The NCAA Basketball tournament starts today (well, technically, it started before today with the “play-in” games, but who cares about them, unless you’re a Western Kentucky fan or something), with SU taking on UNC-Asheville at 3:10 PM EDT. UNCA is probably the best of the 16-seeds, so naturally, what with our starting center being ruled ineligible by the university to play, there is a great deal of speculation as to whether or not SU will become the first #1 seed to lose to a #16. We have the dubious distinction of being the first #2 seed to lose to a #15, having lost to the dreaded Richmond Spiders back in 1991 – a game I recall watching in the hospital when my mother had a triple bypass; oh, what a happy day – and I would just as soon not lose today. I’m still holding out hope that they will rise to the occasion and win the whole goddamn thing. Holding out hope, but not exactly holding my breath.
It’s supposed to be very warm today – perhaps as high as 77 degrees. That is truly amazing. And warm all weekend and into next week. I hate to jinx it, but I’m pretty sure the snow tires are coming off this weekend.
Oh well, for some reason, it feels as though somebody is sticking an ice pick – no, make that a flathead screwdriver – into the middle of my back. How pleasant.
It’s enough to make your head spin.
pj, late long lunch or off early? At least RG won’t have to leave the room. Good luck.
I normally would not post MoDo but… I did c&p in case any of you are on the wrong side of a paywall. :spank: :no:
TruTV live stream.
Though it might be better if I didn’t watch.
Eeek!
It may be warm in Syracuse but on Shelter Island it is under 50 and getting chillier.
That’s why Syracuse is known as “the Miami of the Northeast.”
seattle’s the amazon rain forest of the west
The Senate Overachieves
By GAIL COLLINS
Published: March 14, 2012
Good news, frustrated American citizens! Congress is not a clogged up, hidebound legislative slug after all.
Bills were flying through the Senate on Wednesday like great flocks of geese soaring into the turbines of a passenger jet.
First, the senators passed legislation that would keep all the federally financed highway programs from coming to a screeching halt when money runs out at the end of this month. (Completely unnecessary disaster averted!)
Then, the party leaders came to an agreement on easing a bottleneck of uncontroversial judicial nominations. (People with no enemies cleared for hiring!)
Some of you may be wondering how the judges got bottlenecked in the first place if they were uncontroversial. It’s a long story. But, basically, the Republicans, irritated about totally unrelated matters, vented their frustration by putting their feet on the necks of helpless judicial nominees, people without an enemy in the world, who just wanted to go in and help clear up the critical case backload in the nation’s federal courts.
“It’s easy to make Republicans look bad,†complained Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, accurately.
Senator Charles Schumer of New York dared to hope that “an idea of a moment of greater comity that we’ve seen this week is not just momentary, but will last on into the future.†It was possibly not the most stirring prose ever, but it was hard to talk coherently with all the emotion in the air.
One of the great challenges for citizens in an era of partisan rancor is figuring out whether to applaud whenever our elected representatives manage to accomplish anything whatsoever. The bar is getting pretty low. Are we supposed to be thrilled that Congress managed to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration? Doesn’t really seem much to ask. On the other hand, if you have seen this crowd in action, you know it’s a wonder that they’ve managed to keep paying the air traffic controllers’ salaries.
The transportation bill could actually have some trouble in the House, since the Republicans there were talking about slashing away at the spending and tying the whole thing to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It used to be that, if nothing else, you could count on our men and women in Washington to work together when it came to passing lots and lots of highway projects. But no more, apparently. I think I speak for many Americans when I say that I miss the Bridge to Nowhere.
Still, we have not seen so much positive action since the House and Senate each passed a bill making it illegal for members of Congress to engage in insider trading. Although that one has not actually made it into law because of a disagreement between the two chambers on the definition of a lobbyist.
And, yeah, I know you thought it was illegal already.
After its run of accomplishment, the Senate did not rest on its laurels. No, it moved right on to begin consideration of a bipartisan bill — passed in the House by an enormous margin — that would remove investor protections in the financial marketplace.
Say what?
Ah, yes, the JOBS Act. JOBS stands for Jump-start Our Business Start-ups. Basically, it relieves businesses that are preparing to go public from some of the most important auditing regulations that Congress passed after the Enron debacle. Also, new public companies could delay following the rules on disclosing executive compensation that were passed after the 2008 Wall Street implosion. And salesmen could market stock in new companies to small investors on the Internet.
You could also call it the Just Open Bucket Shops Act.
But it’s for small businesses! Small business is the heartbeat of the American economy, partly because the way politicians define it, the term includes virtually everyone. Enterprises so tiny that they are hardly a business. Endeavors so big that Republicans can argue that raising taxes on the richest 1 percent would be a terrible blow to small business owners.
These days, we are all small businesses.
And it was bipartisan! “Democrats are eager to move this bill forward,†said the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid. One of the biggest complaints about the bill in the House was from Democrats who claimed the Republicans had stolen it from them.
When it comes to deregulating business, all of the worst ideas in the modern history of Congress have been bipartisan to the core. People, when you see Republicans and Democrats together, holding hands and talking about unleashing the magic of the marketplace, hide your wallets.
Maybe we’ve had too much legislative achievement already.
should i drive to portland to see maron? might be hard to drive stoned for three hours.
Well, it looks like the other ‘melo, from ‘cuse bagged my West Virginia homeboys. My parents were friends with Mike and Danny’s folks.
D’Antoni Resigns Amid Frustration