AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman who swears by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life celebrated her 115th birthday on Wednesday as the oldest living person on record.

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher, was born in 1890, the year Sioux Indians were massacred by the U.S. military at the Battle of Wounded Knee.

Mr Bush announced the US would double its aid to Africa over the next five years, "with primary focus on reforming countries".

African leaders, he said, must be the "agents of reform" rather than "passive recipients of money.

The announcement is in addition to $674m (£350m) in aid for Africa promised by Mr Bush in a summit with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier this month.

US government development aid is lower than most Western countries when measured in terms of gross national product, but its non-governmental donations are much higher.

The invitation arrived at the White House a few days before last week's historic World Cup victory by the United States over Mexico.

It was from the Mexican President Vincente Fox, suggesting that President George Bush and he watch the game together, as a gesture of friendship between neighbouring nations. The reply came, from a member of Bush's staff: the President would be asleep at that hour of the night.

      K/9   BB/9  OBP
2002  5.73  2.74  .323
2003  6.66  2.91  .339
2004  6.53  2.72  .335
2005  8.35  3.69  .344

"There was something about Bush that reminded me of another president, a man I’d seen on the news the previous evening. It was the former president of his church, the BTK terrorist, justifying his project."

It seems to me that Karl Rove's sickening generalization about "liberals" in the war on terror is revealing in ways not obviously apparent. Sure, there were some on the hard left who really did jump to blame America for the evil perpetrated by the monsters of 9/11. I took names at the time. But all "liberals"? The New Republic? Joe Lieberman? Hitch? Paul Berman? The Washington Post editorial page? Tom Friedman? Almost every Democrat in the Congress who endorsed the war in Afghanistan? You expect that kind of moronic extremism from a Michelle Malkin, but from the most influential figure in an administration leading a country in wartime? Ok, ok, I'm not surprised. Rove is a brutal operator.

Despite the Washington Nationals' successful start to the season, to some Capitol Hill Republicans there is a dark cloud on the Nats' horizon: the potential that their newly adopted home team could be purchased by billionaire financier George Soros!

Soros has joined an ownership bid being led by entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky that is angling to take over the Nats, who are currently owned by Major League Baseball.

...

They enjoy all sorts of exemptions' from anti-trust laws. Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.), vice chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that covers the District of Columbia budget, said if Soros buys the team and seeks public funding for a new stadium or anything else, the GOP attitude would be, "Let him pay for it."

$200: Saying it was in the national interest, he kept baseball going during World War II.

$400: It's the only team that has a US President on its roster of former owners.

$600: One of his first jobs was recreating Cubs games over the radio in Iowa.

$800: Before his Army years, he played baseball under an assumed name in the Kansas minor leagues.

$1000 On April 19, 1909 Taft attended a home game of this team & probably had a hotdog or 9.

8. Texas Rangers: How much would George Steinbrenner pay for a mulligan on the Alfonso Soriano trade? Soriano is one home run away from joining Jeff Kent, Ryne Sandberg and Bret Boone as the fourth second baseman to hit at least 20 in four straight seasons.

           OBP  SLG  HR  EQA  WS
Rodriguez  .430 .599 20  .351 15
Soriano    .317 .560 19  .298 7

• I saw Batman Begins last weekend. Absolutely fantastic movie. My only minor problems with it were that some of the science was absolutely ridiculous (in a different way than the "science" of super powers). Of course, it was a comic book movie, so it's all good. This could end up being a great new franchise.



• The Washington Post has an article about Marvel vs. DC in the movies (hat tip: The Corner). It is a well-researched article that talks about the modern history of comic book movies (stemming from the late 90s). I did have one problem with it, though, in that when they talked about Blade, which they correctly associate as the first one of these movies and the gateway to the rest of them, they say Blade is "an African American character who also happens to be half-vampire," which is a mischaracterization of the character to promote his racial origins over his superpowers (which is the distinguishing feature of super heroes). Yes, he was purposely created black (it was the '70s when there were a lot of new black comic book characters out), but Blade's personality, character, powers, and existence have way more to do with him being a "half-vampire" than being black. It would be more correct to say that he is "a half-vampire character who also happens to be African American," but even better would be to say he is a "half-vampire" or "an African American half-vampire." These stupid politically correct things just irk me so.



• The Spurs won the NBA Finals in 7 games. I watched game 7 only, and it was the typically terrible offense that the NBA has fallen into over the last decade. Yes, these were the two best defensive teams this year, but each team would take stupid shots with a ton of time left on the clock that had nothing to do with the opposing defense. Tim Duncan did not deserve the MVP of the FInals with the way he pulled a Chris Webber in game 5 (excuse me, that's insulting Webber's chokiness...he would have found a way to lose that game) and with how he played up to the midpoint of the 3rd period of game 7. Even after he turned it up a notch towards the end of the game, he was still doing a lot of stupid things.



• Which brings me to my next question...is Robert Horry a Hall of Famer? Very likely not, but he certainly put himself in the conversation. The man has 6 championship rings, playing a significant part for each of those teams, while staying out of the way of the stars on those teams. He is certainly not in the 100 best basketball players of all time, but if you were had to build a team to win a single game and you had every basketball player in the Hall of Fame at your disposal or on the other team (including people like Shaq and Duncan who will be there) plus Robert Horry, I think Horry is one of the 12 guys you want on your team. Is there anyone that has hit more clutch shots than he has? Certainly people like Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Jerry West are probably up there. But Horry might just have a better percentage (I can only remember two shots he missed at crunch time, coming for the Lakers in the 2003 playoffs and for the Spurs in the 2004 playoffs and his teams lost both of those) at the last second than any of those guys. Also, the rest of those guys were stars...they always had the ball in their hands at the end of games...Horry would always find a way to get open, get the pass and make the shot. His performance in game 5 (21 points in the 4th quarter, OT, and the last second of the 3rd quarter) carried his team to victory in a key game. His performance in game 7 was largely unspectacular, except that he was the only Spur actually playing well in the first half of the game. I say he is not a first ballot Hall of Famer...but he should be considered for it (and eventually make it).



• Richard already commented on the private property case and I figured I should weigh in. The libertarian in me is absolutely livid that this type of thing is allowed. However, the Constitutionalist in me realizes that the Constitution is only really supposed to protect property rights (and other rights) from the federal government and not the state governments...so I can see how this could be allowed (the Supreme Court is basically saying it is not their place to say what local governments do). Of course, with the 14th Amendment and subsequent Supreme Court decisions, they have basically stated that any rights given to you by the Constitution are also rights that the states cannot take away. So, what this complicated mess is trying to say is that I do not agree with the decision at all, but I understand how it could come about. The key now is to hold all local governments accountable for any property they try to take in a way that has not really been done.

A lot of conservatives -- especially the small-government, libertarian-leaning kind -- are already deeply unhappy. This may cause them to either withdraw from politics, or at least lose vigor in supporting the Republicans.

1. Basement Jaxx - Remedy
2. Bjork - Homogenic
3. Bjork - Post
4. Lords Of Acid - Voodoo U
5. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
6. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
7. PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
8. Powerman 5000 - Tonight the Stars Revolt
9. Prodigy - The Fat of the Land
10. Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X

           AVG   OBP   BB/PA
CAREER     .290  .344  .073
APRIL/MAY  .272  .324  .073
JUNE       .349  .409  .118

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Trying to quell an ongoing furor, Sen. Dick Durbin partially apologized Friday for remarks he made on the Senate floor this week comparing American treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center to the tactics of murderous regimes.

"I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood," Durbin, D-Ill., said in a written release. "I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings: Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support."

1. Apologize, unequivocally, to the guards and interrogators of Camp X-Ray, who you have slandered.
   
   
2. Apologize, unequivocally, to all American servicemen and women, for the damage that it has caused to the image of the American military and for putting their lives in even greater peril by giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
   
   
3. Apologize, unequivocally, to the victims and the families victims of the Holocaust, the Gulags, and Pol Pot regime, whose memories you abused in the commission of your partisan hackery.
   
   
4. Apologize, unequivocally, to the American people for causing irreparable damage to our image abroad.
   
   
5. And finally, resign your senior leadership position in the disgrace that you have well earned.

• Donnelly cheated, pure and simple. He gets no sympathy, it doesn't matter why or how many other people did it...he cheated and was caught. He will hopefully take his suspension like a man.

• Frank Robinson had every right to check out Donnelly's glove.

• Scioscia had every right to check the check the equipment of every Nationals player and he was being kind in letting Robinson know this. Robinson should have expected retaliation in this sort of instance. As a matter of fact, I would bet that he made sure none of his guys brought anything with them into the games this series (whether or not they do normally).

• Robinson should be respected for what he did as a player, but giving him respect as a manager? Please...he has never been very effective and the only reason he is managing right now is because the MLB wanted to put someone in the position that was relatively cheap and could make it look like they cared about the franchise.

• Guillen was reacting like a 2-year old when the benches cleared. That said, it was not hard to predict he would hit a home run in his next at bat...this is what he does...he gets pissed off for some perceived lack of respect and then he goes on a hitting tear.

• It is now obvious Robinson was not allowing Guillen to answer questions about the Angels because he did not want to give the Angels any fuel for the fire.

• Robinson is a prick. Not coming out to turn in the lineup cards at the beginning of the next game is petty. Also, the ESPN2 announcers (one was Joe Morgan, who I know the blogosphere just loves) kept calling Robinson "old school." I bring this up only because they said it so many times and never said Scioscia was once...despite the fact that ESPN announcers (including Joe Morgan) absolutely love to call Scioscia "old school." Can there only be one "old school" manager per game?

• Guillen is no longer a tragic character...a hero that just can't quite keep his temper in check. Pure and simple, the guy is a complete asshole. They should have brought Donnelly in to peg Guillen in the 9th in Wednesday's game. Next time the Angels face him, they had better hit him.

• The only interesting question left in the whole saga, I think, is whether or not Guillen actually tipped the Nationals off to Donnelly having pine tar on his glove. If he did, I expect the Angels to retaliate in a big way the next time they can (more so than my demand that they bean him).

"Screw them."

"You are either for torture, or against it. Let the chips fall where they may."

The torture that was so bad under Saddam, is equally bad under U.S. command. And Dick Durbin had the balls to say it so on the Senate floor.

• Frank Robinson was right, and he caught Brendan Donnelly red (or pine tar black, as the case may be) handed.
  
  
• Scioscia was entitled to say what he said, and it was bush league of Robinson to flip out about it. What goes around, comes around old man. If your guys are flaunting the rules, we're just entitled as you are to call them on it.
  
  
• It's clear from his reaction that Guillen dropped the dime on Donnelly, so he gets one in the ass tomorrow. None of this throwing behind shit either - right in the ass.

A major earthquake occurred at 02:50:54 (UTC) on Wednesday, June 15, 2005. The magnitude 7.0 event has been located OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

IT IS NOT KNOWN...REPEAT NOT KNOWN...IF A TSUNAMI EXISTS...BUT A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED. THEREFORE PERSONS IN LOW LYING COASTAL AREAS SHOULD BE ALERT TO INSTRUCTIONS FROM THEIR LOCAL EMERGENCY OFFICIALS. PERSONS ON THE BEACH SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF IN A WARNED AREA. TSUNAMIS MAY BE A SERIES OF WAVES WHICH COULD BE DANGEROUS FOR SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL WAVE ARRIVAL.

THIS TSUNAMI WARNING INCLUDES THE ENTIRE CALIFORNIA COAST. ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL IN THE SAN FRANCISCO AREA IS APPROXIMATELY 923 PM PDT.

A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:41:46 AM (PDT) on Sunday, June 12, 2005.
The magnitude 5.6 event occurred 9 km (6 miles) ESE of Anza, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 14 km ( 8 miles).

• The Angels were more prep-biased than last year, with about 2/5 of their haul coming out of high school. They were especially heavy on prep stars on day one, including their first seven picks.
  
  While focusing on high schoolers is a poor strategy (though it's worth noting that, when asked, Eddie Bane claimed that it was not the club's strategy, and was simply the result of taking the guy on the top of the board), I am by no means opposed to taking guys out of high school. What I am opposed to is taking a large number of high school pitchers, who have a markedly lower chance of success. From the looks of things, the Angels agree, taking only seven prep pitchers out of 23-24 total arms. But again, the first four pitchers selected by the Angels were all out of high school.
  
  
• The Angels took far fewer mid-round risks this time around. There were no Nick Adenhearts or Mark Trumbos. The only pick that would really qualify is Blair Blejtfus (a name which makes my tongue hurt) in the 28th round - who, like Adenheart, was a highly-touted prospect before suffering a pre-draft arm injury. Last year's gambles mostly paid off, so only time will tell if this was a smart decision.
  
  
• Like last year, the Angels took very few left-handed pitchers - only three by my count. It's an interesting example of how a club's philosophy at the Major League level effects the draft.

IN:

Dick Ackerman (State Senator, 33rd district)
Marilyn Brewer (former Assemblywoman)
John Lewis (former State Senator)
Joe Snyder (former Mayor, Dana Point)

OUT:

Bill Campbell (County Supervisor)
John Campbell (State Senator, 35th district)
Mike Corona (OC Sheriff)
Chuck DeVore (Assemblyman, 70th district)
Hugh Hewitt (radio personality, blogger)
Mark Johnson (activist, professional "moderate")
Tony Rackauckas (OC District Attorney)
Mike Schroeder (former. State GOP Chairman)
Jim Silva (County Supervisor)
Mimi Walters (Assemblywoman, 73rd district)
Tom Wilson (County Supervisor)

???:

Cassie DeYoung (Laguna Niguel Councilwoman)
Bob Dornan (former Congressman)
Jim Rogan (former Congressman)
Todd Spitzer (Assemblyman, 71st district)
Kurt English (activist, radio personality)
Gaddi Vasquez (Peace Corps Director)

Even when Vladimir Guerrero returns, the Angels are top-heavy with left-handed hitters. But the feeling through the organization is that unless the Royals take back half of the contract, GM Bill Stoneman will not trade two prospects for Mike Sweeney. "It's not a Stoneman move," says one Angel. It was suggested that with Ervin Santana waiting to pitch every fifth day, Stoneman should move Jarrod Washburn's salary and grab Sweeney. But Stoneman refuses to give up any pitching, especially since Santana is their only major league-ready inventory.