Attaway, Joe. Yankees manager Joe Torre dropped into Tampa for an hour today to turn down the team's offer of a $5 million one-year extension to his contract. During this year's playoffs, the best boss in town among those bosses who aren't actually, shall we say, "present," George Steinbrenner, publicly held Torre's job over his head, threatening to fire him if he didn't turn in another series win.

After ten years of loyal service (to us), Tony Blair has stepped down as British Prime Minister. Our new man in London is dour Scot Gordon Brown. Blair will now attempt to settle the Palestinian problem, which is surely much easier than having to take orders from a dyslexic alcoholic with Dick Cheney's robot hand up his ass.