1) Following Saturday's tragedy at the Kentucky Derby, maybe it's time to put "the sport of kings" out to pasture. After all, market forces have already appeared to have "selected out" horse racing for extinction. Just think of all the states where horse racing is subsidized by slot machines and VLTs (and contemplate the irony of the snobbiest of sports being underwritten by the most snob-averse form of commercial gambling). And if some states (think Maryland, Kentucky) don't have slots propping up the horsey set, it's not for lack of trying.

At the very least, horse breeders, trainers, tracks and racing associations should adopt en bloc the recommendations of ESPN horse racing analyst Randy Moss (no, not that Randy Moss). They include: A) ban the whip; B) change the track surfaces, as has been done overseas; and C) stop medicating horses on race day to enable them to run. The last is just plain common sense, but it seems it takes the sad fate of a Barbaro or an Eight Belles to get it through our communal noggin.

2) If pictures like these make you sick ...

... then this blog has, at long last, done some good. These poor, tortured animals are part of some sick, twisted person's "art installation." It's really interactive "snuff" porn. If you want to put a stop to this, sign here.

Now if only we could wrap our minds around the unimaginable enormity of 22,000 lives (at minimum) lost in the Burmese catastrophe ...

(I see that Laura Bush is getting a raw deal for making a few common sense remarks about the crisis. The moral? Whatever you do in politics, for Pete's sake, never speak your mind.)

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