Harry Potter

Just a few more days till the 5th movie in the Harry Potter series is released - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I'm predicting that its opening day on Wednsday will be the biggest Wednesday opening in movie history. I'm saying this not just because it is a Harry Potter movie but also because Wednesday happens to be one of just two days in the calendar year where there are no major sporting events (no NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and MLB is off because of the All-Star Game). Dads who might otherwise stay home to watch a game in the middle of the week will be more willing to pop out to see the movie with the kids.



It is also worth noting that we are getting close to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which will be released on July 21. If you are like me - you already have your copies reserved and you have recently re-read the sixth book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

There is also the good news that Daniel Radcliffe has just signed a contract that will look him up through all seven Harry Potter movies. Radcliffe will be getting $50 million to star in the final two movies.

If you are thinking of re-reading the sixth book or haven't ordered the seventh book yet - please consider buying the book by clicking my Amazon links below. Your support of this site is appreciated.

An Open Letter to Those Who Do Baseball Power Rankings

Dear Sir/Madam,

Can you please explain to me the reason you chose to disrespect the Boston Red Sox? Most of you had the Red Sox listed at number 1 in your "Power Rankings" until about a month ago. That was when many of you decided to move the Red Sox to number 2 and insert the Angels as the new number 1 team. This move was made even though the Angels did not have a better record than the Red Sox. In fact during all this time that you have had the Angels ranked above the Red Sox in your power rankings - there was just one day (one single stinking day!) when the Angels had a better overall record than the Red Sox.

Let me also remind you that the Angels and Red Sox played one series so far this season. A series which the Red Sox swept 3 games to ZERO and in which they scored 25 runs while allowing the Angels just 3.

Still you have the Angels ranked above the Red Sox.

Now many of you have compounded the insult by putting the Red Sox behind not just the Angels but also behind the Cleveland Indians. These are the same Indians who look great at home but who have a losing record on the road (20-21). The Red Sox have also had one series against the Indians this season and they won that series 2 games to 1.

The Red Sox start the post All-Star game schedule with 11 straight games at home. None of those games are against teams with a winning record. By the end of that stretch the Red Sox will have cemented the best record in baseball by a wide margin and if you still have them ranked second (or worse) in your power rankings - you will look like a cement head who refuses to see the truth.

Sincerely,

Chris Lynch

EDIT: I just checked John Donovan's Power Rankings at SI.com and he's got the Red Sox ranked FOURTH behind the Angels, Indians and the freaking Tigers. I demand that John Donovan be drug tested at once. He is definitely smoking something.

Top 5 Seinfeld Episodes of All-Time

On this day in 1989 (wow was it really that long ago?) the first episode of Seinfeld was aired. Here are what I consider the top 5 episodes of Seinfeld of all-time.

1. The Contest (I'm out!)
2. The Fusilli Jerry (AKA The Assman episode)
3. The Marine Biologist (It was an angry sea)
4. The Opposite (Bizarro George)
5. The Rye (Beefarino!)

Dice K for Cy Young?

The way that Daisuke Matsuzaka has been pitching lately is making me think that there is a good chance that he could accomplish something that has not been done in baseball since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. That year Fernando won both the Rookie of the Year award and the Cy Young award.

Dice K is 10-5 with a 3.53 ERA but those numbers don't tell the story of how dominant he has been recently. In his last 5 starts Matsuzaka has averaged 7 innings, 8.6 strikeouts, 3.8 hits with an ERA of just 1.03 in those starts. In that time he has also dropped his season ERA by almost a run - from 4.52 on June 10th to his current 3.53.

It is quite possible that Dice K has acclimated himself to playing in the US and we are now starting to see what he's capable of. And what Matsuzaka is capable of is starting to remind people of Pedro Martinez in his prime.

He's been that good.

More Celtics Thoughts

When the trade of Ray Allen on NBA Draft Day was announced to the Seattle fans - they booed the move because they didn't want to lose Ray Allen. When it announced in Boston that the Celtics had swapped the 5th pick for Allen - most of the "experts" panned the move because they thought the Celtics should have held on to the 5th pick.

I immediately liked the move and still do. The critics panned the trade for a number of reasons - seeing as I have nothing better to do at the moment - I'll go through the criticisms one by one and show how they are wrong.

Some people complained that either Ray Allen was too old or that adding him to the starting rotation made the Celtics too old. Yes Allen will shortly be 32-years old and that is old in shooting guard years but Allen has always kept himself in excellent shape and is coming off his highest scoring season of his career. The Celtics just need him near the top of his game (20+ points per game) for 3 more years. Assuming that Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins are the starting five for Boston next season then that means that the average age of the Celtics starters would be 26-years old. It seems to me to be a good balance of youth and experience.

Others contend that the Celtics now have three guys who need "their shots" and there is still only one ball. This viewpoint seems to be missing the point that under Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers the Celtics are an up-tempo team which should average over 100 points a night with this line-up. The three players also have different "games". Allen is an outside shooter who can drive, Pierce is a drive to the basket guy who can also shoot from outside, Jefferson is a down on the blocks guy. Their games don't interfere with each other. If anything - their games are complementary and make it much harder for teams to double on any one player. Getting Allen, Pierce or Jefferson "their shots" won't be a problem.

The last complaint is that the Celtics would have been better off keeping the pick. I disagree. After Oden, Durant and Mike Connelly - all the remaining players were a crap-shoot with none of them guaranteed to be any better then current Celtic Ryan Gomes. People forget that in his last season at Providence Gomes averaged 18.9 points and 9.4 boards per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the field. With the Celtics he has proven to be a solid 12 point, 6 rebound guy whose best days are still ahead of him. There is no guarantee that any of the forwards picked after Durant will turn out to be better than 12 point, 6 rebound per game professionals.

The people who say the Celtics should have kept the 5th pick also fail to mention that doing so would have meant also keeping Wally Szczerbiak and his albatross contract. The Celtics are a much better team with Ray Allen and Glenn "Big Baby" Davis than they would have been with Jeff Green (assuming he would have been the Celtics pick at 5), Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak.

Three teams in the Eastern Conference made the playoffs with a .500 or worse record and 47 wins were enough to win the Atlantic Division last year. I look for the Celtics to win about 45 games next year and make it to the second round of the playoffs. The trade for Ray Allen makes that possible.

Burn Notice

I watched the pilot to the show Burn Notice for the second time last night and I'm hooked. This is a great show. The writing on the pilot is matched only by the acting. Jeffrey Donovan is perfect as Michael Westen and Bruce Campbell is equally great in his supporting role.

The show is a combination of Maverick meets James Bond with the cut-away shots of hot girls in bikini's from Miami Vice tossed in for good measure.

I only mention the show to give you a chance to jump on board at the very beginning. This show and John from Cincinnati are my two summer "must see" shows. JFC is so quirky, though, that I can easily see the show jumping the shark into metaphysical realms. The suspension of belief on JFC is already strong - if they stretch it any further they will lose the audience (including me).

Scooter Libby

Newton's Third Law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the commuting of Scooter Libby's prison sentence - we have just seen the Third Law in action in the political realm.

Judge Judge Reggie B. Walton said that Libby had to spend the time awaiting his appeal in jail. President Bush said no - not so much. Judge Walton's ruling was an action and President Bush commuting the sentence was an equal and opposite reaction.

It is important to note that Libby was not pardoned. To have pardoned Libby would have been to have Libby admit guilt. Libby probably strongly believes he has done nothing wrong - that he is a victim of an over-reaching Special Prosecutor. By commuting his sentence and not pardoning him - President Bush has left open the door for Libby to appeal his conviction and clear his name.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I stand behind this morning's observation that there is something fishy to the way Barry Bonds was voted into the starting line-up for the National League. I know that the Giants and Fox Sports wanted Bonds in the game but the league has rules about ballot stuffing. Unfortunately I think those rules say that you can vote up to 25,000 times per person. So that means just 10 people could have accounted for those 250,000 votes that was the difference. Remember that when some writes about or talks about Bonds being voted in by "the fans" or that the "people have spoken"... Scott Miller had a phrase I wish I had not read at the end of his latest offering. Speaking about the Padres' Brian Giles he writes that Giles has a "penchant for nude clubhouse hugs." Whoa - file that under way too much information... I guess Crash Davis is not managing in Tampa Bay. In Bull Durham Crash had the under-rated and under-remembered quote, "Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic." Well the Devil Ray pitchers lead the AL in strikeouts with 575 so far this season (but they also have the highest ERA with 5.57).... Just sayin' - Roger Clemens 5.32 ERA - Julian Tavarez 4.39 ERA...

Barry Bonds Voted to Start All-Star Game - Or Was He?

So we are supposed to just accept the fact that Barry Bonds went from being 119,000 votes down to winning the final outfield position in the All-Star game for the National League by a margin of 123,000 votes. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to call shenanigans on this one.

Barry Bonds is perhaps the most disliked player in baseball. No player gets booed as badly as Barry when he plays on the road. I'm thinking that there's no way Barry got voting support from around the country. I guess we are supposed to accept that those close to a quarter-million last-minute votes came in from San Francisco.

Bonds beat out Alfonso Soriano for the final spot. Soriano plays for the Chicago Cubs - a team with a pretty rabid national fan base. Soriano was red hot in June - batting .336 for the month while hitting 11 HR. With Soriano getting this hot you would think the momentum in voting for him would increase at the end and not cool off enough to let Bonds catch and pass him so easily. Yet this is precisely what we are supposed to believe - that support for Soriano cooled off just at the time that Soriano was playing his best.

The All-Star game is in San Francisco this year and the biggest story in baseball is Barry Bonds pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time home run record while at the same time having a huge cloud of steroids suspicion hanging over him. My guess is that the powers that be did not want to "honor" Barry Bonds by adding him to the All-Star game roster. It seems just so much more convenient to have him "voted" in by the fans - that way baseball bigwigs can say it was the fans who wanted him at the game not them. Would anyone put it past Bud Selig to manipulate the voting totals? I mean used car salesmen are known for their integrity - right?

It wouldn't be the first time that a pro league played with the All-Star game vote totals (see this year's NHL All-Star game). When you add everything together - Barry Bonds being voted in just doesn't make sense to me.

The whole situation just smells fishy.

Gettysburg Remembered

(Note: This is something I have posted on July 1st for a few years now.)

One hundred and forty-three years ago to this very day Confederate forces under the command of General Robert E. Lee were massed on one side of a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg while Union forces under newly appointed General George Meade were amassed on the other side of the small town. Over the next three days these forces were to fight the most important battle in the history of the United States. Yet today you will hear very little mentioned of the battle in either the newspapers or on TV.

Why was this the most important battle in the history of the United States?

General Lee had come North out of Virginia to find the Army of the Potomac and to beat it in open battle. If he was able to accomplish this – then Confederate President Jefferson Davis was to give Abraham Lincoln an offer of peace.

If Lincoln accepted this offer of peace then the country would have forevermore been divided into two nations. If Lincoln refused the offer of peace (which he would have) – then chances are that Lincoln would have lost his bid for re-election to the Presidency. His opponent General McClellan would have accepted the peace plan if elected and again – the nation would forevermore have been divided.

Think of the implications:

· How much longer would slavery had survived? Would it still exist today?

· Would a Spanish Mexico and an English Canada have taken over what are now the Western States?

· Would Nazi Germany been stoppable in WWII without a “united” United States?

· Would Communism have been defeated without a “united” United States?

Luckily we did not have to find out because Jeb Stuart did not return in time to inform General Lee of the Union’s strength; because General Heth ignored Lee’s order to not engage the enemy on the first day; because General Ewell lost his nerve and did not attack and take the high ground when he had the chance and because Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine made their heroic stand on Little Round Top.

The North won the battle and went on to win the war. For that – we are thankful.

Months later after the battle, on November 19, 1863, a somber President Lincoln made the following speech:

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.

Now it’s a 143 years later and you would be hard pressed to find mention of the battle anywhere. Funny – Lincoln thought we would remember the battle and forget his speech but the opposite has occurred.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The United States has always been a forward-looking nation. We tend to dream of the future instead of dwelling on our past. It is one of our strengths.

Still - we should remember the sacrifice men made today and the next three days 143 years ago to preserve for us the great Nation we have today.

I Learned Something New Today

While perhaps not being as glamorous as being the second largest city in New England - today I learned that Daejeon is the 5th largest city in South Korea (and with a population of 1.4 million - it is slightly larger than Worcester).

I learned this because I got an email from my old Internet buddy Van Walker who is teaching English Literature at Daejeon University. Van is an example of a man who is enthusiastic about sports and whose writing ability would put to shame most of the columnists working at major papers in the US today. Seriously - if Van got a job as a sports columnist - he'd automatically be in the top 25 in the country.

Because of end of term commitments - Van hasn't been able to post that much but his blog The Chair-Armed Quarterback is well worth a bookmark on your part. His take on the Michael Vick situation (though dated) is better than anything I've read elsewhere.

Can you tell I'm a fan of Van's writing? I just wish he'd write more.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Bill Lear, founder of Lear Jet Corporation named his daughter Shanda. Yup Shanda Lear... Julio Lugo is in the midst of a mighty slump but this is a bit over the top. It also steals my thunder because I was going to do a spoof promotion by the Red Sox where official card carrying members of Red Sox Nation (yes the Red Sox actually sell membership cards) get chosen to pinch hit for Julio Lugo with proceeds going to the Jimmy Fund. It is an idea that I could actually see the Red Sox marketing people toss around. (Hat tip to Che MRhe for the link)... The silent one in Penn and Teller changed his name from Raymond Joseph Teller to just Teller... Very well done article on pro poker player Vinnie Vinh and the demons he's fighting. Makes for very interesting reading even if you are not a fan of poker... Penn Jillette from Penn and Teller named his daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette. While it is an amusing name - I hope the girl sues her father for cruelty when she gets older... On this day in 1978 Willie McCovey became the 12th member of the 500 HR club. Babe Ruth was the first member back in 1929. So it took 49 years to get to 12 members but since 1978 the club has added 9 more members and within a year three more players should reach 500 HR (Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome). So it took about 50 years to go from to 12 members and then just another 30 to go from 12 to 24 members.... I always joked with my wife that we should name one of our kids Next. That way when they grow up and someone asks, "Who's next?" - they could answer, "I am"... Exactly 10-years ago today - the first Harry Potter book was published. It's feels like its taken 10-years just to get the seventh book published.

Woo Hoo! We're #2! We're #2!

According to the latest census - Worcester is once again the second largest city in New England. In your face Providence! The latest federal census estimate lists Worcester’s population at 175,454, and Providence at 175,255.

Worcester lost the title as the second biggest city in New England back in 2001. It is nice for the self-conscious residents of Worcester like me to have the title back. People around the country have no idea about Worcester and are often surprised to hear that it is the second largest city in New England.

For the record - Worcester is also larger than the following cities; Abilene, TX, Albany, NY, Billings, MT, Huntsville, AL, Overland Park, KS, Oceanside, CA, Tallahassee, FL, Dayton, OH, Chattanooga, TN, Kansas City, KS, Syracuse, NY, Ann Arbor, MI and Provo, UT.

Rick Robey

Have you been wondering what Rick Robey has been up to these days? Well - he's selling real estate in the Louisville area.

Robey was a star player at the University of Kentucky and the 3rd overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft. In honor of him being the 3rd pick - here are three random thoughts.

1. I can't hear the name Rick Robey without hearing Bob Cousy say, "Wick Wobey with the webound" in my head.

2. The real estate prices in Louisville look very reasonable in comparison to the price you'd pay for a house in Eastern Massachusetts.

3. I was thinking about Rick Robey because he was involved in the last big trade the Celtics made that netted them a guard who made his name in the league playing for the Sonics. I doubt if Ray Allen will be as successful with the Celtics as Dennis Johnson was but I bet he provides the kind of behind the scenes leadership that DJ brought to the Celtics.

Celtics Trade

I love the trade that sent Ray Allen to the Celtics in exchange for the 5th pick (Jeff Green) plus Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. This will make a huge difference to the Celtics and I think it puts them in the running for the Eastern Conference Championship next year. The move gives the Celtics a mini-Big Three with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Al Jefferson. Those three will match up well with any three from any team in the East.

I know that Ray Allen is about to be 32 (July 20th) and that Paul Pierce is 30 but Al Jefferson is just 22 and is coming off a season where he averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds per game. If the Celtics can make it to the playoffs with those 3 players healthy - then anything can happen.

Besides the 22-year old Al Jefferson, the Celtics also have a core of young players like 21-year old Gerald Green, 21-year old Rajon Rondo, 23-year old Kendrick Perkins, 25-year old Tony Allen and 25-year old Ryan Gomes. With Ray Allen and Paul Pierce that's 8 players who can go uptempo and tire out some of the older teams in the East (Toronto being the team that most worries me).

Rounding out the bench would be USC guard Gabe Pruitt who was taken yesterday with their pick at No. 32, LSU's Glen 'Big Baby' Davis who was taken at No. 35 plus Theo Ratliff who not only has a big expiring contract but who also is still a big help on the defensive end when healthy.

Many people are looking for the Celtics to make another move to further upgrade their roster but I think the roster is fine as currently comprised. Sometimes too much tinkering is a bad thing. If the Celtics do make another move - I hope it is just to move the unwanted contracts of Brian Scalabrine (nothing personal Brian - you seem like a fine fellow but I would just as soon not see you in a Celtics uniform next year) and Sebastian Telfair (punk).

When you look at what the Celtics gave up to get Ray Allen - it makes you like the move even more. Jeff Green will be a good but not great player who would have competed for minutes with the Celtics with both Al Jefferson and Ryan Gomes (Seattle hopes that Green will be as good as Al Jefferson but he may be closer to the under-rated Gomes). Wally Szczerbiak has a contract that is huge in comparison to what he brings to the court and lets not forget that he's starting to look a bit brittle. Delonte West played both the point and shooting guard but was not great at either position.

I like this trade a whole lot.

Now I Think Tony Soprano Died

This will probably be my absolute last post on the subject - but this piece has convinced me that Tony Soprano died at the end of the last Soprano's show.

I think some of the ideas presented are pushing the envelope and are examples of reading too much into things (like the onion rings representing Communion wafers). Overall the argument is tough to refute. Tony's dead.

Inappropriate Lap Dance Songs

A reader in Bill Simmons latest Internet chat wrote:

Adam: (New York, NY): You are exactly the guy to settle this: For the first time in my life this past weekend I was fortunate enough have "Mr. Roboto" as the background song for a lap dance. Needless to say, it was a wastershed comedic moment in my life. Watching a stripper try to put together a dance that was both alluring and contextually appropriate given the song was more entertaining than watching Eric Dickerson try to ad-lib an analysis of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society." Anyway, the question: Is "Mr. Roboto" the funniest possible strip-club song to provoke this absolutely riveting experience?

Bill Simmons suggested maybe Starship's We Built this City or Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. His readers chimed in with the following suggestions:

- TNT by AC/DC
- 500 Miles by the Proclaimers
- Everybody Hurts by REM
- Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up
- Mike and the Mechanics The Living Years
- Disco Duck by Rick Dees

My mind works differently but I would suggest the following (just for comedy's sake):

- Ballad of the Green Berets by Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler
- Love Child by Dianna Ross
- Thank You for Being a Friend (either the Andrew Gold version or the Theme to Golden Girls version)
- Kate Smith singing God Bless America
- In the Ghetto by Elvis
- YMCA by the Village People

Distorting JFK

David Talbot has a rather long piece in TIME where he tries to make the case that JFK was a "peace-minded visionary." This kind of whitewashing of history gets under my skin. Right off the bat it is clear that Talbot is out to help an agenda not make any true historical contribution or clarification.

As the U.S. once again finds itself in an endless war — this time against terror, or perhaps against fear itself — the question of Kennedy's true legacy seems particularly loaded.

The words "once again" and "endless war" imply that the Cold War fought during Kennedy's Presidency was an "endless war" just as it implied that the current War on Terror will also prove to be an endless war. The fact is the Cold War was not endless - it did have an end and a victory for our side because we stayed the course and men like President Reagan weren't willing to just throw in the towel because the job was difficult.

I also take issue with Talbot's musing that we are currently at war with "fear itself". The War on Terror isn't a war against "terror" - it is a battle to stop the spread of Radical Islam. Just as the Cold War wasn't a war against low temperatures but in fact against the spread of international Communism. By saying that we are currently in an "endless war" Talbot is revealing that we are in a battle he doesn't think can be won. I disagree but my disagreement is opinion whereas Talbot is trying to pass his opinion as history.

Just two paragraphs into his article and already it should be clear that this is article in TIME is about what David Talbot believes much more than about what JFK believed. Skeptical that I'm telling the truth? Check out this whopper just two paragraphs later:

It would be hard to imagine the current occupant of the White House extending the same offer [an invitation to "quest for peace" JFK mentioned in his Inaugural Address] to Islamic jihadists or Iran's leaders.

The moral equivalence disgusts me. Would Talbot have also approved of FDR extending an olive branch to Hitler? Heck - that's exactly what JFK's isolationist dad proposed. No - JFK tried to negotiate peace because the USSR had the nuclear stockpile to blowup the world several times over. Our current enemies don't have nuclear weapons (yet) and are not concerned with blowing up the world - just their children with sticks of dynamite strapped to their chests.

Talbot talks about how JFK "outflanked" Richard Nixon in their 1960 campaign by making the "missile gap" and the cause of Cuban "freedom fighters" major campaign issues. The missile gap we know now was a fraud. The US was never close to being behind the USSR in missile capability and Kennedy made Cuban freedom fighters a campaign touchstone but once in office the failure at the Bay of Pigs somehow becomes the fault of the military or the CIA?

George W. Bush is ridiculed for "lying" about WMD in Iraq even though every Intelligence Agency in the world believed such stockpiles existed. JFK used what he knew was a lie about WMD as a campaign strategy (the missile gap) and it is hailed as good politics by Talbot? Strange.

Kennedy truly was a Teflon President. The Bay of Pigs wasn't his fault - it was the Generals fault (yet does anyone think Eisenhower would have been led into such a debacle?). Talbot argues that Kennedy just had 16,000 troops in Vietnam and that JFK planned to remove those troops after he was re-elected (wishful thinking - not true historical analysis). Finally we get to the Cuban Missile Crisis which historians portray as a huge win for Kennedy when the fact is it was not. The USSR couldn't afford to defend Cuba. The Russians ended up giving up missiles they didn't need for a promise from the US that we would never invade Cuba.

By all means - read Talbot's piece but do it with a grain of salt. Know that it is not history but an agenda motivated whitewash.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

I was reading this column by Victor Davis Hanson when this section got me thinking:

With oil prices at an all-time high, Iran can't provide gasoline for its own people, who resent the billions spent instead on Arab terrorists abroad. If oil were to dip from near $70 to $50-55 a barrel, the regime would face abject bankruptcy. For all the criticism of the U.S. position, from the left and right, we have now found the right blend of military determination not to let Teheran go nuclear, combined with economic and political efforts at containment. There is an array of future options — stronger embargoes, blockades, and military strikes on infrastructure — still on the table. The social unrest the mullahs desire in Iraq is starting to spill over the border into their own Iran, and its magnitude and final course are still unpredictable.

After reading that paragraph I wondered if the US could use our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to drive prices down and help further destabilize Iran. President Bush released 11 million barrels to help calm markets after Hurricane Katrina. What would happen if Bush asked to have a third of the reserves released now (around 300 million barrels)? I would assume that this news would drive down the price per barrel of crude oil and thus help destabilize the terrorists in Teheran in the manner VDH described. If their oil money took a big dip - then they would have a hard time financing the terror exports to Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and most importantly Iraq.

President Bush could say he's making the move to help drive down prices for the summer months so that Americans would be able to take vacations without the high price of gas hanging over their heads. The move could also greatly help the economy. What politican could be against the move? It would be like coming out in favor of high gas prices.

The only downside I can see is that stock prices for oil companies could take a hit and our reserves would be down but the oil companies would rebound and the reserves could always be added to when prices get down to a naturally low level when things stabilize (if that's a word you can use) in the Middle East.

Is there a flaw in this idea? Because if there is - I can't see it.

Top 5 - Best War Movies of All-time

I saw this post over at The Big Lead - and thought I'd revise and post my own personal top five. Let me just add that I love Band of Brothers but technically that was a series and not a movie. If Band of Brothers was a movie - it would be #1 on the list.

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (either 1930 or 1979 version)
2. Paths of Glory
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. Gettysburg
5. (tie) To Hell and Back (tie) Sargent York (tie) Full Metal Jacket