Shabbat Shalom

Anything not covered before I log off until tomorrow night will be added to this post before I log off.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers, has decided to retire.

Picked to be chairman in 2001, Myers had deep knowledge of the military and broad experience.

As a young fighter pilot, he flew combat missions over Vietnam.

He served two years as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, commanded the US Space Command, led US air forces in the Pacific, and worked as an assistant to General John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs under president Bill Clinton.

The Pentagon's top priority when he was appointed chairman was transforming the Cold War military into a smaller, more mobile, high tech force.

Evan Bayh is a moderate Democrat like myself. I would have voted against the nominations. How hard is it for Republicans to accept that?

The NY Times has a nice profile of Fred Armisen. Armisen is a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live.

Did Hurricane Katrina sink the image of Louisiana?

The congressional Blue Dog coalition has sent a message that I believe most Americans would agree with. Kentucky's own Ben Chandler is a member of this delegation.

"Today, our nation's long term fiscal security is growing even bleaker with the addition of billions of dollars in emergency supplemental funds needed to rebuild the Gulf Region," writes the Blue Dog Coalition. "As such, members of the Blue Dog Coalition urge you to immediately call for an emergency bipartisan budget summit to get our nation's fiscal house in order."

"This country cannot continue to run trillions of dollars in debt without considering the consequences to future generations," said Blue Dog Rep. Marion Berry. "You don't have to be all broke out in brilliance to know that when you spend more money than you take in you eventually go broke. I think everyone agrees that we have a financial situation on our hands that deserves the attention of the President and every Member of Congress. We ask nothing short of an immediate budget summit to get this country back on the right financial track."

Unfortunately for us, we really don't know what the President learned at the business school he earned his MBA at.

Midnight Madness has returned to ESPN after a long absence. There will be five schools featured including the Kentucky Wildcats.

Both Boston and New York won last night. The Red Sox are one game out of taking over the AL East. They play three games with the Yankees this weekend.

Here is your weekend update. Missing from tomorrow night's premeire will be the head writer and co-anchor of "Weekend Update," Tina Fey.

He's also not sure about another key player: Maya Rudolph, 33, who is seven months pregnant. Lorne says he met with the comedian last week in Los Angeles, and she is awaiting her doctor's approval to travel to New York for the Saturday Night Live premiere.

"All I want is the audience to sort of get a glimpse of her so that everybody understands why when she disappears," he says. "She's such an essential part of the show that I can't imagine her not being there and Tina not being there. I'm just in denial about all of it."

John Roach, a member of the Kentucky Supreme Court now, has been implicated through emails in the Transportation Department. Will we see an indictment of John Roach and a possible resignation?

A Billy Goat Tavern will open up in DC.

Evan Bayh has Hoosier values.

How do you measure Hoosier values? One way might be to note that Bayh has never come close to losing an election in Indiana.

That's why national Democrats are interested in Bayh. They know now that the South is lost in presidential elections and the up-for-grabs battleground is the Midwest, where many large electoral states are decided by a point or two.

But mostly Bayh embodies exactly the Hoosier values The Star thinks he's lost. And those values may prove strong medicine if he does run for president in 2008.

Bayh once said, "I do think that whatever is right for the Democratic Party and right for the American people will be found in the center, both geographically and ideologically." That's an idea that deserves a test.

Derrick Jasper has committed to join the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team.