Hot Dog Days Of Summer

You can't mention Joe Frazier in the history books without Muhammad Ali.  John McEnroe would never have risen to his greatness without Jimmy Connors.  Skeletor sure as hell needed He-Man, and just as American and Britain are forever linked by breaking apart on this day 234 years ago, Joey Chestnut needs Takeru Kobayashi.

He didn't compete for the hot dog eating title this year, but he did cause a scene at the contest.

Takeru Kobayashi was arrested at Coney Island after his rival, Joey Chestnut, won the annual Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

The six-time champion of the contest was trying to make his way on stage after this year's event, according to a representative for Kobayashi and a New York police officer at the Brooklyn precinct booking desk.

This year's competition had already caused a stir after word that Kobayashi -- who took home the title every year from 2001 to 2006 -- would not be participating because of a contract dispute with Major League Eating. He watched from the stands.

Kobayashi was trying to prove he was better than other competitors, said Yuki James, one of Kobayashi's handlers.

Chestnut won by consuming 54 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The win -- Chestnut's fourth straight -- was short of his 68-hot dog record set last year.

The police officer said Kobayashi faces charges of resisting arrest, interfering with a police officer and disorderly conduct. Kobayashi was being held at the Brooklyn jail, the officer said.

In the days leading up to the event, Kobayashi said he loves the contest and he wanted to participate, but that the contract was too restrictive. Speaking through a Japanese interpreter, he said that all his income is earned through competitive eating. He said the new contract required by the competition would bar him from competing elsewhere in the United States or Canada for a year.

Both sides said contract negotiations went on until Saturday morning.

MLE chairman George Shea called Kobayashi's arrest "unfortunate."

"It makes you wonder what his thinking was," Shea said.

"Major League Eating made an enormous effort to get him into the contest," he added. "We wanted him there. Nathan's wanted him there. The fans wanted him there."

Have a safe and happy 4th, folks.  Have a hot dog while you're at it.

The Situation Is Beyond Our Controller

I talked about The Governator's plan to knock some 200,000+ California state workers down to minimum wage due to there being no 2011 budget on Friday.

Turns out that California's paymaster, State Controller John Chiang, has said that retooling the state's 1970's-era payroll system to handle the Governor's orders will take a little time.  Like, October, 2012.

Chiang cited Friday's ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeals, which said "unfeasibility" would excuse him from complying with Schwarzenegger's minimum wage order. He said a fix to the state's computerized payroll system won't be ready until October 2012.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 state workers remain in limbo about the size of their July paychecks while Chiang asks the court for guidance on how to proceed. If wages are indeed cut to $7.25 an hour, employees will be reimbursed once a budget is signed.

John Harrigan, who served as a division chief for the state's payroll services from 1980 to 2006, said upgrading the system would be complicated, time-consuming and expensive. He said it could be done, but not without violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and substantially altering the payroll process.

"It's not something that you can take lightly and do overnight," said Harrigan, who also served as chief deputy controller from 2000 to 2002. "You have all the collective bargaining for civil servants and (state universities) that have to be taken into consideration. ... It's very complicated. It would take considerable effort."

The state's payroll system was designed more than 60 years ago and was last revamped in 1970, Hallye Jordan, state controller's office spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

A report by the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office said an overhaul of the state's computerized payroll system was proposed by the controller's office in 2004. A year later, the Legislature approved $130 million for the effort, called the 21st Century Project.

Work to complete the project has been postponed by the controller's office repeatedly over the past several years, said Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the governor's Department of Personnel Administration.

"They had various setbacks that only they can explain," she said.

Harrigan said he was involved with the 21st Century Project when it was conceived in the late 1990s. He said the state fired the vendor executing the project in 2008 because the company went bankrupt.

In other words, it may cost more money to fix California's ancient payroll system than cutting state workers' pay would save on a temp basis, considering they would have to pay the workers the lost wages anyway.

California is pretty much deep into failed state status at this point.

That Whole Independence Thing

And as we celebrate America's birthday, let's keep in mind the details as to why we have a day off.

Every Fourth of July, Americans gather to celebrate the country's declaration of independence from ... um, what country was that again?

If you answered the above question with the word "England" or "Britain," you would be obviously correct. But a new Marist poll finds that more than a quarter -- 26 percent -- of Americans polled couldn't bring to mind the name of the country from whom the original 13 colonies gained independence.

Results were especially poor among the young: Of respondents aged 18 to 29, only 60 percent correctly identified Great Britain. A full one-third were unsure.

Maybe history class was too long ago. Or maybe, as the New York Daily News would have it, Americans are "pretty dumb."

Overall, 20 percent of the population answered "not sure" to the question, while six percent declared it to be a country other than Great Britain. "Among the countries mentioned are France, China, Japan, Mexico, and Spain," Marist reports.

Given the state of our economy, China may actually be a quasi-acceptable answer if we ever do get free of them.  But France?  Really?

Oy.

Last Call

Welp, got everything I need for a crock pot pork shoulder BBQ tomorrow.  Hope you all have a good day planned!



Because of course Independence Day means the Swedish Chef.

World Cupdate

Day 2 of the Quarterfinals brought us a pair of highly anticipated matches, Argentina vs. Germany and Paraguay vs. Spain.  First up, Zee Germans were loaded for bear against La Albiceleste, running a 4-2-3-1 attack with the powerful Miroslav Klose at point, to control the midfield against Diego Maradona's 4-4-2 attack featuring Higuain and Tevez.  Germany came off an absolute smashing of England, while Argentina was all smiles to see Brazil gone.  It took all of three minutes for Germany to draw first blood.  Thomas Muller pounded in a free kick at 3' and Germany then proceeded to systemically dominate the midfield, but Argentina would not be denied.  They slowly built momentum up against the German juggernaut and counterattacked when they could, relying on infernally fast break chances to thread the German defense.  Several opportunities just missed and by halftime we had a real match on our hands.  In the second half, both sides fought valiantly, Argentina was beginning to look like they could break through at any moment...and that's when Germany slammed the door on the Gauchos for good.  Klose blasted in a goal at 68' and Arne Friedrich added one at 74' to rip out Argentina's heart.  The Germans added a fourth goal, another from Klose, at 89' to put an exclamation point on it and to serve notice to all that this Cup belonged to them, and it was theirs to lose.  Argentina certainly was in no shape to argue as they were skunked 4-0.

Meanwhile in the late game, Paraguay took on Spain for the last Semifinal spot and and both teams were pumped.  Paraguay took a 4-4-2 squad into battle led by Valdez and Cardoso, while La Furia Roja spotted up a 4-3-3 attack with Iniesta, Torres, and David Villa in the middle.  The opening gambit belonged almost solely to La Albirroja as Paraguay worked to control the midfield early and did, patiently playing a counterstrike strategy against Spain's powerful offense.  Spain looked sloppy early and this allowed Paraguay to dictate the flow and played the long ball to try to burn Spanish keeper Iker Casillias, while Spain couldn't organize anything on offense with Paraguay's midfield swarming Villa and company, despite Spain's 2-1 advantage on time of possession.  Spain just couldn't manufacture a chance if it came with a kit and instructions.  Valdez dented the back of the net at 40' but a clear offisides meant it was all for show, and Spain just didn't seem to know what to do on offense, and Paraguay just sat there on defense.  The second half was more of the same, a battle for the middle that devolved into trench warfare.  Finally frustration bubbled over and the fighting began.  Pique yanked down Cardozo in the box for a penalty and Casillas took the shot for Paraguay only to see keeper Casillas vacuum the ball up.  But not 2 minutes later Alcaraz takes an arm to David Villa on the other side of the field and Spain got a PK!  Villa's shot sailed right into keeper Villar's arms, and both teams...went right back to trench warfare.  Finally, the fates took pity on the crowd and it was David Villa's pinball off both posts that found its way into the back of the net at 82' for Spain, and that was your winner, smartly sparing the universe from another 30 minutes of "game play".  Spain will face Germany, and the winner will take on either Holland or Uruguay.

My prediction here is that despite South American dominance in the event, you'll see Germany and Holland in the final match.  We'll see.

The Week Sauce

So, looking over the political weekly mag titled...well...The Week, it appears to be missing a few words from said title, as with the mag's contributors being the likes of folks on my blogroll, namely intelligent people I respect like Daniel Larison and Brad DeLong, well that's pretty good.  On the other hand, the outfit also includes obnoxious faux-centrist concern-trolling hippie-punching types like David Frum (Krugman is right but we need tax cuts anyway), Tish Durkin (Robert Byrd was history's greatest monster), and of course, Clinton operative Bob Shrum.

It's Shrum's article that epitomizes The Week perfectly.  He wants Obama to hold Congress over in August.

The president should announce the special session, lay out the agenda — and as Harry Truman did when he recalled Congress in the summer of 1948, challenge the Republicans to do “what they are saying they are for.”

On employment, even better-than-expected jobs numbers won’t be sufficient to persuade people that the worst is over. The millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits are running out can’t subsist on a trend. The Republicans in the Senate refuse to extend jobless benefits on the grounds that the cost can’t add to the deficit, that unlike GOP tax cuts for the rich, Bush’s prescription drug benefit, and two wars, it must be paid for. That’s stupid economics in the case of automatic stabilizers that are designed to generate demand and new jobs.

But the president and Democrats could split the difference here. Why not, for example, revive the $19 billion tax on banks in the Wall Street reform bill? Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown blackmailed Democrats to remove it — in exchange for his vote. But shouldn’t the banks that received hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailout funds pay something to help the unemployed whose livelihoods they shattered by their financial recklessness?

Almost certainly, the Republicans would filibuster anything like this — which would vividly demonstrate whose side they’re on. In fact, a special August session would give them opportunities to reveal themselves again and again.

The Republicans say that since the oil spill, the president and Democrats have done too little on energy; in truth the Senate GOP has blocked the energy bill. Give the party of “no” the chance to do the bidding of big oil and their big contributors — and to vote against the environment and energy independence — in the globally warmed glare of the August sun.

The xenophobes claim that anti-Hispanic profiling like the recent Arizona law is a reaction to the Obama administration’s failure to act on immigration. Never mind that Sen. Lindsey Graham and the few so-called moderate Republicans walked away from reform, along with Sen. John McCain, who appears willing to do anything to salvage his degraded career. Give the GOP the chance to rebuke racism and help pass a fair solution — or alternatively, to spew anti-Hispanic rhetoric and doom the party’s presidential prospects for a generation. 

Now, on the surface, this would be a good idea.  The problem is actually pretty simple:  The Republicans will simply block everything day after day.  This only works if the Democrats can actually pass the legislation in question, and barring that, it would only work if they don't get stabbed in the back by Ben Nelson, Evan F'ckin' Bayh, Joe Lieberman, etc.  Senate Dems voting against Obama's agenda only gives the GOP the opportunity to say "Hey, even the Democrats don't like this.  Clearly this must be stopped."

The problem with Shrum's logic is that the Republicans have already filibustered jobs legislation and everything else time and time again, and people refuse to call the GOP out on it.  Even worse, Democrats are helping them filibuster things.  Something like this is a waste of time unless the politics are there to pass the damn bills, and that's something Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have to do when Congress is actually IN session.

You don't pick a fight you're not going to win.  Getting beaten up doesn't make you a winner in politics.

The words missing from The Week's title are in Village Idiocy.

Oil's Well That Doesn't End Well For This Oil Well, Part 20

Now the worst environmental disaster in American history by more than a few measurements.

A Taiwanese supertanker skimmed oil from the Gulf of Mexico Saturday as the months-long disaster became the worst accidental spill on record.

Rough seas and strong winds continued to delay clean-up efforts, displace protective booms and push the oil deeper into fragile coastal wetlands, endangering wildlife preserves and the thousands of birds nesting there.

"This is going to be a very long and arduous clean-up operation in the days to come," said Coast Guard Admiral Paul Zukunft.

"I'm especially concerned with some of the wildlife habitats."

An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil per day has been gushing out of the ruptured well since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sank on April 22, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana.

A containment system has captured about 557,000 barrels of oil, but rough seas have delayed the deployment of a third vessel which is set to increase capacity from 25,000 barrels to 53,000 barrels a day.

That means an estimated 1.9 to 3.6 million barrels -- or 79.5 to 153 million gallons -- of oil has now gushed into the Gulf.

Using the high end of that estimate, the spill has now surpassed the 1979 Ixtoc blowout which took nine months to cap and dumped an estimated 3.3 million barrels (140,000 million gallons) into the Gulf of Mexico.

Still no relief in sight.  Still weeks, months, perhaps longer until this thing can be contained.  Still untold damage to Gulf Coast states, to the people that live there and make their living off the ocean, and to the wildlife.

All of it preventable and unnecessary.

Again With The Kvetching

It seems that once again we've got folks in the back whining that the Hope And Change Train ain't moving fast enough, and DOOOOOOOOOOOOM is coming in November no matter what Dems do.

To be sure, things could change in the four months between now and November 2. The GOP's failure to get Republicans to vote in the May 18 special election in Pennsylvania's 12th District underscores that the party can't just sit back and await spontaneous combustion in terms of turnout. Still, the potential is here for a result that is proportional to some of the bigger postwar midterm wave elections. These kinds of waves are often ragged; almost always some candidates who looked dead somehow survive and others who were deemed safe get sucked down in the undertow. That's the nature of these beasts. But the recent numbers confirm that trends first spotted late last summer have fully developed into at least a Category 3 or 4 hurricane.

Digby has a theory on why that is. 

You can't help but wonder if the Democrats have decided that having the votes of "liberals, African-Americans, self-described Democrats, moderates and those living in either the Northeast or West" just aren't worth having so they are going to fight the Republicans for every last one of those John McCain voters. How else to explain the ongoing derision of their rank and file? ("They look like absolute idiots" is the quote that comes to mind.)

So does Greg Sargent. 

I tend to fall into the camp that holds that the Dem base's lack of enthusiasm is out of sync with the size and scope of the accomplishments racked up thus far by Obama and Dems. The excitement around Obama's victory was so intense, and the sense of a "big change moment" was so palpable, that people were bound to feel let down despite Obama's clearly historic achievements.

But reasonable or not, something is apparently turning off these voters in a big way.

Me, well, let's be honest.  There's a pretty large contingent out there that enjoys kvetching about how doomed we are, and it happens at the drop of a hat (or an Obama poll number.)  I'm here to remind you that instant gratification in politics just doesn't happen, folks.  It's not a short-term tactics "win the 24-hour news cycle" game, but a long term "build the foundation, shore it up, and then build upon that" kind of deal.

Look at the past.  The New Deal.  Civil Rights.  Women's Suffrage.  This stuff didn't get passed in 18 months and the world was magically better, it got improved in stages, fits and starts, suffered setbacks and challenges, and those were overcome through perseverance and effort.  Obama's smart enough to get that necessity dictates he play the short game as well as the long one, but the problem is he's playing them against each other.  Long term he wants to build the Democratic base.  Short term he wants to get Republican votes.

What Obama doesn't get is that there's zero way he can get Republican votes in the short term (at least not until he shows Republican voters that his long term plan is working for all Americans).  The economy is making that really, really hard.  The austerity hysteria as a result of that is making it near impossible.  Obama's going to have to make a choice here.

The Dems should be running on "Here's what we've done and why you should vote for us!" and not "So what are you going to do, vote Republican?  I didn't think so."

StupidiNews, 4th of July Weekend Edition!

• A newly passed gun ordinance in Chicago has some residents seeing red.
• A Ukranian cryogenics company gives a whole new meaning to the terms "brain freeze" and "White Russian".
• Scientists say that while you may enjoy fireworks, your pets may be pretty blue.
• BP is bringing in more equipment to declare their independence from their oil geyser.
• The mathematics of electromagnetic cloaking may be an American revolution.

Last Call

Good news, Miami and Florida's southern Gulf Coast!  There's only a 60-80% chance you'll get covered in oil!

Miami and the Florida Keys face a 61 percent to 80 percent chance of being hit with tar balls from BP Plc’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to U.S. projections.


Shorelines with the greatest chance of being soiled by oil, 81 percent to 100 percent, stretch from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Panhandle of Florida, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today in a statement on its projection for the next four months.

Much of Florida’s west coast has a “low probability” of “oiling” from the leak that began with an explosion on a BP- leased drilling rig on April 20, the agency said.

The Florida Keys, Miami and Fort Lauderdale face a greater risk because oil may be caught up in the Loop Current, a flow of warm water that snakes into the Gulf and then moves east, NOAA said. Scientists say the current could carry the oil at a speed of about 100 miles (161 kilometers) a day around the tip of Florida, potentially fouling the Keys and Miami Beach.

Any oil reaching South Florida would already be in an advanced stage of degradation and would be in the form of “scattered tar balls and not a large surface slick of oil,” NOAA said.

The chance of oil reaching east-central Florida and the Eastern Seaboard are 20 percent to less than 1 percent, according to NOAA. The likelihood that areas north of North Carolina are hit becomes “increasingly unlikely,” the agency said. 

Only a 61-80% chance.  You know, just like there's only 5,000 barrels of oil coming out of the leak.

Going, Going, Gohmert

At the rate he's going, Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert is giving Iowa's Steve King and Minnesota's Michele Bachmann a real run for "Most Batshit Insane Member Of Congress" (at least that is until Rand Paul gets sworn in.)  Louie here is doubling down on his theory that undocumented mothers are having babies in America so they can grow up and play Nintendo and eat apple pie and KILL US IN OUR SLEEP.  When actually asked about that babbling insanity, Gohmert went for the home run.

In an interview on Fox Business News last night, Gohmert wanted to be clear that it's not just a theory.

"Your theory is that we're not only home growing terrorists," said the host, Eric Bolling, "we're actually experiencing situations where dangerous countries al Qaeda will send a pregnant woman over here, have a baby, and then start to train these babies to be terrorists, is that right?"

"Well, Eric, it's not just a theory. It first came to my attention [when] some of us were traveling to the Middle East last August, a year ago. And a lady on the plane was telling one of our group that they were about to have their second granddaughter," Gohmert said. "Her son-in-law was with Hamas. And [she said] that they were going to do with the second as they did with the first grandchild. Daughter is going to come to America right before it's born on a tourist visa. Have the baby. They just like the option of having American citizens in the family."

He went on:

"She added ... 'You know what the best part of it is, we don't have to pay anything for the baby to be born!'" 

Yeah, because Hamas grandmothers all are wearing t-shirts that read "Ask me about my secret deep cover jihadi grandkids!" in the world Louie's frontal lobe inhabits.  Too bad that pocket dimension isn't reality.  But it sure is a great way to scare Real America into repealing the 14th Amendment, isn't it?  Jihadi babies growing up in your neighborhood, with your kids, in your parks, coming over and eating your kid's Fruit Roll-Ups and then they disembowel you with kukris at sleepover parties or wait until everybody's at the high school football pep rally and then KABLOOIE and stuff, right?

And this guy is a Member Of Congress In Good Standing.  You're kidding me.

Of course, Louie's not the only person who is trying to scare Real Americans into supporting the GOP plan to revoke the citizenship clause in the 14th Amendment.  Can't forget Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, either.

When defending her highly criticized immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) often lists the myriad problems she says undocumented immigrants bring to her state. In an interview on Fox News last week, for example, she claimed: "We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings ..."

And you thought I was kidding with the disemboweling with the kukris stuff.

Mind Like A Steele, Trapped...Again

Yeah, I know.  I make a lot of these "Michael Steele just got his ass fired this time for sure" posts, mainly because the man makes Joe Biden look like a world-class motivational speaker with his repeated idiocy, but this time he did the the unforgivable and trashed the war like...a liberal (lightning, scary organ music, dramatic prairie dog).

Republicans are furious with RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who was caught on camera saying that the war in Afghanistan is a doomed effort launched by President Obama. Steele has no shortage of enemies in the GOP and many of them sense an opportunity here. In fact, several, both privately and publicly, are saying this is the last straw: Steele should resign.

"Needless to say, the war in Afghanistan was not 'a war of Obama's choosing,'" reads an open letter to Steele from Weekly Standard editor and influential GOP voice Bill Kristol.

It has been prosecuted by the United States under Presidents Bush and Obama. Republicans have consistently supported the effort. Indeed, as the DNC Communications Director (of all people) has said, your statement "puts [you] at odds with about 100 percent of the Republican Party." 

....There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they're certainly entitled to make their case. But one of them shouldn't be the chairman of the Republican party.

In an interview this afternoon, a livid, top GOP operative put it more bluntly. "This is the height of stupidity and epitomizes the problem that is Michael Steele." 

Here's the really stupid part.  Steele's basically done at this point, but the Democratic response was actually far, far worse in my opinion.  Greg Sargent:

By all means, Dems should go on the attack against Michael Steele for his wild comments about Afghanistan. But do they really think it's a good idea to say he's for cutting and running, is "rooting for failure" and is "betting against our troops"?

The statement from DNC spox Brad Woodhouse, just out:

RNC CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE BETS AGAINST OUR TROOPS, ROOTS FOR FAILURE

"Here goes Michael Steele setting policy for the GOP again. The likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham will be interested to hear that the Republican Party position is that we should walk away from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban without finishing the job. They'd also be interested to hear that the Chairman of the Republican Party thinks we have no business in Afghanistan notwithstanding the fact that we are there because we were attacked by terrorists on 9-11.

"And, the American people will be interested to hear that the leader of the Republican Party thinks recent events related to the war are 'comical' and that he is betting against our troops and rooting for failure in Afghanistan. It's simply unconscionable that Michael Steele would undermine the morale of our troops when what they need is our support and encouragement. Michael Steele would do well to remember that we are not in Afghanistan by our own choosing, that we were attacked and that his words have consequences."

Now there's no excuse for that as the official response.  Just because Steele is an idiot doesn't mean he was wrong about Afghanistan being unwinnable.  I don't know why he said it, I don't know who on Steele's team though it would be a good idea to attack Obama by blaming the Afghanistan war on him when the public kinda sorta recalls that particular conflict was started by that feller from Texas and all.  But this is the same crap Republican attacked Democrats with for years.  It's just as stupid now when Dems say it as when Republicans do.

Foul on both sides, big time.  I'm pretty sure some folks in the DNC deserve to be shown the door along with Steele.

World Cupdate

And we're back with Quarterfinals action today and tomorrow.  Eight comes come in, four will advance, four will go home.  Our first matchup today was arguably the most anticipated of the Quarterfinals, Netherlands at Brazil, two teams defined by their uniform colors.  The Oranje fronted a 4-2-3-1 formation led by the famed Robin Van Persie, while the Canarinhos (wearing blue today) mirrored that attack with Luis Fabiano at point.  In the early minutes, Brazil rocketed out of the gate to go straight on the attack, as injured Holland defender Mathjisen wasn't in the game.  The effect was immediate as one goal was waved off due to offisides in the first ten minutes...but the second Brazil shot at 10' counted, and Robinho had the Samba Kings up early.  Holland counterattacked forcing Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar into action, but he held his ground and the first half belonged to Brazil.  Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenberg was under total siege as the Canarinhos had their way with the cracks in Holland's dikes, but Holland's offense kept Brazil honest for the 35 minutes after Brazil's goal. However, that's all they could do as Brazil's midfield control drained the Dutch.  The second half amazingly had no subs over halftime, how would the Dutch adjust?  Sometimes all you need is a little luck, and that happened off a Dutch free kick at 53' that should have been easy only keeper Julio Cesar got blocked out by his own man Felipe Melo who knocked the ball back...into the net.  Holland's Wesley Sneijder suddenly became the hero of the hour with the equalizer.  Now both sides were playing hard as the happy, even cocky Brazilians got a quick and painful lesson in hubris.  Canarihnos manager Dunga moved to make some changes after that to power his squad home swapping Gilberto for Michel Bastos, but all that did was deflate the Samba Kings as Wesley Sneijder headed one in (without Melo's help) at 68'...and then Felipe Melo was tagged with a red card at 73', completing the Canarinho collapse.  Brazil threw bodies at the Dutch goal but all that did was allow the Oranje to counterattack and run out the clock, which they did perfectly.  Holland took the match 2-1, all but shocking the World Cup.

Needless to say, the entire continent of Africa was looking for a similar shocker as Uruguay and Ghana squared off in the late match.  Uruguay opted for a 4-4-2 strike with the  now-familiar combo of Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan up top, while the Black Stars went with their all-star Asamoah Gyan leading a 4-5-1 attack...not to mention thousands of vuvuzelas in the stands and all of Africa's hopes on their shoulders.  Uruguay controlled the half and looked well on their way towards winning this game with several near-misses that made Ghana look shaky, but the Black Stars found their footing and more importantly started playing their game, going on the attack late in the half.  The fastest team in the tournament absolutely stunned La Celeste as out of nowhere Ghana's Sully Muntari bangs out a 40-yarder only to curl it past keeper Nestor Muslera and it somehow ended up in the corner, seemingly willed into the net by the vuvuzelas.  Ghana led 1-0 at halftime and all of a sudden destiny looked like it was wearing red, gold and green.  The funny thing about destiny is that it can always change.  In the second half Diego Forlan blasted in his third goal of the cup at 55' off a free kick and Uruguay began to take command and control of the pitch as Ghana's confidence started to wear thin, but both teams started to wind it down and you had to wonder if Ghana's 120 minute match against the US was going to hurt them as we headed into extra time.  Uruguay had the confidence here but Ghana didn't let up their attack, swarming the ball and drawing strength from the African crowd.  They kept banging the ball in and both sides started to look more even as Uruguay wound down...but in the stoppage in the 2nd OT period, Ghana got what they needed with a golden penalty kick as Luis Suarez blocked Gyan shot with his hand in the box and got rightfully red carded for it. Asamoah Gyan stepped up with all of a continent on his back...and clanked it off the bar.  Off to penalty kicks we went, and while Gyan nailed his, two of his mates did not...and Uruguay won 4-2 in the shootout.  An absolute soul-breaker for the Ghanaian crew, but now Uruguay must face the Dutch without Diego Forlan...and that red card at the end may mean that Uruguay won this match but face near impossible odds in the Semifinals.

By The Time I Get To Arizona, Part 9

Arizona's GOP Gov. Jan Brewer doubles down on her accusation that undocumented immigrants crossing the border are all "drug mules" with the scare tactic that they are responsible for decapitating people in her state.

When defending her highly criticized immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) often lists the myriad problems she says undocumented immigrants bring to her state. In an interview on Fox News last week, for example, she claimed: "We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings ..."

There's no better way, it seems, to make the case for strict anti-immigration laws than to claim that undocumented immigrants are pouring into the country to decapitate innocent Americans.

Brewer nonetheless stuck by the claim that undocumented immigrants are murdering Arizonans when asked about it last weekend on a local Arizona political show.

"Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded," she said.

The anchor notes that he couldn't find "any beheadings in any kind of news search."

The Arizona Guardian followed up, asking the state's county coroners -- who would examine any body connected with a crime -- if they'd seen the headless bodies from the desert .

They hadn't. 

They hadn't because Jan Brewer is a lying racist bigot trying to scare her constituents into supporting a clearly unconstitutional law designed to prey on Latinos.

Pre-emptive shot at the peanut gallery:  If the law is such a good law and there's no danger in harming the civil rights of anyone who's not undocumented, why is Brewer resorting to lies like this?

Austerity Hysteria, California Style Edition

Austerity isn't "on the way" folks, for hundreds of thousands of state employees in the most populous state in the nation, austerity is now a fact of life.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the state controller to cut the pay for most state workers to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour due to the lack of a budget being in place by the start of the fiscal year, which began Thursday.

The governor was expected to make that order, which affects about 200,000 state workers, though the timing was uncertain.

State workers who experience pay cuts would be reimbursed once a state budget is in place. Most state employees are paid monthly at the end of the month, so if a budget is in place before the end of July, they would not receive a reduced paycheck.

Administration officials maintain they are required by law to reduce worker pay in the absence of a budget.

In a letter to Controller John Chiang, Debbie Endsley, the director of the Department of Personnel Administration wrote, "Today is July 1, 2010, and there is no state budget. Regrettably, we must take the steps ... to adjust wages and salaries during this budget impasse."

The administration made a similar order in 2008, but Schwarzenegger waited until the end of July to do so.

Chiang defied that order and was sued by Schwarzenegger, but the budget impasse was resolved before a judge made a ruling in favor of the governor.

And before we go cheering on  how great and wonderful Ahnold is and how fitting it is for these state employee parasites to be reduced to minimum wage, let me ask a couple of questions.

1) Is $7.25/hour a living wage in California?  That's $15k a year, folks.  In California.

2) How does this stimulate the California economy and businesses in any way?

This is pure cruelty.  Retroactive or not, if the state doesn't come up with a budget, then California is paying its bills on the backs of its employees.  How would you like if your boss came to you and said "You're now making minimum wage until further notice.  Sorry."

How would you get by?