The Chronic Curmudgeon

3. Domestic spying. Red staters, have you finally figured out what we've been trying to tell you all along: that the biggest threat to American freedoms comes not from without, but from within? What more does it take to prove to you the damage your criminal pretenders to the throne have done to America and our way of life? What's next -- the president going on national TV to defend his government's right to round up people in the middle of the night without charging them with anything? (That might sound like a stretch, but it might once have sounded like a stretch that the president of the United States would be defending his government's right to intercept the phone records of every single American citizen without a warrant or cause.) Every single person who voted for Bush twice is personally responsible for enabling this assault on our basic freedoms.

4. The real Barry Bonds Not that anyone needed any further proof of what Barry Bonds is about, but yesterday, after failing again to hit the home run that would tie him with Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds hit the lockerroom and prepared to go home. Problem was, the game was still on and his team was still playing. While the San Francisco Giants were scrapping out a come from behind win yesterday against their archrival Los Angeles Dodgers, Barry Bonds was on his way home. He'd not accomplished his own personal goal, so the team and its goals didn't matter. This is the kind of "teammate" Barry Bonds is. This is the kind of person Giant fans still have yet to reject as he rightfully should be rejected. What a selfish, egocentrical jerk.

The only good news: Juicy Juice has basically run out of time to set his record at home, where inexplicably the San Francisco fans will still cheer his exploits. (Why? Because he's on your team and helps them? Yeah, we saw yesterday just what a team player Bonds is.) He's going to have to go on the road to do it -- where fans will react to the incident with anything from indifference to derision. (Memo to Houston fans: please, for the love of all that is sacred in baseball, do not succumb to the "well, he's a jerk but this is history" dynamic, and do not begrudgingly cheer him. The man hasn't earned it. If you don't wish to heap scornful boos on him, better yet just turn your back on him when he does it; use his trip around the bases as an excuse to hit the bathroom or go buy that beer you've been thinking about since the 2nd inning. Turn your back on the SOB. Don't give him this moment he hasn't earned.)