A noted author of children's books is charged with being involved in child pornography:
"A children's author who also volunteered at a local children's library has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony counts of child pornography offenses. Kevin Bath, who writes by the name K.P. Bath, wrote the Castle Cant series of mysteries. Calls to his home seeking comment after the Monday arraignment were not answered. Investigators alleged that Bath, 50, had been trading child pornography with individuals in Washington state and Ohio and that his computer and data storage contained more than 100 files of still images of child pornography, many involving very young children....Bath's lawyer, Patrick John Sweeney, said his client had no criminal record, had never been accused of harming a child and has undergone therapy several times a week for months."
Hmmm. One suspects the therapy hasn't been terribly successful yet.
In sports news, North Carolina unfortunately slammed Michigan State and won the NCAA hoops championship. But as you can see from the article, folks from Michigan were glad at least to see a Michigan team make it that far. North Carolina's talent won out. You can also see from the article the arrogance of a lot of Carolina fans. Sorry, Tar Heel fans--that's why a lot of us out here just don't like you or your team. No one denies your team's talent, it's consistent winning, or claims that your players are bad guys or anything. We just get sick of you.
The better news for Michigan sports fans is that the Detroit Red Wings continue to play well--they won in Buffalo last night, 4-1. The Wings once again have over 50 wins, quite a milestone.
BASEBALL DIARY: so I follow three major league baseball teams--the Tigers, the Cubs, and the Rangers; and we'll be following their progress here now that the baseball season has begun.
I grew up in Michigan following the Tigers. Last year was a big disappointment, as the team was picked pre-season to go to the World Series, but wound up in last place in their division. Can this year be different? You wouldn't know it from last night season opener, as the Tigers got blasted 12-5 in Toronto. The key to take away: the Tigers will be nothing this year if their ace pitcher, Justin Verlander, doesn't improve on last year's record (he was 11-17). But last night he got rocked. He needs to improve.
The Texas Rangers, though, looked outstanding yesterday, winning their home opener against Cleveland, 9-1. Everyone knows this team can hit. But the only way they can improve over last year (they won 79 games) is if they can get more pitching, Key to this game: the Rangers got excellent starting pitching from Kevin Millwood. Can they keep it up?
Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs again let down their fans last year--winning their division, looking like a good bet to make the World Series, but then falling flat in the division series against the Dodgers. Wait 'til next year, again. Well, it's here...again the Cubs seem to have a good team...and yesterday they won their opener, 4-2 vs Houston. The keys: Carlos Zambrano again looks like an ace pitcher. And Alfonso Soriano is hitting.
Hmmm. So Barack Obama today makes an unannounced visit to Baghdad. Gosh--just like former President Bush did, more than once.
While there, Mr. Obama says:
""You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country," the president said as he made a brief inspection of a war he opposed as candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief. "That is an extraordinary achievement."
And it is. But some of that achievement is owed to Mr. Bush--who would not abandon Iraq, despite the urgings of Democrats like Mr. Obama, who more than once urged that we bug out and abandon the country.
Buck up, Republicans--remember how a poll from last week had Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Dodd behind? Well, here's another optimistic poll--it has New Jersey Dem Governor Jon Corzine trailing his likely GOP opponent by 9 points. There are opportunities out there...
Why do we need the nanny state? Why, indeed...:
"New Hampshire's house of representatives is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a bill to mandate that adults wear seat belts. New Hampshire is the last state in the Union not to have an adult seat-belt mandate. Just in time for the debate, new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data were released Monday. They reveal that New Hampshire has a higher seat-belt usage rate (69.2 percent) than Massachusetts (66.8 percent). Massachusetts, of course, mandates that everyone wear seat belts."
