Typepad down?

So I was thinking I'd be sleeping in today, well, that did not happen. Anyway, is anyone having trouble accessing sites on TypePad? As I was finishing this post, I did hear from a TypePad user who notes that they are having server issues and that they cannot post new blog entries and readers cannot post new comments there until it is fixes.

St. Louis made a big move in pitching yesterday. No criticism from me on it since Braden Looper was brought up in the Cardinals organization before being traded to the Florida Marlins for Edgar Renteria. Last off-season we got rid of Renteria and picked up David Eckstein. Now we get Looper back! As they say, once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal.

Since being drafted by the Cardinals in 1996, Braden Looper has pitched for Florida and the New York Mets.

The Cardinals starting pitcher and guest of honor at the annual Missouri Athletic Club dinner was detoured by foul weather, so the Cardinals brought in a reliever.

Showing a theatric flair, general Walt Jocketty used the stage of the 36th annual MAC Jack Buck Sports Awards dinner to introduce - really, re-introduce - righthander Braden Looper as a free-agent addition to the Cardinals' retooled relief corps. Looper, a draft pick of the Cardinals in the 1996, finalized a three-year, $13.5-million deal Thursday that will cast him as the setup man for closer Jason Isringhausen.

"Ever since I was drafted by the Cardinals, I've wanted to play back here," said Looper, who spent the past two seasons converting 57 saves as the New York Mets' closer. "I went into this offseason understanding if the right situation arose, I'd definitely do it. There's not a place I'd rather be than this, that's for sure."

Congrats to Chris Carpenter on the MAC award and to Braden for wanting become a Cardinal again!

Now this is interesting. An article in the Daily Ireland is labeled: US treasurer urges ad ban to be lifted. So when I saw that, I thought had to deal with Treasurer Secretary John Snow. But I don't get Google alerts for John Snow. Turns out that "US Treasurer" is Kentucky's own Jonathan Miller!

The most senior finance official in the State of Kentucky has intervened in the row over the British Government refusal to place job recruitment advertisements in Daily Ireland.

And Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller warns Secretary of State Peter Hain that he must "take immediate action to reverse the perception at the very least that the Government’s failure to place such advertisements in Daily Ireland discriminates against the newspaper and its largely nationalist readers."

State Treasurer Miller commends the Secretary of State’s drive to attract further US investment to the North of Ireland. However, he says Kentucky citizens who invested in Daily Ireland, in answer to the call for more investment in the North, have been shortchanged by the British attitude to Daily Ireland.

"This matter should not be resolved by the Equality Commission (which is leading a challenge against the ads job ban) but rather in a forthright, decisive way by the Secretary of State," he says. "Daily Ireland is part of a newspaper group in West Belfast which is an entrepreneurial powerhouse that has increased employment from 17 to 100 in seven years and that has won numerous business and editorial awards. This enterprise is indeed the type of role model the Government is crying out for in Belfast so it is particularly cruel that Daily Ireland is being subjected to discriminatory treatment."[...]

"I understand that the Government is currently reviewing its advertisement options in the North. Such a review seems appropriate, but it is most inappropriate to treat Daily Ireland in a discriminatory way until that review is complete. Please, on behalf of my constituents in Kentucky who have answered the call to invest in the North of Ireland, I ask that you immediately rectify this situation and direct that the Government begin placing recruitment and job advertisements in Daily Ireland on a par with how such advertisements are placed in the other three dailies in Belfast. The review, then, should be of how the four respective dailies provide value for the Government’s money."

Daily Ireland investor and Kentucky investor Mark Guilfoyle, who raised the issue with the State Treasurer, says he’ll protest at an economic conference planned for next year by Peter Hain to attract US investment to the North if the ad ban on Daily Ireland isn’t reversed.

Very interesting. I wonder if that has been covered by the Courier-Journal yet.

When this article came to my attention, I noticed something. Col. Horne has not yet retired from the Marine Corps Reserves but I guess he will be soon. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought there was some sort of provision as to what you can say about the Commander-in-Chief while you are an active member. I'm going to be careful with what I say with regards to Col. Horne because I live in the 3rd district and I'm still waiting on what Dan Borsch decides to do.

We never thought that Bob Marley would record a new song but a demo was unearthed and they added instrumentation like they did with The Beatles "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love."

Composed in a Miami bedroom in 1979, the skeletal track has been overdubbed with slinky guitar by Eric Clapton and wailing background vocals by sons Stephen and Ziggy. The powerful video underscores the song's enduring significance. Marley asks for "No more sweet talk from the hypocrites," while images of bloated bodies in New Orleans floodwaters are juxtaposed with civil rights footage.

That's all til later.