Bush threw out the first pitch on ESPN's nationally televised Nationals/Braves game last night and was suitably serenaded the way a man of his 'popularity' can only be.

They're not booing, sir.

They saying, "Booo-urns! Booo-urns!"

Finally finished the second part of last Sunday night's HBO premiere of McCullough's JOHN ADAMS mini. I thought it was astounding.

I never read the book, though I'm tempted to check out 1776 in the near future. I love the story of this nation's founding and the perspective offered from Adams is wonderful and enlightening. But it wasn't his happening upon the aftermath of The Boston Massacre, the spirited defense of both the British soldiers involved and the laws upon which this nation's very justification rested, or the evolution of John Adams from private lawyer to revolutionary to President of the country he helped found that struck me the most.

It was the story's portrayal of Thomas Jefferson, reluctant author of the Declaration of Independence. Upon delivering his draft, famously inclusive of language condemning the sale and possession of slaves which would later be excised... poor Jefferson has to sit there and listen to Adams and Ben Franklin pick through his words and offer what amounts to the eighteenth century version of notes.

Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Party and would-be President himself, one day, had to endure the Continental Congress' version of the story meeting with studio executives, producers and marketing seated around the conference table.

I, personally, though the word "self-evident" was the better choice.

But I felt for poor Jefferson I really did.

They say these sort of deaths come in threes. Who is next? Will it be you? Will it be me?

Science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke has died aged 90 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, it was confirmed tonight.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

The visionary author of over 100 books, who predicted the existence of satellites, was most famous for his short story "The Sentinel," on which filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" was based.

He was also credited with inventing the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality.

Clarke was the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as the "Big Three" of science fiction alongside Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.

Daily Variety has just informed me that Anthony Minghella has died suddenly at 54.

I had the opportunity to meet Minghella on a couple of occasions while interning at Miramax back before the turn of the last century. I recall him being incredibly gracious and understated -- no small feat considering his epic THE ENGLISH PATIENT was in the midst of a tear through the Golden Globes and Academy Awards, locking up the New York-based studio's first Oscar for Best Picture.

A very talented and ambitious filmmaker doing interesting work in the studio system. A terrible shame.

The best thing on cable news has been Keith Olbermann for some time now...

And the winter didn't make it any easier. But spring is around the corner. The ballplayers are down in Florida and I've got new creator-owned series', new work for hire comics at major publishers, and some new movie endeavors on the burner.

Daylight Savings has truly ushered in a new day...

If you're the sort of Democrat who longs for Hillary to be at the top of a Clinton/Obama ticket... you deserve pity, scorn and thanks for the healthy laugh at your own expense, in that order.

It's sad watching my Senator, who doesn't really have a prayer of getting out of second place in the race for the Democratic nomination, try and bait undecided primary voters with her overtures toward Obama's charm, momentum and energy.

Say it with me now (or, at least, listen closely)... voting for the Iraq War resolution... and her vote on Iran... means she is a political opportunist who does not share our values. Hillary Clinton has demonstrated deplorable judgement on the largest national security matters she's had the opportunity to cast a vote on.

She fails, at a staggering level, to meet any sort of "Commander-In-Chief Threshold" by any measure a sane person who's been paying attention can possibly see.

If hers is the sort of so-called experience you'd prefer in the White House, perhaps you should switch to the Republican party?

When my guy locks this thing up, I'd hope he doesn't take her as his VP. The Clintons have done more to alienate me during this campaign than an entire 90s worth of exhausting trials and tribulations could have ever possibly done.

She's closer to Bush and McCain than she is to Obama, in my opinion. We need less of her and more of him and I look forward to her return to the United States Senate.

And good riddance to this horrorshow of a so-called Democratic presidential campaign.