Big Night Tonight

But you'll get hit with that post later. I must admit that it was nice to sleep in but the three fire alarms in the past three days were not quite that nice. That would make a great stand-up bit now, wouldn't it? Much like the five minutes I spent on Yale's campus asking around for the book store but nobody knew where it was. Nobody! These are Yale students that we are talking about!

This press release from Peter Sullivan's congressional campaign was sent out today:

State Rep. Peter Sullivan today hailed passage of an important lobbying reform bill in the New Hampshire House.

Rep. Sullivan is the sponsor of HB 621, which will require candidates for state office to file an itemized list of any donations they receive from a registered lobbyist.

"By passing HB 621, the New Hampshire House sent a clear message that it is time to bring some fresh air and sunlight into the political process," said Sullivan.

"With this legislation, candidates will no longer be able to disguise a lobbyist as a 'lawyer' or 'consultant.' If a candidate wants to accept campaign money from a lobbyist, they can still do so, but now the public will have a clearer picture of who is trying to pull strings in Concord."

HB 621 passed the House on Wednesday despite fierce opposition from House Republican leaders. Despite that opposition, a large contingent of GOP legislators joined with Democrats in supporting Sullivan's bill.

Speaking of Peter, you can find him tomorrow at the candidates forum sponsored by UNH College Democrats and Rockingham/Strafford Democracy For America around 1 PM. The location of the forum is the Strafford Room in the Memorial Union Building located on University of New Hampshire campus in Durham.

Oh, crap! Iran does not want it's weapons inspected if they get referred to the Security Council at the UN. You know, I think it's great that Bayh gave the speech he did yesterday because it does not look good for Iran to not cooperate.

Speaking of international relations, the Senate has UNANIMOUSLY passed legislation urging a cutoff of foreign aid to the Palestinians. This is a good move if you ask me.

The non-binding resolution, passed Wednesday, is the first of several legislative initiatives aimed at cutting off assistance to Hamas, the terrorist group that won a landslide victory in last week’s legislative elections. It was initiated by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.)

Three bills in the House of Representatives, including one introduced Thursday by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) would legislate a ban on U.S. assistance to a Hamas-led government.

Thank you, Sen. Lieberman!!

JTA has a human interest piece on Mathieu Schneider, the wandering Jew. Schneider will be playing as a member on the United States Hockey team when they head to Turin/Torino this month.

Schneider, who maintains a home in California and is a member of the Jewish Community Center in Redondo Beach, Calif., said that over the years he has made an effort to sit out on Yom Kippur and fast. It’s generally not too hard, he said, because the High Holidays tend to fall during training camp and not during regular season play.

Schneider’s mother converted to Judaism to marry his father. Today, he said, "she’s probably the most knowledgeable of the whole family" about Judaism.

Schneider and his wife, who has been in the process of converting for the last couple of years, have three children — and one more on the way. They are, he said, being raised as Jews.

"As you get older, and especially when you have a family, religion becomes more important," he said. "I was raised as a proud Jew and I believe a lot of the lessons Judaism teaches relate really well to family.

"In the times we live in, I think it’s very important to give children that sense of guidance," he added. "Jews have always stuck together."

It looks like Amanda Peet will join the all-star cast of NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Peet joins Matthew Perry, D.L. Hughley, Evan Handler, Michael Stuhlbarg, Nate Corddry, and Carlos Jacott.

Peet, according to the industry paper, will play the president of the TV network that airs the comedy show. Handler and Jacott will portray the show's senior writers with Corddry one of the show's stars and Stuhlbarg as the network censor.

About the show's casting writer Sorkin told the Hollywood Reporter, "The problem with getting actors of this caliber is that if the show doesn't work, Tommy and I can be pretty sure it was our fault."

Mark Warner will keynote the annual Founder's Day Gala this April in Wisconsin.

Viewers of TV programs prefer Oprah Winfrey but Jon Stewart has knocked of The Late Show's David Letterman for the number two spot. I remain confused as to how Bill O'Reilly managed to even place in the top ten.

The "fake" anchor of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart -- and host of the upcoming Academy Awards -- knocked David Letterman out of the No. 2 spot as the CBS Late Show host fell to No. 3.

NBC's Tonight Show host Jay Leno tied with Fox News' Bill O' Reilly at No. 4 and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres moved up one spot to No. 6.

NBC Late Night host Conan O'Brien debuted on the list at No. 7 and Jerry Seinfeld returned to the list at No. 8. Seinfeld last appeared on the list in 2000, but he apparently rebounded with the release of his popular TV show on DVD, Harris said in a news release.

Another newcomer, George Lopez, was ranked No. 9 and another blast from the past -- Tim Allen -- was No. 10.

Apparently, Sen. Feingold and Hillary Clinton will have an uphill battle. I like Feingold and you know my feelings on HRC but I'd want a stable Middle East before we see a Jewish president. With all the instability over there currently, I don't think that having a Jewish president would be the best thing. Yes, this is coming from a supporter of the Lieberman presdential campaign.

Nomar Garciaparra will not be playing in the World Baseball Classic. It seems like a lot of the super stars are not playing in the WBC. I think because it's so close to the beginning of the season.

While I am honored to have been asked to participate, at this point, I believe it is really important for me to concentrate on the year ahead," he said. "Given all that I have been through with my health the past couple of years, and now with changing both teams and positions, I feel this is the time for me to focus on doing my best for the Dodgers, my new teammates and the wonderful fans in Los Angeles.

So what do the Cubs do if they can't beat the Cardinals? They sign them! Jason Simontacci, from the same article as Nomar, has signed a minor league contract. Simontacci joins utilityman John Mabry.

Also, from the same article, San Francisco's Pacific Bell Park which later became SBC Park has now had another name change to where it will be known as AT&T Park. AT&T was bought by SBC Communications and SBC changed their name to AT&T.

"AT&T played a critical role in the development of our ballpark and helped to keep major-league baseball in San Francisco," Larry Baer, the club's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. "Our partnership enabled us to create what we believe has become the best ballpark in America."

AT&T Park is scheduled to host the all-star game in 2007. The Giants said the park will offer wireless AT&T Internet service and that signage likely would be changed by midsummer.

WikiPolitics? That's the latest scandal on Capitol Hill.

Last week, Wikipedia temporarily blocked certain Capitol Hill Web addresses from altering any entries in the otherwise wide-open forum. Wikipedia is a vast, growing information database written and maintained solely by volunteers. In December, the database received 4.7 million edits from viewers, of which a relatively small number -- "a couple of thousand," according to founder Jimmy Wales -- constituted vandalism.

I wonder if there is a Wikipedia entry for me.

Ken Lucas is already being attacked by the GOP. This is going to get nasty! I pray that it remains civil but it's very unlikely. I pray that the KY-3 race also remains civil but we all know that Anne Northup will pull every trick in the book to ruin the images of her opponents.

Ernie Fletcher's calendar showed that he was at the "hit list" meeting.

Apparently Jason Sudeikis has a nickname: Suds. That's the way I read it in the NY Times article on the new wild and crazy guys.

Interesting article on property owned by Jonathan Miller's parents.