I really, really, really, really hope the GOP opposes Obama on this Patriot Act stuff. The Democrats long opposed Bush — rightly — for big government wiretapping, secret courts, etc. Republicans couldn’t understand why they were questioning our leader.

A conservative (I forget who) ominously warned back then, “do we want all these powers in the president’s hands? We should think of the ‘Hillary’ rule — if ‘Hillary’ had the power to do these things, would we want her to?”

I’d emphatically answer “no effing way.” Not having access to the courts (when there’s already courts for terrorists set up with secret, procedural safeguards), being spied on without warrant, etc — these things are truly scary. Much, much more scary than Congress looking into the BCS or setting up Cash for Clunkers or getting a health care system that’s been done successfully elsewhere.

Bush had these people. We didn’t call them Czars, because the left didn’t call Bush a socialist — the Czar complaint wouldn’t have stuck. Because there’s a narrative of Obama-the-socialist out there, the Czar thing makes for a good political attack, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.

The BCS thing is bizarre, but it’s important to note that the government basically tolerates all sorts of weirdness for major league sports. That doesn’t excuse their involvement in other ways, but it’s not like sports are a free market by any means (drug regulation, etc) ……….

Is Congress or Obama going to mandate the number of pitches a 12 year old can throw in a Little League game?

I was thinking driving home today: if I somehow went back in time and told 2005-me that we’d soon have the worst recession since the great depression, but a president would help us get out of it by ….

- not breaking up the banks or regulating them as liberals wanted, but instead giving them money (that would be re-paid in months) helping them to get them back on their feet
- not focusing on re-structuring car industry as liberals wanted, but saving big car corporations with loans that would soon be re-paid (with a profit accruing to the government)
- pushing a stimulus that would focus on tax cuts rather than tons of government programs seen during the depression like the WPA, CCC, etc (except for one program, Cash for Clunkers)
- pushing for health care reform that would not be single payer or would have a robust public option as liberals wanted, but instead would focus on pitting private insurers against one another in a better market, containing costs, and by giving subsidies to those who cannot afford insurance to buy it on the private market rather than driving up costs for everyone else. And he’d do this by making deals with big business like hospitals groups and Big Pharma. He’d say we needed to do this not because people die without health care, but because the future deficits would increase and we need to control costs.

On top of that, this unnamed president would…
- keep and expand war powers and the Patriot Act
- ignore gay rights / “don’t ask, don’t tell”
- leave climate change to the Senate
- have a conservative education guy, with whom he’ll reportedly roll out a education plan based on conservative principles (charter schools, vouchers, etc) in 2010…

I would think that guy is a pretty effective Conservative president, not a socialist.

Anyway, now for a comment about the real topic of this article. The government has ZERO business getting involved in the BCS, or MLB steroids. (Congress held ‘hearings’ on steroid use in baseball this past summer if I’m not mistaken. What a misuse of thier time and taxpayer money, they should all be kicked out for gross negligence) What’s next? Is Congress or Obama going to mandate the number of pitches a 12 year old can throw in a Little League game? They have no business being involved in this stuff!

All I need is to watch highlights, see the conference tourney’s, and I’m ready to fill out my bracket. The rest of the college basketball season? Pointless.