When we began looking at topics for today's commentary, at first we considered commenting on the continuing insanity of the 2012 GOP presidential primary field. After all, there were three announcements of consequence over the weekend from that laughably sad group of clownish figures.
On Saturday, conservative Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, announced he'd be running for President - and then promptly put both feet in his mouth on Sunday, all the way up to his ankles, when he made a major mistake on the subject of Israel and Palestine.
Meanwhile, one of the men primarily responsible for the economic policies that created the Great Recession, former George W. Bush budget director and current Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, announced Sunday morning that he's chosen not to run for the GOP's 2012 nomination. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty officially announced the opposite - that he IS entering into the 2012 GOP primary race.
Still, the subject that kept coming up was the announcement by University of Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne that Husker baseball coach Mike Anderson and his staff had been let go.
As we've mentioned on occasion, all of our staff has different yet long-standing emotional ties to Husker sports. One of us even graduated from the University, in Lincoln. Paul draws HuskerNutz year-round, and we all wear our Husker red, no matter where we're living. Our web guru, Shawn, was even the Executive Producer of Husker Sports Radio, at one time. He once took an opportunity to swing the bat at Coach Anderson's pitching during "Media Day" batting practice - and Coach A. was mildly impressed.
All this may be true - but we can't fault A.D. Osborne for making the choice he did.
We respect Coach Anderson and the entire Husker baseball coaching staff, but running college athletics these days is a business in many ways. Anyone who argues otherwise isn't being honest with themselves or with you.
Running any business successfully means making certain benchmarks. In college baseball, that means a coach has to take his team to the College World Series in Omaha if he expects to hang onto his position long-term.
As we've often reminded others, college athletics is significantly more challenging than professional athletics in some ways. In college, it's not just a player's ERA or number of home runs that matter. Their GPA numbers count too - and on that front, Coach A. continued to knock it out of the park, all the way to the end of his career at Nebraska. Under Coach Anderson and the Nebraska baseball coaching staff, 72 players earned academic All-Big 12 honors, including 15 players this year, a record for the entire league. Coach Anderson and his staff demanded excellence from their players, on and off the field, and they usually got it.
Admittedly, with changes in the MLB draft and college baseball over the last five years, college baseball coaches have had a harder time than ever keeping star players from leaving school for the allure of the big leagues - a problem that also plagued Coach Anderson. Still, when the announcement was made over the weekend, there were no excuses from Coach A. and his staff - and that didn't surprise us at all.
Mike Anderson and his staff have been a class act for nearly a decade. They did a great job teaching, coaching, and getting Nebraska fans excited about baseball again, especially in the early years of Anderson's tenure.
As they head out of Hawks Field at Haymarket Park one last time, in our hearts, we're giving them one last round of applause, in true Husker tradition.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday Funday: It's The End Of The World - But We Feel Fine
As you may have already heard, a fanatical far, far, FAR right wing extremist in California has decreed that tomorrow (or possibly, yesterday or a few days ago, if you don't check your e-mail every day) is supposed to be the end of the world.
For a million little reasons, we're just not buying into the hype today.
For starters, even if you’re Christian and even if you believe in the rapture (or this particular model of the End of Days – there are many ), there are many different Bible verses that - as clearly as any other christian bible verse - lay out that the second coming will occur when pretty much no one is paying attention.
Since you're reading this, and since we put today's Daily Felltoon together, we're pretty sure we're all paying attention - which we think at least gives us all partial credit for saving the world today. So... Mazel Tov and thanks to you! Good job.
There's also the question brought up by a discussion of our staff members earlier this year: exactly WHEN is the end of the world supposed to occur?
Most Western media sources we've looked through seem to say it's supposed to happen on Saturday. But as far as we can tell, the insane maniac/devout fool who began this rumor thinks the rapture will happen at exactly midnight, Jerusalem time.
That puts the rapture square in the middle of the afternoon for basically all of the Western Hemisphere.
On FRIDAY afternoon - not Saturday.
Those of you that have to do end-of-week reports may be rejoicing at that news - but we really think you should hold onto your paperwork and hold off on doing your best Keith Olbermann impersonation. After all, the rapture may be tomorrow, but the end of the world isn't technically until October 21st, according to the California extremist.
Whatever you believe, we hope you live life every day as though there won't be another.
For all of us - like former Nebraska teacher and poet Bill Kloefkorn - that will eventually be the case.
Bill was a teacher, a poet, and a lover of words, all things that we admire and respect. He loved life, and enjoyed humor as much as anyone. We're fairly sure he'd agree with our advice, cliché though it is. He passed away Thursday, and we send our condolences to his friends, family, and all who knew him.
Not a single one of us truly knows when we're going to go, whether we get hit by a bus, or get yanked into the clouds by the rapture. [We're not Baptists, and at least one of us is Catholic, so we're pretty sure the folks who think the world is ending this weekend also think we're all going to Hell.]
We hope that, if nothing else comes from this non-event event, it at least brings to your attention that pithy, if not trite phase, to live life like you were dying. It may be a cliché, but someday that phrase will actually be correct for all of us.
We hope it's not this weekend though, as we have so many more things we'd like to experience in this world.
If we're wrong, and the rapture happens later today - or Saturday, midnight local time if you're in Jerusalem - we may be a bit delayed in getting out Monday's edition. Then again, since there will be fewer people on the internet and most of the internet techies we know are also likely to still be around, we could even get finished with our work early.
Guess we'll have to wait until Monday to see how it all turns out.
We hope you enjoy your weekend. Live a little. Or live a lot, if you get the time.
For a million little reasons, we're just not buying into the hype today.
For starters, even if you’re Christian and even if you believe in the rapture (or this particular model of the End of Days – there are many ), there are many different Bible verses that - as clearly as any other christian bible verse - lay out that the second coming will occur when pretty much no one is paying attention.
Since you're reading this, and since we put today's Daily Felltoon together, we're pretty sure we're all paying attention - which we think at least gives us all partial credit for saving the world today. So... Mazel Tov and thanks to you! Good job.
There's also the question brought up by a discussion of our staff members earlier this year: exactly WHEN is the end of the world supposed to occur?
Most Western media sources we've looked through seem to say it's supposed to happen on Saturday. But as far as we can tell, the insane maniac/devout fool who began this rumor thinks the rapture will happen at exactly midnight, Jerusalem time.
That puts the rapture square in the middle of the afternoon for basically all of the Western Hemisphere.
On FRIDAY afternoon - not Saturday.
Those of you that have to do end-of-week reports may be rejoicing at that news - but we really think you should hold onto your paperwork and hold off on doing your best Keith Olbermann impersonation. After all, the rapture may be tomorrow, but the end of the world isn't technically until October 21st, according to the California extremist.
Whatever you believe, we hope you live life every day as though there won't be another.
For all of us - like former Nebraska teacher and poet Bill Kloefkorn - that will eventually be the case.
Bill was a teacher, a poet, and a lover of words, all things that we admire and respect. He loved life, and enjoyed humor as much as anyone. We're fairly sure he'd agree with our advice, cliché though it is. He passed away Thursday, and we send our condolences to his friends, family, and all who knew him.
Not a single one of us truly knows when we're going to go, whether we get hit by a bus, or get yanked into the clouds by the rapture. [We're not Baptists, and at least one of us is Catholic, so we're pretty sure the folks who think the world is ending this weekend also think we're all going to Hell.]
We hope that, if nothing else comes from this non-event event, it at least brings to your attention that pithy, if not trite phase, to live life like you were dying. It may be a cliché, but someday that phrase will actually be correct for all of us.
We hope it's not this weekend though, as we have so many more things we'd like to experience in this world.
If we're wrong, and the rapture happens later today - or Saturday, midnight local time if you're in Jerusalem - we may be a bit delayed in getting out Monday's edition. Then again, since there will be fewer people on the internet and most of the internet techies we know are also likely to still be around, we could even get finished with our work early.
Guess we'll have to wait until Monday to see how it all turns out.
We hope you enjoy your weekend. Live a little. Or live a lot, if you get the time.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Cleaning Up
It's nearing the end of the legislative session for 2011, at least for the statehouses in Lincoln and Des Moines.
We've been watching both state legislatures carefully this year, as examples of what to do, what not to do, and what can't - or shouldn't - be done at the state level.
In Nebraska, in spite of the ranting and raving of far too many on the political right that ANY increase in taxes would be too much, more revenue has been found. In fact, legislators in Nebraska overrode the governor's veto in order to ask Nebraskans to spend five bucks more a year for state park entry fees. The threat of a second veto override also cowed Nebraska's governor into signing a larger roads funding bill than had initially been expected.
Both bills gained bipartisan support, which surprised many observers from both sides of the aisle.
In Iowa, the theme of this year's legislative session seems to have been partisanship.
The legislature there remains at a standstill, on many key issues, with neither side willing to budge. Technically, the Iowa legislature is now past its original scheduled ending date. Most legislative staffers have already been released, as most people did not expect the session to continue this long. Still, three key bills have yet to be passed: the school funding bill, a proposed tax relief bill, and the Iowa state budget.
Extreme gridlock notwithstanding, we have seen significant compromise on some issues in Iowa this session.
Iowa's congressional redistricting efforts went extremely well, considering the state will be losing one member of its U.S. house delegation. Of course, Iowa also had the foresight over 25 years ago to install a nonpartisan redistricting process - so that issue was really a non-issue, even before this year's legislature met.
In comparison, Nebraska, which is losing no seats, appears to have its congressional redistricting headed to Federal court - incurring unnecessary expense for taxpayers - due to a highly partisan and illogical redrawing of the Nebraska congressional map.
Neither state legislature passed many bills this year, though not for lack of trying. Both states also passed some legislation which, in our opinion, is both questionable and offensive. Regardless of our opinion on the content of those bills, we think it's obvious what worked in both legislative bodies this year: compromise.
It's also obvious what didn't work, for both state legislatures: extremism, primarily from the political right.
In Nebraska, the insane insistence that no more revenue could be had - when it's obvious that was not the case - was a stupid, petty, and ultimately failed strategy by those who claim to be fiscally responsible. Their hypocrisy on that issue has now become disgustingly clear.
In Iowa, the hypocrisy continues, with a state strapped for funds, and a governor and Republican-majority house still insisting on massive tax cuts for businesses - while not allowing for any growth of budgets for schools. If no budget deal is made before Iowa's new fiscal year begins in July, the Republican governor and Republican House of Representatives (which is responsible for all spending bills), could be responsible for closing Iowa state parks on the Fourth of July, as well as the layoffs of thousands of workers during the height of summer.
Attempting to hold back a state's fiscal liabilities while not collecting enough revenue for its responsibilities is akin to trying to hold back the ocean while trying to hold down every grain of sand on a beach.
Doing so will only make you look foolish - and ultimately leave you all wet.
We've been watching both state legislatures carefully this year, as examples of what to do, what not to do, and what can't - or shouldn't - be done at the state level.
In Nebraska, in spite of the ranting and raving of far too many on the political right that ANY increase in taxes would be too much, more revenue has been found. In fact, legislators in Nebraska overrode the governor's veto in order to ask Nebraskans to spend five bucks more a year for state park entry fees. The threat of a second veto override also cowed Nebraska's governor into signing a larger roads funding bill than had initially been expected.
Both bills gained bipartisan support, which surprised many observers from both sides of the aisle.
In Iowa, the theme of this year's legislative session seems to have been partisanship.
The legislature there remains at a standstill, on many key issues, with neither side willing to budge. Technically, the Iowa legislature is now past its original scheduled ending date. Most legislative staffers have already been released, as most people did not expect the session to continue this long. Still, three key bills have yet to be passed: the school funding bill, a proposed tax relief bill, and the Iowa state budget.
Extreme gridlock notwithstanding, we have seen significant compromise on some issues in Iowa this session.
Iowa's congressional redistricting efforts went extremely well, considering the state will be losing one member of its U.S. house delegation. Of course, Iowa also had the foresight over 25 years ago to install a nonpartisan redistricting process - so that issue was really a non-issue, even before this year's legislature met.
In comparison, Nebraska, which is losing no seats, appears to have its congressional redistricting headed to Federal court - incurring unnecessary expense for taxpayers - due to a highly partisan and illogical redrawing of the Nebraska congressional map.
Neither state legislature passed many bills this year, though not for lack of trying. Both states also passed some legislation which, in our opinion, is both questionable and offensive. Regardless of our opinion on the content of those bills, we think it's obvious what worked in both legislative bodies this year: compromise.
It's also obvious what didn't work, for both state legislatures: extremism, primarily from the political right.
In Nebraska, the insane insistence that no more revenue could be had - when it's obvious that was not the case - was a stupid, petty, and ultimately failed strategy by those who claim to be fiscally responsible. Their hypocrisy on that issue has now become disgustingly clear.
In Iowa, the hypocrisy continues, with a state strapped for funds, and a governor and Republican-majority house still insisting on massive tax cuts for businesses - while not allowing for any growth of budgets for schools. If no budget deal is made before Iowa's new fiscal year begins in July, the Republican governor and Republican House of Representatives (which is responsible for all spending bills), could be responsible for closing Iowa state parks on the Fourth of July, as well as the layoffs of thousands of workers during the height of summer.
Attempting to hold back a state's fiscal liabilities while not collecting enough revenue for its responsibilities is akin to trying to hold back the ocean while trying to hold down every grain of sand on a beach.
Doing so will only make you look foolish - and ultimately leave you all wet.
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