Friday, October 28, 2005

Blog as a guide to the Downtown Magazine web site

After toying with the idea of being a full-time blogger, I concluded that do so would actually be a self-demotion, since I'm already a reporter, editor and publisher, so I left the blog alone and didn't link it to my regular site pages while I decided what to do with it.

Finally, it occurred to me that I could actually help myself and my readers out by using the blog as a kind of guide to the site, and that's what I'm planning to do, use this space to promote the articles that are appearing on the site, so let me get right to that.

And maybe some day, I'll actually start writing like a PR person, rather than a war-worn editor with too much on his plate... Maybe not.

Articles of note appearing this week on the dtmagazine.com web site include, as usual, Business Editor Don Bravo's excellent daily musings on the world of investment and finance. You can find links to his daily briefings in archival form on the Business page.

Naturally, I kept busy writing nock-ups on the World Series (congrats to the White Sox). You can read the daily post-game recaps and notes working backwards from game 4, here.

For sports junkies who follow collage football as madly as I do, the news this week that Texas had moved past USC in the BCS poll came as no surprise around these parts. I had moved Texas into the #1 spot three weeks ago on the Downtown Magazine College Football Top 25 rankings and now find myself in the unusual position of actually being in agreement with the BCS. How weird!

It being Friday, you might want to get your sports fix ready with some action for the weekend, and there's plenty of it. Check out my college football picks, NFL picks and for those of you who love the ponies, I put together a package of Breeders' Cup picks, including my analysis of the win, place and show horses in each race, plus exacta, trifecta and multi-race parlays.

That's it for today. I'll be updating this space more frequently from now on.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Storms rising: Wilma and Fitzgerald

With the World Series scheduled to begin on Saturday, and hurricane Wilma set to hit the west coast of Florida on Sunday, the best time for prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to hand down indictments in the CIA leak case would be... hmmmm, Monday. It will be a slow news day and Fitzgerald would get prime exposure. Well, that's assuming the supine mainstream press decides to cover it and if Wilma doesn't do much damage to the Treasure Coast.

I can see Brian Williams now, "reporting from Ft. Meyers, Florida, where a couple of mobile home parks are closed today by FEMA for damage assessment. Wilma didn't hit here, but FEMA officials thought maybe the bird flu might have snuck in on the winds. In Washington, the President, Vice President, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Judy Miller, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Tim Russert, Katie Couric, Tom Cruz, Michael Chertoff and the entire Navy Marching Band have been indicted for conspiracy to commit treason. Donald Rumsfeld will be sworn in as president on Tuesday. John Bolton is rumored to be named Secretary of State."

"Now back to our studios in New York for important news on the World Series and our special 'Bringing the War Home' series on a man who has installed anti-tank guns on his roof in rural Oshkosh."

Yeah, I'm dreaming. But Fitzgerald will be handing down indictments shortly. My wish list is: Karl Rove, Libby, Rice, Powell (no bad act should go unpunished), Dick Cheney.

I would be happy to see those five be indicted. Any more, I'll be dancing in the street 'til dawn. If Cheney isn't included, I'll live. But please, please, get Condi on the list.

Monday, Monday, Washington, D.C....