My best friend recently attended the Syracuse-Vermont first round NCAA match-up that ultimately ended in the Catamounts crushing the Orange, thereby busting a whole lot of brackets. It was a sellout crowd at the DCU Center in “Woostah” Mass., which, according to my friend, made going to the bathroom a traumatic experience. But why? Does DCU use the “trough” (as is the case at Wrigley Field)? Did they run out of paper towels?

In fact, my friend reports that the men’s rooms at the DCU Center consist of only four urinals and one stall. As I later asked him, “Did you really need to drink that seventh beer?”

It’s an important question. And make no mistake, in certain precincts of the left, people will not be happy until Terri Schiavo is in the ground.

(If there is a silver lining here, it’s that mainstream liberalism has not been perverted by the far left on the question of killing Terri Schiavo. Let’s hope they continue to resist.)

As I’ve said before, virtually every American controversy has two valid sides where well-informed people of good faith can disagree. The murder of Terri Schiavo is an exception to this rule. No person of good will could survey the facts of (1) Terri’s condition; (2) the lack of evidence of her wishes; (3) Michael’s malpractice suit testimony, post-suit behavior, and current compromised standing; (4) the willful and capricious determinations of Judge Greer; and (5) the testimony and availability of Terri’s parents and still come to the conclusion that she should be murdered.

Yet here we are. So why do some people on the far-left want Terri dead? There are two workable theories. The first, is that this behavior is the product of simple anti-Christian bigotry. The second, put forth by Mark Steyn, is that what we see now is the wages of abortion:

But once you start weighing the relative values of individual lives, there’s no end to it. Much of that derives from the way abortion has redefined life–as a “choice,” an option.

In practice, a culture that thinks Terri Schiavo’s life in Florida or the cleft-lipped baby’s in Herefordshire has no value winds up ascribing no value to life in general.

Update, 3:48 p.m.: Kos himself now says that it’s all about abortion.

Charles Johnson reports that Mary Mapes has sold her memoir to St. Martin’s. It will be published Fall 2005.

Disclaimer: The following veers dangerously close to sleep-apnea territory. But I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t really need your help.

My wife and I have been casually shopping for a new mattress for a couple months. Our old one has springs sticking out of it and is permanently concave. It is unpleasant.

On Saturday night we went out to dinner, had some wine, and then went for a walk through Old Town, Alexandria. We stopped at Joann’s Bed and Back Store and, with almost no provocation, bought a TempurPedic mattress, which was supernaturally comfortable.

On Sunday morning I did some post-facto research and went to epinions, where I found that while most people liked TempurPedic’s special memory-foam mattresses, about 10 percent of them had the same two complaints: (1) The memory foam begins wearing out after about three years; and (2) When you try to invoke the 20-year warranty from TempurPedic, their customer service is terrible. Ten percent isn’t a great many people, but of the 90 percent who liked the TempurPedic, few of them had owned the mattress for more than a year. (This makes sense of course, if you had it for a year, wrote an epinion review, and still liked it five years out, it probably wouldn’t occur to you to write another positive review.)

Frightened at having bought this thing on a lark, I called the store and cancelled our order.

Was this a mistake? I’d like to hear from you (or anyone you know) about TempurPedic. Have you ever had one of their mattresses? Did you like it? Hate it? How long did it last? Did the foam form a little valley where you slept after a few years? How was dealing with TempurPedic? What is your recommendation?

In short, I need your help in deciding whether or not I should go through with the TempurPedic purchase, because while I loved the way the mattress felt, it’s too much money to spend on something which I’ll need to replace in a few years.

Any and all thoughts, experiences, advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

This is an important, defining moment for leftism. The Daily Kos has posted an entry about Terri Schiavo by Hunter. It must be read to be believed:

You know what? Subpoena her. You called it, DeLay, Frist — unless you’re the biggest fucking cowards on Capitol Hill (a pretty safe bet, ain’t it?) I want you to haul that soulless body that used to be Terri Schaivo up to Washington, prop her the hell up in front of a microphone, tape a goddamn American Flag to her forehead and ask her your fucking, shit-headed questions.

She won’t answer. Guess Why?

Because She. Has. No. Brain. Left. She is brain-dead. She is worse than brain-dead, because her brain died so long ago that there’s nothing but fluid-filled holes in much of it. Yeah, you can still dress her up in pretty clothes and coo, if you’re a sick fucking bastard. I think you’re a fucking necrophile, but that seems to be a central tenet of modern Republicanism, so what the hell?

So subpoena her. Bring. It. The. Fuck. On. You. Goddamn. Constitution-Fucking. Cowards.

This is where America’s left has gone. Let us pray they don’t take liberalism with them.

The New York Times makes another blunder:

In her article Provocative Snapshots of a Many-Layered Issue in today’s New York Times, Virginia Heffernan writes:

William Kristol, the founder of The Weekly Standard, ventured to assert with conviction on Fox News, “She can recover substantially if she gets the proper rehabilitation.”

Heffernan is incorrect on two counts. First, the statement on Fox News Sunday was made by Fred Barnes, not William Kristol. Second, Barnes was not, as Heffernan suggests, offering his own judgment. Here is what Barnes said:

And thirdly, Majority Leader Bill Frist did do one thing that was important. He talked to one of the neurologists who has examined her who says she can recover substantially if she gets the proper rehabilitation.

Ross Douthat has a great post on Schiavo and the left.

Many thanks to all those who chimed in to the Canada item on behalf of John Candy. Good points were raised all around, including his strength as a supporting character and his most memorable line (in Swedish) from Splash.

Secondly, I will have to disagree with my colleague David Skinner’s assessment of the movie Garden State. David, what about the knight in shining armor who works at Medieval Times?

For more info, here is a link to my review in the Daily Standard.