Some Friday fun...

Unfortunately the jobs picture looks neither good nor fun today, reports the AP:
"The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide swath of employers eliminated 663,000 jobs. It's fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America's workers, and economists say there's no relief in sight. If part-time and discouraged workers are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been 15.6 percent in March, the highest on records dating to 1994, according to Labor Department data released Friday."

Experts suggest things may not improve much until 2010.
If you read a little further in the article, you find some mild editorializing by a perhaps pro-Obama AP writer:
"To brace the economy, the Fed has slashed a key bank lending rate to an all-time low and has embarked on a series of radical programs to inject billions of dollars into the financial system. And the Obama administration had launched a multi-pronged strategy to turn the economy around. Its $787 billion stimulus package includes money that will flow to states for public works projects, help them defray budget cuts, extend unemployment benefits and boost food stamp benefits. The administration also is counting on programs to prop up financial companies and reduce home foreclosures to help turn the economy around. Still, skittish employers announced more job layoffs this week."
Yes, gosh, look at all the wonderful things the Obama folks are trying to do. Damn those "skittish" employers--how dare they focus on their own bottom lines...

Meanwhile, still in Europe, President Obama makes a speech in Strasbourg, addressing U.S. relations with Europe:
"Welcomed with thunderous cheers, President Barack Obama pledged on Friday to repair damaged relations with Europe, saying the world came together following the 2001 terrorist attacks but then "we got sidetracked by Iraq." "We must be honest with ourselves," Obama said. "In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift."
Translation: once again, there are problems, but they're all Bush's fault.
This administration needs a new song.

Michael Ledeen today speculates, not without evidence, that Israel could be preparing to attack Iran's nuclear capacity. Obviously such an attack would stir up the international stage quite a bit. I think a key point to ponder is this: it's not just that we should not blame Israel for acting, if they believe an Iranian attack on them is coming. We should also expect the Israelis to get the job done (they've done it before)...and if/when they do, reducing Iran's military power is certainly in the American interest.

Here's an interesting piece from The Politico on the Obama administration's use of polling.
The writer hastens to ease the blow on Obama, who during the campaign denounced excessive use of polling; he's "no Clinton", he writes (Clinton met with pollsters frequently and endlessly pored over the data). And yet...Obama said his administration would be oh, so different. No, he doesn't meet directly with pollsters. Yet his top political aide David Axelrod is in frequent contact with them and gets Obama the numbers; and, more importantly, the Obama team allows its message and the verbiage it uses to be shaped by polls (people love the word "reinvestment," polls show, so the Obama folks use it.) That smacks of Clintonism to me, and certainly doesn't reflect a significant break with the past.

Some Thursday throwdowns...

The scariest thing to me coming out of the European G20 summit is French President Nicolas Sarkozy's demand for some sort of international regulator with wide powers over financial institutions, along with his imperious statement that this is "non-negotiable." (to be fair, Germany's Angela Merkel backs the idea too). One can only imagine the mischief and power-grabs such a regulator could initiate. Still, where is liberals' outrage at Sarkozy's "cowboy" demands? Perhaps it's only George W. Bush whom they dislike for taking bold positions on the international stage.

By the way, there now appears to be no doubt about it--the long-time, liberal Democratic senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd (remember, the guy who ran for president and, for those with longer memories, the guy who throughout the Reagan presidency managed to be wrong on most every Cold War foreign policy issue) is in trouble--he's down by 16 points already to his likely Republican challenger in a respected, non-partisan poll.
It's a good chance for a Republican senate pickup next year. Keep your eye on that one.

By the way, the Obama administration has levied a huge new tax on tobacco products.
They claim this will raise needed money; others say how wonderful it is that it may make smokers kick the habit, etc etc etc.
But do some realize the effect it could have on small business--on shops that specialize in tobacco products, for example? One store owner in Fort Worth, Texas said recently that she might have to close up shop because of this tax. New taxes...lost jobs. Same old story. But some people never learn...

In NFL off-season news, so--the embattled Jay Cutler is now a former Denver Bronco, as the young quarterback has been traded in a surprise move to the Chicago Bears. While I was driving around this afternoon, I heard some say this was a great move for the Bears--finally they have a QB, he may now be the best QB in the NFC North, etc etc. Maybe. But I'm not so sure. Last year, seemed to me he made a lot of mistakes and turnovers. And in this whole dust-up with the Broncos, he came off to me sounding petulant and spoiled. Is he really mentally tough enough to win big in the NFL? He's achieved no significant playoff success yet, remember. Just what the Bears need--another head case at QB (Rex Grossman, call your office).

Boy, you have to admit--when it comes to rehabbing his image, rapper Chris Brown, who as most know has been, well, pretty credibly accused of physically abusing girlfriend Rihanna, still has plenty of chutzpah:
"On March 31, Brown posed for pictures with the University of Mary Washington women’s basketball team in Fredericksburg, Va. The school happens to be in the midst of its weeklong White Ribbon Campaign. “Men working to end men’s violence against women,” is the organization’s tagline, according to whiteribbon.com."
With whom will he make his next public appearance--Tina Turner?

Saturday stuff...

So far the story of the NCAA Tournament remains the continuing validation of the Big East as college basketball's dominant league. 4 Big East teams remain alive as the tourney is down to its Elite Eight. But that 8 also includes Michigan State--wasn't there nail-biter of a victory last night over Kansas riveting stuff?
A key--down by 5, 3:22 to go, MSU not only scored 8 straight points but also grabbed 6 consecutive rebounds.

The Dallas Mavericks lost, though, last night, at home to Denver 103-101--much of it due it would seem to Jason Kidd being out of the lineup, not to mention Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, etc.
Injuries are a big factor in the NBA this year.

Hmmm. There's a story in today's NY Times on how President Obama made his latest decision concerning U.S. military moves in Afghanistan:
"The debate over the past few weeks offered a glimpse into how Mr. Obama makes decisions. In this case, he chose a compromise between his political and military advisers that some critics say includes some strategic holes, such as a reliance on the same sort of vague guidelines that proved difficult to carry out in Iraq. It also offers insight into the role of Mr. Biden and other members of a foreign policy team that includes many powerful figures vying for Mr. Obama’s attention. In the end the plan is a compromise that reflected all of the strains of the discussion among his advisers..."
That sounds a little too much, to me, like an attempt to pacify his advisers by splitting 50/50 between their disparate advice. One can't make national security decisions like this by making a major goal that of splitting differences between advisers or worrying about political impacts. Ask Lyndon Johnson re: Vietnam.

Monday musings...

Well, it turned out to be a tough year for the ND women's hoops team. They had things all lined up well--they won over 20 games, and were one of the host sites for the 1st and 2nd round of the NCAA women's tourney, which meant the Irish would play at home. And yesterday they were slated to play a #10 seed, Minnesota.
But Minnesota beat ND, 79-71. Coach Muffet McGraw was really displeased with how the team came out in the game, but I suspect injuries caught up with them. 2 starters were lost earlier this year to season-ending injuries, then another starter, Lindsay Schrader, left the game yesterday real early in the second half, not to return. As a result, ND suffered defensively, and had a thin margin for error. It caught up with them yesterday, as Minnesota got hot from outside. The good news for ND: every single player on this year's team returns, and they have a great recruiting class coming in. Still, this loss hurts. That's one of the lessons of team sports, and why it's so riveting: you want things to have a happy ending for hard-working teams, but...no guarantees.

Michigan State's men's team, however, made clutch shots and got clutch stops--and beat both Robert Morris on Friday and USC on Sunday to survive in the NCAAs...

In other news--so President Obama is against the punitive tax levied on those AIG bonuses, passed by the House last week. Well--maybe the president realizes that there remains a conservative movement out there, and that many Americans retain some conservative ideas--that they'd down the line re-think, and not like, such a tax. That's why it's important that we're here.

Bill Bennett today puts Obama's projected deficits in context:
"Let me put the CBO report plainly in context: President Ronald Reagan was blasted by Democrats (and still is) for running a deficit that reached over 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product at their peak. But Obama’s deficits are running 10 percent and 13 percent of GDP over the next two years."

But the stock market rallies big-time today, perhaps because of the Obama Treasury Department's plan to buy up troubled bank assets to the tune of $500 billion to $1 trillion.
Will the rally last? And how much money will we pump into the economy before we're done?

Saturday stuff...

...again, coming in between NCAA hoops-watching:

More trouble for the Obama foreign-policy philosophy of "reach out to them without preconditions and they will come":
"Iran's supreme leader rebuffed President Barack Obama's latest outreach on Saturday, saying Tehran was still waiting to see concrete changes in U.S. policy. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was responding to a video message Obama released Friday in which he reached out to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year, and expressed hopes for an improvement in nearly 30 years of strained relations."
Let's hope the Obama team isn't tempted to make concessions...

Meanwhile, the NCAA tourney rolls on. I had 25 picks correct, 7 wrong in the first round.
Let me throw out some picks for today's games:

UConn vs Texas A&M--go with A&M in another upset. Look for UConn's injuries to catch up with them; and the Aggies too are playing well right now.

Purdue vs Washington--I pick PURDUE to win in a battle between two good teams. The Boilers didn't play that well two days ago; but they won anyway, and I look for them to pick up their play today.

Marquette vs Missouri--go with MISSOURI here. Too much firepower and too many bodies for a depleted, but gallant, Marquette squad.

UCLA vs Villanova--go with VILLANOVA. They didn't play well in game one two days ago, but survived. Like Purdue, I look for them to pick their game up today; and they're playing close to home.

Texas vs Duke--I pick TEXAS in an upset. Texas has big bodies and guys who can shoot the 3. Duke will have a hard time matching up with Dexter Pittman inside. And the Dukies rely too much on the 3; I suspect today they won't be falling.

North Carolina vs LSU--go with NORTH CAROLINA. Too much firepower and athleticism.

Western Kentucky vs Gonzaga--I pick GONZAGA. They're playing not too far from home, and they've gotten hot at the right time.

Michigan vs Oklahoma--much as I'd like to go with the Maize and Blue, I've gotta pick OKLAHOMA. Blake Griffin should prove to be too much for them. Michigan's only hope is to bomb away from 3 pt land, and you know what they say--live by the 3, die by it.




Maryland vs Memphis--I pick MARYLAND in an upset. The Terps have experience and are tested. Memphis struggled in game one of the tourney and I think their struggles to make shots will continue.

More news found in between watching NCAA hoops...

There's an important new report out from the Center for Immigration Studies:
"On December 12, 2006, Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel raided six meatpacking plants owned by Swift & Co. in the largest immigration enforcement action in U.S. history. The plants are located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, and Utah. [This new report, authored by Jerry Kammen], examines the raids and their aftermath....[The report found, among other things]:

• Like the rest of the industry, workers at these facilities have seen a steady decline in their standard of living. Government data show that the average wages of meatpackers in 2007 were 45 percent lower than in 1980, adjusted for inflation.

• We estimate that 23 percent of Swift’s production workers were illegal immigrants.

• All facilities resumed production on the same day as the raids. All returned to full production within five months. This is an indication that the plants could operate at full capacity without the presence of illegal workers."

Gosh, whatever happened to the notion that illegals take jobs that American workers won't do, etc? Looks like that's not as true as many claim.

Some good news in the sports department yesterday. The University of Michigan men's hoops team beat Clemson in the NCAA Tournament, 62-59 (as I predicted!). They almost gave away a big lead. But they made big plays late against a good ACC team, and held their poise. Michigan basketball has come a long way this year...

And Notre Dame's men's hoops team had to rally from 6 points down with 2 minutes to go to edge New Mexico, 70-68. But do so they did, and they won it on a last-second shot from Tory Jackson. Good for him--he came from a very poor background in Saginaw, Michigan, and has done his best to make the most of his time at ND. One more win for the Irish and they'll head to New York City for the NIT semi-finals and finals...

By the way, last night President Obama dissed the disabled.
I'm sure he didn't mean to do so, but imagine the outrage in the usual quarters if President Bush had said something similar.

Even more importantly, remember President Obama's loud rhetoric concerning lobbyists? He said none of them would have jobs in HIS administration. And yet--turns of 11% of his top appointments served as lobbyists in the past 5 years.

Meanwhile, in between watching hoops today...

...I found two outrageous items.
First, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Obama administration is contemplating releasing some Guantanamo detainees--right here in the USA.

And then there's this, concerning Obama and the AIG bonuses:
"President Obama has expressed outrage over the AIG bailouts. “I’m angry too,” he says. He wasn’t told by the Treasury secretary for days, the White House says. Why are Republicans letting him get away with it? President Obama rammed through the stimulus bill — over Republican objections — that explicitly protected the AIG bonuses."
Read the whole thing, especially the language of the bill.
Obama either didn't read the bill, or did and is, ahem, blowing smoke.

Things I learned today while scoping out conference tournaments and getting ready for the NCAA hoops tournament...

One is that my Notre Dame men's hoops team will not be going to the NCAAs. They lost last night to West Virginia in the Big East tourney, 74-62. WVU attacked harder, and were tougher...and that was the story of the season for the Irish. I mean, they got out-rebounded by the Mountaineers 52-32. No excuse for that.
So the Irish finish the regular season at 18-14. It's the NIT for them. An NIT title is a worthy goal...but, given the hopes and expectations with which the Irish began this season, it will ring a bit hollow.

Other bad news--the Detroit Pistons lost to the NY Knicks, 116-111 in OT. Yes, the Pistons were without both Rasheed Wallace and Allen Iverson. But...but...they had a 10 point lead entering the fourth quarter, and blew it to the sub-.500 Knicks. Not good.

On the good news front, as far as my favorite teams are concerned, the Dallas Mavericks won a big game on the road, 93-89 at Portland. The Mavs held Portland to only 41% shooting from the field. If this team can play consistently at this level of play against playoff teams on the road...maybe they CAN be dangerous.

In other news...Victor Davis Hanson today points out brilliantly the trouble Barack Obama would be in if he'd told the truth, during the 2008 election campaign, about what he'd REALLY do:
“Although my new spending proposals may raise the federal deficit in my first year to $1.75 trillion, I promise the American people that by the end of my first term, I will halve the federal deficit — albeit adding another $3 to $5 trillion to the national debt. “Those savings can be accomplished by upping the federal income tax to about 40 percent on those rich 5 percent of Americans who currently pay only 60 percent of our aggregate income taxes — as well as lifting Social Security caps on their payroll taxes and cutting out many of their tax deductions. “With state income taxes, federal income tax, and Social Security and payroll taxes, along with new cutbacks in deductions, some of these rich will pay over 60 percent of their incomes in taxes. That is not an unreasonable rate in comparison with past levels — or the fact that well over 40 percent of Americans do not make enough to pay any federal income taxes. “I expect that Wall Street may react negatively to these proposals. We may see the Dow fall an additional 2,000 to 3,000 points after I’m elected. It may descend to under 7,000 during my first weeks of office. And this may be the moment when the economy continues to cool and unemployment rises. “On matters of protecting civil liberties, I assure the American people that I have examined the Patriot Act, the FISA accords, and renditions — and I have discovered that they, in fact, do not shred our Constitution. I will, however, shut down Guantanamo Bay — but must keep it open another year and appoint a task force to study the issue....“Abroad, I promise to give America a new image. My first television interview will be with al Arabiya. Due to both new initiatives and my unique background, I can reassure them that no longer will the United States alienate the Muslim world. Our aim is to return to stable and friendly relations with the Middle East characteristic of 20-30 years ago. “Indeed, on matters in the Middle East, I will bring back my suspended adviser Samantha Power. I look forward to her input, along with that of Charles Freeman, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and critic of Israel, as head of the National Intelligence Council, to craft new directions in the region. “We expect to open new dialogues with Basher al-Assad of Syria and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran without preconditions. And to further the cause of peace in the Middle East, the United States will pledge almost $1 billion to help rebuild the Gaza strip that is governed by Hamas.”
Of course, he told us the truth...about none of that.

Hey, speaking of conference tournaments, there's already been a big upset--in the Big 12, #11 seed Baylor beat #1 seed Kansas, 71-64. March Madness!

An MSNBC headline today notes that the German citizens living in Winnenden are "bewildered" by the horrible school shooting that happened there yesterday.
Well...yes, be horrified. Be tremendously saddened. We all are. But remember--human beings are extremely fallible, and a few of them do horrible things. That's something conservatism teaches you...

More Democratic Party corruption, as reported by that noted right-wing paper, the NY Times:
"Top banking regulators were taken aback late last year when a California congresswoman helped set up a meeting in which the chief executive of a bank with financial ties to her family asked them for up to $50 million in special bailout funds, Treasury officials said."

Coming out of Wednesday's wash...

Sports teams update: the Notre Dame men's hoops team stayed alive, edging Rutgers 61-50 in the first round of the Big East tournament. It was a bit of a grinder--ND's offensive flow was hardly as fluid as they'd like. But they won. Yet they still have a big hill to climb (they likely need to win 5 games in 5 days to make the NCAAs...)

Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings had played some real clunker games lately--3 days ago they gave up 8 goals to Columbus, at home. But last night they played well and beat Phoenix, 3-2. Maybe they've returned to form.

In other news...yet another former terrorist detainee at Guantanamo Bay, who'd been released, is in the news again...once again fighting against us with the Taliban. When will we ever learn. Maybe there were good reasons to hold those folks at Gitmo after all...

Media bias? What media bias? From CBS News "reporter" Anthony Mason:
"It's the government that's going to have to pull us out of this recession."

When will Americans get tired of the Obama shtick? Take today's bill signing, for example:
"Calling it an "imperfect" bill, President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion spending package Wednesday that includes billions in earmarks like those he promised to curb in last year's campaign. He insisted the bill must signal an "end to the old way of doing business."
Hmmm. He says he's against earmarks, but then signs a bill containing billions in earmarks.
He says he's against lobbyists in government, but guess what--his administrations contains lobbyists. He says he's against the old "partisan politics", but several in his administration busily orchestrate political games against Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Party.
I am glad that the news media--see the article above--points out Obama's contradictions. I'm a little surprised they're being this tough on him.

Some Saturday stuff...

Good news for some of my favorite sports teams. The Notre Dame women hoopsters beat St. John's in the Big East tournament, 62-45. That's 5 wins in the past 6 games for ND--maybe they're peaking heading into the NCAAs?

Meanwhile the University of Michigan men's hoops team won today too, beating Minnesota 67-64 on the road in a must-win game. It will really boost Michigan's tournament resume. Great job this year by John Beilein resurrecting Michigan basketball...

And last night the Notre Dame men's hoops team won their final home game, beating St. John's 74-55. Seems that the Irish played more relaxed, and did the little things--hustled, rebounded, etc. There's still a chance for this team to regain the national respect they've lost if they can go to New York and play well in the Big East tournament. They still have that opportunity. Let's see if they can take it.

In other news: hmmm, so President Obama will visit Turkey soon. Why? On administration official said that part of the reason was that "it will also provide an opportunity to continue the president's dialogue with the Muslim world, a dialogue he started immediately and intends to maintain throughout his presidency."
Uh-huh. Well, maybe it will play well with moderate Muslims. But with the radicals? I have a suspicion they'll see it only as a sign of weakness.

More uncertainty developing over the Obama economic plan--just check out this AP report:
"President Barack Obama offered his domestic-policy proposals as a "break from a troubled past." But the economic outlook now is more troubled than it was even in January, despite Obama's bold rhetoric and commitment of more trillions of dollars. And while his personal popularity remains high, some economists and lawmakers are beginning to question whether Obama's agenda of increased government activism is helping, or hurting, by sowing uncertainty among businesses, investors and consumers that could prolong the recession. Although the administration likes to say it "inherited" the recession and trillion-dollar deficits, the economic wreckage has worsened on Obama's still-young watch....Even White House claims that its policies will "create" or "save" 3.5 million jobs have been questioned by Democratic supporters. "You created a situation where you cannot be wrong," the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Montana Democrat Max Baucus, told Geithner last week. "If the economy loses 2 million jobs over the next few years, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs. If we create a million jobs, you can say, well, it would have lost 2.5 million jobs," Baucus said. "You've given yourself complete leverage where you cannot be wrong, because you can take any scenario and make yourself look correct."

Some Friday fun...

CNN calls this a big win for the Obama administration, but really it's also vindication for the Bush administration too:
"The Supreme Court has granted the Obama administration's request to dismiss the pending appeal of an accused enemy combatant held on U.S. soil. The decision "to dismiss the appeal as moot" came in a brief order from the nine justices issued Friday. Ali al-Marri has been held in military custody since 2003, and was challenging the president's unilateral authority to detain him indefinitely and without charges. The court's order is a defeat for him on the larger constitutional issue."
A constitutional issue the Bush administration had vigorously pressed...

Speaking of CNN, one of their reporters/bloggers asks if the singer Rhianna is a "role model."
Simple answer: no. Don't make her your role model, girls. We now know more facts about what went down between her and Chris Brown. He's beaten her up before. He beat her up, badly, in this latest incident. He claims he'll "change", and she believes he will...but history and studies have shown that men like him won't change. Yet she's taking him back. The blogger agrees with me that she's making a "terrible" decision...but she worries too much about what a burden it is for this young woman to be a role model. Well, simple, people: don't make her one. She won't be a good one.

And by the way, speaking of Chris Brown, I hadn't heard this--today it comes out that it took 9 days for him to even apologize to the woman he battered. Shameful.

Jonah Goldberg today gets at the fundamental problem with President Obama's economic plans--he's claiming higher taxes on the rich will cover the spending, but...they won't:
"Obama brags — albeit dishonestly — that he’s only raising taxes on rich people. Ninety-five percent of the American people will get a tax cut, the president insists. Well, which is it? Do the times demand shared sacrifice from us all, or from just 5 percent of Americans? If I say to ten co-workers, “We all need to chip in together to get this done,” and then say, “So, Todd, open your wallet and give five bucks to everyone else in the room,” it would sound ridiculous. But when Obama says the same thing to 300 million Americans it’s called “leadership.” “The problem with socialism,” Margaret Thatcher once said, “is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” What Obama is proposing isn’t socialism — yet — but it runs into the same problem. You could take all of the money made by the richest one percent in this country and it wouldn’t come close to covering government’s expenses — even if those rich people for some reason kept working."
Read the whole thing. Don't forget--Obama's energy plans will raise costs for ALL Americans. Obama admits this. And his tax cuts for the working poor will amount to maybe $13 bucks a week. Wow.

By the way, speaking of Rush Limbaugh, as the Obama administration and many other Democrats have been...
Very good sources estimate that his listenership has spiked, since the controversy began, to over 25 million listeners per week. Thanks, Democrats!

Wow. The well-respected centrist Stuart Taylor writes for the nonpartisan National Journal. He's written favorably of Obama in the past. But now he's worried:
"Having praised President Obama's job performance in two recent columns, it is with regret that I now worry that he may be deepening what looks more and more like a depression and may engineer so much spending, debt, and government control of the economy as to leave most Americans permanently less prosperous and less free. Other Obama-admiring centrists have expressed similar concerns. Like them, I would like to be proved wrong. After all, if this president fails, who will revive our economy? And when? And what kind of America will our children inherit? But with the nation already plunging deep into probably necessary debt to rescue the crippled financial system and stimulate the economy, Obama's proposals for many hundreds of billions in additional spending on universal health care, universal postsecondary education, a massive overhaul of the energy economy, and other liberal programs seem grandiose and unaffordable."
Read the whole thing.

Saturday stuff...

Some sports news of interest (to me at least) last night. The Dallas Mavericks for example got lucky and escaped with a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, 110-108 in OT. It's good that the Mavs have the toughness and savvy to mount 4th quarter comebacks and to win close games. But what are they doing being in the position they were in, down 12 in the 4th to a team missing its biggest star, Kevin Durant? Do the Mavs have what it takes to advance at all in the NBA playoffs down the road? The crystal ball on that one remains cloudy.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons shocked everyone by winning last night at Orlando, 93-85--without Allen Iverson playing at all. (he's off getting his back examined.) They looked like their old selves. Questions remain, of course. Can Iverson be content coming off the bench?

And the Detroit Red Wings, with Chris Osgood starring in goal, played solidly and beat the LA Kings, 2-1. It was an important night for Osgood--he'd been given 12 days off from playing in order to get himself right, given how much he'd struggled. It obviously helped.

In other news, I have no problem with this, and I don't think other conservatives and libertarians should either:
"Supporters of programs to provide legal marijuana to patients with painful medical conditions are celebrating Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration would end its raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries."
It's time to at least begin to scale back the war on drugs. And persons should have the liberty to use a drug like this in a way that is clearly beneficial to them, and not harmful.

Meanwhile, gosh--is anyone surprised that, as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton is, er, changing positions from where she used to be as a senator? In this case, the issue is Israel:
"In a swift about face from her views as New York's senator, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now hammering Israel over its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.... "I'm a very strong supporter of Israel," Clinton said back in February 2000. On Thursday, as Secretary of State she had yet another about face in the form of angry messages demanding Israel speed up aid to Gaza. Jewish leaders are furious. "I am very surprised, frankly, at this statement from the United States government and from the secretary of state," said Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and member of the NYC Jewish Community Relations Council."
Get used to it, folks--Mrs. Clinton has proven over the years that she will say anything and throw anyone, long-time supporter or no, under the bus.

Mark Steyn makes a very good point today concerning "superhero" Obama...and the language he uses:
"Do you ever go back to the first issue of this comic book and try to figure out what the plot’s all about? Wasn’t it something to do with subprime mortgages and two strange creatures called Fannie and Freddie? And then it became something to do with saving banks, wasn’t that it? And somewhere along the way the Big Three auto makers got involved? And now it’s about everything. Obama is going to do everything. So he needs to be able to spend everything. Only we don’t call it “spending” anymore. Everything government “spends” is now deemed an “investment.” Government will “invest” in “more efficient cars,” it will “invest” in daycare, it will “invest” in a new Federal Regulatory Agency of Fancy Drapes and Window Treatments. It will “invest” in an impact study group that will study the impact of recalling every edition of Webster’s and pasting in it a little Post-It note on the page defining “spend” saying “obsolete — see ‘invest.’ ”
The Clinton administration did this too, back in the 1990s--when it came to the issue of tax cuts, the Clintons got everyone to agree that they had to be "paid for"--as if letting Americans keep more of their own money equaled government spending. We mustn't let Obama get away with this particular bit of language-twisting.

Saturday stuff

Hey, Michiganders, go out there and do some serious drinking--your governor and her state budget need you:
"Gov. Jennifer Granholm is betting that liquor sales and longer bar hours will bring in more money for Michigan's cash-starved budget. The plan involves liquor stores and restaurants selling spirits on Sunday mornings and bar owners buying permits for their establishments to stay open until 4 a.m. The expanded hours for liquor sales would generate an estimated $13.7 million for the state's general fund, the pot over which the governor and lawmakers have spending discretion. Additional revenue would come from the sale of the special permits priced at $1,500 each."

The good news for Michigan sports fans continues to be the Detroit Red Wings, who were impressive again last night in defeating Anaheim, 5-2. They have a red-hot power play right now, and Ty Conklin played well in goal.

Hmmm. The left's Joe Conason asserts that it's the Republicans who lost big with regard to the passage of the "stimulus" bill:
"Regardless of that bill's manifest imperfections and the messy
legislative process, the new administration achieved a difficult
objective on the tightest possible schedule. His Republican opponents
congratulate themselves for remaining unified in defeat and whine
about the president's refusal to capitulate to them—but in fact it is
they who have failed in the initial episode of a confrontation that
will certainly continue for the coming four years."
Really? I think we'd better wait and see what effect this package has on the economy in the next couple of years, there, Mr. Conason. If the economy doesn't bounce back, we'll see who the winner is then...

And by the way, not only did Pakistan recently cave in to Taliban extremists in their country, but did you see what happened in Great Britain, too? Mark Steyn explains:
"Among that growing population of Yorkshire Pakistanis is a fellow called Lord Ahmed, a Muslim member of Parliament. He was in the news the other day for threatening (as the columnist Melanie Phillips put it) “to bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the House of Lords” if it went ahead with an event at which the Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders would have introduced a screening of his controversial film Fitna. Britain’s Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, reacted to this by declaring Minheer Wilders persona non grata and having him arrested at Heathrow and returned to the Netherlands."
Frightening.

Monday musings...

Pakistan's government announced today that it will try to appease Islamic extremist terrorists:
"The government agreed to impose Islamic law and suspend a military offensive across much of northwest Pakistan on Monday in concessions aimed at pacifying the Taliban insurgency spreading from the border region to the country's interior."
Appeasement didn't work for Neville Chamberlain against Hitler and his gang of terrorists in the 1930s; and it won't work now.

Yay! The Notre Dame men's hoops team now has two wins in a row--the big blowout last Thursday over Louisville, and now yesterday's 10 point win at home over South Florida. Finally, shots are going in, big stops on defense are being ground out. Of course, it might be too late...

The bad news for my favorite teams was the Red Wings--they lost in a shootout to Colorado, 6-5. One gets the feeling that Coach Babcock was not happy with Chris Osgood's goaltending. Look for Wing backup goalie Ty Conklin to continue to get plenty of opportunities.

But the University of Michigan men's hoops team gutted out a tough 70-67 OT win over Northwestern, perhaps keeping the team's NCAA tourney hopes alive. They need to beat both Minnesota and Purdue at home, one suspects, to have a chance. Great game for Michigan's Manny Harris, who has a chance to have a great collegiate career and be All Big 10 before he's through.

In hockey, goaltending is key; in basketball, you need good guard play, don't you...

Good news for conservatives: in Glamour magazine, of all places, one finds presented, squarely, some honest truths concerning abortion:
"An article near the very back of the March issue treats abortion with a level of honesty rarely found in such venues. “I am still filled with regret . . . that I will never meet [my] child,” one Virginia woman announces. Hers is one of many similar stories of regret and pain featured in the article. Abortion is not a clean choice; it’s a life-changing (and -ending) decision with traumatic repercussions, a wrenching and frequently lonely ordeal that one can never be adequately prepared for — and our culture and our clinics often don’t try to help much at all. The writers and editors at Glamour will never be mistaken for pro-life propagandists, but they didn’t shy away from these truths. This is refreshing."
And indeed it is. R. Emmett Tyrell over at The American Spectator has been arguing for years that one thing conservatives must do is to penetrate the liberal "kultursmog", as he put it--that is, to penetrate and challenge the liberal views one often finds in various media and other sources of cultural trends. Maybe some conservative ideas are starting to do that.

By the way, I commented late last week on Richard Nadler's article in NR championing immigration and urging conservatives to support it, and pointed out one big problem with it. But I knew NR's incomparable Mark Krikorian would come out with his own response, and he has--and here's what I see as his best points:
"It’s not a bad thing that Republicans and Democrats represent different interests; any successful society needs a north pole and a south pole, a yin and yang. The problem with excessive immigration is that we’re getting too much yin and not enough yang, as it were. And because today’s immigrants side with Democrats on not just immigration policy but a host of other issues, Nadler’s prescription of me-too Republicanism on immigration can’t change that. The fact that John McCain—the exemplar of the me-too approach—couldn’t carry the Hispanic vote even in his home state of Arizona, where voters knew full well his expansionist, pro-amnesty views, suggests that the way out of the hole some Republicans find themselves in is not to keep digging.Implicit in Nadler’s argument is a kind of fatalism, an acceptance that mass immigration is inevitable: He encourages Republicans to win Hispanic votes through supporting mass immigration, without weighing the benefits of that approach against the benefits of a successful attempt to significantly decrease immigration. He calls the growing Hispanic share of the population “a demographic time bomb, triggered by the ordinary migrations of Hispanic citizens.”But mass immigration—legal or illegal—is not inevitable; it’s an artifact of government policy that can be ended by changing that policy. How can we change policy in a way that will prevent the conservative agenda from suffering? Here the two parts of the issue are often conflated; immigration policy relates to how many foreigners we admit and how we enforce immigration laws, while immigrant policy is about how we treat people we’ve already admitted.The solution for Republicans is to champion a pro-immigrant policy of low immigration—one that can stanch the immigration-driven shift toward the Democrats in the West through lower numbers and better enforcement, but that also reaches out to our fellow Americans of Hispanic ancestry both rhetorically and substantively. Republicans could support overhauling the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to provide professional and efficient service, and loosening some of the deportation requirements for legal immigrants with families here convicted of minor crimes."

Bingo--control our borders, but reach out as well.

Will baseball fans punish the game for the continuing steroid scandals, et al? I suggested the other day that they sure hadn't done so yet--and today, here's some data that supports that conclusion:
"Last year, fans were so enraged by the betrayals, so infuriated by what the commissioner and union and media and superstars themselves had allowed to happen, that only 78.6 million of them attended games, and they handed Bud Selig and Co. only $6.5billion to divvy up.That's all of 370 fewer fans per game than in 2007, roughly, but $425 million more in overall revenue. During the worst recession since FDR was in office. Yeah, you sure showed them."

Sunday samplings...

So now Senator Roland Burris is under fire.
Seems he didn't tell the whole truth concerning his contacts with Blagojevich's people, not to mention concerning the favors sought from him.
See, this is why it was so stupid for the Senate to have seated this guy--there was just no WAY for him to have avoided the Blagojevich taint. And, further, this is why it was so stupid for Democrats to have caved in to having this guy seated. Now they'll pay for it.

Meanwhile, I agree with this sobering assessment:
"WITH three Afghan government ministries in Kabul hit by simultaneous suicide attacks this week, by a total of just eight terrorists, it seems that a new “Mumbai model” of swarming, smaller-scale terrorist violence is emerging. The basic concept is that hitting several targets at once, even with just a few fighters at each site, can cause fits for elite counterterrorist forces that are often manpower-heavy, far away and organized to deal with only one crisis at a time. This approach certainly worked in Mumbai, India, last November, where five two-man teams of Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives held the city hostage for two days, killing 179 people. The Indian security forces, many of which had to be flown in from New Delhi, simply had little ability to strike back at more than one site at a time."

And I agree with his assessment that this kind of attack is likely to come to America--and soon. Will the Obama administration be ready?

Saturday stuff

Some news you might have missed: did you know that earlier this week, President Obama basically lied?:
"There seems to be a set of folks who—I don't doubt their sincerity—who just believe that we should do nothing," [President Obama] said. But in truth, few of those involved in the stimulus debate are suggesting that the government should not take action to aid the cratering economy.
Many of the president's fiercest congressional critics support a stimulus package of similar size but think it should be built around a much higher proportion of tax cuts than new spending. Others have called for a plan that is half the size of the one headed for a House-Senate conference—still massive by historical standards."

Good news for Republicans--polls indicate that Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd (D) may be in trouble--his favorability ratings are tanking.

Some Sunday information...

My favorite sports teams continue to struggle. Just when it looked like it couldn't get any worse for the ND men's hoops team, it did; they lost badly to UCLA, 89-63, and didn't fight very hard to avoid such a fate. The season is now officially a mess. The Irish may not even make the NIT.

The Dallas Mavericks, though, managed to eke out a win over the Chicago Bulls, 115-114 in OT. Dirk Nowitzki was huge, with 44 points. I don't think people around the country realize just how good this guy is. He plays tons of minutes, as such a tall player gets a lot of rebounds, and scores--mainly as an outstanding jump shooter.

The University of Michigan men's hoops team played a solid game on the road at #1 UConn before falling by 8, 69-61. But they showed they can compete. Now they need to find a way to win their next game, at home vs national power Michigan State. If they can, their NCAA tourney resume will look a lot better.
All these seasons of all these teams are so filled with ups, downs, and crucial moments, aren't they?

For example--the Detroit Pistons, who had looked terrible lately, won again last night in OT at Milwaukee, in a thrilling game. Maybe they have life again.

The Detroit Red Wings, who were winless over a 5 game stretch not long ago, won again yesterday over Edmonton, 8-3, and looked dominant. Now they've won 3 in a row.

And Michigan State's men's hoops team, which has had two stunning, bewildering losses at home in the last couple of weeks to Northwestern and Penn State, made sure that didn't happen yesterday, whipping Indiana by 28.

Things can look better for teams after wins, in a big hurry, too--sports teaches you that.

Saturday stuff

Joe Biden, Bushie: in a speech, Biden suggests that pre-emptive war is not off the table in an Obama administration, despite its criticisms of former President Bush's policies towards Iraq:
"Vice President Joe Biden delivered a clear message to Iran, saying Saturday that the U.S. was willing to talk but will act to isolate and pressure Tehran if it does not abandon its nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism. In a sweeping speech to international leaders and security experts, Biden said the U.S. will strive to act preventively and avoid having to choose between the risks of war and the dangers of inaction...."We will draw upon all the elements of our power — military and diplomatic, intelligence and law enforcement, economic and cultural — to stop crises from occurring before they are in front of us," he told the gathering in his 25-minute address."
George W. Bush couldn't have said it better.

So now there's an apparently-credible report that the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, who denied emphatically in a 2007 interview that he'd used steroids, did in fact test positive for them in 2003. I'm sure he's not the only big-leaguer who used. But why don't these guys just come clean and admit it? All of their loud denials, seemingly inevitably followed later by the evidence that they did use, just makes it worse.

Monday musings...

Finally! Some good news from my favorite teams--the ND women's hoops team hustled, bit big shots, and beat Cincinnati on Saturday 66-50.
They're at 16-4 for the season. Still time to make some noise!

Not good news though for the Detroit Pistons--they collapsed in the 4th quarter against Cleveland and lost, 90-80. The key for them, and what happens to any team when they go through tough stretches, is that their confidence is in the tank right now. Can they regain it?

The Super Bowl turned out to be incredibly exciting in the 4th quarter, didn't it?
That's two very exciting Super Bowls in a row, given the Giants' amazing win last year over New England. Actually, of course, the first 3 quarters of yesterday's game were a bit pedestrian, and there were a lot of mistakes and penalties, by both teams. And in the end, I felt sorry for the Cardinals, for whom I rooted and who have for so long gone without an NFL championship. And they had it within their grasp! But give the Steelers credit, they executed well on their last drive. I was happy though that Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals shone yesterday, and that so many people are tipping their hats to the Cardinals today. At least they have that.

On a more serious note, more signs of economic tough times--now Macy's is slashing thousands of jobs.
A lot of high-profile companies are doing some slashing...

More on the so-called "stimulus" package--seems that everybody who's anybody with connections in Washington is after the money:
"I've had a hundred e-mails from every little university that wants new windows," said Ronald Richards, appointed as the state's "infrastructure czar" by Strickland to review bids for the federal dollars that are routed through the governor's office."
Conservatives must continue to ask: does this kind of thing lead to good projects, a good bill, and good, lasting jobs?

Some Wednesday wishes...

Today President Obama expressed amazement that Washington D.C. schools (including his daughters' school) were closed because of icy conditions.
Yes, it's true, schools in Chicago, where Obama lived for a good while, would never close due to small amounts of ice. But you know what? I am well aware of the fact that school districts in warm-weather areas close if there's just the tiniest amount of snow and ice. That's no great revelation. I bet you that many other people are aware of it, too. Drivers in those areas can't handle ice; and warmer-weather states don't have the salt trucks and snow-removal equipment that, say, Illinois does. So what's my point?
This: you mean Barack Obama didn't know this? He didn't know that localities in warm-weather states close schools at the drop of a hat? Really? If former President Bush or other Republican leaders had said something like what Obama said today, they'd be slammed by many in the media for being "out of touch." But don't worry, liberals--Obama won't be.
But I wish the media and others would be just as tough on Obama as they were and are on Republicans or President Bush.

Democrats have launched a petition drive in order to express outrage against...who? Why, against Rush Limbaugh. Because Limbaugh said:
"The remarks came after Limbaugh said last week on his radio show: "If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to this guy, say 'okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails'."
Of course, the broader context of this is and was: Limbaugh doesn't believe Obama's policies, including the "stimulus" package and other things, will be good for this nation. So of course, when you think the president is doing something that will not benefit the nation, you want him to fail in trying to accomplish that. Democrats know this. So I wish that Democrats would fairly characterize what their opponents are saying, and that they would spend time on more important things, rather than launching partisan attacks against their opponents. And I think the news media should call them on these non-bipartisan, time-wasting activities.

What else is in the so-called "stimulus" package? Lots of stuff that won't stimulate the economy much at all in the near or long-term, as The American Spectator points out today:
"Another $2.1 billion is for Head Start, another program not previously known for stimulating the economy. A further $2 billion is to be spent on Child Care Development Block Grants, which provide day care. We are going to revive economic growth through the federal government spending billions on babysitting, rather than tax cuts for capital investment. A similar initiative involves $120 million to finance part-time work for seniors in community service agencies."
I wish more members of the news media would talk about these boondoggles...

Ahmadinejad of Iran rides again:
"A day after President Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Washington on Wednesday to apologize for its actions toward his country over the past 60 years and said it was unclear whether the new American administration was merely shifting tactics or wanted real change."
I wish the Obama administration would tell him to go take a hike. Or to apologize to Israel for the horrible things he's said and done to it. Preferably both.

By the way, the "stimulus" package really does contain $335 million for STD prevention.
Does anyone really think such spending will stimulate the economy??? I wish more people would speak up...