Posse Incitatus

Second Chances

It is common knowledge among fans of college football and basketball that many of the most gifted athletes come from troubled backgrounds in blighted urban areas.  Often, there was no father in the home; poverty, gangs, drugs, bad schools, and hopelessness were all around.

Granted a college athletic scholarship, some of these young men make the most of it, staying out of trouble, working hard in the classroom as well as in their athletic endeavors, and earning a degree that will help them achieve success after graduation.  Far more of them don't make it to the NFL or NBA than do.  The athletes who buckle down academically and steer clear of trouble are probably well aware of this fact.

Others may slide by with Mickey Mouse classes, ample assistance from tutors, and barely passing grades, yet still manage to stay out of trouble.

Then there are those who embarrass their university by getting involved in drinking, drugs, sexual assault, robberies, and other nefarious activities.  My alma mater, Michigan State University, has had its share, as have many other universities, including the University of Michigan, which despite its best efforts to portray a squeaky clean image ("The leaders and the best") has been less than forthcoming in addressing the problem candidly.

Sometimes there is a fine line between tough love, i.e. on the one hand punishing a violator and letting him know how close he came to getting tossed out, yet delivering an ultimatum that he must shape up or ship out; and on the other hand, living in the "zero tolerance" absolute world that calls for immediately revoking a scholarship and kicking a player off the team for a transgression.

If the latter happens, there is a good chance the punished athlete will revert back to the streets and the bad actors who will lead him astray into drugs, crime, long-term unemployment, and maybe prison.  He might be lost for good, which is truly a tragedy.

My co-blogger, K.N. McBride, alluded to his former membership in the "absolutism" school of thought, and acknowledged that age, experience and greater wisdom have caused him to have a change of heart.  I'm in the same boat (a former absolutist), although it took me longer to reach this destination.

Looking back, my parents stayed together and did their best to discipline me and my siblings.  I had a father who was a disciplinarian and kept me in line.  I did some stupid things in my younger days, and sometimes wondered if I'd ever amount to anything.  It wasn't easy.  But at least I had a male role model and a moral foundation.

I recognize that not having a father, and growing up in a tough neighborhood rife with bad examples, depravity, poverty, illiteracy, drugs, crime, and prevalent impoverishment — both materially and spiritually — stacks the deck against one tremendously.

So I can see merit in both sides of the argument when it comes to Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio's decision to give running back Glenn Winston of Detroit a second chance last summer following his conviction for an assault on an MSU hockey player at a party.  Winston, as K.N. McBride mentioned in his blog, has now officially been booted from the team for his role in a second assault.

Winston's teammate, Roderick Jenrette, a junior safety from Tampa, Fla., also was kicked off the team for his involvement in the same incident.  He had already been in the coach's doghouse in 2008 for some "violations of team rules."

According to The State News, the MSU student newspaper, several football players got in a brawl with members of a black fraternity at an East Lansing night club on Saturday, Nov. 21.  The next night, following the football team banquet, several players showed up at the dormitory where the frat was holding a fundraiser dinner and assaulted some fraternity members and other attendees.

East Lansing Police and the county prosecutor still are investigating, so more heads may roll.  But what bugs me is why Coach Dantonio gave Winston a second chance in the first place.  The hockey player  Winston injured on Oct. 19, 2008, A.J. Sturges, suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.

The severity of Sturges' injury, plus the fact this was a premeditated assault (several cars pulled up at Sturges' house and people got out and invaded the home), make this a far more serious offense than a drunken driving arrest or charges for drunk and disorderly behavior, for example.  Perhaps the coach ought to have given Winston the heave-ho rather than a second chance, given the nature of the offense.

Coach Dantonio has shown himself to be a stubborn man in some of his on-field decisions, and his reinstatement of Winston despite the severity of the offense is highly questionable.  The seriousness and egregious nature of the assault are enough to make a reasonable person have grave reservations about Winston's character and whether he deserved a second chance.

I have been critical of many of Dantonio's coaching decisions this season, and his seemingly permanent irritable disposition.  But being a long-time Spartan fan, I also realize that changing coaches every three or four years is a recipe for long-term instability and mediocrity.  So I'm willing to give "Grumpy Mark" a year or two more.  But if next season turns into the huge disappointment this season was, watch out for the enraged citzenry wielding pitchforks.  Yours truly might be one of them.

Climate Change Hustlers

Just a brief shout out to my co-blogger, K.N. McBride, for an incisive, powerful post RE: global warming deceit.  Couldn't have said it better myself.  And I agree with the respondent who observed that, often, by the time the truth comes out, great damage has already been done.

You could say the same thing about our nation's reluctance to construct nuclear power plants for the past 30-plus years.  The hysteria of the left, and the complete sensationalism of Three Mile Island, brainwashed far too many people and scared utility companies with nightmares of endless litigation. 

It's ironic that France gets about 90 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, given it is a nation many regard as more leftist than the U.S. (However, Barack Obama is doing his best to change that perception).

In 2009, we find ourselves with an abundance of aging fossil fuel power plants, and the likelihood of future brownouts and blackouts because our generating capacity will not be able to keep up with growth and demand. The "No Nukes" leftists have screwed us over, and it will take a long time to recover.

But getting back to the climate change scam, I've said for years that you can throw out all of the fancy formulations, equations, methodology, and empirical evidence of climatologists, and just consider one simple fact: The industrial revolution and internal combustion engine are very recent developments — within the last 250 years or so.  But for hundreds of thousands of years, the earth has undergone warming and cooling phases due to natural, not anthropological, factors.

The global warming hacks want power, money, control, grants, expansion of government, regulations, and  validation for their massive egos. 

But as Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel points out, it looks like the congressional cap and trade bill faces an uphill struggle.  It was already on shaky ground given the public's awareness of the onerous costs cap & tax would impose on our economy and on individuals.  But the damning e-mails circulating among the true believers at University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, may well have jammed the knife in AND twisted it viciously.

That is one more reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all Posse Incitatus readers and their families.  I hope everyone will take a few moments to recognize how blessed we are.  Be thankful for the freedom we enjoy; the brave men and women who sacrifice and risk life and limb for our great country; and the plentiful food and clean water we enjoy.  Even in a difficult economy, there still are opportunities out there, and help for those who are struggling.  If you are in good health, give thanks for that. Good health (physical and mental)  is more precious than all the money in the world.

As I’ve said before, I cannot get too worked up about sports when I see the hardship going on throughout the world, from people losing their jobs and homes in this country, to families wracked by alcoholism or drugs, to wars, poverty and hunger abroad, to hundreds of thousands of brave service people suffering hardship and being away from their families to serve our nation.

It may be a cliche, but “attitude of gratitude” is an important default mindset if one wants to maintain proper perspective.

ON ANOTHER NOTE — It is sometimes instructive to observe the disillusionment of folks who were avid supporters of Barack Obama in 2008.  Often, it is from the far left fringes who think we ought to have pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan months ago, and for whom closure of Guantanamo Bay is like a holy grail, or litmus test, or something like that.  Sometimes it is from gays and lesbians, disappointed that Obama has not embraced gay marriage.  And frequently, it’s from populists who are appalled that Obama’s biggest supporters were Wall Street firms, and he’s going overboard repaying them, literally and figuratively.

Maureen Dowd, the snarky New York Times columnist who’s made a living out of trashing Sarah Palin, took some potshots at Obama for his apparently ruthless M.O. of using people to get elected, then coldheartedly casting them aside when their usefulness has been exhausted.  She cites former White House attorney Greg Craig as an example.  In this column, she points out that Craig, formerly a close friend and confidant of Hillary Clinton, did grave damage to that friendship by abandoning Hillary in 2008 and casting his lot with Obama.  And what does he get in return for sticking his neck out?  The cold shoulder.  Interesting, but entirely predictable.

The necessity of deceit

The release of the Climategate emails has been called a “smoking gun” for the global warming/climate change movement. It is perhaps the perfect metaphor, because the science behind gun control relies on similar deceptions.

Long-time readers may be shocked to know that once upon a time, I was what could be called a centrist on gun control: I supported the free use of hunting and sporting weapons, but thought that handguns and automatic weapons should be heavily regulated.

That was a mainstream position during the 1980s when I was growing up and the “science” of the time labored heavily to back it up. Shotguns were (and still are) fine for taking game or defending the home – and they weren’t particularly threatening. “Assault weapons”, on the other hand, were the province of survivalists and militia crazies. Just ban ‘em.

So went my thinking.

That began to change during the debate over the Assault Weapons Ban in the 1990s. For the first time, I began to actually study the matter and learned that the science wasn’t as solid as it seemed. When John Lott’s massive study on the effect of shall-issue laws burst onto the scene, I was skeptical but willing to be convinced if the facts were there.

Lott’s academic reputation has taken a (not entirely undeserved) beating since then, but what really pushed me into the gun rights camp was the compulsive dishonesty of the gun control advocates. These guys couldn’t ever make an honest argument; everything they said was twisted, spun or blatantly false. This got me to thinking: if your position is so strong, why weaken it with lies?

This is pretty much my rule now, and it has served me very well. Whether dealing with gun control or climate change, you can tell the strength of the argument by how much its supporters have to distort the truth to make it.

The question of climate change is, from a purely scientific perspective, a very difficult one to answer. The only way that we can even approach the truth is to take an open, collaborative attitude to research – basically we have to use the classical scientific method.

This method, where data is openly shared, where theories are constantly questioned – is what has allowed the Western world to make the quantum advances it has in less than a century. What the Climategate emails show is that the supporters of the globalwarmism are not interested in real science. Their agenda is too important.

They are driven by a moral certitude that is so overwhelming that it renders facts unimportant – it’s bigger than such trifling considerations. There is also a “bunker mentality” at work. These people simply cannot handle the thought of being proved wrong. They must be right, they have to be right, they know they are right – so they believe they are permitted to use any means necessary to win the public debate.

A few years ago, gun control was starting to falter. John Lott’s research had broken the debate wide open. Other criminologists, like Gary Kleck, were asking very uncomfortable questions about whether guns caused or prevented crime.

As the debate raged, the gun control advocates received news that powerful help was on the way: Michael Bellesiles was doing ground-breaking research to prove that guns in colonial America were rare and barely utilized, in effect undermining the core arguments in favor of the Second Amendment.

Bellesiles was an immediate hero and a great many academics fell over themselves praising him. His book, Arming America, won top prizes and became an instant best-seller.

And then it all fell apart, and it was the scientific method that brought him down. As more academics sought to replicate his research (in this case his sources rather than equations or methods), problems began to appear. His defenses became more convoluted and resulted in a series of embarrassing excuses and walkbacks until even his own institution was forced to fire him for academic misconduct. His prize was rescinded; his publishing contract terminated and he went from rising star to the Stephen Glass of the history profession.

Bellisiles misconduct also brought a great deal of discredit to the gun control supporters who had endorsed him and caused a new level of scrutiny on the science behind previous studies. It is no coincidence that public support for gun rights is now at an all-time high, and that even for Democrats, gun control is now a dead issue.

Climategate may have a similar effect. The warmenists in academia have been increasingly shrill and demanding over the years. Like gun control advocates, they had a set of policies they wished to see enacted and, like gun control researchers, they profited handsomely from the resulting attention.

Of course, their policies would have utterly reordered society to an extent far exceeding anything contemplated by gun control advocates. A natural response – a rational response – was to question if all this was really necessary. Was the science sound?

The answer is: we don’t know. But “not sure” isn’t enough to justify a transformative global government that will tax and regulate every single human activity. So these folks set out to prove the science was settled even though it wasn’t.

I suspect that like gun control, the climate change movement is now headed for hard times politically. A good many scientists may be sympathetic to the case (and grants and power) accorded by the global warming theory, but the sheer crassness of the behavior illustrated by these emails will cause them to hold back. Their entire profession has been brought into disrepute.

In a time of tight government budgets, the public is ill-disposed to funding junk science. They will have to police their own – whether through tenure hearings or Freedom of Information Act investigations – or the whole university edifice will take irreparable damage.

The public is rightfully skeptical of people who have to cheat to win. Fabricating and distorting data is no way to win an argument over the long term. The intellectual argument for gun control collapsed because of it. Climate change may go the same way.

Dantonio does the right thing

In my younger days, I was often harshly critical of college coaches who tolerated any kind of misbehavior from their student athletes. Being on the team was a privilege, not a right.

Thus, any infraction that brought disrepute on the team and university should be strongly and harshly punished.

Ah, for the certitudes of youth! What a luxury it was to not have many any mistakes!

The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to realize that screwing up is as inevitable as breathing – the question is how you respond to your mistakes. A zero-defect mentality quickly becomes a zero-accomplishment reality.

Thus, when I heard about Glenn Winston’s involvement in the fracas with the hockey team, I (like many fans) wondered whether he should be allowed back on the team. Coach Mark Dantonio announced that he had learned his lesson and changed his ways. And for a while, it seemed this was so.

Similarly, Roderick Jenrette had still-undisclosed “personal issues” to work out last season. Again, the coach gave him space and presumably guidance to take care of things.

And then there comes this story of a dorm brawl. The details aren’t clear, but both Winston and Jeanrette are off the team. Permanently.

This is as it should be. The wheels of justice will continue to grind forward, but Dantonio’s actions are exactly right: no benefit of the doubt, no third chance. All he needed to know was that they were somehow, tangentially involved. They knew the stakes and now their athletic careers here are over.

Incidents like this are always wonderful opportunities for opposing fans to taunt each other, but I think MSU is on firm ground here. You screw up? We can help. You do it again, you’re on your own.

Lest people forget, collegiate sports aren’t about creating pro athletes. Most college athletes won’t go pro. What college sports really do is give solid life experiences to those that participate. In the right circumstances, the afterglow can last a lifetime.

Successful coaches are more than trophy-winners, they are mentors. One of the reason Tom Izzo is so worshipped here is that he does more than win games – he helps his players. Always, in every way. He wants them to succeed on and off the court.

Dantonio is cut of the same cloth. He knew Winston and Jenrette had issues. He cut them slack. He went out of his way to help. And they effectively threw it back in his face.

That doesn’t mean he should have made the offer; it merely means they should have taken that chance more seriously.

The Mouse Chronicles, Part IX

Only kidding....If memory serves, this is Part 3.

Maybe I shouldn't be airing our dirty laundry, but I'm hoping to alert others to the fact that you don't have to live in a dumpy, messy pig sty to have mice in the house.

I was out of town from early Monday morning until this evening, and as near as I can tell, we've nabbed five of the little critters so far (including those mentioned in the "TWO-FOR-TWO" blurb the other day).  However, I fear that there are more of 'em.  Early this morning, my wife found one underneath the kitchen sink which she thought was dead, and planned to dispose of it a little later.  But when she returned a couple hours later, it was gone!

We have been taking a crash course on house mice (aka field mice), and learned that droppings are a telltale sign of the rodents' presence.  We've seen some of the droppings, and have resolved to be much more careful not to leave food or crumbs around, to be ultra-clean, and not leave doors open to avoid any further incursions by these nettlesome pests.

The other day I said maybe they've wriggled through cracks and crevices in the wall.  But my wife pointed out that an obvious way they could have entered the house was in the summer and late fall, when we would open the sliding back door and let the dog wander around in the back yard.  Unfortunately, the screen had been ripped by the dog a few months earlier, and it's easy for mice, which are good climbers, to move up four or five inches from the concrete back step and over the aluminum screen frame into la casa.

It is very disconcerting to find these critters inside the home.  But I tell myself: Don't be such a wimp. There are worse things to deal with, such as cockroaches, rats, or head lice. I've even read that bedbugs have made a comeback in some Manhattan hotels. (NEWS FLASH: They're no longer just found in seedy flophouses.)  Reminds me of the Rolling Stones' 1978 song "Shattered": "Ya got rats on the West Side, bedbugs uptown..."

Well, anyway, that's the update.  Just figured our select readership might enjoy a little break from politics and Spartan football.

AH, BUT YOU WON'T GET THAT BREAK — A significant national news item came to our attention Tuesday, and Michelle Malkin is all over it.  If you don't click the link, here's the summary:  Federal census taker Bill Sparkman was found dead in Kentucky a couple months ago, hanging from a tree, with the word "FED" scrawled across his body.  Liberal bloggers reacted in rapid knee-jerk fashion.  Andrew Sullivan hysterically fretted about "southern populist terrorism," and other leftist kooks were similarly unhinged.  Turns out the guy committed suicide, possibly in a life insurance fraud scheme. But don't hold your breath waiting for mea culpas from the leftist true believers.

LANSING NUTJOB — There comes a point where you don't get angry or make fun of someone if they seem unequivocally, radically clueless and idiotic.  Instead, you may be inclined to feel sorry for them, and believe that professional intervention is necessary.  With regard to ultra liberal Michigan State Senator Alma Wheeler Smith, I'm not sure I've reached that point, but I'm close.  The Detroit Free Press reports that Sen. Wheeler Smith has proposed a number of tax increases totaling $6.5 billion "needed to make investments in education and welfare programs that will restore the state to prosperity."  Umm, Sen. Smith, I propose that Gov. Tinkerbell buy me a Jaguar, send my family on a two-month European vacation, raise my salary to $300,000 per year, and guarantee me dinner on the house at five-star restaurants with A) Jessica Biel;  B) Angelina Jolie; and C)  Beyonce. (WITHOUT my wife's knowledge, of course!)

BIG FISH STORY - NO BULL — Back in the 1990s, some southern fish farms imported monstrous Asian carp to devour harmful algae in their  ponds.  When massive flooding took place, many of the carp, which can weigh up to 100 lbs. and grow up to 5 feet long, swam into the Mississippi River.  Over the period of several years, they swam upstream, eventually reaching the Chicago River. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed electric barriers to keep the leviathans from entering Lake Michigan, which would devastate the fish stock and wipe out sportfishing, not to mention disrupt the Great Lakes ecosystems.  Still, there is a real threat the Asian carp may enter the Great Lakes.  Maybe for the rest of the country, this isn't such a big deal.  But for those of us in the Great Lakes region, it's serious business.  I am glad to hear that state and federal officials will poison a portion of the Chicago canal in an attempt to kill the hideous monsters.  Yes, many beneficial and harmless fish will die, but that's the price of progress.

More Monday Miscellany

In the past couple days, I've read numerous assessments of Obama's Asian trip that express distress and disappointment at how futile the endeavor was.  He basically came back with nothing. 

Leslie Gelb of the Council on Foreign Relations mulls over Amateur Hour at the White House. The Times of London discusses how the Obama dream seems to be fading.  Even the New York Times, normally the No. 1 Obama shill, had some critical words for the O-man.

Additionally, this Der Spiegel piece is a must read.  Hint: The headline reads, "Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage."

Can we conclude that the conciliator-in-chief's suck-up act has been a flop? YES WE CAN!

TWO-FOR-TWO — I feel like a Major League player who just got on base the first two times at bat! Woke up this morning, and both mousetraps set Sunday night had hit paydirt. On second thought, I'm not sure whether to be happy or appalled.  How many more of those rodents could there be?  We'll find out, starting tonight. 

DOUBTS ABOUT OBAMACARE (FROM A LIBERAL) — Even Washington Post columnist David Broder, normally a solid liberal, wrote he believes Obamacare will break the bank.

A CROOK IS A CROOK — Just because I'm a conservative doesn't mean I'm not going to criticize other conservatives who end up being crooks, philanderers, or sellouts.  Case in point: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who now faces 37 ethics charges.  Step down, Gov. Spare your constituents the agony (not to mention the expense) of a lengthy, knock-down, drag-out impeachment process.  Don't become another Blago.

READER COMMENT — I have to agree with the reader who said I was wrong to pin all of the blame for MSU's beatdown at the hands of Penn State on the secondary.  The defensive line has struggled to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks all season, and Saturday was no exception.  Too, the linebackers were not in the secondary as much as they might have been, because they were rightfully concerned that without their backstopping, PSU's Evan Royster would continuously breach the Spartan defensive line as if it were a lace curtain.  Anyway, it was a bitterly disappointing way to end the regular season.  I hope the Spartans can salvage a bowl victory in a few weeks.

And now, basketball season

I remember when the Big Ten was a football conference.  No more.  They are rapidly losing ground to the MAC in terms of gridiron prowess, but at least the hardwood belongs to the Conference That Can't Count.

What can one say about the regular football season that has finally, mercifully drawn to a close?

For the Spartans, it was almost as bitter as the John L. Smith days, a series of disasters punctuated by moments of glory. We can comfort ourselves by saying that MSU was three plays away from being 9-3, but the Spartans were also two more plays from being 4-8.  Those moments add up, and part of moving to the next level is being the kind of team that captures those moments.

Mark Dantonio has his work cut out for him, and part of that work is educating his staff.  They need more strategy.  Discipline will only go so far; the Spartans also need some skilled generalship.  Too many plays were botched in the booth, from the senseless quarterback rotation to the pig-headed insistence on establishing the run when it simply wasn't going to happen.

Still, next year the Spartan faithful have much to look forward to.  The senior class is taking few standouts and both running back and QB positions will show marked improvement.  Keith Nichol by now should be the backup, but his skills should not be overlooked.  During the off season, Dantonio should look at using him for special plays or as a slot receiver.  He's fast and has a good arm - putting both Cousins and Nichol on the field at the same time would give opposing defensive coordinators fits.

Hopefully they will use the bowl as a chance to open up the playbook.

Meanwhile, the snow in Ann Arbor is about six feet deep.  I suppose a victory lap is in order regarding my March 25 5-7 prediction, and we'll have to wait a few weeks to see if coach RichRod will last into the new year.  As I said before, the question is how the NCAA investigation goes.  If sanctions are likely, RichRod is toast.  Stick a fork in 'im, he's done.

As a good Spartan fan, I should at this point remind what few readers I have that like the Skunk Bears that I hope he stays on indefinately.  This is a long and storied rivalry and it will take years of MSU victories to tip it in our favor.  So keep him, please.

A Bad Saturday

A mouse in the house, the Spartans getting their butts kicked by Penn State, and several "conservative" Democrats caving in to Harry Reid to move Obamacare's 2,000 pages forward... What else can go wrong?

Well, first let me say that we try our best to not leave food or crumbs around, clean up dirty dishes ASAP, and keep the house pretty neat.  But once before — back in 2002 — we spotted a mouse in the basement and had to put out the traps.  This time, regrettably, it was in the kitchen.

Our 43-year-old home has a variety of cracks and crevices where the little critter (s) could have snuck in — aluminum siding, perhaps through a small hole where the dryer exhaust is emitted or the cable TV wire enters the house.  (We USED to have Comcast, but have Dishnetwork now, but the coaxial cable remains.)  Or, perhaps one day while we were bringing groceries into the house from the garage, one of 'em just scurried in uninvited. This is the time of year when the weather outside is getting colder, and the rodents seek warmth.

We'll see how this transpires.  Best to aggressively go after 'em now (or maybe if I'm lucky, there's only one critter), rather than procrastinate, because these pests multiply.  Stay tuned for an update.  I know — you can hardly wait.

On the gridiron, the Michigan Wolverines wrapped up their dismal season with a fifth straight loss, 21-10, to the Ohio State Buckeyes, who have now beaten Michigan six years in a row.  The defense actually played well, but its efforts were for naught as freshman quarterback Tate Forcier threw a couple of costly interceptions and fumbled in the end zone, which led to an early Buckeyes score.  Despite some Michigan fans howling for Coach Rich Rodriguez' head, I believe he will get at least one more season to show some improvement, as the university has way too much money invested in him, and it would be difficult to find a good coach to replace him without breaking the bank.

My Spartans fared poorly, too, turning what was a 7-7 halftime deadlock into a 42-14 drubbing that was even more one-sided than the score indicated.  The MSU secondary was horrendous, as players were constantly using poor technique, getting caught out of position, blowing assignments, and overall just playing poorly.  This part of the defense has been lousy all season.  I say it's time for secondary coach Harlon Barnett, a Spartan player from the 1980s, to be shown the door.  I believe a better coach could get these players to perform much better.

Adding insult to injury, normally stellar sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a couple of horrible interceptions into double coverage, and Penn State capitalized on the turnovers.  Murphy's Law, anyone?

Now the Spartans will await the announcement in early December of the bowl lineup.  They likely will go to the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., but could end up in the Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) or the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl (Ford Field in Detroit).  In other words, a flea bag bowl.  But on the positive side, playing in a bowl gives the young players more practice time, more repetitions and opportunity to absorb the playbook.

If Mark Dantonio doesn't go at least 8-4 next season, it may be time to seriously question whether he can get the job done.  He inherited a program in disarray three years ago, but has recruited well and exceeded expectations his first two seasons.  However, this season has been a major disappointment.  We'll see what happens.  Meantime, I turn my attention to the No. 2 Spartans basketball team, with my hopes set on another Final Four.  I shall do my level best to turn my co-blogger into a gung-ho hoops fan.

On a final note, I was disappointed when Democrat Senators Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln agreed to vote for cloture (putting the kabosh on a filibuster) and move forward with debating the Senate version of Obamacare.  Still, it will be a challenging balancing act for Majority Leader Reid to keep his coalition together when the time comes in a few weeks to vote on the final bill.  And there's a reasonable chance that whatever a House-Senate conference committee hashes out may be unacceptable to hard left representatives as well as some pro-life Democrats.  Things might come to a head in a marathon session just prior to Christmas.  I may need some potent egg nog to make it through that mess.

Look in the Mirror

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is being made the fall guy for the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, and I see a repeat of the same blame-shifting that happened after the hurricane struck four years ago.

I have gotten to know quite a few Army Corps people in a past job and in my present position, and I find them to be highly competent, conscientious, and professional.  It appalls me that these solid individuals of integrity are getting blamed when in fact the dysfunctional, corrupt black hole of New Orleans ought to be the bullseye for blame-throwers.

First, let’s recall what happened when Katrina struck New Orleans in September 2005.  When all hell broke loose, the knee-jerk, default position of the lamestream media was that it was all George Bush’s fault.  Incompetent idiot; worthless hack appointees; no compassion for the people of New Orleans; would have done more if it were mostly white people devastated by the floods; more concerned about ensuring his buddies profited from the relief efforts, blah x 3.  The lamestream media is nothing if not utterly predictable.

This premise was wrong on a number of levels:  1) New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana’s governor at the time, Kathleen Blanco, were completely negligent of their duties by not declaring a disaster, calling for federal aid in advance, and urging people to evacuate the city several days before the hurricane struck.  Computer models two or three days out made it clear that this would be nearly a direct hit. And 2) The whole notion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency ought to be a first responder is totally false.  It never was intended to be, and never will be regarded as, a first responder.  Emergency management starts at the local level, then tiers up to the state, with Uncle Sam a distant third.  But perhaps it was just too much trouble for those with a leftist agenda to bother looking this up (or to accept it as the truth if they learned about it).

The feckless Mayor Nagin didn’t have a good evacuation plan ready, and when the storm hit, the evacuation buses were stranded in a parking lot, underwater.  Perhaps some of the blame ought to be assigned to the deadbeats who thought they could just stay put and "ride the storm out," to paraphrase R.E.O. Speedwagon.

But the overriding factor at work here — something the press won’t touch — is that New Orleans has been rotten to the core with corruption for decades.  

Even NBC News, which isn't gung-ho about reporting corruption by Democrat politicians, ran an in-depth report a few years ago about how the New Orleans Levee Board squandered millions of taxpayer dollars intended to maintain and upgrade the levees.  Cronies and crooks got their pockets lined, lavish parties were thrown, and who knows, maybe some gorgeous call girls received remuneration courtesy of John Q. Public.

See for yourself.

Who knows if there's a "statute of limitations" on pummeling the Dubya pinata?  Will the left's hatred of G.W. Bush ever weaken like Coke that has lost its fizz?  I don't know, but if it does, it will probably take a while.

The Army Corps of Engineers has an exemplary track record for efficient use of taxpayers' dollars, for conceiving, planning, building, and maintaining infrastructure that is beneficial to the public.

New Orleans politicians, on the other hand, have a reputation about on the level of the ladies of the night strutting down Bourbon Street.