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On Aug. 31, 1987, Dave Bresnahan was the Michelangelo of potato sculpting. He sacrificed five fine tubers to the spud gods – death via peel – before settling on the correct shape. He drew red lines on the winner to simulate seams, only to see them erased by the potato's weeping. He wielded that peeler like a true artiste. Because in order to pull off the greatest prank in baseball history, Bresnahan needed to shape a potato like a baseball. "I went to Williamsport (Pa.) this past weekend to celebrate the anniversary," Bresnahan says today from his Arizona home, 20...

Fred D. Thompson, the soon-to-be-official presidential contender, has come under a good deal of criticism in New Hampshire this week for scheduling his formal announcement for next Thursday morning and thus skipping the Republican debate in Manchester on Wednesday night. But that does not mean that television viewers watching the debate will not see him. Campaign officials said Friday that Mr. Thompson had bought a 30-second spot that would be televised nationally on the Fox News Channel, the network carrying the debate, just as viewers are tuning in at the onset. One campaign official familiar with the decision said the...

SALUDA, S.C. (AP) - The motorcade of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney exceeded speed limits and went through stop lights today as local law officers escorted him to campaign events in two South Carolina counties. Traffic pulled over for the flashing blue lights. Saluda County Sheriff Jason Booth, a Romney supporter, led the candidate's motorcade to the Newberry city limits. The caravan traveled between 10 mph and 15 mph over posted speed limits of 45 mph and 55 mph. Booth says officers wanted to make sure Romney stays safe and gets where he's going. Booth declined further comment when asked...

A daily round-up of Fred news. Fred Thompson Hoping Chaos Brings Political Order By John Harwood cnbc.com Fred Thompson begins something next week that in most circumstances would seem totally implausible: limping into a presidential race long after competitors set off with a running head start. Smart money isn't betting the ex-Tennessee senator will overtake them. His hope is that the chaotic, shifting 2008 guideposts offer precisely that kind of course that a chaotic, shifting campaign can navigate. It won’t take long after next week’s web cast launch to start learning whether he’s right. During months of hesitation up to...

China has joined the list of countries that have abandoned Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean tyrant whose kleptocracy transformed a once-flourishing African state into a pauper nation. On Thursday Beijing bowed to British pressure and pledged to drop all assistance to Zimbabwe except for the most basic humanitarian aid. We would hope this is so. For 30 years China has supported Mugabe and his thugs as they systematically plundered Zimbabwe's economy and dismantled its last vestiges of democracy and rule of law. There is no way to list all that is wrong with Mugabe. It is probably enough to know Mugabe...

Tropical Storm Felix has formed near the South American A tropical storm watch remains in effect for the northern coast of Venezuela from Cumana to Pedernales including the island of Margarita. Public Advisories Updated every three hours. Tropical Storm Discussion Updated every six hours Three Day Tracking MapStorm Track Archive Nice animated progression of 5 day forecast tracks Buoy Data East Caribbean Buoy Data West Caribbean Storm Model Tracks Satellite ImagesVisible Satellite Still ImageIR ImageWV Image Additional Resources:Central Florida Hurricane CenterHurricane CityCayman One Radio Nice music mix, and hourly news Puerto Rico Long Range Radar Category Wind Speed Barometric Pressure...

Larry Craig's Republican Senate colleagues and their staffers were not surprised by the revelation, shocking to nearly all of Washington, of the Idaho senator's arrest and admission of guilt on disorderly conduct charges in an airport men's room. According to Republican sources, there have been reports for many years of errant homosexual behavior by Craig, a social conservative opposed to gay rights. That reputation may have been behind his failure to win traction in bidding to become Senate Republican whip in 2002.

The single most-successful fundraiser of the Ron Paul 2008 campaign took place last night in Highland Park, Texas (Dallas). The event was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Huffines. The Huffines family opened their beautiful home and graciously hosted many supporters of Dr. Paul's. The evening ended with $102,000 donated to Dr. Paul's presidential campaign!

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police and foreign forces killed around 60 suspected Taliban fighters, many in the region where the insurgents recently released a group of South Korean church workers they had been holding, authorities said Saturday. Meanwhile, South Korea's foreign minister defended direct negotiations with the Taliban to free the hostages amid concern the move violated international principles and could spur more abductions. Police attacked a group of Taliban late Friday who were planning to strike security forces in the central Afghan province of Ghazni, killing 18 and arresting six others, said provincial police Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadai. Taliban...

Until recently, demographic changes were so slow that they hardly seemed to be a variable effecting strategic challenges. But today, many major nations are undergoing rapid and evident changes in their demographic structure. This is most obvious in Europe, but it is also the case in the United States, Russia, China, and Japan. Demographic disruption is impacting America, all of its major allies, and all of its traditional or potential adversaries. In Western countries, the combination of a sharp decline in the birth rates of the European or European-descended population, on the one hand, and the sharp increase in the...

Clooney: Obama's like a rock star By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 50 minutes ago VENICE, Italy - Barack Obama has the aura of a rock star, says George Clooney, who also had some kind words for other Democratic presidential candidates. "You've been in a room once in a while with a rock star. He walks into the world, and he takes your breath away. I'd love him to be president, quite honestly," the actor told reporters Friday at the Venice Film Festival, where his legal thriller "Michael Clayton" was premiering. Clooney, who banked a check for Obama...

The many victims of illegal aliens. Is it worth it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpomTIkv0V8

One might think the New York City mayor who led the Big Apple through the worst terrorist attack in history would be warmly received at this year's 9/11 memorial service. Not so, say several outspoken 9/11 family groups, who view presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's appearance as a way for him to capitalize politically on the day of mourning. "There should be no political shadow over this day," said Diane Horning, who helped found the family group WTC Families for Proper Burial after losing her son Matthew when the twin towers collapsed. Giuliani's estrangement from the family groups isn't anything new....

It appears that Romney's campaign has a hard time with arithmetic. Their article on their Idaho Leadership Team says they have 25 people. But I can only count 24. Maybe Google can help us figure this out?  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%2225+members%22+%22James+E.+Risch%22+site%3Amittromney.com&btnG=Search  It looks like the Romney camp has a big problem on their hands.

At some point in the Second World War, R.A. Butler came to see Churchill to voice his anxiety about the failure of the education system to instill patriotism in the nation's youth. He wondered what could be done about it. "Tell the children that Wolfe took Quebec," advised the Prime Minister. It remains good advice, with the qualification that "the children" should now be interpreted to cover the entire population. In a poll of 2,000 adults conducted two years ago, more than 60 per cent did not know in which war D-Day occurred. They probably know even less about Wolfe,...

The Sunday Wall Street Opinion Journal published an article (8/26/07), "Fair Tax, Flawed Tax" (link below) by former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy (1988-1993). It is obvious that the Journal editors and Mr. Bartlett didn't do their homework. Many citizens will dismiss the FairTax Plan out-of-hand by reading this distorted play on words from the pen of Mr. Bartlett. Dismissing his assertion of the FairTax being connected to the Church of Scientology — a gorgeous lie to behold — he proceeds to lambast FairTax supporters with so-called evidence that it will not work and will cost...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush outlined ways the federal government can help troubled borrowers keep their homes Friday in an effort to address rising foreclosures fueled by the mortgage crisis. The administration's first attempt at dealing with a wave of defaults is not aimed at bailing out lenders, however. "It's not the government's job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," Bush said in the Rose Garden. "Yet there are many American homeowners who could get through this difficult time with a little flexibility from their lenders...

GENEVA (AP) - The campaign poster was blatant in its xenophobic symbolism: Three white sheep kicking out a black sheep over a caption that read "for more security." The message was not from a fringe force in Switzerland's political scene but from its largest party. The nationalist Swiss People's Party is proposing a deportation policy that anti-racism campaigners say evokes Nazi-era practices. Under the plan, entire families would be expelled if their children are convicted of a violent crime, drug offenses or benefits fraud.

As the world now knows, Bill Atwood and Bill Murdoch were consecrated today as Suffragan Bishops in the All Saints Diocese of the Anglican Church of Kenya in a joy-filled service at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi. The All Saints Cathedral is a beautiful colonial structure built in the 1800s and holds about 1,500. This morning it was full with a tent outside for overflow. I was told that on a regular Sunday morning, there are seven or more services with between 9,000 and 10,000 regularly attending. The service of consecration which began at 10 a.m. took a full...

ROME, AUG. 31, 2007 (<A href="http://www.zenit.org">Zenit.org</A>).- Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from this Sunday's liturgy. * * * Be Modest in What You Do! 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Sirach 3:19-21, 30-31; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a; Luke 14:1, 7-14   The beginning of this Sunday's Gospel helps us to correct a widely diffused prejudice: "One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him." Reading the Gospel from a certain angle we have ended up...