This Week in Motorsport
Mayhap this is the appeal of Formula One: it is a truly global sport, and yet without the mind-numbing boredom that is so integral to soccer (association football). Here is an English language interview of a Brazilian who drives for an Italian team, about his injuries sustained at a track in Hungary, participating in an event overseen by a governing body based in France, presented by a British news service and watched by an American: Massalink. Godspeed, Felipe Massa, and here's hoping for a swift and full recovery and a triumphant return to Scuderia Ferrari.

And I realize that the above list is heavily European—and so is the F1 schedule, with nine of the seventeen grands prix run in Europe—but the '09 campaign began with the Australian Grand Prix back in March and will conclude with the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November. Seventeen races, four continents, one World Champion.

Obamboozled
I ask you, those among you who voted for President Obama, why the awful rush? Why are the president, the White House staff, and the cabinet so determined to have major pieces of legislation passed by the Congress before there is adequate opportunity to debate the merits of each and arrive at the best, not simply the most expedient, solutions? If Mr. Obama had had his way, new laws would already have been enacted to alter radically and irrevocably this nation's medical system; acting so swiftly would have left no time for debate, no time for our Representatives and Senators to consult with their constituents, to consider the ramifications of the tremendous changes being proposed. And yet our president was adamant that his timetable must be followed. Why is the man who boldly proclaimed himself to be "the change you're been waiting for" so afraid to afford the Congress the chance to actually read a bill before voting on it? Why is President Obama so reluctant to permit time for an honest debate?

Why is he so obsessed with concentrating vast regulatory power into the hands of a elite clique of unelected "czars"? And in what topsy-turvy world is it acceptable for the Secretary of the Treasury to scream at Congressionally-confirmed agency heads with language that would make an old sea dog blush? Expletive deletedlink. It is curious, is it not, the fury displayed by President Obama and his closest aides and allies when they are defied in even the smallest way? The attitude seems to be, "How dare you disagree with me? Don't you know who I am?" The president is trying to concentrate all the ever-expanding powers of the federal government into fewer and fewer hands, and he is publicly anxious to force through his wide-ranging program without sufficient time for the kind of public debate upon which our democracy is built. Surely even some of you who embraced his dogma of change view this attempt at autocracy as, at the very least, unsettling?

Welcome to the parade of horrors. It's going to get ever so much worse before it gets even the littlest bit better. Enjoy!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Reel Big Fish, "One Hit Wonderful" from We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"They don't love you,
They just love that one song."