An Update on Anne's Cad....

I don't know why I'm fascinated with this con specifically--probably because it involves Anne Hathaway...Thanks AP

(AP)Italian con man Raffaello Follieri, who went from dating actress Anne Hathaway to serving a prison term for fraud, isn't enjoying the "unspeakably unsanitary" conditions at a federal jail in Brooklyn.

Follieri's lawyer sent a letter to a judge this week complaining about the facility.
"Mr. Follieri reports that he is in a windowless dormitory with approximately 120 other men," the letter said. "He says that he cannot eat because the food appears to be spoiled and that the toilet and shower facilities are unspeakably unsanitary. e.g., there is excrement in the shower and rats are roaming freely in the area. He says the stench is intolerable."

The lawyer, Flora Edwards, said things are so bad, it has made Follieri ill. So far he has had a fever, blood in his urine, intestinal problems and shortness of breath.
Edwards asked the judge to have the 30-year-old transferred back to the federal jail in Manhattan where he was previously held.

The judge asked the government to look into Follieri's complaints.

Follieri was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison in October. He pleaded guilty to cheating investors out of millions of dollars by falsely claiming he had Vatican connections that enabled him to buy church property at a discount.
The proceeds supported a playboy lifestyle that included a $37,000-a-month Manhattan apartment and lavish vacations with Hathaway. The couple dated for four years.

On Language or 5 Minutes You'll Never Get Back

I am a New York Times Sunday subscriber. And as such, I look forward to reading the Times’ Sunday Magazine. However, reading William Safire’s column “On Language” is lost on me. Don’t get me wrong: I want to love it. As a writer, why wouldn’t I like taking a deeper dive into the wonderful word of words? I should like it.

A word or phrase is presented and Safire expounds on its origin, usage, and perhaps how it fits in today’s lexicon. Here’s how it opened last Sunday:

“Sometimes a phrase is around so much that it hardly gets noticed. Lexicographic research shrugs it off as either as “nonce term” –here today, gone tomorrow—or something that’s been around so long that it needs no explanation.”

So it is with let’s do this. You’ve heard it a thousand times when someone asks hopelessly, What should we do, your reply goes “let’s do this! And you show the way.

Ah, but what happens to the phrase’s meaning when the emphasis shifts to let’s do this?” The gentle instructive changes to the strong imperative; it is a whole new ballgame.”

See what I mean? We don’t go forward; instead we go backward into the phrase.

The truth of the matter is that I find it tedious, cold and distant. Ironically, those three words might also describe Safires’ former boss, Richard Nixon. Worst of all, you, nor I, will ever get this time back by doing this.

What I Learned Friday

I get it about Barack. I do. But when I start seeing Clinton rejects such as Rahm Emanuel surface, I begin to get the feeling that my definition of change is vastly different from Messiah's. Some things are not his fault. Like the hayride the media went on with him throughout the election. And you had to figure that the comparisons with the 1960s Kennedys were inevitable. Comparisons of his two girls with John-John peeking through the desk. C'mon now. The family does not yet occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and I'm already sick of them.

If there's a god in heaven, the Jets lose this lead in the fourth quarter. It's 24-21after having been 24-6. I like Bob Papa on the NFL Network--a huge upgrade over Bryant Gumbel.

Newsflash: Former Guns N Roses front man Axel Rose has finished "The Chinese Democracy." At $13 million, the New York Times once called it, "the most expensive recording never made." At any rate, the disc hits the store during the Thanksgiving week.

Not a day after the Matt Holliday trade, Brian Cashman redeems himself. Yankees get Nick Swisher from the White Sox for Wilson Betemit and a minor league pitcher. Good move. I like the versatile Swisher who can play outfield and first base.

Homework assignment: Go to Youtube And punch up the 2003 Smarty Jones/Birdstone duel in the Belmont Stakes. If Tom Durkin's call of Birdstone running down Smarty Jones in the home stretch doesn't grab you by the throat, you aren't living. "The whip is out on Smarty Jones!"

Take a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Z49x11smk

Monday Media Drive By On Francesa

Once again, Raismann is all over it. Check out this item in the NY Daily News:
Sports Pope LOLOLOL.

We never asked CBS Radio suits to provide us with October Arbitron ratings for Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa's WFAN show, but for some reason they did.

It wouldn't be because the ratings (in the men 25-54 demographic) showed Francesa was second in the market (3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) compared to third in October 2007, and third in the market (1 p.m.-6:30 p.m.) compared to fifth in October '07, would it?

Of course it would. You think CBS Radio, FAN's parent company, would go out of its way to provide the numbers if Francesa's ratings tanked and he did not do better than he and Chris (Mad Dog) Russo did in October 2007? This is nothing more than a spin job attempting to show Francesa is doing better minus Russo.

Nice try, guys. Run this jive up someone else's flagpole.

It's Election Time...

I'll be refreshing this all night....

Early on, it doesn't look good for ol' McCain. Barack's supporters are already lining up in Chicago's Grant Park...

7:01 Katie Couric's CBS in her voiceover "As America stands on a path with destiny" (At this moment I screamed, "Shut up, Katie")

7:02 Bob Schieffer. CBS, "President Bush did not campaign with a single Republican candidate. It's like he stayed inside."

7:03 Jeff Greenfield, CBS, "McCain isn't sailing into a wind tonight he's sailing into a gale."

7:12 Pat Buchanan, MSNBC, "This could be a transformational election like Reagan in 1980."

Early on the electoral chyron read McCain 13 Obama 3.

8:00 MSNBC just gave PA, NJ, MD, and MA to Obama

8:02 the electoral chyron now reads Obama 103 to McCain 34. The Super Bowl-like route is on.

8:03 Chris Mathews, MSNBC, "McCain's path has crashed. There is no scenario in which McCain can win without Pennsylvania....

8:31 MSNBC's Chris MAthews on Elizabeth Dole's senate loss "This might be the first politician to lose for not talking enough."

Musings:

How did Katie get that job, really. MSNBC Olbermann and that snarky-ass attitude HAS to go. Hey Brit Hume--better get another cup of coffee, you're going to be up a while longer. David Gregory is really bucking for Russert's seat with those bannker's stripes...On his afternoon show, WFAN's Mike Francesa, always a political junkie, praised Obama has running a brilliant campaign, maybe the best ever. Thanks for cutting through the clutter, Mike.

What I'll miss about the election...

Normally I view politics much the way I view The Kentucky Derby or the Final Four. That is even when I barely know the names of those competing I always have a rooting interest--even though I pick it up in the days or hours before the event.

But this year's election (which actually began in Jan. 2007) was a spectator sport all of it's own. For one, you heard about something election nearly every night. I'll miss that. Here's what else I'll miss:

Obama's overly-pronouncing words such "Taliban" to come across as more erudite. Someone should tell him that it's not pronounced "Tolly-bon" and "Paki-ston"

Tom Brokaw, during the Presidential debate, scolding the candidates to stay on the clock.

The New York Times' sourcing of two stories which was surprisingly thin. Although the Times says otherwise....

I'll miss Fox News coverage if only for the thoughts of one Charles Krauthammer. Steady as a metronome, the guy is as entertaining as a real estate closing.

Coming up tomorrow...blogging election coverage...live.

What I Learned Friday on Saturday

Some tunes hold up over time. Shotgun by Junior Walker and the All-Stars is but one.

I wouldn't want to be in the room with Hillary Clinton on Election night. Remember at the beginning of this election cycle? The nomination was Hillary's to lose. Few seem to remember that.

Sir Topham Hat was knighted. Who knew?

He may be the manager of the year but Rays manager Joe Maddon had an awful 2.5 innings in the Game 5 clincher

Brian Cashman's record on acquiring free agent pitchers is spottier than the leopards in the Bronx Zoo.

Everyone's predicting a Giant ass-whipping tomorrow. Watch the Cowboys.

The NY Rangers are off to their best 13-game start in their long history. Dare I say it? Start printing the Finals tickets