The Hopp Stop

I caught some of this at the gym tonight. Not much in there to change my opinion either way. I was frustrated by McCain’s refusal to address how he is going to pay for current obligations, let alone ballooning future ones, without increasing revenues via tax hikes. And I worry about a Democratic president + a Democratic Congress; history shows us that it’s best to have shared power in Washington to force compromise and prevent parties from swinging to excess in their programs. Perhaps our national fiscal problems are so close to hand that Washington will act like responsible, intelligent persons for once? Nah, not holding my breath. There’s always another generation they can force to shoulder the obligations.

James Fallows weighed in with some brief thoughts here. To boil his thoughts down to one quote: “At this stage in the race, a tie goes to the leader, and this was not even a tie.”

Protected by S.F., youth offender now a suspect in attempted murder

I’ve posted a few links about this before, but here’s another clear illustration of the downside of SF’s former policy, along with the triple-murder (alleged) from a couple months prior (mentioned in this article).

And against it all, those that are completely detached from reality continue to argue for SF as a “sanctuary city.”

Hmm, that sounds like a great basis for new gun control laws proposed for San Francisco. Because clearly the legal guns in San Francisco are causing big, big problems, such as not being used in that attempted hit on 101 south, west of the Bay Bridge, last week. Let’s get serious–San Francisco gun violence is not committed by common citizens with legal guns.

And great: let’s monitor closely the one (one!) gun store in San Francisco, since it’s not like a gang member looking for a fire arm could just buy one from outside of San Francisco or, god forbid, illegally!

I will certainly admit that getting rid of all legal guns held by law-abiding citizens would reduce accidental gun-related deaths. I don’t see a need for people to possess hand guns and the like, although I support shotgun and rifle ownership rights for hunting purposes. (Whether banning gun ownership is unconstitutional is a separate point.) But these pointless laws–pointless because what’s the real effect on gun violence?–are, to me, just empty gestures that imply that San Francisco has so few real problems that it can waste city council time and government resources on discussion, adoption and implementation of empty gestures.

Here’s a link for Gaelen: a Slate writer argues in favor of Andy Richter’s new show, which Conan O’Brien had a hand in.

Check out the Wikipedia entry on miniature Australian shepherds. They’re not a separate breed spec, just repeated selective breeding of smallish Aussies. While the mini Aussies in the photos on Wikipedia aren’t great, just check out this gal here and here to see how cute they can be. Average size is 25 to 40 pounds. What I find appealing about them is that the smaller size makes them more appropriate for apartment living and makes it easier for them to hit their needed exercise allotment each day (since they tire more rapidly). You can see a short video of that gal here. Hmm…

The ten-year anniversary of the McCarty-Lemiuex fight passed last week. What great memories that brings back…Thanks to the Wayne Fontes Experience for that.

Ghris shared an interesting article with Mino and I over e-mail that attempted to place the Gonzales/prosecutor firings in historical perspective, comparing it to Clinton’s summary dismissal of all prosecutors upon his entering the White House in 1993. Here’s another article that makes comparison to the Clinton years, from the Washington Post.

The Stanford and Michigan hoops teams are nowhere near as strong as they were at their recent peaks. Some part of me wants Stanford to hire Mike Montgomery back, but much like Ty Willingham in football, that ship has sailed and those periods may represent peaks to which subsequent Stanford coaches and teams can only aspire. Given Stanford’s academic standards, it’s pretty tough to consistently assemble a basketball team that can contend for the Pac-10 title or a football team that can finish with a winning record and secure a bowl berth.

Despite the decline in the program since Monty left, I’m still satisfied with Trent Johnson. He’s only in year 2, has them playing well this year and seems to be able to recruit OK. The real proof will be when Monty’s players are all gone and Johnson stands on his own.

Michigan is another story. They’ve been an NIT team for a while, literally and figuratively. The post-Ed Martin fallout and incompetent Brian Ellerbee set the program back, but what excuses does Tommy Amaker have? Crappy Crisler Arena isn’t enough to excuse away the lack of results on the court. Last night’s blown lead at home to Iowa is just another of many such frustrating games. Time to can Tommy and move on to someone else.

UPDATE: Michael Rosenberg of the Free Press has a good column on the impact of last night’s loss on Amaker’s job security.

In other news, Nick Saban continues his stellar off-season PR campaign by slurring Cajuns. Maybe he and Joe Biden can get together to compare notes.

Per another signing statement, he claims right if necessary for national security.