"The press has bravely and nobly eroded the

public trust. What I'm advocating is the media come back and work for us again. . . The bias of the media is not liberal. It's lazy and sensationalist."
- Jon Stewart

Meanwhile, while I was watching all those baseball games, what else was going on in the world? Let's see, last Friday, Daily Show host Jon Stewart appeared on Crossfire and called bow-tied conservative co-host Tucker Carlson a "dick" on national t.v., and said that Crossfire was "partisan hackery" that did little to advance the cause of democracy.

"You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably," Stewart said.

"You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think," Carlson responded.

"You need to go to one," Stewart shot back.

Carlson chided Stewart for lobbing softball questions when John Kerry appeared on The Daily Show last month. Stewart looked genuinely appalled. "I didn't realize - and maybe this explains quite a bit - that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity." When Carlson continued to argue, Stewart shut him down hard. "You are on CNN," he said. "The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls."

Carlson complained that for a comedian, Stewart wasn't being very funny. "Come on," he said, "be funny." "No," Stewart replied, "I'm not going to be your monkey." Later, Carlson told Stewart that he was "more fun" on his Comedy Central show, leading Stewart to call him a dick.

Meanwhile, last Wednesday, Courtney Love was back in court and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for hitting a clubgoer on the head with a microphone stand during a performance. The Judge granted Love a conditional discharge, meaning her case will be sealed after one year if she pays the victim $2,236 to cover medical expenses, joins a drug-treatment program and does not commit any other crimes. If Love violates the conditions, she could face 15 days in jail.

"I just wanted it to be over," Love said after the hearing, wearing a long, light-brown suede coat lined with fur. "I played a rock show. I didn't do anything. I wasn't on drugs. Playing a rock show had nothing to do with drugs."

The case stems from an incident in March, when Love hit Gregory Burgett, 24, of Kentucky with a microphone stand as he watched her show at a Manhattan nightclub. Burgett needed three staples in his head to close the wound, and Love was arrested on misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and third-degree assault. Those charges were reduced to one charge of disorderly conduct. Asked outside court whether she had met or spoken to Burgett, Love replied, "I don't know who that was, but he has a medical bill and I'm paying it."

Love also faces a felony assault charge in California for allegedly attacking a woman with a liquor bottle at an ex-boyfriend's home in April. A preliminary hearing is set for October 27.

As for me, I'm off to Panama City Beach for a third attempt at a twice-aborted dive trip. The first trip was called off on account of Hurricane Ivan, and the second due to forecast thunderstorms and five-foot seas. The forecast for this weekend looks much better - sunny, highs in the lower 80s, and 1- to 2-foot seas. I might finally got some underwater time in.