North Arlington All Stars

This is one of those stories that would normally make steam come out of my ears except that nothing really surprises me anymore and so I now just chuckle and shake my head and turn to the business section to check stock quotes.

Sgt. David Thomas, a 42-year-old gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform.

Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, Thomas was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear.

David tangled with Walter Reed's image machine when he wanted to attend a ceremony for a fellow amputee, a Mexican national who was being granted U.S. citizenship by President Bush. A caseworker quizzed him about what he would wear. It was summer, so David said shorts. The case manager said the media would be there and shorts were not advisable because the amputees would be seated in the front row.

When the guest list came out for the ceremony, his name was not on it.

The F. W. Thomas Performances

I just wanted to publicize this.

SOCCER, I mean, futbol.

I am reading a non-fiction book about Italian calcio right now and I would describe it as an I can't put it down book, except that I have not time to read it, so basically all I do is put it down.

Unfortunate.

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro

The best part is that I bought it for about $3 at B&N.

Other soccer nonfiction books:

Among The Thugs
How Soccer Explains The World

I'm trying to think of any fiction book that I've read that even discusses soccer in passing. I guess Fever Pitch, but I haven't read it.

Progressive Talk

(I'm actually surprised this is the first I've blogged about this)
To start, here are a few links:

AM1260 in DC
At work, I stream Air America shows on the internet out of LA, Miami or Portland - the difference is the local commercials, which are fun.

I listen to Stephanie Miller Stephanie Miller (she's my favorite, entertainment-wise) from 9-12, Al Franken from 12-3 and Ed Shultz from 3 until I leave work.

We get Bill Press in the car on the way to work and if I get to work early enough, I listen to The Young Turks, which is an interesting name.

Thw whole point of this post, which I kind of forgot about as a draft for three weeks, was that Al Franken's show is ending today, Feb. 14th. So it is fortunate that I came across it today.

Many people will do a much better job of eulogizing The Al Franken Show than I can. However, I have been an almost everyday listener and I listened to the very first show ever. In those days, I would sit at my desk at work with my headphones in, and basically just stare, unmoving, for three hours. Over the years, I learned how to function while listening, but it was tough at the beginning.

I particularly liked his co-host in the beginning, Katherine Lampher. Her laugh was amazing. The comedy skits that the two of them did together were genuinely Franken and I loved her for pouring herself into his craziness so fully.

I'm all over the place, so I'm gonna stop. Good luck, Al.