Brady recognizes and respects both the business and the marketing aspects of the professional sport he plays. I think Brady recognizes that his success is dependant on more than his throwing arm and his swift legs. His relatively modest acceptance of a reduced contract, for example, solidifies his image as a selfless leader among his teammates, and that’s priceless for any Visa commercial in which he is featured. An effective leader, whether in business, politics, or sports, cannot even be perceived to have a selfish agenda. Vick, on the other hand, has made it quite clear that money is his most important motivation, and by that admission he loses much of the leadership qualities that enabled Brady to lead a team to three Super Bowls in this decade, proclaiming a new dynasty in the business of professional American football.

Some time ago I set up a Technorati search for the term “weldon berger” and subscribed to the rss feed for the results, which until recently consisted entirely of links to sites linking to this site. But when Congressman Curt Weldon broke (or rebroke, or re-rebroke) the news that a Pentagon datamining operation called Able Danger had identified the 911 hijacking ringleader before the attacks, or that several members of the group thought it had, or thought that someone told them it had, and had seen a chart proving it, or that they thought proved, or that someone else said proved it, “weldon berger” took off.

Bull Moose doing his best Leonard Cohen impersonation:
The Roberts nomination is not the end all and be all of politics, but it has provided some valuable insight about the state of the Democratic Party. Everyone knows Roberts is eminently qualified for this position. Everyone knows that he is not a Thomas or a Scalia. […]

The Bush administration have spent the better part of five years systematically dismantling the US government as we know it. Whether Bush himself is aware of this, only he (and possibly his wife) can say. But it’s what he’ll be remembered for, along with a disastrous war that will ultimately have damaged this country more, and in more ways, than Vietnam ever did. That’s his legacy: Presiding over what one can only hope is a failed attempt to remove governance from the province of government, and for exposing and increasing the limits of US power in and over the world.

Columnist Robert Novak, perhaps best known for his bookend performances as the stoic iguana in John Huston’s 1964 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams classic, “Night of the Iguana,” and Soulless Lizard #2 in “The Outing of Valerie Plame,” has filed a disturbing report on a gathering of high-powered Republicans in Aspen, Colorado.

My first reaction on learning of the New York Times plan to put their op-ed columnists behind a subscription wall was one of relief. “Halleluja! Tom Friedman is halfway to rehab.” No more public flirtations with the happy-face fascism that keeps Singapore’s trains running on time and its inhabitants safe from the Atlantic hurricane season.

Sorry for the long absence everybody - I’ve been spending a lot of time working in a New York City political campaign and then recovering from it.
So it looks like Roberts is going to be confirmed easily, since Patrick Leahy is going to support his nomination. This is of course very disappointing, and I […]

Only 32% of respondents in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted September 16-18 approve of the way president Bush is handling the war in Iraq, while 67% disapprove. The number is by far the lowest since the invasion, and documents an astonishing 8 point drop in the week since the previous poll. Prior to the current survey, the president’s approval rating on the war had held steady at 40% since mid-May.

Dick Cheney seems to be the insider’s choice to lead the GOP presidential ticket in 2008, but given the rate at which various Cheney body parts seem to be failing, one important question remains to be answered: Is America ready for a cyborg president with anger management issues? We think not, so we’re looking at alternatives.

The New York Times is publishing a serial novel, disguised as a spate of editorials, plotted around their jailed celebrity stenographer, Judy Miller. This week’s episode features a comparison between Miller, jailed for refusing to name a source involved in the investigation of White House involvement in outing an undercover CIA agent, and Zhao Yan, an actual reporter for the Times in China who has been jailed for reasons that aren’t at all clear.