Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all!  Big plans for the weekend?  BDH and Little Buddha could use new shoes, so there might be some shopping on the schedule.  I guess I should see what the weather forecast is first, though.  It's a grey wet day here at the moment, but at least the Clutter Tree is getting some water.   In any case, we've got work to do, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's close out the week with a little Clutter.

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays were rained out last night, so it's John Lackey's turn to take the mound against the Baltimore Orioles tonight and try to start a new winning streak.  One of the most remarkable things about this season so far is that I have every confidence he can do it.

In the meantime, catcher David Ross has rejoined the team, though he won't be cleared to play until mid-August at the earliest.  It would be a great boost to the team to have him return, as everyone on the team from the pitchers to the coaching staff seems to love him, plus I'm sure Jarrod Saltalamacchia wouldn't mind a rest now and again, but two concussions is no joke, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, what does it say for back-up catcher Ryan Lavarnway's future that he's been up for about two months now and has barely played?  Perhaps Salty is in line for a new contract at the end of this season, because the team doesn't seem to think Lavarnway is the future.

Is there any woman in San Diego who wasn't subjected to sexual harassment by mayor Bob Filner? 

Condolences to the family and friends of Virginia E. Johnson, who died on Wednesday.  The famous sex researcher was 88 years old.

Senate Democrats are not excited about the idea of Larry Summers being appointed to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Norm Ornstein isn't exactly what you'd call a "liberal," but even he opposes the House GOP repeatedly threatening to hijack the federal government over Obamacare:

But to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation—which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil—is simply unacceptable, even contemptible.

The Alex Rodriguez/Yankees drama continues to get messier, as now Yankees general manager Brian Cashman now says A-Rod might have violated Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement by getting a second opinion about his quad without telling the team in writing first.  It's as if Rodriguez is determined to go out with as much noise as possible before he's suspended/banned.

The fun never ends.  (pic via newsday.com)

I'm starting to get the Doctor Who-withdrawal shakes again.  Fortunately, the next Doctor Who Revisited special is on tomorrow night.  This time the subject is the seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy.  Much like his predecessor, Colin Baker, I've never seen a full McCoy adventure, so this should be fun.  Now, if someone could just hook me up with a copy of the 50th anniversary trailer, that would be great.

Very sorry to hear that Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon has been diagnosed with terminal colon cancer.  Simon has big plans for whatever time he has left.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  I caught a little bit of Rock of Ages again last night, and while it might be one of the worst movies of all time, it did reaffirm that 80's music just ruled, so let's close things out with another tune from the way-back machine for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll see you back here again for more fun soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clutter, and like a man in motion, we are outta here.