WE'RE ALL SICKOS, according to the way it's laid out in this Salon article about Michael Moore's new movie:

When Moore interviews Tony Benn, a leading figure on the British left, his larger concerns come into focus. Benn argues that for-profit healthcare and the other instruments of the corporate state, like student loans and bottomless credit-card debt, perform a crucial function for that state. They undermine democracy by creating a docile and hardworking population that is addicted to constant debt and an essentially unsustainable lifestyle, that literally cannot afford to quit jobs or take time off, that is more interested in maintaining high incomes than in social or political change. Moore seizes on this insight and makes it a kind of central theme; both in the film and aloud, at the press conference, he wondered whether some essential and unrecognized change has occurred in the American character.

Sounds 'bout right.

MORE EVIDENCE TAVAREZ IS A NUTBAG, perhaps, even a bigger nutbag than Manny?:

If Tavarez is unflappable about nearly everything baseball, there is one thing that bothers him — when teammate Manny Ramírez rubs the top of his head, which he did in the dugout last week.

"Manny's always been a guy who is like 12 years old whenever he feels like it," said Tavarez, who has known Ramírez for 15 years. "I told him, 'Listen, we are on TV, so stop playing around.' I told him to stop rubbing my head. He knows I fall asleep easily when somebody does that to my head, but he [kept] doing it. Manny's a great guy and a great player."

Here's video of the head-rubbing incident.

TOP 10 COMIC BOOK SUPERHERO MOVIES, in order of best to worst (not counting The Incredibles — because it wasn't based on a comic book and it's animated — but otherwise it would have been number 2 on this list):

1. Superman: The Movie
2. Spider-Man
3. Batman
4. Superman II
5. Spider-Man 2
6. Spider-Man 3
7. X-Men
8. Hulk
9. Batman Returns
10. --

The point being: There aren't a lot of great comic book superhero movies. So even though 10 gazillion people watched Spider-Man 3 this weekend and 5 gazillion of them liked it and 5 gazillion of them disliked it, it still makes it squarely into the top 10 and dominates as a series.

CRAZY MAN HAS MADE FRIENDS. Strangely enough, psychotic relief pitcher-turned-starter Julian Tavarez has grown smitten with Japanese imports Matsuzaka and Okajima. This is the same Tavarez known for a long, colorful history of tantrums, including punching Tampa Bay Devil Ray Joey Gathright during a play at the plate in a spring training game and punching a phone in the dugout during the 2004 World Series when he was playing for St. Louis. Nowadays, you'll often see him standing at the top of the dugout and talking animatedly with Matsuzaka. Whether Matsuzaka has any idea what he's saying is questionable, but there's a lot of nodding going on, either out of politeness or self-preservation. Tavarez' affections are chronicled in this Globe story covering his last outing (a win):

The Sox bullpen continues to be a great source of shiawase — that's Japanese for happiness — which is why Tavarez goes out of his way to keep not only Daisuke Matsuzaka but Hideki Okajima smiling.

"They're all my friends, Okajima and Matsuzaka," said Tavarez, whose only trouble yesterday came in the third, when he walked Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano, then crossed up catcher Jason Varitek by throwing a slider when Varitek was calling for a fastball, which allowed Mientkiewicz to forgo a bunt and deliver a long ball instead.

"I try to talk to those guys, come out with a joke every day," Tavarez said. "Hopefully, they like me a lot. I just try to make them happy. I think I'm the only player who tries to say something every day, even if it's a stupid thing."

Along with stories of snake oil on his pitching arm and some pretty good pitching to boot, somehow Tavarez has crossed over from "dangerous nutbag" to "somewhat endearing dangerous nutbag," in a crazy Manny sort of way. Now it even seems Tavarez is hoping to learn how to throw a cut fastball from Matsuzaka. Perhaps, in exchange for tips on how to punch things.