Meanwhile Back on Earth

I have undergone my traditional Day of Mourning following the conclusion of the baseball season and now I heave a deep sigh to face the horsehide-less horizon for the next six months. I am somewhat happy for the White Sox and their fans, but listlessly so, not even enough to raise a glass of wine to toast the South Siders. They did play well, though, down to the final out (processed elegantly by former Bronx Cheer Juan Uribe).

Kevin and I were bittersweetly amused by how well most of our veterans on the two lineups performed, including All-Time Cheers disaster Jermaine Dye, who batted .162 (really) in his three months as a Bronx Cheer, and then hit .430 in this World Series. Konerko, Crede, Uribe, Podsednik, Garcia, Contreras and Pettitte all did well. But Roy Oswalt fumbled the ball, to mix a sports metaphor, and Morgan Ensberg, the big Cheers disappointment of 2004 when he hit no home runs for the entire spring, was just awful for the Astros this October. Although he did manage a homer somewhere in the detritus of Game Two, a few hits in clutch situations by this cleanup batter might have turned the entire series into a scintillating seven-game contest instead of a sweep.

Okay, done. Now it's back to the world, to Harriet Miers' ouster by the determined Red State Fundamentalists, to Scooter Libby's indictment for "perjury" in the Valerie Plame case, to Iran's official declaration of a Fatwa to the State of Israel. Bush's head must be spinning in several directions at once. Which is hazardous, given his Brain is still awaiting possible indictment too.

The ramifications of the above events provide a mixed forecast. Miers' nomination will almost certainly be followed by that of a more Conservatively Correct judge, this one at least with some experience on the bench, but likely to much more strident, leading to a Democratic resistance that could culminate in another Filibuster battle. Yawn. Ultimately Bush will get someone to his liking, but until then O'Connor remains on the Court, serving as a less divisive force in deciding issues involving parental consent for abortions and the legality of Oregon's assisted suicide law.

The Libby indictment will play itself out as expeditiously as his superiors can arrange. Already he has resigned his post; even Bush knows better than to keep his shadow hanging around the White House door. Whether Karl Rove, or even better, Cheney, are swept into the mixer has yet to be seen, but the Federal Prosecutor seems rather reluctant to raise a ruckus. The Democrats can only hope to sustain the stench long enough for it to affect the 2006 elections.

Iran's death sentence to Israel was, surprisingly, condemned by other countries, at least outside the Arab world. It does put the lie on any thoughts or Iranian moderation, unfortunately. This also ups the nuclear ante in the region, and provides fodder for the Bush administration's targeting of Tehran as the next source of (potential) WMDs. More to come on this, I'm afraid.

In lighter news, a woman in Virginia hung herself from a tree two days ago, but nobody bothered to cut her down, thinking her limp body hanging there in tattered clothes was actually a Halloween effigy. As a friend e-mailed to me, the mordancy of this event was positively Hitchcockian. What a shame that the darkness of Hitchcock's view of humanity seems to be pervading so much of what's happening in our world.