Deregulator: Alive since '85!

END OF AN ERA? I've been a fan of the Atlanta Braves since their 1969 division title, and Tom Glavine ranks among my personal favorites since I've been following the team. He's the thinking man's pitcher, perhaps more so than Greg Maddux, because Glavine's had really only one grade A pitch his entire career ... a change-up. Glavine's had a lower margin of error than any other successful control-type pitcher of the era. At least Maddux has featured a top-notch slider and change-up, not to mention control that suggests a deal with the devil. (In case you're curious, the list of fave Braves is comprised of Dale Murphy, Henry Aaron, Phil Niekro, John Smoltz and Glavine, with honorable mentions for Ron Gant, David Justice, Jeff Blauser and Mark Lemke, since I also saw these guys play Class A ball for the Durham Bulls.) Well, Glavine's a Met now, and I'm not all that broken up about it. He'll be 37 next year and wanted a three- to four-year commitme...

HEADS ROLL: Paul O'Neill resigns from Treasury. No big surprise there, since it's been rumored for weeks, he was never considered an insider and was always a bit of an odd choice, distinguishing himself primarily for highlighting the inane complexity of the tax code. The resignation of Larry Lindsey, however, is more of a head-scratcher, since he has been a confidant of Bush for awhile and is a sound guy. Maybe he's embarrassed for having to defend the steel tariffs and the farm bill -- which, IMHO, might be contributing to the lack of confidence by consumers and investors in the economy. Both of these moves -- and the rejection of the EchoStar/DirecTV satellite merger -- make zero economic sense but have scored political points for the White House. I'm guessing we'll know about the back story of the Lindsey decision soon.

THE DRUG LOBBY: The Marijuana Policy Project, a principal sponsor of Question 9, the unsuccessful ballot measure which would have legalized possession of up to three ounces of marijuana in Nevada, wants to get federal drug czar John Walters fired . The group makes a credible argument Walters was lobbying when he made two trips to Nevada this year to urge people to vote down the measure. (I editorialized about them here .) Lobbying by a federal employee is prohibited by the Hatch Act. The group is also asking Nevada's secretary of state to fine Walters $5,000 for failing to file a "campaign report" with election officials. MPP has petitioned the federal Office of Special Counsel to strip Walters of his duties and bar him from future government employment. The response from Washington? "It's a Cheech and Chong interpretation of the law," Walters flack Tom Riley told the Review-Journal. "Part of the description of the job description is to fight drug leg...

5-1: Carolina looked like the Baby Heels last night, getting blown out 92-65 by a surprisingly good Illinois team. The Heels played like a team whose eight-man rotation is made up of five freshmen and three sophomores, and the Illini's balance and deep front line paid off. IMHO, the Illinois backcourt -- step-for-step as quick as Felton and McCants -- was the key to the game. The Heels' guards are clearly not accustomed to playing against guys that fast, and it showed up in turnovers, rushed shots, etc. Kentucky at the Dean Dome is next. I remain juiced about this team, its athlecticism, its smarts, and its chemistry ... particularly after I witnessed one of the eight victories last year -- a one-point win over Binghamton, for crying out loud -- in person. It should be a great season to wear Carolina Blue.

RAINES OF TERROR? The New York Daily News reports the brass of the Times has killed sports columns by Harvey Araton and Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Anderson which opposed the Gray Lady's editorial stance on the Augusta National flap -- a controversy, BTW, that's been completely ginned up the Times and USA Today. Add to that the Times' recent front-page hatchet job on Robert McTeer of the Dallas Fed, skillfully dispatched by the WSJ's Bill McGurn , and you wonder whether the title "newspaper of record" is up for grabs. As Virginia Postrel , Mickey Kaus and others have pointed out, NYT Executive Editor Howell Raines cut his journalistic teeth as a Southern newpaper editor during the early stages of the civil rights movement. Back then, Raines, Tom Wicker and others were heroes. Unfortunately, their worldviews are frozen in that era and as a consequence they've become some of the most pernicious advocates of racial preferences since. IF IT AIN'T RE...

EVERYTHING'S WAITING FOR YOU ... This afternoon, the mayor of our fair city, Oscar Goodman (the former mob lawyer who played himself in Martin Scorsese's Casino ), will light a knockoff of the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign . (As my friend and colleague Steve Sebelius notes, the old sign is on the south end of the Strip, all of which is outside the city limits, so even after you drive north past the landmark, you're still not in Las Vegas, you're in Clark County. Oh well.) The new version, "Welcome to Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas," will be located downtown, of course, and it marks about the bazillionth attempt at downtown boosterism on Goodman's watch. At least this one's relatively harmless, and is unlikely to ding local taxpayers that much. Since coming to office in 1999, saving downtown has been Goodman's quixotic quest. He's had no shortage of ideas: Build an arena for an NBA or NHL team; a stadium for a Major L...

PUCK, POST AND CENTRAL COAST CUE : The first day after a holiday weekend, and I'm recovering from a tryptophan hangover, so my first "real" posting is about food. The inimitable Bob Senn, proprietor of our favorite wine shop, the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium (nestled between Santa Barbara and Santa Maria on California's stunning Central Coast), reports that the legendary Hitching Post restaurant in Buellton, Calif., will be featured on Wolfgang Puck's Food Network show Dec. 5. Owner Frank Ostini will demonstrate Santa Maria-style tri-tip barbecue . Tri-tip is a sirloin cut available mainly in the West that's slow-cooked over an open spit (or on a Weber kettle, for the backyard barbecue crowd), marinated or seasoned with a rub. It's my favorite variety of beef (and one that I try my hand at on occasion). From a boy who grew up in the midst of the warring regions of North Carolina barbecue, discovering tri-tip was an epiphany, though it'll ...

Greetings. I'm Rick Henderson . Since April 2009, I've been the managing editor of Carolina Journal , the monthly tabloid produced by the free-market John Locke Foundation in Raleigh. It's a terrific gig, assigning stories, editing, writing, and producing stories for the Web site daily. It's great to be home again. I live with my wife Cara and our four pets in Raleigh. From January 2006 - February 2009, I was an editorial writer at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. (Then the paper shut down.) Previously, I was on the editorial page of The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., the final seven months as deputy editor of the page. Before that, I spent four terrific years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada's largest newspaper!) as an editorial writer and columnist. My first paying gig in journalism, 1989-1997, was a labor of love at Reason magazine, five of those years as the monthly's first full-time bureau chief in Washington, D.C. I'm a North ...