Four... for Friday

Let's see what's going on over at BeliBlog's Four for Friday.

Q1 - Possession: Aside from your home and car, what is the most expensive thing you own?

Q2 - Race: On this day in 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title (in tennis) when he defeated Jimmy Connors. Do you think race still plays a role in professional sports or is race no longer an issue?

Q3 - Presidential Power: Earlier this week, in an unprecedented move, Present President Bush commuted the two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame CIA leak. Bush's action marked the first time that a President had ever commuted a sentence before the convicted person ever served a day of their sentence. Do you think the President of the United States should continue to have the power to commute and pardon those convicted of a crime? As background, President Bill Clinton handed out 456 clemency actions--which include pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, remissions, etc.--including one for his own brother, who was arrested for cocaine possession; while his predecessor, President George Herbert Walker Bush issued 77 clemency actions. (President Reagan, in case you're wondering, handed out 406 over eight years, while President Carter distributed 566 during his four years in office.) Again, the question... Do you think the President of the United States should continue to have the power to commute and pardon anyone convicted of a crime?

Q4 -Annoyances: What's the most annoying part of your day (aside from answering Four For Friday :-)?

1. Probably the ThinkPad tablet PC on which I am writing this. Unless the furnace doesn't count as part of the house. We also had to buy a new water heater recently. That was not cheap.

2. I think race is not as much of an issue today, in American professional sports, as economic background is. Playing sports at any level is expensive, and only kids whose parents can afford it really have a chance.

3. Sure.I don't see why not. Just because The Monkey abused it to appease his ever-shrinking fan club (nickname: "the Drooling Idiots") doesn't mean that the power has no value.

4. I'm not a big far of getting out of bed in the morning.