I've been having problems with Blogger and have just managed to get it working again--or, more appropriately, it has deigned to permit itself to function again. Sorry the postings have been sparce, but we've been on the sidelines in a cast.

Things We Would Have Blogged On:

1) There was a disastrous train wreck in Albacete province in which 19 were killed and more than forty badly hurt when a Talgo, a top-of-the-line Spanish-built passenger train, crashed head-on into a freight. There have really been too many accidents recently on the trains. I, of course, would privatize the whole damn system if I could, but since I can't, I at least want a shakeup in management, please.

2) The fallout from the airplane accident that killed 62 Spanish soldiers is still falling out. The Left is calling the Aznar government irresponsible for hiring cheapo Ukranian planes to transport our troops. The Right is saying that it was Leftist budget cuts that reduced the Spanish military to what it is today. I think Spain needs a pretty hefty military budget increase, myself, if we would like to be taken more seriously internationally.

3) The Spanish Supreme Court has told the Basque regional government that it has to outlaw Batasuna / EH / AuB / HB or whatever its name is this week. They have to kick Batasuna's representatives out of the Basque Parliament, and so far they're not willing to do so. We'll see what happens.

4) Howell Raines is gone, as you already know. Let's see if the Times becomes any more responsible in its news coveraqe.

5) Sammy Sosa got busted for corking his bat. Frankly, I don't think it's that big a deal. Those little equipment irregularities are almost part of the game. He got caught, he pays the price--a ten-game suspension or whatever--and it's finished, everyone will forget all about it. It's not going to throw a shadow over his career. Now, is Sammy a roid monster? That, to me, is a lot more serious a violation of the written and unwritten rules than corking your bat.

We hope to be back on our regular blogging schedule as of tomorrow.