witless moron for another 10 months, after which George W. Bush can be as increasingly irrelevant as history allows him to be. Unfortunately, he is doing damage that may never be repaired.

Hockey's on.