Moving on from March Madness...

...except for the fact that the Stanford women are beating Oklahoma right now on the hardwood, but I'm afraid to speak too soon.

I don't have the time or resources to put together a serious political blog, but fortunately, there are many who do, and there are some top-notch sites out there. I am a regular visitor to SmirkingChimp.com, but I have also became a major follower of two more sites: Media Matters and David Sirota (the Sirotablog). Media Matters is largely a creation of David Brock, a former conservative who eventually became disenchanted with the right-- he has written two particularly well-received books in recent years, "Blinded by the Right" and "The Republican Noise Machine." I've only read the latter of the two, which detailed how the right wing has come to dominate the airwaves. The Media Matters site keeps a tab of media distortions by both the mainstream and the overtly right-wing press-- believe me, that's a full-time job. David Sirota is a long-time progressive activist who does an incredible job of monitoring political corruption and calling out what many refer to as DINOs ("Democrats In Name Only"). I'll also give a shout-out to Daily Kos as another great site. Fortunately, I know there are plenty more progressive sites and blogs out there, and I'll keep looking...

I've been reading "American Dynasty," a book about the Bush family written by former Republican activist Kevin Phillips (who has left the party and registered as an independent). All I can say right now is this: the amount of corruption and insider dealings in the current administration is beyond mind-boggling. And when you include the rising tide of worldwide religious extremism (particularly of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim varieties) in the overall equation, the future looks quite, uh, contentious...

Further reading I plan on doing: "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins, "Fooled Again" by Mark Crispin Miller, "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler, and "The Cheating Culture" by David Callahan.

It wasn't supposed to end like this...

A loss to Missouri State in the second round of the NIT...yes, I'm talkin' 'bout the Stanford Cardinal men's basketball team. Ranked 13th in preseason polls, finishing 16-14 overall. Barely over .500 after 11 straight NCAA tournament appearances. At least the team had some great moments, especially in the middle of the season when everything seemed to click. Too bad Chris Hernandez, Dan Grunfeld, Matt Haryasz, and Jason Haas had to go out on a sour note. But the squad developed some younger players, and will add the 7-foot-tall Lopez twins from Fresno next year. Collins Twins Part II? Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, Tara VanDerveer continues her coaching wizardry for the Stanford women's team, which is on a mission toward the top again. Candice Wiggins led the Card in their latest tourney win. Once again, stay tuned...

As for the men's tourney, the team I'd like to see continue their run is Bradley. Why? My dad was born in Peoria, and the first house he lived in was located on what is now part of the Bradley campus. Plus, a 13 seed getting to the Sweet Sixteen is always a compelling story...

In other realms, I'm going to follow Russ Feingold a lot more closely-- at last, a Democrat with conviction (as opposed to a Democrat being convicted, like Jim Traficant or Dan Rostenkowski). Bush is at his lowest approval rating ever, and now national polls show that a majority of Americans (not San Franciscans, not Californians, but Americans as a whole) think that Bush lied about the reasons we invaded Iraq. This is not the time for the tepid, centrist Democrats to lead the way...we've, uh, had that problem before...

I'm absolutely addicted to YouTube.com. I've found almost everything I've looked for: Bill Hicks, the Dead Kennedys, Lewis Black, Lenny Bruce...you can view "Thank You, Mask Man," the animated version of Lenny Bruce's comedy routine. I first saw it when I was fifteen-- I was up late one night after a marching band competition, too amped to go to sleep, when I was flipping around the cable channels and found USA's "Night Flight." That cartoon blew my mind, even though I didn't get a lot of the references then and couldn't catch all the words of Lenny's rapid-fire delivery. It was just so bombastic and surreal, and the animation fit perfectly.

I just submitted my tax info to my accountant, and my room looks like it did in college after finishing a term paper...