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The Political Middle is Gone -Which Means No Deals

Tom Knuppel Other
The Political Middle is Gone -Which Means No Deals

Right of Liberalism and left of Conservatism is the place where the majority of American electorate resides. It is the place where calm reasoned logic supersedes screaming, reactionary tomfoolery. It is where the typical politicians go running to after they have “secured” their base; and where they go running from when there are no more campaigns to wage. However, it is where the future of American politics resides.

 

Looking for the political middle in Congress? It’s gone.

In 1982, there were 344 Members whose voting records fell somewhere between the most conservative voting Democrat and the most liberal voting Republican in the House. Thirty years later, there were 11. That means that in 1982 the centrists — or at least those who by voting record were somewhere near the middle of their respective parties — comprised 79 percent of the House. In 2012 they made up 2.5 percent of the House. So, yeah.

There are any number of reasons for this disappearance — partisan gerrymandering and closed primaries being the two most obvious — but the numbers are unbelievably stark, particularly when you consider that roughly 30 percent of the electorate consider themselves political independents. (According to exit polling, 29 percent of people named themselves independents in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.)

This explains why there will be no grand or even big bargain on debt and spending — or much of anything else — anytime soon. The political incentive to make deals simply does not exist in the House and, in fact, there is almost always a disincentive for members to work across the aisle.The deal-makers — as we have seen from the last month in the House — are largely gone. The two people who do seem capable of crafting deals — Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — come from a different time in politics. (Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972, McConnell in 1984.) The middle’s voice in the House is so soft as to be almost non-existent. And it’s hard to see that changing — at least in the near term.

All of which means one thing: No deal(s)

Why Can’t Appointments Start on Time?

Tom Knuppel Other
Why Can’t Appointments Start on Time?

 

 

William Shakespeare wrote:  “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.”

I am an early person. I have said repeatedly that I would rather arrive an hour early than five minutes late. However, it is really not an advantage, most of the time, to show up for an appointment early. If they take you in to another room, it usually is just a place to get you out of the waiting area and now you sit. Sometimes it is for a very lengthy time. I get irritated!

I get aggravated with late of any sort. However, It get really ticked when an appointment time flies by and I sit and sit and sit. It doesn’t matter if the time set was 2:15pm and you wait until almost 3 before you see the person. Doctors and dentists are the worst. I know the line you hear is they are busy and things back up. Maybe, just maybe, they scheduled too many appoints too close together?

The point is, I feel bad when I keep people waiting. I feel like we’re all busy and our time is important so being consistently late is a sign that you don’t respect someone’s time.  I respect you enough to make the appointment and show up on time, at least try to respect that I have other things to do beside sit around reading your old magazines all day.

On a personal level it’s just rude and signals to the person that you leave waiting that you don’t care enough to respect their time. Because while I’ve now had to wait for you it means that I have to push back other things I have to do.

This topic really gets my juices flowing!

St. Louis Cardinal Spring Training Schedule Released

Tom Knuppel Other
St. Louis Cardinal Spring Training Schedule Released

I am soooo ready for Spring Training and a new season. Here is a press release from the Cardinals:

 

The St. Louis Cardinals announced their 2015 Spring Training schedule today.  The team’s 28-game Grapefruit League slate begins on Thursday, March 5, at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., as the road team against their complex co-tenants, the Miami Marlins, and concludes Thursday, April 2, before heading to Memphis for an exhibition on Friday, April 3, against their Triple-A Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Redbirds, at Autozone Park.

The Cardinals’ Grapefruit League schedule features 15 home dates and 13 road games including three games as the “visiting” team against the Marlins (March 5, 13 & 17), giving them 18 total games at Roger Dean Stadium.  The Cardinals and Marlins will play a total of six games this spring.

This coming spring marks the 18th year that the Cardinals will train at Roger Dean Stadium.  Cardinals’ pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Jupiter on February 19 and conduct their first workout onFebruary 20.  The remainder of the Cardinals’ players will be scheduled to report February 24 with their first workout on February 25.

The Cardinals host nine different Grapefruit League opponents including four games against 2014 postseason teams.  The Washington Nationals visit twice on March 25 and 30, while the Baltimore Orioles (March 12) and Detroit Tigers (March 16) each visit once.

Other American League teams appearing on the schedule at Jupiter include the Houston Astros (March 6), Boston Red Sox (March 9) and Minnesota Twins (March 14), with the Atlanta Braves arriving for one game on March 21 and the New York Mets (March 27, 29 & April 2) making three visits to round out National League opponents.   The first 14 Cardinals home games at Roger Dean Stadium are scheduled to start at 1:05 p.m. ET, with the final game versus the Mets starting at 12:05 p.m.

Individual spring training tickets for games in Jupiter will go on sale Friday, January 9, at 5 p.m. ET.  Fans may purchase Cardinals spring training tickets in person at Roger Dean Stadium’s Box Office beginning at 5 p.m. ET that Friday or via the internet at www.cardinals.com or www.rogerdeanstadium.com beginning at 6 p.m. ET.  Spring Training full season ticket plans, 6+ mini-plans and group tickets are on sale now by calling 561-775-1818.

Cardinals Spring Training tickets are priced at $29 for Field Box seats, $27 for Loge Box, $15 for bleachers and $15 for berm seating (sold day of game only).  Weekend Games and Premium Games (Boston,March 9 & Detroit, March 16) will include an additional fee per ticket on those select days.

Final Scores- Mens Baskeball for Saturday, November 15th

Tom Knuppel Other
Final Scores- Mens Baskeball for Saturday, November 15th

 

Here are most of the final scores in D1 Mens Baskeball for Saturday, November 15th—

 

Saint Francis (NY) 62 Georgetown 83 Final
Trinity (FL) 69 Bethune-Cookman 91 Final
Gardner-Webb 82 Louisiana State 93 Final
Manhattan 66 Florida State 81 Final
Nova Southeastern 51 Florida Gulf Coast 63 Final
Appalachian State 47 Ohio 73 Final
North Dakota 52 Northern Iowa 64 Final
Hillsdale 68 Michigan 92 Final
Bluefield State 51 Duquesne 91 Final
Vermont 60 Canisius 64 Final
Catholic 66 Davidson 102 Final
Colgate 52 La Salle 57 Final
Bowling Green 77 Drake 58 Final
Earlham 45 Evansville 116 Final
Illinois-Springfield 57 Green Bay 88 Final
Pfeiffer 59 Winthrop 82 Final
Aurora 56 Northern Illinois 86 Final
Delaware State 77 Pennsylvania 75 Final
Maine 57 Butler 99 Final
Austin Peay 70 Western Kentucky 77 Final
Southeast Missouri 56 San Diego 67 Final
Air Force 68 The Citadel 55 Final
Cal Poly 49 Nevada 65 Final
California-San Diego 52 California-Riverside 75 Final
Dartmouth 57 Saint Bonaventure 77 Final
Kent State 69 Youngstown State 61 Final
Albany 60 Providence 64 Final
San Francisco State 64 Long Beach State 74 Final
North Carolina-Wilmington 56 Old Dominion 76 Final
Florida A&M 65 South Carolina-Upstate 78 Final
Southern Illinois 59 Saint Louis 62 Final
Tulsa 68 Oral Roberts 77 Final
Boise State 77 Loyola Marymount 69 Final
Fairfield 59 Duke 109 Final
Louisiana-Monroe 74 UAB 65 Final
Virginia Military Institute 86 Army 92 Final

Is the Big 12 the Best Conference in College Basketball?

Tom Knuppel Other
Is the Big 12 the Best Conference in College Basketball?

 

 

 

Should College Basketball Implement the 30 Second Shot Clock? That was yesterday’s blog and you can find it HERE.

Is the Big 12 the best league?

Just look through it. Kansas is always a team in the Top echelon. Now we find the Kansas State Wildcats making a charge along with the Fred Hoiberg led Iowa State Cyclones. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor will get their share of wins in 2014-15 and my personal favorite to make a lot of noise the Texas Longhorns.

What do you think?

Should College Basketball Implement the 30 Second Clock?

Tom Knuppel Other
Should College Basketball Implement the 30 Second Clock?

 

Are we closer to having a 30 second shot clock?

Some conferences in their exhibition games are experimenting with a 30 second shot clock to see how the game flows. I am in favor of a 30 second shot clock and  I like he idea of 6 fouls on a player to foul out.

I think in the next 2-3 years the 30 second shot clock will be universal. Actually I wouldn’t mind some sort of shot clock at the high school level.

What do you think?

Raining on Your Parade

Tom Knuppel Other
Raining on Your Parade

In short, it’s one thing to win an election in a non-presidential year, when minorities and young people stay home and older, whiter voters make up a disproportionate share of the electorate. It’s another thing to win when a Democratic presidential candidate is luring the party’s base back to the polls — especially when that candidate is Hillary Clinton, the most popular Democrat in America as of right now. 

Title IX- Gender Equity is Not Making Sense

Tom Knuppel Other
Title IX- Gender Equity is Not Making Sense

 

Yes, we all know that the impetus of Title IX is that there needs to be the same number of sports for the men and women. That is fine and dandy but that is a poor business model.

 

If a college wants to have sport, then it should be self-sufficient or they shouldn’t have it. Forget the gender equity part of this.

 

The following represents spending and revenue as obtained by the Equity in Athletics for NCAA division I schools from 2003-2009. On average across all 135 universities only basketball and football make profit, and almost cover the loss in revenue from all other sports.

While greater than 80% of the schools have a team for baseball, basketball, track, football, golf, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball, the other sports are much more rare. Regardless, averages posted were taken only on teams that existed.

Investigating female vs male sports, there is a large discrepancy in spending and earnings, though much of this might be due to the large impact that college football has.

If you can’t pay for it on it own, then discontinue the sport. Doesn’t matter if it is mens or womens. Just cut it.

Elections Have Consequences

Tom Knuppel Other
Elections Have Consequences

 

In a democracy, there’s no such thing as an election without consequences. We are not satisfied with today’s Democratic Party; we wish it was more populist and more progressive. But it is absurd to argue that little will change if Republicans take the Senate. A lot will change—and it will be for the worse. A Republican Senate, working with a Republican House, will be a wrecking crew.

GOP control of the House and Senate could be catastrophic for the environment, for workers, for women and for minorities.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, has already promised the Koch brothers that “we’re not going to be debating all these gosh-darn proposals…like raising the minimum wage…extending unemployment…the student loan package.” And it won’t just be progressive proposals that are stymied. Consider the judges who will never make it to the bench, including the highest, if Chuck Grassley, not Pat Leahy, is in charge of the Judiciary Committee. Consider the destabilizing political circus Republicans will create if Darrell Issa’s hyperpartisan investigations into fake scandals spread from the House to the Senate.

GOP control of key Senate committees will reorder the debate. What happens, for example, if Senator Pat Toomey, former president of the right-wing Club for Growth, takes over Sherrod Brown’s subcommittee overseeing financial institutions and consumer protection? What happens to nuclear negotiations with Iran if McConnell, Lindsey Graham and John McCain are deciding when to bring up a sanctions bill?

But a GOP takeover is not a threat just because of what Republicans will do. Progressives should also worry about the many areas of potential agreement between Obama and a GOP-controlled Senate. It is Harry Reid, for example, not Republicans, who is denying the president fast-track authority on corporate trade deals. Without Reid in the way, pacts like the Trans-Pacific Partnership—which labor leaders describe as “NAFTA on steroids”—are likely to become the law of the land. Likewise, Obama and Republicans could agree to pursue lower corporate tax rates—as opposed to infrastructure investments and job creation—as their primary economic-development initiative. And let’s not forget that Obama has repeatedly floated Social Security cuts as a bargaining chip in negotiations with GOP leaders.

Perhaps the most worrying consequence of a GOP-controlled Senate will be the extension of the damaging austerity agenda. Think, for example, about the next debt-ceiling fight. Republicans have repeatedly used the debt ceiling to hold the economy hostage, but they have relented each time because they knew that they would be blamed for the consequences—not the president. But if Republicans take control of the Senate, that calculus will change. What happens when they send Obama a bill to prevent default on our debt at the eleventh hour, attached to a bill that ravages Social Security? The Republicans will be able to force the president to choose between impossible options.

They will also be able to advance the Keystone XL pipeline, ban abortions after twenty weeks, decimate an already-weak Dodd-Frank Act and shred the torn social safety net.

 

Remember to Vote.