The Detroit Tigers have lost three in a row, the last two to the (expletive deleted) New York Yankees. Yet, the Motor City Bengals remain in first place in the American League Central, a game and a half ahead of the White Sox.

It is Do Or Die Time for the Pistons tonight, as they face Miami in Game Five of the semifinals down 3 games to 1. Can Detroit do it? We will see what we will see...

In global politics, the imperial hubris of the United States is showing once again. Condoleezza Rice says that Uncle Sam is willing to talk with Iran about their "nucular" (as Ms. Rice's boneheaded boss would say it) program, but only if Uncle Sam gets to set the conditions for said negotiations. As per usual, no talk of the United States getting rid of its huge arsenal of nukes, or of Uncle Sam's bestest buddies in Israel doing the same. Also as per usual, all the onus is on "those other people" (in this case, the Iranians) to prove that they are really sincere. Uncle Sam and his bestest buddies, of course, need not prove anything except that they have the power to force their will on those less powerful.

Michigan softball came back from a game one loss to win game two of the best of three super regional series, but fell just short in the final game as Tennessee won 1-0. Michigan's bid for a national championship repeat thus ends.

The Michigan baseball team won the Big Ten tournament and will play in an NCAA regional at Georgia Tech, where Vanderbilt will be their first round opponent.

In WNBA action, the Detroit Shock appeared on network TV against Connecticut and made the most of it, winning in overtime to go to 2 wins and 1 loss on the season.

Flint, Michigan's Bizarre Dadaist Gibberish Poet is back at it again!

On a partly cloudy late spring day, I strolled the Saginaw Street main business district and found these gems. For earlier postings about this person, see my entries for March 22, 21, and 9 of 2006, February 8 of 2006, and August 5 and 31 of 2005.

Today's Bits O'Craziness include...

In a heart shape, "ALL GOD'S DESIRES ONLY PLEASE! M.F.H.S." I think the initials may stand for Milton Frank Harding SYWYK. I think this because I have a business card with that name and the cryptic initialism "SYWYK" on it that also includes gibberish remarkably similar to that which I find magic markered on the walls of Downtown Flint.

On another building we have the following words, lacking any obvious wisdom or indeed meaning..."CIG! LIGHTER FLINTS SAVE ALL GODS ITS TOO!" Intertwined with "SALE SIGNS WHERE?" Where indeed? Who knows?

Finally, on a vacant building at 600 S. Saginaw..."ALL GODS PRACTICES TO OURS POLICERS ARE WHAT? GALS?" As is often the case with this person, I would answer the question if only I knew what the hell it was supposed to mean.

More of this as I discover it.

"President" Bush's crooked corporate buddies "Kenny Boy" Lay and Jeff Skilling were both convicted today for conspiracy to commit fraud in the Enron fiasco.

This is very good news, although we will see if any real punishment is meted out to these Capitalist Criminals.

Of course, G.W. Bush and his administration should be the next to go on trial, for various and sundry offenses including High War Crimes.

The Detroit Shock bounced back from their opening game loss to defeat Minnesota 78-69. This evens the Shock's 2006 record at 1-1.

Five Shock players scored in double figures, led by Cheryl Ford with 17 points. Ford also led in rebounds with 14.

Deanna Nolan had a fine all around game with 13 points, seven rebounds and a team high six assists.

Other top scorers included Swin Cash and Ruth Riley with 14 each and Katie Smith with 11. It is especially good to see Cash and Riley doing better. Both of them struggled last season. Swin was coming off an injury and seemed to still be affected by it, while Ruth just never was too consistent. Last night's results for both players were encouraging, and if both can get back to their top form it will help the team greatly.

The Tigers beat Kansas City for their fifth win in a row, and in the process stayed ahead of Chicago in the American League Central. This is shaping up to be quite a story, and reminds me of the Shock's turnaround from last place to league champs in 2002 and 2003.

The Pistons look to get back on track tonight in game two of the men's NBA semifinal against Miami.

Whew! Once again the General Insanity of Life has caused me to fall behind in my blogging.

So what is the state of things at this conjuncture?

The Detroit Pistons just barely survived their second round playoff series with Cleveland, and face Miami next.

Their WNBA sister team, the Shock, lost their first regular season game and one hopes that this is not a harbinger of yet a third consecutive difficult season.

Motown's MLB entry is in first place. Yes, the Detroit Tigers are in First Place! And they have the best record in the entire Major Leagues!

Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, both the Michigan women's softball and men's baseball teams are doing quite well. The defending national champion softball squad won their NCAA regional and advance to the Super Regional where they will play Tennessee in a best of three series.

Michigan baseball won the Big Ten regular season title and will host the conference tournament.

This month's Z Magazine includes a report from the Philippines by James Petras and Robin Eastman-Abaya. It seems that little has changed there from the bad old days of the Marcos dictatorship, as the people still live in poverty and government oppression of activists (or anyone even suspected of trying to change things for the better) is common. As is all too often the case when it comes to Third World Fascism, Uncle Sam is very much involved although most Americans are not aware of it due to the also typical tendency of the US government to either lie about what is going on or just simply consign the unpleasant realities to the Orwellian Memory Hole.

The current "president," (more accurately called a Dictator) Gloria Arroyo, appears every bit as ruthless, corrupt, and totalitarian as Ferdinand Marcos. This was also basically true of the first two post-Marcos heads of state in the Philippines, Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos. Joseph Estrada, who briefly held office in the late 1990s, was somewhat better but still not without serious faults.

The Philippine people carry on the struggle for real freedom and democracy, and I wish them Good Luck in this endeavor.

Once again, I have gotten busy with other things and neglected to post anything here for a while...over a week in fact.

So what do we have going on?

The Detroit Pistons hold a 2 games to 0 lead in the second round of the playoffs against Cleveland. Game one was pretty much a blowout, game two appeared headed in that direction but then Cleveland had other ideas and made a game of it. Detroit ended up winning, but the Cavaliers look like they are not going to just roll over and die.

The Detroit Shock, whose championship odyssey is chronicled in my book "Worst to First, Or, a 'Shock'ing tale of women's basketball in Motown" won their exhibition opener against Connecticut. This is a good sign that 2006 will see them return to championship form after a couple of fair to middling seasons.

Over in Major League Baseball land, the Detroit Tigers' rebuilding project has hit a bit of a snag as the team has lost three games in a row. Hopefully they can pull it together and get back on track.

University of Michigan women's softball goes to Evanston for the Big Ten tournament this weekend, where they meet up with Michigan State tomorrow afternoon.

In the world of global politics, the Emperor of Amerika Gee Dumbya Bush and his Regime continue to bully Iran on the issue of their "nucular" (as Curious George would pronounce it) program. Once again, we see the imperial hubris of the United States in their dictatorial demands that other countries do what Uncle Sam is unwilling to do, in this case, nuclear disarmament.

There is no joy in Hockeytown, for the Red Wings have been knocked out. The Edmonton Oilers applied the fatal blow last night and won the first round series 4 games to 2.

In men's NBA playoff action, the Pistons bounced back to beat Milwaukee and take a 3 games to 1 lead back to Auburn Hills. I see this series ending there, and Detroit advancing.

The Detroit Tigers won their fourth game in a row and stay one and a half games out of first place in the AL Central and in first place in the AL Wild Card race.

In Ann Arbor, the defending national champion Michigan softball team struggled to score runs but still managed to split a doubleheader with Northwestern thanks to great pitching by Jennie Ritter and great overall defense. Michigan is a game and a half behind Northwestern with each team having two Big Ten games left. Michigan needs to beat Michigan State twice and hope that Illinois can do the same to Northwestern.

Speaking of Wolverines vs. Spartans, the Michigan baseball team took three of four from the East Lansing school over the weekend to pull into a first place tie...with Northwestern, the same school that the softball team is in a pennant race with.