December 3, 2006
Life Isn’t Fair
:Tonight the college football championship game will be announced and as much as it pains me to say it, Michigan will not be in it. They had their shot, and the country will say that its time for someone else to get a crack. A couple years ago, the University of Oklahoma lost in its conference championship game (by a lot), they went any way. They got destroyed. If you don’t win your conference title you shouldn’t get a chance at the national title.
The last rematch for a title occurred in the 1997 Sugar Bowl. Coincidentally, the University of Florida won its only national title avenging an earlier loss to Florida State. You won’t hear Urban Myer or anyone else from Florida mentioning it this week. But they should – they should at least be honest about what’s going on. That year, Florida State was the better team. They proved it during the regular season defeating the Gators by three at home. They should have gotten to play someone new and see how they could have done (and they probably would have won). But Steve Spurier had a couple weeks off to scheme and that Florida team won by 30 some points and took home their only crown.
This year, Michigan lost in Columbus by 3. Don’t you think a couple weeks off might benefit the Wolverines like they did the Gators in 1996-97? Of course it would. Six weeks to prepare for that shotgun look that Michigan faced exclusively in Columbus. Six weeks to prepare for a neutral site. Six weeks to correct some problems. Michigan might very well win the game. We will never know.
Instead, the hypocritical Gator fans (who shouted in 1996 that you get seven points when your at home and want extra credit for road wins at Tennessee, Georgia, and at Florida State and their lose at Auburn) refuse to acknowledge how close Michigan was at Columbus. Could Florida have come that close? Having watched them play against Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU – I doubt it.
Eventually their delay of game and false start penalties will kill them (as will them switching quarterbacks and having a drop back passer run). In fact all of those things have killed them this season – they can’t score. That might work in the SEC where no one can score (Arkansas’ quarterback actually cannot hit the side of a barn as he proved last night when he went 10-for-22 and would have been a lot worse except for some questionable pass interference calls). Come the National Title game, their defense will be good but still give up a couple touchdowns. Can they score that many? Only if they get a touchdown because the punt returner muffs the ball into the end zone, the running back throws a pick during a late game drive, and they get a fifty yard TD run from a wide receiver that was hit at the line of scrimmage. So, basically not likely.
Life isn’t fair. Almost everyone outside the southeast admits that Michigan is the second best team in the country. With the system we have today that won’t be enough. Instead the Gators will go. They’ll get destroyed. And in sense that would be the perfect ending. Why should there be a playoff or a bowl season when we already know the obvious – the best team in the country is in scarlet and silver. They have a hideous four letter name. They are from an inferior state. They are named after a nut. Yes, Ohio State is the best team in the country. No more games are needed. They should be crowned right now. Alas, life isn’t fair.
(Filed under: Sports, NCAA, Commentary)
December 6, 2006
Iraq Study Group
:Do you have your copy yet? I hope to finish it by this weekend and will begin posting my thoughts soon after. Get your copy at Amazon by clicking on this link: Iraq Study Group
(Filed under: Iraq, America at War, Bush Administration, Middle East, Commentary, Politics, America)
Gates Confirmation
:We will soon have a new Defense Secretary. Robert Gates was confirmed today with a 95-2 vote (only opposed by Conservative Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Jim Bunning (R-KY) who seemed to think he was not supportive enough of the President’s policies in Iraq). The Senate seems to have finally come to the view that most of the population already had decided – Rumsfeld has to go and the sooner the better (more on this when Rumsfeld finally leaves the Pentagon, rumors have him staying through the end of December). And while few will argue with this desire, we have no idea if Dr. Gates is the right man for this job. Sure he said the right things for a day and a half and seems to be a bit independent but he is not the first to dazzle Congress nominated by this President. The devil was in the details and could have been had if his hearings were delayed to hear the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations. Instead we know very little about Dr. Gates and have no basis to be excited about this nomination.
(Filed under: America at War, Bush Administration, Commentary, Politics, America)
December 11, 2006
Iraq Study Group Response
:Washington was ablaze this week with the release of the Baker-Hamilton Commission’s findings on how to improve the situation in Iraq. Democrats and Moderate Republicans lined up to lavish praise of the ten wise men that have given us a “New Way Forward”. And despite the excitement, there is very little in this report that gives much hope for the future of Iraq. Not only does the report speak to a “grave future,” it provides few substantive realistic proposals. I will address these flaws in the next couple days; I first wanted to address the current critics of the report.
There is plenty to criticize in this report – lack of boldness, lack of a coherent overall strategy, and lack of honesty in the true difficulties in getting things back on track – all of which have been attacked. Ironically, these attacks have come from leading neoconservative thinkers.
Richard Pearle, a Reagan-administration defense official who strongly supported the invasion said, “The report is a monumental disappointment… The recommendations are either wrong or of no consequence. There is no magic bullet, but in their desire to find something, they found the wrong things.”
Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon aide and now a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute said, “Sometimes realists have to deal with reality. Iran and Syria will press to exploit every advantage they have.”
And Kenneth R. Weinstein, chief executive of the conservative Hudson Institute said that “It’s preposterous, period.”
Of course, the Baker-Hamilton Commission’s findings are not what really got this group of neoconservatives mad. What really angers them is that there were only two neoconservatives among the 40 or so experts that briefed the Commission. Apparently that was not enough. Again, Michael Rubin, “Many appointees appeared to be selected less for expertise than for their hostility to President Bush’s war on terrorism and emphasis on democracy… [the Commission] gerrymandered [experts] experts to ratify predetermined recommendations. Rather than prime the debate they sought to stifle it.”
The neoconservatives may be totally right in the specifics – the Commission may be wrong (I’ll argues as much this week) and they may have been left of the Commission – but they are wrong on the overall picture. The Commission really shouldn’t have had a single neoconservative on the briefing board. It really makes no sense to have their input.
For one, the President has endorsed their vision of the world and he met with the Commission. He is in the best position to articulate that vision and his views were well represented. Thanks to the President, the Commission never really considered an immediate withdraw despite large evidence in support of such a move. In addition the Commission was to address alternative paths to victory. It is hard to see how having the architects of the war as chief experts helps to provide a path other than the one we are currently on.
Truthfully, though, what’s concerning to me is that there were even two neoconservatives on the Commission staff. It would be as if a big group got together for a study group in College that was dominated by one person. The group later receives its test grades and found they all failed. Come the next test, I guarantee, that the group will not invite or listen to the person that dominated the last conversation. Unfairly, after all that person may have some good thoughts to add to the discussion for the next test. But that person was responsible for your failure on the last test and you would be a fool to listen again.
Likewise, it would be foolish to give any credence to people like Rubin, Weinstein, or Pearle. They failed this nation. They believed that we would be greeted with flowers and that the oil would pay for the invasion. They still believe that permanent bases are needed to take care of Israel and put pressure on Iran. While full responsibility is on the President, the neoconservatives have a large share of the bloodshed and failure on their ideas. And for that, pardon me, if I do not care if they feel that they are now not being listened to – don’t we all wish that we hadn’t listened to them three years ago.