Nice BSU Rant

A nice pro-BSU rant by Rick Riley of ESPN.

BSU football

I know, BSU football doesn't seem like an appropriate topic for a political blog, but 1) I don't care, and 2) BSU standings in the BCS race is all about politics.

The Automatic BCS Qualifying conferences don't want to see BSU (or TCU) get a shot at a national title, and the damn sure don't want either team to play and beat an undefeated team from one of the AQ conferences. One thing you'll hear, over and over, if you pay attention to the debate is, "If BSU had to play in an AQ conference every week, they wouldn't be undefeated."

Well, 1) who's to say, really? and 2), using similar (flawed) logic, if BSU had to play in an AQ conference, it'd have AQ money and AQ recruits. The entire argument is specious, and I'm weary of hearing it.

When I was in Reno in July, I put $5 on Boise to win the national title, at 10 to 1 odds. If they do, I get my $5 back, plus another $50. As it stands now, the biggest obstacle to my winning isn't BSU's performance, it's the politics of football.

Oh, and one more thing. To say that BSU isn't worthy because of strength of schedule is also specious. AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON, Boise has played tougher teams than #1 Ohio State. In other words, if strength of schedule is key, Boise should currently be ranked above Ohio State.

Liberal liberal liberal, booga booga booga

Walt Minnick has a piece in Tuesday's Statesman responding to criticisms of his ads attacking Raul Labrador. In it, he writes:

Some in the media and liberal blogs don’t like the straightforward, tough look at Raul’s own record and background, the two things he specifically points to as his main qualifications for office.

Liberal. Nice. Walt is not only voting like a Republican much of the time, he has now adopted their language.

What's next? Is he going to start referring to the "Democrat Party."

Update: Well, wait. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. There are some liberal blogs, depending on your view. I sure don't see many in Idaho. Morialekafa has been pretty liberal, but lately has tended more toward cerebralism than liberalism. I don't consider my blog as particularly liberal, nor Fort Boise. The Mountain Goat Report, progressive, not real liberal, and lately focused on giving Minnick a hard time. Daily Kos; progressive, not liberal.

What is liberal? Well, advocating returning to heavily progressive tax rates (50% or more for the very wealthy) in order to fund social programs would qualify as a liberal position. Hmm. I guess since I'm having a difficult time identifing "liberal" causes, that probably says something about where I stand.

Progressive is advocating for issues that help the middle class and working people. A small deficit and a reasonably balanced budget is a progressive position. Investing in infrastructure is progressive. Funding food stamp programs and expanding Pell grants; progressive.

Nuthin to say

John Prine sings a song, "Angel from Montgomery," and part of the lyrics are:

how the hell can a person
go to work in the morning
come home in the evening
and have nothing to say?

Well, to spin off that, I wonder:

How the hell can a blogger
in the midst of a campaign season
with crazy tea party politics around him
have nothing to say?

Just kind of checked out from the process right now. Probably part of a general ennui and feeling that my vote and my voice are meaningless and powerless to have any positive effect on the political process. Even if I gave campaign donations until it bankrupted me, I'd still not have any meaningful influence. Not in Idaho, and certainly not nationally.

My only observation I'd offer is that in Idaho politics it's more important to look like a cowboy than to offer policies that might help the middle class.